Never knowing where I'll be

It's about time

So Julie has been asking (quite a few times) and Rebecca has for some house pictures so not to occupy five pages I did some collages of the pictures .

Main floor, part of living room, dining room. Since I guess it's more helpful to get a clear picture I scanned some of the before pictures, they don't match up perfect but I lost a group of them so these are about all I have of when we were looking at the house to buy it.

 The bedroom before kind of  scared me. LOL

Now -
The black jacuzzi is now been replaced to be Bob's work at home office.

The kitchen and breakfast room areas.

It was a huge project but considering the couple of family major events that went on through this and we were plane flights away from here it really came together pretty good. It was worth all the time and work that went into it. 

Sketch day and a great lunch date

Monday I went to St Armand's Circle and met Jules and Jo Anne for lunch and some shopping, what a perfect day with such fun friends.  Jules and Jo have been friends since high school, which Iguess really isn't that long ago.  LOL

I met Jo about 4 years ago and Jules is nice enough to share her with me.

 Always fun to get together with them and the weather that day was just wonderful, I don't miss being up north when it's like this out. I do miss everyone at home though- A LOT !

 

Kitchen Keepsakes  I  just keep having more fun at this site with a group of the most wonderful women. It's the 15th so it's my day to post the sketch for February. 

Here's my layout based ont the sketch with a couple of my favorite girls Cynthia and her bf Maddy.

Check out Kitchen Keepsakes, we've got a lot of inspiration and  ideas there now not all kitchen based so everyone can find something to inspire them.

Some fun new news to share!!!!

The Child's Play Challenge blog announced the rest of the new design team today and I'm going to be joining them for challenges. To say I'm excited really doesn't cover how happy I am to be back doing a challenge blog, they are my favorite.  Child's Play Challenge

So my Kitchen Keepsakes challenges and sketches and this will keep me challenged which is really what gets me to scrap and enjoy it even more.  I've got a few more design blogs that I'm hoping to join so we will see what's new and exciting for 2012.

It's the perfect time for me also, getting to Florida last evening and getting some good quality scrapping time in, perfect!!

LOl another Winning Weiner contest

It's year number four in the contest and the first year I have won, humm you would think the family would be kinder after all the whole thing was my idea.

This year I was teamed with Linda and Cynthia  - we made a lovely Stegosaurus hiding  in the "forest".  New Years eve is always such a nice evening with the family and friends.

It's going to be hard not to see everyone all the time when we are in Florida, the winter here has been amazing though but today it's had wet snow, yucky slush so Florida sunshine is going to be nice.

I love it when I can combine fabric, paper and the photos.

Finishing up the house

 

We've been getting the last bits our our house done and the last rooms were the mud room/side entry and some extra cupboards , storage in the laundry room.

When we moved in and I realized how much waster storage space there was over the washer and dryer I decided to make some use of it. The side panel opens at the top right upper door for long storage for blueprints, fishing poles and etc. This worked to bring the cupboards out front more for easier access.
Before:


After:




The new room for the side entry - storage for all the bigger items and thing you don't use very often. The window is getting shutters and the bench is getting a cushion.



The storage is for all the big kitchen items, large containers, extra cook books, the cleaning supplies, and items you really don't use often but need for entertaining.

I'm in love with all the new storage!!

 

Mercyhurst North East book

What a fun thing to celebrate with Dr. Judy Lynch, Dr. Ken Zerkle and Dr. Robert Miller - I can't get used to the college calling him that.

The history of Mercyhurst book is out on the first 20 years written by Dr. Lynch and dedicated to Bob, quite a wonderful honor. It's amazing the history of the seminary and the vision that Bob and Dr. Garvey had to start the school, I love how much the town has benefited by having the school here. It's a wonderful education opportunity college and so many people have had their life changed by attending.

The day wouldn't have been complete without Dr. Brown making a speech about the growth and the love he has for the school, the school wouldn't be all it is today without him taking the school down the road the way he did. No one loves the school more than these two.

Congratulations to Mercyhurst Main for the new University status and a big congratulations to Mercyhurst North East for the growth and the vision .

Nice blog award

My good friend Jules passed on this blog award to me - I love her work and going to this blog will be a treat for anyone.

 

Please make sure to head on over to her blog and say hello!

This award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers, in the hopes that it will bring many new friends/followers.

Leibster is German and means 'dearest' or 'beloved' but it can also mean 'favorite'. The idea of the Leibster award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers. So, in the spirit of good fun I am passing this award on to five other bloggers. Please stop by and visit them.

The Rules are:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Reveal your five picks for the award and let them know.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogshare-other bloggers.

5. Finally and the best rule of all..........have fun and spread the love!

My favorites for this award are listed below in no particular order. Click on over to their sites and take a look and please leave them some love! <3

 1. Marianne - in the moment she has been busy scrapping away at Kitchen Keepsakes with us.

2. Scrap it with a Song - I love this challenge blog, it has some really fun ideas.

3. Posting from Paradise - Jules other blog - fantastic pictures and soem adorable grandchildren

4.   Child's Play Challenges - the blog is new and just getting the first challenges up but it looks like it's going to be fun.

5. Creating from the Shores - I have to pass on my link to my new blog.

 

Have fun checking out the new sites.

Color challenge

Creating at a new site to get some new challenges and have some inspiration.

The January color challenge is: scrap a page, card or altered project using GOLD OR SILVER on it! You don't need to use both. Just Gold Or Silver on your paper based project. 
 Paper Secrets

The punch was really good, I love the color of it. The papers are from my Paper Bakery kit , my new kit is here so I need to start creating some things from it.

It's a cold one here

Burrr- I haven't been in temperatures like we had this last weekend for a long time. We went to the lodge for the weekend and when we got there the inside temperature was :

Yes that is a wonderful warm, 42 degrees inside. So we built thefire in the fireplace , put away the groceries and by the time we went to bed, complete with layers on and our hats it was about 50 in there. The next day we were all warmed up and we kept it around 66 in there despite the fact that Sunday morning it was :
  - 10
That was really cold outside but it was beautiful, we went for a walk, rode in the Bad Boy out to the little cabin and really had a wonderful weekend. It was made even better by the company we had Bob's brother, sil Lu and two of their grandson's. 

Wonderful trip to Texas

The wedding was beautiful, the company was fantastic, staying at Jack and Kathy's house was so much fun- everything went just fantastic.

I have to say though that the best thing was seeing my aunt Virginia doing so well, she's happy and so loved when she is with them. I don't think there is anything that anyone in the family can ask for more than that.

The trip wouldn't have been complete with the addition of Steven who brings sunshine into every single day.

So I have to say it was a great start to theNew Year-  I'll be seeing them in March for a cousin reunion , hopefully with my other cousins, if my aunt could have one wish it would be to have us all together having a good time, so I will work on that.