Living on the Edge

Shedding the Old...and making some cards while I'm at it!

Here it is:  New Year's Eve!  Another year has ended.  My main resolution for 2009 is to shed the old and move forward with the good.  If it's not something that ads to me becoming a better person, a better mom, a better teacher...then it's going to be left in the dust.  If that means losing pounds, or losing a website business or blog...so be it.  I am ready for some change again.  I have to mix things up a bit.  Of course, this blog isn't going anywhere...but I am meaning to add more to it as the days and month of 2009 progress.

One of the things I realized is that I haven't been using my creative side much these days.  My camera as well as my scrapbook supplies have been collecting dust!  This week I have been dusting both off. 

 So first I am going to post some Thank you cards I made quickly and very inexpensively I might add!  Some winter...Sno-kane...photos will follow shortly as well!

The striped card is from the .60 cent bin at Michaels.  I bought about 6 packs of them.  They are called Perfectly Posh.  8 cards and envelopes in a pack...what a steal!  I used my Cricut to cut the Thanks and mounted it on CTMH chocolate cardstock.  Tied off a pink ribbon and a pink glittery heart that I bought on clearance somewhere...and ta da... It's done!

My husband didn't get the T U on the card.  my texting kids did though! LOL!  These were also cut on the Cricut and mounted on CTMH chocolate cardstock.  A little fiber and....Simple!

 

o.k.  this one was wicked simple.  Just attach three blue chip board letters and done!  When I run out of the chip board ones that match, I'm just going to cut them out with my Cricut.

 A little sanding on the cardstock letters and it adds a softer contrast around the edges.  Another glittery pink heart and this one is good to go!

This is what my first Thank You card is going to be written for:

My fun Christmas toy...the Cricut Design Studio.  It is software that loads onto my laptop.  Now my laptop can communicate with my Cricut and I can mix designs from the various cartridges onto a template on my computer then lay it all out and hit cut!  No more guessing about size and will it fit!  What fun!  I am putting together some fun calendars this week with it.  I'll be sure to take pictures and share!

Snow and more snow!

Here are more pictures of the snow of 2008!

The road to our house.

The snow blowing out of the trees.

What's left of our Christmas decorations...actually this was a week ago.  Now he's completely under the snow!!!

 

The Spokane River from the Charles bridge.

Christmas morning

The bird bath a few storms later...

 

A day later....and.....

 

The bird bath yesterday after the foot of snow we had fall between 6:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.!

Stuck Inside and Snowbound!

Well here something fun to do to make use of your time stranded at home due to the weather.  (We had over 9 inches today!)  creating Keepsake just announced a new Call for Submissions.  They are looking for lots of creative ideas from everyday scrappers like us.

Here is the link to the site's call page:  Project Submission

I just made some thank you cards last night.  I used an assortment of supplies and my new Design Studio that works with my cricut cutting machine.  I will post them when I get a moment to download the camera card.

Military Wife Poem

The Online community is awesome because we can connect with so many people that we would never have connected with otherwise.  I may never go to Texas in my lifetime, but I enjoy learning about life there through some great mom bloggers.  One of my favorites is The Pioneer Woman.  She is my dream of what I would like my blog to be someday...without being the homeschooling mom. 

My mom sells things on Ebay and she came across another Texas mom blogger who bought some books from her before Christmas.  Misty is a proud military wife and mom to 3 great (gorgeous!) kids.  Her blog is www.thackerx5.blogspot.com.  She wrote this amazing poem which I thought sums up the life of a military wife pretty darn well!  Read her poem and let her know how much you enjoyed it!

The backbone of the home you see.
That's what the military wife is to me.
Guarding the fort while her husband's away,
Defending and protecting his country each day.
Though many forget the importance of her role in his life,
Please, Sir, don't forget the military wife.
The woman who primarily raises her children alone,
The one who strives to make a "house", a home.
The one who sacrifices the time she could share,
The one who has many responsibilities to bear.
The woman who is married to a protector of the world,
The one whose life stays fairly unfurled.
I say again, kind Sir, don't forget the role
  she plays in his life.
Yes, dear Sir, the military wife.
The woman who stands by her husband's side,
The one who takes life stride by stride.
The woman who wonders when he's far away,
The one who prays for his safety
  and sends tender love his way.
Next time you look into a soldier's eyes,
Think of the one who stands by his side.
The one left behind, the encouragement in his life....

The woman who's called the MILITARY WIFE.

5 more inches and counting

So I spent yesterday shoveling.  Shoveling out the woodpile.  Shoveling the trail to the woodpile. Shoveling the entrance to the shop.  Shoveling DD's turnaround so his truck doesn't get stuck when he backs out for work at 6 in the morning (prior to the first cup of coffee).  Shoveled the shop driveway so the gate will open.  Shoveling a path on our back deck for DD to find his way in after he gets home after dark.  Shoveling the front driveway all the way to the street so I can park in the garage. Shoveling the front porch twice.  Shoveling the neighbors driveways and front walk so she could get to church....and so on. 

I was so tired I fell asleep last night at 11 and didn't wake up until 10 a.m. this morning!  I can't even believe how late I slept!  I think it was before children the last time I slept that late. 

So then I woke up this morning and guess what I found?

That would be FIVE new inches of snow!!

So what does any mom do?

MAKE THE KIDS SHOVEL IT TODAY!!  Isn't that why we had kids in the first place?

Our Family Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

More from the Winter Wonderland

Buddy is giving me the look:  HELP!  Get her off me!

The snow is up to the front porch!  So much for the candy canes!

There is nothing yummier than fresh, fluffy snow!

It's fun to fall into as well!

This bear would rather be hibernating I think!

Way out on the edge here!

I haven't posted in a bit.  I've been busy...very busy...beyond busy.  I'm in the mode where I'm actually fitting 26 hours worth of stuff into 24 hours.  It's insane even for a multi-tasking mama such as myself.  I actually fell asleep at 9:00pm last night!  Right there in the chair in the living room.  Now I just need to start that little drool thing going down the side of my cheek and they can put me into a home!

Winter vacation began...two days early with two snow days.  We had a record snowfall in a single 24 hour period: 23.3 inches!  Now don't think the snow stopped there...oh no!  We probably had a total close to 30 inches here.  It looks like less after a day or two cuz it's settling down now.  It was the cold arctic stuff.  Perfect, I'm in heaven, powder for the skiiers!   And now we can literally ski off the back deck! 

I'm not complaining about the snow.  I LOVE it!  Although clearing two long driveways of two feet of snow is a bit much for any snowblower.  It took TWO of them to do it.  The first one died. I ordered the part yesterday, expedited delivery for just about as much as it cost for the part, to be delivered Tuesday.  My neighbor's snowblower broke it's v-belt.  Bet you didn't know they had v-belts did ya?  Nope, me neither, but after reading the diagram on Sears.com and talking to two different parts people...that's the part.  And do you think they have any in stock in the whole county?  If you were to say no...you'd be hitting the mark!  Why would they have parts stocked in winter?  Why?

So now it's back to the shovel and the flakes keep falling.  Now along with the flakes, I'm going to share with you my desktop weather graphic on my laptop.  The cold arctic air settle back in for another visit this month!  With the cold, we are definitely assured of a White Christmas. (bet you started humming the song didn't you?  Just can't help yourself!)

For those of you from warmer climates that happen upon my blog, please note the 10 does have a minus sign before it.  And those of you in California who only saw the minus before a number during a high school science lab experiment--that means BELOW ZERO!  And just so you know, it's 9:00 a.m. right now!  Yup...it's cold!  And more of those little white flakes are falling from the sky. 

But here is the weird part, the sun is peeking out from the clouds too.  We just have it all out here on The Edge!

Well, I promised mom and BD pictures...so here are some from the white world of Washington!

The bird bath...for those birds that need a cold shower I guess.  yeah, I forgot to move that one in to the shop.

 The deck railing.

What type of blog do I write?

Well, when I do get a chance to sit and write, that is what I wonder.  Personally I think I'm a distracted and procrastinating blogger.  What I mean is that, right now I should be doing about 5 other things OTHER than sitting here typing on my blog, but I find things online all the time...and my dear husband isn't around to show them to...so I have to share them NOW. Because in 5 minutes it will be gone from my mind and if I try to find it again AFTER I let the dog in, I won't be able to!!  So here is a funny little test I did on my blog:

It's called the Typealyzer.  You plug in your blog and it analyzes your writing...Ok, I do think it's a hoax.  If it wrote this after all my posts during the election process....

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

It must be a hoax!  Second paragraph is pretty right on, but the first one...well anyone that knows me knows that I am a planner with a capital P.  And entertaining? Well let's just say we don't invite people over a lot (unless of course we want the house cleaned really well) because I chew off my nails worrying that people won't show up!

Analysis

This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing:

This is the part of my brain that I'm supposedly using when I do this blog.  I'm probably using this part only because the rest of it is full up with mothering information or fried from packing lunches for everyone at 6 in the morning!  I'm seriously thinking about taking up the coffee habit.  I've never been a coffee drinker....but the jr high bus schedule is killing me!  That was a bit off topic, I must have jumped over to the Thinker side of my brain for a moment!

Send Good Thoughts Our Way!

I came across this on the WorkItMom website.  It was pretty fun.  Thought I'd post it.  Everyone needs to keep good thoughts for us this week.  I may have long term teaching job starting the end of this week!  We could sure use it since our house hasn't sold yet.