Hot weather and Crafters

Wow! It almost reached 90 here today in Conifer. Jamie and I went down to Westminster (Archivers!) and it was 99 there when we left around 2pm - yuk! Archivers was worth the trip, though - found some cute packs of 6x6 and 8x8 paper; I love that companies are coming out with these; they are much friendlier on the budget and are especially useful for making little sets of cards, which I plan on doing with some of my new goodies! We also went to Barnes & Noble, another of my favorite stores, and I picked up the new book by Lisa See, who wrote the bestseller Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. If you haven't read it, try and find a copy - it's an intriguing story about two young girls living in China, and their friendship through their lifetimes.

Of course, I'll be using some stamps from The Cat's Pajamas on those cards I'll be making, and talking of TCP, I found this link on Alma's blog - it's all about crafters :)

Glasgow Airport and a family visit

I'm sure you will all have seen the pictures of the horrible incident that happened at Glasgow Airport in Scotland on Saturday. There's a link to an article in The Scotsman newspaper here. We have flown into and out of Glasgow many, many times, and my sister-in-law flew here to Colorado from Glasgow on Friday. I hope that the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is right on top of this and ready to see that justice is served.

So Helen (SIL) arrived on Friday evening and was excited to see the kids - although she did see Jamie just a few weeks ago when he and Iain were back there :) Helen was saying how much of a young lady Nattie is - it has been 3 years since she last saw her, so I can imagine how surprised she was! Yesterday we took it pretty easy (jet-lag is a terrible thing!) and took Helen into Evergreen to show her the lake (see photo above) and also the shops on Main Street. We had ice cream and sat by the river, watching the world go by. After we arrived home, we sat out on the deck and enjoyed the peace and quiet, along with a Mai Tai :) Then Iain grilled burgers for dinner!

Circle Journals

It's that time of the month again - time for me to finish up and mail the Circle Journals! I have 3 to mail this month: the layout shown here is for one titled "Places to See Before I Die". What a fun theme! I did a layout about Scotland :) and journaled about how often Scotland is forgotten since most people head to London and other parts of England. I love this Kraft paper line from Making Memories! I have two others to complete by the end of the week: "Music of my Life" and "Words of Wisdom". I love working on these books - it forces me to make time to scrap since there is a mailing deadline every month.

We had some warm days here early this week! It got into the mid-80s :) Fortunately we are back down to the comfortable low 70s now though. Taking the kids to Target this afternoon to stock up on cleaning supplies since my sister-in-law arrives from Scotland on Friday for a 10-day visit...

One of my favorite TV shows, Rescue Me, is on tonight! Iain and I just love the cast, and the writing is outstanding. I've read that the episode tonight has a couple of big events in the storyline, so I'll be ready tonight!

A little bit of understanding...

goes a long way. Here's today's Blog Challenge from Two Peas: "Let's blog about understanding. Do you feel you are understood? Are there people in your life who think they know you, but really they don't?"

I'd say there are very few people who truly understand me or "get" me. I'm a pretty private person, and I choose my friends carefully. I'd much rather have a couple of super friends than a larger circle of acquaintances. Unfortunately because I'm so picky I can sometimes come across as a bit cold, which is far from being my intent - I love having new friends but I take a looooong time to develop trust with someone.

My hubby knows and accepts me for exactly who I am, quirks and all. He doesn't care if I eat mixed nuts in a certain order, or that I like hot and cold desserts (e.g. hot apple pie and ice cream) in separate bowls :)

The photo today is of part of Edinburgh's skyline - "Arthur's Seat".

Ages 5 and 95

Finally back to my blog after a weeklong break - not a planned one, just one that happened with all the stuff going on after Iain and Jamie got back from Scotland last Monday. Of course, one of the best parts was downloading all the photos from the camera :) One of my favorites is this one of Jamie with his great-grandad (my dad's dad). My dad passed away 18 years ago, and everyone said that Jamie looks just like dad when he was a little boy.

What else has been going on? Well, Nattie has started up her piano lessons again and is doing an awesome job. We went and got signed up for a membership at the rec center so that we can go swimming :) I'm almost done with my latest class for school (Correctional Institutions - very interesting), and am looking forward to the 3-week break before I start the Psychology class.

And I'll use some of that 3-week break to work on the 3 circle journals I have for this month! It'll be nice to scrap for a while. Iain's sister arrives next Friday for 10 days so I'll be preparing for that too. Tasha, our new puppy, is settling in well. We took her to the vet last Friday and she weighs 35lbs already.... Sally the cat is still not happy but has ventured downstairs once which I guess is a start, right?

Introducing Tasha...

Here are Tasha and Pickle getting acquainted...in their own way, right? We adopted Tasha on Thursday from a shelter in Golden, CO. They estimated that she's about 6 months old and possibly a lab/retriever mix. So far, from what has come out of her personality, I'd agree with that. She's really easy-going but of course has that hyper puppy streak going on :) Pickle has been coming down to check her out, but Sally (our older cat) is not happy. In fact, we had to put a litter tray and cat food upstairs for her because she's refusing to come down. I hope she comes around soon!

Copy, paste and play :)

Another fun questionnaire from Anilu's blog. Play along! Can you tell I love these things???

The game is SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules: * Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.* They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! * If you can't think of anything, skip it. * You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Toni

1. Famous Singer/Band: Tori Amos

2. 4 letter word: Tree

3. Street: Thomas More Street

4. Color: Turquoise

5. Gifts/Presents: Trinkets

6. Vehicle: Toyota Tundra

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Thimbles

8. Boy Name: Trevor

9. Girl Name: Tess

10. Movie Title: Titanic

11. Drink: Tequila :)

12. Occupation: Tax Auditor

13. Celebrity: Tim Robbins

14. Magazine: ?

15. U.S. City: Tacoma

16. Pro Sports Teams: ?

17. Fruit: Tangerine

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Traffic Jam

19. Something You Throw Away: Trash :)

20. Things You Shout: This way!

21. Cartoon Character: Top Cat (showing my age here!)

Fun in the Springs

Nattie and I had so much fun on our little road trip to Colorado Springs this week :) I had a flashback to a movie on the drive down there: Nattie was singing along (loudly) to her iPod, and I had new CD's in the car stereo and was also singing along (loudly) - then all of a sudden it occurred to me that we were on our way to the scene in "RV" where mom, dad and the two kids are all singing along to their own music....

Our favorite part was horseback riding in the Garden of the Gods on Tuesday afternoon. Our reservation was for 5pm so the weather had cooled off. Poor Nattie was petrified - it was her first time on a horse - but by the end of the ride she was yelling "Mama, this totally rocks!".

In other news, we went to the animal shelter down in Golden this morning to donate some blankets and animal food, and left 3 hours later having adopted a 6-month-old puppy! We're picking her up tomorrow after she has been spayed. Let the fun begin!

Life is good. The store :)

While shopping in Manitou Springs yesterday, Nattie and I came across a store selling goodies based on the theme "Life is good". Check it out here. We bought a t-shirt for Iain for Father's Day (the golfing dad, of course) and I got a cool mug. Such a happy store to be in!

We bought tons of fun stuff in the little stores there; Nattie had a blast spending all the money she had earned cleaning the basement this week. She was very proud of herself! There were some big thunderstorms while we were there, with huge splodges of rain :) This morning we're going to Cave of the Winds and this afternoon we're heading to Garden of the Gods to go horseback riding! Yeah! It'll be Nattie's first time on a horse, and I'm not a pro either: the only times I've been riding were when Iain and I were on vacation in Maui and Jamaica. So here's to the sore bums Nattie and I will have in the morning....but life is still good :)

Shopping day....

Well, the boys made it safely to Scotland. Iain said Jamie was just amazing on the plane. He put his jammies on him at the airport in Chicago, then when they got on the plane for London he watched his "Backyardigans" DVD and then announced he was ready for bed! He slept for about 5 hours :)

I was a total couch potato yesterday. I knew it would be the only day I'd be totally alone since Nattie would be on Summer vacation, so I made the most of it and caught up on a bunch of shows from my TiVo list. It was great! Nattie and I watched "Two Brothers" on DVD last night - if you haven't seen it, rent it. It's a beautiful story about two brother tigers.

We're hitting the mall this morning to get some summer clothes for Nattie; she has outgrown everything from last summer! We're leaving bright and early to beat the crowds.

Have a fabulous Saturday! Oh, and the layout here is of my other two "kids", Pickle and Sally.