My Dandelion Wishes

Sadera & TJ getting the bikes ready for a FUN bike ride. Now none of us has ridden our bikes in over a year this should be good for sore muscles tomorrow!! Our goal was to work off all the food we ate at Redfish for lunch. Daddy John stayed home to sleep as he had to play for 6pm Mass. Jenn showing her overwhelming enthusiasim for riding! And of course me, they didn't think I could ride so there Kids! Sadera was so happy to wear her bike helmet NOT!! Kids had a good afternoon with their Uncle TJ. He even let them climb all over his jeep. This is my ugly ugly ugly bottlecap doll. The only cute thing about her is her legs. The make n take was fun...but bottlecap dolls are not for me.

Pictures of cards from Jan Stampin Up Club 6 cards from monthly Stampin Up card class

Our first trade of our Altered Books was held today. Victoria hosted the meeting and 6 of us traded our books. These are the pics of my book before I handed it off to the next artist to complete pages in my book. At the end we will have 3 2-page layouts in our book by each memeber

Colleen surprised us with a class at the Creative Quest in Glendale. From 10:30 to 4:30 we painted and altered art canvases and made two handmade albums to fit inside the book. This was a great class and oh so much fun with Colleen. By the way 70 + pounds since Oct 13th. You are doing great Colleen.

This has been a very stressful last two days. Did you ever stop and think that life goes on and we all become very complacent with our routines, social and family lives? We take for granted alot of our family and friends. Well Thursday there was a big bump in the road for me, Not one of those annoying speed bumps but a big bump. My father was rushed to the hospital with what they thought was a heart attack. What a sudden heart stopping moment when my sister called. Long story short it turned out not to be his heart instead of a very badly infected gall bladder. He has had surgery and is doing much better than expected. A great eye opening lesson for me to appreciate and show that appreciation for family, friends and those that are close to us. Bumps in the road can happen at any time no matter how well we think we are prepared.

Sadera and Anthony's Christmas gift from Aunt Jo-mama

Jo here is Mom's altered lunch pail thingy for all the cards I made for her. Click on the pic to enlarge it.

Colleen and I made it over early to the Grand Opening of Devine Memories. Wow what a difference in the store not only in the physical decor but the staff and owners are so friendly. The whole atmosphere is one of welcoming, warm friendly. The floors are to die for, but then I'm partial to wood flooring. We got to meet Heidi Swapp. What fun. Great make and take. Heidi Swapp in the middle Michelle, owner, Colleen, Kim's mother, sister, daughter, Kim and Marilyn, I missed her face

My wonderful prizes from Happy N Scrappin for winning the Christmas Card Contest. I was really excited when I found the box by my frontdoor when i got home from work today. I love rub on letters and there are a ton of them. The ribbons and embellishments are so neat. I will be able to make tons of cards now. Thank you Happy N Scrappin and all of you that voted for me

This has been a crazy, busy, chaotic week for only being 4 days long!! I can't believe how busy CGRMC is and how busy we are. It is good to have Dr Letarte back and today was a better day. Below are the pics for my family as requested and the pics of my latest class Altered Book Club with Beth, Colleen, Victoria, Linda. Class meets on the 15th and I have 2 more spreads to complete before I hand off my book to someone else. Guess what I will be doing this week-end?? Cover 1st layout I have spent a ton of time on this paper doll. I keep adding to her. Artist sign in page

Jars for my ribbons and what nots and the Peace letters I plan to alter with Christmas paper. The Blue glitter is not me.

I stepped outside my comfort zone and entered a Christmas card contest at Happy N Scrappin, an online internet store in Mesa. Thanks to family and friends who rallied behind me and voted I won! I have tried to put a pic of the card on here but somehow I can't get it to post. Thank you everyone for your votes! AND THE WINNERS ARE: 1st Place: Sherry Bamsey!! 2nd Place: Tracy Steinbach 3rd Place: Shelly Scott

Christmas 2005 was a very special Christmas for us. It is the first Christmas for Jennifer and John as a married family. We had so much fun, not only with the gifts, but playing games all afternoon. The POM Martinis were a hit. Of course John being a former bar tender had them down to a fine art. Modeling Sadera's knitted scarf and hat she made me. Great pic TJ I look very old! Jennifer sampling John's pom martini TJ helping Anthony with his dinosauer Sadera in her new reading chair

Merry Christmas family and friends. I hope this is a wonderful day for all of you. I know I'm blessed as TJ, Jennifer, John and kids will be with me today. I was shocked to receive my Christmas present from TJ on Christmas Eve. A new Gateway computer with all the latest and greatest bells and whistles. To say I'm thankful is a big understatement as my old computer was just about dead yesterday. It kept going into system error blah blah blah. Thankfully TJ was able to get 8 discs of pics and documents off it and transferred to the new one. I have video!!! I can make movies, slideshows and on and on. He was even able to load my Adobe Elements. Yipee. Okay now to get ready for dinner. TJ and I can't wait to try Colleens rum cake, pomagrant martinis and of course all the prime rib, ham and on and on. Pics to come later

Anthony at his soccer game Saturday. I couldn't go due to a nasty cold. Anthony's 5th BD cake. Dinosauer of course what else could it be. Practice run decorating for Christmas dinner Slowly getting things organized and done for Christmas. Key word is slowly New dinner plates and chargers. The chargers are a deep purple and the color in the pics doesn't do it justice.

We broke with tradition and held a Christmas lunch for the staff today. TJ found a new caterer and the food was yummy. Green chili chicken lasgna, chicken alfredo, stuffed spinach mushrooms ummmmm good!It was great to sit and eat and visit with everyone. Claudia Stuffed mushrooms with spinach and cheese Merry & Dr Letarte Peggy & Dr Letarte TJ, Kathy, Roxy Delia, Kathy Niki Delia, Anita, Merry, Irma Claudia, Warren, and 1/2 me good pic TJ