Phone's ringing

Cult Classic

2011-04-18T08:53:00.000-07:00

It was time for a replacement of my "Ferris You're my Hero" shirt. OK, I didn't replace it but I did add to my small collection. I have to admit the movie isn't much of a "cult classic" but more of an icon for a generation of people who grew up in the mid 80's. Thank you John Hughs. The quote that is beneath my header is from FB's day off said by Ferris. My glorious poppy picture taking adventure was weak to say the least. Not only were there very few poppies for the amount of other wildflowers out, I got rained on. So I did manage to get a few great pictures of storm clouds moving in and will post those soon.

Inspiration found

2011-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

I was looking for scrapbook inspiration but found more than that. October Afternoon posted "Spring Inspiration" today and I am amazed at the photos they found; they really did inspire me!

I stop by the October Afternoon blog nearly everyday, mostly becuase I Love their paper line.

But I was also introduced to two great new websites with the links they provided.

The first is from My Sweet Savannah the the post is actually from an '09 post. The second is from Kara's party Kara's party has some AWESOME ideas posted on it. Check out her most recent post an the "Willy Wonka" movie inspired birthday party with oodles of candy and decorations.

Its getting ready to rain here in So Cal, I'm hoping it's gone by tomorrow as I've set some time aside to see and photograph the Poppies in bloom tomorrow. Wonderful fields of orange with beautiful blue skies (usually). They are only here for a few weeks and its a rare year that we get a "bumper crop" anymore and this year is great!

Spring Break

2011-04-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Ok so spring break was last week and I'm just now posting pictures. I got a little busy at work this week. Spring fever has set in with the students for sure!

Despite all the rain I did manage to make it to Disneyland and The Aquarium of the Pacific during break. I Love the picture I managed to snag of the Evil Queen, and I do mean snag. It was nearly impossible to get a photo of her without people swarming her. While over at Tom Sawyers island I managed to get Gus to cooperate for a short impromptu photo shoot.

The other two pictures are from the Aquarium. Glass and using a flash wasn't the problem for me, it was the too fast fish. So needless to say the slower the fish the better my picture was. This was due mostly to camera settings I wanted to use but the color came out great. The fast fish had a nasty habit of not letting me get a good angle shot of them. I am excited to be able scrapbook the photos over the next few weeks.

Red Cross and Japan

2011-03-29T09:29:00.001-07:00

100% of the proceeds from the sale of this stamp set goes to the Red Cross to help in Japan. You get a cute limited edition stamp! Contact me be leaving a comment or emailing me directly and I'll get you set up!!

Get Picky disign challenge

2011-03-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

Love Becky Fleck's layouts so I couldn't resisit the challenge at Get Picky for this month. The sponsor s SRM stickers and I've only ever made cards with them so this was a good chance to use them on a layout. I used the new Cosmo Cricket paper line Salt Air & SRM stickers for the title and journaling spots.

Imaginisce March Card Challenge

2011-03-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

The new Berrylicious line from Imaginisce has made me eager for summer to get here. It's been raining all week and cold.

For the seed packets I just cut them out of the 12x12 patterned paper and attached them to toothpicks so it looks like the ones you put in the ground to mark you own garden.

Crate Paper Challenge

2011-03-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

Crate Paper has a challenge posted on their blog that closes this Friday at midnight. I finally found a few minutes to sit down and complete my layout for the challenge. I used their new line "Toy Box" and love the retro feel of it. The pictures are of my nephew's 3rd birthday.

Now I'm off to work on next month's design team assignments for Remember When. Its a good thing when "work" is this much fun!

Jasper's in da house

2009-04-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

Galadrims Midnight Son or "Jasper" has taken over the house. puppy toys, puppy treats, puppy food, puppy bed, puppy leads & collars. He is leaving his mark. He's a very easy going Aussie. That's not to say he doesn't run laps around the house or want to you to play when trying to get something done but he pretty much just goes with whatever is going on. Even on his first night in a new home he NEVER even cried once! No littermates, no mom, no familiar surroundings and still a happy dog. Of course it helps knowing what he likes since we got him from Tony's sister, Jennifer.

Just wanted to post a picture for everyone to see. Super busy with work, photo class at BPS, scrapbook supply orders arriving almost every day for people, spring cleaning, puppy play time, and tax deadline is looming... I better get on that!

Club 33

2009-03-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

OK, so I don't get hour long lunches, and I don't get a yearly bonus, and I don't get tickets to the Dodger playoffs sitting in the executive booths, in fact I don't get really any perks as a teacher. I do work great hours and have fun most days with the one drawback of often having to bring my work home with me. This however was the absolute best "perk" I could ever get. A student on campus found out how much I absolutely LOVE all things Disney and offered up a chance for me and 2 other teachers to eat at Club 33 in Disneyland.

I jumped, took it and had a great time. All the expected Disney magic and customer service was there and more.

On another note I spent Friday evening with the group that we began 2 years ago for CKU. We've had several additions to our group and only 1 has moved away. There are another 5-6 who we also scrap with that weren't able to make it this time. We support (read enable) each other in our hobby and scrapbook addiction. Even more importantly these get togethers are fun "girly" time.

Catch Up

2009-03-01T19:39:00.001-08:00

So CHA (in Anaheim) was over a month ago... I'm finally getting pictures on my computer so I can post one. We 7 girls went to CHA at the end of January. We had a really great time visiting with friends we've made through various corporations and businesses, taking classes and seeing all the new products.

This last weekend I found myself back in Anaheim. I went for 3 days to a conference for work and the medical academy. We took 2 students with us for demonstrations and they did an awesome job!! Oddly enough I found myself in Anaheim again the next day for Disneyland. This was no ordinary trip though...

A WONDERFUL student who found out how nuts I am about disneyland and Disney in general has all the right connections and I went to Club 33 with 3 others for lunch. Let me just say, it was a once in a lifetime chance for me. As soon as I get those pictures on my computer I will post one. I even got out of there with Club 33 mouse ears.

It Never Rains in Southern California

2009-02-16T21:27:00.000-08:00

Never believe everything you hear. The last 10 days have only brought 3 without rain- or snow in Palmdale.

On the other side it is Southern California and what better way to spend winter weekends than at Disneyland?

Exactly!!

January is full of birthdays for our family and that means lots of visits to see Mickey! Colby, Jennifer, and Zachary's birthdays were celebrated there.

Me time

2008-03-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday at Remember When scrapbooking with friends. The group in the picture is most of us that went to CKU last June, 4 are missing. There were another 6 there with us from a variety of connections. It was great to have such a large group of us together. Usually its just Trish and me or we catch up with Lori, Steph, and Amy. I had a good time but in the 11 hours there I didn't get nearly as much done as I would have at home. I will have to take a few photos of what I did and post later. There was much too much socializing going on but a large part of this is about friends and enjoyment. Thanks for the fun girls!

Life in California

2008-03-20T23:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I love my job. I got paid for this:

I spent last Saturday working. We went to Ventura Beach, ate lunch at a resturant on the beach, then went to a Winery for wine tasting-and got paid for it too. We were collaborating on next years program. We really did work a little. Honest.

I'm on spring break this week; trying to catch up on everything that needs to be taken care of; things we haven't had time to deal with. I leave on Monday for a Conference in San Diego for 3 days. Oddly enough it is at a hotel on the beach. I will be home for 2 weeks before I leave for another conference - no idea where.

In between conferences we did get tickets to see 3 Doors Down and Puddle of Mudd. We will be going to Vegas in April for Vacation. Yes, I am on Spring Break now but Tony can't get off work. In late April after my tax collecting friends finish their "year" we get to get away for a girls weekend and scrapbook. To top it off somewhere in there I REALLY want to go to Disneyland. Its been ages (Well, OK, since December) my passes are collecting dust. I have all of June, July and half of August for R&R.

I can't believe that there is only 9 weeks of school left - 9. One will be for AP testing, one will be for CST's and the last week for finals. That only leaves 6 teachable weeks - 35 days. Woo Hoo! Only 35 more lesson plans before summer. But really, who's counting????

Zach has been busy with his first real semester of college and auditions (now that there is work again). Amanda has another car to drive now that Sparky has been replaced by Charlie, a '99 Camry.

Spring must have arrived in So Cal, we're all coming out of doors now that the 45 -55 degree days are fading away. Boy am I glad I live here.

Huntington Library and Gardens

2008-03-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

Photography is what started the whole scrapbooking thing. Sometimes its just nice to go back to the basics. I did nothing to this photo but add the "frame" The second picture I saturated the colors a little and added the frame overlay.

The banner was a picture I took on the same trip. This trip was mostly flowers; we went months ago but I have just gotten around to "managing" the photos. Sometimes its all about the architecture, sometimes the people I go with, and sometimes the flowers.

On a side note: Guess who will be at House of Blues on Sunset May 3rd - Puddle of Mudd. Guess where I'll be on May 3rd. Tony mentioned it yesterday when were we discussing what a great time he had at the Linkin Park concert. He does pay attention after all - most of the time.

Linkin Park & Lower Cholesterol

2008-03-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

I don't know if means we're hip parents or just old parents trying to stay young. Tony took the kids to see Linkin Park tonight (it was really Tony's x-mas gift from me). I didn't go; not because I'm old, Linkin Park just isn't my fave. Now if it was Red Hot Chili Peppers, Puddle of Mudd, or Nickelback I'd be the first in line. Wait! I HAVE been the first in line for tickets to Puddle of Mudd and Nickelback. Top on my list right now is to see Plain White T's or The Fray.

Hey Tony did ya get the hint?? Someone wanna clue him just in case he missed it?

Do I look 40? Even if I do, thats ok, I am. I feel better now than I did a year ago. I lost another .4lbs at this weeks Weight Watchers meeting. Yea, I hear you saying what's four tenths of a pound, a sweater? Well, I've gained for the last 2 weeks, .4lbs last week, so this evens out last week. Even better I had bloodwork done last week and my cholesterol is down 43 points from 240 to 197. Wow, if I keep this up I could be *gasp* healthy.

CHA

2008-02-19T17:17:00.001-08:00

OK, so I admit I had to "steal" this picture taken at CHA. I took the big camera; why I don't know but thought it was a good idea at the time. I decided to leave my camera in the hotel room and let others who brought smaller cameras take the photos. I should be getting set of pictures this Friday while at a crop but Lori, I had to steal this off of your blog early so I could post.
We took some awesome classes! My new favorite line is Little Yellow Bicycle. Their class was great, their booth was great, their make and takes were awesome and most importantly I love the paper.
MAMBI also had a great class and I really like their new paper line. There was lots of SWAG to take home and I did win a new font for my cricut from ProvoCraft and a pink sizzix sidekick.
So CHA was a week ago but it took this long to post because I went to a scrapbook EXPO this weekend and took a few more classes; both from Rusty Pickle. Not nearly exciting but I did get to buy a few of those new Basic Grey stamps I saw at CHA. Now that I've been out shopping to the last two weekends, I can't wait til Friday night to crop and get some of these projects done!

The hood is gone

2008-02-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

The phone call no one wants to get at midnight on a Friday night.
"Hello?"
"Tony, it's Casey. There's been an accident"
"How bad is it?"
"The hood is gone...its not there anymore"
"Where are you, I'll be right there."
When all they can get out is the hood is gone, it can't be good. And it wasn't.
Sparky has been offically put to rest and delcared a total loss.
Good points:
1. Not Amanda's fault (he ran a red light and never even hit the brakes) 2. He had insurance and everything will be paid for. 3. The trip in the ambulance was a 2 for 1. (Both Casey and Amanda went in the same ambulance) 4. (and most important) Both Casey and Amanda are fine outside of a LOT of bruising, scrapes, and soreness. 5. It had both front air bags deploy, even though they were hit from the side (lucky? they were hit that hard to cause deployment)
Bad points:
1. We are short 1 car.
Not so bad considering the fact that the radiator is now sitting in the tansmission, the hood and bumper are on top of the car, and the interrior dash is much close to the seats.

Meet Lily

2008-01-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

Meet Lily; our newest kitty member of the family. She is about the size of half a cat. She is 4 mos old but no bigger than a cat half her age. But what she lacks in size she make up for in every other way; from thinking she is vicious to her smell!

The name is actually "Princess Tiger Liliputian" Princess Tiger Lily because she had the tiger stripes and thinks she is a princess. The liliputian is because she must be from Lilliput being that small. She was Amanda's (20th) birthday gift from her Aunt Jennifer. We took her to Disneyland, an annual tradition, we always go near her birthday.

Yep, Amanda is no longer a teenager! Where did all those years go? No wonder I have so much grey hair, I'm old.

The Holidays are over and after a brief rest we are gearing up for Zach's 18th birthday. 18. WOW, after this no biggies until 21 for each of them.

This years theme for Zach's party is a USO, WWII dance hall kind of thing. It will be complete with the music, propaganda posters, pin up girl posters, dog tags, and mom's apple pie. It's just so hard to find the right props when creating a theme that really hasn't been done. I'm getting used to it happening though. Wish us luck on Zach's joining the 18th "fighter squadron"

Lucky

2007-11-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Scrapbooking had to show up somewhere in here and well, here's a good a place as any.

Why this page, don't know, maybe its because I like green maybe its because Amanda will be 20 in 3 weeks. My how time flies when your busy. Contrary to what people say, I have not forgotten the pain but think it was worth it.

I have scored again and gotten out of making Thanksgiving dinner for another year. We will be eating with Tony's Aunt and Uncle. It's not that I don't like to cook but I do it so rarely now because we are just so busy; why change the pattern? I do the big Christmas thing still.

So this time next week we will be at a Puddle of Mudd Concert. YEA!! Tony bought me the tickets for our anniversary. A good kick off to the holidays and Thanksgiving weekend, which is booked every day already. So much for the all day Twilight Zone Marathon.

As a side note for any of you who keep track, add another flat tire to my score. I got a flat on the way to work Friday (that would be 3 in 3 months, lets not even look at the count for the last 12 months) It has however been 4 months since the last cracked windshield.

Forever Isn't Long Enough

2007-10-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

The top picture is the night we got married (10-13-85) and the bottom one is recently at Disneyland.

Thank God it doesn't look like we are old enough to be married for 22 years! At least that's what I like to think. We tried oh so hard to spend a quiet weekend away but it didn't really happen. We took time off 2 weeks ago so really couldn't this past week.

We left on Saturday to spend the weekend in Anaheim. We left the house before noon and didn't see Anaheim before 3:30. We got stuck in that traffic jam on the 5 freeway from the 27 truck pile up. Tony couldn't do too much walking, after all he had that awful rock climbing accident and hurt his ankle (good choice of what happened to his ankle don't you think?) So we opted for a movie. By the time the movie was done we had been called 3 times by the children for various requests. I'm glad they call and ask before they do things but we've left for 4 days and WE have to call them to make sure they are still alive. We are gone 5 hours for our ANNIVERSARY and they MUST speak with us immediately. Go figure. Sunday's drive home took as long but we had to get home, the children needed us. We learned that the freeway wouldn't be open until Tuesday so we both decided to stay home on Monday. (should have taken the extra day in the first place and stayed away another night)

So our anniversary dinner was popcorn and pretzels at the movies and for desert we had fig newtons when we got back to the hotel. Not quite the canned tamales and Doritos's we used to eat when we first got married but close. We did go out for a nice dinner the night before we left town though. However the good part is still to come, and I mean that sincerely. I got tickets to go see Puddle of Mudd and yes that totally outweighs everything else. Since my children love to keep in touch with us there are two extra tickets, and they get first dibs. But if they opt no to go, we will not be answering our phone at the concert. As if we could hear anyway.

Excuse me?

2007-10-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

"Why are your new shoes dirty?"
"I Fell"
"Excuse me?"
"I tripped"
"What?"
"I tripped and fell"
"You fell?"
"Ya, and tore my pants" as he turns his leg and shows me the offending torn pants.
"How did you fall"
"I tripped"
"On what"
"nothing"
"Excuse me?"
"NOTHING"
"So, the ground wasn't uneven, a lift in the sidewalk"
"No"
"You just fell... over nothing?"
"Yes"
I am now nearly rolling on the floor laughing.
The 3rd party enters here:
"He tripped over his feet, I do it all the time"
I ask the obvious: Are these people for real? And No, its not a conversation we are having with Zach. This my friend was the exchange between Tony and me. Apparently there is no reason for his fall other than his feet got in his way. Let it be said here and how: Like father, like son as demonstrated with this incident. 43 years old and still can't walk; Zach has a lifetime of tripping ahead of him. My suggestion is that he lie and when someone asks why he is limping he come up with another story; after all that's what I did and now I'm going to hell for lying. (Which Tony reminds me of on a regular basis when a similar topic comes up)
I love you Tony and Happy 22nd anniversary.

Kids, Halloween & Mickey

2007-10-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

This has got to be my favorite time of year! I love the fall, cooler temps, the change you can actually feel in the air, my birthday, and Halloween. Strangely enough, I don't make it a habit of dressing up for Halloween (in fact I avoid it at all costs) but I love the holiday decorations (and candy best of all.)

So we went to Disneyland, got to see the park all decorated, celebrated my birthday, ate too much junk food, all in all a great time. Of course going to Disneyland isn't that unusual considering we have passes but we always do something different. This time we went to the Saloon and watched the show. The kids and Tony have NEVER seen it in all the times we've been there. I think I was 5 the last time I saw it.

Zach was gone for the weekend in Frazier Park. He came home today and told me I was lucky that I didn't have to eat what he did for breakfast. It really wasn't so bad, a corn muffin type casserole with eggs. Its nice to know that your kid likes your cooking though and lets you know once in awhile even if they're complaining about someone else's. "No one cooks like mom" as the saying goes. Things like this actually give me the warm fuzzies in a strange sort of way. That and even though he didn't like it he didn't complain, ate it with a smile, and said, "thank you". I did good~ if he would just be as polite at home.

Still lookin' good

2007-09-19T18:20:00.001-07:00

I hope I look this good after being a few feet deep in dirt for 25 years. This is the ring that Tony & I lost 25 years ago. I took the picture before I cut the string off and cleaned the ring. The dirt was rinsed off but you can still see some of it in the photo. I think this would be a great promotion prop for Josten's class rings!

So if you have to buy anyone a class ring, may I suggest that you shop at http://www.jostens.com/ I guess this is why they have a lifetime guarantee.

Next week is the big 4-0 for me. In celebration of living this long, my birthday gift from Tony is a Canon Rebel XTi. I LOVE IT. If you don't know what a photo freak I am, let me just say I take a lot of pictures.

Yes, I realize that this is camera #5 that I have in my possession, but hey you should know that I have given 3 others away. I made the sacrifice and cut back. I know that I will one day want to use my faithful 35mm SLR (film camera). It is patiently waiting for me under a thick layer of dust on the top shelf of my closet with friends.

I even took the banner photo of the water lily. I used my Nikon coolpix digital fixed lense 2.1 mp

Not bad for a camera that will never stand up to the Rebel.

25 years later

2007-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

WOW!
When Tony and I were dating I wore his class ring; that was more than 25 years ago. It had the yarn on it so it would fit my finger. For some reason the ring was in my pocket and we lost it out on his property somewhere in the dirt and sand. Needless to say we never found it. His mom bought him a new ring and I wore it on a chain, life goes on and it was replaced with a wedding ring.
Over the weekend some (nice) lady left a rather strange message telling us that she had something that belonged to Tony, give her a call, and read the newspaper on page 3. We called and she told us that she had his class ring. His Class Ring - with the yarn still on it. Someone who lives on the property next to his old house was digging and found the ring earlier in the week. So she went to AV high School asked to see a yearbook from 1982, used the initals AMA inscribed on the ring and found only one AMA. She did a search and found us (rather scary and easy to find ANYONE!!). She went on to let him know the yarn was still on it - and he (here come the aaahhhh's) got a big smile on his face and said I married her and we're still together. He really does love me!
We picked up the ring Sunday evening ( will post picture soon). 25 years later. Wow. How often does something like this happen? Even more unusal, someone took the time to find him and return it. I don't know for sure I would go to that much trouble, would you? She even called the paper and they ran an article on the "mystery" on page 3 of the front section. That just goes to show you not much exciting happend in the Antelope Valley. They called and are going to run a follow-up article in Thursday's paper.
When things like this happen, it kinda gives you the warm fuzzies for humanity and the world we live it. Thank you June for being you and returning the ring (and bringing forward a lot of great memories we haven't thought about in years!)

For what its worth

2007-08-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

We all have to start someplace. When Zach is famous and supporting me in my old age I will have to look back on this with fondness. Right now I look at it as resume stuff (even if it will be denied by said actor at one point) So for all of you who haven't seen this (and thats most of you) take a look www.livevideo.com/teennerdsquad and send Zach a note.

On a far more social level check this out. We went to a friend's wedding this weekend and had a great time. Out of this group of friends there is only one left (Fred) who isn't married and his wedding is next month.

Congratulations Zita and Jason ~ It was beautiful!

What a concept...

2007-08-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

and hopefully something to make staying in contact a little easier. This is primarily for our family and friends that I don't get to talk to often enough but think of very often.

This picture is from Zach's graduation party this year. Physically we don't look much different than we did at Amanda's graduation party last year (top picture). The rest of our family life has changed dramatically. Both kids are out of high school and going on to do the college thing. WOW! I wasn't so sure we would ever get here but at the same time it was just yesterday I was dropping them off for their first day of school.

As the days go by I'll let you all know what's up and try and not make this look like the boring family vacation movies that no one wants to see. Here's to hoping the entertainment value any one of us alone can provide will keep that from happening.