Stopping by to say hello. I hope all have made it through storm Sandy without too much loss. I made it through this time with only a lost of power for three hours Monday night.

I spent a wonderful week in Charleston, SC a couple of weeks ago, The first 5 days were with Road Scholars for a Plantations and Stately Homes course. We learned about the architecture and history of the area. The next 3 days were with the Literary Sisters Who Love to Read. With this group of ladies we toured the African American history of the area and met six AA authors. Among the authors were Evelyn Palfrey, Beverly Jenkins, Gregory Morris, Kendra Norman-Bellamy, Margaret Johnson-Hodge and Herb Frazier.

Tomorrow I am off to the Fall Scrapbook Summit. I haven't packed a thing and I am going to work on, if I knew the answer to that then it would be easy to pack the supplies I need to take. I don't want to take the whole scraproom.

I am so sad to hear about the PC products...what next?

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Happy scrapping!!!

Hi Everyone,

I hope all is well. By the grace and favor of God me and my family survived Sandy. I cannot look at the news, because I feel so sad for the people in NJ and NY and the other places impacted. I have never in my life encounted weather in this area like recent years. I was born and raised in DC.

It is cold today and the temperature has drop since I left for work this morning. I just want to go home and lay on the sofa in the family room with a blanket and take a much deserved nap.

Kenya, I feel like you do regarding the Imagine. What am I suppose to do with the cartridges? I hope PC will come up with a doable solution. I have been eyeing the other machine for some of the cuts they offer and the ability to import other images. My nephew is a huge Sonic fan, so huge that the last five birthday cakes I have made for him was Sonic. I would love to do a book for him. I missed the consumercraft deal, but hope Black Friday will be a great offer.

Everyone take care and enjoy your weekend!

Good Morning All & Happy "GET OUT & VOTE" Tuesday!

Netta – Sorry to hear about your ltop. My poor thing is going down hill.

Dot – It’s GREAT to see you. You have been busy with your travels. You give us hope on what we can look forward to in our retirement years.

Kenya – I am cracking up at your family thanksgiving happenings over the years. It was the final statement, that they can be mad that had me high fiving you through the monitor. LOL!

Pumpkin – Great to see you post as well. Weather in our area has been funky since the hurricane hit LaPlata a few years ago.

I will be more than happy when this election is over. I have been OVERsaturated with commercials, signs, radio ads, and the news. It doesn't matter who you are voting for, just go out and vote!!

I am hosting my first thanksgiving dinner EVER! It should only be about 8-10 of us, but I am excited. I purchased chocolate chargers and some vinyl and I'm ready to make some things. LOL!! My mom should be here next weekend and I may even take the entire week off. Alright, let me attempt to get some work done. I'm only working 1/2 day.

Have a GREAT day ALL!

Happy Election Day-finally!

Cassie, preach preach PREACH! I am so tired of commercials and flyers on the doors...I promise on one of the channels here, I see at least SIX commercials back to back. Thank you for the high five LOL OOO hosting your first dinner huh? Exciting for sure! I am not sure if we are having guests or not. I think my mom is coming and maybe my FIL. He is finally divorced from his cancer (literally and his wife) so he has a "friend".

Oh yes, I can understand that Treva. Family is a trip! I am happy with the traditions we started.
If your DH tries to go now, it might not be so bad on him since people are at work and the morning rush has died down.

I voted this morning. The good thing is I was in and out in less than 5 minutes.

Has anyone heard from Lisa? I am really worried about her!

Alright, I need to keep it moving! Remember to vote if you have not and PLEASE pray for our country!

Hello Wednesday.....

JCI to wish everyone a blessed day, glad the elections are over. Hoping we can unite and rally behind our leader so our country can move forward. Please pray for our country, our elected officials and the world.

I'm gearing up for a busy weekend, DH is going out of town so I plan to have lots of "me time" including going to church with my parents on Sunday. I hope all goes as I'm planning without too many hiccups

Renee, glad you're on the mend. I went to your blog, love those decorations; you have a beautiful table.

Waving hello to everyone, stay warm and have some scrappin' fun!

Good morning!

The elections are over and the ad take overs are complete! Being a swing state was really hard not to mention we had a few other races going on here!

Treva, yay on the "me" time! That should be so fun

Hi Momto2, good to see you and happy to read you are healing well after your procedure. I just left your blog! You have a beautiful dining room. My next house WILL have a formal dining room!

I have a question and I want honest responses please. If a person says something like, do you want to go out to eat? Isn't that an invite which means you pay? This differs from saying we should go out to eat....right? To me that mean I am responsible for my own meal. Or someone says, we have not spent time together for a while, let's get together on Saturday. Does that mean they are making the plans and hosting? This differs from: we should get together this week. To me that is left up in the air...right? When we say stuff like this, we plan to host or pay to food bill because we did the inviting. I will tell you why I asked these questions once I get your thoughts.

All right all, I am getting off here. Have a great Wednesday

Happy WoooHooo Friday!

This has been a long week for some reason!

Lisa, good to "see" you! I understand about life happening and LOL on letting DH holla . Glad you talk to someone regularly to let us know you were OK. I was praying you and your family. Beautiful cards too I pray you get the vehicle situation taken care of sooner than later! I have been there!

I am going to surprise DH with an over night trip to the Dells for our anniversary . I think I have child care taken care of, now I just need someone who is not afraid of the dog to take him outside a couple times. This will be our first time going away without the girls. I am looking forward to it! I pray we do not have a blizzard. DH is not big on surprises so I am sure he is going to complain while I am driving...until he gets there. One year I tried to surprise him with a massage. He was all mad. Where we going? Once we arrived, he was like, "Oh, I didn't know what you were doing. I'm sorry." I asked him if he thought I was going to kill him

Anywho, I hope you all have a great weekend! Any crafty plans?

Good Morning All & Happy Tuesday!

Lisa – I love the ‘I love you’ card. Really cute! You know I’m on the floor over your anniversary comment to DM.

Kenya – How nice to surprise DH with a trip to Dallas. I cracked up at the massage story and if he thought you were going to kill him. That is too funny.

Parent/Teacher conference yesterday and both kids received a GREAT report. It’s also time for DD to start thinking of her major for middle school. She wants dance but clearly I know better and drama is the way for her to go, because she is a very good writer. She also wants to be a math teacher and dance is not useful in that regard. My kids put on plays and shows ALL the time at home, so it shouldn’t be too hard to help her see that drama is the way to go.

Finished up some housewarming invites and delivered them yesterday. Other than that, no real crafting. I did take my JAs 60% off coupon + Ms 25% off total purchase, and picked up a storage container so I could organize my flowers, brads, eyelets, and buttons, by color. It took me nearly 2 hours to separate it all. Someone on the scrapbook retreat had the container for that purpose, and it blew me away. The actual storage container is for picture storage, but when I saw what she had done, I had to do it too! All I need to do now is label the boxes with the colors. That $39.99 photo storage box ended up costing around $12.

I purchased 2 cabinets from Ikea and crossing my fingers that DH assembles and installs them this week. We did decided which wall to put them on, which also means I need another cabinet, possibly 2. I’m hoping to clean, organize, and purge before Thanksgiving.

Better get started on some work. Looking forward to having next week off, although it means cleaning and prepping for Thanksgiving.

Have a GREAT day ALL!

Good Morning All & Happy Hump Day!!

Kenya - I am LMBO as I went back and reread your post. Where on earth did I get Dallas from? LOL!!! They only have majors because they are at a Performing Arts academy. DS (in 3rd grade) already knows he is selecting drama as his major. This child of mine can put on a show and does it ALL the time. He needs to be discovered. LOL!!!

We are having our Thanksgiving luncheon at work today, which means I"ll be busy from 8a - 2p. That's a long day to be constantly moving. LOL!

Have a GREAT day ALL!

Hello Wednesday....

Kenya, good luck surprising your husband and enjoy your time together.

Cassie, tell your kids to keep up the good work, how goes the dinner planning for next week? I guess I need to find out what I'm responsible for bringing.

Lisa, glad to see you and hoping you'll get some rest during your time away from work.

I was so upset about my yahoo email that I forgot to share with all that my daughter and I went to visit my parents last Saturday since DH was out of town on fraternity business. It was quite the venture since we wound up going to bingo with her (Bingo is my mom's job since she plays almost everyday) We were totally caught off guard when we walked into a smoke zone! Needless to say my mom's response was that she's used to it. Anyway we surviced but not without issues, when we got home we both just washed our clothes and showered! Other than that we had fun hanging out with mom and after bingo we did a little shopping and no neither one of us won at bingo! So there's your Wednesday funny.

Waving hello and wishing everyone a happy scrappin' day!

Good Morning All & Happy Friday eve!!!! Happy day before my vacation eve!! Ok, don't mean to rub it in. I haven't taken a week long vacation since 2007.

Lisa - I know service was off the chain over at ICW! I told you, you all party til the wee hours.

Treva - Dinner plans are still in my head. I did find someone who could possibly fry my turkey for me, so we'll see. Ham is coming from the honeybaked ham store and I asked my aunt to fix my greens. Everything else is on me: mac and cheese, roasted potatoes, desserts, maybe candied yams, and one or 2 other things, we'll see. I'm just as excited to make some decorations. Think I'll make a banner. I'm also doing chargers and coasters for us to use. I spend early next week or towards the end of the weekend, getting those done.

Kenya - I am trying hard not to over-extend myself with these craft assignments. The invites I just finished; she called me yesterday to say she was changing the date to January instead of December 1. It's my BFF, so I have no problem fixing but I told her she had to try and pull the key cutouts off each invite so I can reuse them. LOL!!

Alright, round 2 of our luncheon. We always have leftovers, so it's time to put them out.

Have a GREAT day!

Happy (I'm doing the cabbage patch) Friday!!

OMGness Pumpkin! I am so happy I wasn't drinking anything when I read your post You are right though and that is the plan!
As far as the vinyl, I heat the first layer for like 5 seconds and then add the second layer and heat until both layers are set. I have not done more than two layers.

Cassie, you are cheating on the dinner preparation....j/k Fried turkey is SOOOOO good mmmmm. Enjoy your vacation and I can't wait to see the decorations. This is the first year I made some decorations...I usually cook and let the food be the decor LOL.

Well tonight we go and pack boxes for the church's annual Thanksgiving outreach. Then tomorrow we will distribute 25 boxes to those who registered. The Milwaukee Parade is tomorrow as well....the holiday season has OFFICIALLY kicked off!! WOOOHOOOOOO I hope to get some projects done some time this weekend. I am thinking about changing the house around too...we will see..maybe for Christmas.

On another note, can dogs have OCD? I think my dog has it. He has to go through the door twice before he goes outside and once he goes, he has to smell the whole perimeter (I get that because he wants to make sure no other dog was on his turf)....then he has to turn around in circles or runs like 3 times before he goes??

OK all, have a wonderful and safe weekend!! Kenya~

Hello everyone,

Kenya - thanks for the vinyl tip. I have some leftover pieces that I will use to practice, before making the final.

CDNR - Good luck with your surgery. Honestly, this late I would pass on making Thanksgiving dinner. You know that Murphy's law will prevail and any and everything would go wrong.

Cassie - Have fun making your decorations.

This time of year always sucks me in with the Christmas ribbon, paper, and other crafts. So far this year has not failed. I get excited about making stuff and then life and me get in the way. I DO NOT need to buy anymore ribbon or Christmas paper, but everytime I am in the store it is like a magnet and pulls me over to that section.

Everyone have a relaxing and fun weekend!

Good morning everyone,

I hope everybody is getting excited about Thanksgiving. I love eating turkey, ham, stuffing, greens, oh my. I am looking forward to the family fellowship and some down time. After tomorrow I am not back in the office until next Tuesday.

Kenya - I have not tried the layering of the heat transfer yet. I decided to wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving when I get devote more time.

Everyone have a fun and safe Thanksgiving!

Hey hey Tuesday!!

Pumpkin, enjoy your vacation! I hope you get a lot of rest and crafting! Enjoy your meal...

Lisa, I am so sorry about your dinner not going according to plan..groceries are so expensive. Even with coupons. We have a 10 coupon limit here at certain stores. How can we save with stipulations like that?

Have a good day all!

If you are cooking turkey, don't forget to take it out of the freezer to thaw