These pics are of a little baby girl paperbag album I did recently. These are so fun to do and make great gifts!

A few cards

I'm always inspired by the work of Regina Easter, whose blog is featured in my list to the right. These cards came from that inspiration, though I tried to tweak each of them to make them my own.

A NEW YEAR

Seems like such an overused term: Happy New Year. Yet, we say it over and over again, each and every year as we say good bye to one year and hello to the beginning of a new one. I've always found it interesting how we mark time this way, always an ending, always a beginning. Yet we know time is a constant, always there. We seem to feel the need to segment everything, put it in it's little box. Maybe it's so we can feel that the slate is clean, anything bad will be over and a fresh beginning is in order. That's not such a bad thing and if that's what it takes to lift the spirits, then why not?

I myself feel the need to make new resolutions, new starts. I'd like to lose weight, like so many others. I'd like to be more organized. I'd like to spend less money, be less materialistic. I'd like to spend more time being creative. I'd like to spend more time with my family. I'd like to take more time to see the needs of others and to do what I can to help them.

Maybe marking the start of a new year IS a good thing: it reminds us that there is always room for improvement, that we need to stop and reflect on the way our life is going and perhaps re-evaluate how we are living.

My new years wish for you is this: May you find yourself considering all the things you've done in your life and letting the things that mean nothing go by the wayside. May you remember to cherish the truly valuable gifts you've been given: your family, friends, the world you live in. May you remember to thank God each day for all you experience and all you are able to learn, and for the grace you are offered in light of all your shortfalls. May you be blessed with a peace you've never experienced before and may you share that with others.

In my playlist, there's a song by Brandon Heath called Give Me Your Eyes. Listen to it. Really listen to it. Then ask God to give you His eyes and spend your "New" year looking around you.

Perhaps it's fixed?

Well, Clearwire tells me that my problem was that my router was too close too my modem and that was causing interference and that is why my internet and my phone kept disconnecting. Hmm. Time will tell. It does appear to be working better now, so crossing my toes and hoping for the best! :o)
In the meantime, here are some winter pics of our Christmas lights and cute Ellie the other day. She really does love the snow! As far as the lights, Steve went Blue, Orange and White again this year in honor of our great Broncos football season. 12-0 until that sad Poinsettia Bowl, where we lost by only ONE point. Snif. But I'm over that and already looking forward to the next season. It can't start soon enough! LOL But I will miss you IAN JOHNSON!

Uploading pictures is annoying the you know what out of me

Seriously. Does it have to be such a complete pain??? Everytime I get some pics uploaded, my stupid Clearwire connection fails and I lose them. Totally STINKS. So, I tried to edit my calendar post from earlier with some more pics, but because it is being totally STUPID I will just add them here. HMPH. Ok, I realize I sound like an immature baby throwing a tantrum. But it IS frustrating, lol!
Anyway, here are a couple more pics of the Clipboard Calendars. Paper decoupaged onto a clipboard, washers attached and calendar months and dates affixed with magnets. Voila. A perpetual calendar, for any month, any year. :o)

Christmas Card 2008

Well, I got about half the cards out in the mail that I wanted to. I know this is bad, but I prioritized this year by sending them to the people who I had already received cards from. I was so far behind in everything, that I just had to do something. So, if you usually receive a card from us, and didn't this year, don't despair, I'm just behind! (not to be confused with being a behind, which I am sometimes as well, LOL). Here's a picture of the cards I made this year.

Update 12/29/08 6 pm: YES! Finally got the @!*&@!?! image to load! It's about time!

I used my close friend Cricut to cut out the angel at 2" with a shadow in blue behind her. I loved the Peace, Joy, Rejoice etc paper (DCWV), it just seemed to fit how I wanted this Christmas to be: all about Peace in the world and a hope for Joy everywhere. I hope that's what showed up under your tree! I read this really great quote: Remember, if you don't have Christmas in your heart, you won't find it under a tree.

Finally! I've been trying to upload this video for TWO days! I think my computer is low on memory or something . . . after the upload kept failing, I did a system cleanup and defrag . . . looks like I still don't have much memory, but the video uploaded so I'm happy.

This is from Jesse's Christmas program, which was Thursday the 18th. The kids performed great! Jesse was excited for this particular song, Feliz Navidad, because he got to play an instrument during it. It's hard to see him, but he's rocking out to the right of the boy playing the drums. :o) SO CUTE.

The rest of this weekend has gone by in a bluuuuurrrrrrr. We had the Miller Christmas party yesterday evening . . . fun fun fun. I'll post pics of that later. Right now I'm off to finish my Christmas cards. (Yes, it is 4 days before Christmas. Your point is???) ;o)

Just getting started~learning how to blog

Ok, so I'm definitely not new to the internet, but this blogger thing has me a little confounded. I see other people's blogs, and they look so COOL. I have got to figure this thing out and make my blog a little more appealing . . . Right now it's about as exciting as a door knob . . . oooohhh aaaahhh. Whatever.

Lets see if I can add a picture. Ooh, I did it! Took forever, must have been a large file. In case you're wondering (as if anyone would be bored enough to even read this, lol) that is a calendar I made. It is perpetual, all the flowers and numbers are magnets and can be moved around. The months too, and the extras are stored on the back. I glued little metal washers to the clipboard after decoupaging with paper. That's what the magnets stick to.