Digital Scrapbook Day!

November 1 is Digital Scrapbook Day. Lots of crazy sales going on. I'm not sure if I'll have any time to shop between tonight's Halloween party and another one tomorrow. But be sure to check out the great deals at Scrapbook Graphics and the new designers! Find more details on the blog.

A Halloween PSA

Hug a politician

Don't you wish they were all this cute and cuddly? These were made for a charity auction to help Toys for Tots.

Scary stuff!

It's almost Halloween! I haven't been this excited about Halloween since I was a kid. Mostly because I have parties to go to on Friday and Saturday and two different costumes! On Friday, my friend Steph and I are going to be Merlotte's waitresses with vampire fangs. (Merlotte's is the bar on True Blood). I got our t-shirts and Tru Blood buttons from Cafepress. Then on Saturday, I'm going to another party with Randi. We went shopping this weekend and got Viking costumes and big swords! That should be fun!

Yesterday, we went to the Moose Lodge Halloween party where they had Afternoon at the Races. It's kinda hard to explain. There's a big square grid on the floor. Each kid is a jockey. The mc rolls some dice to determine how much each kid moves until someone reaches the end of the grid. The grown ups all bet on the jockeys, who have different odds. Then you win Moose bucks and pick out stuff from the prize table. All the money goes to some charity. It was cute to see the kids dressed up, including my nieces Ariel 1 and Ariel 2.

While we were out costume shopping, we found the cutest place, Sweet Avenue Bake Shoppe, where they make yummy (but pricey) cupcakes. Check out how good these look. Otherwise it was a pretty quiet weekend. I stayed home Saturday night with the dogs while Randi and Mom got soaked at the Memrial football game. I've been reading the Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao. It's such a great book - lots of New Jersey, Rutgers and even Bergenline Ave. here in WNY in it.

And I did a lot of scrapping this weekend! I've got my laptop & EHD set up so I can scrap on the couch again!

Last night, the MGL scraps team had a speed scrap at SBG and here's what I came up with based on their rules. It's been ages since I've done a speed scrap! Credits

I scrapped Penny's bee costume for a Fontologie play day. I was going to go look for a kit with bees in it at SBG and there was Dana's TwirlyGig right on the front page! Credits

Jenn Trippitti has a new kit called Halloweenies out. I love her cute little monsters. Perfect for some of my photos from the party this weekend! Credits
Here are the jockeys. Credits.
And here are my crazy monster nieces. Don't worry about Kylie. She's usually the bully of the pair. I just didn't catch her with the camera while they were fighting! LOL! This Holly McCaig's collab with Chirpi called Closet Monsters, now at her new store Holly McCaig Designs! Credits

Don't forget to vote next week!

This made me laugh. I wonder if more people vote for Dancing With The Stars than president?

Layout Catchup

Wow I'm behind on sharing pages!
Penny tucked herself in with this big old blanket that was sitting on the couch. Credits
Penny and Rocky being nice (before P decides she wants the toy). Credits
Me looking depressed as a pirate. Credits
My cute little puppy with my cousin. Credits
Photos from this year's walk. Credits
My cousin Corinne in a haystack maze. Credits
My buddy Rocky. Credits
Last year's balloon fest. Credits
My grandparents on their honeymoon. Credits
The girls at the zoo. Credits

Back up time!

I'm going to burn my latest photos, kits and LOs on to DVD. I'm a little behind this month. When's the last time you backed up?

As a reminder, I'll share with you a scene from Sex in the City.

Firetrucks

I have some time to kill before work and I was trying to figure out what I should do. Then I remembered I haven't shared the story of my crazy weekend!

Friday and Saturday started out great. I hung out with my friends Friday night and then we had the family over Saturday for Randi's birthay.

Well, then Sunday I was hanging out with the dogs and catching up on Netflix (Lives of Others - good movie!) when I got a call from Geek Squad saying my laptop was ready!!! I was so happy I got in the car and drove down there. The cost a bit less than the estimate, so I was happy about that too!

When I got home, I noticed a weird smell in the house. Sort of like fumes. We put the heat on for the first time that day, and I thought there was a funny scent from the dust on the radiators. But when I went down to the basement to check, it looked a little hazy down there and the smell was much worse.

I am a panicker so I called Mom, who was on her way home. She suggested calling the oil company for service. I turned the heater off and I took the dogs and the laptop into the yard to get some fresh air. While I was waiting for the oil company to call back I hear firetrucks. So I think maybe I should call them. Then I realized that the trucks were stopping in front of my house. Turns out the old lady next door could smell the smell in her house too.

Well, they checked out our basement. There was something wrong with the heater. The smell was from oil backing up. And they took readings to find we had high levels of CO down there. We had all the windows and doors open to get the fumes out and the CO levels dropped to nothing after awhile. But it still stinks in here, three days later.

I've spent the last two days waiting for service guys to show up. They found one of our oil tanks needed some new part and the other one was leaking. So we had to have another company come and pump out 250 or so gallons of oil. They said we were lucky we didn't have a fire. I also think it's a good think Geek Squad called. I might not have noticed how bad the smell was if I hadn't left the house.

I keep forgetting to blog. What's up with that? I even write down things to blog about but never get around to it. I'm still in a funk without my laptop. I found out last week it's going to cost more than $700 to repair and it won't be ready for more than a week.

So what else is up...
- Politics and the economy are keeping us busy at work.
- I'm on a committee to redesign the newspaper. Yay!
- I finished Brisnger, the third of the Inheritance books. Loved it and can't wait for the 4th.
- I watched the rest of Tin Man over the weekend along with What Happens in Vegas, which was pretty cliche and lame. Have now moved on to The Wire Season 3.
- Had the house to myself over the weekend while mom was at a Moose convention. Didn't do any of the things I planned on after hitting the Rover on Friday and Saturday nights.
- Randi and I took Penny and Rocky to West New York's first arts and music fest on Sunday. Saw lots of people. It was kinda small and there wasn't such nice art (Hoboken has nicer stuff) but it was nice to see a community event like this in town. Everyone was loving our dogs, and Rocky made some friends with some cute little boys. They didn't want to pet Penny!
- Tivo is behaving properly and recording my shows. My fave right now is True Blood.

Tomorrow I need to start getting ready for Randi's birthday. I'm baking her a cake and I think we're having the family over Saturday afternoon. The house needs cleaning and there's dog hair everywhere! Anyone want to come help?

Greetings from Hearst Castle

Here's a post card I got from my mom's co-worker who was recently out in California and went to San Simeon. My mom had asked her to bring one back for me, since I work for a newspaper. I think I even worked for the Hearst empire once, back when I interned at the Houston Chronicle.

Cover Girl Contest

All of you awesome scrappers should enter!!!! Find out more here!

Walk for the Cure weekend

This weekend was exhausting! I finally feel somewhat energetic today and my feet have recovered after aching so much.

Our yard sale on Saturday was a bust. The weather wasn't so great, so maybe that kept people away. My brother's town had a town-wide sale and his address was listed in a directory. But his house isn't on a main street so we didn't get a lot of traffic. We got a bunch of people looking for specific things: broken computers, costume jewelery, lotions or soaps - all stuff we didn't bring. My dad made the most money. Mike sold dad's washing machines and some of his power tools. Mike got rid of a shelf, an old step machine and some tools. Grandma came in third with about $16.50 made off old records. I made about $15 and Randi about $13. I did at least get rid of an old lamp that has been sitting around forever and a few VHS tapes. But I ended up hauling all of my stuff back to the house. Randi dropped off a bunch of it at Salvation Army. We just hate throwing stuff away.

These are some of my mom's old records! I found a few that I kept by the Beatles, Johnny Cash and Simon & Garfunkel. I might ask Grandma for the rest that didn't sell since I just love old vinyls. My favorite thing is my mom's list of records.

As usual when I need to get up early, I didn't sleep much the night before. So I crashed after I got home for a few hours and then watched the first disc of Tin Man. Really cool TV mini series that puts a different spin on the Wizard of Oz. Can't wait for the next DVD to get here!


The walk on Sunday was a lot of fun. It was pouring up here, but the weather was warm down in Jackson at Six Flags. The walk was a little shorter - 4Ks instead of 5Ks. And it seemed to me that there weren't as many sponsor booths or as much free stuff. Wonder if it's because of the economy?

Poor Randi had to drive us home while we all slept in the car! I took another long nap after the walk. The girls were here and I couldn't deal with the noise or watching Cinderella II again so I hid in my room. Didn't stop Taylor from visiting me a few times. LOL!

But anyway, we raised about $500 as a team and that is just great! My aunt and grandma (the ones in pink hats) are both survivors and I love that we do this as a family. We've had a rough few months since my other aunt's accidents, so it was good to get out and spend some time together.

Some pages!

I am getting so bad about posting pages. I do most of these in advance, and then forget to share! D'oh!
This week's Studio Start is to scrap your slippers or favorite pairs of comfy shoes. I think you all know about my Converse obsession! LOL! This week there's even a great posting bonus by BaerGarten so be sure to join in!!!! Credits
The Studio Girls have created another great collab, Impressions of Comfort! I had so much fun playing around with the kit and photoshop on this one! Credits
And finally, Traci Reed has a fun new kit, My Hero, which I just love so much since I love my superheroes! Credits

Scrapbook Graphics Pajama Party

Scrapbook Graphics is turning 5! There's going to be a big Pajama Party this weekend, with lots of sales, chats and challenges! Check out the PJ party forum for more details! The Studio designers and crew have lots of fun planned - I'm going to be working Friday and getting ready for our big garage sale on Saturday, but hope I get home in time to join in some of the fun!

Here's the Chat schedule
5pm Meredith Fenwick -- chat with Meredith, ask about her new baby, and talk scrapping!
6pm Fontologie & Anna Benjamin -- We'll be the first to see Fontologie's latest font created with Anna Benjamin -- come get the font free exclusively during the chat.
7pm Lorie Davison -- chat and receive a mystery freebie
8pm Doris Castle and Ramona Vaughn -- Visit with them and check out a special freebie for the season
9pm Stephanie O'Neill -- guaranteed belly laughs plus a special freebie for chatters.
10pm Leah Farquharson -- get a quickpage to build your own hybrid layout.
11pm Michelle Godin & Rachel Young -- introducing their newest collaboration.
12am Amy Pearson -- Truth or Dare (participate and win a template!)
1am Michelle Reaves AKA Plumtuckered -- play Xtreme Spirit Club! Will you be the winner?
2am Becky Troxel AKA Webchyck -- it's time for a Photo Safari!

**** Becky posted a lot more details and some previews on the Studio Matters blog!

Breast cancer awareness kit

We'll be taking part in the Walk for the Cure this weekend (still time to help us raise money!) and I found a great kit to scrap with this year!
This collab by Holly McCaig, Andie Smith, Mikkel Paige, Scrappy Pony, Carrie Bombria, Audra Little and Tara Sroka is available at Tara Sroka Designs and will benefit Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.