Whoa, baby....

Well, Mother Nature kept her promise and we got DUMPED on today...at noon we had 12 new inches of snow, and it's been snowing most of the day, so no telling how much we have now!! :0)
(Notice the "for sale" sign that is in our front yard in the last picture...it's almost totally buried!) You know it's bad when the mall closes....yes, the mall closed!!! (Luckily Starbucks kept their doors open, though!!) :0) There were 175 school closures in the area...even both universities!
It's really crazy!! What is keeping me going is....one week from today I will be in Phoenix!! Woo Hoo!! (That is if I can get out of town...right now most of the roads are closed!) :0(

Heartbreaker...

"Dear little girls....watch out for this little heartbreaker in a few years" However, for now he is just about to turn 6 and girls are "no big deal!!" :0) I'm taking my mind off all the snow outside my windows and spending the afternoon scrapbooking my 5 favorite "little ones"! I have some great pictures of K, A, R, K and L, and I'm in the mood to create! This layout of "A" was actually "scraplifted" from Kelly Goree (for those of you that don't scrapbook, it means I saw a similar layout in a magazine, and used parts of it in my layout.)

Today was pretty outside, so I took some pictures to show those of you (lucky ones) in the south, just how much snow we have!! It's amazing, and the weather forecast sounds like we will be adding to this every single day this week!!! It's great weather for scrapbooking...see, I'm thinking "positive!"

Laughter is sunshine....

I'm thinking "laughter" and "sunshine" today because it's snowing like crazy outside....oh my gosh, will this never end???? This feels like the winter that just kept on coming, and coming, and coming!! I think I will have to harness up the sled dogs to make to over to teach my class this afternoon! :0)

This layout makes me smile...I love these pictures of R and K, taken when they were all here in December. They had such a fun time together, a cousin really is the best kind of friend!

Back to reality...

Ok, it's "back to reality" for me, but you know what?? Reality is a pretty darn good place to be! :0) We had a fabulous time, one of the most fun trips to Las Vegas ever, but it is great to be home!!!

And, I have a busy day today prepping kits for my "From This Moment" Valentine mini-album class on Sunday at Paper Pals.

The one and only thing I miss a "teeny, tiny bit" is the 55 degree weather in Las Vegas, but hey--it's only 30 degrees colder here, and it's a beautiful, sunny day here with bright blue skies!! Here is a picture I just took looking out of our front door...do you see how much snow we have???

Las Vegas, good bye...

Well, we are wrapping up our stay in Las Vegas and "it's all good!" We have had a great time...lots of good food, fun and exciting shows, a little shopping and 50+ degree weather! But, 4 days in LV is enough...we are tired of smelling like smoke---I honestly think if we had a few billion to invest in a "smokeless casino" it would be a BIG hit!!! (Anyone want to invest??)

Our last evening here was fun...we had dinner at PF Changs and then went to The Producers, starring Tony Danza, at the Paris casino. It was great and Tony Danza was terrific!!

But....even though we know we are going back to verrrrrrry cold weather, we are ready to go home! Jim's conference was excellent---he learned many valuable things about handling investments for his clients, and I had fun "having fun!"

Now, it's BACK TO REALITY!!!

Las Vegas, day 3...

"He's the "Entertainer of the Year" in Las Vegas, and his show is the hottest ticket in town. He's being called the finest entertainer in the business today, by entertainment critics and his peers alike and audiences of all ages go wild over his award winning show. Who is he? He's, singer, comedian, impressionist, actor Danny Gans."

We went to this show tonight and it was fantastic....just a fun, fun evening. Before the show we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory...and we finished off the evening back there after the concert for Godiva Chocolate cheesecake... baaaaad! :0)

During the afternoon, while the guys were at their meetings/classes, we took a shuttle to the Zappo's.com (shoe) outlet store. Those of you familiar with Zappos.com know that it is a great place to order shoes on-line. Well, we were thinking the Zappo's outlet store was going to be great!! WRONG....it resembled a very bad garage sale...tacky shoes in wild colors and styles, and many of them looked like they had already been worn!! Major disappointment. So, nothing to do but come back and play on the slot machines for a little while. I put in $20 and doubled it, so I cashed out, took the $$, and ran!

We have 1 more day...I think we are both ready to be home, 3 days in Las Vegas is just plenty!! :0)

Las Vegas, day 2...

Bad news, the "Wayne Brady" show at the Venetian was cancelled tonight! :0( But, good news, we went to the Wynn to see Le Reve and it was incredible!!! The reviews says: "French for "the dream," Le Rêve is a stunning journey of the soul. Through amazing acrobatics, aquatics and even flight, it explores concepts of damnation, redemption, lust, love, loss and laughter." The athletic, acrobatic talents of the performers in the show were absolutely incredible...they had to be gymnasts/swimmers/divers...all in one! It was fun!!!

Before the show we went to The Palm....another great dinner! It's going to hard to go "back to reality!" We walked miles today, and it was nice--in the 50's! I was hoping for warmer weather, but it is in the single digits at home, so I'm not complaining!! More tomorrow....

Las Vegas, day 1....

We had a fun day today...LOTS of walking, and it was 55 degrees...yipee!! It's in the 20's at home, so even though we were hoping for warmer weather, we will take 55!! It was just great to be able to walk outside in the sunshine with NO snow around....loved it!

I spent a "little" time on the slot machines---Jim was watching the football game---and I lost my head and did the quarter machines (even though I usually don't got over the nickel slots!) I "threw caution to the wind" and put in $20 (80 quarters!)....yikes!!! Well, good news, I kept winning and got up to 410 quarters...I should have quit, right?? Well, I just couldn't! :0) But, the story does have a happy ending...I did stop when I got down to 160 quarters, so I walked away with $40!! I was proud of myself...doubled my $$$! I would never make it on Deal or No Deal....it's hard to stop when you think the next time you will hit the "BIG" one!

We are off tonight with everyone from the office for dinner at Spago....looking forward to some very good food, and a fun night!

Off to Las Vegas...

We are off to Las Vegas on Saturday...WOO HOO, 5 days out of this snow and cold!!! We are going with the partners in Jim's office and their spouses...a class/work for the guys and FUN for the wives!! The meeting is at Caesars Palace, so that is where we are all staying. I can't wait!!

Besides all the normal, fun stuff we will be doing, we have tickets to see Wayne Brady at the Venetian...and, also Danny Gans...

I'm sure I'll have to spend a little time with the slot machines...I can get several hours entertainment on a nickel machine! But, quarter machines scare me...I keep thinking 4 quarters make a dollar, and I don't want to lose that much $$$! :0) (Let's face it, I'm easily entertained!!)

To the "spoiled" under 30 crowd...

Even though I'm just barely over 3o.... I can relate! :0)

When I was a kid...

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning .... Uphill BOTH ways...Yadda,yadda,yadda.
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of stories like that on my kids about how hard I had it, and how easy they've got it!

1. When I was a kid, we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the dang library and look it up ourselves...In the card catalog!! (Do you even know what a card catalog is?? Didn't think so!)

2. There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter...With a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

3. There were no MP3's or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the dang record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usuallytalk over the beginning and mess it all up!

4. We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

5. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn'tknow!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

6. We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like"Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics were horrible! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

7. When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, too bad!

8. Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like15 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying?? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

9. And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire ... Imagine that!? If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing or a pan with HOT oil and Real popcorn kernels and shake it all over the stove forever like an idiot.

10. When we were on the phone with our friends and our parents walked-in, we were stuck to the wall with a cord, a 7 foot cord that ran to the phone-not phone base, the actual phone. We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers. If you suddenly had to go to the bathroom - guess what we had to do..... Hangup and talk to them later.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled!! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

Just a "few" highlights of 2007...

*FAMILY...having our family all together...days like these are way "too few and far between!!

*Our special birthday/anniversary trip to Chicago for St. Patrick's Day. Incredibly, fun weekend!!

*Two visits from Jean....here we are enjoying a summer evening with Ellen and Tricia!

*Having our house "on the market" (and keeping it "show ready 24/7)!!

*Weekends at the lake!

*A trip to Michigan in the fall.

*Putting our name on the "waiting list" for a condo at Belle Monte (Phoenix)...should have "our" condo sometime in 2008! And, of course this trip included a visit to Jean's (we helped her move into her new condo at Belle Monte!)

*You all know how I feel about these 5....they make every day a GREAT day!!!

"From This Moment" Valentine Mini Album...

I'm thinking "Valentines"...Coming up January 27th at Paper Pals, I hope you can join me to make this “love”ly 6x6 album filled with the new “Loveland” paper from Scenic Route, quotes, ribbons, and... even a CD with the song "From this Moment" by Shania Twain!! By adding your own wishes and special photos you will make a one-of-a-kind keepsake... the perfect gift for your special Valentine. I'm limiting the class to just 12, so don't miss out! :0)

7 Random Facts Tag...

I was tagged by Shawna to do this fun survey. The rules of the game:
• Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog, we all want to know them.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
•Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok, here goes...7 Random facts about me:
1. I married my high school sweetheart
2. I was a part owner in a children's clothing store
3. When I buy something I can't take the "front" one on the shelf...I have to reach behind and
take one from the back.
4. Driving out of town on snowy/icy roads is a scary for me!!!
5. I was captain of the Nampa High School drill team
6. You will find me in my PJ's most nights right after dinner (in the winter!).
7. I have a hard time using some of my "favorite" scrapbook supplies...I don't know why I'm
"hoarding" them! :0)

I am tagging:
Jean
Kristan
(All my other "blogging friends" have already been tagged!!)

S...N...O...W...

This is the view from our front door this morning....oh, my gosh, we have SNOW!!! I don't remember this much snow in many, many years!!! And, it looks like my "teacher friends" snow dance worked...today is a SNOW DAY!!! I'm thinking this white stuff is going to be around until Easter!! :0)

Oh my gosh....

It's 9:30 PM, and Jim just went out to snow blow for the third time today...a record for us!! This is a lot of snow...we haven't seen this much in many, many years!! I think my "teacher friends" are doing the "Snow Day" dance!!! :0) I'll update tomorrow!! (Phoenix in 29 days...but, who's counting!!)

Some cousin fun...

One of the best parts of the holidays is being able to bring family together. I just love this picture of R and K...Uncle John was teasing the girls and they were having such fun together! I treasure these moments...they are too few and far between for me! For those of you with your family all living close by---count your blessings! :0)

Welcome to my world...

I took these pictures outside today...it is beautiful (I'm trying really hard to remain positive about winter!!), but, I am sooooo ready to be done with snow!! We had a white Christmas, now it's time for spring....right??!!

For all those Christmas pictures you took....

If you took as many Christmas pictures as I did, this is the class for you!!! In just 2 hours, 6:30-8:30 on Thursday, January 10th, you can join me at Paper Pals, complete this "CHRISTMAS MEMORIES" mini album, and have a home for those pictures...voila'...done!! Call now to register...208-883-4287! Hope you can join me!!

Now...back to reality for me...we arrived home last night to a driveway full of snow that needs to be shoveled, a house full of Christmas decorations that need to be taken down and put away, and suitcases full of dirty clothes that need to be unpacked and washed!!! So... I have a busy day ahead! :0)

Christmas 2007 roundup....

Well....we are about to put "Christmas, 2007" in the record books...and scrapbooks...and while I have a little extra time here on vacation I was able to get all of my pictures uploaded to Shutterfly, prints ordered, and I am ready to hit the ground running when we get home. It's funny how being away from my scrapbook room for a few days really puts me in the mood to go back and "create!" :0) (Don't get me wrong, I have loved every single minute of our time here with Sarah, Jon and baby L., but we have to get back to reality sometime!)

While I was playing with my photos in Picasa today I made this collage of a few of our Christmas pictures. As you can tell, the highlight of our season centered around these 5 little ones!!

Lovin' Elmo...

I just knew that the 3 foot Elmo (that I carried all the way here) would be a hit, and I was right...he makes an excellent wrestling partner!! We only have 1 more day here...it's going to be hard to leave L....he is a cutie and so much fun! He goes non-stop when he's up...thank goodness he is a good sleeper, when he goes down for his nap and at night we all just "veg"...and play Euchere and watch football! It was a good thing Michigan won today...lots of happy "Wolverines" here tonight! :0)