Curly Girl Chronicles

Hi Ho, Hi Ho It's Off to Camp I Go!

2009-04-23T09:00:00.003-04:00

I'll be heading out tonight for scrap camp! Three days of scrapping with my buddies! I can't wait. The weather is supposed to be fabulous too so I'll have to take a break and spend some time outdoors. Which reminds me that I need to go throw my sunscreen in my bag.

I have 5 trips of bags to bring down three flights of stairs. By far the worst part of going to camp! But I already made two trips so just three more to go.

Where in the world is Stacey?

2009-04-17T16:14:00.004-04:00

I have been busy with life! Work is crazy. I have a new nephew to admire. I have scrap camp next weekend. I have grand jury duty once a week. I am teaching a class on alcohol inks this weekend. I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator. Just lots of stuff going on.

I have a multitude of projects going on at work. And they all seem to have the same deadlines! I swear I spend most of my days in meetings so actually finding time in the day to do the real work is quite the feat!

Christopher James (CJ) was born on March 26 at 11:26 AM. He was 7 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long. In the very early morning hours, he was moved to the NICU because he was all jaundiced. But he is home now and doing well. I have a whole CD of pictures that I need to get uploaded so I can share.

Scrap camp is next weekend! I am so excited! I already made my basket for the tricky tray raffle and I went through all my stash and have 2 boxes of stuff to donate to the camp. I'm in the middle of doing page kits and packing. I need to finish that up this weekend sometime.

Grand jury sucks! The chairs could be used as torture devices at Gitmo. The prosecutors are unprepared and there is more time wasted during the process. It's a bloody nightmare!

I am teaching a class on alcohol inks this weekend at my friend Gayle's Meetup. I already have all my stuff cut and prepared so I just need to go and get the class done! I also did a card swap for another one of our meetups so I need to drop those off with Gayle. It reminded me how much I hate swaps! I had to make 19 cards. Can I even begin to tell you how tired of distressing edges I was by the time I was finished?

I also signed up to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator. It's mostly for personal use for me and my one friend. But I would be more than happy to have other customers if anyone wants to place an order.

See? Lots of stuff going on! And in about a month, we launch the boat for the 2009 season. I can't wait to get back out on the water.

Everybody Come Scrapping...

2009-03-13T15:19:00.002-04:00

For some reason I have had Everybody Come Dancing by The Kinks in my head all day.

Come join us at Your Memories By Design when they let the inmates take over the asylum! Yup, the members are taking over. All the challenges and games for the crop will be put up by the members. Fun!

I have seriously had no mojo for months. I haven't even been motivated to update my blog. About the only online activity I have kept up with is searching for those damn little Hatchlings on Facebook. I haven't scrapped or picked up my camera. It's a serious case of the winter blues.

I am hoping that the member crop helps me get some mojo back. I have to plan a class on alcohol inks to give next month for Gayle's meetup and I have wanted no part of it. But last night, I dreamed up a couple of projects so hopefully that signals Mr. Mojo's return!

I Miss Snow Days!

2009-01-28T18:25:00.003-05:00

It snowed and then sleeted today and it's an icky mess outside. I worked from home so thankfully I didn't have to go out in it. But as I was listening to the radio, I kept hearing all these school cancellations and I was jealous. I would have loved to go back to bed and sleep for a couple more hours, lounge around watching tv, curl up with a book, etc. Instead, I shoveled and then logged into work for 9 hours. Snowy days really make me wish I could be a kid again!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-26T08:41:00.003-05:00

Today, many of my Chinese co-workers are celebrating the year of the ox with their families. On Friday, a large group of us went out to celebrate with them. We toasted in the new year (a little early) and feasted on duck, pork, chicken, fish, shrimp, scallops, veggies, rice and noodles. At least other people did. With my shellfish allergy, I feasted on the duck, pork and chicken. Actually, the pork was so good that I probably had more than my fair share!

It was nice to get out of the office for a while and get to share in some of my co-worker's traditions. Benson has been giving me a red envelope for years because "you're part of my family" but it was the first time I had enough free time in my schedule to go to the group luncheon. I hope that I am able to join them again next year!

A Creative Day

2009-01-24T20:15:00.003-05:00

Aside from multiple loads of laundry and changing sheets, I didn't have anything else planned except scrapping. It took a while to find the mojo but I did manage to make three cards for upcoming birthdays.

Happy Birthday Susie!

2009-01-23T23:15:00.004-05:00

Today Susie turned 11! It's hard to believe that she's that old because she still runs around the house like a puppy. This morning I made them oatmeal and put some applesauce in it for a treat. They didn't know what to make of it and investigated each other's bowls to make sure they all had the same thing before they finally settled down for the Birthday Breakfast.

Tonight, they all got a biscuit and part of a peanut butter & pumpkin doggie cookie. That cookie smelled so good, I was almost tempted to try some!

Happy birthday my little Zuzu-Belle! I wish you could live to be 100!

Done!

2009-01-19T18:55:00.002-05:00

At least as done as we are going to be this weekend! A couple of the doors need another coat and there is some touch up to be done in the entry (which I painted before Xmas). But that will wait until next weekend.

I took this in the afternoon. The walls barely look yellow at all. The color looks much deeper as the day wears on. This is the far corner of the living room to the right of the window.

This is the hallway. See how much more yellow the color looks at night? That set of louvered doors to the left still needs another coat or two of paint. But that's where the washer/dryer is and the need to do laundry far outweighed the need to finish painting! Note the doggie beds are back in place!

This is the soffet above the cabinets in the kitchen. I love how the blue glass looks against the yellow.

This is the living room complete with a Pickle on the couch and a bone on the floor (lower right corner of the pic). It looks funny with nothing on the walls. We took down all the artwork and are deciding what to hang where or if we want to get rid of anything.

Lesson Not Learned

2009-01-18T22:59:00.002-05:00

You would think that after stepping in a paint tray and then getting rinsed off in the sink, Pixie would have learned her lesson. No, of course not! This morning I got out of the shower and I could hear her in the kitchen playing with something. When I went to look, I found that she had pulled a paintbrush out of the trash, pulled it out of the bag it was wrapped in and was playing with it. Thankfully she was on the dropcloth so the hardwood floors did not get full of paint. The Pickle was not so lucky however and needed to get bathed in the sink once again.

We Be Painting!

2009-01-17T22:14:00.002-05:00

It has been a painting frenzy around here! The whole living room is done and so is the kitchen. The trim in the hallway is all primed and taped off and ready for painting. And the hallway ceiling is done. I really hope we finish tomorrow because I'm really sick of painting!

This morning the girls were curious about the roller tray that was on the floor and they walked through it and got little paint pawprints all over the plastic. So we had to stop and rinse off their feet so they didn't track paint onto the hardwood floors.

Just Blah!

2009-01-09T10:19:00.001-05:00

I’ve just been feeling blah. I am getting over a cold and what was probably the stomach flu. I haven’t wanted to get off the couch and out of my pajamas. Damn the to do list and the things piling up on it. Just blah!

I am feeling better and am up and around. Back at work. Catching up on errands and cleaning. Dreading next weekend’s painting party. Dreading the grocery store and Target and Home Depot trip that needs to happen tonight. I just need to hibernate.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T18:31:00.004-05:00

I'm ushering in 2009 with a horrible head cold. Yuck! I was so tired that I didn't even go out last night. I was actually curled up in bed around 11 PM. I did stay up reading for a while and finally turned the lights out at 12:26 AM.

I have been lazy all day. I was too lazy to even open my craft armoire to scrap anything. I did join a new Flickr group called 365 (a photo a day) and loaded my first picture. We'll see how long I can keep up with it!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday To Me

2008-12-22T13:51:00.002-05:00

I really hate having a birthday so close to Christmas. It tends to get lost in the holiday shuffle and I usually end up spending the day in transit to visit family. This year I am spending my night on Amtrak heading to my parents. At least I am bringing a bottle of wine with me for the trip!

My phone was beeping left and right this morning with text messages from friends. I couldn't even sleep in - Randy started the flurry of texts with a message at 8:30 this morning.

The sidewalks are still horrible. The number of people who shoveled is far less than those who did not. With the rain we got and then the freezing temps, most of the sidewalks are a sheet of ice. I will be taking a cab to Penn Station tonight because I am not dragging my suitcase through that mess!

I'm off to spend the rest of the day curled up with the puppies. Birthday cuddles are the best gift ever!

Snow Day!

2008-12-19T13:26:00.002-05:00

This picture was taken about 1.5 hours ago from my scrap room window. The sidewalks are now covered with snow and my company has just closed. I'm working from home today so I don't have to commute in this mess and will continue working through until I finish what I am working on. Unfortunately most of my co-workers have already started heading home so I'm having problems getting ahold of people that I need to talk to.

Snow!

2008-12-16T11:16:00.002-05:00

When I left my house this morning it was gloomy. Then it started sleeting when I was about 2 blocks from the post office. By the time I got to the train, it had started to snow! Big, fat snowflakes were swirling around. It snowed for about 10 minutes and then it was done. There isn't even any evidence of snow on the ground. At this rate, we will not be having a white Christmas!

Deck the Halls, Paint the Halls

2008-12-09T11:44:00.002-05:00

Well, we finally decided on some paint colors after living with no less than 10 swatches of color painted on the walls for a couple months. I tackled the entryway over the weekend. Holy crap! It took 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of trim paint to cover the hideous blue that was there before and the doors could still do with another coat. But I love the color and it looks so clean and bright. It's called Palladian Blue but it looks more green than blue.

And the Christmas tree also went up this weekend. I love when everything is all decorated and festive. I also love taking it down and getting the house back to normal!

Yikes!

2008-12-03T09:17:00.002-05:00

I swear that Christmas was sneaky this year and the season hit me when I wasn't looking! I do have all my Christmas cards made and the address labels are printed. But I still have to buy all my presents, decorate and all that fun stuff. The tree goes up this weekend or else!

I took a few days off work (had to use up vacation or lose it) so I'll be painting the entryway and doing my decorating and shopping. I'd like to find some time to scrap in there somewhere. My cousin sent me a punch of pictures of her son and I'd like to scrap those!

Black Friday

2008-11-28T22:43:00.003-05:00

I am not one to get out of bed at the crack of dawn and fight crowds at the stores. I would rather pay full price for something and not deal with the aggravation. Some poor guy was even trampled to death this morning at a Wal-Mart on Long Island. Seriously, no sale is worth killing someone over!

I spent Black Friday lounging around in my pajamas for a while. Then I went to the day spa for a massage and facial. I needed to use up a gift certificate. When I got home, I ate Thanksgiving leftovers and lounged around in pajamas again while I watch the Sex in the City movie.

It was a much more relaxing day than trying to fight the crowds at the mall!

DOG is the Word

2008-11-26T13:51:00.002-05:00

I put together this Bo Bunny album for my parents over the weekend. These are the pics from when they first got Daisy and Lucy. I used some older Bo Bunny papers and embellies that I had in my stash and I love the way this came out. I'm so glad that I bought a second one to do for myself using pics of my pups!

Here is the finished book:

I used lots of Bo Bunny and some tags from Junkitz and embellies from Creative Imaginations and stickers from EK Succcess. I have tons of doggie stuff in my stash!

This is the back side of the "D" and the front of the "O":

This is the back side of the "O" and the front of the "G":

How cute is it that the hole in the "O" is shaped like a dog bone? I sprayed the dog bone with some Glimmer Mist and added letters to it so it's a name tag. I punched a hole with the Crop-a-dile and hung it from the side of the book.

And finally, the back side of the "G":

I popped this into the mail yesterday and am hoping that it reaches them by the weekend!

T-Shirt Inspiration

2008-11-22T13:23:00.003-05:00

Abbie, this month's GDT, from Mon Ame Memories challenged us to do a layout using a cute t-shirt saying.

These are the two layouts I did of the girls. "Little Pixie, BIG Attitude" was taken from a Tinkerbell t-shirt I saw.

"Big Dog Heart, Little Dog Body" comes from a t-shirt that I saw the other day in a dog supply catalog. It perfectly fits Susie.

That Little Face

2008-11-21T21:31:00.004-05:00

I was cleaning my desk the other day and found this picture of Harley as a puppy. Look at that little face! It's hard to believe that my little guy was ever that tiny. He looks like a stuffed animal.

I took the day off today and ran some errands. We had a couple contractors come to the house and give us quotes for work. I think we finally found someone after having four different people come out. It's amazing the variances in estimates!

LOTW

2008-11-19T16:06:00.003-05:00

This was chosen for Layout of the Week over at Mon Ame Memories. The journaling (in Pixie's voice) reads "I don't know why they insist I get up so early! Don't they know I need 18 hours of beauty sleep?"

Hello Snowflake...

2008-11-18T09:23:00.001-05:00

...she says in the same voice Jerry Seinfeld used to greet Neuman. I can't believe there were little flakes of snow flying through the air this morning. I'm not ready!

Ad Inspriation

2008-11-16T12:02:00.000-05:00

I saw this ad in a scrappy magazine a really long time ago and pulled it out for my inspiration binder. There it sat for over a year. I was looking for some inspiration this weekend and pulled out my binder.

This is what I ended up doing with it. This picture is from this past summer when we had my parent's two dogs. I was attempting to get a family portrait of the pups but they kept wandering from position and looking in different directions.

Those ribbon slides have been in my stash for quite some time and the papers were all from my scrap file.

It Got Away From Me!

2008-11-15T21:29:00.003-05:00

I was trying to make an entry every day in the month of November but time just got away from me. Work got crazy and when I got home at night, I didn't even turn on the computer.

It was rainy and icky a good portion of the day. So I got to work on some Xmas cards and managed to create a couple of layouts. These are for the monthly product parade over at Your Memories By Design.

We met Randy for dinner in the Village tonight and had some yummy guacamole and margaritas. I swear every time we go to this restaurant we sit at the same table in the same exact positions.

Happy Veterans Day

2008-11-11T08:49:00.001-05:00

Thanks to all those who serve and who continue to serve.

Frustrating

2008-11-10T16:33:00.001-05:00

It's been a frustrating day! Reports not working, pieces of code that worked Friday not working, etc. I've been trying to build a report all day and it's just not working! Calgon, take me away!

Scavenger Girl

2008-11-09T19:31:00.002-05:00

It was a pretty nice day today so in between cleaning and laundry, we took the dogs for a walk. We just let them pick what direction they wanted to go and just wandered around. At one point, we passed by a bakery and Pixie picked up a piece of bread that was on the sidewalk. She dropped it when we told her to drop it. Then Zuzu picked it up and we had to wrestle it from her. I had to pick them both up and walk them further down the sidewalk to get them past the piece of stale bread. You would think we never feed them!

Finally, I Scrap

2008-11-08T21:10:00.003-05:00

It was such a rainy day that it was the perfect day to scrap. I haven't scrapped in over a month! So I pulled out some girl scout camp pictures from 1983 and came up with this:

And I got this one finished for a monthly contest over at Your Memories By Design.

Sedona Sunset

2008-11-07T07:12:00.000-05:00

We were only able to catch sunset once while we were out there. I love sunset. The rocks were even more red looking when the sun was going down. It was gorgeous!

Honaki Ruins

2008-11-06T06:57:00.002-05:00

The second part of our Pink Jeep outing was a tour of the Honaki ruins. Like the ruins at Montezuma Castle, these are cliff-dwellings from the Sinaguan Indians.

There were different tribe symbols painted on the walls. There were also handprints and animals and people.

This petroglyph can be traced back to July of 1054. Archiologists have found similar art all over the world. At that time, there was a giant supernova which archiologists believe the native peoples recorded the event. In 1066 was when Haley's Comet happened. Can you imagine how frightened these people must have been with all that activity in the sky? Some theories have this as the time that the peoples started moving into the cliffs.

And also found in the caves was graffiti from Pioneers. This particular piece of graffiti is from February 27, 1925.

Diamond Back Gulch

2008-11-05T08:37:00.001-05:00

After a morning of lounging by the pool, it was time to get dirty! We went off-roading in Diamond Back Gulch on a Pink Jeep Tour. We had many people tell us that Pink Jeep is the best so that's who we picked.

Some of the angles you went up and down in the gulch were about 40 degrees so it was a little scary. And it was dry and dusty so by the end of the day, you ended up covered in a layer of red dust.

This is the trail of dust that our jeep left behind us.

Vote!

2008-11-04T05:42:00.000-05:00

It's time to vote! My polls open at 6 AM so I am going to be there when the doors open and get it done early!

Out of Africa

2008-11-03T08:05:00.002-05:00

Right there in the Arizona heat, is a wildlife preserve called Out of Africa. We walked around the predator area getting a look at the tigers, lions and bears, oh my. A lot of the animals are rescue animals and there were plaques on all the habitats telling each of the stories.

We spent some time talking to one of the handlers and he was telling us about the 3-legged cheetah named Christine. She limps when she walks but when she runs, the missing leg doesn't even factor into her gait and she is fast. We were able to see her go when the feed truck came about.

This little guy is a prairie dog. They were just moved to this habitat. They were just the cutest things!

It was about 94 degrees and this lioness was sunning her belly. She only moved when she heard the feed truck coming.

These hyenas are creepy! They make the strangest noises and their laugh is downright bone chilling. Apparently they only start laughing when they are about to eat you. So if you are in the wild and hear a hyena laughing at you, run like hell!

The white tigers were just gorgeous. This guy walked over towards us, circled the tub of water a few times and then climbed right in. When he got out, he shook himself off and we got wet with dirty tiger water.

This lioness was a poser. I swear she kept posing for pictures. I love this shot of her in mid-yawn. Look at those teeth!

We walked back by this black panther after she had finished eating and she hissed and growled at us. The keeper said she was ornery!

These grizzly bears were adorable. They had so much personality. When the trainers were getting ready to feed them, this little girl stood up on her hind legs and climbed the fence and shook the fence. She was so impatient to be fed. Kind of reminded me of Pixie!

This lion is gnawing on a leg of beef. You could hear the bones cracking as he ate. Pretty gross!

This is Boom-Boom. He weighs 4500 pounds and smells a lot like a dirty horse barn. He used to live at a zoo in upstate NY. When the zoo closed, they sold their animals. Boom-Boom and Jack were sold to someone in Texas who planned to auction off the chance to "hunt" them. A rhino rescue group learned of their plight and stepped in. Boom-Boom came to live in Arizona and Jack went to live in Oregon. Jack was apparently the more feisty of the pair. The handler said Boom-Boom likes to cuddle with people and will just lay there while you scratch him.

The giraffes were great. Their tongues are long and black. And they feel weird when they take food from your hand. We got to feed carrots to this guy.

Slide Rock

2008-11-02T12:48:00.003-05:00

Poor Steve had to leave vacation early to head to NY for work. So Sunday morning we all drove up to the airport in Flagstaff to drop him off. Then Michelle, Kevin and I headed out to breakfast. After eggs, we decided to take the scenic route back to Sedona since we didn't have any other plans for the day other than lounging by the pool.

Along the way, we encoutered Slide Rock State Park. We decided to stop and have a look around. The place is gorgeous! The water running through the rocks has worn the rocks so smooth that the place is a natural water slide. It was really cool! The water was freezing though (only about 45) but there were still people in it. They had blue lips but still looked like they were having fun!

It was really peaceful there and we had a nice time walking around the park and looking at the old homestead and farm tools. The homesteader had designed a unique irrigation system and planted an apple orchard. One of the original trees is still at the site.

Grand Canyon Adventure

2008-11-01T16:36:00.012-04:00

We got up early and headed to the Sedona Airport to take a 6 person Cessna to the Grand Canyon. We left at 8 AM and it was freezing outside!

We had a great view from the air. We all had these headsets to wear so we could talk to the pilot and each other. He pointed out the different rock formations and the San Francisco peaks (dormant volcanoes) and various little towns and ranches on the way to the canyon. I got some nice shots from the plane but it's hard to take pictures through a plane window!

When we landed, we got in a helicopter to journey to the bottom of the canyon. I loved the helicopter ride! It was really neat and lots of fun, even though it only lasted about 10 minutes.

When we got off the helicopter, we headed down to a pontoon boat to float on the Colorado River for a while. The current runs so fast! And there were lots of eddys. I would hate to actually drive a boat on that river!

We got back on the helicopter to get out of the canyon and then got on a bus. The first stop was the Sky Bridge. It was pretty disappointing looking. And our pilot told us it was a rip-off. They charge you $30 to walk out on the bridge and you can't bring your camera. You can get a picture of yourself on the bridge taken and purchase it for something like $20. Our pilot told us he would do a couple extra passes over the canyon on the way home instead.

So we got off at the second stop and went hiking around the West Rim and stopped for lunch. We saw a couple of ram on the bottom of the canyon and I leaned over to get a picture of them. I didn't want to get too close to the edge because our pilot told us about all the people who just fall into the canyon every year, most of them leaning over or backing up to get a better shot.

After lunch, we wandered around a little more and then boarded the plane to head back to Sedona. Michelle, Kevin and I all dozed off in the plane until we hit some turbulence. I can handle turbulence in a large jet but in a tiny little plane, it's downright scary!

All in all, the trip was a good 7 hours long. We were all so wiped out at the end of the day that we just ate in the hotel restaurant and curled up on the couch to watch a movie.

I'm Back!

2008-10-29T18:42:00.005-04:00

I got back from Arizona late last night. There was some turbulence so the landing was not the best, but at least we landed! I unpacked and did my laundry today. And I think I got the last of the red dust off my sneakers.

We all flew into Phoenix on Thursday and stayed there for the night. Friday morning, we stuffed ourselves at Denny's and hit the road. On the way to Sedona, we stopped at Montezuma's Castle. It is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. It has been closed to the public since 1951 so we weren't able to go in it.

Then we traveled 11 miles north to Montezuma's Well. It is a giant sinkhole filled with carbon dioxide water so no fish can live in it. The water is warm (like 74 degrees) but filled with leeches so there was no way we were going to wade into it! There were more Sinaguan cliff dwellings around the well.

I'm getting hungry now so I'm off to gather up some grub. I'll post more about our trip to the Grand Canyon tomorrow!

Off to Red Rock Country

2008-10-20T14:58:00.002-04:00

I am heading out this week to Sedona. So much to do between now and when I leave! And how does one pack for 80 degree days and 40 degree nights and have a suitcase that does not weigh over 50 pounds?

Can You Spare a Million?

2008-10-13T10:19:00.002-04:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been 12 days since I updated! Things have been busy watching the market and having everyone run around crazy-like at work. I've been working later and dragging stuff home on weekends. I haven't had any time to scrap. I haven't even unpacked from scrap camp!

We brought the boat to be winterized. It was such a gorgeous day, that we took her out for a spin first. The bay was absolutely smooth, like glass. It is very rare to see it like that so we opened her up all the way and just flew across the water. But all good things must come to an end so we brought her to our marina and turned over the keys. We'll see her again in May!

This weekend, we went to look at open houses. There are some ocean front homes that typically are not candidates for open houses. For those multi-million dollar estates, you need to make an appointment and provide proof of financing. But the realtors are so desperate to have people come look at them, they have been having open houses. So we spent the weekend trolling open houses, especially ones that we would have no chance of ever seeing otherwise. Some of the homes were so obscenely priced that it was laughable. But we did find one gorgeous bay front home that we all fell in love with. If I could have swung the downpayment on $1.7M, I would be calling the building inspector this morning, that's how much I loved it. We even all picked out our bedrooms! It's nice to dream. It would be even nicer to win the lottery!

Come Vote!

2008-10-01T12:34:00.002-04:00

Come vote for the September Sketch Winner at YMBD! Winner gets to receive an item of their choosing from the YMBD shop. Click HERE to view the submissions and cast your vote! I didn't get a chance to submit anything for September but the October sketch is posted and I'll definitely be doing something with it!

I still have to get my layouts photographed and download my camera. I did some of the layouts last night and hope to finish up tonight so I can share some of my creations.

Countdown to Camp!

2008-09-21T13:12:00.003-04:00

Scrap camp is next weekend! It sneaked up on me this year. I have spent the past week putting together page kits and making a list of things to bring. I have 30 page kits done, plus stuff to work on a mini-album and Xmas cards. I think that will keep me busy for the three days! I packed up this morning so I am not going crazy during the week.

I have been sick. I had a scratchy throat on Wednesday afternoon but attributed it to the fact that I was speaking and doing presentations all day. By Thursday, I had a sore throat and stuffy head. By Friday, I was in full blown cold mode. But I am finally feeling better.

I've been spending my sick time watching Absolutely Fabulous. I love the antics of Eddy and Patsy. I bought the Absolutely Everything collection a while ago and am finally now sitting down to watch it. The episode where Eddy adopts the Romanian babies still remains a favorite.

I snagged this picture of Pixie last week. This is what she does when you tell her to smile. It makes me giggle so I thought I would share.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2008-09-13T23:38:00.002-04:00

It was so dreary all day and the weather Gods decided it would be funny if it started pouring out the minute I got out of the car at the grocery store. I whipped through the store though because I was freezing!

I cleaned and did some scrappy stuff today. I did a lot for the online crop at YMBD. I finished 9 layouts and 3 cards this weekend. Tomorrow, I have to do page kits! Camp is in 2 weeks and I have to start getting organized!

September 11

2008-09-11T08:46:00.000-04:00

This morning, I saw the violinist that I used to see every morning at the WTC. I haven't seen him in 7 years and when I saw him this morning, I wanted to cry from relief. I'm so glad that he's alive. There are so many people that you see in passing every day and after 9/11 you didn't know of their fate. I'm glad that I have a good recollection for faces. When I see one of these faces, I always breathe a sigh of relief.

Blast from the Past

2008-09-10T08:54:00.002-04:00

I pulled out an old pic to scrap over the weekend. This is my class picture from Fourth Grade. I loved Mrs. Brosnan, she was one of my favorite teachers.

I can't believe how young we all look. And I am especially loving the look back at the fashions. Let me tell you about my glamorous little outfit. I am in the bottom row on the far right. Yup, that is a flowered set of overalls being worn with red saddle shoes. Not only is it a flowered set of overalls, but they were made of corduroy and hand sewn by my mother. I remember loving that outfit! My mother made a lot of my clothes when I was little (and outfitted my baby dolls as well). But the thing that strikes me most is those red saddle shoes. I mean really, what was I thinking? What was my mother thinking, letting me out of the house in shoes that so clearly did not match my outfit. My mother won't even leave the house to walk to the end of the driveway and pick up the mail without wearing lipstick so it baffles me that she let her only daughter wander around school so attired. Maybe they were my favorite shoes and letting me wear them was easier than dealing with a temper tantrum? I don't remember and neither does she. I just know that saved for posterity is a picture of me in a flowered, corduroy set of overalls and red saddle shoes that one day will be made fun of by my children in much the same way I made fun of my parent's childhood outfits.

New Arrivals

2008-08-27T22:04:00.002-04:00

Lots going on in the world of Hop-Along Stacey! On the 12th, I had a lovely black immobilization boot put on my right ankle. I have severe Achilles tendonitis. So I’ve been working from home to avoid the approximately 3 flights of stairs I would need to go up and down every day and the mile + of walking that I normally do. But I get rid of the boot next week and start physical therapy so I’m back in the office. No more days of sitting in front of the computer in shorts and a t-shirt for me. :(

Michelle and I spent a gorgeous week down at the beach last week. Not that I could actually go on the beach. But the house has a deck so the dogs and I spent most of our time out there with a book and lots of water.

But the most fun thing that happened was Lucy and Godiva came! We had to come back up to the airport on the 19th to pick them up and they stayed down at the beach house with us the whole week until my parents got here on Saturday to pick them up and take them to their forever home.

This is Godiva. My mother does not like her name and is going to call her Daisy. No harm since she doesn't really answer to Godiva much anyway! She just turned 3 and is a tiny little peanut at 5 pounds!

This is Lucy. She's a sweetie who flattens herself to the floor when you go to pick her up. Pixie did the same thing when we first got her. She just turned 6 and is almost 7 pounds.

And here's our attempt at a family portrait. At least all 5 dogs are pretty much looking in the same direction! From left to right: Lucy, Pixie, Harley, Susie and Daisy:

I'm surprised that Pixie has her puppy grin on since she spent most of the week in a jealous snit! She's the baby and was so upset that we got 2 more dogs and they had to share her bed. She was so glad when my parents showed up on Saturday and she didn't have to share her bed anymore. My parents went back home today so we are back down to just 3 dogs but I kind of miss having the other 2 around. Even though feeding time was a complete cluster f@#$!

Caught Up

2008-07-27T21:56:00.002-04:00

I am finally caught up on Harley's album! I had a scrappy weekend and got a few layouts done. It was kind of nice to just scrap and not be working on any challenges.

This one was just a silly layout. It's one of the pictures I had of Harley in the convertible and I thought the title was silly.

I am on an orange and green kick lately. I love these Scenic Route papers.

Some random pictures of Harley playing in the backyard.

And the kids on the boat (before we got Pixie).

Scary Ocean

2008-07-21T13:15:00.004-04:00

The bay was beautiful. Slight breeze and mild chop. It was a perfect day to journey down to the ocean. The day was clear and the lighthouse could be seen in the distance. The channel had been dredged over the winter so it was wider and not quite so shallow. There were lots of boats anchored along the channel, fishing or swimming or picnicking. We rounded the corner by the lighthouse and oh my God was the ocean angry! It was like the channel lulled you into a false sense of security that the ocean was going to be calm. But it was not to be. About 10 minutes into our journey, we decided there was no shame in admitting defeat and we turned around to head back to the safety of the bay. We did eventually come to anchor near Tice’s Shoals and spent a few hours just relaxing in the sun and enjoying a picnic lunch with the other boaters anchored there.

This is the "scary ocean buoy". It was named that during our first year of boating when we were petrified to take the boat out to the ocean. Anytime we got near one of these buoys, we had to turn around and head back into the bay to make sure we didn't accidentally end up in the ocean. The name has stuck and when we are heading out to the ocean and looking for the buoys in the distance, they are still called the scary ocean buoys even though the fear of passing them and heading out to sea is gone.

Happy Birthday Pixie!

2008-07-16T09:43:00.002-04:00

It's Pixie's 7th birthday! We celebrated last night because Harley's having his surgery today and won't be able to eat again until tomorrow. They all got Flossie bones and split a doggie cookie. This cookie was the size of a CD so we have some left over.

Harley is at the vet so we are just waiting to hear back that the surgery is done and we can come pick him up. Then we just have to wait for the biopsy results to see what is what.

I'm going to be home from work tomorrow so I can cuddle with the pups. And clean the house, do laundry and hopefully get some scrapbooking done.

Not Again!

2008-07-14T15:05:00.002-04:00

I noticed another little bump on Harley. This time on his hind leg. It looks like a mosquito bite so we left it be for a week to see if it went away. But it didn't so I took him to the vet for yet another cytology. This one is a mast cell tumor and he goes through surgery on Wednesday. So the cone head will be back. Poor little guy. Then we just have to sit tight and wait for the biopsy results to come back. Let's hope this is the last time we have to go through this!

It Wouldn't Be a Boating Season Without Sea Tow!

2008-07-06T19:56:00.003-04:00

Well, it wouldn't be a boating season if we were not towed home at least once! Since it was so windy, we anchored in Tom's River because it is a bit protected there. We ate lunch and napped and then the boat wouldn't start when it was time to head home. So Captain Jeff from Sea Tow had to come rescue us. Except our anchor would not hold so we drifted all the way across the bay and beached on someone's front yard! Thankfully, they were not home and a couple minutes later was when Sea Tow showed up. He towed us to just before the 37 bridge and then another Sea Tow boat had to take us the rest of the way. By this time, there were 30 MPH gusts of wind and 3' seas! The other Sea Tow would not take us until we put on life jackets! And let me tell you, that was one scary ride! Once we got out of the cove, it was rough and we took on so much water that our bilge was completely full.

Here is Captain Jeff towing Scally-Wags back to our marina.

We tried to start her up yesterday and she was just fine. Go figure. At least we didn't use any of our gas getting home!

Scrap Olympics

2008-07-02T21:00:00.003-04:00

I am competing in the Scrap Olympics over at Scrapbook Playground. For the first event, we had to use our computers and do two computer things on the layout. For this one, I did my title and then I used Wordle to create the word collage.

Use Your Stash & Cards for Kids

2008-07-01T11:07:00.004-04:00

You know you have stash! If you scrap, you shop. Some of you might even hoard. Who can resist all that paper and yummy embellies? Not me! I've always had a thing for paper. I love the feel of it, the smell of it, the texture of it. Don't judge me, you know you have weird fetishes too!

Now that you have this stash, what to do with it? Scrap of course! And what better way to use up that stash than to visit a new challenge blog called Use Your Stash. Started by Kimmie and Corey from Scrapbook Playground, this blog will challange you to dig into your stash and create!

And in other news, Jennifer McGuire has a lovely RAK on her blog. All you have to do is make some cards and send them to her. The details are on her blog.

Another Scrappy Day

2008-06-29T18:04:00.002-04:00

The morning started out sunny but this afternoon there were torrential downpours and thunder and lightening and even some hail. A perfect day to stay indoors and play at my desk! Even if I didn't get to any of my old, childhood pics!

I really don't feel like cooking so it might be a pizza kind of night. It's supposed to storm off and on the rest of the night. Ick! So I'll hole up on the couch in jammies with a slice to watch some Dallas.

I actually did this one last night. It was for another Corey challenge at Scrapbook Playground. This is Harley on Halloween 2005.

These next two are for weekend crop sketch challenges at The Mosy Scrapper. I really love the red, yellow and blue color combo in the second one!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! I finally scrapped about Harley getting a sister. A miracle considering now he has two of them!

I love this one! It's one of my favorite pics of my little guy. And I love the way the Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist looks on the chipboard shells.

This one is a complete goof! This is what Michelle & I think Harley's personal ad would say. LOL

Lazy

2008-06-28T20:11:00.002-04:00

I seriously have no motivation today! I was out at a birthday party until pretty late last night so I slept in a little today and then spent the day in my jammies. It was hot and humid out so not a great outdoors in the city kind of day anyway.

I did manage to get some layouts done. I'm trying to get Harley's book caught up a bit. I'll probably pull out some old 1980s pics tonight and try and work my way through some of my older stuff. But I didn't feel like looking at that stuff earlier!

This is one of Susie. I pulled out one of my older Scarlet Lime kits and put this together. I've had a thing about orange and teal lately!

This is one for Harley's album. I thought the BG paper in the back looked a bit like tire treads so I thought it was perfect for a layout of them in the car.

This is the story of Harley's pink eye incident. He had this bright yellow dye put in his eyes to check for any rips in the cornea and it left these horrible yellow stains around his eyes. I did this for Corey's challenge at Scrapbook Playground

I have zero plans for the night. Ivan is working OT duty tonight. I think I might open some wine and relax in a bubble bath. And then watch an old Dallas. I'm into season 7 on my Netflix and it is a complete guilty pleasure!!!

Old Albums

2008-06-24T13:09:00.003-04:00

The last time I was at my parent's house, I pulled all the pictures from my old albums. I recently sorted them by year and had a little walk down memory lane. I keep telling myself that for every layout I do with recent pictures, I have to do one with old pictures.

This is my First Communion. When you look closely at the picture, we are all wearing nametags with butterflies on them. They completely reminded me of these retro butterfly stickers that came in one of my Scarlet Lime kits.

Here's a new layout that I did for a page idea at The Mosy Scrapper. We had to use either white or black cardstock and our ribbon stash. So I did some cutting and weaving.

And now back to 1985 and a family trip to Hampden Beach, NH. This was for a challenge at Scrapbook Playground

And back to the present (2006) for another challenge at The Mosy Scrapper.

I'm going to try and pull out some more of the old pics and come up with another layout tonight. I just need to file them away in an album. Right now they are in a 13x13 storage container under the futon!

Hookey!

2008-06-17T12:14:00.002-04:00

I played hookey from work yesterday! OK, I had a scheduled vacation day but I was still able to sleep in and lounge around the house. Love when I can do that! I got some crafting done. I'm trying to get Harley's album caught up so these are all layouts of my little guy.

And this one is Layout of the Week over at Scrapbook Playground

Hot in the City!

2008-06-09T22:25:00.005-04:00

It is still 90 outside and it's almost 10:30! It's so hot that the a/c is having a hard time keeping up. We kept the blinds shut and all the lights off but it didn't seem to help much. Walking to and from the subway (and the subway itself) was a nightmare. I hope the weather breaks soon!

I got my Father's Day card made and a couple birthday cards that I needed to get done. I did 5 layouts and 3 cards over the weekend for challenges at Scrapbook Playground.

We all took naps on the boat Saturday and forgot to reapply sunscreen so everyone is a crispy critter. I am loving the Banana Boat aloe w/ menthol in it. Here are some pics of the pups enjoying the boat:

Stitches Out!

2008-06-04T19:31:00.002-04:00

Harley got his stitches out today! Yay! No more having to pick carpet fuzz out of them.

I had to leave work early to take him to the vet. Thank God, because if I didn't leave, I was going to kill someone! We have had system requirements for months. Read and signed off on by the business partners. They have had a link to the system for over a month. Every week I harrass them about looking at the system, parallel testing and their next steps. We go into production with this thing on Sunday and they just start to look at it today and send me a list of 12 things they want changed. Are you even kidding me? Some days I hate people!

I got home to a note from the UPS man. My order from Zappos is here and I need to call for pickup. WooHoo, new shoes! I needed navy blue dressy sandals for an outfit and finally found a pair. I really hope they fit! That's the bad thing about ordering shoes off the net, but at least there is free return. :)

I'm off to drop something off at FedEx and then to meet friends at Uno's for dinner.

It is so NOT beach weather!

2008-05-31T17:14:00.002-04:00

There was no trip to the beach this weekend! It was overcast and rainy for most of the day. So I hunkered down in my craft area and tried to create. But I think my mojo is hiding with the sun. :( I've gotten one layout done and it just took me forever to do!

I will leave you with a picture of Harley the Conehead:

Positive Results

2008-05-29T11:15:00.001-04:00

Little Harley gave us quite a scare last week! We noticed that he had a little white spot on his genitals. So we had a cytology done at the vet and it came back with traces of large mast cells. The vet wanted to operate immediately to remove the area and have it sent out for biopsy.

The surgeon called us after the surgery to say that he would have liked to remove more of the area but Harley’s a little dog and let’s be real, there’s not a lot down there to begin with! But he was confident that he had removed the whole thing and Harley’s lymph nodes looked fine. So we were to remain upbeat.

Harley was so pathetic after his surgery. OK, I suppose any guy would be if you removed a little piece off the tip of his wee-wee. But he seems fine now and is back on “patrol”. The only problem is he keeps getting carpet fuzz caught on the stitches. So a couple times a day, we have to pull carpet fuzz off his wee-wee. He’s a good boy though and just lays there with this expression on his face like “Are you done picking at my wee-wee yet?”

He had his 7 day post-surgery check-up today and we got the biopsy results that he is cancer free!!!! The little area they removed did have some large mast cells in it but it had a bunch of other types of cells in it too. If it was a cancerous growth, it would have been all large mast cells.

Now we just need to have his stitches out in another 14 days and then he can stop being a conehead!

We Have Lift-Off!

2008-05-19T20:09:00.004-04:00

And the boat is in the water! The weather was actually decent which is a first. The company did not put the bimini back on so Jim, Beth and I had to install it. That was irritating. And they only left us with 1 bar of gas which is barely enough to get back to our marina! We might be looking for another winterization company next year.

Beth and Michelle took the boat out to get it down to our marina while Jim and I brought all the lines, bumpers, etc back to the marina and started to get some of the stuff set. It didn't take us as long to get the dock lines set this year so we are definitely getting this down pat!

And a new tradition - celebrate the launch with Charlie's Cheesecake! Holy crap, that is the bestest plain cheesecake that I have ever eaten in my life!

TIVO go BOOM!

2008-05-16T09:53:00.002-04:00

Would you belive with all the crap I had on TIVO, that it had a hardware malfunction and lost everything, including my record settings! Gah! I had to reset everything back up and now I'm trying to catch up on stuff watching it on ABC.com.

Still Catching Up With TIVO

2008-05-10T23:27:00.002-04:00

I am still catching up on the TIVO! I've got Grey's, Lost, Ugly Betty, Bones and CSI Miami to go. Plus tomorrow is a marathon of Deadliest Catch. Love those boys on the Time Bandit!

I got a couple layouts done today for various contests around the web. I also got 6 more pages done for Michelle's parent's Alaska trip album. I should hopefully finish it up tomorrow. That would be nice because I am quite sick of looking at Alaska and Yellowstone.

Happy NSD!

2008-05-03T18:36:00.004-04:00

Well, another camp has come and gone. I knocked out 42 pages!!! And I still have some kits left over to play with. :) And there were no bugs! Lots of deer though. I was taking a break Friday afternoon and sitting in a field catching some sun and at least 10 deer went running by me. Some were so little, they still had spots.

I'm participating in an online crop at Scrapbook Playground! today and chatting with Kelly. I've gotten a couple of layouts done but I had to unpack from last weekend first! I got maybe 10 hours of sleep the whole long weekend and work was so hectic last week that I never got a chance to unpack all my scrappy supplies.

I need to take a break from scrapping though to make dinner and try and plow my way through the Tivo. There is 2 weeks worth of Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and Lost on there!

Catch Up

2008-04-24T11:43:00.002-04:00

Wow! Bad blogger! Life had kind of run away with me and I haven't had a chance to update this baby in forever.

Not much going one - just lots of work and crafting. I redid my scrap room with The Original Scrapbox and it gives me more space in there. I have been kitting like mad because I'm off to camp this coming weekend. I have 45 kits done so I'm hoping that keeps me busy!

Boat launch is scheduled for the 17th. I can't wait to get on the water. If history holds, it will be cold and rainy on the day we schedule to launch. It's happened every year.

And now, back to work!

Happy Birthday Susie!

2008-01-23T19:48:00.000-05:00

Susie turns 10 today. She got a new doggie bed and a rawhide chew. All the dogs got rawhide so they wouldn't fight over it! I made them some hamburger for dinner which they are chowing down on right now. We also have these cinnamon pumpkin doggie cookies (which actually smell yummy) for dessert.

Happy Birthday baby girl! I wish you could live to be 100!

The Hunt for Litter

2008-01-19T21:40:00.000-05:00

Harley has a dirty potty. We need to change the litter in the worst way. But they did not have any at Petsmart this week. They usually have tons of 25 pound bags but this week only had one puny 5 pound bag. Which we used in Harley's litter box earlier this week.

Friday night, I stopped at Beowoof on the way home. They won't have litter until Thursday. So we went to Petsmart on the way to the grocery store. OK, it's really 15 miles in the opposite direction but this was an emergency. And they had no litter. Their shipment had not come in. This morning, I found another pet store on Yahoo! yellow pages so we went there. Nothing. They suggested another place. Nothing.

Dog litter must be the rarest thing on the planet! This was crazy. So I did an Internet search to see if we could use cat litter as a replacement. Dog litter is unscented and made of compressed recycled paper. It has to be unscented because dogs sniff before they go. I finally found this stuff manufactured by Purina (who also makes the Second Nature dog litter) called "Yesterday's News". It's cat litter that is unscented and made of compressed recycled paper. The local pet store carries it. Off we go to get a 25 pound bag of cat litter. When I changed Harley's potty, I didn't let him see the bag just in case he has learned how to read. He gets in a snit if you change his treats. I don't want to see how grumpy he would be if he knew he was peeing on cat litter!

Bad Blogger

2008-01-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

Maybe not bad blogger, but certainly lazy blogger! It's been like 2 months since I've updated this thing! I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner (and it was awesome). I celebrated a birthday and Christmas and a New Year. I got put onto a different work project. I haven't scrapped worth a damn in the past month.

I ushered in the new year with a horrible cold. Michelle was sick too and neither of us felt like going out, so we made dinner and hunkered down on the couch to watch old Dallas episodes. With the writer's strike, we have Netflixed a bunch of old television shows and are gradually going through those. Dallas is a laugh riot! I'm sure it wasn't intended that way when it was written, but we are having a blast laughing at the ridiculous scenarios and the clothing/hairstyles.

I'm going to a crop in a couple of weeks so I hope I get some scrapping mojo back! I'm trying to put together some kits before hand, so hopefully that will help get me pumped up.

Susie got a clean bill of health at the vet last week. She is getting another test in February to make sure her heart meds are working and to verify the dosage. We finally found a glucosamine biscuit that they all love so hopefully that will help with her stiff little joints.

That's pretty much all that's been going on here lately! I'm looking forward to the long weekend coming up.

The Scrap Hut

2007-11-10T17:57:00.000-05:00

I used a free forum host to create The Scrap Hut. Just in case LSB pulls the plug, we won't all be homeless or scrambling to find a site. Now we have one. Karen and I tested the live chat and it works awesome! We are thinking it might be fun to have a crop with live chat. Except we don't know how much cropping we would actually get done!

I signed up to go to a crop in January. It's sponsored by the Manhattan Scrapbooking Group. It will be nice to find people close to me that I can scrap with as opposed to all my friends who scrap living at least a 30 minute drive away.

The dogs all went to the vet today. Clean bills of health all around. Susie has to go back in January for a renal panel to make sure the heart pills she's on haven't damaged her kidneys. We are also having another ultrasound done to make sure the pills are helping her heart. If not, we'll try something else.

I've been scrapping up a storm for the contest at SWG. I really like the Paper Trunk Gigi line of papers. The colors are more what I typically use. I tried to scrap with the Batik today and have been staring at the paper for a good 20 minutes and I still don't know what I'm going to do with it! I'd like to get at least one thing scrapped today!

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T09:54:00.000-04:00

Busy.

2007-10-30T12:03:00.000-04:00

I have been crazy busy the past couple of weeks!

I had a blast in PR. We got upgraded so that made the flight much more pleasant. The resort was gorgeous and not too crowded. We spent lots of time at the spa and on the private island. We were overtaken by the spirit of some freaky action-adventure girl as we not only went horseback riding, we also went hiking in the rainforest and night kayaking to the biobay. I definitely needed the massage to recover from all that!

Work has been busy since I got back. I've also had to catch up on my cleaning, laundry, errands, etc. We took the little monsters to have their picture taken with the Grim Reaper at the local pet store. They were so good and everyone was impressed that they left their costumes alone and did not fuss too much. I actually think Pixie liked her Tinkerbell costume.

I did an online crop this weekend and got 9 layouts done. It felt nice to get scrapping again. Tomorrow, I'll post the layouts I did of the furkids in their costumes.

Diet Coke Break!

2007-10-17T08:12:00.000-04:00

Every morning this week, I have seen the PAPD (Port Authority Police Dept) recruits out running through the city. They are being followed by a very slow driving car with the lights going. It's such a nice way to start the day! :) I keep telling my friend that she needs to leave the house sooner in the morning so she can catch this fine display. But she hasn't yet.

I have to get all my stuff organized and into a suitcase tonight. We have to leave around 5:30 to get to the airport tomorrow morning. I really hope I can sleep on the plane because I will have practically no sleep! I know I'm going to be up until at least midnight getting everything together and getting the pups ready. I like to travel but I hate the process of traveling! I really despise the airport.

Chilly!

2007-10-15T13:40:00.001-04:00

Well, fall is pretty much here. It's cool in the mornings so I have to put on a coat when I leave for work. :( I love seeing the leaves change but hate to bundle up!

The boat returning was uneventful. It seemed to take forever to get all the dock lines untied because they were encrusted with salt. We were bundled up like the Michelin men with all the layers to keep warm! It was pretty windy Saturday and there was a strong undercurrent but we didn't get wet on the trip. Thankfully, because the water is getting pretty cold.

After the boat went back, we ran some errands and then had our traditional end of season dinner. Michelle's parents are heading back to Florida this week so we spent part of the afternoon shutting down the second floor bedrooms for them.

We went for pedicures on Sunday and stopped at an open house on the way home. I have been walking by this building for a few weeks now and they have open houses pretty constantly so I was curious to see why absolutely nothing had sold yet. There were two apartments (pretty small) and a duplex. the duplex was 2400 sq ft but the layout was not that great. The spiral staircase cut into living room so much that we couldn't even imagine where you would place furniture. And the craftsmanship left a bit to be desired. And they wanted $1.3 million for it. The tiny apartments were $950,000. Yup, now I know why they have not sold yet. Yikes!

Work's a bit slow today. I am writing a "vision" for what our future systems will look like and I just don't feel like doing it. I'm already starting to get into "vacation organization" mode. I had lunch with my friend Kim today. We tried a new pub that just opened up a couple weeks back. Yummy chicken sandwich. :)

Tonight I am doing laundry and trying to get a manicure. My fingers are all cut up because of doing the dock lines and I broke a couple nails so I might do it at home. I don't want the Korean manicurist to make fun of my cuticles like an episode of Seinfeld!

Bye Bye Boat

2007-10-12T19:10:00.000-04:00

So we go to bring the boat in for winterization tomorrow. :( It's the official end of summer when that happens.

I'm off to Puerto Rico next week! I am running around like a crazy person to get everything together and packed though!

Ain't No Bugs On Me!

2007-10-02T20:46:00.000-04:00

Camp was quite the adventure! Despite it all, I still went through 30 of my page kits! :)

We got in Thursday night and got all set up. I started a page but we all ended up crashing around 12:30. I got up at 7 or so and Ann was still in bed! It was like the world fell off its axis! I'm NEVER up before Ann!

Lee had an itchy spot on her right jaw and it looked like mosquito bites. But Ann & I didn't have any and we all slept in the same cabin. Her spots got worse during the day and spread to her hands and neck. She was a mess!

Completely unknown to us, bugs had been spotted in one of the cabins earlier in the day and all the people were moved from that cabin. The camp staff washed their bedding and clothes and called the exterminator. Who did not see any bugs. So the organizers figured that was it but when they saw Lee, they freaked and at 1:30 AM decided we needed to move out of the cabins (even though there were no bugs spotted in our cabin). They washed all our bedding and moved us into one of the dorms. So we didn't get to bed until 4! But I pushed two of the bunks together and used double the mattress so I had a nice cushy little spot. It was the best camp sleep ever!

On Saturday, we rolled out of bed in time for breakfast and took naps cause we were all so damn tired. At breakfast, we found out that Cathy, Leeann, Melanie, Peggy and Jen all put bug stickers on themselves and went to wake up Laura (one of the organizers) at 6 AM to tell her they had bugs. She bolted out of bed and had her shoes on and was ready to get them all moved when she noticed the stickers (and the snickering). LOL

Lee was a mess so we left early on Sunday so she could go to an emergency care place. They told her it was chicken pox. Yeah, right. Not only had she had them pretty bad as a kid, but 50+ mommies had looked at it and no one, not even the nurse mommy, thought it was the pox. So Lee freaked out because there were a couple of preggos at camp and I have never had them. She finally got an appointment with a dermagologist today who declared that they were not chicken pox but looked like bug bites. And not fleas or bed bugs but an allergic reaction to a mosquito. So I will not be in danger of getting the pox and none of us brought home fleas or any other creepy crawlies!

I'm Done!

2007-09-25T22:39:00.001-04:00

I officially have 42 page kits ready for camp. I also have all my stuff that I am bringing in a big pile so all I have to do tomorrow is sort it out and get it into bags. Yay! I also got down the cooler and got my bag packed with clothes and such. I am so organized this year!!!

You Could Be In Pictures

2007-09-25T09:52:00.001-04:00

I swear to God that this morning on the elevator, a complete stranger complemented me on my toes. Taking advantage of the nice weather, I am still wearing open toed sandals and have my toenails painted a hot pink colour. A total stranger told me that I have really nice toes and I should get an agent and be a toe model. I am beyond grossed out that there is a weird foot fetishist in the building!

Page Kits & More Page Kits

2007-09-24T10:16:00.001-04:00

In an attempt to get ready for camp and be ultra-organized in my packing, I am trying to put together 40 page kits. I feel like I have been working on these things forever! I have 32 done so far and a couple more days to put together the last 8 and get all my tools and such packed. But the new season of CSI Miami starts tonight so this is going to cut into my kitting time. Cause I need me my Adam Rodriguez fix!

We spent the weekend on the boat. Trying to cram as much boating time in before it gets to cold to go out. This weekend was gorgeous, especially yesterday. High of 80 and sunny without a cloud in the sky. We beached on a sandbar and walked over to a deserted beach area. We let the dogs run around and they had a blast. I got some pics but still need to get them downloaded.

I have to make a stop at Macy’s on my way home tonight. I also need to find my cooler and get some laundry done. This is just going to be a busy week with all the work stuff going on and the getting ready for camp stuff!

I Hate Pigeons

2007-09-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

Every morning there is a bus driver who throws down seed to feed the pigeons right in the middle of the walkway at the train station. I hate this woman. I hate pigeons. Flying rats. Every day, it’s like a scene from the birds where all these pigeons are dive bombing the sidewalk for food right where you are walking. This woman is the bain of my existence (at least this month). Today I looked at her and said, “What is wrong with you? This is a public walkway, not a park!” “What is wrong with you” is by far my favorite insult, especially in the bitchy tone of voice that I get.

If she’s feeding pigeons tomorrow, I’m going to sic the NJ Transit cops on her courtesy of my beloved. My biggest fear is that I'm going to be covered in poop and have to walk 1/2 mile back home to change. I don't care that she's feeding the birds but if she would walk the same distance in the other direction, she would be in a park and not a place where people who are all dressed for work have to walk through to get to their train/subway/ferry/bus.

Catch Up

2007-09-17T14:44:00.000-04:00

It has been a busy week! I have been taking an online class (1 in 48 sketch class) so I've been trying to fit some scrapping time in during the week. I also spent time putting together some page kits for Saturday's crop.

I got promoted on Thursday. So now I'm a Director. I am about to start a HUGE project and have been working on some of the start up for that so work has kept me busy.

We had fun at the crop on Saturday. I only got 5 pages done but that's OK. I won 2 of the raffle baskets (a basket of bath goodies and a terra cotta wine cooler with a bottle of wine). I was also the top fundraiser with $360 so I got a prize for that. I made thank you cards for all the people who sent me a donation for IBC Research so those go in the mail tomorrow.

I took the day off work and have been preparing for scrap camp. Two weeks! We are going up on Thursday night this year so I have to be ready earlier than normal. Typically I am throwing everything together at the last minute on Thursday night!

September 11

2007-09-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

The last thing I ever said to my friend Dave was “Don’t let me forget to call my Dad tonight!” Today is my Dad’s birthday. My Dad turns 59 this year. For the past 6 years, he has hated celebrating his birthday.

Six years ago today, this became the day that 6 of my friends were murdered by terrorists in the World Trade Center attacks. I remember ridiculous details of that day, like what I was wearing but couldn’t for the life of me tell you how I got home. Like a lot of my friends, many details of that day will remain a blur. I do remember finally calling my Dad to wish him a happy birthday.

Dave, Matt, Melissa, Bill, Kevin and Scott, I miss you guys every day. Monday night football just isn’t the same without you.

It Doggles The Mind

2007-09-07T09:37:00.000-04:00

We finally got the pups to wear their Doggles this weekend. I just got the pictures back from Snapfish and they are so darn cute! I actually uploaded 400 or so pictures so I will have plenty to scrap for upcoming crops and scrap camp. The UPS man delivered them yesterday - 4 pounds worth! Yikes! I will be busy for a while!

Red, Right, Returning

2007-09-03T21:51:00.000-04:00

When the red buoy is on the right, you are returning home. The weekend is done and we have returned home. The weather was gorgeous and we spent most of our time on the boat. We anchored in a cove, had a picnic, napped and just floated. The dogs are so worn out!

On Saturday, I went in the bay and brought Harley with me. He was so angry that he would not give kisses. We made him a little tiny hamburger that night for a special treat.

Beach Bound

2007-08-31T20:02:00.001-04:00

Had a half day at work today so I stopped for a pedicure on my way home. I also went to Sedona to see if they would donate anything for the crop-a-thon raffle. I go back Wednesday night to pick up the loot!

I worked on organizing some of my scrap area and uploaded a bunch of pictures to Snapfish. So I should have bunches of stuff to crop!

I have to go pack because we are headed to the beach for the long weekend. The weather is supposed to be great. So looking forward to sitting on the beach and lazing on the boat.

Waiting.....

2007-08-24T08:23:00.001-04:00

I'm working from home today. Waiting for an end table to be delivered. Sometime between the hours of 10-2. I hate sitting here waiting for delivery people. Because I know they will show up at the exact moment that my phone rings with a call from work. But at least I'll be here when the UPS man delivers my order from Benefit. Yay, new makeup!

Under Construction

2007-08-22T18:08:00.000-04:00

So, I've started a blog. I'll be working on it over the next few days so it will be a moving target!