If I could ever stay awake long enough....

I'd post my big news on here...

But again I am falling asleep in this darn cozy recliner. I'll give you a hint though....Monday was my birthday & I got a pretty cool gift (from myself) Can you guess what????

I promise I'll share soon...

Snickerdoodles for soldiers

These went to my daughter & her friends in Iraq, but its the best recipe for snickerdoodles I have found yet. If you want to make some for yourself you can find the recipe here at my other blog. Enjoy!

A mother's pride

Feeling so proud tonight and missing this beautiful girl so much.

She's been on deployment in Iraq and due home in December.....she can't get here soon enough for me!!!

She's spends her working hours in these tracking submarines...

Even with the brutal heat she is living in wearing full gear she has kept in good spirits & has formed such a strong bond with her crew and still manages to have fun. I think she has also gained an even stronger love & appreciation for her country while there.

Even in this environment she is still smiling, having fun and loving life.

So very proud of you my beautiful brave girl !!!

working long hours in between the fun with friends...

While we are cozy at home in our with our soft beds & home cooked meals...this is where they are living...

And they are there for us, our country & our freedom. Let's not ever forget what they are sacrificing for us and if you pass a soldier on the street don't be too shy to thank them for all they do.

Layout share #2

Below is the second layout I was too tired to post last night.

The color didn't photograph very well with the cardstock for some reason. The cardstock on the right and left of the page is actually gray but looks more blue here. This photo is of Jake & I at the Luau dinner show in Disney and is a reminder to me of how much fun we have together whether its here at home or on vacation. Love this boy !!


The scalloped chipboard circle is from Maya road (painted gray with pearl accents added) and the orange/yellow behind it is actually a velvet flower. Love when things unexpectedly come together in totally different ways than you had originally planned to use them.

The "flocking" around the title is something new I picked up at my favorite scrapbook store called flower soft

Its pretty cool stuff....feels like tiny little plastic shavings. I think its mostly used by cardmakers & stampers in landscapes etc. But I'm glad I got some for myself. Its always fun to play with something new on your pages isn't it?

Layouts to share

I actually finished 2 layouts today but its been a busy day and I am too tired to get them both posted right now. I promise to get the second one on here soon.

The one below is with what I think may now be one of my favorite color combinations. I love the aqua & teal colors with the grey. The grey dot cardstock is from Bo Bunny and they have so many yummy colors I wanted to buy them all. Love them !!! The die cut paper is from Crate Paper & while I'm not usually into "cute" papers I did like this one and thought it was the perfect happy paper to use on a layout about how lucky I feel to have had my dog's life spared in his recent anti freeze poisoning experience. Its a pretty basic layout wihtout a lot of extras but I liked how it turned out.

Back soon to share the other layout. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Ever feel like you just don't have much to say?

I know I've been a bit of a blog slacker lately but life has been pretty mundane lately and I guess I just don't have much to share.

Fall yard work has taken the place of creativity ...but don't give up on me ok? I've got a couple of pages in mind so hopefully I'll have something more interesting to share soon.

Happy Fall !!!

So very excited !!!!

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned my favorite scrapbook store...and I think I may have also mentioned a class coming up there that I was hoping to take.

I've always been pretty much a solo scrapbooker and the only classes I have ever taken have been at scrapbook conventions...while those were fun they were also sort of disappointing too as I didn't feel challenged by the pages planned for them.

But last night I signed up for a class that I am so excited about. It will be taught by an artist who has inspired me so much the past couple of years with her talent as well as her strength on a personal level during the sickness & loss of her husband to a brain tumor. The "Adoring Autumn" mini book she has created for this class is awesome (as is all of her work)

If you have not visited her blog yet and want to see her work & the beautiful album she created for this class she can be found here. Prepare to be amazed.

Meet Ella

I had to share this photo of our cute little neighbor. She came knocking at the door yesterday looking for Jake in this silly outfit. I asked her if that was going to be her Halloween costume & she said "no...I was trying to disguise myself from my Mom so she couldn't find me."


Too funny huh? Ella & her younger brother Willem have been great friends for Jake since we moved here a few years ago. Sadly though (for us anyway) their Dad is a pediatric cardiologist and about a year ago got a great job in New York City. So they moved back to their home there and came here on long weekends & school vacations. But now they have rented their home here & the new tenant will move in tomorrow. This is Jakes last weekend to hang out with his friends. We're sad to see this nice family move away but they have made many friends in Princeton so they will be back for visits occasionally I'm sure.

A place for cooking...

Hi everyone...just a quick note to let you all that after much thinking about it I have finally decided to create a new blog.

I love to cook (when I have time) and while many of our meals are the old standbys that we have often or quick & simple weeknight meals, I also love when I can find some time to cook up a storm trying new recipes or old family favorites. So I thought I'd create a blog where I can share recipes...and who knows..maybe some of my favorites can become yours as well.

There are no recipes there yet as I just finished creating it...but if you want to check it out & let me know what you think so far it can be found here . Check back soon and maybe I can inspire you to try something new as well.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone.

Mmmmmmmm.......

What comes to mind for you when you think "comfort food"? For me it's meals like meatloaf & mashed potatoes, homemade soup & hot fresh baked bread, shepherd's pie, beef stew etc.

But one of my favorite comfort foods begins with this.....

The 6 basil plants in my garden were so big & bushy I knew I needed to use them before a frost sneaks up on me one night & kills them. So I went out tonight & cut them way back and oh boy did it smell good coming in from the garden with my arms full of those fragrant cuttings.

Jake found me a recipe online for pesto that sounded good. It's here if you'd like to try it for yourself. The only problem I had is that after I washed, dried & picked off the leaves from the sinkful I had cut I had 12 cups of basil !!! So I had to multiply the recipe by 6. I made it without the cheese so I could freeze it (cheese doesn't freeze well) I'll add a bit of cheese to each serving as I thaw it & use it.

Thats a big bowl of pesto isn't it? And that's without the cheese. But you won't hear me complaining because pasta with pesto sauce is one of my very favorite comfort foods.

Of course I had to set some aside for dinner before freezing it. I had it tossed with cheese ravioli & angel hair pasta with some orange heirloom tomatoes from the garden mixed in. Oh my was it delicious !!! Blew my diet for sure with all that pasta, cheese & olive oil....but no regrets : )