the once a year invasion

Yup, if you are of the female variety of human, you know the drill and know that it is coming. You may even be tempted to put it off because really, who wants to be in THAT position and try to relax while maintaining a conversation. Now add in the stress of the holidays. oh yeah tons of fun!!

Yes it is the dreaded Pap smear/ gynecological exam time. Mine is coming up next week (I know you all needed to know that) and I have a friend who had the pleasure last week. Normally this isn't a topic of conversation on my blog but I feel it necessary to share. You see, my friend, the ever witty Kathy has written an amazing blog post about this time of the year. You HAVE to read it. Seriously you cannot live a minute longer without reading it. After you read it, share with others. She has given permission to pimp her out. Guess she needs some extra cash this holiday season. :)  Go forth and share the word of Kathy.

The most wonderful time of the year...

If you are lucky enough to have your annual exam scheduled for a less stressful time of the year, I bow down to you. Count your stars and don't skip that appointment.

Me?? I'm thinking I am putting a bow on me and that will be my family's gift this year. From me to them- another year of me being in their lives.

card purse/ gift bag

My parents were in town for the holiday weekend and of course mom and me did some Black Friday shopping. This year we waited until around 8am to head out. Our favorite time to shop was at 4am, this midnight thing is no fun for us so we opted out. We did manage to find a present for one of her friends and she asked if I could create a gift bag for her. Well sure I can do that! So off to my office I went. 

This could be used by the recipient for another purpose once she receives it. I am pretty happy with how this turned out. I would have liked another sheet of the pattern paper to make the handles with, but sometimes you have to work with what you have on hand. Thanks for stopping by!!

May all your handles match perfectly!

terri's treasures gift card holders

I made a bunch of gift card holders for terri's treasures for the upcoming holiday season. I had a good time making them, now it's time to set them free to new homes. If you are interested in any of these, check out my website or email me. 

I have even included some pictures of the inside of the holder. These are so much fun and I can make pretty much any occasion you need!! :)

newmarket halloween haunt

I will start out by saying that this years haunt was much warmer than last years. It was so bitter cold out that we couldn't stay after the parade, the poor kids were frozen solid. This year, the sun was shining and it was lovely. We had a great time as a family doing the fun free stuff the Rec Center offered (thanks to many generous donations!!)

Here is my guy striking a pose as the Hulk!! He looked so adorable all dressed up. Love him!!

Here they are together. And I actually got a smile out of Kira. Who happens to be an Umbreon (Pokemon character) Nana made her costume and she won first prize in her age group!! Most of the day she was cranky as all get out. We had had a bad week of temper tantrums and lots of yelling having to do with school and tween drama. After she won, her mood improved greatly. whew. Love her too!!

Alex was able to get into the bounce house. He looks so cute without the hands and head jumping around with all those muscles! Very proud of myself for getting this shot.

So happy we got to spend that time together outdoors. Winter is coming and I am not looking forward to that at all!

May you have a spook free day!!

smooches = thank you

At least it does to me and this great cow stamp!! The stamp set is from Paper Smooches. Love their adorable characters and the phrases. The stamps work amazingly well. Even for someone like me who is not that great when it comes to stamping. Good thing I have lots of paper to practice on!! :)

Yesterday on the Paper Smooches blog a lovely prize package was being offered up to a randomly drawn winner for posting a Thank You card. I do believe that smooches does equal saying thank you!

I made this card for a sample for my card party last month. I LOVE the cow. I mean seriously- how cute. And pink. Well what fun is it to color in a white cow?? Absolutely none. I used my EK Success colored pencils that I have had forever to color the image. I don't think I am ready for Copics. I certainly know my hubby is not ready for me to be into Copics. And neither is the bank account. I can see that becoming a costly addiction/ necessity.

I used paper from DCWV summer stack from eons ago. I like how the pink pops out from the other colors. I used my nesties to cut the cow out, popped with pop dots and a paper punch for the sentiment. A little bit of rick rack I had in my stash and there you go... a heartfelt thank you card.

I would love to win the drawing. Really I would. I have one package of their stamps. I NEED more. :) I have a rather large list of Paper Smooches stamps that I would give my firstborn to own. Seriously... they are that amazing. Check them out.

May your day be full of smooches!!

superstorm sandy

I mean just look at her!! WOW! What a storm. Flooding in NYC, snow in West Virginia, crazy winds everywhere. I am happy to see her fade away but I know the aftermath will continue for days (weeks) to come. 

We were so very lucky to have not lost our power this go around with Mother Nature. I am very grateful. Of course we were more than prepared to lose it. Hubby spent four days cleaning up the yard of sticks, branches and leaves so they wouldn't go flying through windows. We cleaned up the garage and did a test run of the generator. That was tricky as the spark plug was quite disgusting and not easy to get to. But we were set. We even had the cord running up the deck stairs and attached to the railing to the kitchen so we wouldn't have to do that during the storm (been there done that). Last night before it got dark, we ran another cord into the house for the downstairs. 

I had also been baking like a crazy woman to ensure we had yummy treats for our tummies. Now I have chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, brownies and chocolate chip mini muffins. Guess we should get eating! I am sure they won't go to waste. :)

Hubby and I went to Walmart on Friday and loaded up two carts of stuff for the storm. Okay some of which was Christmas related but we love to get that stuff done before the craziness begins and we didn't have the kids! Always a plus.

Maybe we were so prepared we scared Sandy away from us. Probably not but I'll go with that. Glad to see her gone. I am keeping everyone who has been affected by Sandy in my thoughts and prayers. Nature is nothing to mess with. And on the plus side, we are ready for the snow to fly this winter. The generator is all gassed up and ready to go and we have two five gallon containers of gas to run it. Not to mention the water we now have on hand!!

Very happy to see the sun today.

May Mother Nature shine down on you as well.

hole in the smile

Yup it happened. Alex worked that tooth until it popped out while he was at school. Such a brave boy. Much more than his mom or his sister!! Look at that smile!!

I was volunteering in his classroom so I was able to snap this picture of him wearing his tooth necklace from the nurse. He was so proud of himself. I am thinking the others around the new tooth don't stand a chance of being around for long as the new tooth is pretty darn big!! I think we will have many visits from the tooth fairy in our future. And don't forget to look at that terrible bedhead he has!! oh my. You would never know I did run a comb through his hair before school!!

First tooth = $5 and a set of mini Muggs in Captain America and Red Skull. He was happy so that is what is important. :)

May the holes in your life be filled with happiness!