New Saltwater Aquarium

We decided that if we were going to continue with a saltwater tank that we needed to make it easier.  We decided to down size to a 75 gallon from a 150. And added a 30 gallon refugium to the bottom. Giving us an overall volumn of 105 gallons. Good size I think. 

The transfer was not as bad as I would have thought. Done in one weekend. Here's a pic. The fruits of our labor!

Feather Duster

Side View

Yellow Torch

Light It Up!!

Merry Christmas to all! At our house we just love decorating the outside of the house. Every year we try to add a little something. This year it was a big something. Santa's Workshop! Enjoy the lights!

Gone Digital!!

Gone Digital!! This is my first try at a digital album.
I got this adorable kit from scrapgirls.com. It's called Doodle Dandy Collection Biggie. Super Cute!

I did learn a few things. If you have a fuzzy picture, it's really going to look fuzzy when you have a page printed. Especially if you are doing pictures bigger than 4x6. Which is super easy, I can make them any size I want. :) Let me know what you think!

We Got Spirit ... How 'Bout You!!

We have had such a great year cheering! Hope you enjoy some pics!!

Cute Little Piggies

I just love having my toes painted. It makes me so happy to look down and see those cute little piggies all dolled up. Apparently, my girls like it also. :) So we did matching toes tonight. How cute are we. Bright pink with sparkles and a flower on our big toes. It's so fun being a girl! And of course I had to take pictures of our Cute Little Piggies!

Feeling a little punchie!

Wow has it really been that long!!! Yes, it has. I have had no time lately at all. But I have managed to get some cleaning done in my scrap room. :)

But here is my latest find. I have never been that big into punches but I am loving this one!! I had a coupon for M's and couldn't really find anything else I wanted. And I love all the edged paper. Without further ado....... drum roll ...... my new edge punch.
How cute is that?? Seriously!!! And it was so easy to use. Hopefully, I'll be able to use it soon. Well, that is after I get a HUGE scrapbook done for my boss.

Yes, my boss asked me to do a scrapbook for him. I couldn't turn him down, ya know?

Hope to be scrapping soon!

A little birdie told me

I had a fun time making this little guy. The birdies are from the Wishblade Well. Totally cute. I hung it from the window in my Scrap Room. :) Used some beads that I had from making DD curtain pull-back and some old fiber I have boxes of. Paper is my favorite Basic Grey - Urban Couture Collection. The greens and browns match my room perfectly. Not done on purpose ... I promise! :)

Busy Week

Between 2 PTA meetings, meetings for work running late, DH golf night, DD cheerleader info meeting - this week is just packed full! Who has time to cook dinner? But I sure need to be. I had gained 3 pounds! I have been trying to be better this week. Back down a pound. But just goes to show you hve to always keep an eye on what you eat or that fat sneaks back when you are not looking. Go away Fat! And stay away!

Totally Bummed :(

It was just been a yucky day for me :( I didn't pass this certification test that I spent 5 hours taking today. Considering I have been out of that line of work for a while and I didn't study all that much - but I thought I could at least pass it. Totally Sucks! AND the guy who was doing our pool loan apparently doesn't know what he is doing. There is a technicality because we haven' been in the house long enough we can't get the house appraised higher, which means we can't the amount of loan we wanted. All of which he should have known before we even did the paperwork. So DH and I are really not very happy with the loan guy right now. So, it looks like we'll be waiting till next summer. No point in doing it late in the summer like the loan guy said we could ... swimming season will be over. But it's not like anything really bad happened. Just makes for a bummer of a day. :(

Weekend Fun

What a great but busy weekend we had! Filled with Birthday parties and a visit to the Zoo. The girls had such a great time. We did the Stingray petting pool which is just too cool. Oldest DD Loved it! And the great bird feeding area - you buy little popsicle sticks with seeds on them and the birds eat right off of them. They had some sort of guinea fowl - my littlest DD called it a chicken - pretty much! She wasn't scared a bit! Very nice family weekend. Hope your was just as good!

Thursday Already!!

This week has flown by! I have been really busy at work and at home. Hardly time to even look at the clock! I have spent some of this week getting together all the paperwork for a POOL! 3D picture to the left. Yippee!! It really will be fun for the girls. And DH gets is own grilling station. I can't begin to tell you how excited he is about that! So maybe in about 8 weeks you'll be seeing real pool pictures!

Cheerleader Try-outs

OK, so I am still a bit of a cheerleader at heart. I think that is why I was so excited when DD brought home paperwork for trying out for cheerleader. :) As soon as she got in the car yesterday she said, "Mom, there is something I want to do." I'm thinking what is the world could this be?? She digs in her backpack and pulls out a cheerleader try-out flyer. I read all through it, looked it up on line and emailed the lady this morning. It's not nearly as competative as they made it sound which I was happy to hear. They have a parent meeting coming up then the try-outs which is more to make sure they really want to do it than a real try-out. Like the agony I remember from high school. I didn't want that for her at such a young age. I want it to be something she enjoys and wants to do rather than beat her over the head with it. Hopefully, she'll love it as much as I did!

Coupon Codes & Sales

Joann.com - Code: SBD092 for free standard shipping on orders over $25 - Expires: 04/03/08
- Code SED097 Expires:04/07/08- 40% off the regular price of one item

Disney - $5 shipping on %50 or more - Code: SHIPFOR5
- 25% off swim appearal Code: SWIM 25 Expries: 4/3/08

Seaside Stampin' Ink - 10% OFF
- Plus FREE SHIPPING on most items Code: kathy2getbetter4U

EBB Creations - http://www.ebbcreations.com/ - 25% off all Queen and Co Embellishments - Code: Apr-MS08 Expires: 4/30/08

DFW SB Stores

DFW Area List of Scrapbook stores

Gotta Scrap
Website: http://www.gottascraprockwall.com/
910 Steger Towne Rd, Rockwall

Kim's Scrap & Crop
Website: http://www.scrapandcrop.net/
Kim Alambar
Phone: (940)442-5933
1100 Dallas Dr, Denton

Remember When
Website: http://www.shoprememberwhen.com/
122 E. Main St., Whitesboro

The Scrapbook Addict
10909 Hwy 78, Lavon
Phone: (972) 843-2009

The Scrapbook Barn
Website: http://www.thescrapbookbarn.com/
3427 E. Trinity Mills, Dallas

Scrappin' Bunnies
Website: http://www.scrappinbunnies.com/
400 N. Central Expressway, McKinney

Stamp Asylum
Website: http://www.stampasylum.com/
2001 Coit Rd, Plano

The Crafty Scrapper
Website: http://www.thecraftyscrapper.com/
308 South College Street, Waxahachie

Scrappywood
Coming Soon
Website: scrappywoodonline.com
Frisco, TX

Memory Creations
Coming Soon
4th Avenue Midlothian

The Scrapbook Pad - Closed 4/7/08
Website: http://scrapbookpad.com/
5611 Colleyville Blvd, Colleyville

DFW Area List of Retreats

Megan's Place
Myrel France
Phone: 469-766-7131

HeavenLeigh Escape

** Please tell me if you know of any others so I can add them to the list!

BG is on it's way!

Woo Hoo!! My Basic Grey pre-order is on it's way!! I'm so excited. I LOVE BG!! I'll bring it Saturday so those of you cropping can see it!! Here are the sets I bought:

First BBQ

I declare our first BBQ in our new house a Success! My husband made the most delicious brisket. Yum! We had about 10-15 people over plus kiddos. So, a good sized group of people. We did an Easter Egg Hunt for the kiddos which was a big hit. The guys played washers and we all gossiped. It was a fun afternoon. My whole family is pooped today though. DH and DDs are napping now. Thank goodness a bunch of grumps they are today. The girls went through their Easter Baskets this morning and we ate donuts. Very Low key. Thank you Lord for Easter, our family and friends.

Title Graphic for Beanie

Ms. Jeanie Beanie Bella, one of my favoritest scrapping buddies said she needed to update the title graphic on her blog. I threw one together for her last night. Cute! I just love the colors, pinks and purples. It's so her. Go take a look at "Another Day is Paradise!"
http://vanillapuddin.blogspot.com/

Siggy?

In my wanderings through blogs today, I saw some of the most adorable signatures. AKA Siggies. Cute, cute cute. So, I took my first stab at one. Maybe not the greatest, but I am warming up to the idea.

Baby, it's cold outside!

OMG it's freezing outside today. Luckily the weather isn't as bad as the weathermen thought. Roads still drivable. Nothing frozen. Just cold and wet. As for me ... studying from home. Gonna do some shopping this afternoon. And maybe fit in some scrapping tonight. I have a card swap due that I haven't started. Guess I better get moving on those!!

Busy Days!

I feel like I have really gotten some things done lately and for some reason I am not stressing over every little thing like I normally do. I think that is in part because my hubby has been sooo helpful the last couple of days - that always helps out tons!

Then I went shopping with my sis and came home with a size 4 pants!!! Go WW! OK so I can't fit in every size 4 - but that doesn't matter to me. It feels so good to be a small size again. I just can't stop smiling.

I got some SB organization done too! I ordered some Cropper Hopper paper holders a week or so ago and got all my 12x12 patterned paper organized. WOW! It looks great. Here's a pic:

And today I am working on a LO. 2 Down, 50 more to go. I am loving this year!!

TGIF

Woo Hoo it's Friday. I have to make up a couple of hours at work today and then it's off to scrap with the girls. I sure need some me time. I am hoping to get a couple projects about me done and get all my photos ordered.

Me projects
I am working on a couple layouts about cropping with the girls and the other, which I am particularly excited about, is my 100 favorite things. I'll post how it turns out. I even took a bunch of pictures last night to include in it. I really don't scrap myself and it would be nice for my girls to get to know me when they are older. :)

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone is starting out the year with a bang! OK - new year's resolutions ...
1. WW - loose and maintain. I'm getting close to my goal weight and I don't want to blow it!
2. Scrap 52 pages this year. That's one a week, I think I can do that. Gotta get back to making pages.
3. Exercise 3 days a week, even if it's just walking around the neighborhood.
4. Take more photos - Include myself!
5. Implement a working budget - yikes!
6. Play with the girls more.
7. Find a cleaning lady.
8. Recycle more.
9. Actually use my blog!
10. Enjoy life more and not stress so much!

OK, I think that is enough to keep me busy this year. 2007 was such a great year for my family I can't wait to see what 2008 brings!!