Hey there everyone... I hope you had a great week, full of fun and excitement. Well, I'm feeling less bummed out than my previous post. It really helped to go home and scrap this page. It really made me think about what is going on in the world and how small a piece of it my life is. Yes, a bunch of really good engineers/sales people lost their jobs... I know that God will help them turn it around to be a good thing! I still think about all the families who's lives were touched by the 9-11 tragedy and pray that they are finding peace with in their lives now. It's so hard to believe it happened over 6 years ago... wow! Time can really fly when you aren't paying attention to it...

On to happier stuff!! This week was a great scrapping week. I needed to burn off some stress so I grabbed my scissors and paper before blinging everything in sight! I am so looking forward to the All-Day scrap this weekend other than the fact that I haven't kitted anything in ages! ARRGGHHH!! Now, I'm stressed again (just kidding...). I need to whip out a mini book so that I can donate it as a silent auction item. Hopefully this will be a good fundraiser for the local MOPS group. I'll make sure I get my slide updated after I'm done... Like it? I just figured out how to do it. Hopefully, I adjusted the speed so you can still see all the pages.

I also found an awesome new site... it's called Faith Sisters (www.faithsisters.com). They have some great faith-based scrapbooking challenges that really force you think about things and help you on your Faith walk with our Father. Check it out if you are interested!! That's all for now. Keep warm and get safe with all the wacky weather happening. :)

Check out my Slide Show!

Well, today is a sucky day. My company laid off about 20% of the engineering/sales staff today. It makes me sad... working in Michigan is so uncertain! My job is safe for now, but we lost a lot of good engineers. It's getting ridiculous about how little manpower we have to do the job but they keep telling us we need to "work harder and smarter in the coming months". They've been saying that for 2 years now. It doesn't seem to get better. SIGH!!

Today is also the Presidential Primary. It doesn't really matter though since our votes don't really count for anything. It was someone's brilliant idea to move up our Primary to highlight the problems facing Michigan and "get the word out there." All it really managed to do is get the MI delegates uninvited from the national convention (Democrats only - Republicans are still on the wall as to how they will punish our state). So, we're voting for what reason again? I did anyway but it still annoys me. I just feel kinda helpless in this big world right now.

On a happier note, I just participated in my first cyber crop with the gals at Coordinates Collection this weekend. What a blast! I did a bunch of really cool pages AND I won a doorprize! How fabulous is that? I can't wait to get it in the mail... Some of my pages are shown below. My favorite is the one of Annde "You're my Girly Girl". It's currently on my calendar at work and everyday, I smile when I see it.

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to 2008!

Its a brand new year and I am very excited to see all the exciting things that could happen this year. It's going to be a wild ride, so strap in tightly and hold on! My resolutions include scrapbooking goals, saving money, improving on health, having a sibling for Annde, and keeping up on my learning in life.

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted?!?! A lot has happened in those 30 days... so, I will just recap here.

About a week after my last post, I came down with a pretty severe inner ear infection. Its been almost 4 weeks and I still have very limited hearing in my left ear. The doctor told me that it could be 3 more months before I have my hearing back but I shouldn't lose anything permanently. Its amazing how much hearing can affect your view of the surroundings; how much we rely on what noises are there. I notice it the most in my car. Its very hard to distinguish between the static I hear in my right ear when I am driving around. I don't think I will take my hearing for granted again!

We also were lucky to spend our Christmas holidays in Orlando, FL. It was great to leave the freezing tundra to bask in the 80 degree weather in the south. It was also amazing to meet my new niece and nephews: Emeli, Braxton, and Benjamin. The cousins (including Annde and Will) got along so well - I can't believe there wasn't any fighting between them! The holidays were filled with such great memories (and 1000 pictures between 4 people in 4 days) that I can't wait to scrapbook. Annde and Will really got into Christmas this year - enthusiastically making a gingerbread house with Grandma as well as cookies for Santa (yes, the reindeer got carrots too!) She loved all her gifts and still is pretty much playing exclusively with what she received. While we were down there, we skipped Disney for now and went to Gator Land instead... Surprisingly, it was pretty cool. Annde got to feed the alligators and crocodiles, fish, birds, giant tortoises... She blew me away when she sat on a **LIVE** 9 foot crocodile and then smiled so pretty! My wonderful, adorable photo op!! It might have been a quick trip but it was fun. Even Steve getting sick, fixing Susan's bike, and changing a flat on the way to the airport didn't spoil the trip. I was glad we weren't able to stay for the bowl game (MSU v Boston College) as they didn't do to well - they gave the win to Boston College... Sigh... There is always next year.

We started off the year here in Michigan with some seriously wacky weather. In the last 2 weeks, we've gotten 14" of snow which melted in only a couple of days when the temperatures rose to the 60 degree mark... Yes, 60 degrees in January in Michigan? It's like they say here in the midwest, "Wait 5 minutes and the weather will completely change." Yes, this year will be a wild ride and I am very much looking forward to all the great things I can accomplish!