Tough Day at work....

Today was a tough day, a sad day. Seems like at least one day every week there is a heavy silence in each office, each cubicle, each workstation. It seems like here lately, that once a week our company is having a layoff. Maybe not at the facility I work, but another one of the companies facilities.

Last week, it was across the street, week before, it was the facility around the corner, today it was ours. They started at 8:30 am. It's hard to watch people being walked out, some holding their heads up high comforting those of us staying, instead of us conforting them, some of them are crying, trying very hard not to make eye contact.

It's all so sad. By 9:30 am, it was over. 26 people total, most of them I didn't know, some I did. By 10 am, we have an all hands meeting. It was very somber, people huddled around whispering, feeling glad that they were spared, but also feeling guilty for thanking God it wasn't them, this time.

It's been a sad day. This isn't the first layoff over the past 5 months, and it won't be the last. I guess since it grey and raining outside it made it all the sadder.

So this evening, I am tuning the world out, turning off the phones, turning off the computer and breath a sigh of relief that me and Chris still have jobs and also say a prayer for all of those who don't.
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Oops, My BAD!!

It has come to my attention that I have "de-blogged" some of my dear dear blogging friends. Let me just say this in my defense.....okay, I don't have much of a defense, but I am blamming it all on my Google Reader! It's Google's fault!!!!

I have just finished chastizing Google Reader and Google Reader has corrected it's mistake and oversite!

This is my story and I am sticking to it!!! ;)

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Children have a way...

It's obvious from my post an hour or so ago, that I had one of those days at work! It was a brain buster...mentally draining. All I wanted to do was lock myself away and wait for the new day.

However, children have a way of making your day much brighter. Chris and I were sitting outside and two of our neighbor's kids came up on our front porch, one holding something behind her back. She looked at me with those beautiful brown eyes and said, "This is for you for being so pretty" and she hands me this little rose.....

Yep, my day just got brighter!

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Thank goodness the work day is over!!

Nuff Said......

Geezer 1, Tam 0

In this corner it's the Tony Little Torture Machine...THE GEEZER



And in this corner, it's "What the Hell am I doing" TAM "Don't Make me do this" Sheaffer...

Coming at you ringside from Sapulpa, Oklahoma.........

**Ding Ding***

Round 1............

Tam is doing some pretty strange foot work, trying to find her balance...... The GEEZER is holding strong, in perfect form........


Tam seems to have a death grip on The GEEZER, not knowing whether to throw in the towel or let The GEEZER continue it's relentless torture.........

Oh man, Tam is down....she isn't moving.....1..2..3..4..5..6...wait, she's trying to move....she is waving the white flag.....

6 minutes and THE GEEZER is the remaining champion! Stay tuned for the rematch!

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Why is it....

...that my 4 day weekend moved by quicker than my 3 day work week? I would really like to find one of those jobs that I can do from the privacy of my own home wearing nothing but my pajamas! The idea of not having to put on another dab of makeup or high heels just makes my heart go pitter patter! I really do like my job and I am thankful for it, however, I would like it that much more if pajamas was part of the dress code!

Friday night and into the wee hours of Saturday morning, I decided that my area in the project room could use some cleaning. Actually, I had decided that around midnight, after having a long discussion with Chris about moving the project room back into the smaller bedroom. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep and after taking a visual inventory of my space and Chris' space, I realized that there was no way no how the project room could move back into that smaller room. So since I was wide awake, it was time to clean.

This was my biggest change in my space. I moved my hanging ribbon to the door and put the wipe off board in it's place, along with the two cork boards. Some would call this my inspiration wall, I would call it...my catch all wall! Looks great right now, but in about a month you won't be able to see any of the white board or cork surface under all of the stuff that ends up on it!


I didn't get into bed until around 3 am Saturday morning and then I was up around 9:30 am. Laundry got started and I headed into the project room to work on some layouts.

I very rarely ever to double page layouts. However, I came across these pictures of Matt driving my dad's golf cart. There are a ton of those pictures. We must have burned 3 rolls of film. I am not use to doing double page layouts and this one took me 1/2 the day to complete. I was so lost. Too much space to deal with. I think I will stick to single page layouts. Not as taxing on my brain!


Here are the rest of the layouts I completed Saturday and this morning. It was nice finally getting back in there and doing some projects. I am really enjoying scrapping some older pictures and actually using up a lot of my stash!

Go check out Lainey's Altered Ego/GBC blog. It's Sketchy Sunday over there and Carol has posted a sketch and she, Lainey and I posted some layouts inspired by that sketch!
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I love Fridays!!!

Who doesn't love Fridays? End of a work week, typically a payday, start of the weekend...what's not to love?!

We had a busy Friday here. Off to Target to pick up some Skull Candy for Chris. He wore his other pair out. I guess using them 10 hours a day, every day will wear on a product. He got the fashionable red ones...it was either that or lime green...red is more his color.

Then it was off to WalMart. Tell me, why is it someone can get so excited that their grocery bill was less than $150 and it was a small grocery cart day? It's amazing what we get use too, high grocery bills is something we have gotten use too. It's sad to say, that it's cheaper to eat fast food then it is to try to eat right. I am so ready for the local fruit & veggie stands to start popping up around the place.

After WalMart, we came home and I got three layouts done. It wasn't hard when I had a beautiful GBC kit laying on my desk.

I went digging through my many boxes of old pictures (anything older than a year old is OLD in my book) and scrapped them.

Silly Kids was pictures from Easter Sunday, 1997. What a fun day, we went fishing, mom and dad grilled hamburgers, and the kids (adultd included) played and played and played. We even had an Easter egg hunt.

Not Your Ordinary Remote Control Car was pictures from April 2006. Matt had been working on his rc car and was taking it out for a test drive. Anytime he would run that car all of the neighborhood kids (a few adult kids too) would be lined up across the street watching. That little rc car was fast. I know nothing about rc cars except this one ran on nitro and required a lot of parts, which he was always buying (I was buying) because he kept breaking them.

That Smile is a collection of pictures of Matt during the first year of his life, so that would be pictures from 1988 - 89...Holy Monkey...that's some old pictures. Gosh, I am old. But wasn't he just the cutest little guy? I am just a tad bias!

Tomorrow I have planned a rip roaring time! It's laundry day!! Now, doesn't that sound like a hopping good time? I know, the excited just never ends in my crazy little world.

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Life is a Lemon......

....and I want my money back!!!! I love that song! I was revisiting some of my old cds and uploading them to my iTunes library and I came across my Meatloaf cd collection. It's not real extensive, just 5 cds...wait, didn't he only have like 6 or 7? Okay, so I have most of his CDs. I just love Meatloaf. His Bat Out of Hell II: Back to Hell cd was off the charts! And one of the best concerts I have ever seen!!!

As I was flipping through CD memory lane, I realized just how strange my music tastes are and always have been. I have stuff from Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam (HUH?) to Metallica (older stuff..not a big fan of their new stuff), Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin, oh and I can't leave out my Josh Groban collection, Michael Buble and Charlotte Church. I even found some classical music cds! The one thing I want to know, however, is where in the hell are my Best of Barry Manilow cds? Whoever stole it, please send them back! I need some Copacabana vibe!

I actually did tear myself away from my computer today. I started working on some projects for my very last GBC kit. ~sniff~ I decided to do a "trash to treasure" kind of project. I have had this rolodex forever. This little gem got a make over. I turned it into a Quote keeper. I have quotes written down in various notebooks, bits of scrap paper, on a wipe off board, you get the picture. So I thought, hmmm, I need to put them all in one place, some place handy.


{Before: Just an unassuming rolodex, quite plain and boring}


{After: Now it's freshened up with fun and festive colors and has earned a prominent spot on my work table}

Now I just have to sit down and fill it up with quotes!

My current favorite is: If you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much space!!!

So what is your favorite quote?

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I am such a computer Geek!

I am the computer geek, not Nibby, but Nibby in front of the computer screen is much cuter than me in front of the computer screen at the moment. Just visualize a frumpy woman, with glasses, no make up, and every hair on her head standing at attention waving, staring at a computer screen.....that would be me! Now you understand why I chose this darling picture of Nibby, taken when she was tiny and adorable....much cuter than what you have visualized, huh?!

I downloaded Quicken a couple of days ago and have been working a little here and a little there getting all of my data entered. I spent two evenings trying to get my checking account balanced, and now all of my labors have paid off! All data is entered, accounts balance, all is right in my little world. So now the fun really begins....enter Tam, the Computer Geek {wanna be}. Now I get to play with all of the neat bells and whistles Quicken has to offer! I squeeled in delight when I discovered the Budgeting tool! OMG! Freaking Fantastic! Oh, and the spending analyzer! Yes, I am in accounting geek heaven right now!!

As you can see, I have issues! How many people in their right minds enjoy and get totally excited setting up budgets and spending accounts, reconciling checkbooks and entering financial data?

I not only like doing it, I love it!!! I should have been an accountant!!!
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Are you having a happy Tuesday???

I know I am having a happy Tueaday? Why am I having a happy Tuesday, you ask...Because I am finally home from work and tonight is The Biggest Loser night! Oh, and I am happy because I am sitting here in front of my computer posting this post, listening to Judge Judy on tv and Chris is cooking dinner! It just can't get any better than this!!!

Check out my layout of my wonderful Chris! Isn't he just the cutest?! Go Check out Lainey's Altered Ego/GBC Blog, I was a guest poster over there today! And there is a challenge for all of you out there with boxes of old pictures just screaming to be scrapped!!!

Okay, I am not off to work some more on balancing my checking account. There seems to be a wee bit of a problem that my accounting brain will not let go of! Must figure it out!!!
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My Little Helper

Sunday's are just about the same for us every week. Around 2 to 3pm, Chris and I head to the kitchen and we start chopping veggies and separating grapes from their stems and then we proceed to bag up 10 bags of carrots, 10 bags of radishes, 10 bags of grapes, 5 bags of celery (Chris doesn't like celery) and I cook and prepare 10 breakfast burritos. This is our breakfast and snacks for the week. Chris also chops veggies and puts them in containers for our side salads that we have with every meal. We have got it down to a fine art and it usually takes us about and hour.

However, this Sunday was a bit different. We finally got some sunshine so Chris seized the opportunity to go wash Gracie (Gracie is our truck). And of coarse, he seized this opportunity right about 2 pm. Nice timing huh? Well, if you know Chris, then you will know that nothing stands in his way of washing any of his vehicles...I know that each one of the Sheaffer clan will agree with me.

So instead of me and Chris it was me and Nibby. Mind you, she is not very good with knives, so she just hung out while I was going about my chores. Now if Chris would have been here toiling away, Nibby would have never made it past the area rug in front of the sink counter. But I only have two hands and as long as she wasn't wielding a knife at me, I let her stay.


Okay, I totally abandoned my Excel project for my checkbook and budget. Way too much work! So I downloaded Quicken. I am totally liking it, but since you can no longer import from MSMoney for check register, I am having to re-enter all of that data. I am only going back to this past July, when we opened up our new checking account at a new bank. So, instead of creating this week, I will be entering data. I don't mind, I am a dork and like that sort of thing.

Blast from the past moment. How many of you out there remember the song Careless Whisper by Wham (George Micheal)?

*Raising Hand*

How many of you liked that song?

*Raising Hand*

How many of you are ashamed to admit that you like/liked Careless Whisper by Wham?

*Raising Hand* (I even owned the cassette)....

Well, my heart is all a flutter...Careless Whisper has been remade by Seether!!!! And it is GOOD! If you, of coarse, like/liked Careless Whisper by Wham....Seether makes it rock!!!! Seether's remake has already found a home on my iPod!
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Oh Man! There is going to be some creating going on around here this week....

Yesterday was a very happy mail day for me!! Chris and I had gone to Tulsa to hit Sam's Warehouse and when we got home I have a wonderful package from Lainey sitting on my front porch just waiting for little ol' me!!!

I can't tell you just how much I loooove this kit! It is packed full of Crate Paper Little Sprout, American Crafts Thickers, Fancy Pants ribbons, loads of embellishments, a Maya Road mini album, and more!!! Oh my brain is reeling with ideas!

I also got some Maya Road stuff and my treasured Cat's Eye Dark Brown!!! I don't even know where to begin!! Yes, this coming week and next weekend is going to be a creative fest at my house! Okay, maybe next weekend will be, my weekdays are usually full of computer stuff and sleep!!!

Today is going to be an adventure in grocery shopping! Our plan was yesterday to grocery shop after Sam's Warehouse, but it didn't happen. So today, while all of the good people of Sapulpa is at church, we will be heading to WalMart to get groceries! Other than that? Well, I have some computer work to do. My MS Money totally tanked so I am going to create a workbook for our household expenses. I am too cheap to invest in another MSMoney. Anyway, I had checked them out and they have totally changed from the version I had. I prefer the one I had! But this is new project of mine will be a good exercise in sharpening my Excel skills and a way to practice all of my cussing skills when things don't go the way I have envisioned!

Friday's are the best when you don't have to go to work

I just love not working on Friday's. There is just nothing like a 3 day weekend.

Not too much happened around here today. The Three Stoogettes were more like the Insane Clown Posse. I swear they all three need a tranqualizer...or maybe I need one, that way I just wouldn't care what havoc they create during the day. Actually, I think Chris is the one that needs a tranqualizer. Bless his heart, he is not use to having so many animals running around the house. Obviously he didn't read the fine print in our marriage contract! :) That whole "Tam loves animals and she will adopt as many as she can to live in house" clause he either skimmed over or completely ignored!

I got some layouts completed today. Here is one of them, the other two you will have to wait to see.

I found out something totally cool today. It's amazing the interesting things I learn from programs on network tv. Oh, the thing I found out...well if you are not a lover of anything Micheal Myers (you know, Micheal Myers, the creepy guy who walks around very slowly with a big knife killing off unaware babysitters who are stupid enough to check out that noise coming from upstairs when they should be running out the front door screaming FIRE on Halloween night), then you won't really care about what I learned. But what I learned today is that Rob Zombie is making H2..Halloween The Devil Walks Among Us!!! OMG!!! It picks up right where it left off in Halloween...even though the ending left you with the distinct impression that Laurie Stroud blew a hole in his head. Yes, I am very excited that they are making H2. Even though the original Halloween's (except for Halloween 3, 4, 5, 6....) scared the beejeebers out of me, I love them!!! I even loved Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween. Anyway, for all of those Halloween lovers out there, wooohoooo, H2 is in production and we get another installment of Rob Zombie's warped version of John Carpenter's Halloween 2!!!

What happened to my Thursday post....

This is what happened to my Thursday post.....I slept through it. This is me around 4:30 pm yesterday. Yes, I am sound asleep...which is the only way my husband would have ever gotten a picture of me without protest.

Thursday was a rough day at work. It was Board day. The Board of Directors were having their quarterly meeting. And I am the one that has to make sure everything is set up and that they are all taken care of. So I am basically running around all day printing this and printing that, calling here and calling there, on top of making sure there is plenty of coffee, water and pop in the conference room, etc....and doing it all in heels. I really hate heels, when is Nike going to make a pair of shoes that look like Prada heels but feel like Nike Cross trainers in black??!!

On the way home from work, I feel asleep. No, I was not driving...Chris never lets me drive, which is a smart thing...my speeding ticket collection has dramatically dwindled since marrying him...but that's a whole nuther story.....We get home around 4pm, I change into my pajamas and 1/2 way through Judge Judy, I am out cold. I love Judge Judy, I look forward to watching an hour a day of this woman, but apparently I needed sleep more.

I am not sure what time I ended up going to my actual bed, but I do know that around 9pm, I woke up in pain. Apparently, one of the Stoogetts did not see me sleeping so peacefully and she ran across my face. They don't have front claws but they do have back claws. I now have a couple of lovely scratches across my chin. I am pretty certain that make up will not cover up one of them. Lovely!!!!

Well, I am off to the project room. Have a great Friday!!!!

Bedside Reading Material......

Scored me a couple of new books today. Typcially, I don't get books like these....I am more of a Sandra Brown, James Patterson kind of gal. However, a very good friend of mine recommended that I read both of these books by Joan Burge. And given the current economic climate and uncertainty of any given job market, I didn't think it was a bad idea.

If you haven't figured out, or already knew, by day, I am an Executive Assistant to the Vice Chairman of a family owned private corporation in the aerospace industry. Sounds exciting, no? Oh, it's very exciting. My days are filled with flashing phone lines, more emails that anyone should ever have to deal with, last minute travel arrangements and dealing with the whims of a man who is only 3 weeks older than me! Very exciting.....NOT!

Actually, the "bossman" is a good guy. I have been working for him since the beginning of 2001. He would like people to believe that he runs the show, but we really all know that behind every successful businessman is a very stressed and electrified Executive Assistant. And that would describe me to a T.....electrified!

Right now, my days are filled with several rather thick reference books.....Photoshop CS3, InDesign, Illustrator and CS3 Bibles. Whew! The bossman decided that I have mastered all of the MSOffice software, so I need a new challenge. I am all for the challenge. Now if I can talk the IT department to get me license for home.....ummmm, I don't think that is going to be a possibility. But a girl can dream!!!

Okay, did all of you see this awesome new line from Cosmo Cricket? I WANT IT!!!!! It's soooo cute. Hmmm, I am going to have to start saving pennies!!!

Snug as A Bug In A Rug......

It's times like these that Chris and I look foward to every evening....Nibby taking a nap!

How many of you have kittens and or cats?

Well, how many of you have a kitten who loves water? Not a kitten who loves to drink water, but a kitten who loves to play in the water, to splash about in the water, who loves to jump in the shower with you?

Well, I do! In fact, I have three that love water and all three have no problem jumping in the shower with you given the chance (which I don't give them the chance anymore!). However, Widdles, our littlest Stoogette, absolutely loves playing in the water. Every evening, she and I go through this ritual. I try to brush my teeth and wash my face in peace and Widdles tries to wash her paws and make a rather large mess.


As soon as she hears me turn on the water, here she comes a running and will dive into the sink. More times that not, she succeeds. I literally have to pick her up in order to spit out the tooth paste. By the time I am finished brushing my teeth and washing my face, Widdles is soaked.

Organization can be cute and functional....

I am all about organization, almost to the point of obsession. Now mind you, all of my organization solutions might not be the prettiest, but it is functional. However, I have to admit these two projects turned out really really cute.

This little drawer I picked up at Hobby Lobby and used the beautiful Bloom and Grow paper from My Mind's Eye. And if you remember I did one of these drawers back in January.

This is a box I got some time ago. It's a Kaiser Craft box. I had already done two others. I used some Fancy Pants scraps I have been hanging on to. It's a perfect size to hold all of my journaling papers and key envelopes.
So what kinds of storage solutions do you have in your scrapping space? I would would to see them. Post your link in the comment section.

Happy Easter

Chris and I, and the rest of our Zoo, wish each of you a very happy Easter!!!

It's raining here, so no Easter Egg Hunts do we get to watch from our front porch today. Every year, the church across the street clears out their parking lot and has an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. It's so much fun to watch.


Our house is a complete zoo today. Daisy is chasing the Three Stoogettes and Scrappy has taken up residence under my desk. The only escape we have today is grocery shopping. Yes, I know, yesterday, when it was gorgeous outside, would have been the best time to go. But nooooo, we decided to just hang out here doing much needed yard work. Don't you love house I made it sound like both of us did yard work! Hahahaha. Okay, Chris did yard work, I did computer work. Nonetheless, grocery shopping didn't happen yesterday, so we will grab our rain coats, but on our rubber boots and make our way to the grocery store.


Other than that, it will be a do nothing but hanging out watching movies day!!!

I am half way there......

Half way to my goal is a great place to be. 30 pounds in 4 months feels so very good. And what did I do to celebrate? A treat! Nope, not a cupcake, or a coveted Butterfinger, nooooo, I went for my absolute comfort food.......Rotel Cheese Dip!!!! Now, back before I started this wellness journey of mine, I would use a 2 pound block of Velveeta Cheese and 4 cans of Rotel, and two bags of chips. Before you gasp in disbelief that I could eat all of that, I didn't. Chris was very helpful in consuming this very delicious meal. Yes, I said meal...not an appetizer, not a snack, A MEAL!!!!! This time though, I brought it down half way....see half way is good. Now while I hit my half way mark, I don't plan on getting on the scale anytime soon! Oh, and yes, this was very delicious, but let me just say this...while my taste buds were in heaven, my stomach was in hell!


I finally broke down and bought me a scanner. My old scanner bit the dust many moons ago and I just never replaced it. So I have added this great new paper weight to my desk. This is a Canon MP 480, one of those all-in-one thing. I am not sure if I will use it as a printer, since I have a great printer, the scanner is what I am more interested in.


The Three Stoogettes love new things, especially anything that comes in a box. Hours of entertainment lay ahead for those three!

It's a very windy day here....

There is one thing about Oklahoma that I will never get use to and that is the wind. It has been very windy over the past couple of days, 25 mph to 40 mph winds. Not only does it make it difficult to drive, forget trying to fix your hair (which is another good reason I have very short hair), and if you have never had allergies before, well you will have them now!

Texas and Oklahoma have been battling several fires these past couple of days. It is very scary and very heart breaking. The Oklahoma City area have been hit very hard with multiple fires. Fortunately, Chris' parents and my OKC friends are not in the effected areas, however, it's still too very close for comfort. My thoughts and prayers are going to out to all of the people who have suffered from these fires.

Last night I was going through some pictures on my computer and decided to put together a mini album of pictures of just me and Matt taken over the past 20 (almost 21 years of his life). These pictures have brought back so many memories. I can't believe just how fast Matt has grown up. My mom use to always tell me that your children grow up way too fast. Well, mark that as item 25,459 things my mom has been right about, kids grow up too fast and the older you get the faster times flies by!

It was fun looking at how much Matt changed from picture to picture, but I have to admit, it was wild seeing how much I had changed. And check out those huge glasses me and Matt sported back in the 90's! Oh my gosh!

For this album I used My Mind's Eye and Paper Loft papers. The mini album is made from chipboard I cut down to 7" x 6". Each picture is 3 1/2" x 5" with a boarder. The coils to bind the album are 1 1/4".

When is it ever going to be Spring???

Okay, come on Spring! Where did you go? You show up for a couple of days and then you let the big bad winter drive you back off? Come BACK please!!!!!

Now typically, I am cheering winter on, but I am sooooo over winter. I need some warm temperatures! I need to get out and start walking those pounds away! I have hit a plateau. I am 2 pounds away from hitting my 1/2 way point! Yes, I know, I could get a gym membership, or I could just bundle up and hit the track. But lets be serious for a moment, gym memberships = expensive and totally not in my budget right now and the whole bundling up thing...yes, I could do that, but it's also freaking windy here too. I want to sweat, not freeze when I am walking. My son is going to laugh at me, since he ran a half marathon this past weekend in the freezing cold with 40 mph winds. But hey, he's young and insane!!! I am not...young that is, the jury is still out on the insane part.

Well, my poor baby is sick. Chris started getting the sniffles on Friday and by Saturday, he was much worse. He sounds terrible and can't taste a darn thing. I finally talked him into taking the rest of the week off so he could get to feeling much better.



I caught these pictures of Daisy and Nibby yesterday. Nibby really loves Scrappy, be he doesn't give her the time of day. Daisy, on the other hand, loves to play. Daisy just forgets that she is a solid 70 pounds of pure puppy (even though she is way beyond puppy). Nibby loves playing with Daisy, but Daisy can get a little overwhelming.

But honestly, they do really love each other.

Well, it's Tuesday night and you know what Tuesday night is? No, I am not talking about American Idol...I am talking about The Biggest Loser! I have become totally hooked on this show and look foward to every Tuesday evening. What's even more fun is that my friend Carol calls me during each commercial breaks of the last hour of the show so we can rehash what has happened. It would be more fun if we could watch it together, but she lives in Illinois.