Friday, December 28, 2007

funnies

Just had to share some funny stuff the boys said today!
They both got postcards from my dad, who spent Christmas at Disney Land with his wife. Any-hoo, after I read the card to Kenshin (as I was driving, shame on me!), I passed it to him, and he didn't say anything...I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a puzzled look on his face, as he studied the picture on the postcard. Finally, he said, "That's not the Clubhouse!" Yes, he meant the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Can you tell I let him watch weekday morning cartoons? Mickey and Minnie were sitting on the bed in their "house" but Kenshin has only seen the animated Clubhouse. teehee

Later in the day, after a run to McDonald's to use some of the 30-something "free item" coupons I still have (and they expire in 3 days!!!), they were watching Go Diego and Krillin got a funny look on his face. Then he said, "I didn't know a penguin was an animal!" whaaaat? I couldn't stop laughing. I wonder what he thought they were... plant? mineral?

On another note, I have prepared my rebates for the month. I've been sitting on a few cuz I'm just lazy, but I filled them all out, cut the UPCs off, and got the envelopes ready, with postage and all. happy day! There's about $50 in total, plus a free bracelet and tote bag. I also requested November and December rebates from Rite Aid, so that's another $100 we'll soon have in hand. Rebates are dreamy!

I think flowers from florist places are overpriced. But that's nothing compared to the site I found today! Secret Spoons sells gorgeous treats, mostly chocolate-dipped somethings. I just had to click on this:
And if you do, too, then you'll see why I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I mean seriously! The next time you want to pay $30 for 2 caramel apples, please give me a ring. I won't even charge you shipping! I even have all the ingredients on hand, so you won't have to wait for me to find a good deal!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas Tag

I was tagged by several people, so here's my list for the world to see! :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? The kid in me loves wrapping paper, but the tree-hugger in me loves bags! LOL Just as long as it’s covered.
2. Real or artificial tree?
Artificial, cuz it was free. I do love the smell of real trees, but they’re too much hassle for indoors.

3. When do you put up your Christmas tree? About a week before Christmas.

4. When do you take the tree down? When it starts to annoy me.

5. Do you like eggnog? YES! But I’m lactose-intolerant, so P-chan thinks “mine” tastes funny. LOL

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The quilt! I was 13, and got a very pretty quilt. I remember it quite fondly, because it was the first new blanket I ever got. And then my dog decided to have her puppies on it, a year later. Also the Ramona Quimby set of books, when I was 9. Although, that may have been a birthday present (that is at the end of Nov).

7. Do you have a nativity scene? We have a tiny glass one (with Mary, Joseph, and Jesus) that hangs on our tree, and a small one from the Dollar Store (M, J, Jesus, and the three kings). But I don't have a "real" one with all the pieces that can move around.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My sisters’ husbands, and my father in law.

9. Easiest person to buy for? So far, my boys. They’ve loved every gift. :D of course, they’re young….

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? An ugly ornament. And there was that time that my husband put all my gifts in 2 laundry baskets and bound them with phone cord. Yeah…

11. Mail or email Christmas card? eh, what? Oh, yeah…I always intend to mail, but…

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Santa Clause.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Christmas, for next year. I shop all year long! I’m usually done by Thanksgiving. Now, whether I send them in time is another question....

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present ? Yep! I received some fancy liqueur chocolates, so I gave them to someone who would actually enjoy them.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Candy cane pie

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? whatever’s handy!

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Messiah by Handel! I also really enjoy zany songs, like I want a Hippo.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen, Rudolph. The song taught me well! :)

20. Angel on the tree top or a star ? Angel that Krillin made at school.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? One on Christmas Eve, everyone picks their own, and the rest on Christmas day.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Not being around family. Also crazy drivers and rude employees.

23. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color? I guess the theme is “be grateful for what you have” cuz it’s just whatever gets on it. LOL But I plan to transition to more sparkle.

24. What do/did you leave for Santa? 2 days before, we write letters and leave them on the tree; the elves come and pick up our letters! Then we leave cookies on the Santa plate (used only this night!) and milk. I really like the idea of him writing back. We also leave a bowl of juice (colored water) and sugar wafers for the reindeer, on the lawn, since we don't have a chimney. :)


Now that you've read this, you are TAGGED! Go post this on your blog/email. :D

Merry Christmas!

Sorry for the late post, but we were just having too good a time for me to stop and blog about it! :D
The boys love hearing the story about Jesus' birth, so the book my sister sent was a very special gift. :) They opened that box early, since that's technically from last year. ;) They also got to open their birthday presents now, since I'm a DORK and hid the box that they got from my dad, waaaay back in August. So they stopped asking if they could open their Christmas presents! LOL
Christmas Eve we (P-chan and me, not the boys!!) slept in, and ate a late breakfast. Then I found an ad for the local grocery store that had a coupon for $5 off a $50 gift card, and we had 6 coupons (didn't you know I'm a coupon freak? I get 6 Sunday papers! ROFL), so we sat down to figure out our finances, and due to the fact our credit cards are paid off (weeeeee're deeeeebt freeeeeee!), we could swing all 6 cards. :D So we checked out the movie times for a surprise for the boys, and headed out. Kenshin (because he was up since 4 am!!!!) fell asleep on the way there, so we headed to Meijer, much to Krillin's chagrin ("NOOOOOOO! I hate stores!!"). We bought our 6 gift cards, feeling very proud of our thrifty selves. Then the checkout guy (at the self-checkout) said, "You got more? You can pay for the gift card with a gift card, ya know."
DING DING DING
We were ALL OVER that deal!! The cards take 10 minutes to activate, so we toured the store (as if we haven't walked around before) between times. Kenshin woke up when we got to the pet area. Just before 2:30, I suggested we leave for the movie theatre. At the ticket counter there, P-chan bought the tickets and the boys and I ran to the theatre while P-chan bought popcorn and sprite. We had just arrived at our seats when the movie started. The chipmunks were singing, and both boys had their eyes glued to the screen, trying to figure out where they've heard those voices before. Then the chipmunks themselves were on the screen, and Kenshin yelled, "It's the CHIPMUNKS!" and started giggling. Luckily, everyone in the theatre thought that ourburst was funny. :) Both boys were almost rolling off their chairs from laughter, the entire movie. I had come prepared with some cookies and fruit snacks, so P-chan offering the popcorn and sprite was a very nice bonus. It was fantastic! I also really liked it. I plan to buy it when it comes to DVD. :)
After the movie, we headed back to Meijer, to do more "rolling" of the gift cards. We left when they closed, about 7pm. So, all told, we ended up with $510 in gift cards for $270. NICE.

There's also a great deal on the Rite Aid gift cards ($5 off $25) and I buy the rebate stuff there every month, so we are going to do that one as well. It is SPECTACULAR to be able to afford this, it will help our grocery budget soooo much in the coming months! Being credit-card free is AWESOME! :D

Any-who, we went to McDonald's for dinner (using the GC from the birthday box) and the boys got to play in the PlayPlace. :) The boys fell asleep on the way home, but Krillin did remind me to put the cookies and chocolate milk out for Santa. I'm sure as far as they were concerned, it was the best Christmas Eve ever! LOL

Christmas Day was great! The boys actually slept until 9, but P-chan woke me up at 8 so I could unwrap my presents. :) When they got up, the boys kept getting distracted with the presents they unwrapped before they opened another. LOL At 1pm, we went over to Jessica's house for lunch. Jessica had bought the HoneyBaked Ham from the store, and it was delicious. She also prepared cornbread stuffing, crescent rolls, macaroni & cheese, and brownies. Hugh made a delicious cheesecake; yum-o! I brought stuffed mushrooms, green onion sticks (they're covered in cream cheese, then rolled in shredded cheese), and baked mashed potatoes. We ended up staying until almost 9pm, because we played a game of Phase 10. that was fun! :)

Happy Holidays! Talk to you soon!

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Birthday

Today is my birthday! da-na-na-na-na-na-nah! I got some nice surprises from a few scrapping boards. I have one more year to enjoy before I hit the big "3-0". Funny thing, though, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. huh! Maybe it's just a sign of me getting old.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!! Only a few hours left before people go crazy over the DEALS of Black Friday. I had a shopping list all ready, but the forces of germs have conspired against me. I am stuffed up, and have a bad cough, and am trying to remember to breathe deeply so it won't turn into bronchitis. In fact, all of us are so sick that we had to forgo any T-day plans. The boys both have sore throats and were barfy earlier this week, and even P-chan was throwing up yesterday (that is NOT a pretty sound!).
Well, at least that's what I'm saying now, to cover the fact that nobody invited us over for T-day dinner. So if I am feeling better tomorrow or Saturday, I plan to get some shopping done, and have Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night.

I took a fun quiz today! Turns out I am classy! LOL
 Moonlit Black

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

whoosh!

Did you watch Heroes last night? whoa!!! I mean, Kensei isn't Kensei and he's someone else? Holy cow!! And I totally called it that Hiro would be Kensei. booyah! Anyway, lots to think about. Now I gotta find a forum that has some good convos about Heroes. :D

Friday, October 26, 2007

color blind?

Sweet, I've always wanted to be a master of something. Click the pic to try it yourself!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

SAS-y Halloween party!

Stone Accent Studios will be having a blog party, which means lots of freebies for digi-scrapping! :) Be sure to mark you calendar.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Only 6 (well, really 5 by the time I post this) days 'til Halloween, which means I need to figure something out for P-chan and me. Krillin will be going as Draco Malfoy (he thinks it's "so cool!") and Kenshin will be Thomas the Tank Engine. Next year, the boys will be dice, P-chan will be a pencil, and I will be an RPG character sheet. (the link is to someone else's, not mine) I will of course need to create a character sheet; I'll probably base it on my ZAngband character.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

bionic woman

So far, I really like the new NBC show, Bionic Woman. They had a fun little quiz on the website, so I took it. I totally bombed the last test, but if I had figured out sooner that I had the directions backwards, I would have done better.

See What You're Made Of - Visit The Official Site

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Toy Recall

My sister emailed me this. Thank goodness for her thoughtfulness, as I had no idea my kids could get injured on this!
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

loud

We have lived in our house for 9 months now. yay! Before here, we lived in an apartment on the air force base in Florida. We lived on the ground floor of a 2-level building, which had 7 units; 1 was a duplex-style, and the rest were single-level. There was an apartment above us, and the duplex was next to us. For the last 8 months we lived there, the apartment above us was empty. And Mellanie, my next-door neighbor, told me that she never heard any noise from our apartment. Considering the yelling from one end of our apartment to the other (yes, in a 800-square foot apartment we felt the need to yell ) and the TV and the boys, I was constantly asking her if we were too loud, but she insisted she never heard anything. So it's been almost 2 years since we really had to worry about our noise level. BUT even now, I find myself thinking that the subwoofer should be turned down, or that we shouldn't sing so loud, or that the boys are yelling too loud, and that the neighbors will hear us.
Did that happen to any of you when you moved to your house?

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Kip

I saw this on Victoria's blog, and had to jump in with some sweet skills of my own:






Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?




You are Kip Dynamite and you love technology.
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code



and here is my DH:






Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?




You are Tater Tots. Go get your own!!
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code


I thought this was particularly funny, as he cooked some tots for himself just this evening!

c'mon, click on the link. you know you want to.

:::Yeah, I'm a nerd/geek/whatever:::
I have been playing Angband (while DH plays Zangband) on the computers for the past week. Yesterday, I told him we needed to switch computers, since I had some major catching up to do on the emails and such. Also, I need to scrapbook.
So imagine my dismay when my Angband won't work on the Vista computer. It simply freezes when I try to do anything except run around. It's impossible to do anything if you can't do anything!! The forum I found has been less than forthcoming with how to fix it, some have even said "I dunno what the problem is, it works fine on MY vista." Gee, that helped, thanks! So I have tried Zangband (this version has quests and a much grander "town" world), but it's scary!!! I'm used to being a higher level character, so starting off with just a dagger and a wooden torch was :doodoodoodooo: weird!!!

Well, I'm off to hack and slash more monsters and townfolk.

in the game.

sheesh!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Birthday Chat for Deco-Pages

Come join in the fun!
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
See you there! Click here for more info....including previews for more purdy stuff.

If you can't make it tonight, then get the goods and have some fun on Wednesday (tomorrow) Sept 19th at NOON EST.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

computered out

Last week was a series of mis-haps with the computer. It started with the router going bad, so that only one computer can be online at a time. Not a huge inconvenience right now, but it will be if we don't get it fixed (we are getting it fixed).
Then on Wednesday, the computer that I use for all things scrapping, simply stopped connecting to the internet. I was having troubles connecting with GDS (the first and sometimes only site I connect to--which was having their birthday celebration), but then figured out that I couldn't connect to any other site, so I called my ISP (I had to call my mom for the phone number ). After troubleshooting, they determined that my expired internet security program was the problem (DH was supposed to fix it; I thought it was fixed MONTHS ago. grrrrr!!). So I called Norton, and they told me how to uninstall it (because I wanted to install the new one). I called my ISP again, and they "pinged" my computer, and said the old firewall was still there, and to call Norton again to help me remove it from the registry. So I called Norton, and they walked me through the registry removal. I called my ISP again, and they said the ping still wasn't going as fast as it should; we tried safe mode and it worked okay, so they advised me to a system restore. I did it back to 9/1, since I know my internet worked then. It didn't fix it. So then I had to do a System Recovery. Before I did it, I backed up all my photos, documents, and games onto my EHD (didn't take that long, cuz I normally put them there anyway). Then I wrote down all the programs that I need (you know, PSE, ACDSee, etc ) and did the system recovery. It worked! joyous day.
The first thing I did was get online with IE (which I detest), and download FireFox. So I install it, and sign into my email, and that's when it hit me. I forgot to save my bookmarks. It was almost midnight, and I just sat there laughing hysterically, knowing that if I stopped laughing I would start crying.
But despite that, the story has a happy ending. I did save my bookmarks from when I switched computers, so my bookmarks are only 6 months old. *insert heavy sigh*
So I went to bed (it was almost 1am by them). The next day (Thursday) I had to re-download and install all my programs and FireFox extensions. I thought they were all done, except for MS Office, since I wanted to check out the festivities at GDS before I did that. During a chat at 1pm, I discovered that PhotoShop Elements was not opening, kept saying something was wrong with the library and then closed. After 3 calls to Customer Support, I finally learned that the download version of PSE doesn't play well (at all) with Vista, and I would need my install disc (which I lost ages ago and didn't think I would need again). They offered to send me a new install disc, since I knew my serial number (thanks to my meticulous notes previously), and I said sure, but hung up thinking I would have to drop out of the Supreme Team contest. 'cuz if you can't scrap, you can't show off kits, now can ya?
It was later that night, and I was chatting with one of my online friends, kattyzak, and she asked why I didn't just go over to my mom's house to scrap, and I explained that mom's in WA and I'm in Kentucky...and then as she typed her response, I realized what she was saying, and I slapped my forehead. Duh! My friend Jessica lives in town here, and she uses the same program I do (she bought it as soon as she found out how much I love it)...so I could borrow her disc, and use my serial number!!! yay!!! Kattzak saved me!!! So of course I called Jessica the next day (Friday) and she was able to bring it over on Saturday.
I was further upset to find out that ACDSee's info did not magically stay on my computer, so the 6 gigantic folders I had organized...I have to do all over again. sheesh!
Anyway, it all worked out. I was able to complete my page for GDS Supreme Team contest. Here it is:
The announcement was made on Tuesday night that I, along with 69 others, am in the next round. KattyZak is also on the list. wahoo! So I better get scrappin. Those are some really talented ladies!

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Supreme Team contest at GDS

Come Join the Fun!

Free Products & Fun, Inspiring & Friendly Competition

Let the Search for the Next Supreme Team Begin!

Sign Up Here if you are Interested! *(Deadline for Sign-Up is September 4th, 2007)

The contest will begin on September 5, 2007 and will run for 4 weeks, ending on October 2, 2007 with the announcement of our GDS Supreme Team! The contest will have 4 rounds and will be judged by the GDS Designers. 12 Digiscrapper Supremes will be chosen!

Contestants will be provided with a different free kit to use for each round of the competition. The kits will be provided on the first day of each round and the contestants will have 5 days to complete their layout. There will be a chat to announce the successful contestants who will be going on to the next round on the 7th day of each round.

The GDS Designers are looking for creativity, uniqueness and the layouts that best showcase the kits!

No limit here to the amount of contestants so feel free to join in! You never know.. You just might be one of the next Supremes!!

Note: No Designers may participate in the Supreme Team Contest. Any CT members are welcome!

The Supreme Team Requirements are as follows:
As a Supreme Team Member you must commit to making 6 layouts (2 layouts per product) per month using the products you receive free as part of your membership. We also ask that the members be active on the site while serving their term as a member. That is the minimum requirement. You may end up with as many free products as you wish because for every layout you create beyond the minimum 6, you get another product for free! Supreme Team membership term is 4 months.

Sign Up Here if you are Interested! *(Deadline for Sign-Up is September 4th, 2007)

and since I like y'all so much, if you want a lookie-loo at the first kit (that you'll get for FREE) for the first round, click here.


Well, the results for the ADSR came in, and my team did not win. But I still had a fabulous time, and got lots of very nice prizes throughout, so I'm glad I did it!

Monday, August 27, 2007

done!

Yesterday was the final week of the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race. I am pleased to inform you that my team (my mom and I) completed every task, on time, following all the rules. That means we are in the drawing for the Grand Prize. I think that's now worth over $900 per team member. All the teams that completed all the challenges, on time, following the rules, will be put in the random drawing for the Grand Prize. I did not realize, until two days ago, that the only team winning a prize is the Grand Prize team. I had pretty much assumed that there would be 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and maybe a 5th prize. However, by doing all the challenges, I got over $60 in products. It was worth it just for that! But I will still be green with envy for the team that wins.
Here is the page for the 11th challenge, about my favorite movie and how it applies to my life.

And for the 12 challenge, we were to scraplift a page our partner did during the race, and tell about our favorite part of the Race. Here's mine:
I was surprised at how girly this page turned out, but honestly I love it. I just let the papers speak to me, and the elements called out for me (some of this is due to ACDSee, which I just bought and LOVE!!! there's still a few more days on the sale, scroll down for the link!) to use them...and it's lovely, eh?

So wish me luck or send some pheasants my way, or something...oh, I should totally scrap about the pheasants... But before that, I need to go through the 700+ emails that I've been ignoring until the Race was done. and guess what? yeah....