We are a Bi-family

Bi-baseball teams fans, that is. Both of us spent the majority of our lives living in the burbs of St. Louis and one of the last things we did before we moved was to attend a Cards game with another couple. Now, we live in the Tampa area and, of course, also root for the Rays. This is going to be fun!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

An Amazing blog and Etsy shop DAY ONE

I have a site meter and check it every few days to see where the people live who come to visit both of my blogs. This morning, on my altered blog, was a referral from a simply lovely blog. The woman is talented and generous as you will find out when you visit her new blog, Shabby Jen. And even better, she has an incredible Estsy shop so be sure to check it out too, Thats So Shabby.

I'm going to try to feature another creative blog at least once a week here. This blog, while it has less followers than the my altered art blog, get more daily hits and I want to really publicize the creative women out there with whom I've been inspired by and whose blogs are so enchanting.

The boys got their own pots and pans

We had the best time today with the twins. They LOVED their own pots and pans and lost interest in Papa's right off the bat. They stirred and mixed and even 'cooked' up some Cheerios and ate them off the spoon and spatula...lol







I can only imagine how much more fun it is going to be when little grand girl gets here! E says she will learn how to fish and the little boys will learn how to cook. And I think it will be far too much fun!

Hope your Tues was a good one!

Nana has been Christmas shopping

The little guys LOVE E's pots and pans and they drag them out of the cabinets and all around the kitchen. I told E that they will break the tiles but he thinks that is a good excuse to replace them...lol.

I came close to buying the Kids' Pottery Barn cook set last night when K and I went to the Baby Event and so glad I waited. The PB set was two pans (nice ones) and some utensils and a hot pad, maybe for $40.00. Now, nothing is too good for our boys but Nana has to draw the line somewhere.

Today, after discovering my good slim line camera was not working correctly, I headed to my favorite stores: Beall's Outlet, Big Lots and TJMaxx but my big finds all came from Big Lots.

And I found these darling pots and pans in fun retro colors for 4.00$ each and the utensils for the same price. They are about 1/3 the size of E's pots and pans and can actually be used for cooking although that is a bit of a ways off. E says he and the boys are making the holiday cookies together this year...I'll watch from a safe distance.





Other finds, 2 striped tees for our boys to keep at our house (2.50 each and they are Carters), 2 books for the little guys for Christmas (one is entitled "Papa does it this way" and is about fishing...how perfect..oh, and 2.00 each), darling bibs and wash cloths for new baby in lovely greens and PINKS and head band with OUTRAGEOUSLY LARGE flowers..another 2.50 each). Had far too much fun today...oh

and I got a cheapo Vivitar flip screen cam/video to get me through Disney for only 25.00 but E says he'll schlep the big cam for me anyway.

Look out Disney...here we come!

Friday's Cropping with the gals at Posh Scraps

I'd had two of these layouts partially done so finished those up and did a third. It was use up my stash night for me. I need to do this more often.






My Thirty One party went well and thanks to all of you who came and/or ordered too. E fixed some great dips and spreads and I ordered three items. My favorite is the big tote!

Kristen got an invite to Kids' Pottery Barn's Baby Event so off to Hyde Park (lovely area of Tampa...lots of bungalow Craftmen type homes along with huge mansions by the Bay. There are restaurants and bistros on lots of street corners and fun shopping). There had been a big storm go through the area earlier in the day and that must have discouraged a lot of the attendees because K and I were the only two at the event. Picked up lots of tips about how to photograph babies from one of the speakers and won a free yoga class.

Getting my Smash book ready today for our weekend at Disney and then will take it along for the trip.

Hoping your Monday is a good one. Off to load my art bins with more stash papers etc. for Thurs. cropping at Posh Scraps!

September weekends are booked solid and Oct is filling fast

I am off to crop at my favorite lss in the Tampa area tonight, Posh Scraps, with some of my favorite women. And tomorrow is the Thirty One bags and totes party with Beth Reed at my house. Next week is Tues., little guys here, Wed., little guys at their house, Thurs., cropping at Posh, and Friday? we leave for Orlando to meet up with the Millers, their daughter and her sweetie for a three day fun time.

Friday, we're planning on hitting the Magic Kingdom, Sat. is the Main Event: Epcot's Food and Wine Festival and Sunday, Animal Kingdom before E and I head back home. Our house sitter is booked and all that is left is to pack our bags!

We are staying at the Coronado Springs Resort at Disney. I've never stayed at this one before and E has not been to Disney since he was in college many many moons ago.


And that is just Sept.

In Oct, I am teaching my canvas 3d shadow box at Posh Scraps in the morning of Oct 8 and we have Dinner Club at our house that evening...OLE! E has decided on a cosmopolitan Spanish theme. Thinking longingly back to Barcelona!

Oct. 14th starts the online crop at A Cherry on Top and Krop for Kids, here in Tampa is down in St. Pete the 15th with Jacque, Di and Janet and a slew of other fine friends.

The following weekend, our poor house sitter is back as we head to the other side of the state for a visit to Kim and Mitch. Last discussion on where we are heading was either St. Augustine or the Bahamas.

And then we have those scary little boys trick or treating at Nana and Papa's for H'ween.

I truly do live in Paradise where dreams come true!

Cutie Colvin's Day on the Blog

The boys are different as night and day which only adds to the fun and mayhem they manage to produce daily. Colvin is the thinker. He often looks solemn and deep in thought but don't let that fool you. He has a wicked sense of humor and when he woke up yesterday from his nap, laughed himself silly waiting for us to 'rescue' him from the crib. He is a sweetie, as is his brother, and both are such wonderfully affectionate little guys. Colvin inhales his food and eats almost everything put in front of him. He loves for us to throw a pillow on the floor so he can throw himself on top of it. I've told him "Awwwwwwww so sweet" so often when he does this, that now he throws himself down, hugs the pillow and says, "Awwwwwwwwwwwww". lol

This blog post is for you sweet boy!

Landon discovers corn on the cob

With the rain on Sunday, we could not take the little boys swimming and they missed their afternoon nap so were a bit 'unsettled' by dinner time. We gave them each half an ear of corn on the cob just to keep them occupied so we could eat and LO! Landon fell in love, Colvin to a slightly lesser degree. Tomorrow is Colvin day on my blog. As a Nana of twins, I try to give equal opportunity! lol






Hope you have a great day!

Sunday in Paradise

What a wonderful weekend this is turning out to be. I had to miss a crop I had wanted to attend but life is a trade off and things happen for the right reasons. After ten years of wishing each other good morning on assorted scrapbooking message boards, Kellee and I finally got to meet in real life. Having message board friends is kind of like back in the days of having pen pals and, if the opportunity arose to meet them, there was always a bit of uncertainty. Will she be as warm and kind? Will she be as funny and light hearted, will she be the friend you've come to know and love...and the answer is YES! Kellee and I had so much to talk about and laugh over and, of course, we just had to hit Posh Scraps, in Palm Harbor for a bit of retail therapy. I miss you already Kellee...next time stay longer please!




After Kellee, had to leave for the airport, I headed over to Kristen's for a day of shopping with the little guys. She had mega coupons for her hair products that were on sale to start with at JCPenny's. Of course, we had to look in the kids' clothes sections and got the boys a couple of things (swim suits for Nana's house)and just one or two little pink things for you know who! The boys were so good!




Blogger has been shuffling up my photos so I am hoping that the two above are of Landon and his new spiffy haircut. His hair was hanging way over his ears and often in his eyes and Nana bugged everyone until the kids took him in for his first big boy hair cut. Colvin, as you can tell from the two shots of him that follow (and doesn't he look cute in his Tommie coveralls that I found last summer for the boys?), he is not quite ready for a trim yet. He is cutting an upper incisor and drooling constantly. Is he too old for a bib? It doesn't seem to bother him.



I took another two hour Nana nap on the couch, had dinner and was sound asleep by 9 last night. I woke up feeling like only a slightly used person...rather than one who had been steamrolled by this cold. Hoping this is the beginning of the end.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. The family is coming over to celebrate E's b'day so I see swimming and lots of fun with good food in my future!
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Snippets from my life

1. Tired of coughing
2. Getting some projects done WAY ahead of time
3. Seeing an old pal from the long gone Creating Keepsakes' Message board's Early Birds tomorrow.
4. Love Helmar and some new stuff of theirs I've been trying.
5. Need to schedule a class at Posh for Oct.
6. Only a bit over a week til my Thirty One bag party with Beth Reed, one of the regional directors and a fun gal.
7. Bought our tickets for Disney and looking forward to spending time with Janet and Bob Miller, Becca Who and her boyfriend, Who Who (not his real name, obviously)!
8. Tired of coughing (did I mention that)
9. My sister is done with her radiation and now gets a short break before she starts back in on chemo
10. Pete, my friend, Jacque's husband is doing well after his heart surgery
11. Landon got his first haircut last night and Little Mama said he sat nice a still for the stylist (his is much longer than Colvin's).
12. Gingersnaps did a little 'goodbye' slide show for me. Sweet and amazingly talented women...will miss you all muchly.

Justin's belated birthday celebration

Last night we all met at Grill 54 to celebrate one of our good friend's birthdays belatedly. Happy B'day Justin and many thanks to Bob for transporting E and I to the festivities...we do NOT drive well after dark. Enough said on that subject.






We had the little guys today and poor little Landon...his appetite said yes and his tummy said no no no. He loves watermelon and even that was not settling well. I had forgotten what an experience a poor upset little tummy can have. Let's just say both Nana and Landon got a very intensive cleaning up.

I have been really tired lately and we did not even stay out that late last night. Thinking maybe I need to step up my vitamins. My old yoga studio is running a special and I'm going back to practices. I had more energy then. I've just felt kind of blah and not my usual self and no reason that I can find. It is almost time for my well woman check up so I am going to mention this to my dr. She is wonderful.

That being said, tomorrow is my honeys 66th. birthday and the kids and I chipped in and hired the nanny back for the day. As much as E adores those little boys, he should have the freedom on his b'day not to be responsible, not to be anything but what he wants his day to be. And, because the man is infuriatingly and increasingly hard to buy for, we thought this to be the perfect gift. We'll be celebrating his b'day and how much we love him on Sunday as a family...but tomorrow...well, it is his day!

Full Tilt Sataurday

Kim and Mitch arrived Friday night around ten and we chatted for a bit before heading to bed. Early the next morning, we hit the road running. E had fixed his breakfast casserole with sausage, cheese, hash brown potatoes all baked in a dish and served with a side of salsa.

Our first stop was Kristen's to see the little boys. They have yet another cold and were not real happy campers. I think, because they stayed home for their first year with limited contact with other children, they are going to have to build up some resistance to colds etc. now that they are at day care school two days a week.

We headed to Dunedin and shopped and shopped and shopped. E had stayed at home to work on our evening meal (Spanish chicken with chorizo and potatoes and the 1905 ensalada from the Columbia restaurant cook book)but met us for lunch at Bon Appetite on the Gulf at the end of Main St. It rained most of the morning but cleared so we had a wonderful view of dolphins and sail boats.

Kim and I tried on some enchanting H'ween accessories including the spider ring. What fun. After lunch, we headed out to Miss Vickie's on the Anclote River and were joined by our friend, Bob. There was a wonderful breeze, plenty of sunshine and a great bluezy musician to wile away the afternoon. Then it was home for a swim and dinner.








More pictures to follow tomorrow!

Taking a moment to reflect on today: It hardly seems ten years have passed since that horrible day in American history and the attacks. Hoping we all take a few moments and reflect on how life changed for all of us that day but particularly keeping the families in mind of those who lost their lives.

My Sept Reveal at A Cherry on Top

For my reveal this month, I worked with Bo Bunny's Et Cetera papers and embellishments. Love the line. To read my complete reveal, click here.







As always, thanks for looking and hope your Thursday is a great one!

Labor Day Weekend

We spent most of Sat., cleaning up the lanai and the front porch area and we're very happy with how the house is looking. I worked on the sliders and the lanai furniture and wiped down the new fence, did laundry, finished a layout, ran errands. And on Sunday, we worked a bit more finally quitting around noon. We headed down to the Sponge Docks for an art and craft fair and came home with...lunch! The jerk chicken smelled so good and the free taste we were given was very authentic! We had stopped earlier at one of our favorite Greek markets in town, Katina's Mini Market for a bottle or two of our favorite Greek wine, Kouros Nemia. We took them all home and had an international lunch of sorts!






Monday morning I finished up another of the challenges from A Cherry on Top. This is Sunday Challenge #4 : Use three colors on a layout and pick up the minor color as your title!


Kristen, Chris and the boys came over after the boys' nap and we went swimming. It is so good to see them feeling better! One photo is of Colvin playing with the Bob the Builder Mega blocks here and the other is another of Landon, relaxing at home in their lounge chair! Landon was so busy busy busy at our house helping Papa in the kitchen I did not get a photo of him!




We are to expect rain all week thanks to tropical storm Lee but the temps are dropping some which is always good news. Hope your Tues is a good one!

TaDa! Our new and improved painted lady...the house

There is about a day's worth of painting left but the front and lanai are done. I am loving the tropical look. It is so much better than that faded blue.

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Some of us at A Cherry on Top issued some challenges yesterday. Mine was a count down challenge:

5 buttons
4 patterned papers (or 3 patterned/1 card stock)
3 flower or other embellishment of the same kind
2 word title
1 ribbon






Several other gals posted challenges as well so head on over and check them out. We're giving everyone a week to complete as many as they can. Happy Scrapping!

Super Sat.

Nana and Papa have been Christmas shopping and could not resist these for our baby granddaughter. We've been buying things in various sizes so as she grows, she'll still be Best Dressed! lol



The lanai is finished! The trim and the base colors were reversed per our friend, Bridgett's suggestion and it turned out great. Tomorrow we'll clean out there and put things back where they belong. E did this already in the front with the dragon flies on the front side of the garage and the door is painted one shade darker than the trim. I am one happy camper. The rest of the house should be done next week.

The little guys are feeling so much better. The meds ar kicking in finally. Dropped the Beall's ten bucks off coupon off for the kids and used mine on a pair of dress black capris. Original price 40.00, minus 1/2 off, minus an additional 30% off that and with my ten dollar coupon....4.28. Love a bargain!

Stopped by Posh Scraps and got to chat with a bunch of gals. Katherine and Diane from St. Pete are such neat ladies as are all the women I've met through the store. Katherine, hope to see you next Thurs and Diane, thanks for the lovely chat! Great minds do think alike, I am convinced.

Picked up some of the new G45 ABC Primer line to do some layouts for the owner and some other assorted papers for myself, of course. Thinking I'll do some scrapping today but first

POOL TIME

Hope you are having a great weekend.