Scrappin’ STARS ~ September Blog Hop by SUStars

Welcome to my little piece of scrapping here - you should have arrived from Eileen LeFevre's blog if you are following the SUStars blog hop. The next stop is down at the bottom. A link to the home stop so you can go back to the beginning is also at the end of this post.

(Psst - my post is up early - I have had it scheduled for a couple of weeks - and just added the links and couldn't wait, so it's up Friday night - the blog hop actually starts Saturday morning, Sept 17)

This really is no big secret, but I was a scrapper before I was a stamper. I started scrapping when my youngest daughter Katie (who is 24 today, September 17 – Happy birthday, mi bebe!) was 4 years old. That means I started scrapping – wow – 20 years ago!

My friend Kim is really responsible for me beginning to scrap. We lived in the beautiful town of Iola, Texas ~ one block off Main Street on a dirt road in the church parsonage as my husband Bo was the pastor of the Baptist church in town there. One weekend we packed the kids in the car and went to Houston for a few days to see family and friends since that is where we are both from (we’re high school sweethearts ).

We got to visit with Kim and her husband Greg, and Kim was showing me some scrapbooks she had started for her kids. I was SO excited about this great idea. Having always been into painting and creating things, I couldn’t wait to get back home and start pulling out pictures and put them in albums in a creative way. Turns out, it’s a really good thing I was so excited that I pulled them out before I unpacked. Unbeknownst to us, while we were gone the air conditioner pan had overflowed and was running down the wall of the little closet where ALL my photos, including my formal wedding pictures in their humongous white leather album were. The water (I can still see it in my mind’s eye) was only an inch or two from my wedding portraits!!!!

If not for Kim and her sharing nature, I would not have some of the pictures I so love to have scrapped over the years!

So, speaking of sharing, I have some things to share with you!

I used to make and sell a LOT of scrapbook pages, mini albums and scrappin’ lunch boxes on eBay, back in the heyday when you could make some serious money doing so. One of my favorite projects was to make a quick mini album like this one. this particular one was done with my stampers one year.

I’m not going to share the whole thing due to the fact that you have several other blogs to hop to, but this mini album included pages like this:

and was given to my mom. I think I still ended up putting the pictures in it for her :).

Currently, I pretty much scrap 12x12, mostly two page layouts, and have a ton of layouts I could share, but will limit myself to a few favorites:

One of the layouts from the album I created for Katie when she graduated high school and left home for the first time…The first sets of layouts were based on a song sung by Sandi Patty called, “Masterpiece”, but as they are not all SU, those are a share for another day…. this one celebrates just one tournament of many that Katie played in.

…and a layout celebrating my first grandbaby, Ava – who is now a bit over 3…

(Circle Circus © Stampin’ Up! 1990-2012)

I love Circle Circus and the circle punches from SU made this a snap to create. Some circles are popped up on dimensionals. On the title piece, I goofed up and smudged a stamping when I had it almost done, so I took the 3/4 inch circle punch and punched out a few holes to cover up – how did I do?

…and more recently, Emma, Ava’s baby sister, now 8 months old

(and yes, that’s my in the green jacket, and my hubby, Bo, in the next picture, and Katie in that great sunlit photo)

All letters and punch art shapes by SU – Big Shot for the alpha letters.

And Ava and Emma’s mommy, Kari – my oldest daughter – growing up pictures with Katie, and then the two of them with Ava at about a year old.

White gel pen, Big Shot letters and flower – simple, simple sketch!

Finally, a layout that means so very much to me because, however I started scrapbooking, it has become such a vital part of my life, and is so much cheaper than therapy ;)

My Heritage is the name of this layout – from the left are my mother’s parents and Uncle John, my dad’s parents and my sister Connie – they died the year I was born and this was taken before I was here. Then, my mom and dad’s wedding photo, in the middle, the two of them in uniform – Daddy was in the Army Air Corps and mom was a Cadet Nurse. Next a photo of my mom’s daddy, who died when I was only 7, and my Aunt Carolyn who died when I was 17, with her baby daughter Lisa, who was born on my 8th birthday.

Finally, my mom and daddy, holding the three granddaughters they had at the time. Hannah (4/15) my sister’s first grand, Ava (7/3) my first grand, and Zoe, born in August to our cousin/brother, John (long story – but he’s my big brother – trust me!). Daddy died in March of 2011.

I hope that you were inspired by my layouts and mini album. Please come back for more scrapbook sharing this week!

Click here for the next stop on the blog hop - Carol Parcell's blog: www.cjstamps.blogspot.com

http://su-stars.blogspot.com

Adding a watermark to your card and other shares - the FancyNancy way :)

Someone asked how I added watermarks to my scrapbook kits, card and scrapbook page shares, and as I shared it on another group, I thought perhaps some of you might want to know!

So, here's how I do it:
Launch PowerPoint
Insert> Word Art, Selecting a white/gray combo style
Type what you want it to say, then, change the font to what you want, and hit OK
Save the PPT file (where you will be able to always get to it easily) as your working copy of your watermark, since the SU copyright date changes yearly to include the coming year, for example, I just updated mine to read "All images©Stampin' Up! 1990-2011" - this way, you can still come back and change it without recreating it each year.
Click on the WordArt piece so that the lines around it appear, then RIGHT CLICK and select SAVE AS PICTURE
Navigate to your desktop or other handy location, save it as something you can find there
(You only have to do all this above ONCE, except when you change the date or your name, then you go back to the original PPT file, fix it, save the PPT, right click and save the WordArt as a picture and go)

To add it to a picture, I launch PowerPoint, go to INSERT>PICTURE>FROM FILE
Find the snapshot of the card or layout you want to share and insert it
Then, go to INSERT>PICTURE>FROM FILE and find your watermark and add it (doing it in this order automatically puts the watermark on a layer in front of the card share as it builds from bottom to top, like MDS does).
Select both the watermark and the picture by holding down SHIFT and click on the picture, click on the watermark
Then right click and select GROUP>GROUP
Then right click and select SAVE AS PICTURE

Once you have done this once or twice, it is so easy to do, and if your computer came with Microsoft Office on it like mine, it costs you not a cent to do!

You could also do this in MDS with similar steps, except that PPT is the only one I know with the option to group various objects and right click to SAVE AS PICTURE, which is pretty fast to do....

You can also insert MDS created pictures that you've saved as JPGs to share in there to watermark....

Just one thought on watermarking - what has worked for me for years... if you have questions when you try it, email me - I am back at school already - (yeah, hurrah, but I really am grateful for my job, even though this educator got no summer, lol)

And even though the 'stros lost last night, we STILL won the series against the Cards -

GO ASTROS!
:)n

Question of the Week... Respondez-vouz, s'il vous plait :)

OK, I post a Question of the Week on my three favorite scrapbooking lists (it's a day late, but we'll all live... I needed inspiration and I just got it unexpectedly, lol! The Astros are inspiring me at the moment as they are beating the Cards 10-4....at the moment.... ahem!), and also got inspired to share with YOU, and see if you'd answer this one.... I'd love to know!!!!!!

HERE is your question of the week.... please leave a comment.... and tell us....
if you found a Scrapbooking Magic Lamp, and rubbed it, and the Scrapbooking Genie (fill in the name of your favorite Scrappin guru here, please) told you that she/he/it would grant you THREE SCRAPBOOKING WISHES....

what would your three scrapbooking wishes be?
(and feel free to share the name of your particular Scrapbooking Genie)

(No fair going to politically-correct-Sunday-school-type-peace-on-earth-good-will-toward-men-health-and-wealth-for-everyone-type answers.... we'll all presume that we would ALL want that first.... I'm saying - be a little selfish here... if you could have ANYTHING scrappy - what would your three wishes be - the sky's the limit!!!! Money is no object - Nothing is too big, outrageous or expensive for this QOTW....!!!!!! And if I could afford it, I'd give it to ya!)

Oh, and the score is now:
HOUSTON 12
St. Louis 4
with 0 out in the 7th

GO 'STROS!!!!!!!!!

Wait - 13-4 now!!!!! OOPS - Now it's 14-4!!!!!

Let the comments begin :)
(And since I also typically share a sketch of the week with the groups, I'll try to share that with ya, too)

Astros and Camera cords and tutorials, oh my

You know, if you've read my blog at all, I am a die-hard Astros fan.... Since well, forever, you'd *have* to be a fan to keep watching them, lol. Case in point - tonight's game - ahead 6-1 - looking good, eh? Yeah, and then we lose it 14 to 7.... ah, well - got to see young Chris Johnson add another homer to his list, and Carlos Lee get his 1900th career hit - wow! All this is still a great experience for these young players, though - Pence, Castro, Johnson, to name 3 :) ... even when we lose the game.

As for losing things... among the lost is my Kodak camera dock... and along with it, all the cords that fit my camera to recharge it... I know it's in a really safe place, because, after all *I* packed it - yes, ME - I DID IT, lol!!!!!! My SIL says he has one that will fit, so I just have to connect with them to be able to charge it back up and download the tutorial I snapped the other day... I'd tell you what the tutorial was about, but honestly, I so do not remember, lol!!!!!

Wait - got it - it's a little tutorial on ...darn, lost it again!

Guess you'll have to tune in on Thursday and see if I remembered that I did a little tutorial on ...

Moving

Ah, moving is SO much fun!!!!

But, it needs to be done. In case you've missed my saga, here is the Nancy's digest condensed version... we decided over two years ago that it would be wise to plan for mom and dad to be living in the same house as us as they are getting to the point where they need some extra help, and we all are adamant that we won't be shipping them off to a nursing home or assisted living place unless it were absolutely medically necessary... so we started talking about building a house. Well, here we are - we had hoped to be in the house last September (!), but purchasing the acre from our daughter and son-in-law was insanely difficult thanks to the employee of Chase who no longer works there, because evidently she did others like she did us (fax that to me TODAY - then not look at it for 2 weeks after my wonderful SIL called her three times to ask about it... then something else always had to be done that she hadn't communicated to him, etc, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat - when she was replaced, her replacement got us finished in 2 weeks!), then the county approving the plat of the land took months, plus an additional $6K in surveyor's fees (which he definitely earned:), etc, etc, etc...

Now, FINALLY, Bo will, dare I say it? - be able to get our building permit next week, but, since we decided it was time to close the LBC chapter of our lives and move on to a different ministry - we know not where or what at this point... it may be just taking care of mom and dad... we have to be out of this house (church parsonage) by WEDNESDAY - can you say... "Nancy is not packed yet" with me???

So today, I am packing, moving stuff and will be repeating that tomorrow, Sunday after church, Monday and Tuesday (thank God our SIL is off today and tomorrow and is willing and eager to help, God bless him!). I need to film and upload my blog hop entry... it is a 2 page scrapbook layout for the 4th of July, so hopefully it will inspire you... but then, once I get that done, I'm off the computer (yeah, we'll see) for a while!

Have a lovely weekend, and think of me while I'm packing, sorting and moving... and if you're in the Houston area and want to come help, I'll give you directions to my house, lol!!!

ASTROS and Scrapbook in a Day

Oh, ye of little faith - the Astros showed up for games at home, but they showed up to PLAY in St. Louis last night and tonight! It was awesome to see some of my favorite hitters HIT, and in Berkman's case - walk - 4 times....

WAY TO GO, 'Stros!!!!!!!!

I got LOTS of WHOO HOOS in there tonight - thanks for a GREAT game!

In other news, I have all but one of my packets cut and prepped for Saturday! YEAH! However, I still have a bazillion kids to test, amendments to print and send home to parents, and ARDs to hold! I'm feeling the love here!!!!! If you missed signing up got it, remember that you can still order the precut kit TO GO!

I completed 20 scrapbook pages - Christmas pictures from 2002 to 2009 - last weekend - and still did a BUNCH of other stuff! Most of the sketches in the plans are my own, or loosely based on various sketches I've seen... one is directly borrowed from SU's My Digital Studio (which is another awesome scrapbooking tool!).

Have you scrapped or yelled WHOO HOO today? Well, what are you waiting for?

The Astros

I am a Fan...

fan with a little /f/ just isn't enough....

it's an up and down thing... but it's NEVER boring, at least not to me.

Glad to see a glimmer of hope tonight... I needed that.

GO, ASTROS!

Signed...
A Fan (with a capital /F/)

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!

Busy little beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Dear blog - I'm not sure if I'm coming or going...but right now I'm just sitting! Actually I am fixing to go to bed...but feel as though I've neglected you, dear blog, so I thought I'd feed you a little. Thank goodness I remember to feed Clark (the Betta my dds gave me for Mother's day last year) more often than you, my blog!

Well, blog, my friend, I just finished watching Cleveland take the Yankees down. Whoo Hoo - GO INDIANS....yeah, yeah - perhaps that isn't the best attitude, but it is better than dissing the Yankees totally, isn't it? I just am not as impressed with the pinstripes as some are, I guess :)

Anyway, bloggie, I had my stampers over for World Card-Making Day last Saturday - we combined it with my regular Hostess Club meeting as I will be unavailable this coming Saturday (the 'usual' 2nd Saturday on which we usually meet). It seems the cult to which I belong is holding a weekend long retreat (lest you worry about the cult thing - remember, I am a believer in Christ, and a pastor's wife, etc... that's just what our hubbies call our little scrapbooking group...they said we had gone off and formed a cult - particulary humorous coming from MY husband from the pulpit on one fine Sunday morning...I was concerned that I might have to begin CPR on some of the sweet little blue-haired ladies!). So, hopefully, next week sometime, I'll have an update on my scrapbooking pages completed so far this year. My goal for the year was 52...a very REASONABLE goal for me. I have completed (drum roll, please) 79 pages...35 traditional and 44 digital. I am well-pleased about that. I have exactly zero layouts planned for this weekend, bloggie, BUT I do know that I plan to create miniature envelope scrapbooks (see the one in the margin I did for my sweet mom-in-law) for two recent brides...hopefully they will like!

I guess since it is coming on to 11 pm and I must needs get up in the morning and get to a workshop, that I probably should get me to bed, my friend blog, but, again, I was afraid you might be feeling neglected and wanted to reassure you that you are cared for...

Have a good week, blog - talk to you later!

September Hostess Club Card #1

Wow! Who would have thought that having a first-year teacher in the house would make me as tired as, well, a first-year teacher, lol! Actually, that, plus the doubling of my case load at school (but honestly, I know my boss appreciates me - she's awesome!), plus the Wedding, the mall-hopping and The Cold That Won't Quit.

ANYWAY... some of our cards this month use acetate from the office store, stazon inks, and more fun...here's the first...spreading them out over several days - just because I can (actually - can I be honest with you? Just because I'm really too tired to stay up any longer and one is all i have in me to share - they're all scanned - but I'm too pooped to upload them all here, lol!) G'night!!!!

Oh...and may I just say -

GO ASTROS - swept the Reds - WHOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!

I didn't go to ONE mall today....


I went to *T*H*R*E*E* of them!


However, in case either of my daughters ever discovers that I blog and reads this - I have to be honest and say, it wasn't so bad....really! Quit laughing - it really wasn't !!! (Notice the lack of ominous music???)

Went to Dillard's at The Galleria - second dress Kate tried on - that was it! There *was* a moment when I was afraid it was going south fast in the shoe department, but we managed past that, and went on to the second place...to pick up Kari's wedding dress.(Of course we managed to stop and eat at Macaroni Grill before picking up the dress). Kari looks bee-yoo-teeeee-ful in it (the dress, I mean, not necessarily Macaroni Grill...)! And if you'd seen her you'd say so, too!

Actually, we went into the mall, Willowbrook Mall this time, between eating and getting the dress. Parked at the wrong end of the mall and walked all the way down to Victoria's Secret to get Kari a good bra, only to be unable to get anyone to wait on us [sigh - I really do not like Victoria's Secret]...so we took our disposable income elsewhere...

After lunch, second mall, wedding dress....we went over to Starbucks...then, hopped back on the Beltway so Kari and I could go the the third mall and Katie could head back to College Station by way of Bo's school. We also tried unsuccessfully to go to a school supply store for Bo to get him some calendar goodies, but alas, the one by the third mall had closed...so we went into Northwest Mall (the mall I went to as a teenager, back in the dark ages...and yes, we had electricity, gasoline powered automobiles and malls back then), and found the pink champagne glasses Kari has been wanting for she and Garrett - they have a set of 4 pink glasses and a tribute to breast cancer survivors on a lovely card inside - $25 bucks - awesome price, and a great cause (sez I - the daughter and grand-daughter of breast cancer survivors).

Finally, Kari and I ran by Garrett's work and got the receipt for the wedding bands they bought earlier this week....went to pick them up, and they talked me into getting my rings dipped (If Kari were reading this, she'd say HA - who talked who into what???)...anyway - my rings are now white gold, thank you - very sparkly and pretty!

Anyway - we all made it back home on the same day we left... the Astros won last night, and are ahead of St. Louis at the moment...I'm tired, but almost over my cold, Bo, Katie and Kari are all sick.... I guess you can't win them ALL! (Keep them in your prayers, would ya?)

Well, my WHOO HOO *did* wake Bo up, but that's OK....his whoo hoo when he was offered not one job...but two jobs was so faint I couldn't have heard it if I had been standing right by him and *not* been deaf, lol...he was in a state of shock for, well...I'm not sure he isn't still a little shocky! He is such a brilliant, competent, caring person - it amazes me that he is so surprised when other people recognize that! Of COURSE both principals wanted him - they'd be foolish not to! I think he will be an awesome special education teacher!

Glad we got that whoo hoo - not much Astros activity to whoo hoo about - although as I type they are tied with Milwaukee...won't help us any - we're firmly cellar dwellers...but it might open a door for, say, Chicago, to have a firmer grasp on first place in the NL Central Division...

In other news...well, tomorrow is the day - back to the dreaded....dare I even say it? Nah - you know where I am headed with my girls...keep me in your thoughts will ya? And just say a little prayer for me - NOT FOR PATIENCE - oh, no, PLEASE not that....but that my daughters would LIKE one another tomorrow, and that I would like both of them and they me, at the end of the day! And that maybe......just maybe - we will find the perfect dress for Kate, and get the rest of the errands done we need to!

Shopping at the Mall is like being pecked to death by ducks!

ASTROS WIN in 11

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Astros win in 11 innings! WTG Luke Scott and Brad Lidge, along with the rest of the team.

WHAT a game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I'm so excited and Bo is already asleep (that is, if my WHOOOOO HOOOOO didn't wake him up, lol)

GO 'STROS!

i hate making people cry

- I made two moms cry today - I didn't mean to - I was doing my job - I can't break the law.......even if they cry....

but man


I


hate


making


people


cry...


however - they both have the power to change their situation - I hope that they will take the steps they need to do so!

Now, in other news - the Astros beat the Cards again tonight - Go 'Stros!!!!!

Astros....changes - finally!

I like Phil Garner.....*really* I do - I admired him as a player, and like his personality and style...but as a manager, sometimes I had a really hard time understanding him....And don't even get me started on Tim Purpura....oy.

Morgan Ensberg would start getting a hot bat - he'd sit him down....what's up with that? And when Morgan struggled, they eventually ended up getting rid of him, and he got two homeruns in ONE game (however I do believe this move was God's will for the Ensberg family - the interview I heard him in he sounded so excited about going back *home* - they are such a sweet Christian couple, though; his wife has been a guest host on the local Christian radio station here in Houston - you can listen to it on the web, by the way - ksbj.org - AWESOME station!).

It got so that for a while you couldn't count on the line-up looking anything like it did the day before ....now, there's shaking things up, and then there's making people so insecure that they cannot do their jobs - creating tension...unfortunately, I think this was a by-product of some of the management decisions that were made. I do know this....the new management team has a hard row to hoe...but really, when you're in the cellar, there is only one direction that counts, at least - and that's up. I still have confidence that they can at *least* haul themselves out of the cellar before the end of the year! It will take more time, however, to build our minor league feeders into strong potential major league players.

(And whether they do, or not - I will still remain an Astros fan!)

Today, part C

Forgot one really, REALLY important thing....

Astros won AGAIN last night

(get out the brooms, we swept 'em! - now - to take on the Brewers!)

Back to work!

OK, so there's good news and bad news...I *thought* I had to go back to work last Monday (the 6th) - GOOD NEWS - not til Wednesday (the 8th)......BUT (didn't you hear that coming???) I have to be there at 7 in the morning - I am SO not a morning person!!!!!

So, right now, when I finish today's blog, I'm going to finish packaging a wish gift for someone on one of my groups, then work on the maps for Kari's wedding invitations, watch the Astros (we won last night, Go 'Stros!), and hit the sack early! Oh, and I need to repack my work cart so I can actually LIFT it into and out of my car, lol! Right now it holds the stuff from all my summer workshops, plus the office supplies I bought to replenish my school stash, and such...I think I'll have to have an extra box to get it all there tomorrow...

I found out that I will now have an additional campus. My boss is super and assured me that if my testing becomes overwhelming that she'll secure reinforcements for me (I do all the preschool and all the bilingual assessments for my district - since I have little or no control over these things, I could have a dozen due in one week, or one due in a dozen weeks, KWIM???). Good news of this, though, is that this is really a TINY change for me, because the campus added to my caseload is my original campus - they know me there, and most days, LIKE me, lol!

SO, not sure what my schedule looks like, but if it is like in the past, I'll have some control over that, and can decide where I need to spend time and when...since I do all the bilingual assessments, that means I hit all the campuses at some point more or less...

Still praying about Bo's work - he did the alternative certification for teaching and passed his tests with flying colors - now just to find a job - our little church is really struggling and he needs to go bivocational at least for a time to help out.... some people are having a hard time with this and the rumours are flying, but, I can't help that. People will gossip and stretch the truth until it no longer resembles itself! The truth really is (in case you care) - we have no intentions of leaving our church at this point - God has not given us permission to do so yet...so we are in it until we know we have to go!

GO Astros!!!!

Wow - my Astros are on a ROLL!!!!!!! After a 14 inning marathon game last night in which a PITCHER (who got shelled in the first inning of the last game he pitched), pinch-hit the winning run in....Go Jennings!!!!!!!

While they were marathon-ing, so was I....I managed to print all the pink pieces for Kari & Garrett's wedding invitations last night - took for-EV-er! I am using Stampin Up cardstock ( the highest quality available, in my humble opinion), and it is thick enough that occasionally my printer got a little tired and had to be cajoled into grabbing it and feeding it through to print it! Of course, we have had this printer several years...my first HP-PSC - I have now bought, um....three of them - since I am on two different campuses for the majority of my school job, I have one at each school. At least my district provides the ink, which is nice!

Read this carefully: I LOVE MY JOB! I really do! I can't imagine anything I'd rather be doing right now! Actually, I pretty much love ALL my jobs, lol - pastor's wife, church worship leader, Educational Diagnostician.....and Stampin Up demo! Of course, the last one is therapy when I get stressed over the other ones, lol!

Anyway - I hope you are doing something you enjoy as much as I enjoy the things I do.

Be blessed!