Sending Hugs and Kisses

I can tell that it is spring because Bad Bad Billy The Birdfood Stealer is back. I saw him today. At first he just leaped gracefully across the tender new shoots of green grass, I thought 'I know it's you Billy.'. He came to a stop underneath the freshly filled bird feeder and pretended for a few moments to be satisfied with the seeds the birds had dropped. 'You can't fool me' I thought as I watched from the kitchen window. I turned briefly to get my camera and as I turned my face back to him I saw him sneer and his beady little eyes glinted in the faint rays of sun peeking through the clouds. Quickly I rushed to turn the camera on, I wanted to see his expression when he realized I had fixed the feeder. You see I have a "squirrel proof" bird feeder, it is spring loaded and when something as heavy as a squirrel attempts to climb onto it the outer part lowers and closes off the feeding holes with what previously appeared to only be decorative metal leave...

Wow, I was so excited to read what inspires you ladies. I have to say that I am inspired by product, I get so giddy over the new stuff that comes in. It's probably good that MK developed the two week rule, because I have way more stuff than I will ever use and I am beginning to fear that my scraproom will get so stuffed that it will fall into the basement:) Seriously I have had nightmares about this! So what else inspires me, I really got to thinking about this and ala Chrisytn I thought I would come up with a list, of 10, not seven because we all know I can't stop there! Please know these are in random order, that is how my brain works. 1. Moments with Coley, quiet or loud, happy or sad. 2. Nature, I love to hear the sounds of birds early in the morning, it reminds me that each day is new and fresh, sure the same old problems are still there but how I approach them can be different. 3. Friends, I am blessed to have amazing friends, they teach me new things about myself everyda...

Nothing feels quite as nice as waking up on a cold morning and trudging into the bathroom only to be greeted by a shiny tub and fluffy white bath mat! (Insert smiling face here) This afternoon I came home to find my fluffy new bathmat on the sofa alongside three different shoes, one shoe belonging to each member of our family, and Coleman's pajama pants. Snuggled in amongst the oddities was Edgar. Edgar is a peculiar dog. Yesterday, he won the lotto. I came home and discovered him atop a nest of glitter, paper, and cash. It seems that Coleman's birthday card from Grandma arrived in the mail. Edgar believes, wholeheartedly, that mail is his enemy, so... he destroyed it. Oh Eddie. (Insert sigh here) Thankfully none of the money was torn and was happily accepted at Toys R Us. In the spirit of all things crazy that Edgar does I have included one of my favorite Edgar photos. Have a good weekend and watch out for Weiner Dogs, you never know what they are going to do!

Due to the fact that I have been wordy or wordless the last few days, I think that I will recap CHA quickly for you.... Lots to see, lots to do, stayed with really cool girls. Heather won a Slice on Day 1 f the show, Erin won a Slice on Day 2 of the show, I won a Slice on Day 3 of the show, thanks to the help of Emily and Heather "Here's Technique Tuesday" more about this later, Vivian won a Slice an hour later, and Mary Kay won a Slice 2 minutes after Vivian, thanks to my screaming, she can no longer complain about how vocal I am. Then Day 4 ... Emily wins a Slice! After some thought we realize Em was with each and every one of us who has won and that she is the talisman! This was pretty amazing considering she worked the October Afternoon booth half days, everyday! Thanks Emily for hanging with me when I was in my hour of desperation! Okay the show was great and I loved hanging out with Mary Kay and the girls at night. Janna was super cool and Erin was just as nice a pe...

I feel wordy in a bullet point sort of way today so here it goes.... CHA Day 2 -I awoke before the other snoozing occupants of my room and claimed the first shower only to find that my shampoo had leaked all over all of my other hair care products, all had to be rinsed before I could proceed with my morning routine. I did have the presence of mind to pack them in a ziploc before traveling so at least I didn't have to clean out the suitcase too. -Everyone else wakes up and Janna proceeds to do her hair in my TH mirror, wow, two scrapping celebrities in one mirror, how cool! I will be bronzing it now:) -We meet up with girls for breakfast. -We discover the horrors of the hotel's continental breakfast. -Several of us make a beeline for the Hilton and the sanctuary of Starbucks. Have you ever noticed that Starbucks always feels like home, this is probably because here in CO we have one on every corner and in every market. -Ahhh, the sweet sensation of sipping my Triple Venti, non-f...

Thank you to all of our friends and family for your beautiful comments on our sweet girl. Above is another of my favorite pics of Belle. I will post later today about some of our California and Keystone adventures. Thank you again for your kindness.

For the past week I have been reading this great blog from a woman who calls herself The Pioneer Woman, not only does she take great photos and write with finesse, she also has a blog about her cooking. You can find both here http://thepioneerwoman.com/ (follow the links to The Pioneer Woman Cooks). Anyway our family has been testing out her down home recipes this week and we have to say they are really good! The Chicken Spaghetti and Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich are awesome! It's been a challenge to prep as much as I can ahead of time before work so the we don't have to eat at 8pm (no offense to those who do, we are just a 5:30/6pm kinda family) but it has been worth it! To any meat eaters reading my blog you have to try the sandwich it is a true family pleaser, Coley even asked if he could take the leftovers for lunch! Another trick that I remembered this week is from my Gram, she was a great cook and a really wonderful woman! Gram used to make a big salad once a week...