Had a Great Time!

Well where do i begin? lol Yesterday i had a great time. just a laid back day scrappin' with some of the coolest people! there were only 9 or 10 of us, but it was sooooo much fun!

The Red Barn (not to be confused with the resturant in fruitland) on hwy 61 is almost perfect for some crazy croppers for us! let me tell you about it! There is only one thing wrong with it, but i think it is something we can over come with a little thought. it is perfect in size for a all day crop. Heck, we've decided we can do a weekend cause there is a big room upstairs with a bed!! i'm not sure the landgrafts rent it out all weekend, but i'm gonna find out! there is one big room down stairs, another little room off the back and a full kitchen! yep, stove refrigerator, and microwave. and two bathrooms!!! that is important! so now for the one thing that wasn't that great. the lighting. and that is VERY important. but there was very little. very little. once i got there i realized this and called nikki and she brought her table lamp that she uses in her own scraproom. and it worked great! so for the next crop we're gonna see what we can do. now we know the problem, we'll find a solution!!!!

so we've got our thinking caps on and we're ready to get scrapping again! i'll post what i got done yesterday a little later. i think it's still in the car! yep, i was very tired when i got home, to tired to bring my stuff in! but i had soooooo much fun!

Now it's time to get some work done around here and get ready and go to a family reunion.

have a great day!

Sometimes I Just Don't Understand

what i was thinking. ok so i go to this site my 'womans world' tells me to go to for coupons. i sign up. and say it's ok to send my email addy to their email list. WHAT? WHY THE H*(( DID I DO THAT? geez. i don't even want to image how many additional emails i get a day. i can't tell you what all i've won. i'm not really sure either, since i DON'T OPEN THE EMAILS. ugghh i must find this site and remove my addy. sometimes i just wish i could back in time for just a instant, hit myself in the head, and go on. so if by chance you have emailed this week and i have not gotten back to you, please email me again. and make sure you put something in the subject line i will recongize.
rant over.

I will post a picture of my car soon. penne, it is a four door. can't go to wild ya know! and debbi by the time more grandbabies come, i should have outgrown this phase in my life and have a bigger car to haul all the babies around! but right now, this is toooooo much fun!!! and markie BEGS me to let her drive it. lol almost daily!

Hello

lol. i hate doing a title when i really have nothing to put there. i think i've said that before. been a little busy or busy doing little. one of those. been feeling kinda blah, think there is something going around work. just a real tired feeling and puky kinda feeling. i worked everyday last week adn i have to do it again this week. yuck. but then i'm off again for a FIVE day holiday weekend! yeah! it finally fell right with mark's crazy shift work where we'll get to spend the fourth of july camping. yeah. and it's our first camping trip this year! dang, that is not right. we've usually been 5 or 6 times by now. the wedding got alittle (ok a lot) in the way and a little thing as almost $4.00 agallon gas gets in the way too. lol

speaking of outragous gas prices, i finally bit the bullet and traded in my beloved expedition. i loved that thing. but it was just not practical anymore. no one rides with me adn it got like 15 miles (on a good day coasting down hill) a gallon, so it's gone. and in it's place is a nice new (or new to me) 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix. it has a sunroof, leather, cd player, heated seats, climate control for both seats in front, remote start. and i love it.

I'm getting exited about the crop on saturday. I can't wait to see my friends! and we're gonna have kits if you have the need to buy some. Check out Penne's blog (click on her name on the right) she has a cute kits for cards. (edited from cars to cards, thanks penne) very cool. Rona is gonna have some kits too. and i hope to have a few! i'm thinking i'm getting back in the swing of things. i'm feeling the itch to scrap!!!! yeah! well it's time to go home. have a nice evening. i have to go help unload pavestone we bought at their auction this weekend. yeah. lol

Small Town Girls Crop!

I FORGOT to post this. duh. sorry. but hopefully you got the email nikki sent out.

Small Town Girls Crop
Your Small Town Girls have decided to host a crop!!! This will be a simple get-together-and-crop-for-fun kind of thing! This is gonna replace the Classes we were going to do. Time and life got in the way, but don't fret, we are cooking up something great for fall when all the craziness of summer is over!

So......
No classes, no make & takes, no frills - just hanging out, cropping, eating and talking.

We have a small hall reservered for us on Saturday, June 28th all day - starting at 10am and lasting until the last scrapper falls :-)

The hall is located on Highway 61 about 3 miles north of Fruitland - a big Red Barn (don't worry - it's been remodeled!) on the right side of the highway.

The cost per peson will depend on how many show up - the building is $40 per day and we are just going to ask for a small donation to cover that cost.

Food and drinks will be pot-luck and bring your own. Bring snacks and stuff to share and your own drink
s (or drinks to share...LOL!).

That's it! Nothing fancy...cheap and fun...We just want to get a bunch of us together to crop and hang out!

Please email me or Cynde to let us know your coming or if you need more directions.
Thanks a bunch and we hope to see you there!


and i've already got several that are coming, and we need more! you can email me or call me 573-382-1444 if you want, or if just stop on by, we'll be there. don't forget to bring some food and drinks if you think you might get hungry or thirsty. There is a kitchette in the building too!

I can't wait to see my scrappy friends!!!

I Scrapped!

and it was fun!!!!

after the crop on saturday and looking around willow traders site and looking at all the layouts Stormy got done on the challenge she was doing, i got inspired. and i scraped. and scrapped some more. and it was fun. i waited till the last day of my stay-at-home vacation to get inspired. uuuggghhhhh. oh well it finally hit me. yeah!!!

well it's off to bed for me, this work stuff is to much!!!!


I'm loving this fancy pants stuff!!! the glitter transparency is so much fun! and the paper is easy to work with. love it!


The new Teresa Collins paper! awesome and fun! the brad in the middle of the flower is a cool heidi swapp bling brad. i am in love!!!!


love this Making Memory round paper. and i love this picture of markie. i have had it for awhile and this paper is great for it!!!

another old picture of markie. i'm loving this die cut making memory paper. i need more!!!


ok, love this creative imaginations paper and the blue flower with the HS bling brad. tooo much fun. and the fancy pants velvet ribbon finished it off! fun!


Markie and Syndey. and using the Crete Paper kaitlyn line, awesome!!! i love the texture of this paper and the colors are the best!


some more Kaitly paper. now this isn't a second page to markie and syd's page, but it would look great next to each other in my scrapbook, when i get a scrapbook. lol amanda and sydney after the semo parade

survival!

well it's a week after the wedding. we survived. i have been off all week. i have really enjoyed being off. i wish i could go part time at work. but with the economy, there is no way. oh well.

so the wedding was awesome. friday was busy decorating the hall went smoothly. we has lots of help and everyone was great! i throughly enjoy doing all that. the planning, the exacution (sp) of the plan, the ohhhs and ahhs, lol. it was cool. rehearsal was good, we forgot to tell the minister (my cousin) and the pianist (our friend who is amazing!) that we were going to start a hour early. oooppsss. but it was all good. we practiced a few times without and once they got there, it went great! all the girls and guys (25 total) were awesome. couldn't of asked for more sweet and fun people. Neils family is FUN!
saturday went by in a blur. i need to write it all down (guess that is what i kinda am doing now!) so i don't forget. went to the hall to help with the food. there wasn't much to do, open cans of beans and corn and season it. get sodas ready. lit my floralites (these things are the bomb!!! some have stayed lit!) and made sure everything was cleaned up and ready to go. went and got my hair down by the amazing alana (alisha's super sweet sister). stoped by estes for a quick sandwich, poor boy who helped me, i told him i just wanted a sandwich, anything to put food in my stomach, lol. i know he thought i was crazy!!!! then off to the church. it went by in a flash! the church was pretty, the ceremony was perfect and the lil kids did great!!! it was kinda cool to be in the same church me and mark got married in almost 18 years to the day before. our anniversary is the 2nd. pictures went great, awsome photographer! the heat was just to much. with the heaviness of amanda's dress plus being pregnant, amanda decided not to go the park. they went to tractors instead and had a good time there, i am told! lol they had a a van/bus take the wedding party around and that worked out great. it was funny, amanda asked me if it was ok if they went to tractors. i laughed and said, um, you are married now, you don't have to ask me!!! lol. the reception was great. the halle looked great and i had them set up the hall for 350 people and only expected maybe 250-275, but there wasn't many empty seats! the food was excellent. Marks cousin made the mashed potatoes from a mix and i bet NO ONE KNEW that. they were good! grandmas did the corn and green beans (i seasoned some! lol) and perryville legion did the amazing chicken. it is really good. we had many, many compliments on it. the beer flowed, and flowed thanks to the awesome bartenders Amanda and Jared. they were great! i truely owe them!!!!! I had the best time with my friends. It is the best feeling knowing you still have these amazing friendships after 20+ years and you can still dance the night away with them!!!!!! lol. I hope everyone knows how much i appreciate everything they did to help us make this day AWESOME. i will not name names, i will forget someone, not on purpose, but just because i'm me, lol. i will post more pictures and when you get tired of them, let me know!!!!

Wedding Pictures

Just a quick post to share a few wedding pictures. I will post a wedding review soon. i also have a TON of people to thank. and i don't want to forget anyone!! so here are some pictures!




My two babies all grown up!



Dancing on the bar at Tractor's




Markie and Her Escort, Weasel!

2 week countdown

til the wedding. it has come very quickly. everyone asks if i'm ready. how the heck do you know? lol. i'm not sure if i have thought of everything. but we'll see. i'm sure the last week will be crazy. i am off the whole week, so that is a good thing. i'm gonna work on some more stuff this weekend. amanda got another fitting for her dress and the seamstress is a miracle worker!!! she took out the zipper and put her shawl thing in the back and made it a lace up back. it looks better than before! hopefully markies will be done soon. it is sooooo pretty on her. and her tan will look amazing! she has went tanning 5 times and her tan is beautiful. her skin tone is so pretty, so unlike mine. fair. oh well, i'm going tanning so i might have a little color by june 7th. we'll see. lol

we were gonna go camping, but we didn't book a spot in time so now we are s*o*l. mark keeps whining he wants to go and keeps telling chloe he wants to go. he just needs to get over it! i think i'll tell him to go sleep in the camper this weekend. lol then there is 100 mile garage sale. not sure if i want to even attempt it. just trying to get around may be dangerous!! mark is going and said if i wanted to go with him there was not dilly dalleying around. what ever. i will go by myself. wierdo. but i do like me a good yard sale. lol

well construction has begun on the new heart hospital at work. i have decided that i want a career change. i now want to drive on of those things that has the bucket on them and swings around. the guy outside my window makes it look so easy and fun, i think i want to do it. they have been demolishing our parking lot and tearing up the concrete. way cool. the bucket just picks up the concrete making it look like it weights lbs. i am intrigued! but then someone told me there is no airconditioner or heater in the cab, so i'm not so much into it anymore. but it is fun to watch! and in the new place MY OFFICE WILL NOT HAVE A WINDOW. wth. i have to have a window. i have had one for 12 years. not fair.

Markie has been fun to be around this week. really she has. i think we have all realized that we were all in the wrong alittle in the past. she is my baby and i may have been a little over protective. i do need to give her more freedom. not nessecarly at 1,2,3 or 4 oclock in the morning like she would like. lol i hope it really is over with the boyfriend. he just wasn't right for her and i think she knows that deep down. she is so pretty and smart, she deverse more. we'll see.

the store is hanging in there. i am neglecting that for alittle while. i will be back in full force come june 14, gotta relax alittle! i have some idea's that i hope everyone likes.

well back to work!

Exhausted

I am that. lol. ***warning*** there may be some whining ahead, so you have been warned. lol.

it has been a wild couple of months. i'm exhausted mentally and emotionally. God has really been testing me lately. but i am gonna pass those tests. yes i will. There is alot i want to do, alot i have to do, alot i THINK i have to do, and i'm getting alittle confused at what i should be doing, lol.

Markie has been giving us some trouble. I think she is testing us and trying to see how far she can go. Her 'boyfriend', well lets just say we don't like him. I have tried. really i have. but i can't anymore. and i won't hide it anymore. she knows, he knows, pretty sure everyone knows. i don't like the way he treats her and she deserves SOOOO much more than that. so much more. she just can't see it, yet. hopefully she will. just not sure when.

The wedidng plans are going good. Amanda wanted the minister that performed my parents wedding, but health problems are interfering and now we are looking for a replacement. 3 weeks before the wedding. but we love brother Bray. it is he neatest. I think other things are going good. just a few more things to do. then it's all last minute stuff. Her dress is being altered to fit since she has a poooch. she is 17 weeks pregnant now. she will find out June 2 what she is having. they think i want a girl but i jus thope it is healthy. Markies dress fit except in the chest. she has to take alittle in. no biggie.

the March of Dimes crop went great! I didn't see alot of familiar faces, but everyone was great!!! Cheryl is working on hosting another one in july. i think july 25, but don't qoute me on that. thanks to all who did purchase a/some kits. the photos are on the store blog, url up in the upper right hand corner.

if you would like to purchase a kit on the blog, let me know and we can make arrangements to get it to you. I will post the boy layouts i have in the works too. I was shocked how fun they were to do!!! everyone know how i love my girl pages! lol. no pink on these pages, no sir!! lol

the online store has taken a back burner until the wedding is over. I still hope to attend CHA in july, if only to drool over all the goodies. unfortantly the wedding is taking all m y expendiable cash at the moment! lol

well better get busy. have alot to do.

Have a great day!

Beautiful Weather!

Ok, so me, Rona and Nikki had a great time saturday. All the ladies in poplar bluff were so nice! our classes were full, the crop was full with 40 ladies. I hope everyone enjoyed the kits we made up to sell too. i only brought home a few. yeah! Debbie has a nice store too. scored me some creative imaginations paper that i love. I hope everyone enjoyed their National Scrapbook Day. Next year I will not have a wedding (or I hope, i do have one more daughter!) hanging over my head and will plan a retreat. i already have idea's! Don't forget about the retreat i have scheduled for June 27th and 28th. we'll celebrate my husbands birthday, even though he won't be there! lol he has to work! well, i better get to work, i will be back soon. i have some more kits made up and i will post later! cynde

Two Days in a Row!!!

Well I went to markie's spring concert last night. one more year then i am done with hight school! i will miss it, but then again, maybe not!!!! my babies are growing up.

I am looking forward to going to poplar bluff this weekend and teaching again. here are a couple of my class layouts.

You Make Me Giggle!
of course it's about Chloe! We are gonna title it using the cricut and then use stickles to make it pop!





This one doesn't have a title. and it is backwards page one is on the bottom and page two on top.




and the last one. Wonderful! i just love these rusty pickle letters!




I also made 6 kits, yes SIX! i am so excited. i hope the ladies like them. it is kinda scary going in and not knowing them and their styles or if they will like you. I guess i will have to behave and not yell at anyone like i usually do. lol. I will try and post pictures of the kits soon. I may have a bunch left!

have a great day!

So

Nikki has called me slacker, or something similar. lol so here i am. not much going on in my life. oh yeah, except planning a wedding (i think sometimes by myself),end of school activities for markie, work (there was a bird in my ceiling today, don't ask me how), markies birthday, getting ready for NSD in poplar bluff, ect, ect. so i think i will just post some pictures and call it a day.

here's markie's prom pictures. she went by herself. ms independent!

Much Better

weather!!! i wish it would stay this way til the weekend! but i will not hold my breath!

ok so i still have to get info from poplar bluff. I did call but the lady i need to talk to was not in. so i will call later and post what i find out! it sounds like a deal for sure.

and another deal! Got this from my friend Cheryl Ellis. and it is gonna be fun! you don't want to miss it!

Crop for Babies
benefiting the March of Dimes

Scrapbooking Fun!
Friday May 16th
6:00 pm to 11:00pm
St Francis Hospital
Conference Room

$15.00 contributions to the March of Dimes

there will be Food and Prizes

Vendor space available for a $20.00 contribution. Vendor keeps proceeds from sales.

Scrapbooking for a cause!

Sign up by emailing cellisx2@yahoo.com or calling Laurel Adkisson at 334-1095.
Walk-ins are welcome!


I'm looking forward to see you ALL there!!!!

cynde

COLD WEATHER

I thought it was over. i'm ready for sring. where is it at? lol well i had a great weekend. Saturday i went to rona's crop for alittle while and seen everyone. i reallllyyyyyy miss seeing everyone. the projects they were making were just the cutest! i haven't signed up for the club, cause i have to much going on right now. i'm not sure i'm keeping up! lol BUT rona has 3 more spots, if anyone is interested. the kit they did this weekend was a 30 dollar value. at the CKC convention they did this project and just did the book, not the book and box like rona's kit had, and the ckc class was over 20 bucks just for the book!

sunday we did get invitations done, well almost done. lol. they should go out in the next day or two.

last week i got my fancy pants order in. can i just say it is the coolest stuff! i love fancy pants. ahhh. the online store is up and everything i have is in it. it is hard to move around, but if you have questions, please ask. this is the best i could do, since i did it myself. once i am on my feet and have alittle more revenue, i will get a better site. but baby steps. lol. I have one more thing to do before i start excepting orders!! i am so excited!!! I am going to do a email the end of this week, or early next week.

And looks like i'll be teaching on May 3rd, National Scrapbook Day! yeah! i have missed it! A scrapbook store in Poplar Bluff is having a all day crop adn it sounds like fun! For 50 bucks (i'm pretty sure that is how much, don't qoute me. i will find out for sure!) you can crop all day, take 2 classes, and lunch! what a deal! Rona, Nikki, and I are gonna teach 5 different classes. and if you want more than two classes you can sign up for more for additional $$$. I can't wait! which reminds me, i must get my projects done! me and nikki are doing 2 classes and rona is gonna do 1. fun, fun, fun!!!! let me know if you want more info! sounds like a fun road trip to me!

Not Sure

i have a title for this post. I can hardly type it. A friend of mine, terri, that i have worked with for many, many years, Daughter passed out at school thursday. She never regained consiousness. she is gonna be a organ donor. She is Amber Kauffman (sp) and she was 16 years old. Please pray for Terri, her oldest two children, and her family to get thru this very sad, hard time. Amber was a sweet, cute, engergetic girl. she used to come see me in my office when they came to visit before she got into kindergarten. i just can not imagine terri's sorrow. it is hard to understand, and i know God has a plan. we just have to trust him. and i do. but it doesn't make it any less sad.

What a fun, exciting, exhausting

couple of days!!

****disclaimer: there may be alot of run on sentences, jumping from one subject to the next, misspellings, ect. because of pure excitement and exhaustion. read at your own risk. if something does not make sense and you want to know something, just ask! lol****


CKC was really fun. got to see lots of friends and some of us meet up at the mexican resturant in front of the convention center. Very good. i will post pictures later. i didn't take many pictures thou. (not sure what is wrong with me. lol) BUT. OH. MY. the shopping was sooooo crowded. could hardly look at things. and i was surprised. in almost every booth they had page kits. i've not really seen that before. sure some, but not this many. (i'll get back to that in a minute) even the rusty pickle booth. which was awesome. got me some teresa collins stuff, oh yeah baby. that stuff is awesome. i can't wait to order that for the store. man it's cool. Me and Penne also found another brand new company that is awesome. very affordable too. a whole alphabet and 23 shapes self adhesive chipboard for 4.99. and it is pretty! and it's double sided paper. i can't wait to work with it. and oh my. sassafrass lass is awesome. that is gonna be one of the next orders i make. Me and Penne took a awesome class sponsored by sassafrass. and it was a cool class. we learned how to make button flowers. now that is gonna be something i do again. very cool the teacher was awesome too!!!!!! my favorite class, by far. i will post a picture when i get the energy to get the camera out, lol. (i slept til 9 this morning) oh, and i got a katlin kit from create paper. I have been looking at it on the internet and loved it. BUT OH MY GOSH. in real life it is even better. and penne got another kit, can't remember the name. but we'll be working on some examples for kits, either retreat kits or just class kits to sell online. that is another company that i will be ordering from in the near future.

****news flash! (LOL) Fancy Pants has shipped and will be available soon, i hope in the next week**********

ok, where was i.

Piggy Tales was there and was awesome! I didn't get to take a class from them, but Rona did. Can't wait to see what she did. I hope to order from them real soon!
Me and Penne took a mini album class using prima products. awesome stuff. the class was totally full and very fast paced. to get what we got done in a hour, it had to be. it is a really cute project. learned a couple things in there too!!

Penne, Angelia, Phoebe, and I had a great time at the crop on friday night. i got alot of invitations for the wedding done, yeah! It was packed too. and it was alot of fun. there were some vendors there and they gave away prizes. me and Phoebe won some technique tuesay stamps! Phoebe won the 'grand' prize' from them. and there were only three winners! we were lucky!!!! never did find out who sadie was. it was a question we had to answer.

on our way home yesterday evening we stopped at For Keeps Sake. we knew Barb and Nancy was here and cropping. FKS has a new crop room and it is really nice. they have crops on certain friday every month. i'd like to go sometime. those girls are alot of fun! and while we were there, i found some awesome making memories baby paper. to cute! one is stars with the stars cut out. very cute! can't wait to make a mini book. a, um, mother of the mom of the baby, has to show off the baby. now i just need time to work on one. lol.

oh, about the page kits. I was really surprised. they were everywhere. some of the page kits were like 23.00. they were really cool, but i was surprised by the cost. i'll have to think on that alittle.

i really need to get up from here and get some stuff done.

have a great day!

lookie what I found

running around the internet!

http://www.sfmc.net/display/familybirthplacebabygallery.nws

Lil' Jimmie Easton! Isn't he the cutest! Congrats Stormy and Dustin. and big sister Cameron! and I love his outfit! I hope you all are doing great!!!


ok, so when you get to sfmc web site, you have to pick his birthday which is March 29th and under stormy.

Sunny Monday

finally real sunshine!! just wish we would of had more of it yesterday and it was alittle warmer. but all in all it was a good day. Me and Markie went to cowboy church. mark had to work so he slept. but OMG! Flickerwood was packed. it was awesome. Ya know there is just something about not worrying how you look and being comfortable and going to church and hearing God's word. it is awesome. I have never been one to like to dress up. just rather be comfortable. if that makes me lazy, than i am. lol. I throughly enjoyed the message yesterday. and the music was awesome. just awesome. i'm not good at numbers, but i would have to say there were at least 500 people there. i could be way off. either way, maybe more, maybe less. all i know is that it was amazing. the sermon was right on and i loved it. i've grown up going to a baptist church all my life, and cowboy church is just like what i grown up with. so cool. and to see sooooooo many youth. and i know it was easter sunday and that is the most attended service, but man. it was cool.
I hope you had a just as wonderful day as i did.

today i should get the pink paislee order in. i can't wait. i have been thinking again (i know, that is dangerous) but i am thinking of doing class kits without the formal class. i'm still thinking on this and will get all my ducks in a row before i throw it totally out there. but you would be able to buy them from the online store. it should be getting some items added real soon! yeah!

Are you going to CKC-Stlouis? if so let me know! there is quite a few of us going and we should get together and go out to eat! that mexican resturant is yummy and don't ask me how i know, but they have some dang good strawberry margarita's!!! maybe we could all go before the crop on friday night. i know Me, Penne, Angelia, and Angelia's friend Phoebe ( i love that name!) are going to the crop on friday night. If I remember right i think Sandy R is doing the crop thing too. anyone else??? I am off friday (wasn't so sure i was gonna be or not when we did registration) and i plan on shopping and scoping out product on friday. friday night we're doing the crop. On saturday I have classes. I can't wait!!! i need a me day!!!

so let's all plan our schedules and maybe find some time to get together! Email me!

cyndesharok@hotmail.com

Feeling Better

The crud is lingering. but i feel better. i came to work today. but i am sad. i had THREE WHOLE DAYS OFF and i got NOTHING done. nothing. soooo fustrating. and i have to much to do not to have done nothing. well enough of the whining.

so i am thisclosetoordingfancypants. sooo if you have something you are dying for from fancy pants, please let me know. i will order on friday. (payday) man do i wish i had alot of money!!! lol there is so much i want to order. i will have to do it in small incriments thou. very small. but thats ok. it's all good!!!! my plan is to be really going by the begining of fall. the wedding will be over. the baby will not quite be here yet. and i will have been to CHA summer. My ultimate goal is to go to CHA. i may not get to order a whole lot, but i still want to go!!!

so what do you have planned for National Scrapbook Day? nothing you say? well, i want to do something. anything. this year it will be Saturday May 3rd, so keep that day open. we will be doing something. we've got our thinking caps on. if you have any suggestions, please let me know. right now i am looking for a place to have it. that is the hardest part.

i'll be back................

crud

that is what i have. yucky snotty crud. all weekend. a three day weekend. i had soooo much to do. but got none of it done. ugggghhhhh. i can barely talk or breathe. soo enough of poor me. sorry.

just had to get it out.

so now i am 3 days behind on everything. wedding, online store, cleaing my house, cleaning my scraproom, cleaning my car. uggghhh.

and i thought i could sneak some scrapin in somewhere this weekend.

Hello!

haven't been around much! a whole week. wow the time is flying by quickly! i had a free weekend again and it felt good. it is gonna start to get busy real fast! i worked on wedding stuff most of the weekend and just bummed around. i do have 50 invitations done and everythign cut out. i think i need to order some more bazzill and i must get in touch with my friend Angelia! (note to self, email angelia!)

i think i have the center pieces together. i still need to buy a few more candle holders, but that is all!!! now to pay for the bigger items. photographer, hall, sound system, busy bee, ect. ect.

be back

oh. my. goodness.

what a weekend. really. long. it started out friday. doing some stuff for the online store. got my software adn i really don't like it. so i researched some more on the internet and i think i found one that is more user friendly. and i can send the other one back, i think. the 60 day return thingy was so darn small i couldn't read it. lol. but that is as far as i got with that.

then my friend wanda called me and told me about a store downtown that had a awesome sale on dresses. The Woman's Store on main street. i think they used to own Hecht's. really cool store. i loved it. the prices were alittle more than i'm used to paying, but the quality is really good. and they had a sale! and the most important thing--- I FOUND MY DRESS FOR THE WEDDING!!!!! yeah. and it's really not a dress, it's these pants that look like a dress thingy and they have splits up the side. i actually found several dress i liked adn amanda like this one the best. so i went with it. the other one i really liked, had LOTS of bling on it. no wonder i liked it. lol i might go back and get it too. i want to go on a cruise and this dress would be cool to have for that.

then i went to the store. stamps and scrapbooks. so sad taking down the layouts around the store. so sad. we left about 7pm and i couldn't even eat supper. nothing sounded good. totally not me! lol

went back saturday morning about 1030. OH MY GOSH! i can not believe the day. Rona waited on over 125 people. lots of people. it was awesome. thank you everyone for coming out and getting awesome deals. most of the day there was a line. and i cut more ribbon than i have ever have, and i only did it for a little while. Penne did most of it! lol now i really can't believe the next part, but then we started packing up the store about 5 oclock and we got it ALL packed up by around 7:30 or 8:00. OMG. crazy! when i say all packed up, i mean the merchandise. paper. flowers. embellishments. all packed up. i was shocked. i really didn't expect it to go that fast. by that time i was kinda on auto pilot. but fresh people came in and took charge! lol amazing. then some of us went to el tereo (sp) and i had me a small pitcher of strawberry margarita! yummy. extra yummy!

yesterday i went back to the building (it's not a store anymore, lol) and packed up some more random stuff and took some racks home for storage.

so today i thought i would be whooped. but not so much. i really kinda have some energy. feel kinda good. maybe that is a sign i need to start working out. lol

hmmmmmm.

My friend Debbie is outta the hospital and doing really good. finally got some much needed pain relief. i so GLAD!

so this has been kinda long and i'm sure you are sitting down so i will tell ya my news for the week.

AMANDA IS GONNA HAVE A BABY. now, i did not say i was gonna be a grandma. did i. no. amanda is gonna have a baby. my moms a grandma. i'm not sure what i am gonna be. lol but really, it is cool. they really wanted to wait a year or so, but well, it didn't work out like that. i'm just hoping the wedding dress fits. she has had it picked out for so long. and almost paid for. and i did have to quit telling everyone i was gonna be a grandma cause everyone kept giving me funny looks until i told them it was amanda pregnant instead of, oh i can't even say her name in the same sentence as pregnant! lol

sigh.

Good Thursday Morning!

It's good because I'm off tomorrow!!!! yeah! And i need it, i've had some dosey of days lately. i kinda need to zone out. but NOT! lol i'm gonna go help Rona at the store tomorrow and saturday. then sunday i'll help move everything out of the store. :( I was in the store monday, and i can't believe the amount of stuff, great stuff, she still has. i have spent my part, believe me, lol. and i still want more. no need more! SOOOOOOOOOO, if you haven't been in, you might want to stock up!! it's a deal!

So it looks like we are gonna get some warm weather, yeah! maybe it'll melt the snow that is piled up on all the parking lots around. lol i went to walmart yesterday and tried to park in several spaces and there was snow in them. and the rest of them were full. ok not all of them, the ones a mile away were open, but instead of getting the well deserved exercise my body needs, i left. yep. i really didn't need a loaf of bread anyway. ha! now when i run out of soad, i'll go back. and walk that mile. but bread. nope.

I got a good deal at the local mcdonalds this morning! you buy a med or large drink and get a mcskillet free! that's 1.07 for a soda and a mcskillet. i'd never had a mcskillet before. they are ok, but to much for me. to much food. i much prefer my regular breakfast burrito. and a side of hash browns. and 10 pounds to my hips. buttttt i wouldn't pass up that deal again! lol on the sign it said it was good today and tomorrow. it's worth a try. i told the girl, what you all trying to do get me hooked on something else? uh, yeah. lol

Just Mellowing Out

after the week i had, i am just hanging out at home. The girls went to town and asked me to go, but i just want to mellow out. me, chloe and pokey. after a year and a half, pokey and chloe STILL do not get along. ugghhhh. but they are chasing each other up and down the hall. it's funny to see pokey the cat chasing chole. chloe just wants to play!

My friend Debbie is in the hospital and needs prayers, so if you could add her to your prayer list i would appreciate it. she is having some problems associated to her wreck from a year and a half ago. she is doing better. i went and seen her friday night and will go today or maybe tomorrow. like i said, i kinda just want to zone out today and her family is with her.

I did place my FIRST order today for the online store. if i could link i would, someone has to give me a tutorial on how to do that! lol but it is PINK PAISLEY. here is a link to their cool site. http://livepink.ning.com/ that is to the live pink site. it is so cool. it's kinda like myspace but for scrappers! it is cool.

it was fun seeing everyone at the store yesterday. i spent alot on stuff i will need. like flowers, paper, stamps. oh it breaks my heart. saturday will be her last day. i am off friday and will be there friday and saturday to help anyone who needs help spending their money, lol! i will miss all my friends. but we will continue on. i am trying to figure out ways to keep cropping.

ok here is a new blog (i know, i know another blog) i created to go along with my website. i will post what i am expecting in and if you see something you like email me and let me know! the addy http://smalltowngirladventure.blogspot.com/

cynde

Friends

the name of one of my favorite shows. i feel like i have alot of them. some closer than others. but one thing i know is i can't do with out any of them. seriously. not one. each plays a enourmous part in my life.

Hello!

what a day yesterday was! on friday my mom told me about a auction that was gonna be at the barks auction barn between jackson and cape. a bridal shop from farmington/frederick town went out of business. sunday they had previews and you could try on, so we went and amanda's flower girl came and tried on some dresses. well we found THE one. markie found one too! so i took some hours off yesterday (five to be exact!) and went. OMG! things were going sooooo cheap. it was kinda sad for the owner of the store. she was sitting by me (i found out later.). it was sooooo hard on her. i can't even imagine. but if i didn't get the good, no great, deal, someone else was gonna. so tot the flower girl dress for 45 bucks! the price tag on it was 140.00 yeah. i got markie the dress she wanted for 40, and the tag was 219.00. then there was another dress i thought she might like and i got it for 45.00. the tag on it was 349! wow! i got a tiara for sydney (the flower girl) and a jewel hair clip for markie. i also got a pen for the guess book for 3 bucks and a couple of other things. then i went to work for a hour and a half. THEN me and amanda went back to the auction! some of the wedding dresses were going for 10-15 bucks. OMG! and they were beautiful. it was so sad. most of the dealers had left by that time. we then got a veil for amanda for FIVE bucks. OMG! and some guest books for 2 bucks. a huge bag of toule for 7 bucks. OMG! it was awesome. i felt so sad for the owner. i wished her luck.

THEN i got home and was taking the auction tag off the dress and there it was. a huge big blue mark down the front of markies yellow dress. NO! it was a good deal! NO! you see when they sold the dress, they wrote the buyers number on the ticket with a sharpie. during the auction i kept thinking 'i hope they don't mark on any of the dresses'. and it happen to MINE, well not mine, but markies. dang it. so i called mrs barks and she said to bring it back. but i asked her if i could try and get it out first. she suggested oxyclean. so i tried it. nope nada. i knew hairspray would take marker off of things, but i wasn't sure about this taffita (sp) material stuff. BUT IT DID! it looks perfect. it feels a little stiff from all the hair spray, but it's all good. a little scrubbing and sticky fingers, but it's all good! it was a good bargin day.

now i just have to find me a dress. i think i will wear jeans and a t-shirt.

whew!

how is everyone? i hope you have warmth! i know alot of the area has been without power. we lost it breifly on tuesday for about 5 hours. Then, thank God it came back on. My parents finally got it last night about 7 and had been without it since monday night/morning about 12am. they have a generator thankfully. my aunt went to their house also. when our power went out we (ok I) panicked (how do you spell that?) i have to have heat. or want it. so we piled up in the f250 and went on our way to Buchheit's. we were on the hunt for a wick for our kerosine heater. me and chloe stayed in the truck and mark and markie went in. they said there were people screaming cause they ran out of kersosine heaters. needless to say, they were out of them. so was walmart. and target. but our wonderful friend tim got on the phone for us while we were aimlessly searching and found that elias hardward has some. so off we went. BUT my wonderful husband didn't know what size we needed. duh. so we bought several. and them things are like 12-13 bucks a piece! then we went and helped amanda and neil clean off her car that she left at the mall overnight. i'm not sure how long it took us. it was covered in inches of ice. but we got it open and started and they made it home. and those wicks we bought. none worked. none in the store either. lol but we got power before we even got home. thankfully. my inlaws, not so lucky. theirs went out tuesday morning early and they got it for a couple hours yesterday and i'm not sure if they still have it. my niece and nephew were staying with them and they came and stayed all night at my house last night. you know, being without a tv is unthinkable. lol. at least to me. my sister in law is stuck in dexter, where she works. man, what a week! thankfully it is suppose to get warmer today. hopefully it all melts and then we'll have the trees to clean up.

so if you've read the small town girls blog, you know i have been busy getting things in order to start a online store. i'm really excited about this. really excited. i want to order things that hobby lobby doesn't carry, or what April, christina, and crystal's store will carry. and i hope to tie it all in to retreats! where i could also bring some of my inventory with me! this tax stuff is alittle confusing, but i think i can muddle thru it! i hope i can do everything i have imagined. i'm really excited. i know with online stores that shipping is a big concern, but i plan on charging a miminal shipping fee. and i hope to have free shipping if you spent a certain amount. also, since i work in cape, i don't have a problem with meeting people certain places with orders! i'm gonna have to see how much this website is gonna cost me. i am finding more and more options. PLEASE if you have or know anyone with any experience, let me know!!!! well my break is over, better get back to work!

Where In The World Is..............

Penne? i am getting worried. she has not emailed me since tuesday, despite me emailing her several times. i have tried her on her cell. no answer. hmmmmm. i did ditch her monday at lunch, to go with amanda to do the dress/church thing. but i don't think she is mad at me over that. lol she commented on my blog tuesday morning and that is the last i have heard from her. hmmmmm. hope i hear from her soon!

well tomorrow night is the last crop. man. how depressing. but i can't wait to see everyone. it is almost full too. i think 28 adn it's full at 30. i may be wrong thou. i have been wrong once or twice. lol

have you seen the new fancy pants coming out at winter cha. OMG. OMG. OMG. it is amazing. i have to have it all. if i had any doubts about a online store, i don't think i do now. i must have it all. and the only way to assurely get it in my hot lil hands, is to do a online store. i have to call the small business center today. my friend refered me there. wish me luck. i have prayed about it, and i think i'm doing the right thing. i'm excited. i have a group of cool online girls that are giving me some hints. now i have to tell mark. he don't care. he really is cool about it all. but it doesn't mean i can't complain about him every now and then!

Oh Debbie! we ate at the jackson grill last night. it was good and cheap! it was neil's birthday so we went out to eat with mom and dad. markie even went, what can i say if she hears free food, she is there. kinda like her mom. i said kinda. it was fun. the girls are at a fun age. they actually sat by each other and might even of touched a couple times and didn't scream or yell! lol ok well they haven't done that in awhile. at least a couple months. lol. down side of that? i'm getting old. oh well.

well markie picked out her dress for the wedding yesterday and paid the deposit. anyone got any extra money laying around they don't want? lol man. weddings are expensive. and markie will need a prom dress. she said she would wear the one she wore for snowball, but i don't think she will. we'll see. she didn't want to look at any yesterday. i guess she wants to wait til a week before. but, she won't get any help from me!

oh! and the lady from First Baptist Church called and said we could have the wedding there! there is a garage sale that week, but since we aren't going to be using the fellowship hall, it should be ok! yeah! soooooo if ya wanna shop before the wedding, come on alittle early!!!!

speaking of the wedding, you know how you worry about things and stress over them. then you pray for said same things and then all of a sudden that thing you worried about has a answer? well that happen again this week. God is good like that to me. anyways, i was stressing over the cost of feeding 300-350 people. we are not rich. i can't afford 7 dollars a plate. soooo like i said i prayed about it. well now we are gonna do the dinner ourselves. but there was a small problem, who is gonna stay with the food while we are at the wedding. well. well. well. my wonderful friend Syd said she would be happy to do it. OMG. i almost cried! she is a gem. wonderful. sweet. generous. fabulous. downright awesome!!! i'm not sure if she reads my blog, not sure if anyone does. but i just had to get that off my chest! and i will be sending her a card. she has no idea how much i appreciate it!

well, have a great day. thats all the ramblings from me right now.

Did Ya Survive?

What crazy weather we are having. snow storm to thunderstorm and back to snow. what the heck. is mother nature as mixed up as i am feeling lately? lol

Markie and Amanda both were on their way home last night right in the middle of the storm. amanda was coming to my house cause neil has dartball and she doesn't want to be home by herself. well, markie calls and says 'i'm staying at work until the storm is over!' well ok then. lol amanda calls minutes later and says, it's barely raining. (i'm telling you these two are total opposites!) so amanda continues home and about the new jackson exit she calls and says she thinks she saw a funnel cloud. so i say, get off at fruitland exit go to dairy queen or rhodes and wait til it passes. oh no. she continues home and arrives safely. markie, well she stays at work until it looks better on the radar on tv. at one point the weather sirens went off and i would of loved to seen her face. i'm telling ya, if it rains one drop she is freaking out! lol. but she made it home safely a little after 8. of course she called several times (which i asked if she was using her ear piece she got for christmas, and of course not, it was dead. uuuggghhh) she swore lightening was gonna hit her at any minute and it was only, like, a mile away!. she is to funny. then she stayed up til probally 11 oclock until the radar was completely clear. i wonder if she has seen the news this morning and heard that almost 50 people have died south of us in tenn, kentucy and arkansas. she will freak. the places they are showing on tv are devastating.

well i havent talked about this smelly situations before, (not that i remember anyway) but we are getting new sewers in oak ridge. yeah. our lines have been broke for awhile, well for about as long as they have been talking about getting the sewers done, and we have been having to have our septic tank pumped like every year. this is gonna be so much better when it is done. but right now, oak ridge looks like we have some huge gound hogs running around and diggin everything up. and our yard is not exception. and my oh so smart husband says, this is why i haven't done any yard work yet. oh please. really, oh please. anyway so dutch is doing the work. which bill bonney pissed me off 5 years ago when i called him and left messages for him to call me back like 4 times and he never did. finally i asked the very nice secretary (and she is, i know her) if he didn't WANT to do a small residental job, or just didn't want to come to oak ridge, or what. well he never called me back. creep. so i guess i was right, he only wants the BIG jobs. cause now they are in oak ridge every sunny day there is. blowing their horns at like 640 in the morning yellin at each other. i am so sorry, but i am not a morning person and QUIT being so d#$% happy that early in the morning, would ya. anyway, i have gotten way off subject here, you really don't care about any of this i'm sure. but this morning a NICE man from dutch comes to my door and asks that we move a couple of our vechiles ( i say a couple cause it looks like a car lot at our house, my expo, marks truck, markie's car, amanda and markies old car that i drive to work now to save gas, marks work car, and the camper.)so they can dig across the rte E. well sure. (niceness gets ya a long way with me) but i don't have to do it until tomorrow. good cause i am already a hour late for work since i over slept. i'll get to that subject in a minute. sooooooooooooooooooo, it looks like the muddiest time of year is gonna be ten times muddier at my house. great. just great.

so the reason i was late to work? well i have had this awful, awful pain in my neck (a real pain, not the kids or hubby!) and i wanted to go to walmart before work and get mesome of these



because they are sooooooooooooooooo cool, well not cool but hot/warm and feel oh sooooo sooooooo good. i highly recommend them. they work great at work. it's like a big maxi pad with little heating elements in it. they also have them for menustral (sp) cramps and i think i will buy markie some. they are kinda pricey, BUT they last for 12 hours and they REALLY last for 12 hours.

so anyway, i decided i'd just go on my lunch hour and sleep a couple more minutes. well it turned into a hour. dang it.

but my back feels good, cause since i was late i went to walmart anyway!

Back to Grindstone

the three days off i had went by way to fast! as usual. i have good job, really i do. but sometimes it just gets to ya. not the way it did when i worked in ER. (the day i came in to a code on a baby not yet a year old was the day i knew i couldn't work there anymore.) but my office is right down from the units. and sometimes i feel so sad for the relatives who have loved ones in there. i often wonder how fun it would be to work some place that was always happy. but does a place like that exsist. maybe disney land. and i could get used to living in anaheim or florida!
but like i said, i have a good job and all my family is around here! and this month i have been at good ole st. francis for 25 years! yeah! and i will get my longievity (sp) bonus at the end of the month just in time to pay for some wedding stuff! yeah!

and i got our state taxes send off thursday and i got them back TODAY! yeah!
oh, it won't stay in my possession long, i have to pay bills with it, or so mark is making me! dang!

so i had three days off. and i stayed home, in my house, for 2 of them! i finally went to walmart (the soad was calling my name, then walmart was out of dr pepper. creeps!) yesterday. our friend tim and sydney (billie stayed home preparing for her classes at semo, she's teaching there now!) came up for the superbowl. it was fun! Chloe played with sydney really well. and i made some pioneer woman's pico. YUMMY!!! i bought some avocado's adn am gonna make some gacemole (yeah, sp is way off) tonight. yummy!

speaking of pioneer woman. i love her blog! she brightens my day with her post. i can almost smell the clean country air. ummmmmm. saturday when i was so badly wanting to go out to eat adn couldn't find any friends that were home (yeah it was 4 on a saturday, but at least one of our friends could of not had plans!) i decided to read her ongoing 'black heels to tractor wheels'. she is a hoot! i love her stories. and the ones about her retarded brother cracks me up. to hear her talk about him, you know she loves him, and still makes it funny. and handsome marbolo man. yummy spies of a man. i have to wonder if he is THAT good. but he has to be.

oh, and if you happen to be getting alot of emails from me, sorry, but some of them are toooooo good to not share!!! i love the granny and air bag one. if you didn't get it, email me. it's hilarious!!!

well bettter go back to work. i'm leaving early today, to go with amanda to try on her dress. can you believe it is only 4 months away. 4 months. i. have. alot. to. do.

Snowy, Snowy weekend!

Well, so it snowed thursday. i was off friday. I didn't go anywhere Friday. nor Saturday. so i guess the question is will i go somewhere today? you see this is so not like me. i go somewhere everyday. everyday. can i make it three days in a row not going somewhere? probally not. if i scrimped i could make it with what soda i have. i probally could make it with what food i have, but i don't think i want to. lol

i did get some scrappin done. the feb kit and march kit. then some future project done, which i may use for a retreat.

i finally got some pictures downloaded from markies dance. here's a couple. i wasn't able to get many, she was in too big a hurry. lol






man those photos need photoschop BAD! lol. i think i'm gonna have markie put the dress back on and do a trash the dress photo shoot. it'll have to wait til it gets alittle warmer thou!

so i have been checking out the sneak peeks that are coming out at cha next week. I WANNA GO! i want to go to anaheim where it's warm. to disneyland. to the show. TO EAT SOME OF THAT AWESOME PIE!

which brings me to a question. so i have mentioned i would like to do a online store. i have been busy checking out manufactures. i just have to get my state sales tax id. and a website. i'm not sure about the website and where i should start. if anyone has any tips, please share!!!! i only want a small store, to have the coolest stuff that hobby lobby doesn't. and to be able to get stuff for retreats. AND to be able to continue to go to cha! lol.

well better get in the shower. gonna tackle hte scrapbook room some more today. send me some organizing vibes please!!!

have a great day!

This and That!

Had a great weekend. saturday me and penne went to st louis and had a grand time! no kids begging for this or that. i bought what i wanted! lol i did snag me some bare essentials that i have been out of. yeah! i love my bare essentials! then we hit michaels and i got some stuff for the wedding. oh and some organizer stuff for my scrapbooking. you know how i love to organize!! lol

Markie had her formal dance friday night. i will have to post some pictures. her dress was really pretty. she went by herself. my miss independent!

not much going on.

did you see Rona is starting stuff at 20% off this week. I have to get by there tonight. i have to get me some bazzill before it is all gone. and some fancy pants. and some pattern paper. and some zip dry. and some glue dots. and some of this and some of that. yeah, i need it all. what am i gonna do when she is not there anymore. i seen her 'going out of bussiness' sign on the store. dang, i thought if i didn't think about it, it wouldn't happen. lol oh, and don't forget about the crop friday night. i have a project i want to get done that's been in the works for a couple weeks now. can't forget to get that done. i might try and get a kit together before friday night, if anyone is interested. it will be with cherry arte paper and rubon's. i love that paper! i also gotta get my kit club projects done. hmmmm, good thing i'm off friday! lol

have a great day!

Snow? Sunshine? What?

so i got up this morning and let Princess out and it was snowing. Yeah! got start my vechile 40 min.s later and nothing. drive to work and get to the fruitland exit and it's snowing again. get to work and it stops. then the sun comes out. ???? so no snow. i have snow paper (found it when i was sorting my paper!) i want to use. i want snow. but i was happy i didn't have to drive in it. it's fun until you get to interstate and then the big trucks come by. not so much fun then. and now i only have liability on the expedition. kinda makes a difference!!! lol

so i was sick tuesday and stayed home. just me and chloe. no kids. no hubby. me and chloe, oh and pokey. pokey doesn't get mention very much cause she doesn't have much to do with us, and it got worse when we got chloe. she does NOT like chloe. she's too much a busy body. lol but pokey, our beautiful black and white cat. she is a stray mark found the november after we build our house. so she is about 6 years old. she is a good cat. doesn't tear anything up. comes in a while then goes back outside. she likes it outside more these days, chloe is to blame for that! lol

anyway, i felt alittle better after lunch so i started to sort out my scrapbook paper. i have way to much. i can tell ya what my two fav companies are/were thou. Fancy Pants and Basic Grey. i love to work with Fancy Pants and always buy at least 2 sheets of each if not 4. basic grey, i just like to collect it i think. i ahven't used it on a layout in months. another paper i have quite a bit of is chatterbox. and i love it. i can't wait to use some of the older stuff cause it is pretty to me. and they are coming out with new releases!!! yeah! and another i don't have alot of but absoulutely love is crate paper. and they have new releases coming out!!!!

so i have been busy tring to get my ducks in a row so i will be able to continue the retreats. i have gotten a fed tax id and a friend told me about a place to go talk to about a business tax/registration or state tax id. it's alot of stuff! what i really want to do in a very small scale is start a online store. don't know if that will ever be, but................ the retreats are really what i want to continue. we'll see. what is hard is i don't want to carry or do anything with what hobby lobby has, and that's not a whole lot! and you never know what they are gonna get. anyway, just know i have been busy trying to keep it going and i know april has some things up her sleeve as well. and Rona has the poll on her blog about a kit club, so that sounds like she is thinking too! ya know, when God closes one door He opens another. my good friend Syd sent me a email this morning that i love. kinda goes with the saying i love---everything happens for a reason. here it is:

When your hut's on fire

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island.

He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon

for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to

build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store

his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to

find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had

happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and

anger. He cried out, "God! How could you do this to me?" Early the next day, he

was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to

rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his

rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

The Moral of This Story:

It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose

heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and

suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the

ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

P.S You may want to consider passing this on, because you never know who

feels as if their hut is on fire today.

Syd sends me some of the coolest emails that really make me think!

well markie has a school dance on friday night. when did she start looking for dresses? saturday. then i had to go with her on monday. then she wanted me to go again on tuesday, but i was sick. so amanda went. OMG. how funny. i wish i would of counted the phone calls i got, from them both. you see markie is NOT the funnest person to shop with. actually, i would almost rather go to the dentist. almost. but she came home with a dress. a cute dress at that! that is why i sent amanda with her. who knows what she would of came home with if she had no supervision. she is a mess. and i knew it would come and it did. she wants to go to her first concert with her friends. friends i don't know from work. i know one boy, she used to go to the babysitters with him when they were babies. but he is amanda's age, i guess 19. but they are going in a group. but the concert is in st louis, actually right across the river at a place callled pop's. i asked about it at work and a couple people said she would be ok, esp since she was going in a group. i will be saying alot of prayers that night, will you join me? lol ahhh teenagers. you know what they say, pay back is $@((. and it is.

hope you have a great day.

Yeah!

i know, i know i already posted today, but good news!!!! The Cards have done something right! they signed our (markie and mines) favorite player for 4 more years!!!! oh la la! i love me some yadi molina!!!!

oh and if you are getting that dreaded cold, i have a secret for you. go, run, to wal-mart/target/walgreens/your fav drug store and get ya some ZICAM. i'm telling ya that stuff really works adn works great! it will make your cold so much more shorter and bearable!!! me and markie have been swearing by it for a couple months now. it's good stuff!

well. really. must. go. back. to. work.

COLD!

very cold. that is how i feel!!! let me start off by saying that my electric bill last month was over 200 bucks and i refuse to turn up my electric any more. but dang it's cold out! lol Mark felt like crap all weekend. and i wanted to do something, anything. but noooooo. oh well, i got my scrap room started and most of my stuff sorted. it's looking better and better! and amanda's old room is getting better and better!!!

i have been working on stuff to get a retreat going. it is alot of work!! but i hope it will work! there is alot you have to do and i'm half way done, but not sure how long this last thing will take thou. but i am working on getting it going. my hope is to have it ready to go by march so i can then i'll have enough time to concentrate on the wedding stuff. i was also thinking about doing something for National Scrapbook Day which is always the first saturday in May. that is getting really close to the wedding, but oh well, bring on the stress!!! lol life's no fun without stress!

so, my friend Linda calls me friday and ask's if i wanna go to cropaparidise. well, yeah i do, but dang this wedding!!! lol i am tring everything to figure out how i could, but i just can't. i finally got amanda to tell me what they wanted to do about food for the wedding. i think this is what we are gonna do. we are gonna do it ourselves. well, sorta. the legion in perryville does awesome chicken so we are gonna try and get them to do the chicken. then i'm gonna see if my mom and mother in law will make asian slaw, then just dump some corn in a heater thingy and some green beans with bacon bits and onions in another and buy some rolls. i think this will work, or i hope it will. with around 350 people, i can't afford much else!!! i am also looking for someone to help that day, keep things filled and such. if anyone knows of anyone who would like to make a extra 100-150 on june 7th, let me know! it would only be for a couple hours.

well better go back to work. is it friday yet? lol

cool!

my good friend Penne found this blog that has a sneak peak of a class we are taking at ckc st louis. check it out, here is the web site.http://scrapbooksnstickers.typepad.com/ i am so glad i took it cause it looks awesome! it's called always and forever. yeah, now i can't wait even more! lol

check this out

ok i have been adding blogs to the right hand side over there. i love these blogs and they always have some cool stuff! mostly scrapbooking stuff, BUT you have to check out Pioneer Woman. she is a hoot! she has some amazing pictures on her one blog and then she has another whole blog for recipes. awesome recipes! check her out, you'll love her!

i guess i'm feeling better today about stuff. i was kinda down this weekend with the baby situation. it was hard on me, i can't even imagine what the family is going thru. i'm trying so hard to be patient with markie, but she is sick, again. i don't know if i should call the doctor or not. they say the flu is going around school, but she has a fever and that concerns me. i really think it is the flu thou. i know you have a fever with the flu too thou. uuuggghhhh.

i'm getting in the mood to organize my sb room. maybe this weekend mark will help me. i know he gets tired of helping me arrange things, but i get tired of making him supper too. yeah, he can help me!

speaking of supper, i think we will have steak tonight. i bought it last night and then mark didn't make it home til late and i was already asleep, so what that it was only 8 o'clock. i can go to bed at 8 o'clock if i want. two nights in a row. maybe it's 3 nights in a row. can't remember. hopefully tonight i won't. i have to get my jan. lo done for the kit club. i was suppose to do it last night. but i couldn't. tonight i will.

amanda called from tulsa. she is at a super duper target. she says it is huge. huge. i told her to be careful. i kn ow she gets tired of me telling her that. but toto, you arent' in missouri right now! man it feels like it should be 1 or 2 oclock.

better go. check out that blog. it's cool.

Hello!

well it looks like a gorgeous day in se missouri. wish i was off. Boy do i need a day to myself! lol wah, wah, wah. that is what i feel like i have been doing lately. whining. so i will stop. markie is on the mend, she hasn't complained about her belly hurting for awhile, but she has been a little preoccupied. i think she is learning alot about relationships and how boys can treat girls. and i don't mean it in a good way. Josh hasn't done anything to Markie (that i know of!) but his brother sure doesn't know how to treat a girl. i think he needs a wake up call.

Amanda and Neil is in Tulsa OK for Neil's school. she called me on the way there and they didn't know which hotel they were going to. huh? and i was suppose to find out and all they had was a fax number. huh? geez. just trust me when i say it was a mess, but they found finally arrived and she said the hotel was awful. lol. been there, done that! lol

so i need some energy juice. some thing to get me going. i wanna have lots of energy. i feel like someone has just drained me dry. i didn't sleep at all sunday night, then last night i slept from around 8 til 630. Mark stayed at the lake with steve. they are to funny. they go roaming around hunting and fishing stores like we do scrapbook stores. that's why mark can't say anything when i want to go to sb stores. but he does anyway! lol

well i got my hair colored again, so the grey is gone. but i have these few that are stubborn, they shine thru. what's up with that? i do not like it!

i'm gonna add a few more blogs that are really cool, check them out!

Thanks For The Memories!

lol. yeah, couldn't think of anything better for a header. But honestly, i have met some of the coolest people thru the retreats and crops at stamps and scrapbooks. and i have the bestest of memories of the retreats and crops. but, i know we must move on. this weekends retreat was great adn i had a blast. i want to thank everyone who took any of my classes. i learned alot from everyone and i would not be who i am today with out you all. we will continue on! just may be alittle different is all. please be sure to watch my blog or the small town girls blog for news on that front! i also love that the girls from st louis came down, they are a hoot! i look forward to seeing them in St louis in the future.

Thanks everyone for the prayers for Abigail. i went by the funeral home this morning before the funeral to drop off a memorial donation. i hope i never have to do anything like that again. it is heart breaking. i hugged jessica, she is so young to be going thru something like this. i'm glad i went. i just needed to do something. what little i did. but it was something. Markie is taking it pretty hard. i know it is a good life lesson thou.

Another Sad Day

the day started off good. Markie's doctor appt went great. he wants her to take birthcontrol to hopefully keep the endometreosis at bay. we'll see. but he is sooooo cool. he talked to markie and she understood what he was saying, yeah. then before markie went back to school she got a call from Josh, her boyfriend. His brothers baby girl, Abby had stayed the night with his mom and she, abby, hadn't woken up this mornign and when his mom, joyce went to check on her she was blue and purple. she died this morning. she was born around thanksgiving. Markie took it hard cause she loved abby and would always go over to josh's house when abby was there. the whole family is taking it hard, of course. Joey, abby's father and josh's brother, isn't married to abby's mom, Jessica. Jessica was in amanda's class. they have a son too, trenton, sooooo cute. it's a mess, but the kids are sooo cute and innocent. i feel sooo bad for joyce. she is really heartbroken. i hope she will be ok. please say a prayer for the price/clary family. they will really need them in the days and weeks to come.

well, tommorrow is the last retreat. i hope i'm ready for my classes. i was at the store all day today. well i'm off to zone out for awhile. having nacho's for supper, i'm taking a day off from the diet thing. i can only handle soooo much. and i have to have real food and soda. esp soda. esp soda. did i say soda. yeah, soda.

I NEED

A SODA AND I'M GONNA HAVE ONE! ok i feel better and i am gonna have a soda. wheew. this is NOT easy. i love my sodas. i'm not sure i can live with out them. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! damn, i have been loosing alot this week. not pounds, just stuff. my soda, my sb store. uuugggghhhh!!!!

I Will Not Let

it get to me! ok so i found out today that one of my favorite Scrapbook companies, Junkitz (not just because i was honorable mention in there contest, lol) has declared bankruptcy (sp). sad, sad, sad. Here's a link to the blog where i got the scoop. http://www.scrapbookupdate.com/scrapnancy/. I love this company's product. loved it. what i hate about it is if you say junkitz people say, isn't that the company that has zippers for sb'ing. yeah, but sooooo much more. anyway. i loved their product so much i entered their contest for a designer spot way back in 2004 or 2005. and i won a honorable mention. they might as well said i won, i was on cloud 9. i really was. #1 i accomplished the entry, lol, #2 it proved to me more than anything else that some of the contest are real and honest. (i sure the heck don't know anyone or have enought $$$$$ to buy my way in!). i was totally blown away! any way, just another sad day for my scrapbooking hobby. but i will not let it get to me.

so i am still upset about this jonathan mcclard thing. dang it. i was looking up obit.'s for a friends fathers, and out pops this picture of him. dang it. dang it. dang it. you know i have had a hard time explaining the way i feel about this situation, but you know, him committing suicide almost proves that he wasn't a adult. to me anyway. i just hope he is in Heaven now. done with this.

well i am off friday. guess i will get ready for my classes for saturday. it will be bittersweet. the last retreat. i hope we do it with a bang. a big bang.

gotta go

I Wonder

what you're thinking. i wonder how many emails i will get today. i hope alot. that means you are thinking the same thing i am thinking. what. are. we. gonna. do. as i have already said to one of my friends, i am sad. for me. not for Rona. she has worked soooo hard to make the store and it just isn't working. i hope that she can pay off her debt. i know God will find a place for us to still meet. He will. we have to. with that said, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. seriously. whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. ok. so we have to come up with a plan. i have met sooooo many wonderful people thru the store and rona. i refuse to loose track of my friends that i have made. i am working on some things to continue Small Town Girls. finding a place to have it is the big thing. i will find the right place. i want to continue to have them about every 3 months. i am thinking. i really am. i will have a slight down time to take care of amanda's wedding in june. but i'm sure we can figure something out! also, what about a once a month lunch! we could have a blast with this. maybe Ryan's. how fun would that be! i don't know, i am just thinking. if you have any suggestions, please send them on. a very sad, sad cynde

Hello Again

Just me. who else. what a dreary day. when i went out to my car this morning, it smelled of spring. well kinda. really reminded me of when i went to cancun and the smell and feel of mexico. i love that smell adn feeling. wish i could go again real SOON! but here i sit at work munching on some cool flat pretzels (thanks for introducing me to them Julie, they are awesome!) kinda chillin out. it was a ok weekend. got to scrapbook, which was fun! but a downer was when i heard that Jonathan McClard commited suicide. it brings tears to my eyes. i'm not sure why i care soooo much. i didn't know him. He was in Markie's class for a short time in Oak Ridge. I feel for his Mother. i say a prayer for her often. I know her son did wrong. real wrong. but so has others and they got much, much less than him. the boy in the school killings is OUT only having done a few years, and he is in trouble again. and he killed how many people? sure he needed more time in prision, lots more. I am not saying that Jonathan did not deserve ANYTHING, just not 30 years. he was 16 years old. 16. not a adult, i don't care what they say. i'm having a very difficult time putting in words what i feel. as with anything else, i try and put myself in the victims shoes. what if it had been my son/daughter he shot at, how would i feel? i would want him to pay, to repent, to rehab. not die. not 30 years prision. i remember when amanda was shoved against her locker either in jr high, or high school and how i felt. the girl who did it was punished, suspended. i was happy with that. the girl never did anything else. then when amanda hit a girl after the girl kept wanting to fight her and saying 'come on punch me' (off school campus) and she did. amanda felt worse than the girl she punched! i mean, she really did. i know that is so much less than what he did. uuugghhhh. i can't explain it. i will quit for now. i think i will go to my favorite store, simply a dollar for lunch. that will be a highlight! i love that store! and i will let you in on my goodies i got!

soooo

My challenges sorta just fizzled. because of me. dork. so sorry. but i would like to start them up again. soon. but not just yet. lol i had a awesome christmas. just feel good about it. i still have my tree up, but it will come down this weekend, maybe sunday. i love it. it is sooo pretty. and country. and lots of ornaments. wish i could leave it up all year. well maybe not.

Well today was the first day back for school. markie started in last night that she didn't feel very well. geez. she did have to work for the first time. but i laid down the law on her this morning. only go to the nurse if she was bleeding profusely (which she claimed she was last night) or doubled over in pain. lol haven't heard from her. YET.

soooo who is going to ckc st louis? i signed up for my classes this morning. they have some cool classes. i will probally add a few more, but only did a few for now. i can't wait for a girls day out! lol

speaking of girls day out, a bunch of us at work are going to go to the melting pot at the end of this month. i can't wait. then we are gonna stay all night in st louis. should be alot of fun!!!

so who's gonna go to the crop tomorrow night. the retreat sign up's are starting tomorrow night also. i will put a sneak peak of my projects on here tonight (sorry that i haven't done it yet barb!) i have all but a couple completely done! yeah! and i'm doing both days, all class spots. i will be exhausted on monday! oh well, it's all so much fun!!!! hope to see lots of you there!

well better get back to work!

Happy New Year's Day!

Hope everyone is having a great day. another day off, don't know if i can handle it! nothing really going on around here. i must get somethings done around the house, maybe take down the tree. i gotta finish up my classes for the retreat, which is the 12 and 13, which i was thinking it was the next weekend. duh. sometimes i wonder about myself!!!!! markie is doing good, she has recovered and just in time to go to school~!!!! thank goodness! wel better get busy!