PTI October Blog Hop

Welcome Blog Hoppers! Time has just flown by... I can't believe the last time I joined the PTI blog hop was in June! It's totally unbelievable because I love PTI stamps, paper, and all the other great goodies that go along with them.

Today I want to share a matchbook card that I made using PTI Rustic Snowflake paper. I fell in love with the soft, rich colors! Just beautiful!

The large snowman stamp is from Provo Craft. The inside sentiment is "holly jolly Christmas," which is from the Holiday Button Bits stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by!
Enjoy the rest of the blog hop!

Happy Crafty Friday!

YAHOO!!! It's Friday! I'm soooo happy! It's been a really busy week... Well, as promised today, I have FIVE crafty projects to share! I created them, inspired by the crop at Color Me Daisy. Here they are! Starting first with a couple layouts.

This first layout is from last spring at the flower fields. Doesn't that photo make a perfect layout?

Chris dresses up for school on Fridays. They call it Fancy Friday. He was in such a great mood when he got his first tie, that he even posed for me, hehehe!

I'm an owl hater... stupid owls! But I ended up using an owl stamp on Chris's layout and on this cute card. I can't believe I had more than one owl stamp.

This week I got into making flowers. This cute flower is made of gathered ribbon.

I decorated this little pillow box with a paper flower. My mom won a paper flower book from the craft fair a couple weeks ago and gave it to me. The flowers in the book were so amazing that I just had to try it.

Here's a close up. I'm really happy with how it came out, but it's not as nice as the ones in the book.

That's it for this Friday... don't be expecting five crafty items every Friday. As much as I would like to, it won't be happening. {sigh}

Have a great weekend everyone!

Weekly Sports Report

Does Chris look like he just played a football game or ran a cross country race? The answer is the latter... He hit himself in the mouth with a water bottle right before the race started. This is the same tooth that he broke when he was about 8yrs old. The dentist glued it back together, and it’s held for all these years. He had a root canal done on the same tooth last year. We were told then that it would weaken the structure and he would have to have it capped eventually... well, not yet... the dentist wants to wait until he's 18yrs, so he glued it back in again. As for the race, even with the distraction of his missing tooth, he came in 6th for JV, just one position back from scoring… so he’s getting BETTER!

The Gauchos WON A GAME on Tuesday! It’s AMAZING, especially since there are only 11 girls on the team who are not red or gray shirted. I just learned that red shirted means injured for the season and gray shirted is injured with a chance of playing again. They lost again on Friday, but that’s not unexpected against 1st place Santiago Canyon. Cheryl said she had to play center defender and that she was amazing! Parents, trainers, and the coach’s mother seeked her out to tell her what a GREAT job she did.

Quakes win again! They were scored on again, so that makes two goals against them (a wet ball slipped between the goalie’s legs). BUT the Quakes are still undefeated! The head coach is going in for knee surgery soon and that will put Cheryl in the head coach position. Hopefully Coach Cheryl can keep up the undefeated streak!

Happy Friday 5!

Welcome Friday! I had Monday off (Columbus Day), but it still felt like a full, long week. I was going to share five crafty projects, but I don't have five... (only two done so far). So instead, I'm going to share my five most favorite places to shop. I go to these places to browse even if I don't need (or plan to buy) anything.

The very tip/top of my list is Amazon! They have everything. I usually browse for books. I can get lost in reading reviews and following lists of recommended reading.

My favorite clothes shop is GAP! I also shop Old Navy, but I love to shop GAP when I can afford it. GAP clothes/pants fit me perfectly!

How much running stuff does a person need? Not much... LOL! I have enough clothes so I can go the entire week without having to wash, and I always buy the same shoes... BUT, I still love to browse the high-tech running stuff.

Well, hey, a girl's gotta have fun... {grin}

When I have time I like to checkout the magazines, patterns, and scrapbook stuff. If I find myself with a free lunch hour, I'll spend it at Joann's. There's a superstore only two miles from work. It's a great way to relax for an hour.

That's it for this week... next week I promise, crafty stuff!!!

Weekly Sports Report

It's raining is pouring...
We are having our first rain of the season. It's not cold, but it's pouring. I am sooooo GLAD that I only work 6 miles from home. The freeway is going to be a major MESS tonight!

Speaking of a mess... Cheryl is playing tonight. I just hope that they are wearing the cardinal uniform today and not the WHITE! The Gauchos had a buy last Tuesday and finished with another loss on Friday. Cheryl said that they started well... they scored first and were ahead for the FIRST time this season. That didn't last very long because a Gaucho defender scored an own goal and tied up the game. Riverside scored one more giving the Gauchos another loss.

This sounds like a broken record... Gauchos lose and Quakes win... TWO more wins for the Quakes. Half the season is over and the Quakes are undefeated with only one goal against them. Now they have to play all the teams one more time and the season will be over. They are looking really good for moving up to Silver next year!

Chris is ran his first JV race last week. The first 4 runners that finished for his team were Seniors, followed by Ricky. Chris ended up in a non-scoring position. He was sick last week and ended up having to sprint straight from the finish line to the port-o-potties. He's sure that he'll do better this weekend at the OC Champs now that he's feeling better.

Weekly Sports Report

No Cross Country for Chris this week. The first official XC meet of the season is this Thursday at Aliso Niguel High School!

The Gauchos lost one and tied one game this week! You'd think that they'd feel good about a tie, but the team that they tied had to forfit their last two games because of injuries. So, in the standings the Gauchos are tied point-wise with a team who forfitted twice... and because Cheryl's team has more goals scored against it (as a result of having played two more games than Irvine Valley), that puts the poor Saddleback Gauchos in last place.

Check this out!!! http://www.coastsoccer.com:443/2009/SG10ZS.htm The Saddleback Quakes are in 1st place! Two more wins this weekend for the Quakes!

As a result of their win last Friday against Chicago Fire and Chivas defeating DC United, Galaxy has locked up a spot in the MLS playoffs. The last time they made the playoffs was three years ago. Unfortunately, we will be watching the playoffs on TV... Our season tickets don't cover playoff games...

Friday-5

Happy Friday! YAHOO!!! I'm in the mood for a great weekend! No plans other than the normal soccer stuff. We are in home improvement mode! We spent most of last weekend cleaning up Chris's room. We rearranged the furniture and cleaned out all the "kid stuff." {sniff} My little guy is getting so BIG!

Our other project this week is that we are finally having the house PAINTED! Here is the before photo.
And here is the after... we went from one shade of gray to three colors: white, sandstone, and baked potato. I like it. A couple ladies on the street emailed me while I was at work to tell me how the painting was progressing. They like it too!

Here's Kayle... you can see how she was helping the painters. She's still wearing her streak of sandstone. LOL!


Twenty six miles across the sea...
Santa Catalina is a-waiting for me...

We are going to do it! The Catalina Island Buffalo Run! I put our reservations in this week. Chris is running the half-marathon, and Cheryl and I are running the 5K.
Why do they call it the Buffalo Run? Because there are bison on Catalina. In 1924, 14 buffalo were turned loose on Catalina island for use in filming the motion picture, "The Vanishing American." The herd is still there. I've seen them in person when we sailed to Two Harbors (years ago). The bison came right into town!

That's it for this week... I hope you all have a great weekend!

Weekly Sports Report

I know... I'm bad... The sports report is really late this week. Chris's team ran at the Dana Hills Invitational last weekend. The Varsity boys+2 were gone at the Stanford Invitational. That left Chris and Ricky competing for the top Junior spot. They both started in front, side by side. It was a race to the finish! Chris finishing only one second ahead of Ricky. Chris was the #1 Capo Junior runner, finishing in 17:54 (one second over his PR).

Cheryl's college team chalked up two more losses last week. Those poor Gauchos... Cheryl said that they play well, but they don't have a striker with a drive for the goal.

The Quakes are having a GREAT season... two more wins last weekend! They are in second place in the league. The first place team has played one more game than they have. They are looking good for moving up to Silver next year! Congrats to the Quakes and Coach Cheryl!

Happy Card Making Day!

I was just browsing my friend Beth's blog and was reminded that earlier this month was World Card Making Day. Better late than never... here's my card!

The roller skating dog is from Maui Cow. The rest of the stamps are from my currently FAVORITE stamp company, PTI!

Weekly Sports Report

It's a sports report with NO PHOTOS! I was at work while Cheryl played her two college games this week. The first game was against 1st place Santiago Canyon... Saddleback lost 0-5. The second game was against 2nd place Cerritos... Saddleback lost 0-3. Not off to a great start. There were lots of injuries this week, two concussions, sprained wrist, torn MCL, pulled hamstring, strained hipflexor, hurt backs/knees/ankles; and it's only one week into the season! Thank goodness Cheryl is still healthy, but the hard teams are over and done with. Hopefully, they will have a better week next week.


Chris had another cross country meet this weekend, but he didn't race. He was messing around with his friends and didn't get from the field to the coach's classroom in a reasonable amount of time. Around 1/4 of the boys team didn't get to run at this meet.

The Quakes had another great game this weekend. They played the Blues' team and WON! There are two Blues teams in their bracket, and the team they beat isn't the "good" team. But, still, GREAT JOB QUAKES and COACH CHERYL!

Galaxy WON! YAHOO! Poor Chris... he didn't get to go to the Galaxy game because he had a meet, and he couldn't race at the meet because he got in trouble. He was still expected to go to the meet and cheer the team on. So, Papa came with us to watch Galaxy defeat Toronto. Galaxy remains in second place in MLS West.

I MADE IT!

I'm in Woodsfield, Ohio! It has taken me 21 months to run from Mission Viejo to Woodsfield... 2028.5 miles!

Here is a satellite view of the little town of Woodsfield. My best friend whom I never met, Mary, lives here. HI MARY!!!

My next stop in my around the world tour is going to be an even smaller town, Potters Hill, North Carolina. This is where Jim's brother and his family live. The town spans one crossroad on the highway. If you blink as you are going by, you could miss it, LOL!

Hi Don and Carol! I'm on my way!

Happy National Run at Work Day - Friday 5

Today I'm going to share my celebration of National Run at Work Day. So, what did I do? I ran at work! Here are some photos of my lunch time run. I'm so fortunate to have a nice offroad trail behind my building... plus locker rooms with showers!

I start by running behind the building and down the stairs to the park.

There is another flight of stairs at the far end of the park that goes under the street.

From there I hook up with the trail to Whiting Ranch. It's a pretty off-road trail.

Here is the killer hill that I have to run up on my way back... FULL SUN, LONG, STEEP... KILLER!

Unfortunately, it has to end back at work.

That was my National Run at Work Day. Thanks for coming with me!

Weekly Sports Report

Hey, look at the ticker!!! Mary, I'll be there in time for dinner on Tuesday, hehehe!

Cheryl's college team won 1-0 in their first season game. This week they are playing their rival, Santiago. Santiago came in first place last season; Saddleback came in 6th. It's going to be a tough game... Oh, the player bios are up on the Saddleback site. Checkout Cheryl, HERE.

Saturday was a busy sports day. Chris did okay at his first meet of the cross country season. Capistrano Valley has the #1 Junior team in Orange County. Five of the Junior runners at his school are fast enough to run Varisity. He came in 8th with a decent time (it was around 18.50), but he was bummed at his posting. He went running with me on Sunday because he wants to impove... his goal is to be 6th (that will make him the top junior runner behind the varsity).

The Quakes played at UCI in their first season game and won 10-0!!! Cheryl said the little girls played GREAT! She was so proud of them!

Saturday night was Galaxy against (last place) Dallas. If Galaxy won that game they would be in first place in the league! They lost 6-3! Galaxy played terrible! Cheryl said that it's been a long time since she's seen 19 goals in a single day, LOL!