Last Scrapper Standing Part 2

After some prodding from Dh, I decided to try the Last Scrapper Standing Part 2 Contest on the Efferdare website. The first challenge was to use 8 clear elements on one page, no more no less. At first I was like, how in the hell am I going to do that? After careful consideration and a little help from my friends, I'd like to present to you my entry:

Here's what went into it. I've numbered each clear element for you.

1. Hambly Brickwall in White
2. Hambly Mod Circles in Brown
3. Hambly ¾” Graph in Red
4. Hambly 5 Dandelions in Yellow
5. Hambly Chic Circles in Lime Green
“Hi My Name is” graphic downloaded from http://delarge.co.uk/stickers/
Basic Grey Recess Rub-ons in Black
Basic Grey Homeroom Patterned Paper
Basic Grey Classmates Patterned Paper
American Crafts Thickers in Red Vinyl Sprinkles
American Crafts Remarks Letter Stickers in Charlie Jr Brown
6. Window Envelope – Unknown - This is actually an envelope from work - I got my paycheck in it on Friday!
7. Badge Holder – Unknown
Junkitz Red Brads
Folk Art School Bus Yellow Paint
8. Heidi Swapp Ghost Alphabet in Reason Lower

The title is from the song "Hi my name is Joe, I work in a button factory". I thought it was hilarious!

I'll find out by next Wednesday if I get to advance or not. Wish me luck!

I'll leave you with this. It's outside my window right now!

September 25 is the 268th day of the year

What events happened on this day?

*1789 - The U.S. Congress passes twelve amendments to the United States Constitution: the Congressional Apportionment Amendment, the Congressional Compensation Amendment, and the ten that are known as the Bill of Rights. Only the Bill of Rights were ratified at the time, while the other two were proposed by James Madison but not ratified. In 1992, the Congresstional Compensation Amendment was ratified as the 27th amendment to the Constitution,

*1911 - Ground is broken for Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

*1957 - Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is integrated through the use of United States Army troops.

*1981 - Sandra Day O'Connor was the 102nd Justice sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the first woman to hold the office.

*2006 - The Louisiana Superdome reopens after 13 months of reconstruction necessitated by Hurricane Katrina.

*2007 - Besides the release of Halo 3? The anniversary of my blog!! One year ago today, I decided to start this nonsense. It's been a great ride so far, thanks for hanging with me!

By the way, all of this information is from Wikipedia.

Weekend Wrap-up

This weekend has gone so quickly! Saturday, Dh, the inlaws, and I went to see Bill Engvall at Grand Casino Mille Lacs. We first ate at a great resturant there called the Blue Goose. They have the best Walleye dinner! Then we went to the casino and played the machines a little. I lost!! Then we went to the show. Bill Engvall was hilarious! The only bad part was that Dh and I had heard a lot of his act before. Oh well. It was better live. Then we saw him walking through the casino after the show. I was so pissed I didn't have my camera with! Some people asked him to sign their ticket stubs, but for whatever reason, I didn't. Stupid me! Today we celebrated my MIL's birthday. We had brunch and then did a little shopping. Now Dh is sleeping and I'm doing laundry. Fun stuff!

This week will go fast - it's premire week for new (and old) TV shows, our open house at work is on Wednesday, all of the salesmen will be at a meeting on Monday and Tuesday (yeah! free time!), and I'm going to a scrapbook retreat on Thursday until Sunday! Then it will be October - can you believe it?!?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Arrgh! I'm a Mean Momma!

It's National Talk Like a Pirate Day today. So I looked up my pirate name. It's Black-Hearted Bob. You can look up your name here. You can also look up the name of your ship. Mine is The Doom of the Corsair. So much fun on Talk Like a Pirate Day!

I must have felt like a pirate today. I had a BLT for lunch and put the sticker from the tomato on Baron's head. He didn't seem to notice it, but was sulking when I was trying to take his picture. What a mean puppy mom am I!
First the thunder storm, and now this! I don't know how he survives!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

It's been raining since last night here. If DH didn't screw with me and fill up the rain gauge, we've gotten a little over 3 inches here. And it's still raining. Last night, it was thundering, so Baron was scared. Believe me, you can't rationalize with a 80 pound dog to just go to sleep. It's hard, because if we threw him in his kennel, he would just whine and bark. Needless to say, I'm tired today.

Work wasn't much fun today. I'm trying to restore a computer in our Service department, and the tech guy on the phone got pissy with me because I wasn't completely sure of what I was doing, and told me I'd have to cut him a purchase order (in other words, pay him) to continue. We have a service agreement with him and he told me before this would be covered. I was so pissed! I got what I could up and running and now have to give the project to the guy who should have done it in the first place, but is "too busy" to take care of any of it.

I do have some good news - my Uncle came home today! Hopefully he'll continue to recover quicky. He's already told my cousin he's going out to North Dakota on the annual trip in the middle of October, so we'll see if that actually happens. It's good to have a goal, I guess.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. America's Next Top Model starts again! I'm also curious about Gossip Girl, which premires right after ANTM. It looks like it will either be really good or stupid. I guess we'll have to see.

Good News! and a Little Bad News

Good, no wait, GREAT news! My Uncle is completely awake, most machinery is off of him, and things are looking good! My other Uncle just called and said that he remembers up until he collasped and remembers everyone there. They are going to have him get up and move around in 3 hours or so. So wonderful!! Thank you to everyone for all your support and prayers! I just know they helped in his recovery. I know he's got a long way to go, but everything is looking up! My Brother told me that less than 5% of people with that much blockage live, so we are certainly lucky!

The bad news? I have another sinus infection. I just went to the Dr. today to confirm it. She told me that I shouldn't go see my Uncle for at least a couple of days to make sure I don't infect him with anything. I'm bummed, but there is so much family around him (probably around 30+ people) that one more isn't going to matter. He knows I'd love to be there with him if I could.

Other good news - Chrysler and the UAW union have extended their talks - so no union strike tonight! It could come any day soon, but hopefully they'll resolve it. Of course the issue is health care that they are fighting on. Gotta love living in a union household!

And the final great news? Run, don't walk, to Target - they have the Office stuff in the dollar spot!! Of course I went crazy.

My favorite part? The Dwight stress ball. I might have to pony up for his bobble head one of these days for my collection.
Don't worry, anti-Target girl, I picked stuff up for you too!

May your weekend go as well as mine has started out!

Prayers Needed

Today, my Uncle and Godfather went to the clinic in his hometown. He didn't feel well. He was short of breath. As he walked into the clinic, he collapsed. The staff had to use the paddles to get his heart going again. He was rushed to United Hospital in the Twin Cities (about a 45 minute ride from where he lives) and was rushed into surgery. He had a severe heart attack - one of the main arteries into his heart was completely blocked. They put two stints into his heart. He now is in a drugged induced coma and they have lowered his body temperature to hypothermia levels to hopefully prevent anything else from happening. They said the next two to three weeks would be critical for him. Most of my family is there at the hospital to see him (I have a cold and didn't think it would be wise to go), so hopefully he feels their love and support. My Uncle is only in his mid-50's, a couple years younger than my Dad. I worry that my Grandma, who's 96, won't be able to see him. She doesn't get around without oxygen any more, and I don't know how that would work for her to be in a hospital. Please, any prayers or good thoughts would be appreciated. I usually don't give out names on my blog, but I feel if it helps that much more, please say a prayer for my Uncle Clay. He's a wonderful person and our family would be so much less without him.

September 11 - Remembered

September 11, 2001 - I was working at the Court House, we had just gotten done with a meeting. Someone said that some planes had hit some buildings in New York. I was worried for the whole country. I just wanted to go home and be with DH and the doggies. We all couldn't stay away from the radios. I couldn't believe they didn't cancel work. I couldn't believe I still had to do Juvenile Work Crew that night. All of the TV stations were only running news or nothing. It was hard to get away from it all. I cried and cried - how could anyone do this to anyone, let alone innocent victims?

Fast-forward to September 2004 - I went to New York City with my SIL (brother's wife) and two of her friends. On September 10, we went to Ground Zero. I couldn't imagine going there on the 11th and taking space away from the victim's families. It was still a huge hole then. Most of the debris had been removed. It was so eerie there.
Plaques with the names of the victims were lined up on the fences, along with names of people who were still missing. It was hard to take photos - you wanted to remember, but you didn't want to be disrespectful.

Photos of the site from construction to the days after were lined up on the fence.
If you can't see - the banner under the flag says "We will never forget".

On September 11th, we took a night tour of the city on the top of a double decker bus. That night, they had two beams of light representing both of the towers. We were in Brooklyn looking back on Manhattan taking these pictures. These photos aren't great, but in person, you could see something floating up in the beams, almost like souls going to heaven. It was very moving.
I wish I never would have been able to see this site, in the case that it would have never happened, but I was glad that I was able to pay my respects.

You will never be forgotten.

Cool Whip and 1 Year Olds

So, we found out my niece likes Cool Whip this weekend. I was making a cake that was topped in Cool Whip, so I thought I'd give her a little taste. After the one taste, she says, "Bite!". So I give her another taste. She just kept yelling "BITE!" if she didn't get any Cool Whip, so I gave her the spoon. She wanted more after that, so I gave her the rest of the bowl (not much left in it). Don't mess with a 1 year old and her Cool Whip!

By the way, she's not going to drink that Coke. She just likes carrying around unopened cans. Don't ask me why.

Labor Day Weekend Re-Cap!

We had a great weekend at the cabin! It was great to spend time with all of my family, especially my niece and nephew! Here's a picture of my niece trying to climb on the coffee table. I think she was successful!
Here is my nephew and my cousin's daughter going tubing behind the boat - it was their first time trying it and they loved it!
My nephew - I can't believe he's going to be 4 this fall! He's getting so big!

And, in other great news, The Office Season 3 arrived today! Yippee! Guess what I'm doing tonight? :)
I hope everyone had a great weekend! And thank God for short work weeks! Gotta love them!

Labor Day Weekend

Not much exciting going on this Labor Day weekend. We're going up to the cabin like we do every year. I treasure these times since I get to see my 96 year old grandma. I also get to spend a lot of time with all of my family. It's something special and something most people don't get to (or want to) do.

Another exciting event this weekend - Kristen and Scott Stafne are going to be on the Jerry Lewis Telethon this weekend! Here's the information for when they'll be on:

--Nationwide--
Late Sunday night around 11pm West Coast time (1am in Minnesota) - profile and interview

--Locally in MN--
Monday around 12 noon - replay of profile

I'm hoping to catch them, but TV is spotty around the cabin. If you want more information about Scott and his struggle with ALS, you can check out their website. Best of luck to them and here's hoping they raise a ton of money for ALS research!

Have a great weekend and congratulations to Mark and Alli who are getting married this weekend!

THE OFFICE SUMMER VACATION

So cool! I CAN'T Wait!!!

Extreme Home Makeover!

Linda and I went to see the Extreme Home Makeover house they're working on here in Minnesota tonight. It was so cool! There were tons of people working on the house and everything was happening so fast! Neither of us had our real cameras, so we had to use camera phones. The story about the family can be found here. They are gone until Tuesday. They tore the house down yesterday. How crazy that they can build a house in that amount of time! If you're interested in seeing the house, you can go any time. There's a map and everything at this site. Wear comfortable shoes - it's not easy walking around there!





The show will be on in November for their 100th episode. And, no, we didn't see Ty! They're in Wyoming for the weekend doing another house. Talk about extreme!

It Rained Again Today...

I took this with my camera phone while driving home today for lunch. I love how the delay made the windshield wiper look curved! Tomorrow, they're predicting sun for the afternoon - I hope they're right!

Okay, Seriously, Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!

I'm happy that we got rain. Really, I am. We needed it. But, could it quit for awhile? Along with the gloomy weather? I don't have SAD or anything, but I could do with a couple nice days. Hopefully the weatherman is right and we'll have some this weekend.

Things that have been getting me down:
1. Crabby people at work - it seems like everyone is crabby this week
2. The post office - they screwed up our mail when we went on vacation - I finally got my Cocoa Daisy kit this week!
3. This week seems to be going slowly!

Things that are making me happy:
1. My Cocoa Daisy kit is here! I can't wait to use it!
2. It's Wednesday! That much closer to the weekend!
3. This picture of the dogs when we were on vacation. They would sit and watch us when we went outside. It was cute!
4. I almost have more tomatoes ready to be picked!

Alright, I guess it's not so bad if I have more good than bad things. But I'd still like some sunshine! (and I'm sure I'll bitch about that too! Hehehe!)

Rain, Rain, Go Away?

Although the rain we've been getting has been greatly needed, it doesn't make for a great weekend. I drove in the rain on Saturday to see my good friend Karin H. We hadn't been able to hang out together for a couple of months, so it was great to catch up. I then drove in the rain on Sunday to see my friend Farrah. I've been helping her make her kids' birthday invites for the past couple of years, and last year she came here, so I made the trek down to Rochester (sorry Tracy - wish I would have more time to visit you too!). It wasn't too bad, but it makes me sleepy! My Mom called me in a panic last night - SE Minnesota had received a TON of rain - lots of flooding - and she thought I might be caught in it. It was nice of her to worry about me, but I was fine. I was a little annoyed she interrupted Entourage, but I got over it when she was so worried!

I got the coolest thing in the mail on Friday! Alli made me this frame! I didn't get a great picture of it, but I wanted to show it off. It's so cute!! Now I have to get the boys to behave so I can get a good picture of them in it. Thanks again, Alli!

Thank you also for all of the supportive comments I've received in the past week. I really appreciate all of them - and all of you!

Be Careful What You Ask For

I’ve been contemplating what to do about a certain issue for a couple of days now. Recently, my name has been drug through the mud without me having a chance to defend it. Since this is my public forum, I decided to create my own chance.

I was scheduled to go on a retreat in a couple weeks with some of my scrapbooking friends. I had paid my deposit and was planning on going. The coordinator started up a Yahoo group to help us plan everything. At this time, there were two spots remaining. Something has come up, and I will not be able to attend. I let the coordinator of the event know this and everything seemed fine. After another person dropped out, I could have sworn that there were two spots available. This made me think, well, if my spot is now covered, I should get my deposit back. I waited for the coordinator to contact me, but she never did. Last weekend, before leaving on vacation, I asked for my deposit back by emailing the coordinator. I guess this was my first mistake.

While I was gone, the coordinator contacted the owner of the retreat house about their policy of refunds. The owner said that they did not give refunds, which would make sense. She is only dealing with the coordinator and wouldn’t be involved with individual refunds. The owner then went on to say that some coordinators have a strict non-refundable policy on their deposits. Others take a poll of everyone else going to see if they should give a refund. The coordinator of my group decided to take the issue to the Yahoo group, of which I was no longer a member of, since she removed me after I dropped out.

I had no idea any of this was going on. I had no opportunity to defend myself or answer any questions. Since I had not posted to the world that I was on vacation, not everyone knew that I was gone or that I had been kicked out of the group. I received this notice on when I returned home: “As a group we have discussed your request, and the group concensus was that no deposit shall be refunded.” First I was pissed. Why did this need to be brought to the whole group? Wasn’t the coordinator strong enough to make her own decision? Then I thought better and wonder what was going on if there was the same amount people going, probably paying the same amount, but my deposit was still with the coordinator? I then sent this in an email: “…Thus I felt if someone else had taken my spot, I should get my deposit back. If this is not correct, please let me know.”

The response I got back was not friendly at all. It wasn’t, sorry, you remembered incorrectly. Actually, this is what it said: “You are incorrect. At the time you dropped out, we only had one overnight spot left to fill. As one spot had been taken. When you both dropped out, we were left with 3 total spots to fill. As of today, those spots still remain open. Sorry, but the group concensus was that no deposits would be refunded. Period. Whether the spots are filled or not. Hope that is now clear.”

You know what, it is clear now. Thanks for being so rude about it.

I deleted the emails with this information prior to all this going on, so I can’t prove any of my theories. I do hope that the group said they wanted the non-refunded deposits put towards snacks or something and that the coordinator isn’t keeping it for herself. Then I would be okay with it.

I know I put the coordinator in a bad spot by backing out. If I could turn back, I wouldn’t have signed up to go. This isn’t about the money. Really, it isn’t. I just feel blindsided by this whole thing. People who said they were my friends are now treating me like shit. I wish that I was able to give my piece and would have been heard from on this matter. I’m sure there are people from the group who think I’m selfish for even asking for the money back. Again, it was never about that. I was only doing what I thought would be fair. People have bullied and stepped on me a lot in my life. I thought what I was doing was trying to prevent that.

I guess what I’ve really learned is, don’t sign up for things with a deposit without knowing 100% that you are able to attend. The price for getting it back is more than just money.

* ETA - BonnieRose - I did email the coordinator personally. She left me the previously mentioned email. I don't know what else I could have done to make my thoughts more clear to her.

I miss The Office...

Vacation

I'm back from my week vacation. It was good, except for the crappy bed and no air conditioner! We were up on Mille Lacs Lake at a cabin. Here's a picture of the fish I caught with the lure I made.
The sunset was so beautiful last night. I loved that the pink of the sun was reflecting into the water. As nice as a week of vacation is, I'm glad to be home. Now off to work tomorrow.

DH has been Simpsonized!

Dh finally Simpsonized himself. The one the generator did was a little different, so he changed it to look more like him - down to the gray shirt that he always wears! I thought that was funny.

We also finally got some rain today. Not too much, but any would be a help now! I think I'm still going to have to water my flowers and veggies tomorrow. We could use a week of straight rain. It would be depressing, but the plants need it right now. Actually, they needed it a month ago.