Multitude Monday - Jan 24

17. I'm thankful for life. We've had a tragic accident in our town this weekend and it took the lives of a mom & dad who had 11 children - 5 of whom go to the school I work at. I can't make sense of it all and we're going to be dealing with a storm of emotions at school tomorrow, but...
18. I'm thankful for a God who knows why, even when I don't.
19. I'm thankful that figuring it all out isn't my job.
20. I'm thankful for a snow day/PJ day today....I don't love the cold winters here but a day like this is a gift :)
21. I'm thankful that my kids love to snuggle. There were some amazing times today reading "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" snuggled up in my bed.
22. I'm thankful for cafe-mocha flavoured creamer for my coffee, and a great devotional time at 6:15 am this morning with that included said creamer with coffee.
23. I'm very thankful for extra sleep when devotions were done - and kids that entertain themselves.
24. I'm thankful that it's bedtime....after all these years, I LOVE that feeling of finally falling into bed at the end of the day....it almost always makes me sigh :)

For all you doubting Thomases out there....

I posted this picture a little while ago of my scrapbook room. It was a disaster of monstrous proportions. I'd just recieved 2 huge boxes of product from my DTs; I was just coming off of a nearly-overnighter (4am) trying to get CHA projects done for SRM Press and Clear Scraps; I'm a bit of a hoarder as it is and well-overdue to purge for a garage sale; and, well....I have family too so...sometimes clean-up goes undone when there's Rockband to play and meals to make, IYKWIM.




and now....earlier than my 2 week goal....here's some of the after pictures:

This is my hutch. I LOVE it. I "inherited" it when my parents moved off the farm they'd lived on for 35+ years. It's not perfect...and the style maybe doesn't completely go with the rest of my scraproom, or our house, for that matter....but I've got SO many great memories of Mom's sewing supplies being in here...and her writing supplies (for letters) and Dad's "important papers" and back issues of Cattlemen and Country Woman magazines. To make it my own, I've painted it out white with a green interior and just this past week, I knocked one of the shelves out, put in a 3" lift, and now my shelf (below) is 15" high instead of just about 12" and it holds all my cardstock & patterned paper perfectly!!

A view of the whole hutch

Patterned paper storage - I know....not perfect, but it works for me and I could tell you exactly which sheets of paper I have in here so I'm feeling pretty good about that :)

Cardstock & cardstock scraps. All lined up and organized by colour. You have no idea how happy this makes me. I could just stare at this for hours.

This is a re-purposed bookshelf that I got at my local thrift store. It sits on top of my work table now, giving me essentially 4 shelves within arms-reach of my work surface. I LOVE it. It's also been painted out white, with green interior and my plastic boxes that used to house hot wheels cars (before our collection outgrew them), playmobil (ditto), lego (uber-ditto), etc....now house (from top left, over and down....)

1. scraps cut and ready for cards
2. Card kits, with envelopes and journaling papers
3. Chipboard and 3D alphabets
4. Sticker & Rub-on alphabets
5. Flowers
6. Stickers & Rub-ons (sentiments, images, etc)
7. Photos and projects to do
8. Ribbon

And finally....last but not least - a shot of the room from the same perspective as the "before" shot. Can you see it? I had a table under there. This used to be our kitchen table before we bought my parents antique set off of them. I leave it set up in my room with the leaf in (for obvious reasons) but now that it's cleaned off....the chair on the other side of it is empty and there's room for a friend - any takers? Anyone wanna come play with me?

On my desk - there in the background, it's hard to see from here, but I've just made my first thing in a LONG long, time....a Valentine tag that I'll be posting on Feb. 5 for a "14 Days of Valentine's Tags" blog hop/newsletter event sponsored by Scrapbook News and Review. It's made with the very, very new Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety!! Yum.

That's it.
I knew I could do it.
And for those of you who believed in me....thank you.
To those of you who thought it was impossible.....in your face :)

A different kind of crafting tonight

Cale is in a play in school next week and one of his friends has to be a knight so he, remembering a knight helmet pattern from a book he has at home, volunteered that he (and by he, he meant me) would make a knight helmet for his friend for the play. If I had more time, I'd paint the whole thing silver or something - I was hoping by some stroke of luck that I had silver spray paint on hand, but I don't...and I'm not sure he wants a red knight helmet. So, the grey cardboard is going to have to do.

This is the inside - a collage of some of our favourite sweet cereals LOL.

I'm feeling pretty good about my thrifty-mom-skills right now :)

Multitude Monday - Jan 17

It's still Monday, so I'm still on time....and, still thankful :)

7. I'm starting a Beth Moore study at church - that's where I was this evening. It's a revised version of her Breaking Free study she wrote 10 years ago. I can already tell after the introduction that this is going to be crazy-good for me. So I'm thankful for my church and the women at church who've brought this study to life.
8. I'm thankful for a husband/family who will make these nights available for me to participate.
9. I'm thankful for already being in a place that's primed and ready for some change like this....getting free has been on my mind and my heart recently anyway - this just feels like a little hand-holding direction.
10. I'm thankful for 2 ladies who came to my home a few weeks ago to do some "counseling" with me....I could list about 400 things I'm thankful for that came out of that session but right now, I'm thankful for the gentle reminder to listen to God....to open my mind up to hearing what he's saying, and to picturing what he has for me. I got a picture tonight at this study that scares me a little...it's not a bad thing, but it will require some work if it's to come to fruition. Better push up my sleeves.
11. I'm thankful for sick days (I'm taking one tomorrow). I'm not a big union fan, but getting paid to go back to bed and sleep off this cold after the kids leave tomorrow is a very nice perk to my job!
12. I'm thankful for 17 years of marriage - it was my anniversary this past week. According to our original prediction, we have 63 more to go (bringing us to the ripe old ages of 100 & 101).
13. I'm thankful for my hobby. I scrapbook and make cards. It's meaningful, and theraputic, and I'm not sure what I ever did before this. It's such a good fit for me.
14. I'm thankful for the ability to learn. I've signed up to learn some new art techniques online through my new gig at Scrapbook News and Review and I'm giddy with excitement about learning again and about playing with new stuff. Also thankful for the Christmas money that both Moms & Dads gave me - some of it went to new art supplies for me - thank you very much.
15. Back to serious.....I'm thankful that I serve a God who's on my side. My devotions this week had a blurb in them one day that said, "The enemy is standing on your God-given gound and daring you to take possession" (Beth Moore again). When I read it, I knew exactly what that was about in my life. And I'm prepared to go to war over it. Look out.
16. Music - check out "Perfect Peace" on the sidebar music player. Laura Story. I love her. In fact, I had to go read her bio because when I first discovered some of her songs, I wondered if she had gone through EXACTLY what I was going through. Turns out, no....different....but somehow applicable. I must have played this song 100 times over and over this past fall. How sweet to know where Peace is when you can't see it.

Snow-mama and letting go again

Trev & I were in a canasta tournament yesterday. We play in this same tournament every year. It's the only game of the entire year in which we are partners. Usually we play with another couple and it's always Boys vs. Girls. But apparently we don't make too bad a team, Trev & I....we are the only couple, in the 7-year history of this annual tournament to win twice. Yep, we won yesterday. 16 teams - we are the champions (I know, the song's in my head too LOL). Mostly it's bragging rights, but we also came away with $60 cash ($20 more than we put in to play).

Our kids look forward to this annual event too because it means an entire 10-hour stretch at Grandma & Grandpa's house. They look forward to messing up G&G's pristine backyard snow, eating at the store (waffles usually), playing with G&G's dress-up clothes and Lego, and this year - a new highlight...doing, and leaving done, every single puzzle G&G own. We had to go downstairs and view this impressive art gallery of puzzles before we could leave with them in the evening. Also this year, it was 5 degrees outside (very unusual for mid-January) so there were snowmen to be built, or in this particular instance, a SnowMama with her baby in her arms (look closely - I thought it was boobs the first time I saw it too - oops.)

Today's highlight for me? Skipping church....is that bad? OK, I didn't skip church because I can't stand it or anything. I love my church. What I can't stand, is having a cold and sitting in church hacking away and sneezing and being totally distracted and feeling miserable. So Trev took the kids and I stayed home. I got buns made for lunch, laundry and vacuuming done for company later in the evening and then before I tackled my clean-up job in the basement (see previous post), I had a very nice cup of coffee and really good devotions.
I memorized this verse:
1 Peter 5: 6-8
"Humble yourself therefore,
under God's mighty hand,
that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him
for he cares for you."


So, I spent quite a bit of time then, wondering what it looks like to humble myself under God's mighty hand and what that might look like in my life right now....and came to the conclusion, that it ultimately means for me, giving up my plans and dreams and all the things that I think should happen in my life - the pride and self-sufficiency of thinking I have it all figured out (which obviously I don't).
Letting go.
I'm back to that.
You may or may not have seen my post earlier -


I found this piece of art online and it speaks to me in the same way the lyrics to Francesca Battistelli's song "Letting Go" does. I'm also reading Sandi Patti's book Falling Forward right now - falling forward, as in, Into God's arms of love and forgiveness, as opposed to backwards into self-pity, guilt, more sin, etc. I love it. I love this whole picture of letting go and falling into God. I also love where this picture leads my mind....if I let go of MY plans, I know for sure that a.) God has a plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11)
b.) His plan for me is good (John 10:10)
and
c.) Even the best plan I could make is nothing compared to what he can do (Eph.3:20)

SO, I'm letting go.
Again today.
And I'll probably have to tomorrow too.
And the next day.

Clear Scraps Sneak Peeks CHA (winter '10)

I'm so sad not to be going to CHA this winter (for the fun, and to get out of the cold here for just one week) but....I'm excited about the new Clear Scraps acrylic products coming out this time around. Clear Scraps is going to carry a whole series of purse-shaped albums called "Brag Bags." There will be 6 different shapes (Auntie's bag (above), Butterfly bag, Deco bag, Travel bag, Flower bag and Basket bag). They're adorable 5 page albums (aprox. 6"x7") and they'll make all kinds of wonderful mini-albums! I chose to take my Auntie's Bag album, take out the inside pages and use the 2 handled outside pages to make an actual purse with. I love how it turned out. The center part is a 1 1/2" strip of acrylic (made from the 12"x12" sheets of acrylic from Clear Scraps), covered with patterned paper and then I used my Bind-it-all to put it altogether like a purse. (Big shout out to My Little Shoebox and Creative Impressions Inc. for the other product on this purse - love you guys!)

The other new product Clear Scraps is releasing is more of their Banner Shapes. Check out Laura's "Home Sweet Home" banner here on the Clear Scraps website. Again - keep your eyes peeled at CHA for the 6 new shapes of banners - awesome for Home Decor in any room of the house, or pull the pieces apart and use them individually for other projects including scrapbook layouts.

Wish I were going - but since I'm not.....go for me, and have fun.
Check out Clear Scraps at Booth #1573

No, I'm not kidding

Check this out!
I made this pizza for supper tonight. It's my variation of the one I found here: FitSugar.
The toppings are: tomato sauce (homemade and canned myself), mozzarella cheese (freshly shredded, not frozen), fresh spinach and mushrooms as well as a sauteed pan of: mushrooms, red onions, carrots, broccoli, and basil.

When it's baked....it looks like this:
And here's what's happening after supper:

I hate it when people say..."oh my house is such a disaster" and then they show it and it's cleaner than mine will ever hope to be - they're just perfectionists. That is not the case in my life. When I tell you my scraproom is a disaster - I'm telling the truth, and I'm not kidding.
Here's the proof:

Nasty eh?
My goal is under 2 weeks, totally purged, garage sale boxes priced,
empty table and desktop, organized.
Do you think I can do it?

Well, OK then.

I've posted it and now I'm accountable out here in blogland
so I really do have to get stuff purged and cleaned up.

NOW.
See ya.

#14....what are the chances?

Just a little post today about something funny.
My giveaway earlier went to #14....no name, just #14. Turns out, of all the crazy things, that she lives 2 streets over from me. What are the chances?? And, embarrassingly, when she came to pick up her box of goodies...my scraproom is a disaster and I didn't have her box packed up yet so she got to see me at my ultimate-messiest-worst, and I am "busted" about not having it ready to go.

If you're reading this #14 (wink, wink)...congratulations again, nice to meet you, again, and I hope you're happy with the goodies :) Can't wait to see what you make!

Cathy

Winner of Pre-CHA giveaway is...

True Random Number Generator



Min:

Max:



Result: 14



Powered by RANDOM.ORG



Lucky #14.



Anonymous said...rub ons. rub ons. rub ons.

paper, die cuts, all of it!!! lol.

can hardly wait!



I have your email address so I'll shoot an email off to you right away and when you get your address to me I'll put a box in the mail for you!! Congratulations.



And as for me...

I went here today:

to drop off a box of things I've made for SRM Press. If you happen to be able to get to CHA...you have GOT to check out their new line of stickers. I nearly freaked when my box arrived....seriously, as a card-maker, I'm in heaven.



and then I went here:

to drop off a box of things I've made for Clear Scraps. They have some yummy new designs out this season too - and the new owners are So Nice! I'm really bummed that I can't go because most of my design team is going to be there, and staying together and I can't go :( (stupid job stupid can't take time off job) OK. Pity party over. I'm sure they'll have fun! And I'm hoping to get to Chicago in summer!!



I did though, in order to get these boxes out today, stay up until 4am. I am WAY too old for that. And so now....at 8:52....I'm off to bed for the night to try to gain some serious ground in my battle for more sleep.



Stay tuned for sneak peeks!

My first Multitude Monday

Ok,
in no particular order....and certainly not an exclusive list....here are some of the things I was thankful for this week:
1. Dishes. I don't love to wash them but I'm thankful for dishes I love and a FIL who can get me good deals on beautiful DOMO dishes :)
2. Food in my fridge. I tried something new this week with school lunches (crackers, meat and cheese cut up instead of sandwiches); the kids loved it and it was fun to "play" with the food for me too.
3. Word. A friend down the street fixed my computer awhile back and installed Word. I have to say....not doing everything in wordpad anymore has been a treat! Plus, 3b.) I got asked to do some administrative stuff this week (writing contracts) for a company I work for and it was exhilarating. I love opportunities to use my gifts there too instead of just creating for them and they were so sweet about it - like I'd done them a huge favour when actually it made MY day to work on something like that.
4. Strong's Concordance. That book could kill someone if you threw it at them but it's become my bedside companion. It's guiding me through a look at Joy (what it is, and where to get it)
5. Music. I'm not the most talented of musicians although I do play a few instruments and can hold my own vocally....but music touches me almost every single day. I think, as well as being thankful for the presence of music in my life, I need to single out specific songs & lyrics that are hitting the spot every week. If I can figure out how to put a player on the side of my blog that doesn't blare as soon as you open my blog, I'll do that...in case you want a taste of what's touching my heart these days.
6. So then....the song this week that God's been using in my life is "Sleeping In" by Nevertheless (to hear it - press play in the MP3 player to your left - the song looks like it's called "Sleep" since the sidebar's too narrow. This is just a portion of the lyrics but these are the ones that are stuck in my head and that God's been using:


I've been sleeping in for days, 'Cause when I am awake, I will have to face my life.
And I'm hoping it's a phase. The walls that I create can only make it seem alright.
And I get carried away like I'm the only one Who's ever felt the way that I do, But I can hear you say, "You're not the only one. 'Cause everybody hopes to get through."

And it's got me sleeping in.
Every day God, it's the same thing.
Yeah, you caught me sleeping in.
I'm still hiding; I'm still waiting.
I need you here with me to face the world outside 'Cause I'm tired of sleeping in.


A good reminder to me that it's not "all about me" and that I don't have to face anything on my own....good or bad....I think this is a good first step in my search for Joy.

Thanks for joining me for my first Multitude Monday :)

One more day until the Giveaway!

I'm working like mad...and filling the box (see previous post). You have till midnight Monday to get your posts in (here, or last post) and I'll pick a name for a box of goodies.

Hugs.
Cathy

Psyching myself up for next Monday

A friend of mine has been doing this One Thousand Gifts thing for the last half year or so and really enjoying it. I never thought I'd join in, and she still doesn't know that I am, but the idea of it is nagging at me.

It's time I think.
Time to start counting the gifts God has given me,
not the gifts I'm waiting for;
time to learn to be grateful and really aware of all the ways
God shows me he loves me every single day;
time to start seeking his face - not his hand.
I know I'm not going to be able to keep up blogging every day
but I am hoping to keep my list growing with Multitude Mondays
and I'm praying that counting my blessings in this life will change me,
and change my outlook on what I really want/need in this life.

I'm also praying that actually writing these things down,
things that I know are gifts from my loving Father,
will allow me to fully enjoy
just. being. loved.

Go Canada!!

The Olympic Torch was relayed through our city today - and, as part of my job as an EA, I got to go watch!! Our grades 5&6's actually went to the whole ceremony thing early in the day but the younger grades got to walk about 4 blocks to Main St. to see the torch run through town. Although it was small and quick...it was nonetheless impressive and I was glad to have seen it! I'm pretty sure none of the kids even got it - that they may never see this again - especially in our city.

ETA: One of the radio station guys got this picture of Mica and her friends at the ceremonies early this morning. I think they were all a little buzzed from all the freebies (RBC tambourines, Canada Olympic flags, commemorative Visa cards, travel mugs full of hot chocolate and Coke in these cool aluminum bottles).

Best roast beef ever

I don't have a recipe or anything b/c DH made this and I'm pretty sure the recipe is in some secret food-network-type archive in his brain but I had to share a picture. I am NOT a big fan of Roast Beef. I'm thankful beyond words when someone makes us RB for dinner or we have extra stored in our freezer but this - slow roasted beef turned into a big chunky-meat chili and then served with tortilla chips...oh man....now we're talking. I didn't even have to get ketchup out for this roast beef meal :) The picture's not the greatest either - I didn't have time to mess around with presentation and all that - I was hungry!

Let the Pre-CHA giveaway begin :)

On a regular basis my scrapbook room is a mess. I'll admit it. I don't scrap neatly. But today, and the last few weeks have been worse than usual. I'm drowning in a pile of Clear Scraps that needs to be sent off this next week and I've only sent a few things to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine when really I was hoping to jump in with both feet - thank goodness they're the sweetest people over there!! I haven't blogged in forever it seems....but I promise to post some sneak peeks very soon and maybe even give away some of my new found goodies.

In fact.
Let's start the giveaway now.
How's this. I'll put something in a giveaway box every day for the next 7 days. Something good - not dollar store crap. Maybe even something I'm using for new projects....goodness knows I have stuff to spare (uh, I mean, share). At the end of 7 days (Jan.12) I'll pick a name from all the people who post here (or in the next week) and send that person a giftie :) A box with (at least) 7 things in it.

So....post here and tell me what you're most looking forward to at CHA Winter '10! New paper? New product? New tool? What are you most looking forward to seeing/buying/using??

For me? The newest thing I'm looking forward to is this:

As if I wasn't in enough trouble falling in love with Glimmer Mist...now Tattered Angels has to go invent something even cooler. They're giving some away on their new Educator Blog right now - go check it out. And no, I'm not just saying this to win some (although, hello....who wouldn't want to) - this really is the thing I'd head for first if I could get the time off work to go to CHA this winter.

My new walking buddy

I'm sure he doesn't know it, but Lincoln Brewster is my new favourite walking buddy. I have a treadmill that has an ipod dock on it and I just realized scrolling through that Lincoln Brewster, aside from having great, great songs....also sings a lot of them at about 4.0 - 4.2 mph! That's just about perfect for my no-running exercise regiment :) And is there anything more inspiring than getting to the end of your own energy and hearing, "in you, in you I find my peace...in you, in you I find my strength...in you, I live and move and breathe..." 'nuff said.

Hear it here: Lincoln Brewster "Let the Praises Ring"

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!

I'm excited about what this year will hold.
And I'm deciding that this is my year to find Joy.
This is the verse I'm claiming this year.

"You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence..."

Psalm 16:11