Yippee Prizes!!!!

I won some prizes over at the MBI cyber crop last week. Everyone loves prizes.

I'm not so patiently waiting for my Christmas prizes. I know that Mike bought part of my gifts in the MBI store and some at Wal-Mart and the rest at Joann's. He told me it was all scrap book stuff but I don't have a clue what it is. I'm way excited!!! I'm going to have $100 worth of NEW Supplies. I'll be scrapping Christmas night!!!

I met Mike at the mall last night and we powered shopped. Kay Bee Toy's is going out of business so everything was 30-60% off. We got the rest of the toys we needed for less than $40. That was a great savings.

MBI Color Mix Challenge

This is the layout for the color mix challenge at MBI (the link is on the side bar). I had to make a layout with a combination of black/white and color photos.

MBI Crop Challenge

Here's my layout for the sketch challenge. I saved this challenge until very late last night. The sketch made it way doable even when my brain was drained.

and another MBI challenge

This is my layout for a challenge called "Orginality". The rules were to only use patterned paper, cardstock, ribbon, and pens to make a layout. I got really lucky!! I had some paper with the Splash printed onto it.

anothe MBI layout.

This is for the button challenge. I didn't do anything exciting with them but I did use 3 buttons.

MBI Crop Layouts

This the layout I did for the " How High Can You Go" Challenge. The challenge was to see how many embellishments you can get on one page. I probably could have added more but the page was getting so heavy!!!

Finding Christmas Spirit

If only he had his eyes open wide........ sometimes you have to take what you can get and run with it!!!

Ok so the greedy Santa totally killed my Christmas spirit earlier this week. I love Christmas and I two days of walking around being Scroog was enough for me. This after the kids and I did a little decorating outside. I didn't tackle the big stuff. I leave that for Mike. I did hang two sets of blue snowflake lights around the front door. Then we put our little peguin from last year with it to make our own little Winter Wonderland.

And more importantly, I got back my Christmas spirit. So cue the Christmas carols and pass the eggnog! ( ok not really because I think eggnog taste like *@%# but you get the point)

Greedy Santa!!!

I made this according album for my grandparents. This is braden's side. The other side is Ashlyn's.

Today I took the kids to the mall for portraits and to see Santa. Things started out wonderfully. The kids took amazing pictures. I'm very happy with them and since I only took in cash, I'm very happy that I didn't go overboard with my ordering. After the portraits we went down to see Santa. He was on a break so we trotted over to the food court for some cokes to pass the time. All was well. When we finished our drinks we went back over to Santa and took our place in line. All was still well!!

When we reached the front of the line, an elf handed me the price list. The cheapest package was $24.99. That was for 8 wallets. Eight wallets for $25 is just kind-of nuts. I usually buy a 5x7 every year and then take a few pictures myself. To get a package with a 5x7 it was $39.99. :shock: :shock:

I dug into my pocket to how much money I had. After the tights I bought before the portraits, the cost of the portraits, and the cokes I only had $21 left. I just said "I didn't bring enough money in. I'll just snap a pic with my camera." Then I started to walk by her. She stepped in front of me and said rather sternly "No. We can't let you take a picture unless you first buy one of ours." I was floored. I could not believe that they would not let me take a picture with my camera. I was pretty frustrated. If the packages were cheaper then I would have bought one but they started out so high. There was no way my kids who were already half way to Santa at this point would have walked away without a fight while I ran to the car to get my debit card.
So I had to accept the fact that I would have no pictures of the kids with Santa. Then my frustration went to a new level when the elf told me I could not accompany my children unless I left my rather expensive camera on a table out of my sight. By now my kids were beginning to get frustated. So I told them to go. They ran over to Santa while I looked over a stranger's shoulder so far away that I could not even hear what they were saying. :x :x :x :x :x :x

I can remember a time not so long ago that we were lucky to have $25 left after the bills and necessities. I know that we are not the only ones that have had times like that. It's just so greedy and spirit crushing. The day was totally ruined. Santa pictures are wonderful tradition and the whole thing left a horrible taste in my mouth.

I was so upset. I'm mad at my mall. I'm mad at the little elf who stood in front of me. I'm mad that she has a boss who instructed her to enforce such spirit crushing rules. I'm mad that some are so greedy that the would be willing to exclude parents/grandparents that may not have the extra $25 to spare. I'm even a little ticked at the companies that sponsored our mall's Santa. My Christmas spirit is crushed! I feel like I'm living in a scene from the Charlie Brown Christmas Show.

Next year we will be looking for a new place to see Santa.

Time to Breath!!!!

After coming home from Arkansas, I was all about the fall colors. I love the top picture of ashlyn. She loved the little Ashlyn sized pumpkins.

It's not very often to hear someone say that December is the time to relax but for me it is.

October--
Nanny's birthday party
cousin's birthday party
mother-in-law's birthday
father-in-law's birthday
son's birthday
son's birthday party
son's family birthday dinner
mom and her husband visit for the weekend
hubby and brother-in-law's family birthday dinner
hubby's birthday
pumpkin patch
Sea world's Halloween party
Halloween
bought a new car

It was crazy and I was exhausted. We were able to enjoy a few weeks to recover the beginning of November but then we ended November with a weekend in Jacksonville (including an NFL game) and then Thanksgiving in Arkansas.

It's great to be home and relaxed. I've made a few layouts to sell and I actually made a few for myself. Which is great since I have about 600 pictures waiting to be sorted to scrap. One day I will be caught up. I don't predict it happening this year. hmmmmm, maybe that will be a New Year's resolution.