Projects

Sometime in December I made a pet sympathy card for a co-worker who had to put her cat down. Now me, I'm not a big pet person, but I do know that a loss is a loss, it doesn't matter if it's a pet or person. A couple of people were kind of ribbing on her about how upset she was and I felt so bad. So I made her this very simple pet card to show her that I care. I was kinda at a loss, but I think it turned out cute. :)

Speaking of at work, I have a corner desk, that basically looks into a corner, but I have a door right there too. But when I'm looking at my computer, behind the monitor there is a bulletin board. It was a plain ugly board and we typically don't put anything up there except for a calendar and the birthday list. But that's it. I thought I would make it bright and cheery. I cut up 12, 6" squares and put them on the board. I like it. Every time I look up I smile and it makes me happy. I thought it turned out pretty good even though I messed up the pattern, LOL. :) Everyone that has noticed it seems to like it as well, except for one person who said it was a waste of time.....first, off it's absolutely dead in the office and if it makes you happy, nothing is a waste of time! At least that is my thinking on it. :) Anyway, here is a picture of the board. Yes, it is lacking a calendar right now, I'm bringing in my "Office" calendar on Tuesday. That will make me ever more happy. :D Here is picture of the board. Sorry for the crappy quality, I took it with my camera phone. :)

Looking forward to 2007

During the latter part of a year, it starts to feel a bit claustrophobic. Everything caving in on you, coming to an end. So many projects and things to do, and not enough time to do them. It seems to me that after Christmas passes, things slow down, calm down. A whole new fresh start. I love it. A year coming to an end, a new year with a clean slate.

I'm typically not one to make New Year's resolutions, but this year I am. I am determined to make a change for the better. Here are the resolutions that I posted on Scrappy Chic.

-Decultter.
-Work towards being completely debt free.
-Keep the money that we put in savings in there.
-Start a retirement plan.
-Aim towards working part time.
-Be more thankful for what I have rather than looking at what I don't have. (Essentially be more positive)
-Be more creative and scrapbook more.
-Continue my weight loss journey.
-Make more from scratch. Or should I say attempt to make foods from scratch? LOL. Bread is number one on my list. :)


Now, Denise and Laurie have talked about Mrs. Catherine, and her challenge that she posted. Here is a link to the Mrs. Catherine's Blog. http://www.xanga.com/MrsCatherine/558980602/new-year-new-set-of-challenges--learning-something-new.html

So here are three things that I want to learn how to do in my home that I haven't done yet.

1. Declutter, simplify, organize.
At work people tell me that I am so organized. And there I am. At home, I am to a certain extent, but I know I can do much better. This year I am going to do that. :)

2. Cook from scratch.
Now, Jason and I have been doing this, and I have certain foods that I can make from scratch, and since starting my weight loss journey we have done this more, but I need to learn how to cook healthy meals. I think my first task will be to make bread and rolls. There have been some wonderful recipes posted on Scrappy Chic, so I'm going to try those. I am going to make good use out of that bread machine that Jason and I got for a wedding gift. :)

3. Work towards being debt free.
Jason and I started on this, and did great, but now we need to continue to do it and stick with it. That means limiting eating out (more expensive now since we don't do fast food) and meal planning.

Now I'm going to to a fourth one as well :P

4. Be a more Godly woman.
Let's just say that I have never really followed the His word, and have realized that I need Him in my life. I want to be a wife that Jason will be proud of, increase my homemaking skills and I know that I can't do it on my own, I need Him in my life and to follow His word. Doing so will only make me a better person. :)

Cake Decorating

Growing up, I remember Ma decorating cakes and me "helping" her. Or should I say begging to make a mess out of frosting. ;) I remember helping Ma mix up and color frostings and begging her to let me "practice" my writing on a sheet of wax paper. Flipping through the Wilton books she had. Ma was an amazing cake decorator. I'm sure if she pulled out her cake decorating stuff, she could still whip up a beaultiful cake.

Beginning of December I seen a cake in the Kraft Food & Family magazine, that was looked like a Christmas Ornament. I decided to attempt to make it, and had a ton of fun while doing it. The cake didn't turn out the best, but I had a blast. That's what it's all about, isn't it?

Here's a picture of the cake. :)

At work, I got a gift card for $110 to use wherever I want, but I have to spend it on me. My first thought was to put it towards a wide format printer or to spend it on scrapping supplies. Now, I know that scrapping supplies don't have an expiration date, but I have so many, it is starting to get overwhelming. I need to stop buying and start using them up. So I decided to spend some of the money on cake decoarting supplies. Sure enough Hobby Lobby had a coupon for 40% off all Wilton Products. So off Jason and I went. I ended up getting quite a bit of stuff for about $80. I do need to go back and pick up some other things that I now want after reading my Wilton course books!! So I think I am going back to pick up some more stuff. :) I guess you can say that I now have a new hobby...Cake Decorating. Now let's see how good I can become. :)

Christmas Box

This looks like a simple box. To me this cream and gold colored box means Christmas. For as long as I can remember that box contained *my* Christmas ornaments. Each year Ma buys us or we pick out a new ornament for the year. This box contains so many ornaments...everything from my first Christmas Ornament to one that Grandma Nelson made me that has my picture in it, to various homemade ones. You can see a peek of a dixie cup bell ornament that I made in school. I love my box of ornaments and it just means happiness to me. :)

Now in other news, this is my new Nativity Set that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. I love it!

You can click on either image to see the pictures larger. :)

ABC Tag :)

ABC Tag
A - Available or single: Married!
B - Best friend: Jason :)
C - Cake or pie: Chocolate cake or pumpkin pie. Or pumpkin cake muffins. Best of both worlds. :)
D - Drink of choice: Water or Tazo Awake Tea
E - Essential item you use everyday: Glasses! I can't see *anything* without them. Yes, that is true, just ask Jason if he has ever moved them while I'm in the shower. ;)
F - Favorite color: Pink and black!
G - Gummy bears or worms: Bears.
H - Hometown: Kerick, MN or Finlayson, MN
I - Indulgence: Dove Dark Chocolate.
J - January or February: January, my birthday month and a wind down after Christmas. :)
K - Kids & names: Don't have any kids yet.
L - Life is incomplete without? My family and laughter!
M - Marriage date: 08.02.03
N - Number of siblings: 2 sisters.
O - Oranges or apples: Apples, granny smith. Although I do like oranges too. :)
P - Phobias or fears: Someone I know dieing and our house being broke into when Jason is at work.
Q - Fave quote: "Scrapbooking supplies have no expiration dates." or something to that effect...Stacy Julian. ;)
R - Reasons to smile: I have the most wonderful husband and Christmas is coming!
S - Season: Fall and Spring. Mild temperatures and beautiful sunshiney days. (Yes, sunshiney is a word in my book. :P)
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Whoever wants to! Someone better. ;)
U - Unknown fact about me: Hmmm....I think I'm pretty open, I don't know if I have one. If I think of one, I will edit my post. :)
V- Vegetable you don't like: Asparagus
W - Worst habit: Not exercising.
X - Xrays: Never had any.
Y - Your fave food: Jason's grilled buffalo burgers. YUMMY!
Z - Zodiac sign: Aquarious

Scrappy Chic

To address the anonymous commenter on my blog, who said,

"Is ScrappyChic turning into an in your face religious message board?"

The majority of the members on Scrappy Chic came from Mama Central, which was a religious, Christian Mom's board that covered many of the same topics that we do now. When Mama Central went down, I had the Scrappy Chic domain and hosting sitting there unused and essentially re-opened Mama Central under the Scrappy Chic name and continued to keep the hosting and domain name up. I contacted as many members of the original Mama Central group that I could because I couldn't imagine not having a place to meet and talk to with all of these wonderful ladies. Most of the same forums remain the same and a couple have been added. But essentially most of us came from Mama Central, meaning that when you joined Scrappy Chic, you should have realized that it was a board with religious roots.

I know that I am not the best Christian in the world, and have struggled with God. At one point I have even questioned his existence, but I know that I am a Christian and a believer. I may not go to church, or read the bible daily, but I am a Christian, and God impacts my life greatly and all of the ladies here are inspiring me to be a better person. A better wife. And inspiring me to live through God's word. Being able to talk about God and church is freedom of speech. There is no way I am going to stop the religious posts on Scrappy Chic. Why would I want to stop members from posting inspiring posts or their thoughts and beliefs? If you do not like what is posted on the board or find offense to what is posted on the board, post away there. The topics on the board are always open for a respectful debate.

Amber

Updates

Since it has been forever since I posted, I figured it is time to give a long rambling update. Well, let's see how long this is. ;) And of course it has to be in list form, since I love my lists. :)

I decided to change my template today. Since I updated to blogger beta I changed the color sheme from the default template. I love my pink. :)

Speaking of pink and black I'm working on a pink & black christmas tree.

Since the other scrapbook store closed, I found a new home so to speak. TJ's Pictures and Papers. *Awesome* store. Lots of papers and products I have never seen around here, the latest and greatest so to speak. And the owners are amazing. So nice and one of them Jackie, always asks what I'm working on and to bring what I'm working on in. Great customer service. I can't wait to take classes there. :) I still don't know about cropping there since I would have to actually pack all my stuff up and I make such a huge mess when I scrap.

I'm back to being creative again. I have so many new ideas and things I want to try. I wish I could quit my job and just create and craft all day. That would be heaven.

Jason's surgery on his hand went well and he is getting his stitches taken out today.

I've been moody and crabby lately. And my period is late, after being on time for the last couple months. And before you ask, yes I did take a pregnancy test, and it came back negative. I don't know what's going on with that.

My weightloss is in a lull. I haven't been very good about tracking what I eat, and I'm getting to the point where I just want to throw my hands up and say whatever. But the other part of me wants to keep losing and be a sexy wife for my husband. :) So I'm going to keep plugging away at it, and will be better at it. :)

I really want a treadmill so I can exercise at home. I put it on my Christmas list, now let's see if I get one. I'm guessing not....but I'm still crossing my fingers.

I hate making Christmas lists for other people. I mainly want scrapping stuff, but even if I get specific, no one really wants to buy it.

I suggested drawing names next year for Jason's family, and Jason talked to his brothers and sisters, and that is what we will be doing. YAY! I'm surprised it went over so well. Everyone seemed almost relieved. Glad it worked out. :)

I'm in the Christmas mood. Buying presents, making presents, working on Christmas crafts, even if this time of the year is so hectic I love it.

I will admit that I have already listened to Christmas music!

My scrapping room isn't going to be done by December 1. :( I'm working on packing some of my stuff up so we can have a Christmas tree in the living room. I've packed 9 paper boxes of stuff so far and barely made a dent. I've got a long way to go......I am going to go through my stuff once my room is done and will be posting some stuff for sale again on Scrappy Chic. I really need to pare down.

I realized the other day that my birthday in January is going to be my golden birthday. I will be 24 on the 24th. Gosh, I'm getting old!

I'm going to attempt to sew and make curtains for my scrapping room. Ma, be prepared for phone calls, LOL. I need to find fabric first. :) Who knows, maybe I will be a sewer after all, lol.

I want to be a better sewer so I can make quilts for the house. Nothing compares to wrapping up in a quilt at night or watching tv wrapped up in a homemade quilt. Those store bought blankets just don't do it for me.

I can't wait to start wrapping Christmas presents! I love wrapping presents. Christmas music going in the background. So perfect!

If anyone knows where I can get the Creative Imaginations collections Lovestruck, Skull & Crossbones, Caution Boy, and Caution Girl, I would be eternally greatful! I need all of these collections!

I miss blogging. I should do it more.

Advent Calendars

Last year I made one advent calendar. Here is the pic. :)


This year I made two more. I even used my wishblade to make tags for one, lol. I was impressed with myself, lol.

Thursday's

It's been a bit since I've updated, so I thought I better do that. :)

Jason has been working hard on my scrapping room, getting the walls mudded and taped. I've been freaking out because I don't think that it will be done by December 1. Jason calmed me down and reassured me that it would. Me being the list maker, made a list of everything that we need to do to get my room done and moved into.

This coming weekend we are going to IKEA to pick up the hardwood floors for my scrapping room. This will be our first time laying (or should I say attempting to lay) hardwood floors. It should be interesting to say the least, lol. I also want to look for a small computer desk there. One big enough for my laptop, my wishblade, and a small printer. Nothing fancy. Oooooo, that can go on my Christmas list. A small printer that I can also print photos on. So decent quality.

I took Monday of this week just to have a "Me" day. I spent the day working on Christmas Cards, Advent Claendars, Ornaments, and playing video games. It was a great day and I got a lot accomplished. I really wish I could have one day a week to just do that. Don't have to go to work or anything. That would be perfect. Of course I would love to be able to work part time, but that won't be happening anytime soon, lol.

Speaking of video games, I had an intersting conversation with a friend last night about video games. He said that video games weren't constructive. I agrued back that they were, because you get acheievements, earn points, get a sense of accomplishment, and of course improve hand/eye coordination. After a bit of jousting, he said that they were constructive, lol. It was great fun. :)

I am so very excited for tonight. It is Thursday, that means "The Office" is on! Hooray!!! That is the one show that I follow and have to sit down and watch during the week. If anyone calls while the office is on, I don't even answer the phone, lol. Does anyone else watch "The Office"? I also <3 John Krasinski...he plays Jim on the show and is so good looking. I was reading on 2peas that there was an interview with him in the latest "InStyle" magazine, so I'm thinking I'm going to have to pick that up. Yes, I'm a dork, lol. And with that, I leave you with a pick of the yummy John Krasinski...

Fun over the weekend

Over the weekend I had a bit of fun and did some playing around.

Here on the very top are dice that I made pink with Alcohol inks and then the bottlecaps that I played around with. I made one a pin and a couple are magnets.

The next picture are marble magnets made out of those half marble things by the floral section.

You can click on either picture to make them bigger. :)

What Makes Me Happy

I thought I would do another blog entry. :) Two days in a row, wow, lol. ;) And since I love lists, I'm going to do this in list format....What makes me happy.

*Waking up before the alarm goes off. I don't feel so rushed then.....
*Russian Tea (Grandma Nelson's Recipe of course)*Having breakfast done and on the table when Jason comes home from work.
*Making a huge mess scrapbooking. I feel so creative.
*Making plans and shopping and creating for Christmas. <3 The holiday season. :)*Chocolate cupcakes that have just 131 calories in each of them. So moist and yummy and pumpkiny. Heaven for me.
*Jason cooking supper when I come home from work
*Music. Must have music.
*Silly pictures
*Effer Dares. They make me think outside the box.
*Jason tucking me into bed at night before he leaves for work.
*Comforts from childhood (my brown blankey and Corey)

Scrapbooking

I actually scrapbooked tonight. And to be honest, it was only one LO, but I made a huge mess and totally enjoyed it. Now I just have to get the black ink off of my hands before work tomorrow, LOL. And I ended up not even using the chipboard that I inked, LOL. So totally me.

Anyway, this is from the AMM Bohemia Line, papers and rub-ons, and HS photocorners.

Day 1...continued...Corn Palace

Here we are heading off to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Now some of you may be wondering what in the heck is a Corn Palace, basically it's a building that is decorated using different colors/variations of corn! Inside of the building it has a gymnasium, that was being used for a Polka Festival when we were there. There were also little tables where you could buy items. And also, proof that I did drive. ;)

Day 1 Continued..

Here are more pics of Falls Park. I thought that they were too beautiful not to share. :)

South Dakota, Day 1, in the car & Sioux Falls!

Since I have come to the reality that I don't have the time to create one monster post about South Dakota, I'm going to do bits and pieces of our trip. I don't want to bore you with all 3,000 pics I took or all 900 I printed and put into photo albums, lol.

Here we go! Day 1!

I was fascinated with all these HUGE windmills and of course leaving MN and heading into South Dakota, so I had to take a picture of the sign, lol.




























Here we are at Falls Park in Sioux Falls, SD. More pics of the falls coming. :) It was WINDY and COLD there. Jason said he would be fine without his jacket. ;) He was freezing. :)

Leaving on a jet plane....

well, not really a jet plane, lol. Jason and I are going on a road trip to South Dakota! And are leaving early tomorrow morning. I am looking forward to it. It should be lots of fun. I plan to take tons of pictures! Don't miss me too much. ;)

5 days and counting

We are leaving for South Dakota about 5 a.m. on Sunday, September 17. This trip has come up so fast! And I've been stressing about it, but I think that stress is finally gone. The main thing that I have been stressing about is clothing. Yes, I realize that is such a small thing in the scheme of things, but I had no casual clothes that fit me after the weight loss. I've only been buying worth clothes. This weekend Jason and I went up north to visit the family and also took the girlies to the Mall and Wal-Mart. Believe it or not I got jeans and capris at Wal-Mart and they fit me good!! The Juniors size 19 jeans are perfect for me. The shirts there didn't fit good, but on the way home we stopped at Target in the cities and they had a ton of shirts that fit me perfect. Hooray! So now I have clothes for the trip.

Last night I started to pack some of the food, and get everything organized. A little bit each night and it will be good. My goal is to have the car completely packed except for food on Saturday so we can head out early, early on Sunday.

Jason and I had a lot of fun this weekend with the girlies. We took them shopping and out to eat and it was just a good time. Lots of fun. :) Lots of giggles and laughter. Love it.

Oh and the ipod works great in the car. We bought one of those FM adapter thingys, and it was great not having to deal with changing CD's every couple of songs. I *love* it. <3 <3 <3 My new favorite toy, LOL.

I was hoping to scrapbook this week, but I don't think I'm going to get to. :( Before we go, I do want to clean up my area so I can come home to a nice clean desk to scrap on.

Vacation!

Jason and I are getting ready to go on vacation on September 17. We are so excited! We are going on a road trip to South Dakota. It is going to be so much fun! Out of all the things that I should be doing for the trip, I'm working on uploading music to itunes to put on the ipod, LOL. Yes, I realize that there are a zillion other things I should be doing, but I'm currently worried about music, LOL. Yes, I realize that I'm crazy. :P But I will admit that I have 4 different lists started. In case you didn't know I'm a list maker. One list is Food to pack and bring, another list is for food and other items to buy before we go, the third list is other items to pack, and the fourth list is a list of things to do before we go.

Yup, I love my lists. I feel so much more organized and prepared when I have my lists. I love them. Maybe I am more organized than I thought I was.

This weekend was a fun weekend, I scrapbooked 2 LO's and started planning out our Christmas card. Now I just need to get a couple more supplies to make up a sample one and see if it's what I want. LOL. Jason and I went to Hobby Lobby today and picked up some stuff, now just to order the rest of what I need. I hope that it is what I want. I should start going through our Christmas Card list, to get a feel for how many Christmas cards to make...I think I need to make about 100 of them...not positive though.

Sketch Challenge

Here is my LO that I did from a Sketch posted by Chele on Scrappy Chic. :) Chele, THANK YOU so much for putting this up on SC. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't be scrapping again yet. THANK YOU!!! Your such a great friend. :)






It was based on this sketch:

Break Down

Tonight I had a break down. I don't know if I would call it a breakdown, but that is what I'm calling it. Tonight after work, I went and got my brows waxed and I paid, walked out the door with Jason, and felt tears start to well up. Jason asked where I wanted to eat, and I shrugged and said I don't care. Then I said, let's just go home, because otherwise I'm going to start crying. Then I lost it. The tears started to flow.

What bothers me is that I started to cry for no reason. I still can't figure out why I was crying. I have never done that before. In the past, little things have set me off, but never like this. This was full out crying, sobbing, runny nose and everything crying. I have always been able to hold back my emotions pretty good, not letting anyone know what I truly feel. Wearing a mask so to speak. When someone asks how I am, it's always good, or okay, even if I'm not feeling that way. I have a hard time letting others in, and letting them know how I truly feel. Anyway, back to what happened.

We got home, and I sat down at my computer, attempted to read at a site, and the tears started. Jason came over and gave me a hug. I finished looking through the tears, typed "taking a break" post on the board, and then logged off, went and sat on the couch to try to compose myself. Jason sat down next to me and put his arm around me. I told him not to, because I will cry harder/longer. He moved his arm away, and I started to cry even more. He took me in his arms, and I sobbed. I couldn't help it. Finally I got my tears to pretty much stop and composed myself.

It really bothers me that I don't know *why* I was crying in the first place and that I couldn't make the tears stop even though I wanted to. I don't like that. At all.