My Birthday Crop...let's try this again...

          I spent over an hour working on this last night, giving up at around 12:30 am.  After all the frustration of my pics not posting, I now discover that NONE of it was saved/posted.  Another learning experience I guess. haha
          I was lucky enough to have my best bud, my niece Sarah, join me again for an overnight SCRAPBOOKING PARTE'!  A bonus this year was the 1st overnight & crafting visit of my sister-in-law, Deb.
          For the past few years, Michael & Wesley have been going to stay with Grandma Stream, leaving the house free for my girls' weekend.  The only male lucky enough to hang with us was our cat Rusty.  Myself, Sarah, Deb, Dakota, Smoke & our kitten Squirrel all enjoyed our 'girl time', without the loud, masculine influences (& interruptions) of Michael & Wesley!
          We started out our weekend with a trip into town to develop Sarah's film (from a disposable camera) from her son Brandon's horrible accident last Halloween.  She thought that she would be able to look at and work with the photos by now....after trying to scrap them, she realized that she wasn't quite ready yet.
          During our wait for the film to be developed, we enjoyed an inexpensive treat of lunch at Mancino's.  From there we checked out Dollar General for some decorative boxes that Sarah & Deb had been seeing, as well as a trip into Peeble's for nice work shirts for Sarah's new teaching position.  We then visited Grandma Veerman & Aunt Annetta, discussing our girly plans for future play dates, including a possible overnighter at Grandma Veerman's beautiful, large home, before returning to my home to start crafting. 

  

Christmas 2011 Favorites

           A few of our favorites from this past Christmas, as part of my    
attempt to catch up...
           Note the CHOCOLATE FACE already in existence!

               Remote Cranky the Crane demos...

                PS2 game from Aunt Annetta & Uncle Leon...he LOVES this!

                   Mom did the HAPPY DANCE when she started opening this...entertaining!

              Dad asked for an r/c helicopter...he got 2!  For play dates haha

Spread the love.....

                                 Yep...it was Harry Potter.

                               Awesome CROSSING track!

Yes, I chose these too.

Christmas Dinner...thanks Dad!

 Dad's big day-after-Christmas purchase.  The snowglobe Wesley's had his eye on.
           I still haven't mastered the photo placement with this program, but I'll keep working on it, plus talk to Dawn Bourgette, who got me started in this!

A lot to catch up on!

  Wow!  It's hard to believe that I haven't posted here for so many months!  But...life happened...for a long time apparently!
  I'll have to spend a fair amount of time posting layouts that I have completed since last visiting, as well as photos of life in my little world.
  Let's work our way backward, okay?  While currently working on our taxes, I once again consider whether or not to continue selling products.  Yes, it pays for MOST of my own supplies, but the physical labor, time, & expenses involved with the packing, hauling, unpacking, displaying....packing back up (although this last sale sent MUCH fewer product home with me!), hauling, & unpacking/displaying again........very low income per hour, oftentimes at a loss in fact, but the physical tole & stress have the most impact for me.  We are not getting any younger, but I DEFINATELY must get back into better shape!  Fibromyalgia does not differentiate between 'fun work' & just plain 'work'.
  Okay....back to the basics.  The past 2 weeks found us celebrating Wesley's 8th & my 48th BIRTHDAYS YEY!!!  We had a couple of neighborhood friends over for Wesley's birthday cake & ice cream.   Good times!
  I was lucky enough to (once again) celebrate my birthday with my best bud, my niece Sarah, who comes up for an overnight SCRAPBOOKING PARTE' !!!  A bonus this year was the 1st overnight stay & crafting visit by my sister-in-law, Deb (Kozak) Gleason!  We had sooo much fun that we stayed up until 3:15 Sunday morning, NOT EVEN MAKING IT TO THE CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN THIS YEAR:<   (Pics to follow haha)
  Michael & Wesley made their usual trip to Grandma Stream's for the weekend, so that we girls could have the house to ourselves.  There was one lucky male in the household though, our cat Rusty.  Otherwise it was myself, Sarah, Deb, my devoted Dakota, Smoke & our newest family member, kitten Squirrel. 
  Christmas, as usual, was FABULOUS!  After we opened our gifts we were visited by Uncle Leon (my oldest brother, who as of this week is RETIRED!!!!!!) & his wife Annetta.  They have been stopping by on Christmas Day, on their way to visit her family in Ludington.
  My favorite gift this year was my CRICUT IMAGINE! WOO HOO!  Michael said "don't you think you hinted about it enough??????" hahahahahahaha  Yes, I hinted A LOT after finding out that our local Wal-Mart had it in stock for only $187!  I did some research online for Imagine cartridges &, after receiving it, purchased a few cartridges to play with!  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use my favorite of the included cartridges, Imagine More, because it was faulty.  I also had to exchange the machine after 2-3 days & printing only a few papers because it stopped feeding in the paper.
  I can say that I have had very few problems with the machine or cartridges since exchanging the machine & receiving the replacement cartridge.  I still get frustrated with the machine shutting down frequently while using the Imagine More cartridge, especially when combined with another cartridge, but I'm trying to work through it and enjoy the capabilities of my new toy.
  Wesley's favorites were, of course, Thomas train items, plus he really likes his Cars 2 movie, Indiana Jones Lego PS2 game from Uncle Leon & Aunt Annetta, etc.
  This fall found us adopting little, FRAIL, Squirrel....a kitten who found her way to our front porch on August 10th, just before Michael's birthday.  She immediately came to me & allowed me to hold her, as if she KNEW we would love & help her.  Michael named her Squirrel after seeing how long & bushy her tail was when compared to her body.  I am afraid to say that she was the most emaciated animal I have ever seen which was still alive.....she required a lot of TLC, & ultimately, prescription food as well as medication that was added to tuna fish for several months.  I recently switched to feeding her adult cat food, which she was constantly sneaking out of the other cats' bowls, when we ran out of prescription food.  I think I might have to return to giving her medication for a while if she continued to have tummy problems.
   I have been hoping to have some of my projects appear as samples on a 3 Birds presentation, or perhaps their blog, etc.  So far, no luck, but perhaps in the future, with the reappearance of their blog or something...perhaps things will happen for me.  Either way, I enjoy the process & chance to share.  3 Birds rocks!!!!! 
   On to crafting & constantly renovating my scrap "studio"!
 

More of my layouts...3 BIRDS, of course!

Pages that missed getting posted back in March...ooops!!

SOOO far behind, but will work on doing better!

    I guess I'm like a lot of SAHMs.....trying to entertain Wesley all summer & ignoring several other things, both responsibilities (like laundry argh!) & play time for myself (scrapping & posting my projects).
    Here are the pages that I've created so far, as part of Wesley's Tball album.  This was the first year he has played any team sport, and being a scrapping mom, I literally have hundreds of pics.  It doesn't help that I love to catch the action shots of other kids as well!

  When 3 BIRDS launched the ESTATE COLLECTION, I knew I could use some of the yellow embellishments for his team album!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Victorian feel of this collection!!!!  Although I'm crazy for this style of design, even in my studio, I hoped to be able to incorporate some of the items based on their color.  I usually scrap by theme and color, therefore I also organize my products in this way.

Expression 2 launch & 3 Birds are on my mind...

  As part of the launch of the Cricut Expression 2 Anniversary Edition on HSN, some sites have been given the opportunity to GIVE AWAY new machines!  AWESOME!
 http://www.everydaycricut.com/    will be hosting an E2 ustream tonight...several things already going on today as well.
      I would LOVE  to get this new machine into my little scrapping wings (I'm a 3 Birds Chickadee from NW MICHIGAN)!  My only concerns are the typical gliches that always occur with a new product launch, and then the possibility of not being able to use this new machine with MTC or SCAL.
  My hands are shaking, I'm sooo excited!  I already ordered all 3 of the new 3 Birds products several days ago, and am chomping at the bit to see Donna's demos...always great! 
  Hope you are scrappin' and craftin'...stay warm and dry!

It's been a while....& the recent loss of a loved one:::

  It's been a month since I sat down to blog... a lot has happened, including but not limited to: a happy surprise purchase for our son, WAY TOO MUCH SNOW AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN, and the loss of a loved one.
  In order of occurrence, after us getting the idea to buy a quad or something for our son, my hubby changed it to a dirt bike, and a brand new one...his first NEW RIDE (not a pass-me-up or -down)!
  After having 80 degree weather a couple of weeks ago, we have received SNOW 3 times, some of it a nasty, miserable, and dangerous mix with ice.  This week we are still having temps dipping down to 28, and highs in the 40s....very rough on all of us with Arthritic conditions or Fibromyalgia!
  We found out late Friday night that my Uncle Walt was in the hospital, given 7-10 days life expectancy due to his cancer, which I didn't know about!  We were planning to go down to see him on Sunday if I felt better (being totally miserable on Saturday due to the weather), but Sunday morning we received the disappointing call that he had already passed away late Saturday night, just 24 hours after we found out about his condition:(
  I will be going to the visitation on Wednesday, weather permitting, as I found out this afternoon that we are expected to get an ice storm late Tuesday night and into Wednesday....things just aren't working out for me on that situation.  If I'm able to go, my stepmom will be travelling with me, as we are the only onces from our immediate family to be available to go due to work schedules, etc.
  So far I have been on the phone or email most of the day, re-notifying our family members of the current status of everything for Uncle Walt's funeral: ordering flowers, picking up Ruth, etc.
  Hopefully I will get a chance to post some pics of Wesley's bike and layouts.   
  Gentle (Fibro) hugs to everyone....stay warm & dry!