Brooke & the DMV

I just had to share this story......

The state of Kansas is changing the driving limit to 17 & if you have your permit by Dec. 31st, 2009 you are grandfathered in and you can get your license at 16.

So, with everything going on we waited until the last minute to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

We saw on the news that the lines were long...but we thought if we got up at 5am and got there by 7am we wouldn't have to wait.

Wrong!!

We woke up to a couple more inches of snow on the ground.....it was still snowing. I'm not comfortable driving on the roads...but it was important to Brook.  (Dave can't drive for 6 weeks because of his surgery). 

We get to the DMV and the line was huge!!! We had to wait outside for 2 1/2 hours...took us almost 3 hours for Brooke to get her driving permit.

Like Dave said....this is one story we'll be telling for years!!  

It was still dark when we got there....it was still snowing and boy was it cold.  We bundled up ....but failed to wear the proper shoes...our feet were frozen!!  In fact I sent Dave a text message with a picture of the line and my words were "my feet are frozen and I'm in pain".   :)

See ya!

New Moon

Kindle

I just have to share my latest & greatest!!  Have you heard of the Amazon Kindle?  If not, please google it :) I could go on & on for hours about it ...but googling it will give you all the details you need.

If you read like myself...anywhere from 3 to 5 books a week and you usually purchase those books....you need the Kindle!!

We are trying to weed out the extras in our house and Dave continues to remind me that I need to scale back my books...I was faced with a dilemma!  But, how can I give away my books....especially when I can re read them 4 or 5 years later?

So, the answer to that is the Amazon Kindle.  It can hold up to 1500 books and here's a picture of it...

So far I've read five books on it and I love it!!

Gotta run ....busy day ahead :)

A month later.....

Wow...I can't believe it's been a whole month since I posted.   Time sure flies by fast!!!

So much has happened in the past month....seriously I could write a book.

Convention was just amazing!!!   How can I....be #5 Demo of the Year with Stampin' Up!....or #1 in Senior Associate Promotions...or #4 in Sales.......in the whole entire company? 

 It's just so weird....all these years I've gone to Convention....first with Creative Memories and now with Stampin' Up! and I never really thought I would ever be on stage for sales, recruiting or demo of the year.  Some days I want so badly to call all my old roommates and say "oh my gosh I did it".   But, that would be bragging and I'm not that kind of person.

It's been such an amazing year & I'm so happy that I could show Brook, Chase & Dave that once I set my mind on something....I could make it happen.  All these years I've tried one home based business after another and although I feel in love with Scrapbooking first.....my heart lies with making darling 3D objects.

  That's the reason I joined Stampin' Up! and the reason I'm still an active demonstrator.  October 30th will be my 7th anniversary with Stampin' Up! and I'll never forget the day I went to Sandra's house and she showed me how to stamp & emboss.  I can't believe I didn't try it sooner!!!  Someone should have twisted my arm and made me go to a Stampin' Up! workshop!!!

Well, enough about business.   It's finally September!!!  The month we've been anxiously waiting for.....no news yet....but everyday I pray for good news.   I've been on pins & needles since Feb. and just a few more weeks and hopefully we'll know more.   Each day I get more & more nervous....as Kim said earlier today.....Pray!  I trust that God has a plan...speaking of  ......have you heard that song that says "God is great....Beer is good and People are Crazy"?  that is sooo true (well, except ....I hate beer...yuk!!).

See ya!

Preparing for Convention

Wow! I'm running around like a crazy person. We took Chase & Brook to breakfast at Ihop today and then Dave drove them to the Ozarks to stay with his parents. I will miss them so much and as much as I say I can't wait for school to start so I can have my days back I will miss seeing their darling faces.
Brook got several inches of her hair cut off this week and I'm kicking myself that I forgot to take a picture.

I finished my shopping today....can I say I hate shopping? I seriously get depressed when I have to shop. There are so many other things I love to do, I need a personal shopper!! (But if I had one I wouldn't listen, I love to wear white shirts, if you see me in another color besides pink, just know it's a miracle.) Everyone tells me to wear color but when I look at the mirror I cringe....I know TMI (too much info).

Gotta run....Convention starts on Wednesday and I still have a million things to do.

p.s. Kim, I hope Kelsey gets better real soon!! Love ya'll

Thirty-One Gifts

Here's another long story but one I feel the need to explain. Last week I was surfing the internet looking for items that I could have Chic n Scratch engraved or sew on to give my team members that are going to Convention. And....I found the company Thirty-One. I was like "WOW, they have some pretty awesome bags and I could see myself ordering a ton of items".......as well as ordering a few gifts for my team.

If you're asking...... "shouldn't I make them a gift?" 2009 is the year that I've learned I can't do it all and I need to delegate!! Are you guilty of that too?

Now back to the exciting news....I signed up to be a Thirty-One demonstrator. I tossed it around so many times it would make your head spin. But then I figured why not take my own advice and do it. What do I have to lose? Just like the advice I give my recruits with Stampin' Up!....the product is yours to keep without any strings attached.

My heart is with Stampin' Up! (& my bread & butter) and I won't lose focus on that.....especially after viewing the Holiday Mini Catalog this morning. That thing seriously brought tears to my eyes. I absolutely love it!!!

If you'd like to check out the Thirty One Gifts Catalog here's the link to my site where the catalog is available to view, click here.

See ya,

The Little Prince

Last week was one of those weeks that I look back on and wonder how I survived.......new ribbon & new designer paper arrived and I was buried with cutting & repackaging them. Along with being mom, wife....taking dogs to vet, kids to doctor.......etc!

While I was cutting the ribbon I had the TV on & I watched the Memorial for Michael Jackson. I thought it was a very nice memorial and when Brooke Shields spoke I couldn't help but rush to my computer and order "The Little Prince" book by Antoine De Saint Exupery. I'm a reader...how did I miss this book? There was a quote from the book that Brooke read and I had to write it down to remember it, here it is.....

"Eyes are blind, you have to look with the heart, what's most important is invisible."

July 4th

I thought I would share our 4th of July weekend.

There's something about the lakehouse that makes me very sleepy. The minute I walk in I hit the recliner and for some reason those recliners call my name the entire time I'm there. We all laugh, I can only take about 3 days and then I feel the need to rush home.

This weekend I decided to start calling it "The Napping House" where everyone is sleeping. Does that sound familiar? It should....it's a book I use to read to Chase & Brook when they were little.

Speaking of when they were little....Since Chase & Brook are both teenagers....they have a bit of an attitude. I try to make light of it...they are teenagers. Anyway long story short. As teens with their attitudes they will sometimes act like I'm an absent mom or that I've not done enough for them. But there are little moments that they see, that is not the case. This weekend when I renamed the lakehouse the Napping House, everyone was like oh yeah, I remember that book, you read it to us all the time. Then that started the conversation of all the books I used to read to them. And even that I read the Winnie the Pooh book out loud when I was pregnant with Chase (not that he remembers it but I've told him that story a bunch).

Another example of that was a few weeks ago, both Chase & Brook ran and jumped in bed with me and at the same time I started signing "there were ten in the bed and the little one said roll over roll over and they all rolled over and one fell out there was nine in the bed and the little one said"........ that started the discussion of all the songs I used to sing to them (and the fact that I can't carry a tune but I wanted to be the best mom ever and that meant I needed to sing to them whether it sounded good or not).

In less than a month, they've both realized that although I work all the time right now.....that has not always been the case. I'm still working on the whole balance thing!!

One last story....we went canoeing on July 4th and we had a great time. But, can you believe the last 40 minutes we got caught in a rain storm. I was not a happy camper but what can you do? So, I picked a water fight with Dave and Chase and it was sooo much fun!! I soaked Dave and they both soaked me. I wish I could have filmed Dave behind me sputtering (you know spitting the water out and yelling at me at the same time).

See ya!

p.s. I need to change the banner on this blog....can you believe I need to figure out how to extract a font file? I don't do that very often and I forget from one time to the next.

My first Digital Scrapbook Page

I'm so excited to be learning Photoshop. Over the weekend I took an online class and made my first Digital Scrapbook page. I can't wait for my next lesson!!

(But I'm thinking I need to do lesson one over again, I've already forgotten most of the steps.)

Creed is returning :)

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!! I just read that the band Creed is returning.

Guess what my ringtone on my phone is? One Last Breathe.....by none other than Creed.

Let's hope they're past the little things and can produce a great album....keeping my fingers crossed.

See ya,

p.s. I saw them in concert several years ago and it was one of the best concerts I've been to. This will make you laugh, I wore shoes that made me 2 inches taller and a hair extension (funny isn't it?).

Quote for the Day

"If you're feeling stressed, get rid of the things you don't need and finish what you started."

I love it.....but wait ........What if it's the things left unfinished that's making me stressed?

Quote was in the More Magazine...interview by Julia Ormond.

Blog Header

I'll be changing the font and the color on my header very soon!! Hopefully tomorrow :)

Sinus infection

Just got home from the doctor and I still have a sinus infection. She gave me a stronger medicine & told me if I'm still sick after this run that I will need to go see a Ear, Nose & Throat doctor :O bummer...I hope the meds work!!!

Back to the doctor

Can you believe I'm still sick? It's been three weeks and I've been on antibiotics twice. Sinus infections are nasty!!

I'm headed back to the doctor in a few minutes :O wish me luck!

Angie Everyday blog

I'm super excited about this new blog. I've been toying with the idea that I would start a blog where I could post all the fun & quirky things that happen in my life. Or what ever I'm eager to talk about....

Here's an example

The week of Memorial Day I let Fluffy & Sissy out back to go potty. It was around 6am and they usually run out and right back in really fast (for some reason my dogs do not like to get their feet wet). Okay back to the story....all of a sudden Sissy starts barking like crazy. So, I stick my head out the door (not walking out there I'm in my pj's....that also means no bra) anyway I looked out there and there was something laying in the mulch. It looked really cute all curled up...but I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't tell what it was. Since Sissy wouldn't stop barking I had to grap a jacket so I could run out there....and about that time, the beautiful fox stood up to take off. It was so cute & I could tell it was a young fox. And believe it or not Sissy's barking didn't bother it at all. When I walked out there to pick up Sissy I scared it away. (Barking dog at 6am does not make for good neighbors...you know what I mean?)

After that morning, Brooke & I were so eager to see that little fox. But we discovered that while we were out of town for Memorial day, one of our neighbors called animal control and they carried it off. That's so sad because it's family is still out there by the lake and now one of them is missing. Talk about breaking my heart. It's a good thing I was out of town, God knows I would not have been able to watch that happen without getting involved. See why I felt the need to share the story?