I'm Not Hormonal, but I have Hotflashes

I am not hormal, I am not hormonal, it's the HorMONigees or lack thereof..
Whatever it is, it started with the Breast Cancer 11 years ago and I've been flashing, lighting fires, and living with my head in the freezer ever since.


I've also developed the VSP Veinte. Generally most new employees at VSP gain at least 20 pounds.
It could be the cafe on-site with good to love and hate to love foods on demand.
It could be the snack machines with not so good stuff available 24/7.
It could be the Fabulous Cake Day the last day of every month.
It could be the endless Potlucks.


It's most definitely a combination of all of the above. But please add to the fact that we are sedentary in our jobs. Hooked to a phone for 8 hours. Bio breaks acceptable but otherwise that's what we do.


Mind you that my arms and legs are still skinny as a rail, and I could disappear behind most fences,
frontal wise.
Side wise ain't pretty I tell ya.
I've always said I don't make New Year's Resolutions and this year was no different.


It's just coincidence that in this New Year, I've noticed that something touches my legs while sitting and my pants' waistline is touching my rib cage so I have vowed to do something about it.


Just sayin' it out loud. Tap! Tap! is this thing on?


I think it might be gross to document…but then no one is listening…right?

It's That Time of Year Again….

I'd like to say this was my birthday/BC Survivor Anniversary cake, it suites me so well...

But it wasn't.
If I go buy myself one, it will probably be more like this:

and that's the way life has been for me lately...

You and Me Together….Purchase for a Cause

From  June 1st- through the 30th, you can  purchase the You & Me scrapbooking kit for only $15 (a retail value of $34.95) and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross spring 2011 Floods and Tornadoes relief operations.

With the You & Me kit, you’ll create two fully embellished two-page layouts using the included instructions,  papers, D-sized stamp set and accessories. 

At only $15, this kit is more than 50% off the retail price. 

You’ll win by getting the kit at a phenomenal price, and those in the weather devastated regions will benefit from your charitable contribution.  

I am so PROUD that both of my favorite companies are doing everything we can to help those in our home states during these trying times.

Together we can make a difference, together we are stronger! 

And to see how VSP is helping out, check out this video from their Blog!

The End of 2010

This has been quite the year, and quite frankly, I am done with it.

As of late, I have been a very bad blogger. I admit it. Between living in two households while helping Gramie after her accident, working full-time which includes an hour each commute, and trying to keep my own household up, there wasn't much time for art or even a daily posting.

Recently, I lost a co-worker. He was a very sweet spirited person, loving/doting father/husband  and all around nice guy. He "sang" to our callers. Not "sing" in a musical way. "Sing" as in a soothing, sincere tone. It was incomprehensible that I will never hear that voice again. Ski on Kev.

Since his death, as most people do, I reflect. I don't reflect well. Most people reflect on the good, the positive. I reflect on regret. 

Should I have bought the second pair of TOMS?

(well, sure! a child gets a pair, too!)

Should I have gotten a less expensive new car?

(yea, I could tie all my stuff to the roof of any size car)

Should I have stayed away the first time I left this house 16 yrs ago?

(I don't honestly know where I would be)

Why can some people be negative, grumpy, uncaring and a sour-puss and I enable that?

(cause I have a great studio to hide from it)

See? I don't reflect like most people. 

Anyhoot; I found the perfect way to reflect with words:

Jumpin for Joy...and see ya yater!

Every 10-13 years, I've had to bite the bullet and buy a new car....
this time it wasn't easy, but I percevered! (sic)
Take a gander and picture it in my driveway, locked up tight while I'm in DC next week!

Touchy Feel Good parte 2

retail therapy...online no less!
and yes! they feel as comfy as they look. I can't wait to walk ON water to see the footprints I leave behind.

Touchy Feel Good...

lookie what arrived today!
Totally unique and one of kind.
See the over spray of paint? They paint your shoes ON the shoe box.
Not only are they comfy and (of course) in my Frame of Mind colors, but you feel good about the cause.
Toms

My Frame of Mind Lately...

'nuff said.

Warm Unders...

Babeeeee...it's cold in the am's here so it's time to get out the warm unders!

I saw this whole wall of warm unders at the State Fair...and of course this one caught my eye because of our white rabbit, Finola.

More Gifts of Friendship...

Ya know I am truly blessed.
I have friends who send me things just out of the blue...green...blue...green and sometimes even pink.
When I open these precious gifts whether hand-made or not, I know somewhere, someone loves me.
Here's a few of the things that today's mail brought me from Texas..my old long time friend Rae


The bracelets are FAB-U-LOUS! Mine of course have Pears and BC awareness ribbons because they are unique to me....there are stamp charms, glue gun, and scissors, etc.

and ya just never know, they could be bought, too!
Contact her here: rae@sheluvzhorses.com

And ya'll know how I LOVE Pears...so that watch...omygawrsh! TOO STANKIN CUTE!

Thanks Rae...love ya!

First day of a New Month...and a new CAR!

Yes, Haley Howard...your name was picked in a random drawing...for a new car!
(not really..it just popped out of our friend Craig's mouth as we pretended that we were picking up a friend on his lot)

Are ya kiddin' me? WHAAAT???!!
......(notice the sign overhead?)
No! We're NOT kidding...come back over here.....
and NO! it's not that red Corvette....
Will this little pretty blue Kia Rio do it for ya?
Oh YEA! Get outta mah waaaaaaay!!!

breath darlin...breath
Thanks for helping plan the surprise Gramie!
kurful honey...gwamie can't breav!


Thanks Craig!
"exactly which drawing did I enter?"
She's still a real blonde at heart.....

Now follow me home CAREFULLY until we get it added to the insurance....
Home at last...for about 20 minutes!

Another Tradition...

and it's NOT March Madness...but close!

Every April, the Alumni of my High School have a one-time fund raiser.
A team of Alumni (Apaches) players and the current Varsity (Bulldogs) team square off in a Basketball game.

Now just because the Alumni are "old", that doesn't mean we don't give the kids a run for their money...oh did I mention that we've raised an average of $50k each year just by emails alone?
Hard to believe this year will be the Encina High School 8th Annual Alumni Challenge!
(please take a peek at that link....you'll just be simply amazed at this very fun, but worthy event!!)
Every year proves to be a true fingernail knawing, knuckle cracking, rockin game!
I have perpetual layouts of a lot of my Reunion group of friends and sometimes I do include pics from the games, too.

One year after reading Donna Downey's "Yes! It's a Scrapbook", I wanted to find a way to put together what few pictures I have from High School. When I started to gather the pictures, much to my dismay, I found there's nar' but a few...however, I had TONS of memories.
So how do you capture the memories of school?
In a LUNCH box album, of course!!!
Here's the cover page (for lack of a better word)
This is the front of good ol Encina High School (we ARE the mighty APACHES;
here are some of the pages in no PAR-tic-U-lar order...

Now these are just 3 out of the four "class" photos (please for the love of God do NOT look too closely....)
A close up of the roads traveled to and from school (you'll notice the side street named "Hood" highlighted with a circle tag...sort of dejavu, eh?)
And of course the ROCKIN' Gremlin I use to drive the last few years of school (had to share with Dad, of course)
Now this is where scrappers get to take a creative license (pun intended)...I didn't have a photo of our Gremlin, so I "googled" Gremlin and lo and behold! there's actually a Gremlin fanatics website, so downloaded a photo of the the same style, printed it out and reversed sponged the color same as ours! haha oh, the cleverness of me!!!!
This is how I "documented" my memories...just started typing and man! I filled at least 4 of the pages! haha
The very last page of the memory pop ups have our school Alma Mata and Fight Songs.
This last one...shows my sister and I at her wedding (the first one! stab, jab, snark)
But my favorite photo is the one on the right...it's my long time friend Peggy...I will be visiting her this summer in Florida on the 21st anniversary of the LAST time I saw her!
The Sunshine of My Life is my Junior Prom Bid.
Well, thanks for taking a short walk down 4 years of my High School Memory Lunch Box!

It's that time of year...to support My FRAME of Mind!

Right along with MSBE, annual eye exams are a necessary evil...however!
I absolutely love them! I love my eye doc
I love Haley's eye doc Dr. Laraine Low, too (I use to work for her father years ago while she was just a pup in college) but their hours are not compatible with mine.

Ya know how some women shop for shoes and hand-bags?
Not me. Nope.
I shop for frames.
Why? Well, I just REFUSE to wear my mother's glasses. I love variety. I love fun and funky.
We wear the current trend of clothes (unless you're cleaning toilets, dog vomit and poop all day)
So tomorrow I'll have my annual routine comp. eye exam, and yippee! select my 3 pairs of glasses.
While these may represent me perfectly
I may have to choose something ....more....well....suitable for work!

See my sunglasses here. in tortoise shell.?.with DriveWear Lenses they'll be awesome!

Just Couldn't Resist!

It may not fit my Cricut Expressions machine (confirmed that upon arrival)...but who cares!?!
It'll be fabulously fun to take on my trip to Florida this summer.
I have a feeling this order might be one of those "stories"...will let ya know when it arrives!

Guess.....

What do Barbra Streisand, The Monkees, Cher, Rod Stewart, Boz Scaggs, Trisha Yearwood and her hubby Garth, The Bee Gees, Bread, The Tokens, and ME all have in common?


Bliss


and that's just the short list!
(guess which color I got!)

The Holiday Theme is...GREEN!

There's only one person in my house that makes sure there are gifts for me under the tree.
I love my daughter.
I love having a daughter who has a job and is willing to shop for me.
I love my daughter who shops for me and selects things I would enjoy.
I love my daughter who shops for things I would enjoy at her office...
IKEA!

The First Hand-Made Gift of the Year!

I have a "juel" of a friend in Washington..
her being a "Citrus Sister", me being a Cricut fiend...well, let's just say we're both a fan of GREEN!
I love what she surprised with today...my first (and I hope not the last) hand-made gift from the heart this Holiday Season!
Thank You sooo very very much, Juel!

Traditions....

I don't have that many traditions during the holidays, because the dynamics of the household would change year to year....hard to maintain some of them financially.

However...
There are some that cost nothing...and probably mean more.
First, decorating the tree...
As I hang these first, I say a simple prayer of gratitude and honor.



And then there's Mom's Annual Holiday Luncheon.
The tradition isn't so much the party, but what happens at the door.
Guests always wonder what (not who!) is going to greet them once they ring the bell.
One year it was



Another year


Which led to my all time favorite photo;


And just like the Academy Awards..........there's always CONTROVERSY at her party.......



(what? you didn't believe me when I said I grew up WITH I Love Lucy?)

Ok, so here's this years'
My oldest niece (got a nice guy around 35-40 and self sufficient for her?) came early to help Mom and was "chosen" to assist the guests in....she was singing...."and the stars are shining"


Then of course we were honored to have the Virgin Mary herself along with the newborn King, baby Jesus at this time of year, his birth!


As each guest arrived we all started singing..and of course they brought gifts as the story is told.

Voncille even arose to the occasion after being very ill to visit the treasured baby...


I am not on the receiving end during the holidays too often....so when that rare occasion happens, I too celebrate!

Holidays-a-Ho/Ho!

Love those new icecube trays from IKEA!
They just make your martinis so festive!


Ok, so NOW I'll say it's the Holiday season.
I simply refuse to do anything related to Christmas before Dec. 1st.
(the exception to that is hand-stamping my Christmas cards...gotta start that in July)

Now it's the 1st.
I've officially bought one gift.
It was for ME
It counts.
Been pinning for it for months.
Done pinning.

This weekend, I'll seriously do the decorating, but first gotta pack up the last few hundred Beanies to donate. We are down to 2 large plastic totes. Oy! the money tied up in those things!!
(want Beanies?)These were taken to the UCD Children's Hospital the day after Thanksgiving.



Was up at 3:44am (seriously couldn't sleep) so I went on line to check out the new Spring products from Close To My Heart. (some new product sneak peeks for you!)
Oh babeeeee! Lots of cool new papers, embellishments, and stamp sets. Very trendy!!!

Then I had to check out the new "Bellas"

Now it's time for coffee and to get moving.
I have other Blogs to peruse, but thought I should visit my own.
(not that anyone reads it, but I do enjoy chatting with myself and voicing my "Frame of Mind")

Awareness..it's all about the Pink

And for the Month of October, my frame of mind is....
AWARENESS

It's not just my birthday weekend, it's also my 7th year as a Survivor of Breast Cancer
So wear the word wherever you can...as long as you wear it!



Haley, her boyfriend and the bald, fat guy took me out to dinner tonite for my b-day which actually is tomorrow.
I did have a Kettel One, and glass of wine, so this is short and sweet.

www.amazonheart.org
www.komensacramento.org