Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Where do I begin to explain where I've been in December. Well, mostly working and spending time with family and being at home. Mixed in with multiple layoffs at my place of employment, pay cuts and a pretty life-changing decision. How's that for an explanation?!!

I still have a job, which is a wonderful thing. But my company is making some drastic changes in the hopes of weathering the economic storm of 2009. And that includes asking current employees to take a pay cut and start working only 4 days a week. For me, that meant taking a good hard look at my financial situation and realizing very quickly, that with the pay cut, I just couldn't swing staying by myself in an apartment. So, I will be moving to my Mom's apartment in Roswell. In *gulp* 17 days. What started out something that felt a little like doomsday on my part, has miraculously worked itself out and will probably, in the long run, benefit both me and Mom greatly. But, it means big change for all involved…and that's been taking up all of my spare time, both physically and emotionally.

So, bear with me until after the 17th. Posts could be sporadic or daily. Time will tell.

On that note, though, a four day work week gives a HUGE opportunity to be crafty. And blog, and work on the kazillion projects I've been wanting to but haven't had the time. Once the dust settles, I think it's going to be a great thing!

It's New Year's Eve. I'm at work (shhhhh - don't tell anyone I blogged), with about a thousand things to do, but all I really want to do is surf the web for photos of Sydney harbour celebrating New Years. My brother was on one of those boats in the harbour. And man, do I wish I'd been there with him!

Have a safe and wondrous day!

Photo By Mark Kolbe, Getty Images

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Here's hoping you have a wonderful, joyous day!

Thudding Heart...

Um, ok, I just need a moment.

The host for the 2009 Oscars has just been announced. And it's going to be Hugh Jackman….and my heart just gave a great big thud. It's going to be a wonderful few hours….and I'm totally tivoing it so I can watch it again, and again and again….. :)

Enough Stuff

I found this on the Creative Escape 2008 message board. I'm not sure where it came from originally. And while I'm not a huge fan of the poetry, this one was appropriate. Whether you are a scrapbooker or not, we've all got enough stuff to last a really, really long time!


Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree. I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me. Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace? Or a Cricut, I said, with a smile on my face. And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa, " I said. "You know....good little girls should be in their beds." "I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught. But I was just so excited To see what you brought." "Well, let's take a look in this room where you work. He shook his head quickly, And left with a jerk. I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear. "You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"


It's Friday! I am so happy to have made it to Friday. And this evening, I intend to overlook the floor that needs to be vacuumed or my long to-do list to cuddle up on the couch and enjoy my Christmas tree and it's blinking lights.

Have a wonderful evening!

Is there a trend here?

So, I made the yearly trudge to the post office and lo and behold….hardly an line at all. I totally lucked out! My Christmas cards are on their way!

As I slogged in the pouring rain back to the car after putting them in the mailbox, I realized that I had managed to take not a single photo. Zip. Nada. Zilch. So, now I'm officially going to beg one of my fellow scrappy friends to take a photo with their nifty camera and email it to me. You know who you are - hook a girl up! The funnest part about these cards is that they are all different. I think, out of the 50 I made, only batches of 4 are alike. Which is hard, cause then I spend waaayy to much time looking at them and trying to figure out which one I want to send to who. It's fun, though, to see if there is a card that matches someone's personality, but then again, sometimes you just don't have a choice and have to send whatcha got. I think I'm officially rambling…………sorry.

On that same note, I have run into a major scrapbooking problem. I've been on a bit of a scrappin' hiatus (at least where scrappin' = photos on paper) over the past two months or so, and I'm itching to get back into it, but, I have no photos. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Are you noticing a trend here? I seem to have a photo problem. I am constantly looking for for photos to scrap, and don't have any. I've even scrapped the same photo several times in different layouts.

Here are some obstacles I think I face with the whole photo thing:

1. I don't have a easy to carry small camera or a fancy SLR.
2. I hate having my photo taken, so I try to be aware of other people who don't want their picture taken either. And because I definitely don't want the camera turned on me, I hesitate to even think about taking photos. I've even tried those "picture in the mirror" pictures of myself….I guess everyone's their own worst critic.
3. My purse is too small to carry a camera all of the time.
4. How many pictures can one take of a desk you spend 8.5 hourse at, or a house you spend the rest of your time in? I don't have children or pets. And I don't really want to scrapbook my co-workers :)

These all seem so silly, but apparently it's a problem. So, I can totally rectify #3. Any excuse to have a new purse. But what about the others? Any suggestions?

Three Quarters of a Million Dollars

Bad, bad blogger. Baaaaadddd. I don't know what's gotten in to me. Oh well. I guess the joy of being a blogger is that it's your blog and you can do what you want to…but still. Bad blogger. Okay, enough of that! Hope you haven't forgotten about me…and will keep reading, even if my posts are sporadic.

It's Monday…and in case you need to be reminded that means there are only 17 more days until Christmas. And that my friends is serious. But instead of stressing out about presents and gift wrap and I'm determined to remember that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. Not mine. Which means, I really shouldn't be receiving the presents. I should be giving presents to Him. Now, that's quite a turn-around in my thinking. But Sunday's service at 12Stone really hammered that into me.

Sunday was also a big day, because we officially kick-started "Intentional Acts of Christmas". 12Stone re-prioritized their budget, deleting and postponing things planned for 2009 and pledged $300,000 to help families in need. In addition to that, the members of 12Stone pledged an additional $450,000. That's three quarters of a million dollars!!!! Each participated family received cash last week and will add their pledge and then find a family or person in need to give it to, along with a card letting them know they are a recipient. Small groups are combining their contributions together to pay utility bills, buy furniture, groceries, pay mortgages, provide Christmas. It's overwhelming and wonderful all at the same time. There are so many families in need, and also people who don't have families, or someone to help them out…especially with the way the economy is…every little bit helps.

Will you join me in being a part of "Intentional Acts of Christmas"? If you do, post a comment here. I'd love to hear what you've done!