I'm pooped

Once again I'm apologizing for my lack of posting.  January started out so fun but its gone downhill and I'm just emotionally and physically pooped.

First some fun things.

My hours at work have been extended.  I now work more hours per day....which is a good thing.....but it has taken some getting used to.  God Bless my Asst. Principal, as she really went to bat for me.  Love her!

The Hubs has finally gotten his own job site to manage.  He is excited to try his own wings.  I know he'll do a great job.

18 went back to school and now has her own room.  She loves it!

I got a SU! order.  I haven't played with any of it!  But I wanted to show you these buttons.

These are the Basic Designer Buttons 129325, in the Spring Catalog.  The big one is just so much bigger than I expected.  So I thought I'd show you how big it is in comparison to a quarter.


Then the other day I got a letter.

 My 10 year anniversary came and went.  I didn't even remember. 



Now the downhill part.

This is my dad and grandma on New Year's Eve.  I know they don't look too happy here but trust me they were.  They are so much alike. 

My grandma passed away last Monday.  She was 92.  I'm so glad I got to see her one last time and kiss and hug on her.

I'll be going back to Iowa in a few weeks to help my cousin straighten things out with her estate.  Grandma was a tough old broad and left specific instructions that no memorial be held and to not even put her ashes in the cemetery until all the snow is gone.  My cousin is having a really hard time with that. 

So life has been a little topsy turvy lately.  Now that I have my travel stuff decided I'm feel like I'm coming up for air.  Things are settling down a little. 

I have cards to stamp before I leave so I hope I'll be able to show you something stampy here pretty soon. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking in.  You warm my heart. 

Blessings, b.

December Daily 2012

Okie dokie.  I took pics of my Dec. Daily album today.  So grab a cup of something yummy and maybe even a snack.  There are ALOT of pics today. 

note:  some of the pictures in the album are blurry and over or under exposed.  I decided I would rather add a blurry pic than not use it at all.  The memory/story is still there even though the pic is not crystal clear.  

The final size is 4x6.  I will probably just use some binder rings to put it together. 

This originally was going to be the inside of the front cover.  Grace had wanted to make the cover  but then changed her mind.  So I turned it over and made this the front.  Genius!

The inside of the front cover is just a little bit about each of us during this time in our lives.

The journaling for Dec. 1 is a 4x3 piece of cardstock.  I stamped the number on a wood sheet and used the lid of my chapstick for the ring.

I just glued the pictures to each other.

I don't have Photoshop or anything fancy.  So I opened Dec. 3 in Paint and put a text box on it and just put the journaling right on the pic.

Some days I had more than one picture.  I just added more pages.  Simple.

I plan on putting the Costco receipt in here.  The green is actually a pocket so I can slip it in. 

See that button up there?  That is one of the buttons that they were giving away at J.C. Penney.  I got a few of them.  I took off the pin part and then hot glued it to the tab.

The same day of the Newtown shooting, Grace's school was on lockdown when I went to get her.  Talk about scary!  I wrote on the pic with my white gel pen. 

I did my journaling on a cone wrapper from Coldstone.

On the 16th I did my journaling on a piece of vellum.  To cover the glue on the sides I put a piece of sticky strip and then covered it in glitter.  I know glitter is not a good thing to have close to pictures but I like it anyway. 

Another button from JCP.  I got behind on the picture taking and journaling for a week.  So I just put them all on one journal page. 

I was playing around with picture sizes and found a way to open a Word doc. and put 2 pics on a 4x6 page.

I printed the 3 pics as a wallet size and then just cut them down to fit. 

I'm leaving the back of the album blank. 

Alrighty then, thats it.  I so love this project.  A big reason I love this project so much is because there is no right or wrong.  It is whatever you choose to make it.  Not all of the pictures are perfect (probably none) but they tell my story. 

You can see here to find out what Dec. Daily is all about.  On the left side of my blog you will see links to my past Dec. Daily albums.   Plan on doing it next year.  You won't regret it. 

Okay, Downton is coming on pretty soon.  I have my tea all ready.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging with this lllloooooonnnnnnngggg post.

Blessings, b.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Day.  I spent mine traveling.......and building a snowman. 

We left 3 days after Christmas to visit my dad.  My cousin came with her family and brought my 92 year old gramma.  It was a fun family reunion.  Gramma was real tired though and happy to go home.

I did finish my Dec. Daily.  I will take pics of it tomorrow and will post it. 

I have just a few pics I want to show you of our trip.

We went to the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens to see the lights.  There were lots of people.  The lights were pretty cool.  It was kinda cold. 

The Boy couldn't come with us.....he had to work.  He had a good time staying home though.  A real good time if you know what I mean.

On the way home we stopped at 18's dorm and built a snowman.  The snow was so dry we had a really hard time packing it.  She wanted a much taller one but we did the best we could.  It was getting dark.  His name is George and I hope he is still there when she gets back to school. 


So now we are home and I have had so many chores to catch up on.  Last night we went and saw Jack Reacher.  It was pretty good but I was squirming in my seat a little.  The chick that is the lead character played Jane in Pride and Prejudice.  I kept listening for her accent...never heard it.

A few weeks ago I signed up for Ali's One Little Word.  I tried this on my own last year but I didn't do so well.  I did so bad in fact, I can't even remember what word I chose.  This year my word is Courage.  I may be showing stuff I do following the workshop. 

In other news, Downton Abbey is starting again tomorrow!  WooHoo!  I tried watching some of Season 2 today but there were too many things to do.  I'll have to at least watch the last episode before the new one starts.

Alrighty then.  I have lots of stampy things I should be doing.  Hopefully I'll get some of that tackled on Monday.  Tomorrow is getting the Christmas tree down and spending some of my Christmas money.  Well, probably ALL of my Christmas money. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Blessings, b.