Happy Halloween! (one)

Halloween prep:
Are we ready?










Pick pumpkins - check!














Carve pumpkins - check!






All carved and ready to go - check!

Looks like we're ready to go!

I have a very cute picture of my cowboys getting ready to leave - but have no more time to mess with it and for some reason it is not uploading. You'll have to check back later for more Halloween pics.

Hope you have a happy Halloween.

PS - thank you for all your support and well wishes, I was able to sleep all night without any nocturnal visits from our forest friends! Whoo hoo! (of course not wanting to tempt fate and have the coons think my house is the source of a late night munchie bar, I took the pumpkins in for the night! )

Scritch, scritch, scratch, crunch!

Okay, so it is 2am and I WAS asleep. Then I hear a rukus. Well a mini-rukus anyway! And let me tell you i was FREAKED. It was a scratching noise. Right under my window. I was home alone last night and let me tell you I have an overactive imagination when home alone.

So, after the scratching and scritching it gets quiet. I am debating if someone was trying to get into the door and now did and is in the house. I hear breathing on the stairs and very silent footsteps. I am deciding on an escape route and how to get all my children into one room with someone already on the stairs. I pick up my phone to make sure the power hasn't been cut to it. My finger is poised to call 911.

Then I hear CRUNCHING. Jeepers and Gehosaphats! There was a quiet burgler sneaking up my stairs and munching on something!

Okay, so then I start thinking the crunching is not quite in the house. Yet I am near paralyzed with fear. So I need to get to my kids (whose rooms are very close to mine) YET if there is no emergency I do NOT want to wake the lil'buggers and freak them out.

A dilemma.

I somehow decide the prudent thing is to rise out of bed and check. I turn on the light on my bed and didn't hear anyone run down the stairs - so I think I am good. I grab a pen from my bed (weapon doncha know - apparently I think I am a kung fu pen fighting ninja) and creep over to the stairs. Nothin. Turn on the hall light. Nothin.

Now, another dilemma. I know my kids are secured with me. There is nobody on the stairs. BUT what if the crunching scritch scratcher is hiding? {cause burglers do that doncha know} Then if I walk down into the darkness (yeah, the hall light was on... but I sound braver if you think of me creeping down into the darkness - work with me here!) the burgler will jump out and say "boo" and ....

So, I decide I should call IHA to come and check the house. Normally I would call my B.I.L. (he's bailed me out more times than one can believe!) but they moved farther away (sniff, sniff) and so I decide that IHA and Spinny are my best bet. {Do I think about the very nice POLICE OFFICER who lives right next door - nah - my sleep deprived brain just somehow forgets that I do have neighbors} I strongly considered calling Buck Buck, but wasn't sure if she was with or without offspring.

Did I mention that it was 2am?

Did I mention that I wasn't even sure if there WAS a problem or not?

So.... I somehow take a deep breath and decide NOT to bother the Spincerelys. (i am sure they appreciate this) I sucked it up, grabbed another pen (really, I did - now I was a fully armed kung fu pen fighting ninja) and went downstairs. Turned on every light.

Nothin.

No boogie dudes.

More crunching though. Coming from outside. I prudently decide that if there is crunching outside I don't want to know about it. Flickered my porch light a few times (to scare off the intruders! it's a kung fu pen fighter tactic!!) and went back to sleep. Eventually. Much, much later.

Fast forward to this morning. I forgot about the scritcher! I go on with my day. Ethan and I go out to play after Gymboree... I go to the front porch... WHAT? There are apples everywhere and apple pieces and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww bugs and yukkkkk!

You see, I had left a bag of apples on the porch (it was colder out there, I wanted them to stay good so I could make applesauce!) and well - the animals were happy with me. Don't know if it was racoons, but that is my guess.

I shoulda taken a picture - but I didn't think of it at the time. I cleaned it all up (with gloves on, didn't want my kung fu pen fighting hands to get racoon cooties) and washed and swept the porch.

Hopefully tonight will be quiet.

But just in case.... can I call you??????

Cape Layouts

Whoo hoo! I'm back from the retreat at the Cape. Well, okay... I have been back for a week.

I have been having more difficulty posting things! Don't know if it's blogger or me, but it's been a struggle.

Enough of that. I actually have three postings in my que waiting to go. Here are some of my favorite layouts. More coming soon.

The layout of Abbie is an overlay on the left side. Love those overlay things. And yes, I wrote in her name for the title. Used a slick writer pen which did a lovely job on the overlay.

And for those of you wanting the lo-down on the Crazy for Croppin retreat, it was wonderful. Not only was the scrap room "open" 24 hours {and Jersey Kim USED those hours, now didn't you Kim?!} but either Melissa or Stacy {who ran the crop} or one of their friends was always present in the room. I thought that was pretty cool. Your supplies were always "monitored" by someone. Not that there was any trouble with that {I have never been to a crop yet where people were anything but nice and honest} but it is nice to have someone there. We all know just how much money is in those black cropper hopper bags now don't we. I hold out hope that my hubby doesn't quite know, so I won't try for a quess on the value! ;) Anyway, they had fun contests where everyone voted for the winners. Good snacks. And lovely helpful personalities. They are doing another crop in Sturbridge Mass... check it out here.

Anyway, back to layouts. The one with Max rollerblading is using the new Bohemia collection by My Mind's Eye. Can I just tell you how much I love the colors, the individual mix and match pieces, but most of all - the small overlays {they call them "transparency frames"} that go on your picture. The picture of Max standing {that the arrow is pointing to} has an overlay on it.


My other WAAAAAYYYY cool find at the crop store was the Big Board chipboard scrolls {well, scrolls are the one I bought} by Fancy Pants designs. I was big into painting all weekend long and those naked {well they were!} scrolls just CALLED me! {really Jeff, they called me! I had to have them!!} And let me say something right now... any of my friends whose birthday falls right in December should NOT NOT NOT go out and buy the whole line of these! DO YOU HEAR ME KRISTIN????????

Okay, well that's my Cape crop story. For those of you non-scrappers who are "regulars" I am sorry if I bored you. Any new friends from the Cape - sign in and say *hi*!!!!

Happy scrappin! {PS - click on any picture to enlarge it.}

CAPE CLASS - patterns, chipboard, ink and ribbon

Here is the class that I am teaching at the Cape next week. What do you think?

The paper is the new K-Ology from K&Co. Along with the ink, ribbon, and chipboard as advertised we are also using rub-ons, sandpaper and paint. Should be lots of fun!

If you are a person taking the class and are checking it out leave a message. I would love to "e-talk" to you before our class. If you have any questions feel free to ask them here as well.

I am pretty happy with the quality of the pictures. We took them outside on my sidewalk with the natural light to try to avoid glare. Hopefully once posted you will still be able to see the details.

Can't wait to see you all at the Cape!

One Done!

Well, I got one of my projects completely done. I am NOT going back any more to add stuff. That is a baaaaad habit of mine. What do you think? This is for the "boy" altered clipboard class. The people in the class will be adding their own photos to the project.

Finally the Photos

Soccer and the Fair.










Abbie and Max both reached the top and rang the bell. Not the first time for either of them, but always fun.









Ethan enjoyed the rides a LOT (see above pic of him on the merry-go-round) but his favorite thing was the rabbits. He even got to pet one. And I KNOW about the pink gloves. He likes them and so I am okay with that. :)

Weekend Wanderings

I hope that all of you had a lovely three day weekend (or a two day one if you worked yesterday). It was gorgeous with a capital G over here in the Northeast. Light winds, crisp fall air, changing leaves, blue sky with lots of sunshine (did you know you just tuned in to the weather channel?).

How was the weather by YOU? Do anything exciting over the weekend?

Hey, something else cool - Kristin and I are famous! Kristin found this picture of us on Danelle Johson's blog while doing the blog rounds. When we went to CKU she was our teacher for the main album part of the event. Pictured are the books we made. Way to surf Kristin!! If any of you out there ever get a chance to go to CKU Albums I would do it. Great experience and you get tons of products and tons of things done (of course you leave with tons still to do... but that's okay!). I need to post pics from the tourniment later. Will do.

Soon I will be back to posting almost daily. I have been working on finishing touches for my classes at the Cape. Look for a posting of them soon. Hopefully later today.

I can never decide how to end my blog entries. Since I am writing to so many people... just always saying "have a great day" seems to get old. Hmm... well - More later! - J

WHY is it that...

Today seems to be a day of pondering, reflecting if you will. Can somebody (and by that I include those of you "lurking" out there and not commenting... no names mentioned or anything M, H, K, D etc.!) ;) please answer the following questions for me????

* Why can I co-exist peacefully with M&Ms yet not with Brownies (I am having to stay totally out of the kitchen!)

* Why is it that all boys seem pre-programmed to find body noises hilarious? Especially when out in public???

* Why do toddlers not pick up the sweet things their siblings do, but quickly repeat the most embarrasing little ditties when out? (for example gurgling in ones throat and SPITTING while in the library?! then laughing about it?!)

* Is it just me, or does it seem like one has to dress up to go shopping in Canton Village??? (i know, only some of you can answer that one)

There is some food for thought for you. Nothing too deep, just light and fluffy.

Oh yes, in case you are wondering, I HAD to quickly write an entry that was not about my LAUNDRY!

Happy Birthday!

To my little brother Matt! He just had the big day. If you get a chance go by his blog and wish him a happy day, I think he will get a kick out of "collecting" good wishes.



Additionally these photos are for Matt who misses the colors of New England in the Fall. And they are gorgeous. Leaf season is just starting here and this weekend is supposed to be glorious weather wise.



Since I haven't blogged for awhile there is some catching up I need to do. Here is the pumpkin grown from the seed Max planted in Kindergarten (brought home in a cup). See, I knew we could do it! Sure, it may not turn orange in time... but he sure did grow a pumpkin. Two actually.







More color changing pics for Matt. I love ferns in Autumn.

And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for.... (as if!) the twins have been reunited! Our dryer was delivered and now the washer is happy once more. I, however, am not so happy because the dryer is not working yet (DH was away) and my laundry is backing up again. Ack! No really I know it is pathetic to post about laundry appliances and I think it is all out of my system now (in theory).