Cheeeeeese!

Here is a quick little post of a card I did for a recipe swap on Paper Craft Planet. The recipe had to have the main ingredient of cheese! This is one of my favorite House Mouse stamps but I rarely have an opportunity to use it. I thought this occasion was perfect though. It having cheese on it and all..lol

I got to play with my Grand Caliber that hubby bought me for my birthday and make my first shaped card. I need some work on it but it was fun nonetheless.

I hope you are all having a great start to your week. Today ends my weekend and it is back to work tomorrow! I hope to get some crafting done this week. Anyone with some spare mojo, please fling it this way..lol I would greatly appreciate it!

Ciao,

Tracy S

Use the Force

Since Valentine's has come and gone, I can now show you the card I made hubby. Anyone that knows me very well, knows that my hubby is a HUGE Star Wars fan. The whole fam is pretty fond of all things Star Wars actually. Anyway... When Krista over at Saturated Canary came out with the Star Wars themed digis, I HAD to have them. I knew I wanted to use this cute little guy for my hubby's Valentine card. I was so impressed with myself because I managed a love card for him that was not girlie..Woot!

No ribbon, bling, pink, or embossed lips..lol YAY me! No, seriously though, I am shocked and amazed that I was able to keep it simple and masculine. Those are the two hardest things for me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Deets:

Image- Force by Krista Smith

paper- Basic Grey

Copics:

lightsaber -C1,C3,C5,C6, YG17,Y09,YG06,YG05,YG03,YG01,R46

skin- E00, E11

eyes- B01,B05

hair-E44,E43, E41

cape-W7, W3, W2

clothes & boots- E77, E74,E71,E34,E31,E30,E13, YG91

** I updated the typo in the sentiment. Thank you Gina for pointing it out. Especially since I had saved the sentiment I made..lol That would have been super embarrassing!

Valentine Wishes

First off, thank you to all that followed me over here. You all ROCK! I am working on some ideas to get more exposure, so that people know that I moved. Maybe a RAK or contest or something. I will keep you posted. I will make it worth it though, promise.

Well I know most of you are probably out with your significant other or hanging with friends and family. I on the other hand am home alone for Valentine's. I am not going to complain and whine too much because mine is just working. I know some of my friend's do not have the luxury of having their honey come home from work even. I am thinking about you all today. *hugs* The ones that are divorced, still single or lost that special someone. I wanted to dedicate this post to all of you. I wanted to wish you all sweet Valentine wishes! Whatever that looks like for each of you. I hope your wishes and dreams come true. I love all of my wonderful friends and crafty buddies and wanted to let you all know that on this Valentine's Day!!

So now enough with all the mushy, sappy stuff..lol I am going to see if I remember how to post a pic up in this beast..lol It has only been 6 years... I mean it should be just like riding a bike, right? Well except that bikes stay the same and technology does not... so wish me luck :) here goes nothing..............

k I must admit that it took a few tries. I am not sure how to post it after text but I will work on that. I just have one question????... Why is this typing in a different color with an underline all the sudden? lol Oh man I have a lot to learn..Please bear with me as I work through the kinks.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, FRIENDS!!!

- Tracy S

Resurrection!

I am going to attempt to resurrect my Blogger Blog. I have wanted to do this for awhile now but have been hesitant. We own our own domain and it seemed silly to use a free blog site when we are paying yearly for another. However, Blogger has come a long way since I left it many years ago. As you can see from my previous posts on here... I have been gone from this blog for several years.

I wanted to move back for a few reasons. One of them being that it is super easy to get a cute blog template and change it out at my leisure over here. That is a big plus to me. Neither hubby nor I know how to write CSS code to design new templates for my other blog. He tweaks it a a little here and there when I ask... but that is the plus of coming back over here, I can tweak this one myself at any time.

The other reason is that my blog traffic is terrible. I know most people use Blogger and the majority do not know how to "Follow" my other blog.

the downfall to this is that everyone has to change their bookmarks of my blog, I have to start from the bottom up getting followers, and what am I going to do with my other blog that we are paying for?

I am not sure that I want to take the leap to leaving my old blog behind.. I am a bit sentimental like that. I figure though, I left this one behind and it was ok..lol

Soooo I am going to do a little test to see how this one goes. Take it for a test drive of sorts. I will let that determine whether or not it is worth ditching the other for this one.

What do you guys think? Any thoughts, suggestions, comments?

I would love to hear them.

Officially Moved out!!!

Come see me HERE!!!

Astros pitcher, Roy Oswalt on the mound

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Roy O is my favorite pitcher and this is a picture from my first and only Astros game that I went to. I was so happy that Roy was pitching that day even though we lost ;(




and since it is also a Father's Day theme I will also include one of my favorite pictures from that day as well.




UPDATE: Here is a picture of Brad Ausmus for Wystful one...

I'm Back/ Photo Hunt Below.

Hey,I am back over here at Blogger until I get my new home on the web ready for viewing. We are trying to figure out how to edit a template to get my name in the header. If anyone is willing to help.. please feel free to contact me. We need all the help we can get figuring some of this stuff out. We have our own domanin now..YEAHHHHH I am so excited. I want to get the page a little more ready before I release the address. I had to come back to Blogger for a bit because I can import from Blogger but not from wordpress. As far as I know anyway. Anyone out there with wordpress know if there is a way to import old posts from wordpress? Anyway...Thank you all for your patience...

I am moving...

I am moving into a new place... much less decorated :( I am not all the way settled in yet but if you do not see me here ... I am playing over at the new pad.

Photo Hunt - Community

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These were taken after the space shuttle Columbia exploded. We went to the memorial to pay our respects. Our community came togther for weeks to mourn the astronauts killed in that accident.Here is a walk through some of what we experienced.

Thursday Thirteen - Smoothie Edition

13 Smoothie Recipes:

1.Berry Vitamin Packed

1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 cup milk
1 cup apple juice
2 cups ice

2.Mango Tango

3/4 cup pineapple juice or orange juice
1 sliced banana
1 cup pineapple sherbet
2 cups mango slices
2 cups ice

( "Mangoes are a terrific source of potassium,beta carotene,
and insoluble fiber, which aid in low blood pressure, strong immune systems
and heathly hearts" )

3.Peach Refresher

3/4 cup peach nectar or apple juice
1 sliced banana
1 cup low-fat peach yogurt
2 cups peach slices
2 cups ice

( "Peaches give us the sources that help our bodies
prevent infections, cancers,heart diseases, and strokes.
they also contain nutrients that decrease blood pressure
and menopausal sympyoms." )

4. Pineapple Pleasure

1-1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1 cup pineapple sherbet
1/2 cup raspberry juice or low-fat milk ( I would use soy)
1 peeled and sliced kiwi
2 cups ice

( "pineapples act as an anti-inflammatory to soothe
awful sore throats. When you feel a tight throat
coming on , remember this one" )


5.Protien Power

1 1/2 - 2 cups milk ( or soy milk )
2 tablespoon dry chocolate milk mix
1/2 teaspoon dry choclate pudding mix
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 sliced banana
2 cups ice

6.Raspberry Reliever

3/4 cup low fat milk ( soy or rice will work too)
2 cups raspberries
1 cup low-fat raspberry sherbet or yogurt
1/2 banana
2 cups ice

( " Raspberries contain a type of natural aspirin
source that will definately be a relief to your body" )

7. Pineapple Peach Pleaser

3/4 cup pineapple juice
2 cups pineapple chunks
1/2 cup peaches
1 sliced banana
1 cup pineapple sherbet
2 cups ice

( "remember pineapples act as an anti-inflammatory
and helps soothe those sore , inflamed muscles" )


8.Smoothie Soothing Insomnia

1/2 cup soymilk or milk
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup chopped cantaloupe
1 cup chopped watermelon
1 sliced banana
1 tbs. of honey
2 cups ice

( " The lack of calcium may cause some symptoms of nerve
sensitivity, irritability and/or insomnia. That is why
this calming smoothie was specifically packed full of
calcium and potassium. The potassium in cantaloupe aids in
the stress response and the ingredient honey acts as a sleeping tool
that adds sweetness to the drink. So jump in bed with the smoothie
soothin' insomnia blend, because tonight you'll be getting a good
nights sleep" )


9.Banana Break ( this one seems likea weird combo to me )

1 sliced banana
1 cup limeaid
1 cup lime sherbet
1/2 cup non-fat banana yogurt
2 cups ice

( " Bananas are a great source of potassium which aids the body
during the stress response. So take a break from your stressful
day and drink something that is deliciously creamy and tasty" )


10. Apricot & Blackberry Blend

1-1/2 cups sliced apricots
1 cup sliced nectarines
1/2 cup apricot nectar
1/4 cup frozen blackberries
2 cups ice

( " Both of these delicious fruits are low fat and great at
keeping you regular, while you are watching your weight" )


11.Pear Berry Perfection- ( this is from the smoothies for Men section)

3 cups sliced pears
1 cup strawberry nectar
1/4 cup strawberries
2 cups ice

("Pears are wonderful for preventing strokes and high blood pressure." )

12.Purple Cow - ( Smoothies for kids section)

2 cups vanilla ice cream ( I use Soy Delicious vanilla soy ice cream)
6tbs. frozen grape juice concentrate
1 cup milk ( or soy of course)
1 cup ice

(this one sounds so good to me )

13.Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie ( mmmmmm I LOVE peanut butter)

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk ( again you can use soy or rice milk )
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream ( or soy / rice cream)
2 bananas
1/4 tsp. vanilla ( I use mexican vanilla )
2 cups ice


* Bonus * - I found this one after typing out my thirteen and it sounds very interesting.I LOVE avocado and eat it very regularly, so I am going to have to try this one because I am very , very curious. It actually sounds pretty good to me ..lol


Awesome Orange Avocado

2 cups orange juice
1 1/2 cups pineapple or orange sherbet
1 cup strawberries ( fresh or frozen)
2 bananas
2 tbs honey
1 avocado peeled and sliced
1 1/2 cups ice



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Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday's Tunes

I am thinking about dedicating Tuesday's posts to song lyrics. I really love music and this would be a way to keep a list of songs I love for myself and to share them with others. I will start it this Tuesday and see how it goes...lol
Who knows if I will actually remember to do it every Tuesday or not.

I was spending some time in prayer and worship Sunday night. I am a prayer warrior at church and we do a prayer around the clock. My time slot to pray for the church is Sunday at 9:00 pm. I usually do some worship with music before my prayer time . Kind of preparing my heart for worship sort of thing. Also I listen after prayer time to kind of reflect on how awesome God is. I heard this song last Sunday after my prayer time and it reminded me of some things while I was listening to it.

I know alot of people have the misconception that once you become Christian you have the "perfect" life. You have to be perfect and nothing bad happens to you as long as you "believe" .. I am here to tell you that is soooo not the case. God uses trials to teach us things. He uses hardships to draw us near to him. If we were happy all the time, if nothing ever went wrong and life was all "perfect" ...we would never turn to him. We would never kneel down before him with humble hearts and ask for his help.

This song reminded me that even through our hardships we can keep our faith. When you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will still encounter pain, sorrow and hardships ...but your perspective on it all is what is different. When you trust in God and know that he is in control...You can have joy through the troubles. You can see the rainbow through your storm.





Here is the song that inspired this post...

Matt Brouwer ...I shall believe ( I think it was originally a Sheryl Crow song )

Come to me now
And lay Your hands over me
Will You find me tonight
Say it will be alright
And I will believe

Broken in two
I know You're on to me
That I only come home
When I'm so all alone
But I do believe

That not everything is gonna be
The way you think it ought to be
It seems like everytime I try and make it right
It all comes down on me
Please say honestly You won't give up on me
And I shall believe

Open the door
And show me Your face tonight
I know it's true
No one heals me like You
And You hold the key

Never again will I turn away from You
I'm so heavy tonight
But Your love is alright
And I do believe

If you want to hear it played you can go HERE and listen.

I am so excited.

Look what is opening on a street corner near me. YEAHHHHH! I am so excited about this. It is starting to look really , really close to being complete.




Then just because little one looked so darn cute yesterday before we went to church and then a little league All-Star game, I wanted to share a few of my favorite pics that we took of her.

In the car , working in her KIDS magazine:



This picture Guppy took by sitting in the drivers seat and raising his arms up over his head and snapping behind his back..lol It is interesting:



Last but not least here is my favorite picture I took of her yesterday. The thing in her hand is a "20 questions game" and the look on her face is classic. We had picked avocado for it to guess and she was trying to figure out if there were many different varieties of one. She looks all confused ..lol

Photo Hunt - Mirror

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Ok this was the hardest week for me to be creative. I do not know how to do trick photography and I am the last person on this planet that still does not know how to use Photoshop. SOOOOOO this weeks theme will me just what it says .... actual mirrors.



This first one used to be black and gold EEKKKKK!!!..lol So we spray painted it blue and sponged stars around it to fit above the little bench we distressed as well. We did this mirror originally so little one had a mirror she could walk up to and see herself without climbing up on something. She is now wayyyy to tall for it. It just remains as part of the decor now.






This next set is showing how we recycled this oak mirror we bought to hang in our laundry room bathroom at our last house. We looked forever for a mirror to hang above a table we have in our entry way hall. We never could find the "perfect" mirror and actually agree on it ..lol So one day I suggested we use the oak one and paint it black to match. Viola , we had a mirror that was the perfect size to hang above the table.



( I know the picture is real grainy and dark. I apologize but it's the only before pic I had of it.)






I also apologize for the photos above not being more recent but like I said... I was at a loss on this one. So to participate I had to pull out some oldies.

The cool thing about the black table is the flower arrangements,and the candles are from our wedding. Also the basket on the bottom was lil one's "leaf" girl basket. We had a fall wedding so she threw fall leaves instead of flowers. I love that my wedding decorations fit into out decor at home so that I can keep them out and enjoy them all the time.

Taken today:

I apologize :(

Sorry for those of you coming here to read my Thursday Thirteen. I had it planned all week to type up thirteen smoothie recipes as suggested last week. As you can tell I never got that done. Have you ever had a week were you felt like you were run ragged and busy. Busy ,but then again do not feel like you really accomplished much? Kind of like you were running in circles chasing your tail and now you are just worn out, but for what???? That has been my week for some reason. You know I have not really set aside quiet time with God this week either. That just dawned on me. I am pretty positive that would be the reason I am feeling wore out and pulled a hundred different directions in my mind. I haven't felt like I have had enough sleep this week either. I need to get back to eating more veggies and fruits I think. I mean I have been eating good but not as many raw living foods as I usually do. You ever feel like your body is trying to tell you something? I think mine is wanting to smack me upside my head ..lol

Well for those of you that said you liked smoothies and maybe even came here to see if I posted the recipes to them...here are a few to hold you over until next Thursday when I really hope to have 13 of them posted. I hope everyone is having a more productive and better organized week than I did. :)...ENJOY!!!


In 'Grape' Shape

taken from the book ( Smoothies and Ice Treats by Linsay Barnes & Amy Shawgo:
"While trying to loose weight,it is important to get a good source of potassium in your diet. Grapes are a great way to restore your body with this much needed nutrient."

2 Cups red seedless grapes

1/2 Cup sparkling grape juice

1/2 cup boysenberries (anyone know where to find these? I love the things but can not find them. Maybe it just isn't the season yet?.)

1/2 cup blueberries

2 cups of ice


*********************

Banana Split Smoothie:

2 bananas

1 can ( 8oz) crushed pineapple

1 1/2 cups of milk ( I use Soy )

1/2 cup sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen )

2tbs. honey

1 cup ice

Wordless Wednesday

I know this is supposed to be wordless but thought I should explain the picture. This was a train that I made as a Christmas gift one year and stuffed it with goodies. Candy and giftcards and whatnot. It was made out of mini clay pots, wood wheels and popsicle sticks. It was fun to make and I really was pleased with how it turned out. I got the plans and supplies at Michael's.

What color blue are you ?

You Are Indigo

Of all the shades of blue, you are the most funky, unique, and independent. Expressing yourself and taking a leap of faith has always been easy for you.

What Color Blue Are You?

I guess I will not talk about...

How my management at work just made my Memorial Day a crappy one.THE manager at the store has the say so to whether or not we work on a long holiday weekend or not. To any holiday actually. When I say we, I mean hourly supervisors ,and offices. I am both and rarely get a holiday off. We get Christmas off but that is because the place is closed. Otherwise I am quite sure we would all be there. Anyway, Friday ,said boss informs us we WILL be working today and that it would be raining anyway. Like our life revolves around the rain right? Like we couldn't possibly have anything else to do other than be outside where it was raining and storming. Well he said he would be there too and guess who was still to drunk to show up to work today? You guessed it... It wasn't me. That wasn't the bad part anyway. I mean it is always good when the boss man is off or plays hooky. I could care less. Everyone gets more work done when he is not there trying to micro-manage. The thing that made me mad is the fact that one of the girls in my office and I got with our immediate supervisor and asked ( at about 9:30) if we could wrap up what we were doing ,and bail out at about noon. She said she would see how busy we were an get back with us. 11:30 rolls around and I call her to see what the deal was. I needed to know if I should go on to lunch or get ready to go home. WELLLLLL she got with a co-manager and I guess she decides if she has to be there ,so does everyone else that showed up today. We did have ALOT of call ins but none in my area. I pretty much wasted time. They had me do a few very petty unnecessary tasks to waste my time until 4:00. SO ridiculous.GRRRRR management sometimes. I am sure she was upset because the big boss guy decided to drink it up like usual and stuck her to run the place. Oh wait .. I said I wasn't going to talk about all that didn't I ....So I guess let's get to what I WAS going to talk about.* End Rant Here *

Today as the Astros played against The Cardinals and the bad, bad man ...Albert Pujols....BOOO TO PUJOLS!!!! I so could use his name as a swear word.. It sounds like one doesn't it ?...You pujol...lol I can see it now.




Berkman got his 1,000th base hit. WOOO HOOOO!!!! Very cool. I was so thrilled to see him back in the game after hurting his knee.




Then Craig Biggio hit the 10,000 th mark of being up to bat. The other cool thing is Biggio is in his 19th season and his whole career has been with the Stros. That is very, very impressive in this day and age. I think it is great that a guy his age can still run with the big dogs. He is older than a lot of guys on the team and he is one of the best. I say "ATTA BOY " Biggio!!!!!




( pictures taken during Spring Training in Florida , and used with permission, by my friend Astrosprincess )

Why do some people ....

Just absolutely REFUSE to make their kids mind? This drives me up a wall. I guess I could say that it is a HUGE pet peeve for me. Yesterday Guppy and I were out bra shopping for me right. Well, here I am in the dressing room trying on some ,when I hear from the next stall ," No Roberto" ...and a little voice below me saying "boobies" in Spanish. I looked down and freaked out. So I turned away from him thinking surely his mother would pull him back over or MAKE HIM MIND...hey that is a novel idea. No she did not. He sat there repeating that word over and over as he looked up at me and smiled. I put my shirt on and had to finish trying on the rest of my bras from under it. After that he got bored with me and Guppy said he went around to each and every singe dressing stall.. Guppy said he would lay on his back and look up in some. He would crawl halfway into others. His mother did NOTHING except say " No Roberto" .. or "don't do that Roberto" ...Did she folllow up with anything? ..NO. Did she go to him and remove him from the situation...NOPE.. Man,I could not believe she was letting this kid run crazy in this little store. He was ripping stuff off the racks. Guppy said at one point he picked up some sunglasses and was trying to rip them in half. His mother and grandmother just laughed... LAUGHED!!!! He also later on was crawling in and under all the stalls while his mom stood in line again. Doing nothing about it at all. I mean I know not all kids are perfect angels and they will act up at times, but to me there is just no excuse for a parent not to make a child mind. Especially when it is interfering with other peoples privacy. That is just insane to me... Can you tell this really bothered me?...lol

I have had this happen while using the bathroom too. I really do not know what the parents are thinking with this one. To lazy to make them mind so they just don't care what they are seeing? I have no clue. Maybe they like the fact that they are raising a peeping Tom. Have you ever had this or a similar thing happen to you ? Or are YOU the parent that lets your kids do this? If that is the case I would really LOVE to hear your reasoning.

Photo Hunt - My baby boy

This is my baby Gizmo.. He is such a momma's baby. If I am at my pc he is at my feet. If I am watching tv he is laying on me. He is such a sweet little boy, I love him to pieces. Luckily for me our living room is all Americana :)



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