a quarter of a century...

my 'baby' is a 25 today!

I am soooo proud of her. She has grown up to be one terrific young woman. and let me tell ya, that wasn't always the 'prognosis'. She came out of the womb, ready to 'rule the world'. Let me tell you, she was one strong willed child. I had 2 books at my bedstand, The Strong Willed Child and Dare to Discipline. I would tell myself, "God has a reason for making her this way, its a good thing, its a good thing...." AND Lucky for me, it is. So all you parents of strong willed children, my ds and ddil included, I'll just say...they are not easy to raise, you can't parent with the 'lay down the law' style...you have to learn to come alongside them and help them to channel that will to the positive...but it is SOOOOOOOO worth it!!

one last post...

after tomorrow night, I'll be living at my kid's house with my granddaughter...4 nights and 3 days of wonderfulness. But I'm thinking I'm not going to have a lot of time to be on the computer, or read, or scrap...and I'm gonna be one 'pooped' out grammy.

Here she is doing twirls and modeling the latest tu-tu skirt grammy bought her. teehee...and her parents agreed, she will start dance school in Sept! yay!!!



so, I think I'll finish the tour of my house. taadaa, the master bedroom and bath. IF I were to build another home...I would not put this area right next to the great room. That being said, me love my bedroom. The walls are a color called Wet Concrete, a real grayed down purple...my dd really does not like this color but ...what can I say, I love it. The bedding and curtains are in brown tones.



I read somewhere to not have pics of family in your bedroom, can affect the 'mojo' so to speak, so I have the art I picked up in Italy up. Since I looooooooved Italy, and would looooooove to go back. My dream is to eventually put one of the fake fireplaces in there, to make it extra romantique.




The master bath continues the Wet Concrete color with the tub highlighted in the next shade lighter, Victorian Mauve...the tiles are gray and a luminescent purple. They were a special order...one side like grape, the other with an inner sheen. AND I also found some celtic tiles on Ebay. Oh! I did not take any pics of the bathroom that day..

but here is another one of the master bedroom...with Percy in his favorite spot

finally unpacked!

here's a pic of the materials from that Faber-Castell class...of course, I went online and bought more of the gelatos (really cool chapstick like pens that have a metallic color you can blend).


and here is one from the jewelry class...


of course, I bought supplies to make more...let's just say all the women in my family are getting a necklace this year. Already made my mom's, with some sunflower paper and just a touch of fine glitter.

And I have been scrapbooking and cardmaking also. Lots of events in August, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and baby showers.

YOu know what I've discovered? I simply don't have many stamps and supplies to make anniversary cards. Ya'll have any ideas? I've been looking around a bit, I esp like Stampin Up stamps (still like the wood)...but just did not see much.

Oh! and at the Expo I bought a Cinch 2. I've been seeing these online for $105...but got it for $75.00 and they also had 5 wires for $5. And guess what, yes, it is still in the box! Maybe I'd better make it a goal to play with it a bit today. Today is pretty free.

Until this evening, GOTTA watch the Glee Project finale. I like all of them but Alex. I'm still upset when Alex was being such a bully to Matteas and having that 'diva' attitude. I simply hate bullies. Okay, I hate bullying. I know bullies are people too and often act out because of their own pain...and I should have sympathy for them as people. BUT it is tough...cuz I just hate what they do. Growing up half Japanese in the late 60's and 70's in Houston, yeah, I had first hand experience with bullies. I like to think that the experiences made me stronger and more sympathetic to those who are 'different'...but sometimes, even at age 50, I still feel some pain and sadness. Oh well, gotta use the emotions as a reminder to pray for those people. I still remember their names...Tracy, Richard, Jeff, Humberto, Scotty....isn't that funny, I can tell you the names of my childhood bullies. I remember their last names too, but won't post them.

Expo!

how fun, is there anything better than an Expo Weekend. This is my once a year treat. 3 days of cropping, 2 days of shopping (one hour VIP) and staying at the Hyatt.

This is Alexa, she joined us for 2 of the 3 days...she was sooooooooo good!



I took a couple of classes. I'm at the point where I am looking for technique classes as opposed to page classes. My 2 classes this year was a jewelry making class and one sponsored by Faber-Castell that was filled with techniques for blending colors and using other mediums. AND I actually won a door prize! A gold and a silver PITT artist pen. whoot whoot!!!

Got a lot done. Roomed with and sat next to Nancy...who is the group's Gypsy 'guru'...so, she gave me lots of tips. That Gypsy is terrific!!

So, I'm still not fully unpacked. Been working, and did get a lot done yesterday, but just this last bag for today.



Today, I need to make some cards! It is ds and ddil's anniversary today, my sis's birthday on the 25th and dd's birthday on the 28th. DD turns 25 this year. I am exactly twice as old as her! ha!!

leaving for the Expo! and my scraproom...

I leave for the Expo this afternoon! I'm all packed, I've been all packed since the weekend, but always have that feeling I'm forgetting something...siiiiiigh. Looking so forward to going. yay!!

I'm doing all 3 days of cropping, 2 classes..and well, a li'l shopping! ha!!

So, we are on my favorite part of the home tour. The room that makes all non-scrappers go pale. Even scrappers, like my friend Michele, tend to get a li'l dizzy. My scrapspace. ha!!



I chose violet walls because I read somewhere that it was the color of creativity. topped it with pale blue ceilings and ikea cabinets and that wonderful ribbon curtain I found on Ebay. I LOVE this room. It was the one room that dh had absolutely NO SAY...so I made it completely my own. teehee



The above side of the room was originally designed to be my mom's sewing center. I was only supposed to have half the room. And 6 years ago, that would have worked, as I did not have much 'stuff'. BUT the first time my mom moved out, I took over her half. and never looked back...ha!!



To the right of my scraproom is the in-law suite. Designed for my mom. She came to live with us when the house was built. She would do 6 months with us, 6 months with my sis. Then a couple of years ago, she moved out permanently...to an undisclosed location. (she is in hiding from another sis) ANYways, family drama aside, all I can say is that she no longer lives with either one of us.



So, once she moved out permanently, this area became my she-cave. I do my exercise in there and, what can I say, scrap stuff started to spill over. Oh my, is that old bakers rack filled with cricut??? teehee.


I LOVE the paint color in there, it is from Ace Hardware called Drenched in Dew, the ceilings are a pale yellow...and the black furniture was my sister's ...my mom brought it with her when she moved out here. We got the bamboo flooring at an auction. gorgeous.

Oh No! is that china cabinet filled with more scrapstuff!!!


teehee

here is the bedroom portion of the suite. My mom is Japanese, so this room was decorated with that in mind. The curtains are from Ebay...the walls & ceilings are painted SW Restrained Gold.



this accent wall was done in a treatment called Oriental Silk...an orange color with a glaze on top. LOVE it...the furniture was my moms. My sis calls it 'early bordello' teehee.



last room in this wing, besides the pantry, is the suite's bathroom. I was going for a 'country' look with the sink and wainscotting on the walls. The color is Champagne Ice, a pale peach. I read somewhere that it was complementary for the complexion and I figured a woman in her 70's could use it!! ha!! This room also features a wall of my collection of Anne Geddes prints.



okay, we are done with this wing of the house. All that's left is the master bed/bath.

Sorry if the pics are a li'l dark. I just took my camera around the house one morning and did not do any 'staging'...just shot what was there.

more of my house tour...

Last night, I got to babysit Missy-boo for a couple of hours. Mom and Dad went to an Open House at a local preschool. They are considering having her go for 8 hours a week. Pooh. I truly believe all babysitting should be done by grandma. Except grandma works 3 days a week. The kids are in the process of starting a business and the 8 hours would be a good time to put some quality time into it.

BUT, this afternoon, they are having a conference call...so, G'ma and Missy are going out to run errands and to go out to dinner. (not good for my diet) but good for me!!
She has discovered the word, MINE!!! teehee. She proclaimed my doggy-bag was hers. It has cartoon drawings of puppies...and a multicolor zipper...I use it to take my non-refrigerated foods to work.

On Thursday, they got to babysit me. I ride to and from work with DH, he was running late to an appt, so he dropped me off at their house. (I did not want to sit around and wait. Of course, I LOVED it. teehee. They can babysit me ANYtime. ha!!

So, continuing my house tour....from the Princess Room you make a right turn and you are in the laundry room. In the original plans, this would be a wall shared with the garage. But we took those drawings, added a door...and created a laundry room, instead of a laundry corner in the garage. We added another door at the other end of the room. It has the potential of being a pass thru between 'wings'.

The color is a big compromise with dh. I wanted a passion pink or tropical blue, but those colors 'scared' him...so I went with the spring green and (gasp) a white ceiling (only 2 rooms have them)...the cabinets are Ikea. The floors are cork, which I just LOVE. This is also the cat room, with boxes and food, so the floors are perfect and durable for that type of abuse.




on top of the cabinets are my blue glass and beanie puppies collections.

As you leave the laundry room, you enter the most used 'wing' of the house. You can also enter this section from the breakfast nook. This was originally a 3 car garage, but we drew into it an office, pantry, scraproom and in law suite.




The office is the most used room in the house. Esp for dh. Originally it was going to be his 'man cave', but my computer takes up half the room. We talked about moving me out, but then we would never see each other. The desks were built by his friend who used to own an exhibit company. In the corner you can see a log used as the leg. They are way cool. DH chose the paint color, a color called Thyme...I chose the khaki ceilings and the window treatment. Dogs playing poker...cuz the room was getting too serious.


(the chair by the door is Winston's...no human had better try to sit there...ask ds!)




We are getting close to the scraproom...but saving the best for last! ha!!

not much time...

for scrappin, but I have packed pics, pp's and embellies for the 3 day crop at the Santa Clara Expo! happy dance!!

But tomorrow, Saturday, hope to do the last 2 days of the colour/color class.
Finish a lo I've had on my desk...and do a li'l journaling for my weight loss book.

Then will need to finish packing for that Expo.

Had my Jenny Craig appt...their scales show a small loss...mine showed a slight gain. So, guess its a wash. I am having so much trouble eating according to plan. I just want to eat what I want to eat. I'm not binging, just not staying true to the plan. BUT doing the cardio has not been a problem. I so enjoy my Wii.

My consultant recommended I log everything...to hopefully keep me more accountable.

So, what to do at the Expo? I can bring non microwave breakfasts and lunch...but a li'l more difficult with dinner. Drink lots of water, bring Jenny snacks...and watch my portions when we do go out. Take an hour to hit the treadmills? Walk the floor a lot...teehee

Did get this done for the blue lo at color/colour..not cray about how I embellished...but its a start.



also played around a bit with ATC's...had the paper left over from a kit that had these vintagy/chalky ads. I think I used pretty much every bit of that pp.



and last but not least, part of a cricut page swap at Splitcoast...so made a couple of these for a kid's birthday theme...gonna do a couple of pages with Hello Kitty, and I'll be done, and able to mail. Made myself an extra of the Elmo for Adriana's recent birthday as she loves him.


At the crop I plan to work on another splitcoast swap, some ATC's to swap...and I took dd's trip to New York (gosh, was it in 1999?), my trip to Florence/Sorrento (from a cruise a couple of years ago) and pics to finish Adriana's book of 2010.

did I mention its 3 days..I'm sharing a room with a friend at the Hyatt...taking a couple of classes. AND we've got a table reserved (actually 2 tables) for our group. yay!!