Merry Christmas!

Here is a quick photo of my tree. My hubby wasn't thrilled with the 9 foot tree I picked out but he ended up liking it. It was a lot of work getting it into the house and in the stand. The big ladder was needed to decorate the top! My boys were thrilled when they saw it. We've always had short 6 footers because of the ceilings in our old house.

We had a nice time unwrapping here and ate a breakfast casserole and cinammon rolls, a tradition, and then headed to my aunt's house. I had such a good time visiting with my cousins, aunts, uncles. One of my cousins was in from Oregon, another from NYC, and another from Washington, DC. It's always nice to catch up with them.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Any early Christmas....

I can't remember if I posted about winning on Let's Scrap with my very first challenge. It's just a random pick, it's not about the talent! Anyway, I got my goodies in yesterday's mail. It came from Apron Strings. I got the three shown in smaller than a breadbox (?).

















I am so looking forward to getting back to stamping and scrapping, it's not even funny. Before I do that, I need to get my cork floor installed in my new room. Before that, we need to clear out the room. It's currently our junk room.

Whirlwind...

Boy, there's been a whirlwind of activities at my house! I took part of Thurs. off so that the electrician could finish the jobs my hubby had for him. I watched the crew digging up my well in the frigid temps and felt so bad for them! I did take a couple of pictures from inside the house but they are at home on my camera. Then I went to work and my hubby waited for the furniture delivery.

WELL.....they tried to deliver the wrong color. It was supposed to be sage green and it came in saddle tan. It was a special order which we ordered back in Sept. because it takes 8 weeks. Then it came in but I was in temporary living so I put the delivery off for three weeks. All that to send them away!! Today they called to make it right. They are redelivering the tan furniture so we have something for Christmas. The funny thing is it looks like the tan might end up matching the walls and carpet better than the sage. We could end up keeping it. Either way, we'll have the tan furniture until the other comes in, or until we decide it looks nice with the carpet and walls. Whew! That delivery will be 12/23.

The cable boxes weren't working in my mom & son's bedrooms. Hubby called Comcast and they are having an issue with the boxes only in NH and they don't know what the problem is yet. Weird. It seems whatever can go wrong has so far!

On the good side, it's starting to look and feel like home.

Gotta love those ebates...

No, it's not a typo. I joined Ebates a while back because I got a free $5 to sign up. I've been using it every time I shop online and I've been racking up the dough! My first rebate check was close to $25 and I already have $14 toward the next bunch.

All you do is click through ebates when you shop online and you get a certain percentage back. For example, today I purchased a book on Barnes and Noble. I got 8% back because that's what B&N is offering. I never get spam from them, just an email telling me the latest deal. When it came to the end of the time period (I think it's each month?), they just deposited the money in my paypal. How easy is that?

So....if you shop online and you'd like me to send you an invite, please leave your email. You'll get $5 and I'll get a referral fee.

Pounding, pounding....

My poor hubby worked like a dog on Sun. and last night painting the my mom and my son's bedrooms and we finally cleared the furniture out at 1:30 a.m. He had to get up and go to work.

I know it sounds horrible but I'm thrilled to hear pounding on the floors above. I am finally getting carpet in our bedrooms and family room. Now we can get settled in the rooms and my mom can move back in. We still have to do the closets over in two rooms though and also paint our bedroom.

Anyway, the kitchen, dining room and two bathrooms are unpacked and looking decent. This week will get our family room close to done. Our new t.v. will be delivered tomorrow and sectional on Thurs. Then we will need to order some tables, paint and hang pictures. Somehow we have to find the time to get a Christmas tree and do all that this weekend. Oh yeah, and I still have some shopping to do.

p.s. I also have to find curtains! The funniest comment was my hubby saying, "We'll have curtains before Christmas, right?" I said, "Are you kidding me?! NO." He said it was going to look funny in the Christmas photos. I don't care.

Views....

I promised to update with a picture. Here's the view from my family room. We are up pretty high so it's a nice view. We have a few apple tress out back. Our neighborhood was an apple orchard way back before they developed 7 yrs. ago.

I'm so exhausted and I have no idea when I'll be settled or decorated for Christmas. I know I will not get to the Christmas cards this year. I just cannot do it. Next year I'll be organized once again!!

Sorry to my FB friends! I'm begin redundant.

We have two of these windows in the family room. If you know of any great decorating ideas, please let me know. I have no idea what to put on these without covering them, yet we need some coverage for at night. The second photo is looking out toward the side/back yard at some apple trees.

YES!!!!!!!!!!

After a LONG two months, we finally closed on our new house. The movers came early on Sat. and worked all day. Every muscle in my body aches. We have so many stairs!

The kitchen is organized and I cleaned bathrooms and unpacked a few other things but it's going to take forever to be completely settled.

I wanted to post the view from my window on Sat.morning but it's on my laptop at home. I just love being able to say that word!!! I'll try to update tonight.

Those gorgeous temps from last week are long gone. We got 3 inches of snow on Sat. and it was 24 degrees when I left this morning. Brrrrrrrrrrr......

MIA and warm temps...

First off, my hubby just called to say that the thermometer in his car reads 70 degrees!!! Can you believe it? December in New England and 70?!! It's crazy.

Anyway, we are hopeful for a closing tomorrow. I just wanted to say that I can't get cable/tv/internet for a bit so I won't be here much. I guess it all depends on when I return to work.

I made a card last night, or I guess you could call it that. I have no ribbon or embellishments to match so I may go out on my lunch hour. Tonight may be my last night to play for a while!

It's been a crazy two months and I seriously hope it's over tomorrow.

No news is bad news....

Quick update - no closing yet this week. We have not heard from the bank. We are now being told Friday afternoon which meant a few delivery/installation cancellations. Now if we close Fri., mover will come on Sat. and we won't have the new t.v. or Comcast service (cable, phone, internet) until the 14!! Needless to say, I am not happy.

Disappointment and disconnection....

Ugh...today had to be one of the most disappointing days of my life! After a long 6+ weeks, I thought we were going to close. We did the walk-through on our house and were driving toward the closing when my attorney called. He was waiting for a final approval from the bank and it didn't happen. While we were waiting to find out if it was off, we went to my favorite Mexican restaurant and it was closed. Gotta love Mondays. So we headed to another and had burritos and margaritas. I should have had a few because then we found out it just wasn't happening today.

Tomorrow is another day and I seriously hope I don't waste more vacation time. I'm waiting until the last possible minute to leave work.

If we do end up closing, we will not have internet service at home until Friday.

Let's Scrap...

Found a new place to play called Let's Scrap (see side bar for link). This site has scrap/stamp sketch challenges each week. This week I got picked for my lame card made with limited supplies. I'm so excited! It's my first. I forget what the prize is but it looked pretty sweet! I'll post if I can find it or when I receive it.

Anyway, I can't wait to unpack and get back into scrapping. I love the sketches I've seen so far.

p.s. Could be sooooooon!!

Thankful for you...

I just wanted to say I am very grateful for having each and every one of you as online friend (a couple are IRL as well). I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. Gobble til you Wobble!!

More sweet candy....

I just found this blog through Ink Something. From there I went to Creative Jeans and then to Simply Beautiful. Check out the candy at Simply Beautiful. Don't cha just love finding new blogs to browse?!! Have a good weekend, everyone!

Fun stuff....

Well, I didn't finish any cards the last two nights but I sure did have fun on Tuesday night. My son and his girlfriend stopped by to visit and she's been saying how she needs a hobby. I was coloring in some images and she was watching me. I told her to color. She colored in an image, getting use to my Copics. Then she did another and asked how she makes it into a card. I promptly showed her how to cut, glue down and embellish with what little I have! She was so happy with her completed card. I told her we could make much better ones once I get into the house and unpack my stash! I hope I've turned her into a stamper. I'm thinking that will be her Christmas gift - a little starter kit. I just love passing along my addictions.

Thankful?

It's been a while. I have no good news to report so I've stayed away. I have a feeling Thanksgiving will come and go and I won't be able to say I'm thankful for my new house. Our agreement says 11/30 or before. My gut tells me it will be on the 30th and I'm not too happy about that.

Anyway, I made this card for a good friend last night. They are all starting to look alike since I have no Nesties, Cuttlebug, buttons, ribbon (except su old olive), etc. This is a Dustin Pike free digi stamp. He's very talented. You should go and check him out if you haven't already! I haven't decided whether or not to put a sentiment on the right. I'll see if the right one hits me....something like gobble, gobble. The papers are all SU. Thanks for looking!

** Edited to add that it's for Stamptacular Challenge #33. I never enter challenges. There's way too much talent out there. Anyway, my incredibly talented friend, Paula convinced me to enter so I did.

















I decided to just put a little "gobble, gobble" on it since I have no circle punches or shapes.

Saweeet candy.....

Wow, check out the delish candy at Passion for Crafts! I follow her amazing blog daily!

This Bud's For You....

Ok, you are going to get sick of seeing Razzleberry dps in my posts! I don't have any other dp with me that matches any inks. I have a nice Soft Suede pack but don't have the ink, or any other inks or Copics that match. I will be so thrilled to get settled into a room all to myself but I think it'll be a while before I can get to it.

I think this one is for my realtor. Her birthday is coming up. She's fantastic so I don't want to forget her!

I used SU Rich Razzleberry, SU Old Olive ribbon (the only one I have with me) Bazzill olive, and a digi stamp from Whimsie Doodles I got some cute new ones the other day but I have to buy some white cs so I can print. I didn't bring enough.

Thanks for looking and sorry for the same ol' colors! Also, I'm not too sure about the colors on the turtle but it's done.

Another update...

Well, still no news on our closing date. We are told they are getting close. Could have fooled me! I've lost my patience.

We are bored to death in this awful apartment. We've been out shopping for furniture, paint, carpet, etc. It's so hard when you aren't living in the house yet. Our kitchen & dining room furniture are ready, the washer and dryer are ready and I just keep putting them off on delivery dates. We have our carpet picked out and ready to order but we're afraid to do so until we have a date.

It is a gorgeous day out there so I took a ride. I've been trying to find papers to match this cute bedding that my cousin picked out. I need to make a scrapbook but it won't be done in time for her shower. I'll have to give her an IOU. I bought a gift today so that she has something to open. I've looked online, at my lss, the local craft store chains and I can't find enough of one product to do a whole album. There's a cute line by Doodlebug but they only have a set of stickers and three papers. Another cute one is by Little Yellow Bicycle which I may end up buying at my lss. All they have are die cuts on a sheet and two or three papers. If you know of a place to purchase these or another cute safari line, please let me know! ** I keep meaning to edit to say that this is the Babies R Us photo of this room, not my cousin's baby's room. LOL




I think I'll play for a bit to see if I can come up with a card. I can't do one for the shower yet because I didn't bring any blues or baby stamps. I did find an adorable set with a lion, giraffe and hippo though. I held off from buying for now.

I didn't think I could...

Made this for my good online friend. I'm hoping she doesn't look here. She's not a blog reader (fingers crossed). Her birthday is next week and she's always sending me cards. I was going to try and find one in my stash but I thought I'd play with my new Copics instead.

It's not the greatest but it's done. Remember, I have a really limited stash of supplies (see pics below). The colors match much better in real life. I used SU Rich Razzleberry and then had to use a Bazzill stack I bought at Mike's for the olive and yellow. This cute Willy Worm digi stamp is from Victoria Case.













p.s. Still no date.
p.p.s. Maia - I'm still looking for Katie's winner!

Happiness in small amounts....

I had a horribly busy day today. No news on the house even though we were told we'd have a closing date by the end of the day. My hubby went to our PO box and picked up mail. I got home to a pile of things. One was a can of soup. I must have signed up for a free can at one point but I don't remember. It's a full sized can of Progresso High Fiber soup. I'll let my hubby try it. I'm really not a soup lover.

I got the cutest Halloween card from my friend, Tracy. I also got my small order of Copics from oozak.com. I've been looking for colors to match the new SU In Colors. I ended up getting a Dark Red (R89) that looks great with Rich Razzleberry. I also got a Blue Green (BG09) that is similar to the green/blue color (forget the name). I think I'll play some tonight. I realized some of these were upside down when I took the photo but my battery died right after so this will have to do.