Sometimes You're The Bug

My cousin posted this as his facebook status today. The first part is sometimes you're the windshield... He had a bug kind of day.

I understand because my afternoon quickly turned into a bug scenario when my scheduled meeting with two people turned into me sitting in a room alone...waiting.

Then at dinner the checkout counter gal insisted her math was correct, even after I questioned it nicely several times. Nicely turned into me pulling out my cell phone calculator to prove two $10 meals, one tea ($1.95) and two sides of ranch (.35 each) cannot cost $35... no, she overcharged us $10. The evil attitude will probably have me going back tomorrow to issue a complaint.

I've been sick for two weeks or more now. I'm exhausted. I'm no longer attempting to be kind and patient. I'm putting the world on notice, so you have been warned.

A Happy Birthday & A Happy Niece!

My sweet niece turned 10 this weekend.  10!!! How can she be 10??? But 10 she is and I'm so thankful we were able to celebrate with her on her birthday weekend. :)   She had the option of going out to eat or having Katie fix her stuffed shells and eating at Mom's house.  Stuffed shells won, hands down, and so we partied at Mom & Dad's for the birthday celebration.

At 10, presents are a very important part of birthdays.  As I was looking over the pictures, every photo of her included a great big smile - didn't matter how big or small the present was, she loved them all.  

I love pictures of daughters and daddies. :)  I think daddies play a huge role in a kid's life, and this daddy loves his little girl bunches. 

Cousin MC came up to celebrate, too. They looks like they are blood related, don't they! We love how much they look alike.  AH came to us when she was 7-years-old, so there isn't any blood relation, but that doesn't stop the love this family has for her! She's OURS! :)

MC and AH playing Mad Libs.  If you have a pre-teen to buy for, I highly recommend Mad Libs. Not only is it HILARIOUS but it's a great way to cement the adjective, adverb, verb, noun, and other word things into their minds.  Mad Libs. It's awesome.

(Don't you wish you had a skinny enough butt to fit two of you in one recliner?? Yeah... those days are long gone!)

Anyway- we had a GREAT weekend with AH home. Love it when she's here and really thrilled to celebrate TEN YEARS with such a wonderful girl.

Muffin Monday

This sweet kitty had been my nurse kitty this past week. I would come home and crawl into bed and her she would come, crawling into bed and lying right beside me. Too sweet!

Hope you have a lovely week without the need for a nurse kitty!

Wonder about my week?

Well, let me share with you...

Sunday: miss church due to sinus infection. Want soup. Dumped the cold soup into my blender to chop up the onions a bit better... And had a little issue...see picture below. That was lovely fun to clean up.

Monday: work partial day. Sister had Monday off and we go to lunch. I have called around until I find a place with veggie beef soup. I know, it's just me, but I would think a key ingredient in veggie beef soup would be beef, not pork. Not amused and not eating the slop presented. See photo below.

Tuesday: work partial day. My wonderful co-worker takes pity on me and brings me homemade veggie beef soup...enough for days! Love it love it love it!

Wednesday: work full day. Eat yummy soup! 

Thursday: work full day and eat yummy soup!

Friday: took today off. Heading to lunch with friends and back home because this evilness doesn't seem to be responding to meds. (only to soup...ha ha!)  Drinking hot apple juice from my cat mug will hopefully make me feel better.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and stay well!

Muffin Monday, Guest!

Welcome to the weekly edition of Muffin Monday with my furry niece, Chloe! She is a huge ball of cuddly fur. ;)  That household is getting ready for baby!

Ya'll have a lovely week...I hope all of you are well!

Crappy weekend.

What a blah weekend! Coughing until my back and chest hurt, sniffly and snotty, aching...ugh!  Please let tomorrow be better, I don't want to miss work.

Happy Valentine's Day... belatedly

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day, beginning with me being lazy and lolling about in bed doing nothing constructive.  A little fairy (aka, my sister) left this present on my doorstep.  Sneaky sister! But how wonderful of her to remember me during Valentine's Day! :)

After spending most of my day cleaning house, packing up Christmas decor (finally!), working on creative products, and just enjoying having a day to myself. The house looks pretty good and that makes me VERY happy!

My day was supposed to end with the family finding out the gender of my sister and brother-in-law's baby.  We all (Mom, Dad, Katie, Roger and Me!) piled into the room to watch the ultrasound... we saw the feet, the hands balled up and rubbing at its head, the cutest little profile... the heart beating, the wiggles and squirms... but no gender. That child would not cooperate and give us a glimpse. Would not part those knees! SO FRUSTRATING!  But we did find out the baby was healthy and THAT is the most important thing to know! So we are very thankful, even if we still don't know the gender.

As we came home, Dad gave me his Valentine and candy. NO ONE picks cards like my dad. He is awesome and one day I'll find a valentine that can hold his own to my father. We'll see...  :)

Muffin Monday

Good morning to all the Muffin Monday fans!  This weekend has been great on a personal level, as I've spent time with my niece, AH!

The loss of Whitney Houston was sad....the loss of such amazing talent. But I skipped the Grammys for Downton Abbey because I'm totally hooked. It was a good call on my part!

Tomorrow, we will hopefully find out if I'll have another niece or a nephew...hoping that baby isn't shy!  I'll let ya'll know, too!

Happy Monday! It's time I got up and got mine started!

Voting in SC - 2012 Pass it on!

It’s an exciting year for elections in 2012!!  

Be ready to vote by reading this helpful post & pass it on!

Mark your calendars! Upcoming SC Elections:

• Tuesday June 12, 2012 – State and Local Primaries
• Tuesday, June 26 - POTENTIAL RUN-OFF
• Tuesday, November 6, 2012 – General Election

Notes on Elections:

• You must be registered to vote 30 days prior to any election in SC to be eligible to vote in that election
• 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the General Election (Nov. 6) can register now and vote in the June Primaries!
• Visit www.SCVotes.org for information on South Carolina Elections

What you need on Election Day

To vote in South Carolina, you must have one of the following forms of ID:

• Voter Registration Card
• South Carolina Driver’s License
• SC ID issued by the DMV

Need to register?

• Register to vote using this form: http://www.scvotes.org/files/VR_Blank_Form.pdf
• Print and send to your county’s registration office: http://www.scvotes.org/how_to_register_absentee_voting
• You will receive a Voter Registration Card by mail.

Check your voter registration

• Visit this website: https://info.scvotes.sc.gov/eng/voterinquiry/VoterInformationRequest.aspx?PageMode=VoterInfo
• This will show your districts, registered address, where you vote, your voter registration number and more!

Address or Name Change?

• Update your voter registration using this form: http://www.scvotes.org/files/changeofaddress.pdf
• Print and send to your county’s registration office:  http://www.scvotes.org/how_to_register_absentee_voting

If you have moved to another county, you must register to vote as a new voter, using the form attached to this email or using the link provided below.

Need to Vote Absentee?

Absentee applications are currently available for all 2012 elections.  The most common reasons for voting absentee include the following:

• Persons sixty-five years of age or older
• Unable to vote in your precinct due to vacation or employment
• Members of the Uniformed Services or Merchant Marine, and their spouses and dependents residing with them
• Physically disabled or attending to someone sick or physically disabled
• Student or dependent of student
• Serving as a juror in state or federal court on Election Day
• Persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial
• Certified poll watchers, poll managers, and county election officials working on Election Day

Thank you for passing it on! Hope to see you on Election Day!

This one fits just right.

Early this year I was really struggling with what word I wanted to make the focus of my year.  Last year was Appreciation, which just came to me immediately and was perfect.  Positive popped in my mind for this year, and I toyed with it for a bit, but it wasn't meant to be this year. Don't ask me why, but it just wasn't working out for me.

Then the word Breathe came to mind and it seemed so right.  Breathe. Stop. Listen. And a million times over I've seen proof that I picked the right word.  So many times I've seen Bible passages about stopping and listening. Stopping and worshiping. Stopping and hearing God's voice in my life.

So much what I needed. To see it verified over and over lets me know I'm on the right track with this and it feels good. I needed to know it's ok to stop and breathe. Better than ok, it's expected. :)

Beep Beep, Beep Beep, YEAH!

I realize I haven't tortured you with my driving pictures.  I really do enjoy my drive to and from work. You'd think that at this point, I would have seen this stretch of road in every type of cloud formation possible, but ... nope, I'm still always amazed. 

I love the way the sun is reflecting off the layer of clouds. So pretty. So peaceful. What a great way to start my day. 

Election Day begins very early for us, but that gives me the opportunity to see the beautiful blue colors fading into the oranges, yellows and reds of the sunrise.  A grainy picture, but I like the church steeple soaring into the sky. 

HOLY COW, BATMAN! Driving into this will blind you but good!  But it's still pretty. :) 

I know I have others, but that's enough to get you through Hump Day and moving towards the weekend! :) 

Frame of Affection

A wonderful friend of mine celebrates her birth in June, however, I seem to always miss her actual birthday with my present. I'm not sure what exactly is wrong with me, but I'm forever running late with my gift.  This past year, she received it about Christmas time, which means I had to explain it wasn't a Christmas gift, but her birthday gift. *sigh* I'm sorry, Sherry, one day I will get my life together, which in turn means you'll get your birthday present in June. :)

Anyway, her gifts are always a mishmash of nonsense. This time it was a Thankful Journal, a silly book and other randomness, including this Frame of Affection.

My mom, sister and I go to the Shelby Pottery Show every year, absolutely love it. It was there I found these three itty bitty bowls with Faith, Hope and Love stamped in them.  I loved the colors and the words and it just seemed to be perfect for Sherry, my friend.  I had thoughts of putting them on a wooden background, but that changed later. The panoramic frame worked perfect - but what to put behind it?

Just so happens I had a bag from an Etsy purchase made from two super cool pieces of paper sewn together to create the bag.  I kept it, thinking it would come in handy one day.  Tada! This was the day! I thought the coolness of the bag worked awesome with the colors of the bowls!

Add some super glue and it's done! :)  I loved it. And I hope she loved it, too.  She almost didn't get it... I wanted to keep it for myself! But it was my Frame of Affection, created from beginning to end with Sherry in mind, so it was meant to be given to her. *love*

Muffin Monday!

My fearless feline tried to launch herself right out my window this weekend... If you look closely you'll see a bird hopping along in the grass just outside the window (to the right of Muffin's head). I had the window open so Muffin could enjoy some fresh air and she thought fresh Dove might also be refreshing.  Luckily, I was petting her and managed to hold her before she made it off the starting block! I'm not sure she would have fit through the crack, but I'm glad I didn't find out she would have made it through the hard way.

So, how did you like those Super Bowl results?? We used the actual game for bathroom breaks and to load up on more great food. Roast beef sliders, salsa dip & chips, spinach dip, cheese ball, potato skins, fruit and dip, rice krispie treats, brownies, ... is that everything?? I meant to take a picture of our bar totally covered in snacky food. Oh my, so good.

Oh, and the game was ok, too! Yay for the Giants. :)

Scrappin' Fun

I finished up two more scrapbooks last night - one for a 2-year-old princess' birthday and one for my cousin, who is getting married in April.  Two very different gals, but I really enjoyed the contrast as I was working on both in the same night!

First, the darling princess, who is just adorable.  Her book is full of all things girlie!

 Of course there are more pages, but you get the idea.  I love this book, so adorably girlie! Buttons and rhinestones, pinks and purples, flowers and butterflies - it's full of sweetness.

The second one is a combination of scrapbook and registry book.  My cousin isn't having traditional showers with presents and the ohhh and ahhhs. But I know she'll have plenty of presents at the wedding, from friends & family and delivered by mail.  So I made a few pages of scrapbook and the rest registry pages to record her gifts and thank you notes.

For hers, because I don't think she's the fru fru girlie bride-to-be, I chose a modern, simple theme with no extra decor and stickers.  I only have grey, black, white and red in the book, including the registry pages, so it's clean and simple - a modern and open feel.  After the fact, I thought I should have used yellow because I think grey and yellow are all the rage right now, but oh well! It is very different than anything I've done before.  I definitely let her know if she didn't like it, let me know and we'll redo it!

So there is what I did, AFTER having some playtime with Ellie and Donna! :)  They brought Katie, Roger and Ralphie a crib.  So now, Ralphie has a crib and changing table!! Two major purchases that Katie doesn't have to worry about anymore! Family and friends are wonderful. GOD is wonderful because I know they came from Him!

Ok, I'm heading home. Half my family is sick with the winter crud so I better go check on them. Hope your humpday has been fabulous and you are celebrating the downward swing towards the weekend like I am! :)