Where has the time gone???!!!

Well I started this eons ago and never posted it, so here it is in its unfinished form just do I can post something new!

I can't believe how long its been since I posted here! And I can't believe Thanksgiving is next Thursday and then the holiday craziness kicks into FULL swing!! YIKES!!! Thinking of that makes me remember HOW MANY Christmas gifts I need to make!!!

I have been having a blast going scrapping every weekend for a while now! I don't think dh likes it, but it has been so nice to get a break form the boys-I think this is going to be one L O N G winter this year as they are climbing the walls already! I have some new creations to share with you from my adventures, here are a couple of my favorites!





TFL!
Valerie

Dixie Pieces Challenge

So one of the last challenges for the Dixie Pieces Birthday Bash is to blog about the songs of your life. So I guees I would start with when I was born and the #1 song (according to a website) was "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder.

As a little girl my grandmother and I would dance to the "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"

Then when I was about 5 I received a fancy flashing disco lights record player and what were the first 45's I remember having that weren't kid songs??? "Another one bites the dust" by Queen,
"Hit me with your best shot" by Pat Benetar
and "Let's Get Physical" by Olivia Newton-John!

Then as I got older I listened to Wham
And Miami Sound Machine
And of course Madonna!!
Then there was The New Kids on The Block!!! I SOOOO LOVED Jordan!!
Let's see then in high school there was
And then she was my first concert
Then we move into
And
And now more recently I listen to Pink,
Nickelback
Carrie Underwood
and Kelly Clarkson


oh and let's see what else oh yeah how could I forget my wedding song!!
And I could go on forever, but we will end with a little country!



Well thanks Sherry! That was a fun musical journey!! Now I need to get back to scrapping I have a Grand Prize I'm gonna win!!! LOL!!
TFL!!

Valerie

Happy Halloween!!!

Hope everyone has a GREAT day!!! Here's a fun site to make your own festive jack-o-lantern!!
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

Here are a couple pics!

Have you been to Dixie Pieces Yet????

If NOT what are you WAITING FOR????!!! The challenges, the games the prizes, the GREAT girls!!! What else do you need?? Well don't answer that one! I posted a challenge on the 13th and on the 22nd I will be teaching 2 techniques!! There are some great challenges! Here are a couple of my entries:
My Challenge

Sketch Challenge

Favorite Ice Cream Challenge

Oppsite Challenge
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Well its been a LONG day for me time to go to bed!
TFL!!
Valerie

Dixie Pieces Birthday Bash!!!

Don't forget that the Dixie Pieces Birthday Bash has begun today!! Be sure to go over and join in the fun! The first challenge is a sketch created by one of the Design Team members.



And as promised here are a couple new LO's!!




TFL!!
Hope to see you over at Dixie Pieces!
Valerie

My How Time Flies!!!

So can you believe it here we are October 8th already!!?? These past couple weeks have just flown by SOOO FAST!! Sorry I have MIA for a while, but on Sept 25th Nicholas had to go in for some outpatient surgery to correct some problems from the nurses in the hospital NOT properly caring for his circumcision! It has been a roller coaster ride, but he is doing good and goes back in 1 week from today for a follow-up. It has been hard as I have had to spend LOTS of time watching over him and making sure he doesn't get too wild or that the 2 of them don't start horsing around! Here's a pic I took of Nick before he went in for surgery. He was giving me the I don't want my pic taken look, but I'm gonna smile after you take a pic!

So I haven't really scrapped much lately either! I did go to Hannah's on Friday with my scrappy pal Robin and we shopped our little hearts out! : ) I did surprise myself and get 2 LO's done! I was REALLY into shopping and seeing all the scrappy goodness there that I had a hard time getting into doing any work, but I guess once I got the shopping out of my system I was ready to work! : ) I will have to go and take pics later of my LO's I made. Believe it or not I made my first ever Halloween LO!! Robin challenged me to do it and I did! I LOVE challenges that get me to scrap! Oh speaking of challenges Dixie Pieces is going to be 1 year old on November 1st and to celebrate beginning Friday, October 10th, through Sunday, November 2nd, they'll have challenges, games, and other fun activities. Oh, and prizes! So be sure to come over and join in on all the fun!! And on the 13th and 22nd be sure to check out who's posting a challenge and a technique ; )!!!

We went apple picking on Monday with my friend Sheila and her niece Nora, and let me tell you it was FUN!! I had only gone once before when I was 5, so this was new to me too! We went up to Harvard IL to a place called Royal Oak Farm and Fruit Orchard, and it was SOOO nice because we were able to let the kids play in this cool park area, take a train ride, go to a small petting zoo, there was a carousel-but Nick can't do that yet, and a tractor ride-which was booked for the day in addition to the apple orchard! The boys REALLY had a good time picking apples and every morning they ask me if we can go apple picking again! Here are a couple pics from our day! And yes my little ladies man was smitten with Nora and she wanted NOTHING to do with him! LOL!! I did manage to get a pic of the 2 of them holding hands for a minute!






We also went to Streamwood Pumpkin Fest on Saturday! The boys had a good time running around, listening to the librarian tell stories and play games, and watching a juggler! I love summer the best, but I must admit I REALLY enjoy the fall activities and Halloween! Speaking of which I should go downstairs and pull the Halloween decorations out like I promised Joseph last night! He is REALLY into Halloween! I let him stay up late last night watch the Martha Stewart Halloween show-he was SOOO into it! Then he came upstairs and started talking about where we should decorate and what we should do!



I can't wait to scrap all these new fun pics!

Well I better get going I've got a lot to get done today, and I have to find something to wear as I am going on a job interview tonight! YIKES!!! I haven't worked in OVER 3 1/2 years!!! With the cost of living getting SOOO expensive we need extra income, so I am gonna try working in the evenings. I am going to the children's store Carter's tonight, so we'll see what happens!

TFL!!!
Valerie

What a TERRIFIC Scrappy Day!!! : )

So Saturday morning I awoke to NO ONE in the house, checked my e-mails, got ready and went to scrap my little heart out ALL day long!!! : ) My scrappy pal and I went to Archiver's in Naperville, by the way the NICEST Archiver's I've been to! So we arrive just before 10 am and staked out our table and began our day! We had a NICE relaxing stress-free day! AAHHHH!!! We were SOOO happy to even just be able to shop without a 3 1/2 year old! I can't begin to tell you how that felt! My scrappy mojo wasn't flowing at first as I felt a migraine coming on, but I was determined not to let that stop me! I am happy to say after some lunch and shopping at Michael's and Joann's I was good! I'm sure the tylenol had NOTHING to do with it either! LOL!!

I am SOOOO proud of myself I FINALLY did the acrylic album I won from Sherry at Dixie Pieces a couple months ago! At first it was making my head hurt to have to do that much thinking about how to lay things out and what effect that would have on the look of the entire book, but once I got the hang of it I had a BLAST!!! I am actually VERY excited to do another one soon! I haven't decided if I want to do a haunted house like my buddy and I were discussing or if I want that adorable pumpkin at My Acrylic Albums! And if you look on their new blog they have the CUTEST idea for that book! So without further ado here it is!













I was on a roll after lunch, not ONLY did I do the acrylic album I ALSO did a 2 page LO!!! I will have to do my journaling and take a pic to share of that too!

Well I must say we had such a GOOD time Saturday and well we were pretty slap happy by the end of the night from ALL the sugar AND caffeine!! It was a miracle I could go to sleep that night, but the fact that by the end of the night I knew I was getting sick-I was exhausted!

I hope everyone has an AWESOME, TERRIFIC, FUN TO BE WITH scrappy friend and I hope you get to go out and have fun like we did every once in a while!

Well TFL and have a GREAT night!
Valerie