Whoo Hoo! New Job

I have finally, after several grueling months found a job as a Manager in a major grocery retailer! I have spent most of time in computer and technology retail but have some experience in food distribution but even though the products are different, the concept of leadership is still the same!!! Whoo Hoo! I am so excited. I start training in the morning. So, I have been hard at work trying to catch up on my page creations and have completed several.This page above is of a new kitten that was abandoned in a Home Depot parking lot! I don't understand how some people can be so cruel but the little thing is adorable and even though my current cats haven't come out of hiding, they soon will. This page was created using pieces of Jennifer Rassi's Treasured "reward" kit and her Alpha's for the ABC challenge at Deco Pages. It's a fun challenge using a variety of alphas that she has created.

I have used a kit by Tom Dillion II called Wild Thing for the next two pages. I love the rich colors and the paw prints are so cool!
I have recently contracted with another designer, Lori Staton to be on her Creative Team. She has some of the coolest kits with the most awesome elements in them! My first kit to create with from her is called Sports Kit 1. This kit has 4 12x12 Papers, 39 Elements, 1 Frame, and 5 Journals. Check these out....
So, I guess that's all for now! Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog!

History in the Making

History in the making! Discovery Astronauts are getting ready for their first space walk! They are going to install a new lab onto the space station! How cool is that! It is amazing how far technology has taken us in not to long a period of time. With the first moon landing in 1969 by Neil Armstrong and we keep going further and further into space. Who knows where we will be in the next 40 years. Maybe we will have colonized a planet or two. Can you believe it's been nearly 40 years since the first man on the moon....the 40th anniversary will be July 20th 2009. I think it is fascinating how far we've come over the years. History made in my lifetime!

More history in the making is the scrapbooking pages that we all make every day! We are so lucky to be able to document our own history and leave as a legacy to our family far into the future. And with geneology we can go pretty far back into history and document our ancestors as well. How cool is that. Plus with the internet we have the ability to share our journey with our "virtual" family and friends. Speaking of sharing.... :) I created a couple pages of a fishing trip that my son and daughter in law made last year. I got such a kick out of my son's big catch of the day. It was too funny. Especially considering how big the fish was that my daughter in law caught. lol. So, Katie wins the prize for the Catch of the Day! lol. Both pages were made with Sea Fishing by Theta of Deco Pages. This is a really cool kit. It has 6 12x12 paper solid, 6 12x12 paper solid with spots, 6 12x12 paper squid cross, 6 12x12 paper squid corner, 3 12x12 paper stripe, 1 12x12 paper parquet/check, 1 12x12 paper torn page, 1 12x12 paper sailboat scene,
9 assorted fishing certificates, 6 colored metal Barracuda/Kaku, 6 colored metal Dolphin Fish/MahiMahi, 6 colored metal Marlin/A'u, 6 colored metal Sailfish/A'u Lepe, 6 colored metal Salmon, 6 colored metal Snapper/Opkapaka, 6 colored metal Tuna/Ahi, 6 sewn buttons, 6 tied buttons, 4 metal fish lures, 3 squid 1 lures, 3 squid lures, 6 ribbons, 6 rings for making charms or grommets, 4 ropes, 3 bouys, 2 rod and reels, 1 life jacket, 1 med swirl, 1 small swirl, 1 winner seal
1 underscore, 1 flying gaff, 1 anchor and a bonus of 6 12X24 papers. Huge kit and right now is on sale for $5.50 over at Deco Pages. This kit is perfect for the fishermen and women and perfect for some of those father's day pages coming up.

Gardening is in full swing here in Ohio! I find it so relaxing and fun, even when I have to pull weeds. I have 9 flower beds with a variety of different flowers for different birds and butterflies and 3 vegetable gardens and one gourd garden. I plant gourds so that I can make bird houses with them to hang in my trees. I love watching the variety of birds that use them. Of course being an avid bird watcher, (at least in my yard) I find it a lot of fun. You can see one of the gourds I've made that is currently inhabited by a Carolina Wren Here. These two pages were made with Gardener's Delight by Sue Fata. I love the soft colors and the variety of elements that she has in this kit. Right now she has it on sale for $3.00.

One of my other favorite past times is watching my grandson! Watching him learn and discover new things and just watching his cute little face. Sometimes I wonder where his mind is and what he's thinking about just like in this next page. He looks so far away.
I used Sunflowers by Deb Ammerman as well as Doodle All Day. I love the rich colors of her sunflower kit and the metal basket elements are wonderful. You can find it here in her store. Her kit has 6 Backgrounds, 4 Borders, 7 Rounded Corner Tags, 7 Large Tags (With a Green Raffia Tie to fit), 7 Small Round Tags (With a Green Raffia Tie to fit), 7 Small Tags (With a Green Raffia Tie to fit), 1 Gold Sunflower Basket pin, 1 pewter Sunflower Basket pin, 1 Sunflower, 1 Sunflower Paper Piecing, 1 Sunflower Basket Paper Piecing. It's a great kit!

Well, I guess that's all the rambling for today. Have a wonderful Tuesday, Thanks for stopping by!

Good News!

It's always a relief to read about something good in the news! In this article: "Neighbors Save Day For Teen In Pool" Exactly the kind of thing that we need to hear more of! Neighbors helping neighbors and it saved a life! Kudos' to the "good samaritan" that heard someone and acted on it! There is still "good" in this world!!! and I for one enjoy reading and hearing about it!!! I know that from a marketing standpoint violence and sex "sell" but so do the good stories! I wonder if we as a general public would pay to read a paper that "only" published "good news!" I would. The problem is finding the good news...there doesn't seem to be enough of it being spread around....*sigh* Maybe tomorrow I will find something "good" to talk about.

On the flip side of news there are tons of articles on the price of gasoline. It was very interesting to read today that the price per barrel of crude has actually decreased and yet our price has yet to drop! Personally, I think that we are being gouged by the oil industry and it is hurting the economy!

DigiSkrapNMomma released a new kit called Retro Funk! I love the colors of the kit...blues and browns, glitter and bling!!! I love it! She has it on sale right now over at Divine Digital for $3.75. It's a great price for the amount of papers and elements that are in this kit! Here is a page that I made from this kit!

Lead is Back in the News

Lead is back in the news but this time it's not in China! This time it's in Ohio, news that is! The Columbus Dispatch reports that the higher the level of lead, the higher the possibility that a child will commit a crime in their article "Lead in Kids, Violent Crime Appear Linked." There was a new study published after a nearly 30 year study from the University of Cincinnati in the PloSMedicine Journal and it is linking violent crimes with children who've had major lead exposure. The report indicates that the exposure shrinks the brain and has a major effect on the frontal lobe which is where we process information about consequences and conscious operates from. You can read the report: Association of Prenatal and Childhood Blood Lead Concentrations with Criminal Arrests in Early Adulthood. It is something that we think about now but it makes me wonder if all of us born to the boomers have diminished capacity because of it? Does that mean that we all could be just a little smarter than we are, or a little more conscientious than we are if we weren't exposed when we were young? Or does it mean that our children are couch potatoes and don't go outside to play as much as we did to entertain ourselves. I for one am going to use the excuse from now on when I slip up that I can't remember or multitask because I was exposed to lead as a child. Sounds like a good excuse to me :)

In an article on Nationwide insurance "American Idol's Sanjaya to be featured in Nationwide ad campaign" has signed Sanjaya, one of last years American Idols to a commercial contract. I'm going to be watching for that! It was always fun watching him on AI even though he didn't have the talent that the others had, he was always entertaining.

Wireless Technology is stepping up to the plate! In an article from the New York Times: "Wireless Broadband Boosts Economy" the technology is reported to generate $860 Billion in Gross Domestic Product. That means that there is no such things as leaving work at work anymore?! Guess it ties right in with the Millenials who are more into socializing that working. They can just take the work home with them. In a way that kind of takes me back to one of the statements that they won't fall into the traps their parents did by pouring their heart and souls into their jobs....guess if they are taking it with them, it kind of does mean that. If there is no separation of the two, then they are going to fall right into the same conditions that their parents have been in it will just be a little less blatant.

Well, I have computer maintenance to get done and a data back up to complete so I guess I am done rambling. If your computer is running slower than it used to check out this article from Microsoft on Maintenance that can speed up your computer.

Here is another QP for you that I made with my kit. Thanks for reading my ramblings. I hope that you enjoy this.

Misc. Ramblings

Sunday I watched 60 Minutes and was in a dejavu moment with their report on the Millinials! Have you heard of them? The article is called "The Millinials are Coming!" It was a very interesting article about the kids born from 1980 to 1995 and are entering the work force out of college right now. They talked about the mindset of these kids being a "me" generation and the implications that it will have in the business world. Having spent the last 12+ years in retail and being responsible for the leadership of young employees as well as having kids in that age group, I found it absolutely fascinating! The implications of this new workforce is mind boggling. What the employers may have to do, modify or sacrifice to hire these kids indicates the "professional" work place may be a dinosaur and a thing of the past. One interesting point that they bring up is how we as parents raise our children...ball games that don't keep score and all the children are winners and various things that we have done to provide our children the self esteem that they needed... The bumps and bruises that we as working adults have endured during our working careers; layoffs, facility closures, etc and the kids attitudes that it won't happen to them because they aren't going to give their souls for their jobs...jobs are secondary. And that their attitude is that if you don't like it; I'll go down the road and get more money doing the same thing...take it or leave it attitude. It's amazing the difference in the work force mindsets that are out there right now. Check out the article, it is definitely worth the read.

With the flower beds in bloom, the weeds sprouting up everywhere and the vegetable gardens in need of tending to I have to spend more time reading on the internet because I'm not in the house to watch the TV as much as in the winter so with that being said I want to share another article with you in honor of Memorial Day. The article is called the "Race Against Time To Remember WWI Veterans" This article talks about the last surviving WWI vet and a photographer who is trying to establish monuments to memorialize them. So far he has a permanent monument at the Pentagon and is working on a traveling one and then a National Monument to World War I Veterans. I applaud his efforts.

Did you know that already this year there have been over 800 tornadoes across the country? That is 200 more than the record holding year of 1998 and we haven't even reached "peak" season yet. I can't remember what the death toll is already! My prayers are with all the families that have lost someone to Mother Nature's wrath. Have you ever experienced a tornado? They are incredibly frightening! My stomach is turning into a knot as I write this...

So, here is another QP that I made. I used my own kit for it. You can download it here or click the picture. I hope you enjoy it!