Lookey, 2 craft post in a row!!!

Thrills y'all, doesn't it.

Here are the ATCs I've finished this year. A couple I LOVE, one I wish i could re-do (especially now that I have everybody else's and mine looks like poop (ErinK word!))

These are from left to right:

Sherri's Rosy Red swap or AKA the poop ATC. In retrospect, I really don't like this. I have a fear of too much white space!

Sherri's Froggy Swap that hasn't been sent yet. The frog is not crooked. It's on a wire & bounces!

Angie's Changito Swap that hasn't been sent yet. I like him but I'm afraid no one will get his "Lost in Space" title. I'm REALLY OLD!!!

Sherri's Brown Swap. Gotta love ANYTHING w/Changito

Sherri's Blue Swap. This was the new Changito set I got for Christmas

Off to work on 5 C'mas cards per month swap and the Valentine ATC swap.

Back to our regular scheduled crafts

I went to Sue's stamp camp today. These are so much fun. I wish she had them every weekend!!! Oh wait, I went to one last week & I have another NEXT week. Here are our projects!!

I also picked up my order from last Saturday! Got my scallop square punch & my Pocket Silhouettes stamps! I plan to make my 5 Christmas Cards per month tomorrow!!

In other stamp related news: I got an email notice that my Riley's shipped today, got THREE sets of ATCs back from Sherri and My Feb CK mag today. Earlier in the week I got my new Nesties. I've already played with some of them!!

Day 17

I drove up the "River Road" to Elsah today. I love the river road. For some reason it makes me feel peaceful. I think there is a deep, psychological reason for it but I'm not about to delve into it here :) Anyway, I was looking for eagles but didn't see any that I could easily take pics of.

I did want to take some pics of the frozen river. It was really cool looking I thought. The ice was not smooth & flat and, in some places, it was very free flowing. A number of barges were going up and down the river. I don't think the river freezes solid anymore. I still remember reading the Little House series and learning about people driving across the frozen river before there were bridges (and cars for that matter!)

After I got home, I picked up the kids & we went back downtown to look for eagles. They have an eagle at the Alton Visitors' Center. The kids were unimpressed. They agreed to drive along to the dam but I think it was just to kill time until 2 when they thought I would buy them sodas at Sonic. They were disappointed.

Boys Basketball

Well, tonite, they lost :( BAD!! This is Nick's first year and he's not what anyone would call athletically gifted. He's having fun & that's all that matters. I'm sure ALL the boys would like to win more but, I hope, somewhere in their minds, they know they are learning something.

Thursday

I'm going to remember to post TODAY'S Pic today!!

Even tho Alton (and every other school here-abouts) cancelled school today because of the bitter cold, Bethel still had school. The kids weren't please 'cause mom got a day off & they had to go to school. Nick was less disappointed 'cause he had a basketball game. So, we traipsed out into the cold for his game. The JV team is still learning how to play an organized game of basketball. I must admit, they've lost every game but one tournament game & the very first game of the season.

Well, tonight, they won!!!! It was a very good game & the teams were very evenly matched. The final score was 35 to 18. My nephew (who just transferred back to BCA) sank a 3 pointer just before the buzzer. Pretty Awesome!! Nick did at least TOUCH the ball this game. He knocked it out of bounds but, whatever.

Wednesday's Pic

Ooops, missed this one. Here is my pic for Wednesday.

When I left to take the kids to school on Wed, it was still dawn, cold but the sun was coming up. When I got to school the sun was shinning. When I looked outside again after the breakfast rush, no sun!! No sun the rest of the morning & into the afternoon. When I left to pick up the kids the sun was shinning brightly again. Odd weather that turned MEAN later on. Down to zero overnight. School was canceled for Thur before 2:30pm on Wednesday!!! Weird.

Anyway, when I got home from the "bus run" the sun was shining thru the window making this pattern on the wall. It's from the snowflake light in the window (see Jan 8 blog post). Thought it looked neat.

My iPod

Scott decided I needed an iPod for Christmas. I made the mistake of asking if I could add 2GB of songs to his 7GB that he has on his 30GB iPod. I thought that way, when we are on vacation, I could listen to MY music. I might have just as well asked to use his spleen! I had a MP3 player but he had the car adaptor thingie and it seemed my MP3's battery was ALWAYS dead!

Anyway, I ended up w/an iPod, a car adaptor & a charging/playing "dock". It's cool but I was not overjoyed w/it. I wanted stamping stuff!! (which I did get but, as you know, you could always use more!)

After having it now for 3 weeks, I don't know that I could live with out it. I used to listen to the radio when I picked the kids up from school. Now, I listen to my iPod. I used to listen to the music on my computer while at home, now I listen to the iPod. I even downloaded games so I can play on my iPod when I'm waiting around. I think I like it!

Laundry

Does it ever end??? Ok, so I got the fancy pants washer last Monday, did tons of laundry. I guess since the new washer has such a large capacity compared to the old one, I felt I couldn't do laundry until I could fill it. This is just 3 loads of laundry!! There are 3 more in the laundry room to be done & one more here!

Last night we watched Dirty Harry on blu-ray and I folded. And folded. AND FOLDED!!! That was a whole lotta folding. The sad party is, while it sat so peaceful overnight, more dirty stuff was created. It's an unending battle.

By the way, I do have some matching laundry baskets. LOL

Today's Pic

This is one of the most fabulous gifts I think I've ever rec'd. I got this from my boss (in addition to a GC from my lss!) Her hubby works for a local refinery & had gotten these tool kits for vicci & her daughter. Somehow he was able to get FIVE more of them for all of us girls at work. It is the coolest & has everything I could need. Yesterday, we got the new knobs for Becca's new dresser (needed ones that matched her desk better) and of course I needed a phillips screwdriver to replace them. The phillips that was actualy upstairs was so worn down, it wouldn't work. So, I went downstairs, got my handy dandy tool kit & had like 5 different choices of phillips screwdirvers. WOOHOO!!

Of course, I'm torn w/the idea of taking all the tools out & using this for a scrap tool kit! LOL

Saturday's 365 Pic

WINTER!!! It's gonna be a COLD week this week. On Thursday, our low is supposed to be -6!!!!! And where will Scott be spending this delightful StL winter week?? Tulsa. How do you type a rasberry?

This photo does not show how cool my coat rack is. Last summer, I had one of those coat tree things. Worked well but was so big & bulky. I was at Lowe's buying something else & saw this BEAUTIUL (I'm so into brushed nickel right now, I'll buy just about anything w/it) wall mounted coat rack. Luckily, my dad was in town & "installed" it. I love it so much more than the coat tree!!

Dang, I missed posting yesterday.

I did take my pic tho.. Of course, it's still on my camera & it's upstairs. I'll have to load it later.

Yesterday was a fun day!! Went to a SU party with one of my work friends. Had a GREAT time (how can you have a bad time at a SU party??) and made 2 super cute cards. Finally bought the pocket silhouettes (hmm, weren't those on sale a few months ago? Why didn't I buy them then??) and the square punch. One of the cards used these stamps & I loved it Plus, my favorite C'mas card made at Sue's C'mas open house was made w/the square punch. I'm hoping the punch will be here in time for my 5 C'mas cards this month.

Yesterday afternoon ended my auctions. Sold ALL the Longaberger stuff (liners, pottery but no baskets, I can't give up a one of them!) but only one stamp set. Made $78!! Woohoo. More spending $$$ for Shack-a-paloosa!!!

Todays pics...

...didn't really turn out as cute as they were in real life! The cat was asleep on the back of the couch (where he TOTALLY isn't supposed to be!) I took him off & put him in his bed and covered him w/his blanket. Being the contrary creature he is, he decided he was no longer tired and got out of his bed. Unfortunately, the blanket didn't leave him. Static had it stuck to his hiney. It was hallarious to watch. The pics, not so much.

After that 5th pic, I did take pity on the poor thing & removed the blanket from his hiney. Did he appreciate it?? NO! Silly kitty!

After the tree is gone....

...it's time for snow!! We found this adorable snowman at a Hallmark store after Christmas. Isn't he so cute!! Now, the snowflake lights are LED lights. Kinda burns a hole in your retina if you look at them too long. I really don't like the way the string of snowflakes looks on the banister but I'm not sure what else to do w/it. I'd like to get some sort of garland & then drape it so the flakes don't stick out so much. But, it's lights & lights make me happy!!!

Well, I didn't manage a 2nd post.

I put a TON of stuff on eBay this afternoon. After that & dinner & catching up at the Shack, I didn't have time or anything intersting here. Sorry. No decent pic either. I'm feeling a little bit like a failure. It was such an easy resolution, why couldn't I keep it up??

I'll re-evaluate & decide if I will keep on plugging away or give up & let it go.

Ooops, How Did I Miss Yesterday???

Wow! I spent all day thinking I had posted and I guess I didn't. Wow, that resolution didn't last long. Well, I guess I'll make up for it w/2 posts today.

Yesterday was laundry day. I got my fancy new LG Front Loader washer. It's pretty but, I'm afraid that might be all it is. I'm not sure I'm thrilled with it. I think I'll have to buy the HE soap to see if that make it all better.

Pros: LARGE capacity, detergent/softener/bleach dispenser that can be CLEANED (one of the problems w/my old washer was that it was FILTHY!!) and clearly, the cat likes it!

Cons: LONG wash times (48 minutes for an average load. Don't ask how long for a "sanitized" load!!) and even when I added MORE time for "stain cycle" the wussy stains on shirts didn't come out. I had to pre-treat, run it again & then the did come out, same as my old washer. The rest of the problems are user error or at least user ignorance: how much soap? how much softener, how big a load can fit into the dryer??

I was not able to purchase a new dryer ('cause the old one still works FINE) so now I'm worried that the giant loads I can wash in the washer are going to KILL my dryer. Although, I'm sure the dryer is just going to die of embarrassment as it looks so OLD compared to the washer. Poor dryer. It's 20yo (the washer was only 8) and still running like a champ. A champ that has had the snot beat out of it a couple too many times!

Anyway, I'm going to go today & buy the HE soap. Then, I will be confident that I'm putting enough soap in it. I'll learn to live w/the long cycles 'cause one day I'll be able to get the fancy pants dryer & it'll all balance out. The stained clothes are a rarity so I can deal w/that. I am REALLY HAPPY to have the washer & to be able to wash clothes when I want. I never realized how important that was until it was gone.

As soon as I posted this, I saw this cartoon. Thought it was appropriate. Although my kids, who had a snow day yesterday, pretty much kept themselves busy while I did all the laundry. I sure hope you can click on it & make it bigger!!