Dang it...missed my Wednesday post...

But I have a good excuse...Dad was admitted to the hospital yesterday and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure today. Lots of homework to do about this... But his spirits are very good and everything else is good. So...one day at a time.

In an effort to make me smile, I found this cute Etsy store with fabulous wall art. Check it out!

Wednesday Inspiration...

It's been a crazy week. I was able to get a couple days off from work last week and get my scrap area in MUCH better shape that it's been in a long time and start on my NSD classes for Sturbridge Scrapping Corner. Here's a peek:
I got to spend some quality time with the man which is hard to come by lately. And on Saturday, we babysat five...yes FIVE...children for my cousins so they could go out. We had a blast! Pizza and YooHoo for everyone, making cookies, enjoying tiny little cups of Haagen Daaz and Ben & Jerry's ice cream and watching Madagascar 2. Lots of laughs, giggles and pictures.

The little one thought it'd be fun to take a nap from 9:30 - 11:00 and then get up for some serious play time! Silly, sweet little girl! Making googly eyes at John and chattering away!

Now for the inspiration part of the post...although somedays those kids are inspiration enough. :)

Loving the color inspiration here.
Fun projects here.
Dying to get my hands on some of this.
I love to wander around this blog for inspiration: http://danielleflanders.blogspot.com/
And I’m looking forward to playing with this soon!

Scrap Etc. giveway!

How cool is this news... Scrap Etc. is giving a way 5 spots to their event! Check it out here. I'd love to win a spot!

Wednesday Inspiration...

Her photos totally inspire me...I can't wait to take her photography class (and get my DSLR when I finally make the cut!).

Really cute new spring/Easter releases here.

Loving this jewelry.

The projects on this blog.

Last night I heard the spring peepers for the first time. I would have loved to have been able to sleep with the windows open so they could peep me to sleep. And this morning the birds were singing like crazy. I love spring!

Just a quick post...and an updated number...

45. Yup I'm 45 now and amazed that I'm that old. Where did the years go? It's absolutely true that the years go by faster the older you get. I swear I was just 40 and it was just a blink or two before that that I was 35. But I'm grateful for the time and I'm doing my best to spend it well. So...

Happy birthday to me! Here's to many, many more. :)

Etsy...

I love this site and think that there are some amazing artists here. Etsy created this new toy and now I can share this:

Etsy Buy Handmade iScrap

New look, Life and Twitter...

Ok...time to embrace spring and the changing of the seasons.  Today's projects are updating the blog to something pretty (check), getting a new haircut (check), a bit of cleaning (working on that check), and switching to my pretty new green purse (that'll happen tonight while catching up on the shows I've recorded).

I am so happy to post that Dad is doing good and is the proud owner of a lovely new pig heart valve.  His surprise surgery was on Wednesday morning.  Which I didn't find out until I was already at work an hour away.  Lovely.  But thankfully there was a train I could take that would get me close the hospital and get me there before the surgery was done.  It all worked out well and I was there with plenty of time and able to see the surgeon after the procedure.  I got to see Dad right after and that was comforting even though he was still knocked out.  The past few days have been hard on him, but today he's feeling better and not sounding as depressed.  Hopefully he'll be home in the next day or two and we can get him well again soon.  This experience has more or less changed some family relationships for me and made me realize what some people are made of.  And it's all sad.  Another tough lesson learned.

Yesterday Dawn and I helped out the ladies at Sturbridge Scrapping Corner with their yard sale.  It was a fun but exhausting day!  We arrived at 7 am, moved all the supplies for sale outside to the parking area (WOW there was a lot of purging of scrap supplies by their customers...Dawn being one of the best at that) and helping keep watch over the yard sale while Julie handled the register and store.   Then later in the day we moved what was left after the morning/lunchtime rush back inside.  I am thrilled to report that I made over $300 with the things I put out for sale!!!  And if you think that's amazing, Dawn made close to $700!!!  And the sale was still going on today.  I can't wait to get my final total.  We get store credit for our sales and the money I've made so far will pay for the balance due on the October crop weekend in Vermont that I've registered for and give me plenty of spending money on account.  Goodie!!

There's a new item on my sidebar now too.  I've joined Twitter nation!  Cathy Zielske is teaching a class in May at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  It's only been a couple days, but "micro-blogging" is definitely easier than coming up with a regular blog entry for me.  Hopefully I'll find a happy medium between the two.  

I'm going to power down the time-sucking toy that is my computer and see if I can squeak in a little scrapbooking this afternoon.  John is working 2-10 (ick) today, so it's just me, the dog and a pile of goodies to play with.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Updates and another new look for the holiday...

I've been itching to change the blog look recently and was trying to hold off for Friday so I could celebrate the first day of spring with a bunch of new things (new blog look, new lovely green purse...). Thankfully the ladies at House of 3 created a cute background for St. Patty's day! Love it.

Updates:

• Dad is in the hospital waiting for heart valve replacement surgery. He's been in since last Wednesday and the surgery has been scheduled for Monday, today, and now "maybe" Thursday. It's just one thing after another that keeps delaying the surgery and making every day interesting. They think I'm crazy at work because I keep scheduling the day off and then leaving a message the night before saying I'm coming in. Fun times.
• John is having his very own personal problems that are making his life less than fun right now. The two of us are one heck of a party couple this week.
• Had a very fun lunch with some old friends last week. It was greet to see everyone and catch up on life.
• Loving the warmer weather and all the sunshine. I can't wait to open the windows and air the whole house out.
• I've started working on two classes I'm going to teach for National Scrapbook Day at my LSS. I just need to find more time to get them done.

Happy St. Patricks' Day to all!

Wednesday inspiration...

I think I need a "theme" kind of post for this lonely little blog, so Wednesday inspiration it is!

And that was inspired by this video. Crazy beautiful family. I've been lucky enough to take a couple classes with Emily and she is such a genuinely sweet and insanely talented person. This video really makes me want to go play in a field and take Tara with me!

Cute crafting inspiration here and here and here.

If you've got something that's inspiring you today, I'd love to see it!

Completely random info...

But just in case it's helpful to someone else...

The "generic" brands of the Alka-Seltzer cold medicine taste much better than the "real thing". No aftertaste at all either!

There. That's it for today. :)

I love New England weather...really!

Yesterday: 60 degrees
Today: Snow, sleet and rain and 35 degrees.

Welcome to New England. :)

I'm holding off a full-blown cold and wishing for more sleep. This Daylight Savings Time spring ahead always knocks me out.

I had a fun weekend going through my ridiculous scrapping supply stash trying to get organized for a customer yard sale at my LSS on the 21st. I have a HUGE pile of paper and a tub overflowing with embellishments waiting to be sorted out. It feels good to get rid of some stuff and it was inspiring to go through some of my older papers and get ideas to use it again. Tonight I'm going to try and sort through my collection of paper flowers and make up lovely little assortment bags to sell.

Only 10 more days until Spring!