Happy Halloween & Hasta la Vista

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween. Can't wait to see pics of all your costumes when I return.

We are leaving tomorrow for our week long vacation in Grand Cayman. Hubby and I are so excited to take this trip together. We agreed last night - no cell phones, no worries or problems from home/family, no talk about work. We will see if we can keep that agreement.

Have a great week and I will post with pics on Monday, November 10th. YaY!

Crystal Clear Blue Waters and Little & Big Fishes, Here WE Come!!!

Rockport was a blast!

My husband and I joined my best friend H, her husband R and children Little R (5 yrs) and Baby S (11 months) in Rockport for the weekend. We had a great time relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. Lots of pics!

To start - The front of our cabin...

The back of our cabin...

Me and Baby S swinging at the playground...

My hubby feeding Baby S (he was awesome with her and will make a great daddy one day)...

H and R chilling on the cedar swing...

H and I eating oysters on the half shell (yes, we both thought it was gross)...

Little R playing with the sand in the horseshoe pit (he thought it was a sandbox)...

Baby S, H and I at the beach (notice we are in the shade and our legs are stark white)...

Little R supervising the BBQ pit (my hubby was grilling fajitas and sausage)...

And last, this awesome John Deere BBQ pit we stopped to gauk at...

Rockport, here we come!

I'm so super excited, yet exhausted. Hubby and I are leaving this afternoon for a weekend of relaxation with my best friend and her family. You might be wondering why Rockport (the beach) on a weekend like this...a little too chilly for swimming. So instead of swimming, we will fishing and roasting smores by a campfire. It was the only weekend available that both of our families could agree on and the last weekend the cabin was available. We are almost camping. These cabins are free to us through my friend's work and they are very rustic and outdoors. No heat or a/c or real walls. It is open air screened walls, much like a screened in porch. We are so super excited to rest and relax...even though it was stressful and exhausting to get to this point. I was up til 2am this morning packing and getting ready. I am leaving work here in a few minutes and ready to load the truck. Have a great weekend everyone and I'll post about our adventure on Monday!

One Year Ago Today!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of my husband's car accident. These pics are of my car, which he was driving to work that early morning about 5:30am. Most of my readers know we live in the country and travel roads where landowner's own cattle. You can see where this story is going. At that hour of the morning it was dark and a Black Angus cow was standing broadside in the middle of his lane. He never saw her until he hit her and she proceeded to come up onto the car. The impact of hitting her spun the car around 180 degrees and across the oncoming lane. Fortunately, that early in the morning there wasn't another car coming at him in that lane. Now facing the opposite direction from which he was driving the car is sliding sideways...through a ditch...into a fence...through the fence...and into a tree. When the car hit the fence, the momentum send it airborne and the car was on its side when it hit the tree. I think that tree helped save my husbands life! If the tree wouldn't have stopped the car, it would have kept flying through the air and there is no telling how it would have ended up.

Most of you know the rest of the story so for those readers who don't, here is the quick recap. He suffered a bi-lateral break in his neck (which the ER had to explain to us while we are shivering and scared out of our wits - we spent alot of time scared and crying). He spent 10 weeks in a neck brace and 4 of those in physical therapy. He couldn't drive for the first 6 weeks and had numerous doctor visits during this time. He also had a concusion, which became obvious as the day drug on. His memory from the time he left the house was wiped away...and he still only really knows what actually happened from pictures and stories. He also had cuts and bruises on his face from broken glass and a large 3 " gash on his right hand (not really sure what it was from) that had to have stitches twice. The ER did not sew him up correctly, so 2 weeks later when they removed the stitches the gash reopened.

Times like this are when you are thankful for God and His power. We truly believe my husband was not riding alone in my car that morning! It was a wake up call and it could have been alot worse. So, here is to our 1 year anniversary parting with my little blue car and my husband having fully recovered; well from that accident at least :)! Now he has a sprained ankle - the excitement never ends. Have a great day everyone!

Spooky Spider Candy Jar

I ordered this SU! "spooky" spider decor element from Jennifer after seeing her candy jar. I thought this idea was adorable, so I copied it. The candy jar is from Target. Jennifer has a link on her blog for the limited edition Spooky Spider so check it out if you want one :)

Tonight is bunco with Jennifer, Jennie and Emily - YaY!

Jam Packed Weekend

In my post on Friday, I summarized my busy weekend plans. Well, for the most part, it was just the way I described except...for running errands on Friday after work. My husband calls me shortly before I'm headed out of the office and asks me where all I am going on my errands? So, when I tell him HL, Michael's, BBB and LnT - he says "Do you mind taking my mom along with you?" So, you have to know that I'm a planner and I don't like my plans to change. Before running my errands, I wanted to have my map planned out so I wasn't driving back and forth allover town. I had allowed myself a certain number of minutes in each store because I knew I still had to bake when I got home. After I reluctantly agreed to take my MIL with me, I should have just thrown that list away! My 10 minute trip into Michael's took 20; my 15 minute trip into LnT took 45; my 10 minute trip into BBB took 35 - you get my drift! Not to mention I had to drive over by HL to pick her up from my BIL's house, just to drive back over the Michael's and LnT where I was just at!!!!!!! Oh, well. I guess it is what it is. We finally finished our errands 3 hours later and I dropped her back of at my BIL's. Then, she wanted to chat. No way, I still had to go to the grocery store. Long story short, my plan was demolished. I finally got back home at 8:45pm. I immediately began baking; still had to pack for the weekend; had to get up early for the birthing class (which will be a whole other post in itself) and I think I crawled in bed at 1:30am. Needless to say, I started my weekend exhausted and I remained that way through the entire time. I pulled back into my driveway at 10:45 last night - and yep, still had to unload the car. Whoah! I never thought I would be wishing for Monday to arrive so I could go back to work. Wait, what did I just say? Am I going crazy? I don't think I really meant that. I don't like coming to work on Mondays :) I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a wonderful week!

TGIF - Fun Filled Weekend Ahead

I'm just babble bloggin' today...so let me just start by saying, I don't really like weekends that are jam packed with activites. It leaves little down time. I am beginning my weekend tonight running tons of errands. Just when I think I have my afternoon planned out so I'm not driving back and forth across the twin cities, I think of somewhere else I have to go. I will be a baking machine tonight. I have to make 2 desserts and a salad for our family reunion that is on Sunday. I won't be able to finish all 3 items tonight because they require last minute drizzles or dressings, etc.

Saturday will be a unique day for me. I will be attending a birthing class with our best friend's daughter (16 and due in January). She asked me to be in the delivery room with her, thus the need for me to attend the class with her. I am not sure if I am prepared for this challenge or if I need to prepare for this challenge. I always thought my first birthing class would be for the birth of my own child. I will make the most of it, after all I am there to support her during this difficult time in her life...which is about to change drastically!

Once the 3 1/2 hour class is over, I head home to load all of my baked goodies and supplies for the Sunday reunion. The reunion is held in the town where my Grandpa and Dad live about 2 1/2 hours from here. In the past, I haven't always been excited about family reunions. Meeting people for the hundreth time that you hardly ever see and never remember meeting...you get my drift. But I am excited to see my Dad and Gpa. My Dad and I along with one of his cousins are in charge of the reunion; so we have to set up, prepare, cook and then clean up afterwards. All before an exciting drive back home, back to reality.

So, it doesn't look like I will be doing any card making any time soon :( Have a great weekend everyone!

More Halloween Cards

These are the other two cards I made. Details on each below.
This first one is very similar to the other ones I have been making...they use the Bitty Boos stamp set, which I borrowed from my friend Terri. The ribbon came from Wal-Mart and of course the Ghostly Greetings Halloween paper came in my last SU! order from Jennifer.
This last card still needs some work. I know the pic is blurry and hard to tell, not sure why my camera did that. This stamp set is the new one I just bought called Haunting Halloween. I copied the idea from the SU! catalog however wanted to make some minor changes. This is what I have so far...I will be adding to it soon!

Baby Card and Weight Loss

I'm taking a break from the Halloween cards to show you the baby card I made. It seems that I am surrounded by pregnant women. I have 3 relatives; a friend who is essentially a relative and 2 friends pregnant all due between December and April. Some of them have announced the gender and some are either going to be surprised themselves or are surprising everyone else...so I am trying to keep the cards gender neutral. No, pink really isn't really a boy color, but I figured paired with the blue, green and yellow it could work. Obviously I will be making lots of baby cards over the next several months and I want them all to be different; so here is the first one. Very simple - SU! colors = yoyo yellow, regal rose, brocade blue, green galore and very vanilla.

Now to weight loss - for the first time in the 5 weeks I have been dieting, I gained weight. Yikes! I was so discouraged, but then realized sometimes to continue losing weight, you have to gain a little...and I mean a little. I gained 0.4 pounds. I know that doesn't seem like much, but when I look at my totals it feels like alot to me. I am staying focused and I am determined to lose the weight, so I'll keep at it. I have to try harder because I realize on the WW plan which allows you 35 bonus points each week, I myself - CAN"T use those points! That is what caused me to gain and I only used 7 of those 35. What gives?

Halloween Cards - Day 2

As promised yesterday - 2 more Halloween cards from my creative weekend! I love the black and white grosgrain ribbon. It was bought at Michael's.

Halloween Cards - Day 1

I started making a bunch of Halloween cards this weekend after receiving my SU! order on Friday with the awesome Halloween paper, which I just love! It is so fun to mix and match. I also ordered a Halloween stamp set, but I'm not quite done making those cards yet. I will post a series this week showcasing all of my Halloween creations. Here are the first two, and so far my favorites. Stay tuned for more later this week...

October Calendar

I attend a "First Friday Stampin" at my friend Terri's on the first Friday of every month. She held a stamp class where her attendees made a 2008 calendar which I was not able to attend. She gave me the supplies needed to make the calendar myself and I have. I made Jan-July right away, then made the following months as they came along. Here is October. I will post November and December as those months approach and I will try to do a post showing the other months as well. (August and September had a tragic death in the kitchen sink)

I only used a few of her ideas from her class so most of the months are my original ideas. The holes in the top are for binder rings...it is the intention to bind them all together for a flip calendar. However, I like putting the calendar in my kitchen window sill, (thus the tragedy with August and September) therefore I did not bind them together.

$3.29 Gasoline

Whoah! I can't believe it. I bought regular unleaded gas for $3.29 a gallon in Elgin Saturday. My husband and I drove to Austin to visit my grandpa in the hospital and on our way back saw gas there was so cheap, I decided to go ahead and fill up the tank. I am glad to finally see gas prices starting to go down here where we live. It is amazing how much higher we are here than other areas of Texas. My mother-in-law lives in the Rio Grande Valley and she bought gas last week for $2.96/gallon, but my brother who lives in Italy has been paying almost $5.00 a gallon for a long long time now. Craziness! So, I'm curious...this question is to those non local bloggers who read my posts from other blogs - What did you pay per gallon for your last tank of gas?

Fall Card Stack

I made this fall card stack last night in no time at all. I was tired of watching the debate, rather listening to it while I was doing other things and decided to do something fun. I am making a big part of our Christmas gifts this year and I thought these would be nice. I did not include a sentiment on this set so it is versatile in its uses. I hope everyone has a great weekend!