Happy Holidays!

I wanted to post and wish all my friends in blog world "Happy Holidays" and a fantastic 2011!! Unfortunately, 2010 has not been a good year at all for me, but I am hopeful that 2011 will bring a fresh start, a clear outlook and a year of putting me and my kiddos nothing less than first. I will be lighting that creative spark once again and will be back to blogging more regularly! Thank you to everyone who has supported me and stuck with me this past year; I am one lucky girl!

What a great view...

Here's what I saw out of my window this afternoon :)

I guess we all have to eat...

It's just a little scary seeing a bear having his snack by the road when I'm driving home! That's what happens when the trash doesn't get picked up until 4pm (instead of the usual 10am)...

It's a hard life...

It really is tough being a cat living in the Armstrong house...Pickle is demonstrating how our cats like to live :)

The beach....

Here's the beach at Atlantis - the water was crystal-clear and warm :)

Home again!

We're back from visiting Atlantis in the Bahamas - what a fabulous place - especially for families with kids! We were there for 5 days. Beautiful weather, spectacular scenery, fireworks on the 4th, and water slides and pools galore :) What's not to like? This slide is called the "Challenge" - two people slide down at the same time and there's a clock at the side of each one to show how long it took to slide down. Nattie made it in just under 5 seconds; Iain was about half a second behind her. Will post more tomorrow :)

Fluffles! And BIG TCP NEWS!

Fluffles (by Stampendous) is one of my favorite images to stamp, being a big fan of cats (we do have 5 of them, after all!)...and being a member of TCP's Cat Pack helps feed my addiction, too :)

I'm heading off on vacation, but will be back next weekend. I've set up a TCP Tuesday post to pop up during the week, so be sure to stop by and find out what Joanne has come up with for us. And after that, the sneak peeks of TCP's upcoming release will begin! Oh - and did you know that TCP is now a member company over on Splitcoast Stampers? Click here to see the TCP forum where Alma and The Cat Pack will be chatting about everything TCP!

A day at home :)

Spending a day at home today, working on cards for next month's new release from The Cat's Pajamas - the new images are AWESOME!! Today's card is made with a Stampendous set I picked up recently. I am rarely able to resist large flower images - they just scream out at me to be colored!

I also watched the England v. Germany soccer match this morning and am very disappointed that England are now out of the World Cup - the German team played amazingly, though, and deserved to win. Perhaps in 2014 our turn will come :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Summertime

Another flowery, summery card :) I've been thoroughly enjoying my time off from school - spending time with my kids, enjoying the beautiful weather, and crafting!

I am also happy because I got the news a couple of weeks ago from our principal that I will be able to stay on in my current position as secretary! Following the budget cuts in our district, I was going to be displaced my a secretary with more years in the district; it turns out she got another position closer to home, and so I get to stay! Wooo hoooo! Happy times indeed....so I have to make the most of this break - I return to work on July 26th!!

TCP Tuesday #103 - Any TCP Stamp!!

I just got back from visiting Denver Zoo with Nattie and Jamie. Our favorite new animal was a baby monkey :) And we always love seeing the big cats!


To go along with the "Spring Break" time of year, Susan's hosting the TCP Tuesday stamp challenge this week - and we can use ANY TCP STAMP! It doesn't get much easier than that :) Hop over to Susan's blog for all the details on playing along...and I'm heading downstairs to work on my card right now! Have a super Tuesday!

Snow Day (again)!

It's like deja vu - our second snow day in less than a week! This one has dumped 2 feet of snow in less than 24 hours...the district made the call last night that there would be no school today. Even down in Denver there's over a foot of snow! Not many people on the roads today...

Here's a photo of Tasha checking out the view from the front window :)

Snow Day!

Well...we ended up with a snow day yesterday! Here's what Mother Nature left for us...

Is Spring in the air yet?

So, Spring is not too far away, but you wouldn't know it from looking out of my window today :) For the last 3 days it has been snowing heavily on my drive home!

Just over 2 weeks until Spring break - yeah! We're finishing up with CSAP testing at school for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade kiddos, and then next week I'll be working hard on checking over the books, counting them, packing them and getting them back to the warehouse. It's a pretty stressful time for students and staff at schools, so we'll all be glad next week when those boxes are gone :)

Things are going well at home...we have Jamie's 8th birthday this coming Friday! Iain's going to stay here on Thursday night so that we're all together for Jamie waking up on his birthday, and then on Saturday he's having his party down at Jump Street in Littleton. No birthday cake for Jamie, though - he wants to have Krispy Kreme doughnuts instead!

I'm trying to "think Spring" with today's card made with one of the "Pure Innocence" stamps from My Favorite Things. The inside of the card is stamped with a great sentiment - "Start every day with wheeeee!"

Cake (and other stuff)!

Happy Wednesday :) I've been all mixed up with my days this week since the Monday holiday...makes for an interesting time at work - ha ha! It's been a busy week so far - lots going on with kindergarten registration, learning new procedures, and just starting to think about the end of the school year and getting ready for the next school year! It's a job where I seem to be thinking 4 months ahead most of the time :)

It's been chilly here this week, but sunny! I don't mind it being cold when the sun is out - the sunshine makes everything better! Things have been a little tough for me lately as I am still coming to terms with Iain and me separating - it's a long, hard process and I am very lucky to have some special friends to help me find my way through it all.

On Friday night I'm going to a newly-formed Bunco group - there will be a group of us from school playing together once a month for drinks, foods, chat and maybe even some Bunco :) Should be fun!

Today's card is one I made with some paper I found at the weekend when I was trying to decide on papers to use for my TCP Tuesday card. The stamp is from TCP's "You Say It's Your Birthday" set, and it's an image I use a lot because it's another terrific one for coloring or paper piecing. Thanks as always for stopping by!

Quiet day

So I spent the day at home today since the kids were with Iain. In the morning I made a bunch of cards, including my TCP Tuesday card for tomorrow's color challenge, and then this afternoon I took Tasha for a walk. It was a beautiful day - sunny, crisp and pretty with fresh snow on the ground!

This card was made with an image by Stampendous; I had lots of fun playing with the colors from the Basic Grey patterned paper to make a bright, cheery card with lots of layers and a little bling :) Have a great week!

Fellow "Amazing Race" fans :)

So...who watched the first episode of the new season tonight? I know my good friend Patti did :) It usually takes me a couple of episodes to figure out my favorites for sure, but tonight's episode was a really great opener for the season! That cable walk would have really scared me...the people who took it on were extremely brave...

Winter Driving School

This weekend we went to Steamboat Springs so that I could take the Winter Driving Class at Bridgestone Winter Driving School that Iain had booked for me as part of my Christmas present. We drove up on Friday evening right after school, and then on Saturday morning I went and took my class while Iain and the kids went tubing at a nearby snow park.

As some of you know, I don't do too well driving in difficult wintery conditions; I really needed my confidence to improve. We started off with a half-hour session in a classroom, and then went out on a shuttle bus to the driving track. It is set up with all different kinds of turns: loose, tight, uphill and downhill. We did practice with brakes (ABS on and off), then went to do some skidding which was scary but tons of fun :) I definitely learned a lot and boosted my confidence about controlling the car a little more when I get into a tough situation!

This seems strange...

We're not quite halfway through this school year, but in my new job at the front office we're always planning ahead, and right now that means kindergarten registration for the 2010/11 school year...it was a very busy day today; some of the incoming kindergarteners looked excited, some looked terrified...and I'd say the same applied to the parents, too. I remember when Jamie began kindergarten I was quite sad, especially since he was my youngest...and now he's halfway through second grade and Nattie's halfway through seventh grade!


At the end of the day we had a sudden snowstorm which made a couple of our buses 20 minutes late - always fun! Fortunately by the time Jamie and I were driving home, the roads had already been sanded and so weren't quite as slippery as some had described them earlier. I still drove like a grandma, though...just in case...

Happy, Happy Holidays!

I hope you're having a super week :) I am finished with my shopping and now I just have to finish the wrapping! I went to the grocery store today, and now it's snowing outside - we're supposed to be getting between 6 and 12 inches of snow with this one. Looks like we'll be having a white Christmas here in Colorado.

Best wishes to everyone for a super Christmas! I'll be back at the weekend :)

TCP Tuesday - Sketch Challenge!

Happy TCP Tuesday :) This week's Hostess is Jen...click on her blog entry right here to see the fabulous sketch she has created for us! I have made my card, but the light was awful when I got home from school this afternoon - so I will post it tomorrow.

I hope all's well with you! We're heading into the last 3 days of school before a 2-week break. My new job is so much fun; the staff have made me feel extremely welcome and every day I am learning something new! The reception for our retiring secretary (Kathleen) is tomorrow evening; she has been at the school for 16 years, so there will be lots of Marshdale families stopping by to say goodbye to her. Some of the teachers stayed behind after school to decorate it as a surprise for Kathleen in the morning; I can't wait to see her face when she pulls up at 7.30am!