Its National Battery Day!!

Boy we seem to fly through those things sometimes. Right now I am using my laptop with the screen type mouse as my wireless mouse's batteries died :( Oh well!

Looking at headlines this morning makes me want to turn away and just scrap, however, much as I would like to, there are other tasks to be done. Cleaning, teaching, chores, laundry and hopefully scrapping later on today!

I realize I haven't posted anymore faithbooking layouts - but I will - my goal is by Friday (have to charge my camera batteries!). The newest challenge between Scrapper Lady and I consists of Tim Holtz inks, grungeboard, and two other items I cannot remember right now - will post later.

Above - ds was amazed that his dog was able to jump on bales just like the others. Not sure why he didn't think she could, she is very athletic, though she acts very lady like most of the time.

Have a great day!

New Scrapbook Challenge

Check out this great site http://scrapbookingfun.5forum.biz/challenges-contests-prizes-more-f11/a-year-of-challenges-t419.htm for information about a year-long scrapping challenge! One project a month and members of the site vote for the winners. Membership is free, so anyone can enter.

I am looking forward to getting both my January and February challenges done by this weekend.

Not much scrappy yesterday, except teaching ds to use my cricut and patience, patience, patience as he told me he didn't need to put letters/shadows together the way mom suggested, then waiting while he removed them from his sign to turn letters around the correct way. I guess I didn't have to point out that his G, and N's were backwards, but he figured out the E's and F's really quick, so just wanted to help. He completed his sign and it looked great when done.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

White Tee-Shirt Day

My son should like this one - he wears plain, old, white tee-shirts a lot!

Well - Suzie is doing fine - she is pretty content in her home and likes to play with her wooden carrot a lot. She seems to be doing just fine. She gets stared down by Autumn a lot, but pretty much ignores the dog. Autumn, on the other hand is having a tough time dealing with Suzie in the house. They are comical. Above is Autumns face as she sits watching the bunny.

Faithbooking:
I am still working on B. I don't have a clear idea of the direction to go quite yet - there are so many things to choose from, I don't quite know where to go. I will be praying that some choice pops out. (B, for me, is kind of like looking at a copy paper box of pictures and trying to decide where to start)

Welcome to Ceceparsley who is joining our Faithbooking journey! It should be a great experience. If anyone else wishes to join - just let me know. You can either start with the letter we are on, or another letter - whichever you prefer. One of our goals is to leave records of our faith for our children. I cannot think of a better legacy to leave them - letting them see how God has influenced our lives and is involved on a daily basis.

No pictures this morning - maybe I will get some creating done later today (I hope so). Have a great White T-Shirt Day!


Well guess who needed a bath! One of the dogs decided that playing in the large puddle that is now in our cow lot would be fun - needless to say - HE STINKS!! I don't do much with dogs (unless needed), so the kids are bathing him. His stench is gone and they are having fun. Not so sure the dog is enjoying nearly as much as the kids (they are soaked). Well - it has always been said that good, clean fun is the best!

Another House Guest!

Well - I never intended to have a rabbit inside my house, but ds was trying to breed two of his rabbits and it was NOT love at first site. The male started attacking his female, of course not when we were around, so she has moved into our house until she heals. She should be fine - everything is pretty superficial. Her name is Suzie. Her intended mate, Bill, is now again on his own, don't know that he will ever see another female.

Suzie is interesting to watch. She has been in a barn with ducks and chickens, so the noise hasn't bothered her, neither have the dogs or cats. I never planned to have a zoo inside my house! Anyway - above are some pictures ds took of little Suzie. She is a New Zealand Dwarf (I believe, ds has better knowledge than I of these things). She is a good little girl and it has been interesting, though it is driving another ds's golden retriever nuts. (she is pictured earlier in this blog with a pirate hat on her head.) Autumn is not fond, actually she is overly fond, of Suzie. So much so that I believe she would enjoy having Suzie for dinner. The fun never ends :)




I actually got some scrapping done (well, some was done a long time ago) and these are some birthday cards for a swap I am in over at ScrapbookingFun. One of these days I will get better at close up pictures. (ds took the one of his rabbit - looks like I need to ask him what he did)

Happy Lame Duck Day?

What a name for a day. Works for the snowman above - he was in a sled wreck :)

Not a lot of scrapping done today - The weather was beautiful around here. Back inside after chores tonight and sitting by a fire - it may be warm, but it is amazing how wet you get - the fire is nice.

Winter camping starts for youngest ds - he should have a great weekend. It will be warm, but with all the sledding we ended up sending several sets of clothing and outwear.

Not a good turnout

Well - the died - he never came around right - just laid down and that was it.

Another Day At Home

Yes, that is a live baby calf in the house. Mama had a tough delivery (he weighs in at around 145) combined with cold weather and just him being large meant we needed to help out. He was extremely cold, so we were up with baby all night long. He is looking a ton better here. That black mat he is on is almost 3" thick - made for dairy cows to rest on (when 4 are put together). We had it for our old dog, Bear, so he wouldn't get sores when he would lay down in the basement or when he would be in his outdoor run it would be inside for him.

Anyway - Jr has about a 50-50 chance of survival - each new thing increases it (would have said 2% last night when he came inside - could hardly find a heart-beat). Hoping all goes well and that we can get his mama to take him back, but if not, he will be a bottle baby, which is fine as well (yes, I did think of that when I made the decision to bring him inside to warm up).

As far as scrapping - I am hoping to get a lot done today - I finished ds hs hockey layout yesterday (before jr was born) and plan to work on either Faithbooking lo's or some album pages I am donating for organizations. Table is next to jr and I can be sure dogs and cats don't bother him. Above is a hint of the Posterboard I created for ds - from his first skates to his sr year.

Happy National Buttercrunch Day

It is so nice that it has warmed up here. We had a new baby calf the other day (early), so we are keeping busy. I will try to get a pic of the new baby posted.

BTW - yes, I know it is the 20th and Barak Obama will take his oath of office. If you read my blog, you know I did not vote for him. That said, it is difficult for some of my kids to understand why we pray for him and his Presidency. Plain and simple - it is God's command.

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-4

As our new president, I will continue to pray for his leadership and wisdom and that his decisions will be fair and well thought out, just as I have prayed for past leaders. He has a very large job to do and it seems as if the expectations upon him are greater than what has been placed on other presidents in over 20 years. So, yes, I will pray. I will watch the swearing in - it is neat that he is going to be using Abraham Lincoln's Bible (I didn't realize they kept track of personal Bibles like that - I find that wonderful).

Faithbooking Challenge
On to scrapbooking - for my faithbooking - for this 2 week period, the letter is B. I am leaning towards either the Baptism, Beatitudes, Believe or Beautiful, but I don't quite know yet. I will post more as time goes forwad.

Regular Challenge
On the regular challenge that Scrapper Lady and I have - it was her turn to choose (I still have layouts to post, but with illness and weather, cars not starting and such, we haven't had our regular time together). Anyway - her challenge items for this time are:
1 or 2 - 12 x 12 cs or pp background (or other size you use for your albums if you are joining in the fun)
6 strips of pp from scraps - each to be at least 1 inch wide! (no cutting new sheets of paper for this one - as we have both seen a lot of each others work, we sometimes remember the layout the scrap has come from!)
Chipboard - this can be any sort, just include some in the layout (letters, embellies, etc.)
Photo Turns or photo corners or some kind (if you don't own photo turns, or photo corners, remember the photo corners are easy to make - basic ones are made from cutting a square of paper diagonally to have two triangles - viola! you just made two photo corners)

Have a great day!

Exciting News

Well, maybe everyone won't find it exciting, but we sure did. Ds's ewe had a lamb yesterday. She did wait until it warmed from -30 up to about 6 degrees and then had her baby (I know they often have twins, but this one didn't - yes, I checked). The little guy is very cute. No name yet, but he is doing well. His mama's name is Jumbo.

My picture taking is not so hot, but I am working on it - Mama Jumbo didn't stand well for pictures - she was more interested in trying to eat the strings on my sweatshirt, so kept moving. Unlike my kids, she really didn't get stay put :)

Faithbooking, Scrapbooking, and Gas?

Above is my layout for my first letter on my faithbooking journey. I realize I had planned to start with A for Always Present, however, the layout A for Ask is what came into being.

The layout is based on Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; Seek and you will find; Knock and the door will be opened to you". So why this verse? It sounded greedy to me at first, but then I started thinking about what we have been given in our lives. First - I don't always remember, but I have led a very blessed life. My husband and I, when looking for houses, made a list of what we wanted most: a house with at least three bedrooms, a basement, a fireplace, decent size kitchen, some acreage, barn with watering and electrical systems in place and central air. To some, that is a lot, to others it may seem minimal, but that is what we really wanted in our first house. We thought about more bedrooms, different configurations, etc., but decided that it would be tough to find exactly what we wanted if we set up our standards higher (this was back when the housing market was very tight and our house had only been listed for less than a month).

God blessed us - our house that we selected had everything listed, plus was much closer to my husband's work than one we liked and much larger than the other one we considered. The picture is one morning when doing chores. Yes, we need to repair fences; yes, we re-did the electric to the barn; yes, we have had a fair bit of plumbing done, but overall - we received exactly what we had hoped for. There is more hidden journalling under the tag - but this picture (and others) remind me of exactly how wonderful a gift our house has been.



The pictures above are from the Challenges Scrapper Lady and I are completing.

12 x 12 background - done
1, 2x12 piece - done, but not quite right, will not alter the paper like this next time (I cut it in 1/2)
1, 2 x 8 piece of paper - done
1 piece from my scraps - the floral felted piece
5 brads or buttons - done - I used heart brads
There is more journaling to be added, but this worked for now.

Whoops - also just noticed one of my corners is missing - guess I need to adhere it better - off to find it!

***Remember - if you want to participate, you are welcome to join in the fun!

Temperature note today started at 26 below zero - it is getting warmer.

One last thing - why are gas prices starting to rise, while oil prices are going down?

Brrr - it is -27 this morning

Ok - yes, it is cold - but everyone is keeping warm. It is amazing how much warmer it is in the barns than outside. Just keeping the wind (no idea what the wind chill is, but 40 to 50 below is probably the area) cut helps tremendously.

The public schools in the area have called off for the day - kids were kind of bummed that mom didn't. Oh well - I did relent somewhat and let them know that it would be an educational game day. Current plans include choices like
Science: Element-o, Into the Forest, maybe some kitchen chemistry - Robert Krampf's site had a fun one with carmelizing sugar like they do for soda pop
Geography: Take-Off, See the USA, Global Pursuit
Religion: Bible Trivia and 10 Commandments
Spelling and Vocabulary: Scrabble and Up-words
Math: cooking - probably take recipes for cookies and make them 1 2/3 times the original and maybe change another recipe to 4/5 the original size.
History: One who is studying WWII is trying to get Axis and Allies, World with the paratrooper expansion for an assignment (would, but this game takes a lot of time). The game is fun, so maybe.
Art: Pictionary or Cranium (ok - these may be a stretch, but still fun)
Phy. Ed.: Just taking dogs out and doing chores is enough, but I foresee a Dance Dance Revolution dance mat competion again today. (If you ever to the DDR - best thing for us has been a 2" thick mat designed for Dairy cows to lay on. Was for our old dog so he wouldn't get sore, but now for an old mom so she can participate in the kids games without hurting her joints.)

Well - time to get back to things - have a great day and stay warm.

Happy Dress up Your Pet day!!!!

Ok - gotta love this one. Above is one of ds's cats - all dressed up as a Pirate and not very happy, though he has adjusted to being dressed up and doesn't mind so much any more.


Working on Layouts for these pics - they will be fun!

Have a great day!