Unity Blog Hop

Welcome Unity Blog Hoppers!

View the Inspirational Blog Hop by starting HERE!

Here's my project using Unity Gratitude = Joy kit. The card is kind of plain, but I wanted to show off the embossed transparency (I ran it through my Big Shot and sanded).

My Favorite Quote: It's not about talent, it's about ...

Your next stop on the blog hop trail is Carla in Canada:
http://scrappypug.blogspot.com/

THANKS FOR VISITING!!!
Joni (kix)

Scrapping the Music - White Horse

I finished a layout for the Scrapping the Music challenge this week. This photo of my kids was just screaming out to be scrapped! I used the lyrics for the song as inspiration.

This layout uses Scenic Route paper and a big FRIENDS bling.

Journaling reads:

Cheryl and Chris have been best friends from day one! They LOVE doing things together and have never fought. I trust you two to be the best two people you can be. I LOVE you two…Take care of each other!

Weekly Sports Report

Chris didn't have any sports this week. Cheryl on the other hand had three games scheduled. Her first game was Tuesday night. Team Bob won 3-0. The other team was very good and was giving Team Bob a hard game even though they only fielded 9 players (that's the perils of scheduling a game on St. Patrick's Day). One of the goals scored was off of Cheryl's corner kick.

Saturday's game didn't go so well. Cheryl made herself hoarse playing with her AYSO team. She said that everyone probably thinks she's a bitch because she yells at them so much. She was very frustrated on Saturday. The team lost 0-3.

Sunday's game was canceled because of rain. But we did see Galaxy play on Sunday. Galaxy scored 2 goals in the last 15 minutes of the game to tie DC United 2-2! At least the season didn't start off with a loss. Next home game is April 4th against Colorado.

Next week's sports schedule:

Chris:
THURS - track meet at Capo
SAT - soccer at 2:55PM (World Cup)
SUN - soccer at 5:00PM (El Morro)

Cheryl:
WED - soccer at 8:30PM (Arroyo Park)
SAT - soccer at 8:10AM (Crown Valley Lower)
SUN - soccer at 12:00PM (Wagon Wheel)

Issho Ni

Issho Ni was the theme for the dinner/hula fundraiser we went to last weekend. I thought it would make a nice title for a layout. It means "together." Here's my layout. It won "Layout of the Week" this week at Scrapbook Deals 4U! The paper I used is from two different Basic Grey collections. I love how it all looks together.

On another topic... at the dinner/hula fundraiser I saw a guy that I used to work with. He was manning the parking lot. What a coincidence! I was going to start job hunting this week (my contract at Rockwell-Collins expired on Monday). I mentioned to him that I was looking for a new job, and he said he would try to find me something at his company, Panasonic. He was good to his word! I had a telephone interview last Friday. If they are interested, they'll bring me in for an interview next week... keeping my fingers crossed!

Scrapping the Music - We will Rock You

I finished a layout for the Scrapping the Music challenge this week. I had the perfect photo! I used a distress frame on both photos to give it an Urban feel. The large photo is printed on the white textured background cardstock to enhance the grunge look.

I got the PP from Michael's just for this challenge (American Crafts).
The urban butterfly is from The Angel Company.



Journaling reads:
We are the Highlighters, the mighty, mighty Highlighers. Here's Cheryl and her friends, Maiah, Sarah, and Sammy, playing in the charity soccer tennis tournament.

Chris's Birthday weekend

Dad, Tell mom we can't make it for lunch Sunday.

NOTE about sports this coming week:
Chris is sports-less this week... no soccer games and no track meet.
Cheryl has:
Team Bob game on Tuesday night.
AYSO game on Saturday, at 12pm at RSM Intermediate - Track
AYSO game on Sunday, at 2:30pm at Melinda Park

Galaxy kick-off at 12pm SUNDAY!!!

Happy Birthday, Big Guy! It's a BIG family weekend. We started out with a fun dinner show at the Norwalk South East Japanese Community Center, and ended Sunday with a birthday party for Chris.

Look at all that GREAT food!

After that my mom's hula group did several dances, the ukelele band performed, and the taiko group.

We even won a raffle prize!

Weekly Sports Report

Starting with Chris... He had two games this weekend. Saturday's game they won 4-2, Sunday's game they won 1-0. I only saw the Saturday game. It was exciting! Chris started again, and he played hard!

Cheryl played two half games this week. Tuesday, she went to play with Team Bob after her biology class. She got there in time to play the second half. The game ended in a 0-0 tie. On Saturday, she played the first half of her game, so we could get to the hula show on time. The team ended up winning 2-0!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Yesterday was Chris's 16th birthday. It was busy day for us. There wasn't a single moment of the day where all four of us were home and awake at the same time, but we still tried to make it a special day for Chris.

Chris and I were the only ones awake and home when he left for school. Cheryl and I had dentist appointments in the morning, then after that we made a sign, picked up balloons and a pizza and took them down to the High School. Cheryl snuck into the school during lunch, put the sign up by his locker and presented Chris with the balloons and pizza in front of his friends. I had to wait in the car because I couldn't get in, and frankly I was a little worried about Cheryl being able to get out. But there was no problems, and Chris was very surprised... and yes, he did share the pizza with his friends.

Chris had his first track meet after school. He tied his PR in the mile (5:18), and had a great run in the 800m (2:23). In the photo you can see Jim and Cheryl sitting in the stands just above Chris's head. I wore Cheryl's old track sweatshirt and I snuck on to the field to take some photos.

Cheryl had to leave for school before Chris got home from the meet. Chris opened presents from me and Jim, and opened the present from Cheryl after Jim went to bed. We had store bought cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to him twice.

Happy Birthday BIG Guy!
.

Weekly Sports Report

We had a good soccer week!

Team Bob won this week! Cheryl assisted the first goal, giving a nice through ball to Jaime (the forward). Then she scored the next goal... she was called offsides, but if she was offsides, it was very close. By half time, the score was tied 2-2. Team Bob has 8 subs, and it helped in the second half as the other team got more and more tired. Team Bob WON 6-2! There are no photos of Team Bob. Cheryl said that I'm not allowed to bring my camera to the adult league games (it's too embarrassing), lol!

Chris's team tied 2-2 against Laguna Niguel. Laguna Niguel has an advantage over other cities in that they have an artificial field. That means that they have been practicing for three weeks, while the other teams have been rained out for the first two weeks of the season. Chris started today in mid-field! His first start in years! He took three shots on goal (two on frame) but none went in.

Next week:
Chris has a track meet on THURS (his birthday). He's slated to run the 800m and one mile.
Chris has a soccer game on SAT, noon at Melinda Park.
Chris has a soccer game on SUN, 11:45 at World Cup.
Cheryl has a Bob game on TUES night. She may not be if her class gets out late.

Scrappy Birthday!

Scrapbook Deals 4U is celebrating their one year anniversary this month... and to celebrate they are hosting a month long crop with great prizes!
Come and party with us!

The Season Begins...

This week is the first week of Spring soccer.
Cheryl plays on two teams: an adult co-ed team (BOB) and an AYSO team. Her adult team has to have at least 4 women on the field. Unfortunately, only two women were there at the start of the game, so the team had to play two players down. By the time the other two women showed up, the team was down 0-2. Cheryl played the whole game and she played hard... she ended up taking the skin off the back of both of her heels.

Cheryl's AYSO game didn't go any better. Cheryl can hardly run with her ruined heels. This team also ended up losing 0-2.

Chris was amazing today! He played defender and stuck with his mark like glue... and he never got tired. His team ended up WINNING 3-2. The two goals scored by the other team were when Chris was out.

Cheryl's next BOB game is Wednesday night. Her AYSO team has a buy next weekend. Chris's next game is Sunday, 1:30 at World Cup.

Truth or Dare!

Here is my layout for the newest challenge over at SD4U. Everyone had to pick two numbers correspond to two lists. The first was a list of techniques, and I got paper piecing (perfect for me!). The second was a topic. My topic is "My Worse Habit."

I asked my family what my worse habit is, and they said it was my obsession with the Internet... so, here it is, a paper pieced layout about the Internet :o)

Journaling reads:
The Internet was introduced in 1990, I started using it at work in 1996 and at home (via modem) around a year later. From then it has grown from a curiosity, to a valuable tool, to a necessity, and now it's become as obsession. I have to check email, update facebook, interact with message boards, and hop my favorite blogs DAILY... multiple-times a day. It's become my diversion while Jim is watching TV or playing video games. Now I'm hooked... I'm addicted to the Internet!

Scrap-lings

I learned about Scrap-lings from my friend Mara's blog.

See the Hero Arts blog for a full explaination about Scrap-lings.

Typically they are only 1.25" wide. I made mine wider 2-7/8" x 5-1/2" (that's a sheet of 8.5x11" cut in 3 strips). I don't know if it was the tall skinny size or my new toys, but these were so much FUN to make!

I used my new cupcake stamp set and my new border punch:





Then I made some matching envelopes... large enough to mail (3.5"x5.75")



And packaged them up in a pretty box for a nice gift:

Who's that baby?... answer...

It's Jacob!

Starbucks Chocolate

My favorite relaxation is a cup of coffee with: a chocolate brownie, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate chip granola bar, or fudge. YUM! Coffee and Chocolate... could it get any better?

YEP! Chocolate from Starbucks!!! The Mocha Dark Chocolate is soooo gooood... Dark chocolate with bits of coffee beans... just heaven!

I WON!!!

I was one of the winners for the Biggest Scrap Loser! It was a 5 week long contest. We were given a list elements to use on a layout every week and then everyone voted on their favorite layouts. The people with the most points after the 5 weeks are the winners.

I am going to be a Guest Design Team member for April! SD4U has the best kits! I'm excited to see the beautiful paper and fun new stuff that I'll be showcasing!

Floppy Treasure!

I was sitting at the computer yesterday, looking at our mess... then I noticed all the floppies... floppies that have been sitting by the computer forever! Our family desktop and laptop don't even have floppy drives. So I fired up the old computer today and read in all the floppies and burned everything to CD... one CD! LOL!

Anyway, I found a treasure trove of old photos. Here are a few of my favorites:

Randy

and

Cat...

Do you

know

which

of your

kids

this is?

What is a lichen?

This question was put out to Cheryl's college biology class. Cheryl's thought was, "It's a werewolf!" Uh Huh, LOL!... what's even funnier is that one of the kids answered, "It's a WEREWOLF!" Hahaha! Actually, a werewolf is called a "lycanthrope." But, you can tell which kids are the ones that read Twilight and Harry Potter!

Happy Valentine's Day

Here is what I woke up to this morning:

... and a card made by my kids, along with a Starbucks card! My daughter always says that the best gifts are the ones that she gets something out of too... I guess I'll be taking the kids to Starbucks this week, LOL!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Biggest Scrap Loser Week #5

I have exciting news! The orange layout that I did last week of Cheryl tied for first place! The competition is so tough! I never expected to win!

It's week #5, the last week of the Biggest Scrap Loser Challenge over at Scrapbook Deals 4U! This week we had to use all of the following items on a layout:

1. rub-ons
2. 2 different fonts for the title
3. 3 patterned papers (from 3 different mfrs)
4. bling
5. number stickers
6. chipboard
7. 3 ribbons
8. brads
9. distressing

I've been doing layouts of Cheryl... they have the best chance of winning since she's so pretty, IMHO {grin}... But, this week I did a layout of Chris!
The words on the journal spot came from the family. Cheryl and I each picked a word to describe Chris, and then I had Chris pick a word to describe himself.

More from Surf City...

Here are a couple of the professional photos from Surf City. Here's Chris... does he look like he just finished running 13.1 miles? He got in so early that there was only a short line for the photo booth. He went all over getting his photo taken. By the time I got in, I couldn't even see the photo booth! LOL!

I'm still pleased with my finishing time. I was writing it down in my running journal today, along with the other stats. I noticed that I came in 1627 in overall women at Surf City. Can you guess what place
I came in at the Disneyland Half-Marathon? That's right! 1627 overall women!!!! HAHAHAHA! It must be my lucky number!

Here's another photo of Chris that I wanted to post for my friend Mary. I know she'll get a kick out of the palm trees and green grass.

Chris runs in a regular cotten T-shirt. He doesn't go in for the high-tech running shirts. They just aren't cool...

This is a photo that my mom took at mile 5... LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE! That's all. I promise no more Surf City photos...

Medieval Times

Come all ye princes and princesses to Medieval Times, celebrating Randy and Cat's birthdays in royal fashion...

That was fun! The last time we were at Medieval Times was 9 years ago in Las Vegas. This time we were in the Blue Knight cheering section.

The Blue Knight (in the lower left of the photo) lost his competition to the Red Knight. Cheryl wanted the Yellow Knight to win (upper left) because according to Cheryl, he was the cutest... but he was a whimp... he was the first knight defeated, LOL!

Happy Birthday, Randy and Cat!

OC Half-Marathon

Yeah, I said Surf City was going to be my last half-marathon. But, Chris is so into it! He really really wants to run another one, and if he's going to run it, I might as well too.

I almost signed us up for the Avenue of the Giants Half-Marathon (in Northern California), Jim said it was okay and that we'd make it a mini-vacation. But with all the kids sports, it's not a good time to take a mini-vacation.

I'm actually looking forward to the OC Half-Marathon. It starts in Fashion Island and ends at the Orange County Fair Grounds. The route goes through Corona Del Mar and Newport Back Bay. It should be a very pretty run, and our first one way race (a welcome relief after the monotony of Surf City, LOL!).

The race is on May 3, so plenty of time to train for this one... maybe I can break 2 hours! Hahaha... wishful thinking...

Biggest Loser Week #4

It's week #4 of the Biggest Scrap Loser Challenge over at Scrapbook Deals 4U! This week we had to use This week, use 7 of the following 8 items on a layout:

1. rub-ons
2. flowers
3. 3 patterned papers
4. bling
5. thicker letters
6. brown ink
7. stardust pen
8. buttons
BONUS FEATURE: 5x7 photo with hand journaling

I used everything!

I noticed that a lot of us used photos of little girls this week (must be because of the flowers, hehehe!)... Here's my little girl!
The words on the journal spot came from the family. My son and I each picked a word to describe my daughter, and then I had my daughter pick a word to describe herself. I have three words for my son too... that will be for a layout to come.

Candy Holders

Here are some fun candy holders that I've been working on for Valentine's day.

This one holds 4 peppermint patties. Directions found here.

This one is my favorite! It holds 6 peppermint patties. Direction found here.