My hard drive crashed (public service announcement

*snort* as a welcome home present. arrgghhh!! DH fixed me up w/a new pc woo hooo! BUT, I lost all my email, snail mail addresses, i tunes (major bummer) ancestory.com stuff (double major bummer) and OMG! pictures (dammit bummer) and assorted other stuff I'll be equally torqued about I'm sure. SO BACK UP YOUR PC REGULARLY and if you haven't received an email from ME - please SEND ME ONE, so I get YOUR email address.

A Bimini Christmas.................

The main street in Bimini seriously hasn't changed in the last few years. And the Biminites, friendliest people in the world, right down to the kidlets wishing or asking or telling you to have a good day.

View from our dock. the water is sooo yummy. Its sooo cool - our boat docked in a foreign port and another stamp on my passport that needs to be renewed.

The view from the other side of the island. The beauty just takes your breath away. We had a great time. You can't help but. Saw Stevie S my favorite Bimini boy at the local pub. He didn't sing any of my favorites either (sigh - must be a conspiracy LOL) but I have my favorite CD.

So this is Christmas!!! (stole this from another post)

and John Lennon *snort*. In Florida. ON the east coast. NO sense reinventing the wheel.

I've, well we've had a very relaxing Christmas so far. This black bird decided he liked relaxing on my outriggers and I happened to be sitting right under him. Very BOLD I must say. Although polite. The weather has been very lovely on the east coast - up to the 80's, and we did some cleaning that has been coming from awhile so every thing is totally polished up and ship shape. Then we went exploring and took a ride up and down the intercoastal waterway this is just one of the gorgeous bridges and we actually fit under it - so no stopping traffic. sigh. Took it from the back of the boat and you can see our wake! Although not for the motorists that have to WAIT. There's a little park to the side of the intercoastal - although we are too big to fit into it, I decided to admire it from afar. Although it has signs up for manatees, I didn't see one (a manatee). Maybe someone should tell the manatee they're supposed to be hanging there. snort.

Then there's the beautiful moonrise (full as well)-over the marina. It's very relaxing listening to the water splash up against the boat as it gently (in most cases) rocks you to sleep. So we'll be heading back and be ever on the alert in case there's an opening we can slide through to Bimini.

So for today we'll be hanging out with friends and I need to get started on some cookie baking. We're supposed to bring dessert and everything is closed. My bad. The dogs were happy to see us and have stayed close *insert eyeroll* I can't just spring into action, I have to look where I'm stepping so I dont' end up stomping all over them. Its sooo nice to be LOVED. snort.

The youngest has called - to say Merry Christmas and can I get his new phone activated. Sigh. Always an ulterior motive, but I am impressed that he said Merry Christmas first. Talked to eldest son and dil TWICE yesterday. They LOVED the album I sent them. woo hoo!!! and showed it off at Uncle Joe's. You've seen most of the lo's if you've been hanging at either SDD or Scrap Diner. bwahahaha. 8x8. totally rockin. DIL's mom wants copies. I believe I'll make her one for her very own. Diggin the projects. But it'll have to wait until I return hopefully from sailing the ocean blue. ar ar matey!

Whose the #1 Army MOM??????

ummmmmm....... that would be me!!!! because *I* have a shirt, hat and a badge clippy thing that says so AND According to my brilliant army son and his wife. bwahahahaha. WHOM I called at 11 a.m. today and they were still sleeping. snort. Although he was surprised enough to say YOU OPENED THEM ALREADY???? Well doh! I'm the #1 mom and *I* can do what I want. Never could wait when there were prizes around. bwahahahaha! They did GREAT everything's Xlarge because I love big and roomy. Also have a gift card to eat at our favorite restaurant. YUM-O! I'm proud of him and I'll wear his colors any day!!!! HOO-AH!

Just Call Me Queen of the Mini Albums!

And its all Ali's fault. I read her book. AND acted upon said book. I LOVE projects and right now they are going better than pages. SOOO.....How cool is this. Bo Bunny - YUM-O! Love the paper and love the album. The photos are of my DH and his family, but mostly of him when he was a wee lad. His sisters are gonna be soooo jealous. LOVE that.

The trick to these albums, because you're doing a lot of cutting and pasting and trimming. (not alot a measuring, in fact -NO measuring bwahahaha) Trimming is important, because you have to TRACE and make sure you trace the RIGHT way so your paper goes in the same direction as the letter. snort. And because nothing is perfect, SANDPAPERING is DA BOMB. It covers most all mistakes and multitudes of sins, then makes them look like - well you meant for it to be that way :). Besides the mussed up look ROCKS. Seriously. So this is about the sixth little mini album I've completed in a matter of WEEKS. and trust me I am not a speed demon. I don't look for speed because I enjoy the journey and I don't care how long it takes me to get there. Also included in this gem is the Noteworthy felt, paper flowers and buttons, Lasting Impressions ribbon and Michael's ribbon. and BLING. I love da bling. Bo Bunny also has a PARTY and BELIEVE. We have FAMILY and PARTY in the shoppe. Along w/the beautiful papers. My pal Brookie is working on the PARTY one and it totally rocks. Both are in the store for you to fondle and ooooo and ahhhhhh over. Worth the trip.

SPEAKING OF TRIPS. I'm still clueless as to where we'll be hanging over Christmas. But its the excitement and thrill of the spontaneity. *insert eyeroll.*

YA'LL HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The rock 'n roll flute!

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull makes the flute rock. Literally! We had a great time (although now that we're old concerts just aren't what they used to be) LOL!!! NO smoke of any kind. WOW! They actually make 16th century music sound not only cool but rockin!!!! OF course there were the usual hecklers and I don't understand WHY. You pay MONEY to go to a concert and then you can't keep your big mouth shut long enough to HEAR anything. Makes perfect sense to me. *insert eyeroll*. But somewhere along the line they passed out or whatever and it turned into an awesome, musical experience. EXCEPT, they didn't do MY favorite song. TOO OLD TO ROCK N' ROLL TO YOUNG TO DIE. sigh.

Wildlife out my back door!

Looking out from my lanai (fancy word for patio) *snicker* I got concerned when I saw our canal and how low the water is. We sure could use some rain (side note). But it was still teeming w/wildlife. Wasn't quick enough for the fish jumping, was glad to NOT see any gators. There's a backhoe down the way moving the water lilies out of the way in hopes of draining more water down and a bunch of egrets not only WATCHING him but they were practically ON TOP OF THE HOE. It was too funny to watch. My lens wasn't long enough to capture their intentness in watching this backhoe. One however did not care as evident from his pose. Drying his wings, bathing in the sun. Snake bird I believe he's called because he umm....looks like a snake. A blue heron??? I'm so not a bird person and too lazy to look it up. Landed behind the snake bird in an attempt to sneak up on him. Well the snake bird obviously didn't care as the blue heron just sashayed on by him, caught that and thought this was the picture. Not going back to find that one. Maybe I'll scrap that one and you can check it out on a lo. bwahahaha!!! Not much happening on the s/b front today. Heading to work. Looking for a project to do. Snort. I still have some cd jackets begging to be altered. bwahahaha! Get in line. ROFL!

Two little mini - albums DONE!!!

Aren't these adorable. The first one I "lifted" from Cathy Zeilski's blog and she "lifted" from someone else bwahahaha! This is a grateful journal for 2008 for each week of the year. You are supposed to use scraps, but alas I had 3 6x6 books of perfectly good Basic Grey lines - Periphery, LilyKate and Gypsy and mixed them all up. I did the papers back to back because well I'm like that. I also added some of those yummy journaling notes from Noteworthy and tags from K&Co ancestory line. I also included some Lil Davis envelopes. Can't wait to start using it!

The second one I not only "lifted" but "traced" from Dani - our favorite customer from England with the 2 seriously adorable toddlers Sebastian and Celeste. She actually made this using the rockwell font and cutting the numbers out at different lengths. I just traced her book on some chipboard, cut them out and even used *gasp* a kraft knife. I decided it would be cute for Christmas and used the YUMMY deja views line. Add some bling and stickles and ready to go. I used jump rings whereas Dani bound hers w/that new binding system out that I thought I didn't want. Snort! As if *I* didn't want a tool. So now I'm lusting after that baby because it well rocked the mini album. So now I'm thinking the rockwell font would look good w/oh say - family, love, you know the icky adjectives. snort.

OH and the shuttle. Delayed until Sunday - ok I'm holding my breath for that launch.

Scrapper's Daily Dose Challenges

The design team is gonna be having some fun w/challenges! Double Dog Dare Ya! Pop in on the link in my favs. We are still working out the details so stay tuned.

Shuttle launch

See the photo of the shuttle???? uhuh. Well the launch was postponed yesterday and I don't know if I'll make the next one. Which is scheduled for Saturday, maybe, kinda, sortof. Not sure. Alrighty then. I'll just have to wait for the gov't to make up its mind. *insert eyeroll*

Are You Ready???

for the holidays??? Snort. I am so NOT. Haven't started a thing. Decorations, shopping, thinking about presents. What? There's still time. After all its only the 4th.

I found this adorable (is there any other?) picture of Shane on Mr/Mrs Claus's lap and could help but use Cosmo Cricket. Love that line. A little bit goes a long way. I'm also diggin the 6x12 size. Did you know there's another odd size out there? 8x12. Of course there are page protectors NOW. but this won't catch on for another 3 years so just stock up for them. bwahahahahaha!.

And then there's my altered notebook - just waiting for the new year. I don't do resolutions because alas they will be broken so why get involved in something you know will be a failure out of the gate. Snort. But i do like to write (I should've been a scribe) and there are some things the entire world need not know. I have these babies stashed all over the house and in the attic. Some altered or not. Doesn't matter. Hopefully one day, future gens w/get a kick out of them. If you're lusting after the patterned paper (and their stamps-YUM-O) - this is creative cafe - could be lucky - not sure bucause you can *gasp* mix spirit and lucky together. How cool is that. If you're drooling over the clock - that's from Heidi Swapp and its a "ghost clock". You need to pester Gigi to order these if you really really want them for your own. Bwahahahaha! Oh pester her about the Cosmo too. Snort.

I'm off to Cape Canaveral Thursday for another shuttle launch - this time even closer. AND no I'm NOT gonna be on it. Can't get rid of me that easy. YUNK YUNK! AND having breakfast w/an astronaut. Don't know which one. Gonna be interesting. Stay tuned.

Fast & Furious

was our ride to NJ. We started late Tuesday and it seemed to go downhill from there. Returning on Saturday with a much smoother ride home.

Got some beautiful fall foliage and this photo doesn't even begin to show how gorgeous the colors really are. We ran into traffic at places it never happened before AND listened to corny joke day w/Dr. Laura. SIGH. 3.HOURS.in.traffic. with.CORNY.JOKES. for example....How come the kid couldn't go see the pirate movie??? It was rated arrrrrrrrr. SIGH. How do you catch a unique wild animal? You NIQUE up on it. How do you catch a tame animal? the tame way. GROAN. lol! and HONESTLY - it went downhill from there. We finally reached our destination and was comforted with Ginny's homemade chicken soup. YUM! and peppers and eggs! double YUM!

Gotta love a man who can wear pink when carving a turkey. Of course he had a sharp knife in his hand so um...no snickers were in evidence.

We had a lot of delicious food and enough to keep an army going for a month. Or longer. lol!

Friday, we went to Liz and Kevin's new house for a Murphy party which was totally fun. Met Lucy, their, golden retriever who is such a love and a puppy. She is all about playing! and she thinks/knows she's a lap dog. bwahahahaha! Got to see Nick, Melissa and Christopher and Chance. What a bonus! Chance and Lucy seemed to get along, when Lucy decided she liked her new favorite squeaky toy. lol!

Three (count'm) THREE mini-albums-ONE weekend!

After reading Ali's new book it occurred to me (doh) that mini-albums were a cool way to go. So having purchased a bunch of CD jackets that had no where to go but altered, started the whole scrappin soiree. I know I know it looks kinda plain for me, and it is, but isn't, because all three are almost the same, yet different, bwahahaha. BUT all lines I used were able to stand on their own and shine. Well some inking was required. This is Sassafrass lass and the colors are beautiful for a fall wedding. Love all the pockets and tuck aways, because there are some photos tucked away, because well, *I* (I know this'll be hard to believe) got carried away printing. So many cool photos to choose from. So as I find memorabilia from these weddings (because I'm soooo organized I have no clue where I put them *insert eyeroll*), I can tuck those in there as well. For those of you that know me, will see that these are collage-less, flower-less and embelishment-less - all a major first for ME. Kinda cool for these few instances, and the photos are allowed to rock.

The next line was Fancy Pants. YUM!!! It was also perfect for a November wedding. Note the similarities in design because well all the jackets were the same. SNORT. Trick question. But it kept things simple and using the same lines (well I wasn't THAT adventerous - LESS stuff was adventerous enough) LOL. I whacked everything to the measurements and stuck the paper down. Easy.

The Sharon Ann collection, another yummy line is perfect for a spring wedding. This way the kidlets can't whine that one is pretty than the other. Well there are, BUT. You ask where you can find these awesome lines - My Scrapbook Shoppe for all you locals. The rest of you are on your own. I think all the lines are there except umm Sassafrass lass. That one went FAST. Ahem.

How stinkin cute is this???

Creative Cafe - is so gonna rock. You need to gather all your basic kits, wait breathlessly by your emails or better yet haunt My Scrapbook Shoppe to SEE WHEN you can make this awesome mini album. Yours won't look like this one because while Brooke was designing YOURS, I was customizing MINE. (um....don't tell the boss). SNORT. It rocks in LUCKY - AND I purchased the fixins to make another one in SPIRIT. I now have to figure out what the theme of this one will be. The first one was customized to take on the road with me when Tom and I were going to Bimini for the holiday. However, being a scrapper that can spin on a dime (SNORT), this book will go to NJ with me when we hang with the family. I've already made notes IN IT (how cool is that) on stops I want to make to further pursue my geneology stuff. Oh and wallet size photos 2.5 x 3.5 are totally the perfect size for this mini. ooooooo and there's a another one in the making that seriously competes with the same coolness factor as this one. Bwahahahaha!

A few of us had fun last night and closed the sidewalks down for sure when we rocked the Bo Bunny tags, cards and Christmas bags kit. We were challenged BRIEFLY, your fearless leader included on um 1/8" on a ruler, measuring in general, getting the correct paper, because of course they NAMED them very similar. While all the measuring was going on, we were challenged with Terri OD'ing on sugar cookies, because she was well - hungry. And being the slave master that I am, I kept everyone on task - low blood sugar on not. bwahahahaha! We had minimal issues with paper trimmers, punches, and even got the REV involved. NO class is complete w/o the REV. Oh and then you had to get the paper going in the correct direction *insert eyeroll*. BUT despite ALL these challenges - fun was NOT only had, but every item was completed and we all went home happy and exhausted. AND hungry. and our kids went hungry. Poor babies. SNORT!

This is the prima watercolor paper of which was really really FUN to do. I totally love the way it turned out, especially with one of my all time favorite photos, taken by my friend Emily. I also want to add in a most humble and modest (snort) way that PRIMA MARKETING ADDED THIS TO THEIR GALLERIES!! WOO HOOO!!! (jumpin up and down in excitement). and UM we have MORE watercolor paper available at the shop to have fun with. umm.... just not this particular one. BUT Brooke has a rockin example in the shoppe for you to see, and wish HER LUCK, because her's was also POSTED on PRIMA AND its in the WATERCOLOR CONTEST they are having. (jumpin up and down again). This just rocks all over.