Friday, February 28, 2014

Calm Before The Storm

Today seems to be the calm before our predicted big storm. Officially the forecast says we will get 6-9 inches of snow "with some areas in excess of 1 foot". We will see, but if the birds in the apple tree are any indication, could be a doozey!!!

Since I have time today, I have been moving furniture and cleaning the carpet. I have a carpet cleaner that works well for me, it has a small tank that I can easily handle, the extraction is first-rate so the carpet dries super fast in my opinion. And, I don't use cleaner in the machine, instead, I use what my Mom always used - vinegar!!! Somehow the smell is nice and fresh and not a heavy "perfume" odor. Between cleaning and scrapping, I have accomplished quite a bit. Now, after this, I have two more chores to do!!! Feeding the birds will be my reward for getting EVERYTHING on the list done!!!

So, here are the pages I have created today. . .

This was created using

And

This was created using

And, with that, I'm off to wrap that daily "to-do" list!!! Until next time. . .

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Be Prepared!!!

All winter long I have had a feeling about that first weekend in March. . .the weather forecast gets more disconcerting with each broadcast. I really should have gone out and run my errands today, but I didn't. Tomorrow the high is going to be 5-degrees, then Friday is snow, Saturday is a "wintry mix", Sunday and Monday we might see accumulating snow. . .come on spring!!! Some of the birds that frequent my backyard during adverse weather are already gathering in the apple tree!!! I had big plans for the weekend including a granddaughter for the weekend before she gets busy with spring activities. I canceled those plans today. Didn't want to get her hopes up only to be dashed. Now, since I have canceled my plans, watch the nasty weather will bypass us which would be perfect with me :-)

I have managed to do a bit of scrapping the past couple of days. And, I reaffirmed the reason I don't do art journaling pages - I'm just not very good at it. I like order, not chaos!!! So, here goes. . .



These were created using

And a couple more



These were created using

And, with that I'm off to watch a basketball game. . .and enjoy some popcorn. Tomorrow will be spent getting ready for wicked winter weather. Until next time. . .

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Sunny Saturday - At Last!!!

What a week!!! Thursday in the span of 12 hours we had flooding in the neighborhood, 50-degree weather, high winds, tornados, snow and sleet!!! All of the snow that we got started melting and because of years of neglect by our fair village, none of the ditches (yes, we have ditches no storm sewers) were flowing. Which means water in everyone's yard. In the 35+ years that we have lived here I have never seen it this bad. . .but then again, we have a new subdivision that was built in the cornfield a block south of our house.

It seems like it has been ages since I last scrapped, so I think I made up for lost time today!!! Here goes



These were created using





These were created using



These were created using









And, with that I'm outta here for today. . .tomorrow is the Daytona 500, so I am VERY excited!!! Until next time. . .

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Wired Wednesday

My goodness what a mess this weekend was!!! We were going to spend the day Monday with our granddaughter who didn't have pre-school OR daycare that day. Sunday afternoon, the forecast changed drastically and included freezing rain, so we decided to go up on Sunday and spend the night so our daughter and son-in-law wouldn't be in a lurch on Monday. When we woke up and looked at the radar for our house, we were glad we made that decision!!! Then about an hour later, it started snowing at our daughter's house. Suddenly, they are under a winter storm warning, she is in town a good 30 minutes away and the snow is coming down to beat the band!!! Her supervisor told her that everyone in the office was leaving and our daughter should leave too because otherwise she could get stuck in the parking lot which is in the middle of nowhere and there wouldn't be anyone around to help her out. She reluctantly left. Then, I get a frantic phone call from her that she can't see the state highway. . .and when she got in town, the street to her house had SO much snow that she couldn't get into her driveway. My husband shoveled snow at their house all day yesterday and figures they had a good 9 inches of snow. When we left, the road to town hadn't been cleared and it was really difficult to drive on. The interstate wasn't much better and when we got to the 4-lane highway to get home, we ran into the snow-ice line. A trip that normally takes around an hour and a quarter took 3 hours!!! There was a good quarter inch of ice on everything when we got home. . .fast forward 24 hours and it is 45-degrees now. All of the snow / ice is melting and now the streets are flooded and the potholes are horrendous!!! UGH!!! The forecast for Thursday is severe storms - goodness!!!

I did manage to get a bit of scrapping done yesterday so here goes. First up is a Valentine page. . .

This was created using

And, here are a couple of heritage pages



These were created using

Finally,

This was created using

And, with that I am outta here to go rest up after a trying weekend!!! Until next time. . .

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Tempting Tuesday

Oh my goodness, it is so tempting to get outdoors today!!! The sun is shining and it looks gorgeous out there. . .until I look at the thermometer and see that it is several degrees below zero!!! Seriously, this is springtime sunshine!!! The days are getting longer - you can definitely feel it. Last night I dreamt that I planted my herbs for the season!!! I don't think I have ever had cabin fever to this degree in my entire life!!! But this winter has been one for the books. . .record cold and record snowfall for our area. Kind of makes you wonder what the spring and summer are going to hold as far as the weather is concerned. This past summer was super hot and dry so maybe, just maybe we are going to have a normal spring and summer this year. . .it has been a while since that happened.

I have no idea what I did yesterday, but I was super busy and didn't sit at the computer very much, so there is only 1 scrapbook page for today.

This was created using Creative Victorian Designs' part of the February Grab-A-Byte (GAB) at Scrapbook Bytes

And, with that I'm outta here to do the day's chores and a special little project - today is the day I am going to clean my craft area!!! It has needed it since Christmas. I have crafty things I want to do, but that mess is definitely a deterrent to doing anything. Tomorrow the weather should be better and I have errands to do. . .the rest of the week is going to be a busy mess!!! So, until next time. . .

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Lazy Day At Last

Today is going to be one of those lazy days. Nothing on the calendar, no place to go, no errands to run, a perfect peaceful day. So, my goal is to wrap up the things I am currently working on and then spend the day watching cooking shows and the Olympics. And, since we had more snow last night, I might go feed the birds. A perfect day!!!

So here are my latest layouts. . . .



These were created with a gorgeous collaboration

And, here are a couple of just FUN pages



These were created with

And, with that I'm off to enjoy a bit of the cake I made this afternoon and to watch more of the Olympics. Until next time. . .

Freezing Friday

It is finally Friday and for the first time in 5 days I ventured outside!!! With the snow and bitter cold, I'm pretty content to stay indoors. But, when I'm inside, I often clean and just mess around in general, so I needed to go out and get paper products and food for the next week!!! It was bitterly cold - I think it was 6-degrees at noon and that was the warmest it has been in a few days.

Also, while indoors, I did some scrapping so here goes. . .



These were created using a new collection by Snickerdoodle Design. . .

And, with that I'm outta here to enjoy a blueberry coffeecake that I just took out of the oven - that fresh baked smell is calling my name!!! Until next time. . .

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Another Day, Another Winter Storm

Well, it is another week and another forecast for snow and bitter cold that has come true. We had a hot dry summer, so I suppose we are due for a cold, wet winter. Sure would be nice to even this out a bit. On Friday when I went to pick up my granddaughter, I ran into some really nasty weather and saw a couple of accidents. Accidents always seem to happen on that same stretch of road - in fact, there have been several fatalities. Last year during a snow storm the emergency workers had responded when I semi came through and lost control. . .it slammed into the firetruck and there was several injuries and one fatality. Given that history, you would think they would concentrate snowplows in that are, but when I went through there on Friday the road hadn't been touched. There were again several emergency vehicles because of the accidents - one looked quite serious. I picked up my granddaughter and on my return trip no less than 20 minutes later, there were multiple state police and 6 snowplows working on the road. It was much improved in that short amount of time!!! At any rate, we got home safely and my granddaughter was a trooper!!! She was quiet as a little church mouse on the whole trip!!!

You know that you are in for another round when NOAA issues a "special weather statement" on Sunday for Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday, they changed it to a Winter Weather Watch and before I knew it we had a Winter Weather Warning. My dh was home sick yesterday and today when he got up and saw the snow, he decided to work from home. But, to be honest, I don't think he feels very good still.

With the weather, I did manage to get a wee bit of scrapping done, so here goes.

This was created using Creative Victorian Designs' Infatuated which is the February Free With Purchase at both Scrapbook Bytes and Creative Victorian Designs.

And, how about a couple of retro pages?



These were created with

And, with that I'm outta here to do a little craft project and a bit of cleaning. Until next time. . .