Stampin Up Christmas Specials

Oh, my - Merry Christmas a little early from SU, it seems - boy, do they have some great specials for us this month!!!!!!

1. FREE SHIPPING - yeah - you heard me - FREE on orders over $70... members of my Hostess Club who will be placing orders by Monday - yep - those orders ship FREE this month! (Offer goes through December 23 - to receive items by Christmas, orders MUST be submitted, paid, by December 16).

2. RETIRED list is out - and not only is it out... it's OFF - 10% off, that is! This offer good through January 9th. Go to link above to see the link to the Retired list!

3. From December 1, 2008 – January 18, 2009, in celebration of Stampin’ Up!’s twentieth anniversary, spend $20 on any Stampin’ Up! products and get 20 percent off any stamp set from the Fall-Winter Sampler—no limit!

4. and 5. The Holiday Extravaganza Gift-giving guide is still there, suggesting great gifts and the Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin Kit is still available... check them out, but do it quickly, because like all these specials, they'll be gone soon.

To place an order, email me, call me, or go to my website and place an order through me to get the best pricing* on your online order: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/fancynancykay/


(*Orders placed online through the Stampin Up website are charged a premium, but from your demo's website - link above - you get the best pricing available, plus a lot of ideas you won't see elsewhere!)

Stampin' 11-2008

Here is the scrapbook page we made today. We also made a cute birthday card with Wow Flowers, a Christmas card with Lovely as a Tree and Deck the Halls, and a cute little basket using the SU Sizzix die Basket and Blooms, and the Scallop punch (and a couple of other punches) to make a cute punchart turkey for the front of the basket...

If you weren't here - missed ya!

Be sure we don't miss you NEXT Saturday - at the Christmas Stamp-a-Stack!!!!! Email me for information about late registration!

Stampin-Up! Alert!

What a beautiful day this is going to be in Houston! 57 degrees right now with a high of 80 today...

I just wanted to hop on for a minute (not to give you the weather report, really!!!) and remind you that my Christmas Stamp-A-Stack will be SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15 at 1:00 at my home. If you haven't signed up yet, time is running out!

And please - don't forget to go VOTE tomorrow, if you haven't already!

Back at home, crazy busy... or just crazy?

We are back at home - moved back home around Sept 23 or 24th. Since then, we've been straightening up, putting away and getting stuff in order... babysitting grandbaby Ava every weeknight til about 8 pm... oh, and going on a scrapbook retreat last weekend. I didn't really have TIME to be off work, but OH, how I needed the mental health days!!!!

I thank you all for the good wishes and prayers while we were out of our home. We have been VERY blessed.

I ask that you remember our good friends Kelley and Chris Vaughan in prayer. Kelly is a pastor in Galveston, Texas. They are still out of their home as it had more than 5 feet of water in it. They have lost ALL their furniture, and many 'things'... and are praising God that they and their family are all safe. They are awesome people. If you feel led to bless them with a gift, let me know and I'll tell you how to get it to them.

I will be working on a Christmas tag swap (actually 2 of them for two different groups) and the designs for my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack this week...

Be well, be blessed.

Still no power, but still so blessed

Well, just a quick update here - - - we've still no power at home. HALF of he little strip of apartments behind the parsonage has power now, as well as our neighbors on our street... the remainder of the apartments and the parsonage where we live do not - it seems they are on another transformer... Bo suspects that it must be gone.

As far as the church goes - evidently there was a line DOWN... and now it's just GONE. Bo said he thought that the power company must have cut it to get it out of the way and done something to enable them to restore power to the houses on Citadel Street behind the church... so we have to wait until they can come back and fix that, too... so tomorrow we will be worshipping without benefit of electricity... that won't stop us from praising God for His mercies throughout all this.

Do I want to be home? Surely... but I have to say - my house is safe, my dogs and cat (and betta fish) are all well, I am staying in an airconditioned HOME with mom and dad and Bo where I come home to a cooked meal (that part is spoiling me, lol), and I don't have feet of mud and yuck to clean out of my house when I do get to go back home***. Yeah - it's annoying and frustrating on some levels, and I want to be in my own space, but I am so blessed and so grateful to have what I have and I know it!

***Have you SEEN what some of these poor people are having to deal with in going back home? Inches or feet of mud and debris in their house or business - and let me tell you - this stuff STINKS!!!! Belongings and mementos, family pictures, scrapbooks, etc, knocked down into this stinky mess? Plus, some of these people will be living in hotels or FEMA housing for ages! We aren't talking good clean earthy mudpies your kids can make in your back yard! Man, I am SO blessed!

SpOoKy sPiDeR pRomO

This just in!!!!!

Stampin'Up! has decided to make the SPOOKY SPIDER Decór Element available to you NOW! So if you want me to add that to my order this month, let me know asap! Customers may officially order it as of September 19 (um...that's TODAY!). See the flyer inserted below, or if you're on my yahoo group, check out the whole pretty PDF (more readable as a pdf than as a picture inserted here :).

Here is a close-up of the ordering chart! Prices shown do not include shipping and tax.

and a screenshot of the sizes that you may be able to read better :)

IF YOU WANT IT - ORDER NOW, because after Halloween, this SpOoKy sPiDeR is GONE!

Blessed

In the dark of the midnight

Have I oft hid my face

While the storms howl above me

And there’s no hiding place

Midst the crash of the thunder

Precious Lord, hear my cry

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

Till the storm passes over

Till the thunder sounds no more

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

~Mosie Lister

The song "Til the Storm Passes Over" has always been special to me, but even more so after experiencing Hurricane Ike over the past 24 hours. Our electricity went out for the 4th (or 5th, lol) and final time about 26-27 hours ago, so we packed it in and headed a mile or two away to my mom and dad's as 1) they still had power and 2) mom was fretting about us...

We spent the night in the 'new' room (now about 25 years old, lol) that has its own window unit so we had control of our temperature (they sleep at about 80 degrees.... we sleep about 12 degrees cooler than that, lol). About 3 this morning, their electricity went out as Ike passed through the area. About 3 hours later, Kari called to tell us that they had lost electricity, too, out in Waller where we will building a house this year on the back acre of the property we are buying with them... not only that, but Clementine, their part Blue Heeler, part Red Heeler, decided to have her puppies in the midst of the storm in their laundry room.... NINE puppies she had :) Of course the first boy is named Ike. Mama and babies are doing fine.

We slept a bit fitfully since we were hot - me especially after the power went off and Bo throw his part of the blanket over me :). Anyway, after his dad checked in with us at 8, he got up and went to check on our dogs and house. The wind was still blowing wildly enough I was a little concerned about his sanity... but he was on his way home when I texted him to check on him. We were still at mom and dad's when my sister called a bit after lunch and said that her daughter and son-in-law were at Costco in Austin and they had plenty of generators, and asked if we wanted him to get it and meet us halfway with it... so Bo and I hopped in the truck and drove to Buccee's in Giddings to meet him:)

As soon as they loaded the thing in our truck, Mom called and said that the power was back on at their house, lol - but at least now we have the generator we were planning to buy when we get our house built out by Kari and Garrett's!

In all of this, there has been, of course, a tad of discomfort, but I feel so very blessed. All of my family is safe. We have minimal property damage, consisting mostly of downed tree limbs in the yard. In both our neighborhoods, we spied trees on houses and cars, trees and limbs in the street, pieces of trees in our yards from God-knows-where.... but all the people (and pets) are safe... and now we have a generator to plug our refrigerator into, lol!

Hopefully our power will be restored within the next couple of days... I confess that I'm actually a bit more concerned about the water at the moment as there isn't enough to take a bath at the moment - this could get ugly! But I know that God will continue to hold us safe in the hollow of His hand. For all of you who have sent me emails that you are praying for our safety - thank you - it is appreciated, and if you know me, you know that I believe in the power of prayer.

"Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand
Keep me safe till the storm passes by"

I know that there will be other hurricanes - some even bigger and badder than Ike, but I am so blessed... and I know that God will continue to hold us in the hollow of His hand. Do you?

Baseball, hurricanes, banana bread and traffic jams

I was singing the old Chevrolet ad song when I typed that title for this post - - - you remember? Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet....

My apologies to the jingle writer, lol!

Anyway - the Astros are doing well - they started playing - I mean REALLY playing, after the All-Star break as usual :) Go 'Stros!!!!! 3 games out of the Wild Card slot....

Banana bread (yeah, I skipped the hurricane for a moment) - so my mom buys bananas.... and they never eat them all.... so she gives them to me to make banana bread (now, this is a really obscure reference... but a Christian singer who has long since gone Home to be with Jesus - Keith Green - wrote and recorded a song called, "So you wanna go back to Egypt"... anyway - one of the lines in it is "baMANNA bread" - you'd have to know the song, but it makes me chuckle anyway :) - so my mom buys bananas, as I said, gives me some that are past their prime and PERFECT for making Banana bread (or baMANNA bread, if you prefer).... so the other day I bring these home, and Bo brings them in, and the next day when I go to make the bread....no bananas!!!! I found them a couple of days later... in the freezer.... with about a dozen other bananas in packets of about 3 or so each.... Anyway, when I picked up Ava from my mom (Mamaw) today, she handed me 3 bananas that were READY! So when I got Little Bit and I in the house, I got the bananas (which had fallen off the stem, thank you, and had to be picked up from various locations in my car, garage and kitchen - I thought my load was getting lighter:) - put Ava in the little crib my granddaddy made when I was born, and rolled it in the kitchen. We had a great time, with her kind of playing with her crib toy and me singing along and mixing up the bread. I baked it as a flat cake rather than a loaf... it came out of the oven about 10 minutes before Kari and Garrett got here to pick up Ava.... it is now over half gone - guess it was ok, lol!!!

Traffic jams - when Hurricane Rita hit in 2005, Hwy 290 was backed up to a stop - people were running out of gas on the highway by the time they got to Waller (where I work, about a 40 minute drive from Houston normally) - it was really bad, and they had to open up some of our schools for shelters because people couldn't get away that way. Well, we were expecting more of the same today, but this time, people evidently actually did what the authorities asked them to. The evacuation appears to be leaving the coastal areas in an orderly way, at the times they were asked to. Traffic heading out of Houston on 290 as I drove back in to get home this afternoon was MUCH worse than normal, but it was moving. They just announced on the news that they don't need to make the contraflow lanes at this time because traffic is moving out on all the routes... awesome!!!!!! Kari and Garrett headed home to Waller via Tomball on 249 and made it in about an hour or so, so it is MUCh better than during Rita, thank God!

Back to the hurricanes... as you may know, Hurricane Ike is headed down our throats. While we are aware and prepared, and know we may lose power tomorrow, we also know that God is in charge and we will be fine. So as you pray, do remember the Texas Gulf Coast residents, the first responders, those who are foolish enough to dodge the mandatory evacuations, etc. Do pray that loss of life will be none and loss of property minimal. Pray for the elderly that have chosen not to leave their homes.

It is a serious thing, a hurricane like Ike. Many people are afraid... the young teachers at school - especially those from other areas who haven't experienced a hurricane before and are away from family - they were having a hard time with this today! Pray for them that they may be safe, and feel God's peace with them.

As for me...

"Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say...'It is well, it is well, with my soul' ".

Be well, be blessed, and if you are in the Gulf area (as we say in Texas) - Hunker down, hon and be safe!

On being positive

I went to a friend's blog this morning to read her updates on the kitchen remodel they are undergoing, and I was struck (stricken?... nah - struck, I think :) by her spirit.

So many women today engage in husband bashing on the internet - why not, we think? He won't be reading those posts to the scrapbook or stamping groups I'm on, will he? (Um, no). So why is this a bad idea?

Well - we all DO need friends to whom we can safely vent, and that's not always a bad thing... but if our spirit towards our husband is continually one of criticism (no matter how well-deserved we think it may be) and anger (because we think he never meets our needs)... then that is going to bleed over into our everyday lives and spoil (as in 'make rotten') our relationships with him.

When I read Wendy's blog this morning, it just really convicted my heart - have I been unjustly critical of Bo? Good grief - so we didn't get to go to New York for our 30th anniversary as planned - not his fault that we had a grandbaby due smack in the middle of the summer and I was afraid to plan to be that far away when my first grandbaby was due, lol - and the man sent me 3 dozen long-stemmed red roses to work on our anniversary. He has never, ever - not a single time - forgotten my birthday, our anniversary, my parent's anniversary (of course, it's the day before ours :) or birthdays, nor our kids' birthdays. He is a bivocational pastor and second year special education teacher (at a new school - AND he got bitten this week by someone else's student and has to take shots to prevent Hepatitis now, plus antibiotics and a tetanus shot, poor baby). He does the grocery shopping (still - because he got in the habit of doing it before he started teaching because of my commute and his more relaxed schedule), NEVER fusses when I spend money, puts gas in my car and has it washed for me, and is a kind, gentle soul... and I don't tell him these things nearly enough!

So, what about you? Is your focus on you and your needs, or on him and his needs.... or even more importantly on Him - - - on God, and what He leads you to do? That's something on which I'll be meditating today.

Dew Drop challenge

OK, Holy Holly - here is my dew drops challenge card :)

Bella Rose

Here is the Bella Rose scrapbook page we made at August's meeting.

Left hand page:



Right hand page:



We used a variety of "friends, family, fun" pictures with this one. The pictures are not formally laid out as in most sketches (and most of my own pages), but rather a sampling of photos - great for those "one of this and one of that" type photos you don't have enough of for a layout on their own :).

Busy week, back to school

Wow - what a week!!!!

I've been busy - I've gotten all the catalogs ordered for binding bound, and am printing postage with the rest of my free time this weekend, revamped the punch pal I like to use (prints on one sheet and you can hold it over a stamp set in the catalog and see what fits in what punch), and gotten a lot of preschool evals scheduled at school...

We are headed out to talk to the builders in a bit about our new house along with my parents (who will be moving into said new house with us), and then our kids are going to meet us as we take my folks out to dinner to help them celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary (it's Monday - our 30th is Tuesday).

I hope to have some time to put up pictures of the projects we did last week at our monthly stamp meeting here at my home - we did some fun stuff, browsed the catalog - but first I need to clean off the mess from cutting, punching and binding catalogs :)

Have a beautiful Saturday!

Ava's Cousin Zoe is here!

We just got a call - Zoe was born at 8:34 p.m. She weighs 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and so far, is the tallest of the 3 girls at 19.5 inches.

YEAH!!!!!!

Waiting for Zoe

I'm sitting here writing, waiting for a phone call to say, "Zoe's here!!!". Who is Zoe, you ask? Well, our family has just undergone our own little population explosion (HA, Little - that is funny - that is our greatgrandfather's family name - Little - ok, maybe not THAT funny - but I'm tired.

My sister's daughter, Melissa, gave birth to Hannah Madilyn on April 15th of this year... my daughter, Kari, to Ava Kate on July 3rd... Jen, the daughter of our cousin/big brother figure (John) went into labour this morning - we are expecting Zoe Grace ANY TIME NOW (call me, call me, call me), and John's older sister, Carole - well her daughter, Holly, is expecting her 3rd in late August/early September - but that one's a boy :).

So if anyone is around and reading this - please say a prayer for Jen and David, and baby Zoe - and of course the assorted grandparents, great grands, aunties and all... I'll update you when I get that (call me call me call me) phone call or text message!

(And if you are reading it after I've posted she's born and all - pray anyway - God is not bound by such mundane things as time and place - He'll honour our prayers whenever and wherever they're said!)

What Ava's granddaddy wants to be called ;)

So, we were talking about what Ava Kate will call us, which we know is basically an exercise in wishful thinking as children give grandparents the names they choose (I know of one lady whose grandchildren call her "Puddin' "... yep - bet you can guess what she always served them!

Anyway, after some trial and error... I decided that I'd like to be called Gramcy...hubby finally enlightened us earlier this week on his name of choice...

Grambo...

yep....

Grambo :)

Now, if you aren't getting this, let me share with you that Bo and Garrett (Ava's daddy/our sin-in-law in case you are wondering) LOVE Sylvester Stallone type movies... the Rocky movies, and, yeah - RAMBO... so, since Bo is a big muscular kind of guy, he thinks he'll be "Grambo".

Time will tell, but personally, I thinks it's cute as can be....

What we made on our Stampin Saturday ~ 7/12/08

Here are all three of the card projects we made... I couldn't seem to get a good photo of the pink card - based on a set of cards by Angie Juda (chicnscratch). Mine says "Tickled Pink" and is a standard sized card :)

The scrapook pages use the Felt Fusion flowers in the current catalog, as well as a popsicle for journaling in...PRICELESS was the stamp set used to make swooshies 'dripping' off the dreamsicle and indicating the butterfly flight...

This card could be a Thank you, Happy Birthday, or whatever card - easy and fast! We added some detail inside:

We scored around the edge of the inside Bashful Blue piece, and used the punch out area of the sentiment on the front to stipple in some color with the sponge daubers...

Just wanted those who missed to see WHAT they missed! ANy of these cards would be FAST and easy to make up a bunch at a time. New club starts in August... if you aren't signed up, you'll be missing the fun!!!!

Enjoy!

ooh, baby, baby!

Being a mom is really great... being a grandma? Well, one has to admit, mama was right - it's even better than being a parent, lol!

Here is my daddy holding Ava Kate - look at his hand next to hers...

Ava in the crib my mama's daddy made for me... my sister's kids and both my kids have all also slept in this... mama insisted on going to Things Remembered and getting a little plaque that says that Grandpa made it for me... but I really don't mind sharing with my sister's kids... and grandkids... although with Melissa having Hannah on 4-15, and then Ava Kate arriving less than 3 months later, it's a good thing for us that Mel had made other plans :)

And here is the sweet baby sleeping... she's doing less of that, but the smile makes it all worth while :)

I'm a grandma!!!

Or a Gramcy - I think that is what Kari is thinking to have Ava Kate call me... here are the details with some pictures below -

Bo and I were all packed to take a little vacation starting this past Monday before the birth of our granddaughter around the 18th...

WRONG!

Before we left on Monday, I took Kari to the dr for a check up (she was going at one-week intervals at that point - and Garrett had been taking her, but since he would have had to take time off from work to take her, and they were saving that for after she was born, I took her gladly :), and for the first time her blood pressure was up... so after taking it 4 different times, the dr sent her upstairs to Labor & Delivery to be put on a fetal monitor and start a 24 hour urine test (to check proteins...) - her BP was fine as long as she was laying down...baby's heartrate was great - anyway - 5 hours later, we finally got home, ~Kari had to collect all her urine for 24 hours and return it on Tuesday afternoon. Bo and I decided that going to the B&B at Kerrville was probably a bad idea ;)

Tuesday I took her back with her specimen and her BP was checked again - still high. Dr had already scheduled her for next Tuesday to be induced, but decided to book her in for Thursday (7-3-08) instead because she was concerned she was prehypertensive.

Soooo, Kari and Garrett got to the hospital around 6, they got her hooked up to the fetal monitor, started a Pitocin drip and we started waiting. The dr came in and broke her water around 9 and things really sped up... about 2 hours after that, she asked for her epidural. Almost immediately after that, the baby's heart rate started dropping out... the nurse came in and cleared us out, got the dr, and they decided to do an emergency C-section. Dr said it was a good thing - Ava Kate - just like her Aunt KK (after whom she is partially named) was still hanging out around mom's ribs - never dropped down into the birth canal, so it would have been a LONG LONG LONG labor had this not happened this way.

Long story short (too late, I know), by God's grace, Ava Kate Robles was officially born at 12:11 p.m. (that's afternoon for the time-challenged among us) on July 3, 2008, weighing in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces, and 18 3/4 inches long. Kari and Ava Kate are both doing fine. The dr is a little concerned about Kari's liver function, and Kari has quite a bit of itching, which together could indicate Cholestasis of pregnancy... which *should* subside within a couple of days of pregnancy, or it could be other things, but at any rate is something to keep in prayer.

Also, the house they were renting from my in-laws has sold - closing date was her DUE DATE... we are buying property together in the area where I work (out in the country :) - that deal closes at the end of July - add that up and they would be homeless for a couple of weeks.... so guess where they will living for the next few weeks? Yep - here with us!
At least that makes it really easy for me to spoil that baby rotten!

Thanks for reading this far - now you can just call me.... 'Grancy' (I think that's what Kari has decided, lol - my nieces and nephews have called me Auntsy off and on because my oldest nephew started calling me that - Aunt Nancy - but he lost that syllable of it...shortening it to Auntsy)

We had a wild day - emergency C-section, a lot of prayer, but all worked out, thank God!

Garrett's Scrubs

Garrett showing us Ava Kate as Grandpa Bo (my honey) looks on

Katie (Aunt KK) and Kari in Recovery Room - Katie didn't think Kari should have to be alone :)

Ava Kate in Nursery after her bath

Kari holding Ava for the first time - counting fingers and toes

OK - Enough pictures for now - I have a baby to go hold and a daughter to entertain :)

Updating...

Wow! It has been way too long since I posted, but a LOT has happened...

Finishing out May - school was maniacally busy! Kari continued to increase in girth with baby Ava...Bo completed his first year of teaching successfully.

June flew by - my stampers came and made several cute things... like this

with a new set that will be in the Fall-Winter Idea Book and Catalog...

and this...

and taking photos like this:

And tomorrow... we go in to the hospital for Kari to be induced, and hopefully this time tomorrow, I'll be updating with Miss Ava Kate's first photographs!

Please keep us in your prayers...

Hugs,

me

Blueprints 2 is out

If you don't have it, you need it, lol! This is a great book to help you scrapbook more efficiently - wish I could say I had layouts in it - I tried - I got Honorable Mention in several categories, but just didn't quite get in... it has awesome layout sketches and samples, with wonderful ideas to help you scrap those pictures well and more quickly!

Email me for more information on how to get it!

As promised, here is the layout I am doing with my ladies on Saturday - - - Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa cardstock, Close to Cocoa Designer papers, On Board Chipboard, Close to Cocoa ink, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon. The tag and flower are both chipboard covered with stamped cardstock and inked and sanded a little bit... this is NOT my Mother's Day gift - rather that is something practical she wants and needs right now - this one is for MY book :)

In the photos, on the left, my mom back in the late 1940s in her Nurse Corp uniform (I still have buttons from this uniform). On the right, my mom and dad on Mother's Day about 3 or 4 years ago when Connie and I made her a mini album based on the Alan Jackson song, "Remember When" - cousin Josh played the song over the house's stereo system while she perused the album... and cried a little :) Below that, he most recent birthday - with several of her grandchildren goofing around in the background. Then, a picture of she and Daddy in their wedding duds and a picture of (L to R) Aunt Mildred (her older sister), mom (in front), Mary Carole (niece), Grandma (holding Connie) and John Boyd (Josh's dad, our cousin, Mary Carole's brother - and pretty much like a brother to Connie and I, too).

I left room on the tag to journal - when I figure out WHAT I want to write there :)

Jury Duty (Privilege, responsibility, free country...)

Yesterday (that would be last Friday, now!) I had Jury Duty - since it was State high-stakes testing week, I couldn't do any of the testing with students I needed to as they were doing state tests, so I didn't change it (here we can reschedule up to 6 months in the future). So, I went, and had a really hard time understanding what the gal doing the indoctrination speech was telling us, because she spoke so fast and kept moving in such a way that I couldn't read her lips, so I went up to her when she gave us a short break and asked her a few questions, which she answered, and then she sent me to talk to the people in the lobby about my hearing, and they gave me an exemption since they couldn't guarantee that I'd be able to hear a case adequately, and told me that if I get summoned again, to write "Hearing Impaired" on it and mail it back.

I really have mixed emotions about that. I have never been big on "getting out" of Jury Duty... I've done my stints in traffic court when called, and gone to JD several times and gotten booted because I was a teacher, or because I was a pastor's wife... I even sat on a murder trial one time - for three days.

I won't miss the drive into downtown (always a trip, and I am not talking mileage here)... I won't miss the masses of bodies crammed into one room, or the hike to the courthouse annexes throughout the downtown area, following our Court Officer like children on a school field trip.

But... I WILL miss being part of the process... of going in there and doing my part - because without the people like me who do so.

People sometimes wonder what is wrong with our country... in my opinion - a BIG part of what is wrong (other than the lack of Godliness - but that's for another post another day, and really they ARE tied inextricably together because we are charged to be good citizens...) - anyway, a big part of what is wrong, is the unwillingness of people to do what's right in civic matters: voting, jury duty, helping one another, being kind, good, generous and exercising self-control...

just some rambling thoughts on a very rainy Monday....

have a great week!

The 'bots

I tried posting the other day - but was unable to as the blogger bots in their infinite 'wisdom' had decided I was a sp*m blog. UGH! As much as sp*m ticks me off, being called sp*m ticks me off even more! So - if you get autonotices that I have updated my blog and want to be removed... there should be a link in there to remove yourself from being notified - please don't send me to the "dark side" of email and report this as... well... YOU know what...

now... I'll have to post my other thoughts in a separate post, lol!

Link to sale list added (and now removed)

I just added a link to my list of retired SU stuff for sale. It is a Microsoft Word doc that I placed on 4shared. It is checked for viruses by 4shared :)

When you click on the link (to the right near the top of the list), it takes you to 4shared, where there is a short wait, then an option to download the file.

Please be patient - it takes a few seconds to do... then, peruse the list and email me at nancykayk@aol.com if you 'need' any of it...

reasonable counteroffers will be considered :)

***I removed the link because some of those people I know who are 'in the know' thought that might be part of the 'bot problem... we'll see - I know that at least one person was quite vocally upset with the difficulty s/he had in downloading the file. I had it tested by my home team here and they had no problems with it...just took patience to wait for the actual download link to appear.

Sketch update for Dana

OK - So Dana laid down a challenge to me to create her a sketch to go with two pics


and the poem from "Daddy's Girl" below.

DanaLea - you better share that layout when done... and the clock is ticking, girl :)

(tick tock tick tock...)

Done yet?

If you do a layout with my sketch, please share it with us!

Have a great Thursday tomorrow!!!!!

RETIRED SU SETS FOR SALE

I have a huge list of SU retired sets for sale...

please email me for the list if interested.

Great new Bible study blog

I 'accidentally'* ran across this blog the other day... just in time for a new Bible study she was starting. Double-dog-dare ya to check out:
http://rachelolsen.blogspot.com/

Her style is low-key and laid back...and her insights are really, well, insightful!

As for the rest of my world at the moment... I have been struggling some at work. Some choices others have made has created some 'fires' for me to put out...(like I don't have enough to do already?) - and since what I do affects the lives of children (not to be dramatic, but it does - I can't afford to goof up some kiddo's placement as it does have permanent consequences), these things are important and must be handled. However, God is gracious and is in control... I was able to complete all the evaluations I had to before Spring Break, and will be able to have those reports written on time and reviewed so good decisions may be made.

Changing the subject slightly - those of you who are my sisters in Christ - please pray for C. - cannot share name of course but God knows who she is - this gal has been battling cancer for years and her child is having some serious issues right now - they are having a really tough time... Please pray that God would bless her in a seriously wonderful way today!

And may God bless you particularly today and this weekend. I know that everyone who visits here may not believe as I do, but that's OK... I don't believe that Heaven is made up of Nancy clones, but rather people who came/come to know God in a personal way. God loves you and has a plan for your life - it may not seem that way all the time, but it's true, He does. Praying the He reveals Himself to you in an obvious way today!

Happy Spring Break to me (tomorrow is my first day off) and Happy Easter to us all - may we truly see the real meaning behind this season of renewal and new birth - that Christ loves us enough that He died for us, while we were yet sinners (and even though we still ARE sinners), to provide a way for us to have a personal relationship with the Father.

Be blessed,
N

*accidentally - don't really believe things happen by accident - - - I believe that God leads us to things and expects us to make choices... what do you think?

New layout, new grid paper

OK - had to share - this is the layout I just finished of my daughter, Kari, who got married in November and her daddy, but the background is four pieces of the new style of SU grid paper - it has a centering rule, plus the gray over to the right has card/envelope dimensions, basic supply reminder checklist and wish list area - i LOVE it!!!! (If you click on the picture you get a bigger view and can see more detail!)

I love the layout, too - the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby (bridals) and the letters are Heidi Swap, the big flower is off a flowering bush - Hobby Lobby again with a pink Prima centerflower and the stamens are from the cake-decorating area of HL again....who would have thought to look in cake decorating for flower stamens???????

I handed this to hubby to read the poem and he read the first verse and said, "um,...nope, not right now" lol - I got really misty reading it and so did he :)

Here's what it reads - found it on the web by "Anonymous"

Today is finally the day
that I will be the bride;
I look at you to see
a father gleaming with pride.

But first there are a few things
that I would like to say,
I love you more and more
with every passing day.

I remember as a little girl
I felt comfort in your arms,
and hoping that someday I'd find
a man with all of your charms.

I've found that man, daddy,
that I do love so,
but please know this daddy,
that my love for you will never go.

So as you walk me down the aisle,
I know we'll shed some tears,
and remember all the good times
and love through all the years.

I am the bride today
but in my eyes you'll see,
that some things never change,
"Daddy's Little Girl" I will always be.

OK - now, all together - awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww - isn't that sweet???

Have a good one - off to do one of Garrett and his mum with a different, yet really sweet poem....

I was tagged...

by my KayDee Design team sistah, Sharon who was tagged by her friend Linda. Who was tagged by Stephanie - Fiskateer #003, who was tagged by Stephanie, who was tagged by Stacy Julian. So let's keep this game of blog tag going.Here are 7 random and/or weird (you be the judge) facts about me:

1. I cannot chew gum in public - I pop, snap, blow bubbles - you know - generally REALLY anoying (and it annoys the heck out of me to see others do these things, or even worse, PLAY with their gum in public).
2. I tend to order the same thing when we go out to eat, depending on the restaurant - Pappadeaux? Shrimp Etoufee...On the Border? Pork Fajitas... Outback? the Special - small, baked potato, loaded....
3. I have a song for EVERYTHING - and I like to sing it (it's ok - I went to college on a vocal scholarship as a music major...which soon changed to elementary ed with a bilingual endorsement - but I still sing my way through life)
4. I was the youngest person in my graduating class - both high school, and, I believe, college.
5. I love watching (and reading) science fiction - Star Trek, in all its incarnations, and Star-Gate, in all its incarnations...
6. I love to reread and reread, and reread books....I am a fast reader with great comprehension, but seems like I pick up little details each time I reread something...
7. I am a night owl. If I don't have to work the next day, I will stay up until 2...3....4...even 5 in the morning...sleep awhile and then get up around 9 or 10 (in the morning). But since I absolutely loathe sleeping alone, I don't do that very often as I am married to the original morning person!
Now for the rules and who I am tagging.

The rules:Link to your tagger and post these 3 rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.I am tagging:
Anita
Karen S
Holly
Chris
Shana
Dana

those goofy 'Click here' posts

I have to laugh - these spammers think that I am going to click "here" to see whatever it is they are spamming today...

umletmethinkaboutitNO

not in this lifetime, anyway...

so, don't waste your time, spammers...your post won't be approved here....God loves you and has a plan for your life....but it doesn't include my allowing you to mess with the blog here.

Margaret

Please email me at fancynancykay@gmail.com regarding a catalog :)

thanks!!!

SALE-a-BRATION

Hi again!

Just wanted to post this separately in case you missed the blurb about it in the middle of my huge post yesterday...

This is Sale-a-bration for Stampin Up - an annual celebration where for each $50 you spend on SU goodies, you get to pick a free item out of the special (yellow) SAB mini catalog!

See it here!

Have a great day - after being at my scrappin retreat all weekend and off yesterday to recover from it - ok, well, I *was* going to help my youngest daughter move to a different apartment, but hubby had a funeral to do out of town and he thought I deserved a day at home alone to play instead (bless his heart!)...so he took care of it - he didn't have to do much for her, but they needed his truck :)

(Good thing - I messed with stuff for school over 4 hours yesterday...nice to be needed, lol)

Back from Scrappin Retreat

I managed to do 26 pages this weekend. I am going to share some with you, along with some items I decorated with Stampin' Up's rub-ons - they are WAY cool!!!!

This first layout is of my hubby and I after the wedding, in our "Wedding Daze".

The poem on the right hand page reads (with my apologies to Clement C Moore):

‘Twas the night of the wedding and all through the hall
Most guests had departed, the group left was quite small
The tables were cleared by the busser who said
Two hundred twenty four guests to the tables he’d led.

The candles were guttering, wax melting like rain
And visions of bedtime seeped in my dazed brain.
And Bo in his tux and I in old sandals
Were pooped out and melting, just like the candles…

When here in the hall there arose such a sound
That to my swelled feet I attempted to bound
To help clean up the tables I crawled like a snail,
And hoped that I would not aloud start to wail.

Our friends who were helping weren’t nearly as slow,
And to my tired body this gave a warm glow.
When what to my unfocused eyes should appear
More things to pack up, I thought with a sneer.

But again our dear friends were so lively and quick,
They packed and they loaded ~ man ~ that was slick!
More quickly than Nascar they hauled all those things
And into my house all those things they did bring.

Now Donna, now Javier, now Gregily and Kim,
Garrett’s friend, Josh – I can’t forget him…

And Katie & Brandon,
they helped pack up, too
If they hadn’t pitched in
Well, what would we do?

On the couch, on the floor, on the table, in the hall,
Now dash away, dash away, dash away all.

And as all our helpers pulled out of my sight, I fell into my bed and thought, “What a great night!”

(And truly - we could NOT have pulled this wedding reception off without the help of Kim and Donna, their hubbies Greg and Javier, and our friend Don and his brother - I thank God for each of them! And I have to add that my youngest, Katie - in spite of having been at it all day fulfilling her duties as Maid of Honor - and her boyfriend Brandon - helped pack up at the reception and load the car before they headed back to College Station that night!)

Some other scrapbook layouts I finished this weekend, and underneath them, some mailboxes and hippo bank decorated with the SALE-A-BRATION rub-ons you might choose with any $50 purchase between now and March 17 - email me to ask about that!

7 random things - TAGGED

Kim in Texas (http://impressyourself.typepad.com/) has tagged me to tell you 7 random things about myself...hmmm...several days ago...

i put this off so long because i'm just flat stumped....what do you NOT know about me...how much I weigh? sorry - you'll have to keep guessing on that one...

ok -

ummm -

1. I earned a letter patch in ONE sport in high school - you'll never in a zillion years guess what it was (see end of list)
2. I tested out of 2 years of college Spanish
3. I started college as a Music Education major - with scholarships for voice and piano - and graduated at age 20 with a degree in Bilingual Education/Elementary :)
4. I was the youngest person in my graduating class in high school
5. I married my high school sweetheart (and still have him :)
6. I wear hearing aids in both ears and could not survive without them.
7. i LOVE science fiction - particularly Star Trek and Star Gate :)








yeah - don't get too excited about that letter patch in Badminton...who letters in Badminton????? I won a tournament and actually got a patch for it - go figure, lol! I was too busy taking Spanish classes and being in every section of choir I could!

Be blessed - and hey - go play some badminton - it's really pretty fun :)

Goal update!

Mail swap (finished 2 sets of cards - gotta mail it) - DONE
Mail SU catalogs for 4 - DONE (times 4, lol)
Complete 2 sets of 2 8x8 pages honoring a friend who passed away (breast cancer)- pages will be given to her children
Plan TEN sets of page layouts for my scrapping group's retreat next month
Print pictures for above

ADDED: Make up the rest of the cards from Saturday's Stamp Club meeting (I always cut extras and make up those to replenish my card box :) ~ Working on this one this evening to relax! (3 sets of cards)1 set done, 1 in progress

Get Photoshop Elements working - DONE - HALLELUJAH! Been fussing over this for WEEKS!

Update on goals for the week

A couple of you have emailed me and said you didn't want to post your goals on my blog - hey - mi blog es tu blog - please, feel free to post your comments, goals, etc...Comments are a good thing :)

FOR AN IDEA THAT CAN GET ANYONE to accomplish at least ONE goal this week - see the bottom of this post...

Anyway...

Here are my goals:

Mail swap (finished 2 sets of cards - gotta mail it) - DONE
Mail SU catalogs for 4 - DONE (times 4, lol)

Complete 2 sets of 2 8x8 pages honoring a friend who passed away (breast cancer)- pages will be given to her children
Plan TEN sets of page layouts for my scrapping group's retreat next month
Print pictures for above

ADDED: Make up the rest of the cards from Saturday's Stamp Club meeting (I always cut extras and make up those to replenish my card box :) ~ Working on this one this evening to relax! (3 sets of cards)

My idea: 15 minutes a day -
This isn't new, but maybe you haven't thought of it in a while. I carve out time to spend in the Word with God each day, and time with hubby, and to do my jobs...but we all also need time with ME...or, me-time! Me-time is NOT selfish - if you don't recharge your batteries, they'll corrode and get nasty and quit working!

Think about your day - in my case - although I am SO VERY MUCH NOT A MORNING PERSON, several years ago I started getting up just a little earlier - just a FEW minutes...and putting out what I plan to wear the night before...

That combo gave me 15 more minutes in the morning - I spend it on something crafty. Recently I had let email take over that time, but I have taken it BACK~! I power read my email by sorting it into like categories - - mainly by the name of the yahoo group they came through, or the subject line in a continuing conversation with my scrappin cult friends here in town - - and deleting some that don't apply to me. This way I can get through my 150-200 emails (multiply that times 4 a day - how often I check email) in a few minutes rather than an hour or more!!!

I also have found other 15 minute opportunities throughout my day and evening - I'm using one right now while the soup simmers to update my blog....

My morning minutes this morning were used stamping ribbon for one of the sets of cards I want to finish from my pre-cuts left over from my club last Saturday and to cut miscellaneous little pieces to make complete sets so all the numbers of pieces match up. Oh, and to stamp the background pieces with the fern stamp I used. I'll have 9 cards when I'm done in a bit - I have about 2 more sets of 15 minutes to do to finish them...and since I'm fixing to sign off my blog here, I plan to get those finished tonight or tomorrow - I'll let ya know!

Now, if I could just get a car that would drive itself out into the country to my school, I'd be able to stamp in the car, too!

Hugs!!!!!

CYBER-CROP TIME

I'm CYBER-CROPPING this week. What is that you say? Well, I am setting goals for myself, and letting YOU know about them, and then, as I accomplish them, will mark them off (and may add some more, lol).

Here are my goals:
Mail swap (finished 2 sets of cards - gotta mail it)
Mail SU catalogs for 4
Complete 2 sets of 2 8x8 pages honoring a friend who passed away (breast cancer)- pages will be given to her children
Plan TEN sets of page layouts for my scrapping group's retreat next month
Print pictures for above

I'll add more as I knock off some of these! Who's next? Anyone else want to post goals - I'd love to have you join me!

Stamp Club - January 2008

I'm so excited about this round of stamp club! We started off well - everyone made it to the first meeting!

Here's what we did!

The first card was CASED from Danita Hollander in colors and the design of the diamond shape piece - she made it into a square card, but I made it into a Z card - LOVE the Soft Sky and Sahara Sand together!!!!!



Here is what it looks like standing up:



We also did a baby card - since Connie and I both will be grandmthers soon - we thought it appropriate, lol!



And finally, we played with the set in the Valentine Bundle - Happy Heart Day.



And a stamped cello bag with M&Ms:

We have wedding pictures - FINALLY!!!!! It has been an unbelievable pain in the..um.....PITA - yeah... to get these pictures. Bo finally had to drive to the Convention Center downtown where he was to call the guy and he'd come out and meet him with the CD. He called and got the guy's voicemail the first 5 times, finally, the 6th time Bo called in the half hour he waited on his last day of holiday before school starts back, FINALLY, he answered and came out with the CD. The pictures are great, however, I was saddened that once they got all our money, the service stopped...

I also have to say, his wife does a good job with the make-up, but they *own* the shop - and she kept ASKING my daughter for tips in such a way that Kari felt she had to tip her....

Good pictures, pitiful service...nuff said.

Focus on the good - focus on the good - focus on the good:
The pictures are really GREAT!

My, how time flies...

I haven't posted since LAST YEAR! Oh my goodness!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What a wonderful season we've had, celebrating the birth of our Lord! My family got together, several times and had some good food and good times... our church family celebrated together - my choir did an awesome job with our musical. A wonderful season indeed!

Now, time for school to get back going,...my stamp club is starting up again, and, hopefully, Nancy will be a bit better at updating the old blog here...

but if not...you know where to find me :)