Photo-a-Day Jan 31

Today's photo is my stash of pretty Valentine's themed products that are sitting on my table for inspiration. And on top of the pile are my reading glasses that I find myself needing much more frequently than I'd like! LOL

Photo-a-Day Jan 30

It is a mess outside today! We had rain yesterday then the temps dropped more than 30 degrees overnight so that we woke up to a layer of ice covered by blowing and drifting snow. Imagine my surprise at finding ice on the inside of my living room windows!

Photo-a-Day Jan 29

The only photo I took was of a layout I didn't feel like scanning and stitching. Since I haven't posted any layouts lately I decided to use this photo.

Vent!

I have read some negative comments posted on some scrapbooking message boards lately that have hurt my feelings. I believe that there are as many different styles and reasons for scrapbooking(and other papercrafts) as there are scrapbookers. I happen to enjoy the creative process and often create projects other than scrapbook pages. I like to make cards, tags, altered items, etc. If you don't enjoy doing those things and don't "get it", that's okay, just don't criticize me and tell me that I am wasting my time.

Photo-a-Day Jan 28

Obviously I haven't been keeping up with taking a photo every single day but, the way I look at it, at least I am getting some fun photos and updating my blog MUCH more frequently than I did before I started this challenge.


Color makes me so happy! DH made my day when he handed me this Pantone swatch book from his ink supplier last week. I've had it on my table enjoying it since. (And isn't that a much more cheerful view than the view out my window? LOL)

Photo-a-Day Jan 25

This is what I see when I turn away from my scrapping table and computer to look out the window. I live on a narrow city lot so the view out of the north and south windows simply look across a driveway at the next door neighbors' homes.

Photo-a-Day Jan 24

When I let the dog out this morning I looked up the hill to see the bare trees silhoueted against the full moon. I'm afraid the camera didn't quite capture the beauty but I tried.

Photo-a-Day Jan 23

The view from my back door. I hate winter. And that stupid shed.

Photo-a-Day Jan 22

I have a teen and two twenty-somethings in my house who constantly complain that we have nothing to eat (meaning nothing they can just shove in their mouths with no effort). I'm not one normally to clip things from the newspaper but couldn't resist this comic strip. I put it on the fridge door that is covered with magnetic poetry words where the kids would see it and used the "funny" magnet to hold it. Nobody said anything about it but I just noticed the word "not" added! lol (click the image to read the strip)

Photo-a-Day Jan 21

I received a bag of Prima blossoms and dumped them all out to see what I had.

Photo-a-Day Jan 20

I missed another day. I was already in bed last night when I realized that I hadn't taken any photos. Oh, well. Life goes on. Today I thought I would show you the mess that Kacie and I left after a day of scrapping. And, yes, that is our cat on the far right perched on Kacie's things. (And, yes, I do think it's kinda cool that her eyes match the wall. lol)

Photo(s)-a-Day Jan.18

Of course my photo of the day has to feature my birthday boy!



I saw this sign in the window at JoAnn's and it made me chuckle since this is forcast to be our coldest weekend yet this winter.

Freak Blog Challenges

I'm feeling kind of lazy and bored today so what better time to do Chickie's ScrapFreak blog challenges? LOL

Jan 4th:
1. Will you be looking for a new job?
Not exactly. I'm not looking for a job outside the home but I am thinking of setting up an etsy store to sell some of my cards and other papercrafts to earn a little extra money.

2. What will you do different in '08?
I will make my health a priority.

3. New Year's Resolution(s)?
See #2

4. Any trips planned?
Nothing major, just several long weekends.

5. Wedding plans?
I keep hoping for DD#1 and her BF to get married but I'm not holding my breath.

6. Baby plans?
Defintely not for me! And I'd like to see my kids get married first!

7. Major thing on your calendar?
Tom's 50th Birthday

8. What can't you wait for?
???

9. What would you like to see happen different?
???

10. What about yourself will you be changing?
See #2

11. What happened in '07 that you didn’t think would ever happen?
???

12. Will you be nicer to the people you care about?
Well, I don't know, because I think I'm already nice.

13. Will you dress differently in '08 than you did in '07?
I hope so! One of my reasons for trying to lose weight is that I am too big for misses clothing but too small for plus sizes so nothing fits right!

14. Will you better your relationship with your family?
Nope. I am content to not speak to my siblings.

15. Will you do volunteer work?
Probably not

16. Do you expect '08 to be a good year for you?
I expect it to be a year of normal ups and downs.

17. How much did you change from this time last year til now?
Not much

18. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?
I hope so

19. Major lifestyle changes?
See #2 LOL

20. Will you be moving?
No

21. What will you make sure doesn't happen in '08 that happened in '07?
I'll make sure that I don't gain weight.

Jan 11th:
So it's the first of the year. Let's talk about firsts.

What was your first...
1. concert? Chicago at the Walker Arena in Muskegon with my boyfriend, Scott, when I was 16.

2. car? The blue Pontiac Ventura that Tom bought for me from his brother Dan. I was still driving it when Kim was a baby and I constantly had bruises on my shins from the door swinging closed while I was putting her in her car seat!

3. job? I was the first girl hired as a bagger at the Plumb's supermarket in Newaygo (I was too young to be a cashier).

4. scrapbook layout about? My first layout was of my son playing games at our family reunion.

5. grade teacher's name? Oh, gosh, I can't remeber her name! But I can see her like it was yesterday. She was a wrinkly half bald mean old woman who should have retired many years before. I remember that there was a boy in my class who stuttered and she would pull him out of his chair by his ear and punish him for stuttering!

6. pet? My first pets were Rex, the Belgian Shepherd, and Sooty, the long-haired black cat, that my parents had before I was born.

7. vacation as an adult? I guess my first vacation as an adult would be the trip to Florida that Tom and I took shortly after I moved in with him.

8. boyfriend's name? My first boyfriend was in first grade and his name was Andrew Fischer.

9. living arrangement after moving out of your parents' home? I moved in with DH when I was 17 and we lived in a duplex owned by his mother with two of his sisters and a niece living in the other half. We later bought the house and lived there for 15 years.

10. scrapbook message board to be a member on? Scrapping Arts (now closed)was the first MB I ever joined. And it's where I "met" Stephanie so I thought it was cool to find her again at the Freak!

Photo-a-Day Jan 17

When I let my dog out this morning I noticed this dried hydrangea flower head blowing around like a tummbleweed. Many of the gals in warmer climates seem to be jealous of the beautiful snowy days that we get here but I think this photo perfectly illustrates that most of winter is simply dull, dirty, dead, and depressing.

Photo-a-Day Jan 16

I spent most of the day in bed so I was very thankful for the Tivo and VHS/DVD recorder for my bedroom that Tom gave me for Christmas.

Photo-a-Day Jan. 15

My litle girl turned 26!

Photo-a-Day Jan 14

Love this stuff!

Phot-a-Day Jan 13

Lucas celebrated his first birthday.
Before cake:


and after!:

Photo-a-Day Jan 12

I nearly forgot to take a photo so, at 11:58pm, I snapped this one of my dog sleeping on my scraproom floor.

Photo-a-Day for Jan. 11

More blue :)

Photo-a-Day Jan. 10

Part of my humongeous Spode collection. (Betcha can't guess my favorite color! :D )

Photo-a-Day Jan 9

Since living in Michigan requires wearing a coat for much of the year I figure I might as well wear something pretty.

Photo-a-Day for Jan. 8

I was sanding some letters this morning for an altering project when I was struck by the beauty of the woodgrain and the curves of the letter.

A Few More Photos

My Photo-a-Day for today is of the treadmill I am finally using again. And for inspiration a few sculptures of the female form from the Meijer Gardens: Eve, ???, and my favorite Summer Torso.

Jan 6 Photos

Yes, I know. I didn't even make it a week without missing a day. So sue me. I figure between all the photos I took on Friday and the 275 more that I took today that I was allowed a day off. We visited the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park today. I photographed ornaments on trees representing 40 different countries, the very cool Holiday Express train display, then it was actually warm enough to go outside to walk the trails and photograph some of the sculptures. The overcast winter day was better for photos than those bright summer days. Below are some of the adorable little buildings from the Holiday Express display followed by a few shots of DaVinci's Horse.

Photo(s)-a-Day Jan 4

I took 106 photos today while visiting our local museum. Here are a handful of the white objects I spotted.

Photo-a-Day Jan. 3

One of Kacie's friends, Rose, stopped by yesterday to give me this flower. When I asked why she was giving it to me she replied "I just wanted to wish you a Happy New Year!"

White

Scrapfreak is having color theme photo challenges for 2008. The "color" for the month of January is white. While I could easily have photographed my pretty white puppydog playing in the snow the challenge made me look at this white tray of ice cubes with a fresh eye. (Yes, Dorothy, I do realize that is the point of the challenge. LOL)