Monday, September 26, 2011

Finished

Hubby finished the wall with our fireplace and boy it looks just beautiful.  No one would know that it wasn't original to the house if we didn't say it.  My hubby is truly a rock star!  What he has been doing inside this house is just amazing.  I worry about him since he is working so very hard, but boy he truly is quite talented.

Here are the pics -























He ran the electric for the sconces, put it all in himself, it looks great.  He and the kids ripped the carpet up two weeks ago and the floor is in fantastic shape.  We like the high gloss so we will do that.  Now he's just waiting for the wall paper.  Wait till you see that!  He's doing an elaborate ceiling design traditional to the Victorian homes.  I'm excited!

I Finally Did It!!

This past Saturday I finally took a class at my lss, Collective Journey!  I am soooo glad I did.  I happened to look at the calendar they put out and saw that the class was going to be an altered graphic 45 Magic of Oz mini-book.  For those of you who aren't familiar with graphic 45, this paper line is just amazing.  They have vintage looking wonderful designs and I love them.  I also have a major problem cutting the paper but after Saturday I don't think that'll be the case any loner. 

You can see their Oz line *HERE*  The class was taught by Andi, who was just an awesome teacher and fantastic artist.  You can check out her blog, Kutz Paper Scissors by clicking the title.  Very patient, took her time, had all the details cut out for us and each page paper clipped together for us.  I had a blast.  Here are the pics from my book -

























Didn't it come great!!  We used pop dots to add more dimension to the pages and stickles, glossy accents and crackle accents, some glass glitter, twine.  So many textures.  Graphic 45 lends itself to so many gorgeous ideas.  One funny thing, when we got there Andi asked each of us to pick a book.  They were hard covered books with no cover jackets.  Then we had to cut out the pages and just use the front and back covers!  I said to the other gals at my table, "this feels sacrilege cutting up a book like this." we were all giggling, but now if there are some books that are just shot, well I know what to do with em.  I was looking to see if it was a good book or not, me with my book blog and love of reading!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Another Passion

Another hobby I really enjoy is flower arranging.  I love to make my own centerpieces and wreaths.  Usually I'll be in Michael's, get my inspiration and then buy what I need and make it myself.  It certainly is much cheaper and I love creating them. 

I was in my favorite boutique, Mozart's, while my mom and aunt were here and they had a gorgeous piece up on a hutch hanging over the edge.  I knew I could make it myself so I went to Mike's and bought what I needed.  Not exact but just as beautiful.

Here's some shots -



















And now on it's perch -




















It sits up there with all my roosters that I just love!!  My kids forever tease me about having so many.

Have a great rest of the week ;)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Sound Off



Ok I just hadda say something about Sarah Jessica Parker.  She was on Anderson Cooper's new talk fest on Friday (yea just what we need another one) pumping her new movie, I Don't Know How She Does It. Not really interested in seeing it, not a big fan, didn't catch the SITC craze like so many did.  Here's my beef, she comes on and the two are chatting about her life and she's trying to pass herself off like any other red blooded American mom.  SAY WHAT!!!!  And there are all the gals in the audience smiling with dumb looks on their faces that say "see she's a regular person like us."  Uh, no she isn't!!  She's a multimillionaire with babysitters and nannies and assistants at her beck and call.  I'm sure her closet is the size of my bedroom and we know it's filled with top designer clothes, shoes and accessories.  Look I know these entertainers have money up the wazzoo, can spend and live, travel and experience in a way most of us can only dream of.   More power to ya, this is a capitalist society and if by some stroke of luck I could ever do that I sure would.  What sickens me is them trying to pretend they are like us and thinking some of us are ignorant enough to buy into that fallacy.  They aren't, they become cocooned with people who are at their beck and call and reality becomes a distant memory real quick, it's human nature.  I'm not saying that she isn't a nice person, but a regular gal, no sorry.

Ok, back to our regular scheduled program....;)

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I Hate Excercise!!


Yes I do I hate exercise but I do it five times a week with my two personal trainers Tony Horton and Jillian Michaels.  Ok, they aren't my real trainers, but they do help me.  Tony Horton does the P90X video which I do 3 times a week and it is killer, and Jillian has i-fit cards that go into my treadmill and boy does she work me out.  Sometimes I walk outside instead, but it isn't as intense as the treadmill since the card controls the speed and incline, whereas when I walk if I get tired I tend to just slow down.  Amazing intensity in both the workouts and even though I've been exercising for 2 years now, and doing the P90X since May it still isn't a habit for me.  I'll take not doing it any day.  It's a very conscientious effort on my part to do this even though the desire to not is so overwhelming, I'm not one of those people who if they have a headache hit the gym to feel better, or can't function without their workout, but I do it and I feel better for it.

Banner

For Des' shower I made her a banner which spelled out her name that I hung above the table she and her bridesmaids shared.  I love the way it came, and I used cereal boxes as the base and then glued my paper over it so it has some substance.  We have cereal up the wazoo here so saving the boxes beats buying chipboard hands down!  It's the right thickness for the cricut and I no longer have the cutting issues with it.  One thing, make sure it's trimmed properly so that it doesn't hang over the tacky part of the cutting mat or the guide wheels on the bug will get knocked askew by the board and it'll mess up the blade alignment on the 2nd pass, then setting the multi-cut to 3 and you're good to go.  I used my lost and found paper, I believe the musical notes was 7 gypsies but not 100%, some tulle and various lacy material that I glimmer misted as well as some Tim Holtz embellies and other knick knacks from my stash and viola!

Here are some pics -






















































I also made the favors, double heart bookmarks with some DCWV paper I had in my stash.

















I put the bookmarks in clear cellophane bags with purple swirly lollipops.  I was happy with how it all came.
*******

A little cricut cutting mat resticking tip.  I googled this and found a video on you tube.  I find this works better than zig, or spray adhesive, I've tried many different things and at one point had to just trash the mat.  I've done it twice now, had to since when I made her invites there was glitter aaaaall over the darned mat so it needed to be scrubbed then resticked...hmm new word there :)  I picked up the Aleene's tack-it over and over at Michael's and just followed the instructions in the video, make sure you do comdition your mat like she says so your paper doesn't stick heavily and tear when you try to remove it.  Take a peek, I don't think you'll ever buy another mat unless you absolutely demolish it.


Monday, September 12, 2011

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

On Saturday John went to see the Yankee's play the Angels at Angel Stadium.  This was his Father's Day gift from both me and Johnny-Boy.  He took John, MaryAnn and Santino.  This was Sonny's first pro game and he had a great time!  Sophia and I went shopping and for sushi which was great :)

Sadly they didn't win Saturday, but Mare got some awesome shots.  She is a major Yankee fan that girl!!

Here are some pics -














Mmmmm, churro's, two for 11 bucks, what a rip!!


Mark Teixeira stretching 

















At bat



















Brett Garndner, Curtis Granderson, and C C Sabathia pitching



















Saving the best for last!!  What a great shot of Derek Jeter!!!













On base

True Blood - That's A Wrap




Well this season is over and on the whole I give it a B- 

Previous season ratings -
Season 1  A+
Season 2  F - MaryAnn Debacle what a mess!!  Only redeeming part, Godric.
Season 3  C 

Alan Ball has twisted and rewrote it to his liking and making it just ok.  The first season which followed the book the closest was the best so far.  

This would have ended so much better if he would have let it be the all out war with the witches.  Instead he had ghosts come (including Sookie's Gran) to take Marnie's spirit were she had to go. One problem, Marnie KILLED Jesus and her other little witch friend so what should've happened is the evil spirits should have dragged her to hell.  Leave it to AB to not want that to happen.

Andy's storyline was dumb and who the hell was that fae that had a little tryst whit him in the woods?  Again pulling junk from no where.

Death toll, well Tommy, who I could care less about, Queen Sophie, holy crap AB you annihilated a whole damned story line there!! Jesus while nice really didn't mean all that much to me, and he told Laffy he'll always be there since L is a medium so I'm sure Jesus will turn up all the time.  Nan, good riddance, Debbie Pelt, ditto, and low and behold could we possibly be lucky enough to be rid of the traitorous fickle Tara!!??  I doubt it, I'm sure Eric or Bill will come to the rescue.

And who do you think let Russel out?  Had to be poor Pam.  I don't like how much animosity AB has put between Pam and Sookie.  By this point in the books Sook and Pam had a working respect for each other.  Pam is a great character and I love her witty ways, I don't want to see her done wrong.

On the whole, I'm addicted and will continue to watch if only to see if just once he'll follow the books a bit better, and the fact that I do love the characters.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Never Forget



How I will always remember my home's skyline.



One of the most iconic photos from that day

Every time I hear this song, I always think of him singing at the fundraiser the stars did days after


I can't believe it's ten years on Sunday that this aberration took place.  Time goes by, but it still hurts to think of all that was lost that day.  I remember not being able to get through to my Dad since the phone lines went bonkers to make sure my brother was ok.  He was a police officer at the time stationed right near the towers.  He was involved in search and recovery.   My father-in-law was on one of the construction crews that helped build the towers. My husband's partner's brother was a police officer in the aviation unit and flew a chopper above the towers videoing the whole thing.  One thing we both felt was this intense urge to go home, with hubby being a retired cop his desire to be in there helping was so overwhelming for him.  My family said the ashes traveled to Brooklyn and as they cleaned it was so sad knowing that people were mixed in that debris that they swept.

This is a day we must always remember, there are still those out there that would relish our demise and who pray for it on a daily basis. I'm glad to know that in my daughter's class this whole week they talked about it.

Remember this day always.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Surprise!

My daughter Desirae's Bridal Shower was this past Sunday and we had a great time!  Other than the heat, coming in at about 105, all went great.  I had two misting fans going to help cool us down.  Des got so many wonderful gifts.  Her memory album was a big hit.  Going through all those pictures from when she was born to now was quite a trip for me.  The second and third pages are of my mother-in-law and my dad who are no longer with us and that was a bit tough for me.  Of course she cried when she looked at it as did my daughter Victoria.  Memories truly are a great thing to have and we have many wonderful and funny ones to always share.

I've done a slide show of the album, and some from her party.



What made it all even more special was my mom and my aunt both being here to share this day with us.  Before you know it November will arrive.


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