Time to get dressed...

Alright you silly people, what were you thinking this post was gonna be about? Of COURSE it's about my doggie, Trae :-).

Yesterday, Trae goes into the laundry room, finds a t-shirt that belongs to Markell and starts playing with it. Fortunately, this shirt is (was) too small for Markell and probably should've been thrown/given away by now. Anyway, Trae starts playing with the shirt and somehow, gets it wrapped around his head. So me, being the thoughtful person that I am, decide to help out a bit and put the shirt ON him :-). Then it comes to me..."how fun would it be to put his arms through the sleeves?" And..."Would it really hurt THAT bad when he bites me for trying?" Hmmm, what to do??? Ok, so I went with my gut....and put the shirt on him...THEN grabbed the camera :-). Now, have you ever seen a 51 pound PUPPY try to take off a t-shirt? Probably not, because MOST 51 pound puppies don't even wear t-shirts (go figure!) But I will say that I'm amazed that he didn't get dizzy from all the spinning around...hee hee!!

Ok, enough talk about the Kodak moment, take a look at how cute he looked:

Sorry for the blurry picture...I had to back up rather quickly when he was about to jump up for a closer look at the camera :-).

What a funny boy!!

Ok, I finally took it off of him. Doesn't he look DISGUSTED with me? Soon after this picture was taken, he actually chewed up the shirt...almost to shreds and I had to wind up throwing it away. I think he did that so I wouldn't try and put it back on him :-). What do you think?

You asked for it...

Ok, ok...I've had a couple people ask me to show a FINAL picture of my family room with the new chair. Well, here ya go!! I guess it IS only fair that the chair get some publicity too...we've been waiting on it the longest :-).

Sorry if the glare is bad off of that large window. But you can still see the chair and just about all of the other pieces. The room now looks complete. Now we just have to get the slipcover for my MIL's recliner then the entire room will really look complete. Thanks for looking!!

P.S. We're also looking to replace the sudo entertainment center you see next to the chair. So if anyone has any suggestions of what kind, color or place to look into one, I'm open. Whatever we get, it'll have to be something that can fit into that corner and can't be too tall because of a motion sensor above it. Thanks again.

Family Room - Finally COMPLETE

Guess what? Guess what? My chair is finally here!!! We were told that it wouldn't even be in the warehouse until 4/7 and they scheduled our delivery for 4/11. Well, they called us on 3/27 and said it would be delivered on 3/28. Being that I wasn't gonna be at home all day, my DH suggested I call to reschedule it for today. No biggie, they've been giving US the run around all this time, they can wait one more day to deliver when it's convenient for us, right?

Well, it came today at 11:30am! It's so pretty and the room now looks complete. Like I said, I won't post pictures this time. But I just had to share that it's FINALLY here!!! Yay!!!

Hmmm, what other rooms need furnishing??? :-)

Georgia Aquarium Field Trip - Part 2

Good morning everyone out there in BLOGGERland. Ok, now I have a little more time to post the rest of the Aquarium pix I took yesterday.

I hope you enjoyed the ones I've already posted. Even though my friend, who will remain nameless (DIANE!) stole my thunder by saying these pix look familiar...like the ones on HER blog! THANKS!!!! And here I thought I was being as original as possible :-).

Anyway, sit back and relax and enjoy some more of OUR trip to the aquarium :-).

The "tunnel".

Tiger Shark.

This is "Ray" :-).

Markell the handsome one (and some pretty yellow fishies) :-)

The scuba diving tank cleaners. Aren't there some glass sucking fish that can clean that glass?

Isn't this pretty? Not sure what we're looking at here. I just thought it was pretty.

This is my FAVORITE picture! Not sure how I managed to get such a perfect photo of a Jellyfish without people in the way. I love this!!

This has got to be the biggest turtle I've ever seen. Other than the one on Finding Nemo of course :).

Speaking of Nemo!!! Here's my little cutie, Jayla, in front of the Nemo display.

Well, there you have it. Thank you for taking time to "tour" the Georgia Aquarium with me. And for those of you who've never been to Georgia, be sure you try to visit our hottest new attraction.

Enjoy your day!!!

Georgia Aquarium Field Trip - Part 1

Oh my goodness!!! Today, my DS had his 5th grade field trip. They went to the new Georgia Aquarium. Fortunately, me and my 4 year old were able to tag along.

Our Morning: Got up at 7:30am, checked the bank account to make sure there was enough in there for parking :-). Got me and my DD dressed, our hair done, teeth brushed and off we went. Left the house at 8:15am. Filled up the ole minivan with gas, went to the bank to fill up the ole wallet and on to the school. Arrived at the school at 8:45am (no busses there yet). Busses arrive at 8:50am. Busses leave school at 9:10am. NOTE: It's RAINING!!!!!

Fast Forward to downtown: First of all, I DO NOT go downtown! Therefore, I don't know my way around that well and tend to...uh have a panic attack of sorts when I get lost. Anyway, after having one of the other moms talk me to the parking deck, we get parked (on the VERY top of the deck...in the RAIN). I am soon advised that the students are across the street at Centennial Park having "brunch" (it's about 10:20am)...in the RAIN!!! So my DD and I wait at the aquarium entrance for the 150 students and parents to meet up with us. While waiting, I notice that just about every single school in Georgia came to the aquarium today. That place was PACKED!!!

Fast forward to the tour: We finally make our way into the building...along with every other person who's between Kindergarten and 12th grade!!! Anyway, it was overwhelming...both a good and bad feeling. The place was beautiful! There's really not too much more to say at this point...I'll let you just enjoy some of the photos that I took. Remember though, as you look over these pictures, I am NOT a photographer by trade. So please excuse any bad shots.

Fast forward to the photos:

The "chillin" Sea otter.

African Pengquins.

Bulooga Whales.

I "altered" something...

Alright, I'll be the first to say that I'm not much into "altering" things. Ok, I'm not into it at All...well, at least I wasn't.
However, my dear friend Adrienne has informed me that I have now joined hands with other alterers :-). I "accidentally" altered a wooden letter the other day. Not even knowing that's what I was doing. I thought I was just painting the darned thing. But Adrienne says that if I change something from its original state, that makes it altered. So, there you have it!!! And believe me she should know. The lady had "altered" a frying pan for goodness sakes!!

Ok, here's my altered "D". Again, I thought I was just painting the unfinished letter to hang in my scrap space. I got the letter for $1 at Walmart, the Metallic Plum paint from Michaels for $.98 and 12 foam brushes for $1. The ribbon...I THINK I already had that, but I'm not sure. Anyways, I just started painting. And I love the way it came out. I may even go back and get the "A, W & N" too. (Good thing I don't have a long name). I told Adrienne about it and she just HAD to see it. That in itself scares me...Nothing personal. She's just really good at what she does and I thought she'd laugh at my little project. BUT, she loved it. She even inquired about the supplies.

Alright, alright, enough talking (how much can one say about a painted...err, ALTERED letter anyway?) Here it is. Now I've just gotta find some place to hang it :-).



Thanks Adrienne, you ROCK!!!

New Layout - Markell's Baptism

Hello again. I know it's been a minute since I've posted. Haven't had much to talk about lately. Shocking, huh? :-)

Well, I've been working on a layout and I'm FINALLY done. I've only been working on it since Tuesday of this week. I just couldn't commit to anything and it just wasn't "talking" to me. But now I'm done, and I'm pretty pleased with it. Although, it doesn't look a lot like "my" work. Here it is: (sorry for the bad scan)

The patterned paper that I used is pretty cool. It has the word "BAPTISM" all over it. I also cut the stained glass windows and the title by hand. I found the actual "glass" on the internet. I just found one that I liked, saved it and printed it on a transparency so it looks a little more realistic.

Anyway, thanks for looking. Be inspired...

Oh, one more thing...

Below, I mentioned that we just received "some" of our new furniture. But I didn't tell you what happened prior to our delivery today.

You may have read that our kids soccer seasons are now in full swing. Today, they both had games. Markell played this morning and Jayla played this afternoon at 1pm. The furniture company called me yesterday and said that our delivery time would be between 3pm & 6pm. PERFECT! We'd be finished with all soccer activities by then, right? WRONG!!!
Well, I get a phone call at 1:30pm, right in the middle of Jayla's game, stating that the furniture would be delivered to our house within 30 minutes. Ok, that's not such a bad thing...they're coming earlier instead of later.
HOWEVER...we're still in the middle of my baby's game.
Coach Daddy and I just so happened to drive separately today so it wouldn't be a problem if one of us left to go meet the delivery.
Ok, we picked me! I would leave early. I didn't think it would be a big deal. But my 4 year old thought otherwise. Boy, little girls sure do know how to pull at your heartstrings.
I proceed to tell Jayla that mommy has to leave a little early to wait on our furniture delivery, and I'd have to miss some of her game. She gets this REALLY sad look on her face, almost to the point of tears and says to me, "But mommy, I don't want you to leave!"
I tell her that I'll only miss a few minutes of her game then she will be coming home with daddy.
She then says, 'But who's gonna clap for me and yell and say, 'GO Jayla!! GO! GO! GO!?"
Oh my goodness... Talk about feeling like I wanted to crawl under a rock! So there I am, standing on the soccer field...CRYING!!
Daddy then stepped in and said that he'd yell and cheer for her. Still pouting, she says "Ok".
So as I'm walking to the car, she yells, "Mommy! I'm gonna score one more goal for you!"
Sorry for the long story, but I had to share. Oh how I love that little girl. What a sweetie!!!

"GO Jayla!!!"

My Furniture is FINALLY here...well some of it!

Alright, I can't stand it ANY longer! I have been waiting on this new furniture since January. And 95% of it is here now so I can finally do a post about it.

By the time all is said and done, we will have had 3 deliveries from Haverty's...for only 5 pieces of furniture. ARGH!!! The 1st delivery only contained one of our sofas and the WRONG chair and coffee table. Where's my other sofa, chair and coffee table? Who knows? The 2nd delivery, which came today, contained our GORGEOUS coffee table and other sofa. Still, no chair! They SAY that the chair should be here in about 2 - 3 more weeks.
What is it about that particular time frame...2 - 3 weeks??
I kinda thought that when you get a call that says "your furniture" will be delivered on a certain date, that means ALL of it. Call me crazy!!!
Ok, I'm through venting. Like I said 95% of the furniture is here. And it looks FABULOUS in our family room. And to prove that point, here's the OLD furniture...ICK!! However, it DID serve us well for the 10 years we had it.

And here's the new stuff. Isn't is pretty??? I just LOVE it! And the coffee table...oh my goodness, talk about a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. It has 4 "extensions" that pull from the sides for additional storage, 2 drawers, 4 shelves, a checker board & backgammon board...all concealed neatly in one table. AND, get this, additional seating in the middle...in leather! GORGEOUS!!!

Anyway, I'm glad it's finally here. Oh, and the new chair may not get it's own post. So just imagine the Cappucinno colored "Chofa" (CHaise lounge built into a sOFA)... only smaller. The long cushion on the Chofa can be swapped out with the chair cushion to make the chair into a Chaise lounge. Too stinkin COOL!!! Thanks for looking!!!

Lookie what I made...

No, I'm not showing off my pretty little 4 year old this time. Even though she did make a super cute "displayer" for my new project.

I recently bought a few bottles of Making Memories Scrapbook Paint...ok, I bought 2 and got one free :-). And I needed a place to store them. I saw this project in a Memory Makers magazine and for the life of me, couldn't figure out how they did it. But after some trial and error, I did it. I happened to have some of my trusty ole Target wire cube panels lying around. Which is exactly what they used in the MM magazine. So I thought I'd give it a try. The hardest part was painting the thread spools! But I'm pleased with how it turned out.

This isn't that great of a picture of my "project"....but it IS a cute picture of my sweet girl trying her best to display mommy's handy work.

This picture is a little better depiction of my paint bottle holder. And it's even pretty cute of my Jayla too, huh? :-)

NOTE: Some may not be able to get past my cute little "display unit" :-). So this is where you can find this project in MM magazine. It's in the Jan. 2006 issue on page 133.
Thanks for looking.

Wednesday 4 challenge

Before I get started, I have a confession to make. I "borrowed" this topic from Renee. However, she called it the Friday 4 challenge. But in an effort not to look so much like a thief, I changed it to a Wednesday challenge....smile.

I love answering questions like these, even though I often have a hard time coming up with answers. But, here goes:

1. List the people from your past who you would like to reconnect with through email (if you could find them): Most of the people I'd love to reconnect with have moved and we haven't really kept in touch. But they are from our OLD Sunday school class. John & Becky, Steve & Susan andDave & Dru. I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them at the moment.

2. List the companies you wish you owned. I would love to own Target, Chick-Fil-A, or a scrapbook store.

3. List the things you do to defy aging. LAUGH!!!, rest, scrapbook, love, and allow myself to be loved.

4. List what you do to snap out of a bad mood. LAUGH!!!, scrapbook, listen to music, sing, hug & kiss my husband &/or kids, and play with my puppy.

Well, that's about it. Thanks again Renee for unknowingly letting me borrow this :-). I see that you didn't do this, but I feel a TAG coming on. Ok, ladies, you're up! Let's see your "4 challenge". Adrienne, Diane, Tiffany, Tangee and anyone else who feels the urge. :-) Be inspired!

A thing of BEAUTY!

Good morning. For those of you that keep up with my blog, you've probably seen this picture of my eldest DD before. But I've changed it up a little. I'm actually finished with her scrapbook album, as she doesn't live with us anymore and I'm no longer able to get recent pix of her. But this is one that she had done at a photo shoot in March of 2005 for Upscale Magazine. I simply LOVE these pictures and envisioned a beautiful then & now LO. So, here it is!


I am SOOO pleased with how this turned out. I had a ball painting one of the giant HS flowers and painting the ghost letter & flower edges.

I have been so blessed with beautiful girls and it makes LO's like this come so easy. I'm so proud of my eldest DD and I'm simply awed by her beauty...Then & NOW!!! Thanks for looking!

FLOWER POWER!!!

I knew this was gonna happen! I have gone flower KArazy!!! I am finally catching up with all the other Prima Divas out there!
My collection has now increased to 9 bottles of the cute little embellishments. And I have also increased my collection of the HUMONGUS Heidi Swapp flowers. I can't tell you how excited I was today when, not only did the UPS man deliver 3 bottles to my door. But the mail man delivered an additional 3 bottles AND my HS flowers! What a GREAT mail day!!! And NO bills! You just can't beat that!!! Oh well, now that I've gotten (just about) all the supplies I could possibly use, I'm anxious to see what I create.







NOW, I'm truly inspired...so stay tuned. It can only get better from here :-).

I've been at it AGAIN!!!

Somebody STOP ME!!! I've been shopping again for scrapbook supplies. Lord knows I don't need another thing. But SOMEBODY has to keep these stores in business!! Might as well be me. :-).
Last week, I was blessed with 2 rebate checks for me and DH's new cell phones, and OF COURSE I'm using that money for supplies. So last week I placed 3 supply orders for a few things. And one of those orders was for some more HS Ghost letters. I received those yesterday. I'm still waiting on my orders of Prima Flowers...can't wait to get those! Then today, I found myself wandering aimlessly around Hobby Lobby. SOOOOO, since I was there anyway, I wound up in the scrapbook section. They have so many new things in there. I had a ball! So much so that I made my 4 year old wait...just a few more minutes before I got her some lunch...hee hee. She accepted my apology and actually thought it was funny that her belly was growling so loudly :-). Anyhoo, this is what I picked up today.

This patterned paper by The Paper Studio. I LOVE the colors and grabbed one of every pattern.

I also got these pretty glittery flower stickers, some Crystal Brads by MM, Gameboard alphabets in "Spotlight" (White) & "Valentine" (Pink) also by MM, and a pink ink pad.

Oh the fun I'm gonna have with my new stuff! I'm feeling inspired!!!

Let the GAMES begin!

Oh my GOSH! It's soccer season again ALREADY! Ok, I'll admit it, I LOVE soccer season. The Spring season is the hardest because of all the potential rain. The kids get so disappointed when it rains and they either can't practice or play for a day or two. I know how they feel. Especially about the games. I simply love that all the kids love seeing eachother, season after season. This is my DS's 7th season playing and I must say, he's awesome. He plays goalie (in addition to other positions), and he's getting so tall that before long, he'll be stopping those balls that fly over his head.














My DD is in her 2nd season and doesn't show any signs of slacking up. She's alot more excited about playing than I thought she'd be. She absolutely LOVES playing soccer. There is nothing better (at this point in her life) than being a "Cheetah Girl". She also loves that her daddy is one of her coaches. I love these pictures of her. She and daddy are getting ready for the first game of the season, putting on shin guards and cleats. And do I even need to mention that she totally loves posing for the camera?...So what if it's in the middle of a game. :-)
















Now THIS is inspiring! Thanks for looking!

I been shoppin!

Ok, for those that know me, the fact that I've been shopping really isn't a surprise. But the thing that made this trip so exciting to me was that (this time) I went to JoAnns with coupon in hand and knowing exactly what I wanted. AND, I actually found things that I could use in the clearance bin. I love CLEARANCE...whoever he is :-).

Here are my goods. I found some cute little sparkly pink letters...that are adhesive...for only $3. Some little alphabet letters...PURPLE no less for $4. And some primary colored mini frames (I forgot to add them to my picture) for only $3. I paid full price, which still wasn't bad, for some flowers (JoAnn's has their own line of flowers now and they are SOOOO cute). I am SOOO loving flowers lately. I also found the MM chipboard letters I was looking for. And last but not least, I couldn't leave the store without getting SOMETHING by Heidi Swapp. The "girl" index tabs I got are too fun.

Anyway, I know this isn't an exciting post for those that don't scrapbook. But for those who do, I'm sure you understand my joy :-). Alrighty, gotta go play now...I'm inspired...are YOU???