In the mail...

Thank you all for your kind words on the loss of my phone! LOL! :) I ordered a new phone this morning and hopefully it's on its way!

More pages

Here are some more pages I've been working on. I am finally used to scrapping on the laptop and am getting a lot done!
Here's Penny in her new dress. I never thought I'd be one of those people who dress up their dogs, but she does look pretty cute! I used the new SBG Collab Imperssions of Laughter - coming July 1. Credits
And here's one about Penny's first trip to the vet and her lampshade using some of Jenn Trippetti's goodies and Jessica Bolton's template. Credits

Proud grandma

I did some scrapping this weekend. Here are some pages I did from Taylor's ceremony....
Mom and T - mom was tearing up at the ceremony and I made fun of her! I used Jennifer Trippetti's He Loves Me, He Love Me Not from Scrapbook-Elements, where she's also selling now. Credits

And I did a second page using one of Mish Gasser's Square Quickies 7 from Plain Digital Wrapper.

RIP

My poor pink razr. I loved this phone. It's the longest relationship I've had with a phone. But it died today in a tragic laundry accident.

Good news is I had insurance on it. Bad news is I can't even order a new phone until tomorrow and that will involve checking with my dad since I'm on his family plan. My head hurts. :(

Some Saturday shares

It's Saturday and I'm bumming around today because I have to work tonight. I'm not even dressed yet! We had the two doggies here and they were better today than they were last night when they were fighting over toys and jumping at each other.

Mom and Randi went shopping today and got a present for Penny!

Here's Mom and Taylor after her graduation ceremony yesterday. The ceremony was very cute. The kids sang songs and did a little dance to Jump in the Line.

And here are some of my newest LOs...

This week's Studio Start was to scraplift Amy Pearson. I lifted her 365 Project Week 2 page to showcase all these photos of Penny's first day home. Credits
Here's my first page at a freelancer for Traci Reed - using her collab with Cori Gammon - Lacy Bloomers. I had drawn a box and then clipped two layers of the photo to it - the top layer was at a reduced opacity. Somehow the top layer became unclipped - and I could sort of see what it would look like as an extraction - so I decided to go for it! CreditsDid this one for the SBG scraplift challenge this week. Kylie being silly. Credits
And we're having a Michelle Godin Play Day on the Studio Matters blog so I did this page of Randi using Michelle's Snail Kit. Credits

Gotta figure out what to have for lunch now!

Busy, busy, busy!

I have a lot of stuff planned over the next few days. Hope I don't forget to get things done!

Tomorrow morning I need to take Penny to the vet for a follow up shot. Then we're heading over to Randi's so I can fix her computer. Randi and I are going to take Grandma to lunch for her birthday. She's going to be 77! That's her in the LO a few days down. She is really an amazing and inspiring woman and she holds our family together. She's been going through so much lately, even before my aunt's accident, so we hope we can take her mind off her troubles for a bit.

Friday, Taylor's got her pre-school graduation. She's going to kindergarten in the fall! (Along with lots of my cyber nieces and nephews! I'm so proud of all of them!) She went to an open house of the school and met one of the teachers who said she needs to practice her writing over the summer. She's gotten a lot better at writing and spelling lately.

Saturday, I'm filling in at work and am working the wire shift, which I've only done once before. Going to be a rough night! Then Sunday is my cousin Melissa's h.s. graduation party. Lots of graduations this year. My cousin Ryan who lives in Miami also graduated from high school this year, and my cousin Corinne just finished 8th grade. I'm the old lady of all my first cousins so now that my youngest cousin will be starting H.S., I'm really feeling old!

Monday morning I'm going to a meeting at the car dealer. I really don't want another Pontiac but we'll see what kind of deal they'll give me. If anything, I could always get a car for now and then get another trade in after a few years before I really beat the thing up.

Mom called from the airport in Vegas saying she'd be able to feed and walk the dog in the morning so I could sleep in - but I won't be able to really anyway! I miss sleep! I've been taking power naps - or trying to - with the doggie on the couch.

Little Miss Penny has been gettingn more independent. She'll go hang out in the kitchen by herself and not cause any trouble. She did get in trouble yesterday for climbing on the table and knocking over my Diet Coke! It got all over the couch and it happened about a foot away from my laptop. But I was mostly angry because it was the last drop of Diet Coke in the house and I really needed caffeine!

I don't think things will get back to normal or sort of normal for awhile. But I do have a 4 day weekend coming up after 4th of July and then after that it's just another week until CHA! I can't wait!

This makes me sick!

I am so glad Penny and Rocky didn't come from a place like this. I'm so disgusted and heartbroken over this story:

President of disgraced animal shelter withdrew $12G from its bank account

It gets worse every day! First it was the corpses, now the stealing too. That is a heartless person!

She found us

I've been wanting to scrap the story of how Penny found us for awhile now. I started last night, but couldn't think any more. I do that all the time - wake up and it and it all comes together. I like how this one turned out! It was nice to just scrap!

Credits

Greetings from Cripple Creek, CO

Thanks Melinda for the postcard! Melinda visited the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine in Cripple Creek, CO, while her sister and her family were visiting!

Another lazy Sunday

Hope you're all having a good weekend. I am being so lazy! I love having the living room to myself. Makes me just want to watch TV - and whatever I want for a change. I've been watching a bunch of movies on cable or Netflix. I've seen The Kite Runner, I Am Legend and Gone Baby Gone - my favorite of the three - this weekend. Now I've going to watch Pride & Prejudice - the Keira Knightly version, which I need to cheer me up. I'm still a little creeped out from Legend. And I a little depressed after watching World Trade Center. It was on cable and I finally thought I'd have the guts to watch. It was a little long, but good, and it made me sad.

The weather here is so weird! We've been having a lot of sun showers lately. Feels like we're in Florida. And they've been going on all day. I won't complain about it thought because it's keeping things cool.

Going to get back to the movie!

Books

I did this page for a Studio Start about books that inspire you. I had a much longer list that I narrowed down. Credits

And I think it's funny that Little Women is on right now - the Winona Ryder version. That was the first novel I read that wasn't a "kids" book. I'm not a crier when it comes to movies, but this story always makes me cry. Always breaks my heart how Jo turns down Laurie and then he ends up with Amy! I haven't seen this version in awhile - didn't realize Laurie was Christian Bale!

I'm so exhausted. I haven't been sleeping well because I'm still getting used to my routine as a doggie mama. And my mom is away for a week so I really have been getting up early. I feel so terrible leaving her alone!

Here are some other pages I've done recently....

This is just a photos of me, Randi and Grandma when they came to visit us in college. I don't think I have many photos of the three of us. Credits
Here's my pup snuggling up to my lap. I am a sucker for her! Credits

I've got a huge to-do list but I'm too beat to get anything done! I just had a nap and feel even worse now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of today!

UGH! A cranky Friday morning rant

I got up to feed Penny this morning and have been trying to go back to sleep very unsuccessfully because...
- Penny wants to jump on my head.
- The phone keeps ringing.
- The post office delivered a package.
- An officer rang the bell asking me to move my car for the water company.

I am annoyed because ...
- I was parked in an OK spot last night.
- There's hardly any parking because of the parking lot construction a block away.
- Now there's all kinds of noise from whatever they're are doing on the street.
- The person who was supposed to feed Penny tonight while I'm at work has backed out on me and now I need to find someone else. (Mom's away for a week.)
- And I need to leave for work in an hour.

Rant over.

Doggie Day Care

I couldn't sleep last night and now I'm exhausted! Not just because of the lack of sleep but because I've spent most of the morning with Penny and Rocky. Randi worked at Project Graduation last night so Rocky stayed over.

There were a few moments where I was worried Rocky was being a little too rough. They were also competing over bones, toys and my lap! Rocky still thinks he's a lap dog. Here are some photos...
Kept them busy with rawhides. That worked for a few minutes!
Rocky wanted all the toys to himself!
This would be an awesome photos if not for the pet eye!
Here's one without flash and a little blur - I was bribing them with treats!

** I forgot to mention that when we went outside, our neighbor's dog - a big black newfoundland - was barking and Penny was whining, and Rocky ran over almost like he was defending her. It was cute! (By the way, the neighbor's big dog is also named Rocky and they also have a pug named Cosmo.)

She's now doing something she NEVER does. She's sitting on the kitchen floor by herself. Wonder if she misses Rocky?

A new gig

I keep forgetting to mention that I'm hawt! LOL! Sure. But I'm going to be a hawt freelancer for Traci Reed! I've known Traci for ages - before she was designing - so it's going to be fun to working for her! The freelance job is sort of like a parttime CT - so I'll be doing some pages now and then for her.

**Is anyone else having problems with photobucket? Looks like my blinkies are messed up on the rail.**

Is this a scam?

I got a call yesterday from the Pontiac dealership where I had my car fixed a few weeks ago. They said they are looking to buy back cars, no matter what condition, at a profit to me. I've never heard of anything like that. I haven't had a chance to talk to my mom - since she's in the car business - but maybe they're just trying to get people to trade in for new cars. I'm in the market for a new one though, so it might not be bad to go for the meeting anyway.

Fun going on at SBG

Here's my weekly enabling Spotlight! Warning, there's some new stuff in the SBG store!

And this Friday, SBG is hosting a chat with Ronee Parsons about her new book.

Update on my aunt and other stuff

My aunt is doing better! I want to thank all of you for your kind words and your support! It means so much. She was awake today and responding - my last update was early afternoon, and that was before they took the tube out.

Now that I have a pup, my whole routine has changed. I get up and spend time with the dog pretty early, for me at least. If I'm too tired, I go back to sleep on the couch with her. Or else I spend my mornings checking email, scrapping, playing Scramble or other games on Facebook, and Plurking on the laptop. My office is so neglected. I need to bring up some toys and maybe get another bed so Penny can learn to relax upstairs. I haven't ACDSeed one thing since she's been here! I don't even want to think about paying my bills. And I can't get my network working (think it could be an XP/Vista thing) so I can't listen to my music downstairs. So instead we've been watching whatever Netflix sent in the mail or instant movies on Netflix or Melrose Place on Soapnet in the mornings.

Which brought me to think today that if I'm getting up and watching TV this early, I should really try to exercise. I have at least been a lot more active going for walks every day, but it's really not enough. My healthy eating habits have gone out the window lately. I finally went food shopping and now I can at least bring dinner to work, but I was ordering out every night last week.

So tomorrow, I hope I find a little motivation! Night!

Huh?

I've been a Pearl Jam fan for so long, but I still don't know what Eddie Vedder is saying!

Ugh...

Oh man I feel icky today. My friends peer pressured me into going out last night. Open mic night at the Rover. I was feeling down, and they did cheer me up, but now it hurts. LOL!

It was a crazy weekend here! I saw the Hulk on Saturday. Pretty cool movie. Not as good as Iron Man, but I liked it. Ed Norton was great. Then I had to go to Mike's for an early Father's Day dinner. My dad made jambalaya, but I don't eat that since it has shrimp in it. So I just had some chicken and bread. On the way home, it was pouring rain. I could hardly see a thing. I stayed home and caught up on Netflix. I watched P.S. I Love You and The Savages, both good, but not exactly pick me up kinda movies.

Yesterday, we were having everyone over for a bbq for Father's Day (Mike was the only dad here) and Rocky's birthday. Rocky is 5! We had cupcakes for him and this was the first time another dog was at his party. Rocky and Penny got along really well. Penny had too many berries in the yard while she was running around and was a bit sick. Everyone was laughing at me for not wanting to let her out - but I knew she was going to be sick!

We also had some bad news yesterday. My aunt was in a motorcycle accident. I hope you'll all keep her in your thoughts. She got thown from the bike and had some bleeding on the brain. They're going to keep her sedated for a few days. I'm trying not to dwell on the negative and I'm hoping she'll come out of this ok.

I think Penny is feeling better today. We're just hanging out watching TV and taking it easy.
How about some pictures from this weekend...

The girls wanted to pose for me. They are getting so big!
The birthday boy looking handsome. He looks so big to me these days since I'm hanging around my little pugster.
The cousins were getting along!
I gave Penny a bath yesterday and I think I got more wet than she did!

Poor thing!

Poor Penny! I feel so bad for her. We just had our first vet visit. I think I was more nervous than she was. She was a champ and did so well with the vet. Vet said everything looked good, except for a little patch near her stitches. I thought it was just some dry skin but he said she was probably scratching. So she'll need to wear this lampshade for two weeks. We'll find out tomorrow if her tests were OK. I feel so guilty having to leave for work for my early shift and leaving her like this!

Much better today

Since I complained about my doggie yesterday, I just wanted to report that she was back to being a sweetie today. We took our walk pretty early and maybe that tired her out. But she spent most of the day in her bed or cuddled up on my lap. :)

Randomness

So my town decide to close off the municipal lot around the corner so it could build a big parking deck. This means that the already bad parking situation around here got horribly worse this week. Luckily tonight I could fit on the corner of my block. Not an ideal spot, but better than parking by the school and having to move by 7 am again.

There's an old lady up the street. She must be a million years old. I thought she was a thousand years old when we were kids. She used to sit out on her stoop smoking every night and she always fed all the strays. I've seen her a few times this week while I was out walking the dog, and every time I pass her house she yells out "Coffee and potatoes." Now, you've got to imagine that in a Hudson County accent. "Cawfee and patatahs." I think she's lost it!

I did my back ups today. Everything fit on one DVD!

The air conditioner in my room stinks. It's new from last year. And it worked then. Even with the fan on it's a sauna in there.

I forgot to mention the most awesome birthday present I got for myself: Tickets to see Bruce Springsteen! They are total nosebleed seats, but that's all I could get. If anyone wants to come with, let me know! I have an extra ticket for July 29.

I also got my plane tickets and made my reservations for CHA this summer! I'm so excited. It's going to be so much fun to see a bunch of my digi friends! Let me know if you're going to be there, too.

Going to go see what's on TiVo now. Should be the last Men in Trees. I like that show and I'm sad they canceled it. My TiVo has been pretty empty this week. The only new shows are American Experience. So if anyone has any good recommendations for summer viewing, I'd love to hear them.

I think I woke Penny up. I can hear her whining downstairs. Poor thing. I'm going to be strong and leave her alone though.

Bad dog!

Oh man, Penny is having a bad day. First of all, her whimpering from the kitchen woke me up this morning. She would not leave me alone while I ate lunch. She climbed on my shoulder like a parrot while I was on the couch. She wouldn't get off the couch. She was eating berries in the yard that fell from the neighbor's tree. She tried to play with one of mom's mooses. She chewed on the bathroom rugs. She zigged and zagged all over the place on our walks. She was barking at something in the kitchen for no apparent reason. And Randi just called me to let me know Penny left a present on mom's bed. Randi didn't realize that the stairs weren't blocked off or that mom's door was open. She realized that things were too quiet and found the pup upstairs.

I'm wondering what's up with her. Maybe it's a bad day. Maybe she misses me after spending so much time with me last week. Maybe it has something to do with getting fixed. I was just looking into some obedience classes last night. She has been such an angel until today. I'm hoping tomorrow's better!

Where I've been

I have a lot of states to visit! I just saw this on Holly's blog...

States I've been to

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

I'm melting

It is sooooooooo hot! We're on day 4 of a heatwave. It's supposed to end tomorrow. I had to drive to work yesterday with the heat on because my car was on the verge of overheating. And it was fine last night coming home until I got stuck in traffic. I was so hot that the metal on my glasses felt hot.

I'm loving the air conditioning right now. Me and the dog are just relaxing. I'm going to dress down to work today because I was roasting yesterday. Gotta go get the car checked before I leave for work though.

So is anyone Plurking? It's sort of like , but it doesn't seem to crash as much. If you are, add me as a friend!

And here are some new pages...
I wanted to use this title before we even got the dogs together LOL! Credits
And here's the pup and me. This vacation was definitely all about her. Credits

Christmas in June

I've been working on my Christmas album since it's so hot here!
Credits: Tracy Ann Robinson's Random Words; Amy Hutchinson sequin overlay from Cocktail Hour, Amy Wolff glitter overlay
Credits: Dani B snow white alpha from St. Nick Collection, Candy Cane Doodles, Fa La La papers; Kimberly Giarrusso Alphabet Beads
Baers Garten's present from Impressions of Holidays at SBG; Dani B's Fa La La Papers
Bren Boone's stamp frames from Jessica kit; Paper, bows from Amy Knepper's Home for the Holidays; Dani B's Christmas Treats lights
Credits: Holly Jolly by Tiff Brady, Gina Miller and Kate Hadfield
Credits: Eve Recinella's Black Christmas; Party word art by Traci Murphy from Scrap Artist Splash
Credits: Dani Mogstad's Very Merry Add On

Yawn!!!

I'm so tired. I came downstairs to rest on the couch because I didn't have the AC in my room yet. But Mike called and said he was on his way to put them in. I'm so glad Mike is big and strong and handy. I tried moving my AC this morning and sliced the lower palm of my hand on it. Not a good spot.

So the girls were with him and they got to meet Penny. They were really good with her. She's doing better today after surgery yesterday. Still a little groggy, but way more active.

I am not feeling very active either. I was out late celebrating my birthday. I was so glad some of my friends came by to hang out with me. It was so much fun. I also set an all-time high score in trivia at the Rover!

It's still super hot today, so I plan on just relaxing today!

Penny's home!

And it's official! I signed the last adoption papers! Poor thing looks beat. Plus it was super hot on the ride home. Had to shut off the AC because the car was about to over heat. Here's what I did while Penny was gone....

Credits

Saturday

Well, my staycation is almost over. My rotten morning yesterday got a little worse after a trip to Geek Squad. I finally took the old computer and the part I ordered from HP in. The part didn't fit and they had one there (which they originally said they didn't) that fit. But when the geek started it up, the machine was all messed up. So now, I need to just try to recover the files. Looks like a lost cause. My poor computer!!!!! Even though I didn't use it much, I'm still attached to it.

This morning, I dropped Penny off at the shelter. She wimpered all the way there. Poor baby! But at least she she should be seeing the vet around now. I had a second bed for her upstairs that I brought down here last night. She was happy sitting there instead of my lap or on the couch (which Mom doesn't like!) and I got a little scrapping done.

I did this page for a Shel Silverstein challenge at SBG...
The poem Picture Puzzle Piece made me think of Taylor. I wasn't that familar with Shel Silverstein, but I really love his poems. I just bought a new book for the girls!
Credits

And I have a few others I haven't posted here yet...
Did this one for last week's Studio Start about names. This is my first Penny page! Credits

Blogger: Greetings from.... - Create PostThese are some photos from the day we were at Grandma's looking at old photos using the new Impressions of Fatherhood kit from SBG. Credits.

These are some crazy superhero costumes and fashions we saw at the Met. Credits.

Taylor going down the slide .... Credits
Some scenes of the girls playing ... Credits.

After dropping off Penny, I got some Starbucks and had a little retail therapy. Since I didn't get many birthday presents, I've been shopping for myself! I started out yesterday returning some shirts from Mom at Kohls and picking up some different tees and some summer pants. Today, I stopped at Michaels and got a butterfly punch, a circle cutter and some frames to decorate. And then I hit Barnes and Nobles where I picked up some books for myself and the nieces.
I just uploaded some new photos of Penny to Facebook. And there's a funny interview with Ringo Starr on HBO. I'm having a party tonight at the Rover for my birthday so I want to take it easy. It's super hot out there right now - so I'm going to stay inside and try to scrap!

My no good rotten morning

It's cold and cloudy today. I should have known this was going to be a crummy morning! I got up early, packed up the car so I could run some errands and put Penny in her travel crate to take her to get fixed. The poor thing wimpered the whole trip and even tipped over the crate. I felt so bad.

So we get to the shelter, and they said they couldn't take her today! I am so upset. I was going to get some stuff done after I dropped her off. And now I'm going to have to go through the whole miserable trip with her again. I was so upset coming home that I took a wrong exit and ended up on the turnpike.

And now I'm just exhausted and annoyed, so I don't feel like doing anything! I have errands to run, assignments to catch up on. Maybe I'll feel better if I take a nap or something.

Well, yesterday was a much better day. I took Penny over to town hall so she could meet my dad. Then later, Randi came over with Rocky. And they got along pretty well! At first, Rocky wanted nothing to do with his new cousin. He was ignoring her as she sniffed him. Then they chased each other a bit. He got a little rough after awhile, which is what he does at the park with other dogs, but since Penny's so small she could hide behind my legs or under chairs. Not too bad for a first meeting.

After the doggy playdate, Randi and I went to Houlie's for dinner and then we went to the outdoor bar at Frank's which is down on the waterfront. It was a really beautiful night. And I ran into lots of people from high school and Joanie and her friends. After that, I stopped by the Rover for karaoke night and got one of my friends to sing my favorite Bruce song, Rosalita.

Off to get some rest now, and hopefully calm down.

Lazy day

I didn't feel like doing much all day today. So I just hung out at home watching movies with the dog. We were watching right here on the laptop on Netflix. They have some movies available to watch for free and they look fine on my big screen. Got to cross Monsoon Wedding and Cabaret off my queue.

On our walk today, Penny met some of neighbors. She also met another pug who she got along with well, but she didn't like a poodle that we came across. After that, I had to vote in the primary and run down to Target to pick up a few things.

I might go out in a little bit to visit Lisa and Stef at the bar. Just had two diet cokes, so I finally have some energy.

Sunburn

I'm looking a little red today. I went by Randi's pool today and I guess I didn't put on enough sunscreen. The sunburn isn't all over but in patches here and there. It was very nice to be out at the pool, which has an awesome view of NYC. I caught up on some CKs and started reading a book about pugs. But then these young girls came to the pool and they were so annoying. The pool was pretty empty, but they sat right next to us. Then they were talking loudly and they were dirtier than Samantha on SATC! I mean really vulgar. I don't mind a little girltalk, but I save it for the bars or a party or something. Not out in the open like that. Gross!!!!

After leaving Randi and Rocky (Missed my buddy! Haven't seen him in a week!), Penny and I went for a nice walk. I like walking her much better with the harness. She's been getting too used to sitting on my lap and she's jumping on the couch on her own. Mom's not going to like that! She's trying to climb up here as I write this. Poor thing has a cough too. Makes me a little nervous. I think it could be kennel cough.

Randi and I ate all our meals out today. She took a personal day to hang out with me. First we had lunch at Panera and did a little shopping. Then we had dinner at Charittos, a great Mexican place.

I also finished watching No Country For Old Men today. It was a good movie - I don't know if I liked the ending. But I liked all the subtle bits of story telling and there was some great acting too.

Going to watch the season finale of the Tudors now!

No big deal birthday

Here's how my staycation and birthday have been going so far...
Friday: Went by the Rover to hang out with my friends after work.
Saturday:
- Took Penny to Petsmart and bought her a harness, some treats and toys. It was pouring rain on and off so it was a bad, bad hair day.
- Picked up some Chipoltes for lunch on the way home.
- Randi came by and brought me some birthday gifts - 2 books on pugs, Barbara Walters' book, and a book on dog tricks. Mike also stopped by to jump start Mom's car and got to meet Penny.
- Went up to White Plains to meet my friend Monica and some of our co-workers and her friends to see Sex and the City. Loved the movie! (I'll have to review it later!) Then we went back to her house for cosmos and flirtinis, pink cupcakes, and Chinese food. We watched some episodes of SATC, played a bit of trivia, lots of girl and show talk.
- Got a bit lost driving home. Stopped at Dean's on the way home where Billy, Lisa and JR were all hanging out.

Sunday:
- Woke up to early when Betty, Lucia and Fernando came by. They all loved Penny! Lucia also made me a card.
- Stomach all messed up from last night's Chinese food. Between that, allergies and lack of sleep, have felt gross all day.
- Went to Taylor's first dance recital. The whole show was pretty pathetic. Poor Taylor wasn't very coordinated - but neither were the other students. Choreography wasn't very good either.
- We all went to Fridays for a late lunch. Felt so full. And then was mortified when the servers came out singing. Can't ever go anywhere with Vesna. She loves embarrassing me. I don't like it when my family sings happy birthday, nevermind the entire restaurant staff. Plus, I wasn't feeling good. So the ice cream with a candle was a total waste.
- Came back home, caught up a little on my CKs, watched TV here with Penny on my lap. Caught up on all nice birthday wishes from my friends through email and Facebook. All my "imaginary" friends have made me feel better today than some of my friends and family.
- Now I'm watching No Country For Old Men. Pretty good so far. Going to rewind a bit since I've been blogging and not paying attention.