Good morning!

Well I got that stack of paperwork knocked down...but it took all of Monday and part of Tuesday. I spent the rest of the day cleaning house. Today I'm going to tackle my Cafeteria Plan receipts as those HAVE to be in by Friday, or I'm out about $2,000.00. Good incentive. Usually I have it done by December, but I put it off...procrastination should've been my middle name! After the receipts have been faxed in I will tackle the upstairs ... and that's where my scraproom is...I had better make that the last room to clean...because once I get in there I won't want to come out!! lol Actually I need to work on Elizabeth's invitations to her Senior Recital (Elizabeth is Jake's girlfriend). She hadn't ordered them yet and I told her I'd help her out with that. I have some ideas of what I want to do...it's just a matter of getting it put together and then her approving them. Since her recital is April 4th we had better get a move on! I'm open to any and all suggestions!! My thoughts were to print her picture lightly in vellum and then print the invites over the photos - like I did for the wedding favors I made for my nephew's wedding. I will post the invite when I have it made. Thanks for reading and remember, never play with matches! ;) (My public service announcement for the day!) lol

A Day off Work

I took a couple of days off this week, which actually leaves me 5 days off in a row. I will return to work on Saturday and hopefully my LARGE mound of auction paperwork will be a distant memory by then. As soon as I finish up here I'm off to tackle that stack. If it can get it done in the next 4-5 hours I plan on starting on some overdue housework. Tomorrow I'll head into my office downtown to print out about 50 new orders for March. Busy hands are the Devil's enemy, right? lol

My MIL (mother-in-law) came down with the same bug that smote my dear husband (hereinafter referred to as DH - the D won't always stand for "Dear" ;) ) so she's been hacking and coughing. However, she refuses to admit she's sick - it's "just a cough". lol. She likes to tell people that she's never sick - well, I guess if you don't admit it then it's true? lol. She's a funny old bird, that's for sure. I'm hoping Patrick will come home after the sales this morning and take her with him so I can really concentrate on my work (translation: crank up the stereo). I really enjoy listening to music while I work and she'd rather have the TV on nonsensical daytime crap shows. I truly can't ABIDE daytime TV...unless, of course, it's the Food Network, in which case I'll always make an exception. lol.

Jake came down with either Strep throat or tonsillitis in the last few days. He went to the Med7 Clinic on Saturday and they prescribed him penicillin. He began to feel better almost immediately. He is just on the go so much. I guess I was too, at that age. And there are many people who still think I'm always going and doing...but I have slowed down in the last few years, whether they believe it or not! lol. I'm realizing that I'm not as young as I used to be and that kind of sucks! lol

Well, I can't keep procrastinating...it's time to put my nose to the grindstone!

TTFN and TTYL!

Today was a great day!

Not only did I NOT get called into work...but I got to spend the day with Miss Martie!! And, as an added bonus, Ang (owner of Scrapals google groups) joined us at Elliot's in Marysville...where I managed to spend a dollar or two ;). Then we had lunch as Casa Carlos, where we chatted the afternoon away. I then dropped off Miss Martie and headed home.

I'm a bit worried about my baby, Jake (ok so he's 22 years old). He had a sore throat, red swollen tonsils with white pustules - gee, always a pleasant site. He went to the Med 7 Clinic where they did the rapid Strep test, which came back negative, so they are doing the 48 hour culture. I was concerned about his blood pressure reading, which was 140/84. Rather high for a healthy 22 yr old!! BUT the Dr believes it's just because he's sick. We will monitor his blood pressure at home for the next week or two. Meanwhile, he has a 'scrip for penicilin...the dr is leaving it up to him. If the tests come back positive, he will start it for sure. He has NO fever, which is good. He has just been SO busy running around, staying out late - going, going, going - that I think his body is trying to tell him to slow down. I'm hoping he listens to his body because I doubt he'll listen to me!! He spends almost every waking moment with his beautiful girlfriend, Elizabeth. I just adore her and they are THE cutest couple!!! I'm hoping that she will one day become my daughter-in-law.

Well, I think I'll try to catch up on my emails.

TTYL!

Caity Sue

Me and my Honey on Valentine's Day

This is Patrick and I on Valentine's Day. I just LOVE this dress!! I must've tried on 20 outfits before I found "THE ONE". It is by Adrianna Arpel and it fit like a glove!! Patrick really like it too. We went to dinner at Ruth's Chris and had a GREAT meal with awesome service!! Patrick had the Cowboy Ribeye and I had the regular ribeye. Cooked to perfection!! The only drawback was that Patrick was sick...but bless his heart, he wouldn't hear of my cancelling our reservations. He's a trooper! lol. In the first picture you can just see some of my red roses he bought me on the lower left corner. Sorry these photos are so bright :(. EB, maybe you can fix these for me too, if I email them to you???

Dodged bullet yesterday!

Well yesterday turned out to be quite uneventful, thank God!! I volunteered to work overtime because there was great concern about possible "civil disobedience" (rioting) in Sacramento yesterday. This was in regards to the BART officer shooting of an unarmed man. There was actually riots in Oakland a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday they were busing into Sacramento to protest at the State Capitol (what our state legislators have to do with it is BEYOND me!) so we staffed up to prepare for the worst. Once I heard that Louis Farrakan had cancelled his appearance I was quite relieved because I was sure it would remain peaceful. There was probably 350 protestors, mostly Nation of Islam, with a few Black Panthers thrown in. We never ran a call related to the protest because it was quite a peaceful demonstration. Thank GOD!!! I'm not as young as I used to be and I need to stop volunteering for this type of work! lol

Mom's Card

This is the card I made for my Mother-in-law. I used pink Bazzill cardstock and stamped be mine in brown ink. I stamped Happy Valentine's Day in the same brown ink. I used beige flowers and inked them in brown ink and then added the brown buttons. Super simple and it only took me 5 minutes. It's not what I had in mind when I started, but I was under a time crunch (when aren't I? lol).

Doug's Card

Here is the Valentine's Day card I made for my stepson, Doug. I really like how it turned out. I used 2 shades of embossing paste - metallic gold and copper. I used my dragon brass embossing plate and black cardstock. I trimmed the black cardstock with deckle-edged scissors and then used my copper leafing pen to highlight the edges. I then mounted this on metallic cardstock - it was the PERFECT shade!!!

On the inside I wrote "you are our son that has the heart of a dragon". :)

James's Valentine's Card

Here is the card I made for James. The photo on the left was taken without the flash and the colors are more true to life...however, it wouldn't come in clear. The picture below was taken with flash and is much clearer, but the colors look more drab. I just LOVE the way this one turned out.

TGIF!!

Well another work cycle down and now it's time to play. I have a full day tomorrow: I am going to the Dentist first thing in the morning, then to my hairdressers (goodbye gray hairs! lol) and then a pedicure!! I also have a couple of Valentine's Cards to finish!! 3 to be exact! On Saturday I will spend a few hours working at the Fill the Boot for the Burn drive and then off to dinner at Ruth's Chris!! We have late reservations (8:15). I have not eaten there before but have been told it's most excellent!! I can't wait! I will post all about it this weekend. On Sunday I'm hoping to pay a visit to Miss Martie and check out her beautiful, newly-organized scraproom!
TTYL!

A New Blog

Wow! I'm jumping into this blogging world with both feet!! I have decided to start a 2nd blog devoted to cooking. It is called Cooking with Caity Sue and I hope you will check it out at http://www.cookingwithCaitySue.blogspot.com !!

Today is a good day so far

I was on call for work today and so far I haven't been called in!! YEAH!! I think that means I need to spend a few hours scrapping to celebrate. I also need to finish my husband and grandson's Valentine's Day cards AND pack Dustin and Thomas's Valentine's Day boxes. I'm sending them all kinds of heart shaped candies and I'm going to run to Target to see if I can find a couple of cute red bears. :) The guys will love it, I'm sure! lol

Okay followers: What do you think about me including a recipe in my daily blogs? Right now I'm off to start dinner in the crockpot so that I won't have to worry about stopping scrapping to make dinner. I'm making Beef Tips - it's a recipe I haven't tried before and it is super-simple. Here is the recipe:
Stew Meat (any amount)
1 envelope onion soup mix (I'm using Mrs. Grass's)
1 can golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup red wine (always use a good wine you would drink!!)
1 can mushrooms, drained (I'm omitting the mushrooms but would use fresh not canned)

Mix all together in crock pot and cook all dow on low. Serve over rice or noodles.

I am going to season the meat and brown it first - that always brings out the best flavor of the meat. I will use the red wine to deglaze the pan before adding it to the crock pot. I will also serve this over noodles. AND since I'm not starting it until about 1:00 pm, I will cook it on high. :).

Update: It is now 3:15 and it sure is smelling good!!! :) I will do another update after dinner!

Last Update: It was very tasty!!! Everyone agreed that this recipe was a keeper. Next time, I will season the meat just a bit less and I will use 3 cans Golden Mushroom soup and 2 cups wine, and stick with one package of the onion soup mix (I think more than 1 pkg would be overpowering). I used 2 cans and 1 1/2 cups of red wine, but there was hardly any leftover!!

Valentine's Day Cards

Ok...I got busy this past week and made some Valentine's Day Cards. I still have a couple to share with you...one is for my dh, Patrick, and the other is for my wonderful, precious grandson, James. I will share those when they are finished. Now that my scraproom is organized again I find myself wanting to be in there more and more!!! It is truly my happy place!!

Jake's Card

I made this card for my youngest son, Jake. This is using SEI paper and the letters were hand cut from another portion of the page - in fact, the V had to be pieced together because the word LOVE wasn't even on the paper - I don't remember what the words were now that was on there. I used pop dots to make the word LOVE stand out.

Thomas Jackson's Card

This is the card I made for a young airmen that is serving under my oldest son, Dustin. I found out he wasn't getting any boxes sent from home, so we adopted him as our other son while he's serving in Iraq and Kuwait. I used a deep red Bazzill cardstock and, using my wonderful Cricut E machine and the Storybook Cartridge, I cut the T and the scrolls and the frame (the scrolls were just the frame that I cut up to get the scrolls). I trimmed the bottom with Victorian decorative scissors about an inch higher than the inside page, so it will show even when the card is closed. On the inside bottom I stamped the "Happy Valentine's Day" and embossed it.

Sarah's Card

Here is the card I made for my daughter-in-law, Sarah. She and my son, Dustin, are divorced now, but they remain good friends. I used pink Bazzill paper and sprayed it with Pink Bubblegum Glimmer Mist. I cut the scroll border with my Cricut E machine using the Storybook cartridge (I LOVE this cart!). I inked the edges with brown chalk, and trimmed the bottom using my Victorian decorative scissors. I stamped Happy Valentine's Day in brown ink.

Kyle's Card

This is the card I made for my middle son, Kyle, who is in the Air Force and currently stationed in New Mexico. He will be getting out soon and hopefully going to culinary school in Texas. I used my Cricut machine and cut a border from the Storybook Cartridge. I stamped Happy Valentine's Day in a brown ink and embossed it. I also used a glue pad and stamped a heart inside a frame that has hearts on it and used a pale pink glitter. I wish it stood out more. :(. This paper was from a SEI kit that I found on sale. It was their pages in motion kit, I think.

Elizabeth's Card

This is the card I made for my son's girlfriend, Elizabeth. I used my Cricut and the Storybook cartridge to cut out the corner decorations and the E and the frame around the E. I used my corner heart punch for the bottom corners. I wish the ribbon at the bottom came out clearer. It is pink and black and I stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" in Staz-On ink and then embossed it. I also have a faint bit of Pink Bubblegum Glimmer Mist sprayed on the black cardstock.

Dustin's Card

This card I made for Dustin, my oldest son, who is currently deployed in Iraq and Kuwait. It was embossed using a brass stencil and a light box, and then chalked with green and red chalks. I also used the heart corner punch in the bottom corners.

Card I made for Nicky's Challenge on Cricutlovers

OK...here is the card I made using the New Arrivals cartridge for the Cricut. The challenge was to use it for more than a baby card or layout. So I chose a romantic theme. I used the twin hearts and the moon and have the hearts hanging from the moon and I added a journaling block that says "I love you to the moon and back". I cut U Me with the Jasmine cartridge and just handwrote the -n-. I also used the Core-dinations cardstock and embossed it with the paisley embossing folder and sanded it down to get some of the pink color to show through. And the card isn't crooked - my scanning and cropping abilities just leave a lot to be desired! lol

My Scrapping Space

And here is a picture of the Ikea cabinets my Dad and I installed 2 years ago. I was SO happy with how they turned out. I also installed lighting underneath the shelf and that really makes a difference when I'm scrapping at night. All the stuff piled under the cabinet is for my niece. I love to give her scrapping stuff. When I cleaned out the room I realized I had a lot of stuff that I just don't need or have 2-3 of already!! When my niece gets back from Peru she's going to be loaded down!

Here is an overall view of my scrapping room. I love this space...it's my own private retreat. I can't imagine not having this room to get away to!!!

Ok...here is the ScrapBox when it's opened. I love being able to close these doors up and I like the fact that I can open it all the way up or keep it in a "U" Shape. This is one awesome scrapping tool!! It is 450 lbs when it's shipped, so it's a sturdy little guy!

Well I did it!! AND I'm so proud of ME. I bought the ScrapBox and got it assembled and now it's filled with a lot of my scrapping stuff. It looks good and it makes me happy to have everything organized again. NOW I just need to quit buying so much stuff and start using what I have.