New...

Today's post is about everything New. New family, new experiences, new people, new relationships, a new month, a new adventure which leads to a new journey and a new teacher, ...new, new, new. There's so much new going around it's almost like Spring.

So, what is new might you be asking? Well, we'll go down the list...

My Sister, Nicole is marrying Steve in February. While they've been engaged a few months already and the wedding plans aren't new, Steve brings with him a New member of our family. His 6 year old daughter, Julia. And yesterday we celebrated her 6th birthday...

She's so adorable and laid back. She loves Tinkerbell and Hannah Montana. Heck, I knew who Tinkerbell was but Hannah Montana, I thought girls older than 6 were into her. I guess not. So, in a few short months, this little girl will be my second niece. And not to exclude my first and much younger niece, here's a photo of adorable and wiggly Mikayla! She's grown a lot since I first posted her picture, huh! It's amazing how fast babies grow.

At Julia's birthday party, Nicole invited her family and Steven's family. Steve has 2 older sisters and they bring with them children too. It's different for me to be involved in something like that. I'm the oldest and therefore my kids were always the oldest. While I do have cousins with kids, they live in California and Tennessee so we don't get together often. OK, I'm not sure when the last time was I saw either of them. And my brother, well both his kids are younger and it's only been just this year that there was more than my two boys and Brandon running around. So for all these kids to be racing around, jumping in the bouncy house, playing in the yard, it was a new experience for me. And while I have met Steve's sisters before, it's sinking in that these people will be family. Much sooner than my mind has processed it to be! My sister will be married in less than 6 months! How can this be? So with this marriage, she'll bring with her new people into our lives.

Patrick and I had to leave the birthday party early yesterday. We had arranged a blind date. A possible new relationship? My friend and his friend were going to meet. Patrick's drummer, Jon has been single for a little while and my friend, Traci was the same. Jon was a true gentleman, sweet, kind, nice and extremely generous. If Traci doesn't scoop him up, I'm sure someone will. Jon is a huge Red Sox fan and, just for this blind date with Traci, he purchased 4 tickets to last night's game. We played the White Sox and won!! 8-2, baby!! YAH! Anyhow, our seats were amazing. Check out this photo from where I sat. No zoom at all...

Since I sprained my foot, Jon paid for close to the park parking. Jon and Patrick even paid to have Wally the Green Monster come to our seat and give us a Wally doll and take our photos! Can you believe it? What a chance! I got a fabulous photo of them with the Wally doll but, well... Kerriann tells me I need to ask her permission to post the photo. So, I've asked via email but I haven't heard back. If she says yes, I'll post it for all to see. It's an adorable picture!

Traci and Jon seemed to hit it off, talking and laughing. Whether or not there is another date, well that's not my story to say. I've done my match making and they can do with it whatever they will. But I can tell you that Jon called today asking for her phone number. ;-)

Tomorrow brings with it a new month. September is here. Cooler weather, falling leaves, fresh, crisp apples and a full month of opportunities are on the horizon. As always, keep you eye on my blog for any news or new classes I will be offering.

We have a birthday party tomorrow, Labor Day. And then Tuesday... the New Adventure begins. My little men, Bryce will be a Kindergartener. He will get on the bus Tuesday and go off on his own. While he might call himself a men, he's still my baby! Check back Tuesday night for lots of photos of his new journey. Last Friday, Bryce and I attended Kindergarten orientation. He did wonderfully in the classroom. His new teacher, Miss Clark was fabulous. At one point, she was telling the class that she uses her indoor voice and that she expected them to use their indoor voice. Well, Bryce pops right up and says, "I have an outdoor voice. I can scream. Real loud. Wanna hear it?" And if you've ever been within 6 miles of our home, I'm sure you've all heard it. His scream can just about shatter glass! Miss Clark took this declaration with stride and gently explained that they didn't use that voice in school. Amazingly, he shrugged his shoulders and just said, "OH, OK." and that was that. Man, if I had known it was that easy, I would have used it a long time ago! My Aunt Jayne requested a few pictures of Bryce. Here's my little man, my how he's grown!!

So, you can see why todays post is all about new. Hmmm... I wonder if I can convince Patrick I need a new car? ...Ahh, nevermind. I don't need one. I'm happy with everything I've got!

Step on a Crack...

...break your Mother's back. Step wrong on the lawn, end up in the ER for 4 hours with a sprained foot. Yup. That's me...

Believe me, I'm much better today than yesterday. Yesterday I couldn't even wear the boot. Today, my loving and sweet Mom came over and took care of me. She made me lunch, got Caleb off the bus, watered my plants, even got me iced coffee from DD. Thanks, MOM! I appreciate all your help! The doc told me to stay off it for a day and take my 800 milligrams of Motrin 3 times a day and that I would be fine. And no more flip flops for me this season. I'm gonna need the arch support. And this right after I painted my toe nails. Oh, well. It could've been worse.

Being off my feet gave me a chance to

1. get some much needed rest
2. Get some computer work done, check out the newest Scrapbook Cupboard Newsletter. Let me know if you are liking the Riddles. I wanna know if you gals are reading them!
3. Visit with my Mom
4. Do no housework
5. Have a yummy fresh-from-the-garden eggplant parm cooked for me by my Hubby!

Speaking of Hubby. If you're looking for something to do tomorrow night or someplace to go his band Centerlink is playing at Basta's in Weymouth. They go on at 9 and there is a $5 cover charge. They've got a few songs on their page, Patrick's written most of the lyrics. One of them is about me, can you guess which one? Nah, don't. You probably won't guess anyway. They are a Heavy Metal band but we all need a little metal in our life, right?

I'll be back up on my feet in no time. Until then, here's an inspirational quote for everyone...

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. ~Jim Rohn

Stay positive and positive ideas will come to you. No sprain is gonna keep me down!

Back to School...

He's off! The bus came about 8:38.

Having good times....

OK, I'm having a few real good days. My house is clean, my yard is shaping up, my toenails are newly painted, the laundry is just about done, the dishes - done too!, classes almost all finished, my studio is looking good, my irises almost all gone and the kids are all set for school!!

To add to my good fortune, I was the first to find the rubber stamp over at Inkastamps. I've been on the hunt for some new and different stamp companies and while looking at this one, I noticed she had a little contest going on. Well... I won! $25 worth of free stamps! What more could a girl want? I chose wisely as a friend is having a birthday soon and I know she would love this. If she guesses who she is and leaves a comment on my blog, I'll even give her this. But if not, I know another friend who would like "Pickles" too! Hehe! Evil, aren't I!

Anyhow, I recommend you take a little web jaunt over to Inkastamps and look around. I'm loving a lot of her stamps. Some real cool designs.

I worked on my MCC class today. I'm done with weeks 1, 2 and 5. It's gonna be so cool! If you haven't checked out My Creative Classroom yet, why not?

Tomorrow is the first day of 2nd grade for Caleb. He's my comedian. Funny, witty and sometimes embarrassing. I don't know where he gets his material! I thought I'd share a few funny faces of Caleb today...

I need to take a few pointers from my friend, Bernadette about photography. None of these pictures would be up to par. But I believe they fall under the 'emotion' post she wrote about. And I'm happy with that.

Tomorrow, look for an early post. I need to send pictures of him going off to school for the grandparents. They love that stuff! And I love that they look here for it!!

I hope your day is a great one!!

Fleur de Lis

Metal Effects can be real easy to do. And it can have fast results!

A while back I promised that I would post Bryce and his Fleur de Lis. Ten Seconds Studio makes these Small Convertibles. A Convertible is made from masonite and they make 4 different small convertibles which are sold in sets and 4 different large convertibles that they sell seperately.

Check out what Bryce did. All on his own. He's super smart and extremely artistic. I hope he holds onto this talent and it continues to grow. Keep your eye on him now, you never know where he'll be 20 years from now!!

Come and get 'em! It's a Freebie!!

If you are remotely into gardening or like to have pretty plants in the yard, this post if for you. It has nothing to do with scrapbooking, altered arts, metal effect or any of the other craft related projects I love to work on. This post is about my Irises. See, I have a small iris garden in my front yard that had begun to over grow. It looked like this...

But worse. It was really shabby. If you look close you can see a vine running through the phlox. Well I was convinced it was poison ivy but so far, either I was real careful or it wasn't as I'm having no ill effects.

Anyhow, the rest of my yard needs similar work but I've been busy so it's taken a back seat. Well, I thought about it and since my metal fairy class was postponed, I decided I would divide my irises today. Boy, do I have a lot of them! Once I was done digging them up and cleaning up the area, look at the slew of irises I have!

According to the my camera, I took that picture at 4:38PM and then finally finished cleaning up the irises and took this one at 5:53! Whew!

I replanted all of the irises that I need and I still have this many left...

It doesn't even look like I dented it, does it! But I did, I made them slightly further apart than necessary so I wouldn't have to divide again for another 5 years. And I'd like to put some daffodils and tulips in between in a month. See...

OK, so. Here's the freebie! I have a bunch that I'm looking to give away. You must be able to come pick them up. I won't ship and I won't deliver (well, maybe I will but only if you live real close!) So, if you want some bearded irises, post a comment, give me a call, or send me an email. I'll be happy to share! I don't have any idea what colors they are, I have all kinds. Maroon, purple, yellow, red, black and more. So, it's a grab bag! There's also a few siberian irises and verigated irises as well!! Please contact me by Wednesday AM. I don't want them to die so if I have no takers I'll find some place else to plant them.

Saturday and it's a party alright!

Today was party day! PAAAATEEE! (gotta say it with the Boston accent, people!) While Patrick was supposed to work today he - 1. forgot and then 2. when he called and said I'll be right in (at 10:30 when he was supposed to be there at 7) they said, no, we really don't need you today anyhow - he let me sleep in late. YES!!


After waking and enjoying some coffee, making a deposit at the bank, cleaning the kitchen I was off to my friend Bernadette's house for a Tastefully Simple party. Man, that stuff is good! I ALWAYS buy more food from them, yet I have unopened packages right here in my house. As a matter of fact when I came home I was looking for something easy to bring tonight to work when I realized that I had already bought the Farmers Market Veggie Dip. Oops. It's unopened too! I guess we'll be eating lots of veggie dip here in the Parkinson household soon! So that was party number one.


Then I was off to work and party number two ensued! We had a great time. There was only a few of us there, Summer has always been a tough time for the CJ girls to get together and today, while only 5 of us, we had a blast! While I tried and tried to upload a little webcam video we did, again I'm having trouble uploading webcam videos. Hmmm... Something I will HAVE to look at now. Instead, I'll just tell you that we had a great time and missed all the other gals!


Oh, and since there were 5 of us... I thought it was funny that when I opened my home page tonight, I was greeted with this quote...



"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." - Jim Rohn



Girls???? What do you think???

Fun in the Sun!

Patrick's home safe and sound asleep ...literally! It was another busy day but today, my Parents took the kids to the beach. They picked the kids up at about 12:15 or so and then headed out. I left to go do some shopping and then I taught my More Metal Technique classes at the Scrapbook Cupboard. Although I didn't go to the beach, my Mom emailed me some pictures. Check out this one of Caleb on the boogie board...

He sure looks like he's having fun, huh! I'm not a fan of the beach but this is a great photo and I'm glad my Mom shared it. I can't wait to talk to the kids tomorrow.

Patrick has to work tomorrow but the kids and I have a play date at 2 and then I'm back the the Cupboard for the Circle Journal crop. I'm looking forward to Monday, it should be a slow day!

Working, working, working...

I was up late last night working on some Rolodex cards for a swap (aren't you proud Kerriann?). While I finished the "H" card - the group is on K, I'm behind - I forgot to take a picture. Can you believe it? I love them too. So cute. If I remember when I get them back, I'll post. But I did take a photo of the ATC's we traded last night. I'm missing two from the bunch, those ladies haven't passed theirs in yet but I have 8 awesome cards! 5 of the 8 open and I didn't take a picture of them open but you can see the outsides...

Our next ATC Swap at the Scrapbook Cupboard will be held on Wednesday, October 22 and our theme is "Circus". If you'd like to join, call the store to sign up! We accept sign ups until September 22nd and then I send out an email to tell you how many are in the group. It's never more that 18 and sometimes as small as 6.

I worked on my online class for My Creative Classroom last night as well. Here's a sample pic of 3 of the cards. I'm going to post the class information right after I finish this post. So, it'll be up tonight! Here's the photo...

I'm also working on my Metal Bookbinding class. It needs to be finished by tomorrow night and it's not there yet. It will be. Mom's coming to pick up the boys at Noon and then I'm free to do what I need to do. Yah! No picture of that yet, check back this weekend, I'll be sure to post it on the left!

My Nutcracker is starving!

Caleb has this fascination with Nutcrackers. You know the toy soldiers. He's always liked them, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the bright colors, maybe it's the fact they are in character or maybe it's because they can crack a nut with their jaws. Whatever the reason, he loves them.

A few years ago my Mom got Caleb a Nutcracker for Christmas. He loved it! Well, I'm not sure what got into his head but today, he had to play with it. While I'm cleaning the kitchen, I see him rummaging through the pantry. What's he looking for? Why Nuts of course! While we aren't big nut eaters here, we did have a jar of cashew halves and pieces, which Caleb then fed to his Nutcracker. Why? Because his Nutcracker was Starving!!! Didn't I know that the last time the Nutcracker ate was when he first got him, several Christmas' ago? My, Oh, My! It's amazing the Nutcracker lived that long!!

Today was the bi-monthly (meaning every other month, not twice a month - is that the same word? I'll have to look it up.) ATC meeting. I was going to take a picture of all the cards and post them but I left Amy's at the store. Hers were still a little wet and since I had to bring the Cherubs-turned-while-at-store-into-Monsters, I was quick to skeedattle out of there. And I forgot it. The Monsters were playing in and around the car in the parking lot. Probably not something they should be doing. Calgon!!!!! Anyhow, I'll try to remember to post some pictures of them tomorrow. They came out great! Dana, of course, put a fairy in hers. It would not be a piece of art from Dana if she didn't add a fairy. I love it!

I'll be working for a few more hours tonight on some projects and then I promised to bring the Cherubs-hopefully-not-Monsters to the park tomorrow. Yikes, what was I thinking? I'll post some sneak peaks tomorrow night!

Busy Week Ahead...

Ok, I'm ready to go! I've got a busy week ahead of me. Patrick leaves tomorrow for New Jersey, he's going to training at the BMW center down there. He usually goes several times a year but this is the first time this year. It makes for a long week with the boys but it's nice to have the bed to oneself once in a while. (Love you, honey!) So, you'll probably see some pictures of the boys over the next few days while he's away. Yah know, two nights in NJ and he might forget what his kids look like. (*snicker*).

So, what's going on this week? LOTS! and I mean LOTS! Tomorrow night the cherubs and I will be off to the ATC swap at the Scrapbook Cupboard. Our theme this time around was "Entrances and Doorways". It really stretched my thinking. I'm still not done with the cards although the ideas are in my head and are starting to come out onto paper. At the ATC swap, I'm going to show the ladies a cool technique using Ranger's Dimensional Pearls. A technique where the Pearls actually dry before you go home! Yup, it's possible! Maybe I'll make a tutorial out of it but I can't until after class, I know you understand!

Thursday I have loads to do in the studio. I need to finish my examples for my Metal Bookbinding class in September as well as a few make and takes for an event coming up and other such interesting creative things. Then I'm working Thursday night at the store, or I think I am. My sister's coming over to visit. I need to verify that. I have it written but... well, maybe I'll be at the store Thursday night. But if I'm not, I will be at the Scrapbook Cupboard on Friday night. Teaching the next installment of Metal Techniques. Check out this picture...

There's still a few techniques I've read about since creating this class. There just might have to be a third installment.

And while Patrick might be back late Friday night, he has to go into work on Saturday. It's his Saturday to work. So the Cherubs and I will be heading to this gals house for a Tastefully Simple Party. Good thing her kids are about the same ages as mine, hopefully my boys will play nice. And Saturday night, I get to pass the cherubs off to Patrick while I host the Circle Journal Crop at the Scrapbook Cupboard. I LOVE this class. It's hands down my favorite. The girls that attend are so creative and inspiring. We all have a blast cropping and filling each others journals with entries. Almost all of them will be done soon. How exciting!

On Sunday, I'll be traveling to The Stamp Act to teach my beautiful Metal Fairy. I just love her. She's been at the store since July and I can't wait to be reunited. The class is sure to be fun. If you haven't signed up yet, why not? You better hurry! Here's a peek of her again...

I hope to see you sometime this week!

Oh, and be on the look out. The My Creative Classroom class will be posted this week too!

She's up to something...

Yup, lots of some things. I've been extremely busy these past few days. I had to clean out my studio. It was cluttered and too busy. I couldn't get anything done. I had moved my Scrapbook Cupboard in there a week ago and I couldn't get anything open. So I purchased a second hand computer desk (thanks Jean!) and rearranged my studio. Now, I'm ready for some creating. OK, well... maybe tomorrow. Furniture is heavy and so is all the stuff I had to move to get the old out and then the new in. So I'm pretty tired tonight.

I have a few things to post about. I promised that I had news to share today. And I do!

Starting this Fall, I will be teaching at My Creative Classroom.

They are having this BIG Kickoff event starting on September 8th. I'll be sure to tell you more information as it's posted but why not sign up for the newsletter HERE. If you visit My Creative Classroom site, check out my name on the lower left corner. There I am, ready to rock and roll this Fall! As soon as I have my class posted there, I'll update this blog and let you all know! It'll probably be another day.

And do you know what today is? Today I've been blogging for 1 month. Yup and I only missed two days. Yah, I know but two's better than twenty-two, right?

I hope to see you online!

Look for something special...

On Monday I'm gonna be posting something special. Keep your eyes peeled!

Also, I told you I tell you when we were going to be having a Silhouette class. Here's the details:

Thursday, September 18th from 7-9PM at the Scrapbook Cupboard. Price is $20 but class is limited to only 6 people. This is to ensure everyone gets on hands time with the Silhouette and PC. If you own a laptop where the Silhouette resides, feel free to bring it so that you can work on your own more. It's a lecture based class with hand outs but we will be using the stores computer to get some hands on learning in. You can call the store anytime to sign up. 508-378-0008.

I've got a busy day tomorrow. I'll be rearranging my studio so I can work again. I haven't been getting much done since we moved everything around last week. It's crazy in there.!

The Fett Legacy has arrived...

My oldest son, Caleb is a HUGE Star Wars fan. His favorite characters are the Fett's, Jango Fett and Boba Fett. A while back he got a Star Wars comic book from the Easter Bunny. He recently picked up the book to look at and read and he noticed an advertisement on the back. It was for this:

On Monday of this week he asked if he could buy it. He had saved enough money from his allowance and he wanted to know if he had enough. Hasbro listed the figurines at $19.99 so, he counted his cash and with the aid of a whole bunch of quarters, he was in business! Well, Hasbro lists the store you can buy these at. Let me save you the trouble now and tell you that they are at neither WalMart nor Target. While Caleb was disappointed he couldn't have them right away, I did offer to help him out and we could order it through Amazon. I love Amazon, I've used them since 1997. They just seem to have everything. And they offer free shipping when you buy $25 or more. And since the Fett Legacy was only $19.99, I bought a mini donut maker that I needed for work (more on that another time - but it is totally craft related). Anyhow, I let Caleb press the button to actually buy the items and I told him they would be there by next Monday at the latest.

On Tuesday, Caleb was asking... when is my Fett Legacy coming? And me, next week.

On Wednesday, Caleb was asking... when is my Fett Legacy coming? And me, I'll look it up and see. Amazon's good at posting that information as soon as it's available. Well, when I looked it wasn't even due to ship until next Monday and then arrive somewhere between August 26 -29. WHAT! He wasn't happy. He was miserable. So, I offered to pony up the shipping to get it sooner. So $12.46 worth of shipping was spent so my son could have his Fett Legacy within the week.

On Thursday, Caleb was asking... when is my Fett Legacy coming? And me, let's check. Sure enough, my $12.46 sent that Fett Legacy (and mini donut maker) to the front of the line and they were due to arrive on Friday! Then, that's all I heard. Is it Friday yet? Is it Friday yet? Are they here yet? Where's the Mailman? Oh, well then, where's the UPS guy? On and on this went.

On Friday, Caleb was asking... do you think my Fett Legacy is here yet? And me, No Honey, it's only 6:45 AM, the UPS guy doesn't leave the lot that early. And so the day began. Caleb waited by the window, by the door, in the driveway...

Evidently the sun was hot and he needed some shade!

We had some errands to do and he worried, "Will he leave it while we are gone?" I answered yes, and promised we be back as soon as we could. Once back, it hadn't arrived yet so he waited some more...

And some more...

And some more. Even when it started to get dark and rainy...

He still waited!

But around 4:30 he started to become frustrated. He was definitely upset that the UPS guy had not been here yet. We had seen the truck while out on errands so he knew he was around, he just hadn't made it to our house. And he was afraid he wasn't going to.

At 5PM, Patrick called to say he was almost home and Caleb was beyond speaking to, nearly in tears. He had waited all day and now, this thing he wanted, that he paid for by himself wasn't coming. It was hard to see Caleb this upset; although I still held out hope that the UPS guy would pull through. Patrick tried talking to him but Caleb didn't want to listen. He finally gave up and went in to watch TV. A few minutes after, I saw the truck go around the corner. I now knew he was still in the area and we would be next. Well... as it ended up not next but about 20 minutes later. Caleb finally got it!

Look at that smiling face!

He tore into that package...

Only to find...

WHAT!!!

A mini donut maker??? Mom! It didn't come, he cried. Nearly in tears!! I told him to dig deeper.

And he found what he was looking for...

Now that's one happy boy!

My Brother Reads My Blog!!!!

So, my Mom came over today for a visit. She was chatting about her visit with my Brother.
So, she tells me about a conversation she had with him. It went a little like this...
Mom says... Did you know your sister got new carpets?
Mike says... Yup, I knew that.
Mom says... Did you talk to her?
and Mike said... No, Ma! I read her blog!!!

I love it!! Hehehe! You know you've made it in the world when your Brother takes time out of his busy day to read your blog! Thanks, Mike. I Love you!

Oops... I missed it and a tutorial!

Alright at the beginning I said I was going to post everyday for 6 weeks. Well, I didn't. Oh, well. I had every intention of blogging Tuesday night but after I spent a fabulous night at Fran's house having fun I decided to watch some shows I've have DVR'd for a while. Some further back than my vacation. So, no blogging was done. Then Wednesday night, after I taught my Metal Cards class at the Cupboard, I went home and started this but didn't make it before the clock struck midnight. Sorry.

To make it up to you, I've decided to give you a tutorial. I have a class next Friday night at the Scrapbook Cupboard. It's 8 new and exciting techniques using metal. Here's a sneak of one of the techniques. If you are interested in some more, give the store a call to sign up!

What do you need for this technique?

• An Acrylic Mat Set
• Paper Stump
• Small Round Eraser
• Large Mold
• Art Metal Copper
• Sanding Block
• Quickutz Die
• Revolution Tool (although I used the Cuttlebug)

For the first step, put down the acrylic mat, then the thin mat, put down the large mold and then the art metal on top of that. Use the paper stump to rub the metal until you've come out with the design. Really get in there with the paper stump. If you need to, go back over it with the small round eraser...

Remove the mold and then take the sanding block to the metal. Make sure you hold the sanding block horizontally to the metal so you just sand off the top color of the metal. The copper remains in the 'cracks' but the aluminum shows through on the top. Pretty cool, huh?

Once you've completed the basic steps, put your piece of metal on your die and run through your die cut machine. I used a Quickutz border die but I used my Cuttlebug. I did have to run it through the machine twice but then I realized I didn't have a shim on the die and think that might be why I had to. Try it out. Test your dies. You may have to run it through twice or you may just need a shim. Either way, this will work with anything that will cut through paper. The metal is actually easier to cut through sometimes, it's pretty thin.



















When you're done, you'll have beautiful metal die cuts perfect for cards, scrapbook pages, alterable items or anything else you'd like. I hope you enjoy!
And again, if you're interested in learning more. Call the store to sign up. Here's a look at the others...

Nothing like that NEW carpet smell...

I know it's Monday and I mentioned last week that we may do a Review Monday thing so... consider this a review and a post. It's a twofer!

I have no crafting news to share again today. I spent all day in my kitchen. I couldn't move beyond about 3 feet in one direction and 4 feet in another. It was kinda a stressful day, but a great day! We contacted Empire Today to get new carpets last week and scheduled an install for TODAY! I'm so happy. Our old carpet was well lived in. It was a Plush tan carpet that had seen a lot of stuff. The kids both were infants and toddlers on that old carpet, a sick dog layed on the carpet, the cats had hairballs on that carpet, kids spilled juice, adults spilled food, juice, beer, soda and ... well, the cats peed on it while we were in Maine. YUCK! GROSS! I know. I've had to live with it for over a week! And it's been humid and rainy. Enough said.

So the Empire guy came last Thursday, I picked out a new carpet, a frieze this time. It's kinda scratchy and tickly on your feet all at the same time. Much different than the plush. It's a color called Ashwood so it's still a tan but a little lighter. Which really is fine since our dog is a blue merle and it just seems that most of her white hair falls out rather than the gray and black. The carpet has some flex of green and brown in it, so if spills happen - ok, scratch that, when spills happen it'll be more forgiving. Anyhow, I picked out the carpet, he gave me a price, I gave him some money and he went home.

Yesterday Patrick and I started the daunting task of emptying the room of everything. We did pay for them to remove the old carpet but didn't pay for furniture removal. Since Patrick's got a bad back, I did most of the grunt work. Boy, oh boy, I was tired. The TV weighs about 1000 pounds and the entertainment center weighs about 5000! My scrapbook cupboard (yes, I actually own a scrapbook cupboard) weighed about 25000 pounds and has yet to find a new home, since I'm not putting it back into the living room. It really belongs in my studio, I just need to find a spot for it now. But you know what I thought was the killer... the fish tank. Who knew fish weighed that much!!! By golly, miss molly! I think it's the thought that you have to carry it, you can't spill it and if you drop it, two little boys will cry because you killed their fish!!! That thing was the worst.

Back to Empire... they told me that the guys would call on Monday AM with a time frame they'd be here. They did. They called at 7:45 AM and said they'd be there between 9-10. They were at my door at 9:05AM and they were gone by 12:15PM!! They were fast, efficient and personable too! One of the guys made little hearts for me out of the left over carpet...

OK, Ok, not very practical, but really where am I going to put the left over pieces of carpeting anyhow. I've got a ton of it! They did my entire living room and the stairs. The stairs carpet was old, worn out maroon carpet that showed every ounce of cat hair, dog hair and dirt there was to be had. Now the stairs are not only bright and cheerful but inviting and nice to look at...

Ignore the whole in the wall. We assume it used to be the fireplace in the house but has been long ago dismantled. We now put the 5000 pound entertainment center over it. It works out nicely because you have a large space to fuss with the cables and wires that come with an entertainment center.

I keep getting off the subject here. Again, I'm happy with Empire Today. The carpet is beautiful, it was installed in a rain and thunderstorm and the guys never complained. They took off their shoes once in the house so they would get dirt on my new carpet, they swept, cleaned up after themselves and did the work in short order. I have no complaints. This is the 3rd time I've used Empire. They did the carpet in my studio, they did my bathrooms tub and tile and now this carpet. I'll use them again if I need to. ...Hmmmm... the kitchen floor could use....

Living on the Edge...

OK, I've got to post quick. Ice Road Truckers is on and I've got to watch. Someone's 'going through the ice' this week. I've been waiting 2 seasons to see something like that.

Not much going on today. We cleared on the living room completely. Our new carpet will be here tomorrow. No crafting today, no room. It's always a sad day when you don't craft. I'll wallow in Ice Road Truckers and the Sherbert my husband just went to get me....

**Edited - I guess I'll have to continue to watch for the 'big break' through the ice. Nothing happened that was caught on the camera. Oh, well...

Surprise Party ...and a Course Completed!

Last night a group of friends traveled into Boston to the Venezia restaurant. We sat and waited with people we didn't know. We met family members and friends of a woman we all came to see. Last night, we celebrated Mimi's 60th birthday. And she was surprised!!!


Mimi's daughter put together this fabulous celebration and some of her closest friends were invited to come and join in on the festivities. I was honored to be one of those people. A few of us that were invited got together and created an album for her. She loved it (or, I think she did. You decide...)

There was excellent food, drinks and cute little thank you gifts. Fran and Alex danced in their seats! Susan did what she does best... took fabulous photos! (Those you see here are the ones I took before my camera batteries went dead.) Kristin told funny stories, she's a barrel of laughs that girl! And we even met Heidi there too!
I had a wonderful time and was so happy that this event was put together for Mimi. She deserves it!

BUT... Mimi's birthday celebrations didn't end last night, we're off to Fran's house on Tuesday (Mimi's actual birthdate) to continue our celebration and then Mimi is traveling to LA to celebrate out there with other friends. What a great way to spend a 60th birthday! I hope I'm as lucky when I get there!!

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And for more exciting news to share!! I am now officially a Certified Quickutz Silhouette teacher for the Scrapbook Cupboard!!

I'm happy to have completed this course and can boast to be the first certified teacher in Massachusetts! (according to the QK website)

Another great course completed. I learned a lot taking this class and I'm happy I did. I feel much more confident in my Silhouette and I really think that I can do so much more with it now.

I'll let you know if any Silhouette classes will be scheduled.