I wanted to feel better....

so I went shopping! Paid a visit to my LSS and bought some yummy Basic Gray, a little Cloud 9, and some Karen Foster. (I definitely need more practice with that camera). The Basic Gray isn't exactly pink but it's not quite orange either....it's pretty cool. I'm going to scrap one of my mini albums with it.

Honestly, the prices they charge...they're a good 25% higher than Michael's and possibly more, depending on what you're buying. They're also at least 25% higher than my LSS in Orange County...I really hate that. But they're one of the nicest couples I've ever met...they play cool oldies by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin ...makes ya wanna dance around in there forever....there's SO MUCH TO LOOK AT!!!!

That's it. I feel better.

I took the big guy to the vet on Tuesday for his senior tests. They all came back fine, kidneys are fine for 15 year old kidneys, heart's good, lung's are good, thyroid is good, blah, blah, blah. Nothing showed up in the blood or the xrays.....except for a little arthritis in his back and hips. Nothing to be concerned about.

So why the heck is he sick? They don't know. He's acting almost 100% better, and if it weren't for the vomiting every single day, I wouldn't know there was anything wrong with him. I'm to keep him on antibiotics (Clavamox) for a week, and then we'll have an abdominal ultrasound if he's still tossing his cookies. Funny thing is, he wasn't this sick before going to the vet, although he was having problems from time to time but not every single day.

We're both very tired and stressed as you can tell by his picture. The poor guy is really showing his age. I know I'm feeling mine.

Bored...

The weekend hasn't turned out the way I planned. I was going to meet the family half way for brunch, but the weather, and the fact that it's a holiday weekend, put the kabotch on that. Then I planned to go the park and practice taking pics with my new camera. I finally watched one of the videos and shock of shocks, I learned a few things I didn't know about this little marvel. But there again, the weather isn't cooperating.

Yesterday started out sunny, but by the time I got myself together and out of here, it was cloudy and overcast. Stayed that way the rest of the day. Today is sunny and clear, cooler than usual, but not really bad for the sandpit. I may still venture out to the park this afternoon, but the motivation has left me and we still have storm warnings. Not that we ever get the rain, just the dark sky, the wind, and the dirt....what else could you ask for?

I practiced some indoor shots yesterday, like this pic of Magnum...

I'm impressed. Now, if I could just get one with his eyes open.

I found another little idea book from Scrapbook Trends that I adore. These books are so great...a few ads in the front and the back of the book and that's it. Of course, they cost a mint to buy but they're worth it. At least I think they are....you have to decide that for yourself. I don't mind the ads in my other magazines because scrapbooking is as much about product as it is pictures, and I love the products!

So, anyway, I paid full price for this one, $17.95, and it has about 140 pages of beautiful pictures in it. Pictures of layouts featuring, of all things, embellishments. My dear friend, Dedra Long, is featured in this book as well....not once, but twice. (Go, Dedra!)

And if you were wishing you could afford to buy this little gem, check out their subscription prices. You can buy 12 months for $85....about $7.00 per issue which is NOT a bad deal.

If I Twittered...

There's a new little service out there for the techy world called Twitter. You can send little messages to your blog, or your Twitter board (that looks like a blog) via your cell phone or the internet, and let people know what you're up to at any given time during the day. Pretty cool, huh?

I don't think I'm the Twittering type, although I've been known to be called a Twit on several occasions. But if I did Twitter....I think my day would go something like this....

4:45 AM - Fed Frasier so he'll stop banging on the kitchen cupboards. Going back to bed

5:30 AM - All that scratching and digging going on in the litter box woke me up. Going back to bed

6:30 AM - PU! - Cleaning out the litter boxes. Getting ready for work

7:30 AM - Working

9:00 AM - 94 degrees, not even noon

12:00 PM - Still Working

1:00 PM - 111 degrees

2:30 PM - Yep, still here.

4:08 PM - Back home - cats are so happy to see me that they're peeing in the litter box. Why do they do that?

4:30 - Putting out dinner for the cats, gotta go clean the litter boxes.

4:45 PM - A little after dinner scooping....yes, cleaning the litter boxes again. Why do they have to poop at the same time? PU!

5:00 PM - Cats want out - I have to open the patio door

6:28 PM - Frasier hurled - get out the Folex

7:15 PM - Magnum threw a hair ball - get out the Folex

8:00 PM - I hear digging - time to clean the litter boxes

9:00 PM - Watching a little tv before going to bed. I feel like a human sandwich with a cat at each side of me, all curled up and sleeping peacefully. It won't be long before the purring will put me out too.

Yeah, they're like kids. Annoying one minute and extremely lovable the next. This is my most senior boy, Frasier. We're going to the vet on Tuesday for his senior tests....I'm not looking forward to it because I know he's at least 15 years old, old age has settled in.

And this is my baby boy, Magnum. Just 11 years old. He's a bit on the wild side...doesn't make friends and no one ever sees him but me. The only way I can prove his existence is through pictures.

Mother's Album

I started this back in March. I wanted to put a book together of just these pictures because I think this is when my mother was happiest. Young and in love, on top of the world, with everything to look forward to. I finished this over the weekend, just in time for Mother's Day, even though Mom's been gone for a while now. I used copies of the original pictures so they're safely tucked away. Someday I may do some journaling, but it doesn't come easily.



Many thanks to Noell Hyman and Dedra Long for the inspiration.

National Scrapbooking Day

This is how we spent a couple of fun hours on NSD. My ever present buddy, Frasier and I watched Paperclipping Live with Noell Hyman and Dedra Long together. What a fun time it was...two hours went by far too quickly. Both of these ladies are so talented, and so special in their own way that they bring an incredible amount of energy and knowledge to the table when they're together. We, the audience, were asking questions of the duo the whole time. No questions were too small, too big, too secret or too sacred to answer. These ladies love their craft and are so willing to encourage and help anyone else that's interested.

Frasier really thinks they're cool. He gave them lots of headbutts that day.

Paper Passion & Pixel Mania

I don't know where to begin, so I'm going to go with the flow and see what comes out. I'm just so distracted by how cute she is....maybe if her eyes weren't so blue...or her teeth weren't so white...and that blond hair....oh, I'm absolutely green with envy. I was cute when I was younger, but even on my best days I was never that cute! But this isn't about me...it's about Noel Joy.

Noel just happens to have another one of my favorite blog sites, Paper Passion and Pixel Mania, (how creative is that) She's a designer, a SOY finalist and she creates great layouts with the fabulous pictures that she takes with her Nikon Camera. Honestly, she's been published in Computer Trends, and several times in Creating Keepsakes. I know because I've seen them. And if you saw them, you wouldn't be hanging around here reading my blog, you'd be hanging out at Noel's blog and smelling the tulips.

What I didn't know is that Noel Culbertson has been a guest on another Noell's site. And that Noell would be none other than Noell Hyman at Paperclipping.com, another one of my favorite sites. That just goes to show ya...it's a small scrappy world out there. I don't know how I missed that but you can be sure I'm going back to paperclipping.com to look for it!

I love Noel's photography. Her pictures are so sharp and bright that they look as if they'd been taken by a professional. She's SO good that people are always asking her how she takes such great pictures. Well, she posted some photography tips in her blog one day and I just happened to be looking at new cameras at the same time. So you know what I did? I bought the same camera she uses. That may not be the way some of you make decisions on major purchases but I gotta tell ya.....I would have to be crazy NOT to buy a Nikon after seeing Noel's pics. (It's a good thing I didn't know that Joscie had a Canon Rebel at the time, or I would never have been able to choose.)

I can't tell you how happy I am that I bought this camera. You can already see the improvement I've made in just a few short days. Yep, my pictures are looking just like Noel's...

I think my hair's a little lighter too...