Blogs of Note

Have you ever stopped and checked out the Blogs of Note on Blogger? You don't have to have a blogger account to see them. Just go to Blogger to see the latest.

Anyway, I found two cool blogs the other day on Blogs of Note. One is Rate your Students. It's professors take of their students. Sort of based from Rate your Professors. Being out of college for some time, it's easy to see how much crap we give professors. Whining, asking for extensions, basically wanting them to do everything for us. It's funny to see what some people are trying to get away with.

The other is Let's be Friends. They show unlikely animals who are being friendly with each other. Not like that, sicko! Just cuddling. I thought my friend Alli would enjoy this one:

Now you have some other options to waste your time. Have fun! I'm glad I could enable you!

Memorial Weekend

I had a great time at the cabin this past weekend. It was great to hang out with my family and just spend some time with them!

My nephew is getting so big! He's 3 1/2 and talking up a storm. My favorite quotes from him this weekend:

Asking for more "mulch" instead of malts.
Yelling "Goldfish" during Go Fish at every card I asked for.
Asking me (or anyone else) if they were a door, fish, or anything else he could see around the room.
This is him riding his ATV. It's a little kids version. He loves that thing!!
My Dad, brother and dh worked on my Mom's shed this weekend. They had some great bonding over power tools and beer.
My niece threw a couple back too - of course it's empty!
My favorite picture from the weekend:

My niece and her fauxhawk during her bath. She's such a cutie! I love her two little teeth sticking out too!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

This is why dh and I don't have kids yet... Make you're own baby at Knocked Up Babymaker.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Weim Laws

I thought this was funny. Totally true!

Here's what Orion and Baron are doing while I'm blogging. It's a tough life.

Scattergories

Beth tagged me for Scattergories. Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Nicole
1. Famous Singer/Band: Natalie Merchant
2. 4 letter word: Noon
3. Street: North
4. Color: Navy
5. Gifts/Presents: Necklace
6. Vehicle: Nissan
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Naughty Playing Cards
8. Boy Name: Nathan
9. Girl Name: Nora
10. Movie Title: Never Ending Story
11.Drink: Nog (Egg)
12. Occupation: Nurse
13. Flower: Narcissus
14. Celebrity: Nicole Kidman
15. Magazine: Nylon
16. U.S. City: New York City
17. Pro Sports Teams: North Stars
18. Fruit: Nectarine
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Not waking up on time!
20. Something You Throw Away: Nylons
21. Things You Shout: NO!!
22. Cartoon Character: Nemo

Now I have to tag people - I'm going with Linda, Alli, Michelle, and Tracy. Good luck, ladies!!

Here's Your Sign

Back in Minnesota!

I'm back from Tulsa, Oklahoma! Training was good, but it was a lot of information in a small amount of time. I'm sure I won't begin to digest half of what we learned for a couple of weeks!

I didn't take too many photos of the plant, but here's what I did take:

The plant is 1,000,000 square feet - which made for a lot of walking during our tour.

There is about 3,000 plus buses sitting and waiting for someone to pick them up. I couldn't even try and take a picture of everything. Imagine 10 rows of this in two different areas.
I just thought this was cool. You can sort of see me in the mirror.
Here's the sign for the plant.
This is a bus from North Carolina. We require having black rubrails (or those stripes you see on the bus). This is one with yellow. Thought it looked strange.
The workers use bikes like this to get around the plant. I thought it was so cool! Too bad we can't have something like that at work too!!

It was a great time and a great learning experience, but I'm glad to be home now.

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain...

Checkin' in from Tulsa, Oklahoma! I'm here for the week for sales training. One of our largest school bus plants is here in Tulsa. I can't believe how many buses they have here! I swear there's over 3,000 buses in the lot just waiting for someone to pick them up! I'm going to try and get pictures tomorrow and I'll post them when I get home. Our class consists of 21 men and me - yes, I'm the only girl. It's funny how all of our speakers (all men except for one) will say "Good morning gentlemen and lady". I'm learning TONS here! The coolest part so far was taking the factory tour the first day. The do everything here - from making the wiring harnesses to putting the bus body onto the chassis. It was really cool. They also have big ass fans helping to keep the place cool. Guess what they're called? Big Ass Fans!! I thought that was hilarious! Tomorrow our day starts at 7am. I'm not looking forward to that. At least they're taking us out to dinner tomorrow night on the company. That should be nice. I fly home Friday night. I'm missing my dh and the doggies!!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. We celebrated with the MIL last night and will celebrate with my Mom in a couple of weeks. This weekend has been busy. On Friday night and Saturday, I went to a Household accessory sale and tried selling some stuff. Here's what I had:

I sold the Max and Elli, a custom "Behave" that will look like the Believe, and a dog picture frame. Not great, but not bad for my first outing. I passed out about 10 cards with my info on it, so I might hear from others later. I'm not really looking to scrap for profit, but I guess if it happens, I'm okay with it.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning at 4am to go to the airport for training at our bus plant in Tulsa, OK. It should be fun, I'm going with a good group of people. I'm hoping I can take pictures of the plant, but I'm not sure if they'll let me. Company secrets and all that. I guess we have to take tests and the like, so that should be interesting. No vacation here!

So, if you don't hear from me this week, it's because I'm out of town. Have a great week!

P.S. - I left my feet in the pictures just for Linda! :)

P.S.S. - Flat Stanley has been spotted again - check out his latest adventure here!

Album How-To

I've had a couple of questions about how I made my album. It is a Maya Road Scalloped Album.

All paper is Basic Grey. It's probably my favorite paper, and it all really goes together. The @ and 30 are Thickers along with a Basic Grey Rub on for the front cover.

Here's what else is in it: Rain Dot, American Crafts Sticker letters, 7Gypsies stamps, Making Memories stickers, KI line stamp, Heidi Swapp Ghost letters, Making Memories definition, Prima flower, 7Gypsies stickers, Imagination Project Chipboard, Mrs. Grossman's Sticker and Making Memories white paint.

The tier-ing idea was my friend Beth's idea. I loved it and used it!

I cut all of the paper (except for the first pages) to match the scalloped edges. This took a LONG time - most of it done in front of the TV. To hide any imperfections, I painted the edges with white paint. It covered the sides and made a cool effect.

So, that's basically it. I'm super happy with it! It's not often that I complete a project and want to stop people on the street and show them. Not bragging, just happy with my accomplishment.

By the way, this is my last scalloped album - NO MORE!! :)

It's May Already?

Wow. I haven't posted in a while. I've been so busy at work lately that when I get home, the last thing I want to do again is hop on the computer and type. I'm hoping that it will calm down soon, but I'm thinking that it won't. Anyways, I did get away for a 24 hour crop last Friday and Saturday for National Scrapbook Day. It was a blast - all except for sleeping on a concrete floor! I'm getting too old for that! I did get my @ 30 album done. Here it is:

Another Side of Grandma

My SIL showed me this picture while we were scrapping on Saturday. It's of my Grandma, the one who's 96. Her eyes are getting really bad and bright light is really hard on her. She usually uses huge sunglasses to block out most of the light, but this time, she forgot them. So my brother borrowed her his glasses - with FLAMES!

This is so anti-Grandma. She's so sweet. I guess in a way she's a bad ass, by still living on her own at 96. And just by living to 96, that's pretty bad ass. I just thought it was hilarious!!

Paper is Creative Imaginations , 7 Gypsies stamp, Colormates cardstock, Heidi Swapp bling, Basic Grey rub ons, and My Mind's Eye rub on letters.

Computer-Free Weekend

I just turned on my computer for the first time since Friday night. It was nice not feeling like I had to spend all of my time in front of this thing. I knew that everything would still be there when I got around to it.

Dh and the dogs went up to the cabin this weekend to help my parents out. They're all taking naps right now, it's nice to have the quiet. My SIL and I went scrapping yesterday. She got a lot done on my niece's album. It was great to spend time with her. Last night I had the house to myself. I curled up in bed and watched Memoirs of a Geisha. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but it was something I had wanted to see. I slept in today, did a little cleaning, and then ran errands. Tonight we'll cook out on the grill and watch The Simpsons, Desparate Housewives, and Entorage. All and all a great weekend!

Thank you for Smoking

I can't believe our legislature here. I can't believe that they are actually going to ban smoking throughout the state of Minnesota. And I really can't believe that our Republican governor has stated he's going to sign the bill. For me, this issue has nothing to do with smoking. I can't stand it. I have asthma, and can have adverse effects from it. So, why wouldn't I want it banned? Wouldn't things be so much better if I could go anywhere and not have someone smoking? Sure it would. But the thing is, I DON'T WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO BAN IT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. I feel that the market, or customer demand, should dictate what people do. If there is a bar where the owner wants to make it non-smoking, good for them. I'm sure a lot of people would frequent it. But as soon as the government gets their hands into it, that's where things start getting scary. Who's to say it's not something you love next? Yes, smoking is bad for your health, but it's your body. I've chosen to drink more Mt. Dew than any human should, but guess what, that's MY choice. I hate when the government plays God. Maybe they should look into making Minneapolis and public transit safer and leave whether or not people are having a smoke to those people.

My name is Nicole and I've approved this message.

Tagged!

Beth tagged me yesterday. I'm finally getting to it! Here are the rules: each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I can't roll my tongue, but I can roll my r's.

2. My hair "turned" naturally curly when I went through puberty. It was stick straight before then!

3. I hate having my toe nails too long - and any white showing it too long! It's a pain in the ass for anyone who gives me a pedicure.

4. I walked my bike until my mom threatened to sell it. I rode it for the first time that night. I think I was 10.

5. I drink 4+ cans of Dew a day. My name is Nicole and I'm an addict!

6. I got my ears pierced when I was 4. I got them double pierced at 12. By the time I was 18, I had 10 piercings in my ears. I've never pierced myself anywhere else. I currently have 6 holes left.

7. My Jeep is the second car I've ever had. Before that it was the 1990 Olds Cutlass that dh still drives to work.

Now for tagging, most people I know who have blogs have already been tagged, so I'm going with Tracy and Tara.

Hope you all learned something new about me!

New Haircut!

Linda and I went and got our haircut tonight. We both got gift certificates at the ALS crop back in March, and they expired on April 30th. I went in and told the girl I just wanted something new since I haven't gotten my haircut for a year. Usually I get three a year, so this had been a long time for me. So, as per Karin's request, here is my new haircut.

To get this picture, I tried a couple of different things, like taking a picture in the mirror:

Opening my eyes really big:

Holding the camera with both hands:

With my hair up:

And finally with a headband:

These pictures make me laugh! I mean, I look demented in all of them!! And you'll probably never see this many pictures of me on my blog again, so enjoy it!

Cathy and Donna

This weekend has been great so far! Last night, Cathy Zielske and Donna Downey dropped by the crop for a couple of hours. It was so cool to see both of them - they are so funny! They were both really down to earth and Cathy even left Alli a message!! I was bummed that she didn't answer the phone, but it was hilarious that she was able to leave her a message! We had a great time talking and laughing with them. It was definitely worth getting to see them!

Cathy, me and Donna:
Linda, me and Beth. We had a great time!
Beth and I took Donna's book binding class today. She's a great teacher and it was a great class. Mine turned out a little fucked up (Donna says it's not a party until someone drops the f-bomb, so that one was for her!), but that was my fault, not hers. Afterwards, Beth and I talked to her a little while. She seemed bummed that we weren't staying for more classes, which made us happy that she wanted us to hang out more! Beth even got to wear her apron! To see the book and Beth in the apron, check out Beth's blog.

Tonight DH and I are going to Blades of Glory (finally). Hopefully tomorrow will be great too - it will be a topper to an already great weekend!

Flat Stanley has been Spotted!

He's having new adventures! Check it out here!

Fun at Work

On Tuesday, after our sales meeting, the owners took all of us out for bowling. They paid for two games, shoes, pizza, appetizers, pop and beer. It was fun to hang out with everyone outside of work. I actually didn't bowl too bad for not doing it for 5+ years. I tried to take some pictures, but it's hard to get good pictures while bowling.
I also decided to take some pictures at work today. Here's what most of our lot looks like:

I need to tell the guys to line up the buses in a straight line so pictures turn out better! I do think this turned out pretty cool though!

Works been really stressful this week. Luckily, I'm hangin' with the bitches this weekend, so that will help. I actually might hang out with dh this weekend too! How crazy! I'm trying to convince him to go to Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell. I really want to see it because he's hilarious and Jenna Fisher (Pam from The Office) is in it too.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

** I just noticed this was my 52nd post this year, as many as I did last year! Wow!

Weekend Adventures

This past weekend started with Orion's 7th birthday on Friday. I can't believe he's 7 already! He's really not showing his age yet, so that's good. I love this picture of him, he was just sitting with his tongue sticking out. Even after I touched it a couple of times, he still kept it out. It was really funny!
Friday night, I met Linda and Beth at Ridgedale to do a little shopping. Linda ended up parking next to the craziest car, so of course we had to take some pictures of it! I only had my camera phone, so they're not the best.

Can you imagine driving around with all that shit on your car?!?
We then found the perfect book for Linda at Barnes and Noble. I'm surprised she's not on the cover! :) Love ya, Bitch!
On Saturday night, I went to my friend's Tana's house to meet some people from her Scrapvillage design team. Tracey, Celeste, and Cheryl were great - I loved hanging out with them! We got Lee Ann Chins for dinner, went to Target, and had awesome sundaes! Oh yeah, we did some scrapping too! Tracey and I convinced everyone to go in the hot tub - it was only 40 degrees out! I'm hoping that I get to see all of them again soon! And thanks for hosting the great evening Tana - Ella is so cute!!

Sunday was working around the house and hanging out with dh. Monday definitely came too fast!