Almost February

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Is anyone else as shocked as I am that January is already coming to an end? This month flew by so quickly.

We had such beautiful days this week but now that the weekend is here it's getting cold and yucky again. That just isn't fair! Why can't we have the pretty days when we aren't stuck at work so that we can enjoy them more?

Today we received beautiful postcards from the Poconos, Utah and the Grand Canyon. The kids have all agreed that they would love to see real mountains someday.

It's been a really long day so I'm going to bed now. Enjoy your day!

Fast post

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I am really sleepy tonight so I'm just making a fast post to give you today's wordart. I know it's kind of mean, but that's the mood I'm in tonight. It's also kind of funny and I'm sort of in that kind of mood too. LOL!

Time for bed. Enjoy your day!

Everyone's fighting!

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My friend got a phone call from her daughter today saying that her high school was on lockdown, but other than the rumors that were flying around she didn't know what was going on. During lunch, we turned on the 12 o'clock news to see if they would report anything. Sure enough, the opening story was about the fight that started in their cafeteria between two students and grew in number and size. By the time it was all over, the fight had spilled out of the building and 18 students were arrested. Luckily, Chrissy wasn't anywhere near the cafeteria when the fight started. She was locked safely away in the auditorium where she was playing Peter Pan in the school play.

I got home from work today and went to visit with my neighbors only to learn that they were fighting. Want to know what they're fighting about? Too bad, I'm going to tell you anyway---they are actually fighting about---Hershey Kisses! Apparently, she bought a bag with almonds and he only likes the regular kisses. She jokingly told him that she bought it on purpose so that she could have them all to herself and it went downhill from there. Apparently, he was having a really bad day! I told them that they had to stop the madness because I couldn't stand it when mommy and daddy fight. LOL! Luckily, the Hershey Kisses were on sell - buy one, get one - and she was able to calm him down when he saw that he had his very own bag of plain Hershey Kisses.

We hooked up with some of our other friends and the talk turned to Sunday's Superbowl. I'm not a fan of either team in the Superbowl so I'm more interested in the party we'll be having then the game. LOL! The guys disagreed on the best way to grill ribs. Man, do these guys take their rib grilling seriously! The discussion got so loud that we had people who were sitting near us giving us their grilling tips. Luckily, one of those people sitting near us sent over shots for the guys and that made them forget about the grilling.

I would like to think that I can get through tomorrow without anyone fighting, but that probably won't happen. You see, I took a certain someone's shoes and left a ransom note in their place. If he ever wants to see those orange crocs again, he'll pay up! LOL!

Time for me to get some sleep, Enjoy your day!

Driving, mail & email

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Well, I was very proud of myself this morning. I remembered to go south to go north. Of course, that was after I couldn't remember where I parked the car. LOL! They're working on opening up express lanes on the south end of the interstate now. When that opens up I'll have to decide if I want to pay to come back home after work. The northbound lanes have spoiled me so I'll probably pay. LOL! Sadly, because of the higher traffic in the afternoons it will probably cost more than a quarter.

The Marks family sent us some more great postcards from England and
Alexandra sent a card with beautiful pictures of the Sussex area of England. Oh goodness, you guys in the UK are taking such good care of us! You're spoiling us rotten and we love it! Please, let us know if we can ever return the favor and send things from Miami.

Are you ready to work on Valentine things yet? April the Scrapaholic had got a beautiful set called Sweet Valentine at Scrap it Sassy. It's such a cool set. Here's a preview for you to see...



You can buy the whole kit or just the parts you think you'll use the most.

I have really got to start checking my junk mail folder more often. I've had some really cool emails land there instead of the main inbox. One of them contained this super cool tag that Dianna made for me. I just love it! She makes the best tags!



It's past my bedtime, so I must get some sleep. Enjoy your day!

Monday morning traffic

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They've made more changes on the interstate. Now, I can't get into the express lanes from my usual path to work. If I take the Macarthur Causeway to the interstate I can get into the express lanes. This is the road they always show in the movies and TV shows when they're having car chases. LOL! I actually live closer to this causeway than the one I usually take, but it's just always felt strange to go south so that I can go north.

This morning, I wasn't thinking and took my usual route to work. You know, the one where I go north. LOL! I was stuck in lanes with slow moving cars and people hitting their brakes for no reason. I looked over and saw the almost empty express lanes and wanted to cry. It is so worth paying the 25 cents to ride in those lanes! From now on, if I can remember, I will be doing a Christopher Columbus imitation and heading south to go north! LOL!

Today, we got a fantastic little package from Christine in England. She sent us some beautiful postcards and brochures. The funny part was that my friends and I were having so much fun looking at the brochures and planning to visit as many of the places during our trip to London as we can that we didn't hear the morning bell ring. Someone had to come into the office and ask if we were going to teach today. LOL! The kids were just as excited when they saw everything. They are loving the pictures of the English cottages!

Have you gone to Shel Belle Scraps to pick up today's portion of For the Boys? You'll get the second part of the elements today. I made another layout using the kit. Here's what it looks like...



I just love this kit and I'm having fun catching up on all of my school layouts.

Next week Shel is releasing a kit called 100 Days of School. I've been lucky enough to see it and have already started playing with it. Not only am I doing layouts, but I'm using the kit to make candy bar wrappers and water bottle labels for our celebration next week.

I need to get some sleep. Enjoy your day!

Such a fun day!

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I've been going through something very unpleasant but it's made me appreciate everyone in my life more. Life is just too short to spend it with people that want nothing but drama!

Tonight my friends and I went out to a local bar that was having a spelling bee. If you spelled your word wrong, you have to do a Jager shot. It was so funny to watch! I'm a horrible speller, so I knew better than to even think about participating. Besides, I have to work in the morning. LOL! Too bad my buddy, Orange Croc Guy didn't sit it out!

April the Scrapaholic has released a new Valentine Wedding Kit. It's an add on to her Seashore Wedding Kit and the colors are great. I used it to make one layout so far, but I'm sure I'll be using it for lots more. Here's what I did this afternoon...



April is also giving away some cute Valentine wordart on her blog.

I also wanted to share another layout I make using the For the Boys Kit from Shel Belle Scraps.



I love this kit and I'm so glad that I'm catching up with my school layouts. Every year it seems like I spend the week before the end of school trying to get them all done. Trust me, that's not a lot of fun!

OK, it's late and I need to get some sleep. Enjoy your day!

No chocolate for me today

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Well, we didn't make it to the Chocolate Festival. Mostly because I was doing things around the house and just couldn't get myself motivated enough to go out. There's always next year. LOL!

We did head out to Lincoln Road to see a free comedy show. It was the last day of the South Beach Comedy Festival and it was a fun way to spend the evening. Of course, we went for margaritas after the show.

The first part of an adorable kit called For The Boys being releases today at Shel Belle Scraps. Here's a preview of the kit and the alpha...


Aren't the colors in the set great? It's perfect for any little boy or outdoor pictures you have. I've made a couple layouts using the set. Here's the first one I did...

This little guy gets so excited when his grandfather picks him up from school! My class faces the street so we can see the cars waiting for dismissal and the minute he spots his Pop-pop he starts pointing and waving. It's so cute to watch!

Friends & Fridays

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Today turned out to be a beautiful day! I am so glad it's warming up again. The highs should be in the 70's this weekend. My friend, Terry, has flown to Minnesota for a long weekend. I think she's crazy because it's not going to be warm there this weekend! LOL!

With all the cold weather we've had lately and the fact that almost everyone I know has been fighting off colds it's been hard to get together with my friends. Tonight we managed to get together for dinner and drinks. It was a wonderful night! I can't believe how much I miss our get togethers when life gets in the way of our fun.

This weekend is the International Chocolate Festival. I'm hoping we make it down Coral Gables tomorrow. Afterall, who wants to miss a chocolate festival? NOT ME!

It's warming up!

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I'm so glad it's warming up! Nobody moves to south Florida to be cold!

Are any of you natural blondes? I am and I heard some sad news this morning. On our local news they said that natural blondes were a dying breed and that in couple hundred years there wouldn't be any of us left. The "blonde thing" is a recessive gene and both parents must carry it in order to produce a blonde child.

I say forget the cheerleader ----Save the blonde, Save the world! LOL!

We received some beautiful postcards today. They came from London, Germany, Denver, Santa Monica and Amsterdam. Thank you so much to Mrs. Dixon and her class, Sandra, Yaffa, Sebastian & Dante. We are having so much fun waiting for the mail everyday. It really does feel like we're traveling around the world.

Deanna of Flower Scraps was kind enough to honor me with an award.

It's the first award I've received and I am doubly honored that it came from Deanna! Make sure you check out her wonderful blog! I get to pass the award on and here's who I decided to give it to:

1. April - I have grown so close to April since I joined her CT that I feel like I've known her for years. April sells her sets at Scrap It Sassy and she also gives away some wonderful things on her blog

2. Shel - Shel is another amazing designer and I am so lucky that I get to work with her kits as part of her CT. Shel gives away wonderful kits on her blog and she has some great kits coming out soon

3. Dianna - Dianna has got some awesome tags on her blog. She's also been a big help in getting postcards for my class.

4. Rose - I don't really know Rose, but I love reading her blog. After reading her posts, you'll feel like you know her too. Plus, she was the first person to follow my blog.

Cold, colder & coldest!

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It's cold. I'm tired. I'm going to bed. LOL!

Half way there!

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Tuesday was our 90th day of school and that means that there are only 90 more to go until summer vacation! I love my class, but man am I ever looking forward to vacation!

More postcards arrived! We received cards from Australia, San Diego, Boston, Daytona Beach, New York and Houston. Thank you all so much!

Heather, the kids were so impressed that you knew how to make a postcard! I think you're their new hero!

We're cold again. It was cold yesterday and it's cold now. Today's high might be 70and it is supposed to get into the 40's tonight. YUCK! I just don't know how you guys that live up north deal with it all winter long. It's making me crazy!

I pulled out April's Winter's First Snow Kit and played with it today. I made a quick layout and you're going to get it as a quickpage. There's room for your journaling. Here's what mine look like...

And, here's where you can download the quickpage.

I'm going to get some sleep now. Enjoy your day!

Man oh man!

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My email has been running over for several days now. There is a certain message board that I used to visit quite often. I would share things I made there. I stopped visiting the site last summer after some of the ladies there stopped playing nicely. Then last October I learned that one of them was sharing a template I made and taking credit for it. Well, apparently, another template that I made and shared there has been getting lots of attention lately. I haven't shared anything on that site for over six months, but people are emailing me and asking for the template.

I'm honored that I made something people like, but I don't share there anymore. To make it all even worse, some of them are getting angry when I tell them that I don't want to share my work. It's my work. Shouldn't I be allowed to give or not give it out at my discretion? Anyway, it all just reminds me of how happy I am that I no longer visit that board. There are much nicer places to visit online!

Speaking of nice places to visit, have you gone by Shel Belle Scraps today? You can pick up another part of the Hope kit. Here's one more layout I made using the kit...


I just love the elements in this kit! Shel is awesome!

I also forgot to let you know that Deanna released the second and last part of the Winter's Spell kit on her blog, Flower Scraps Sunday. If you haven't picked it up yet, make sure you go by and get it. Here's another layout I made using parts of the kit.

Presidential Candy Wrapper

I know that some of you had trouble with mediafire yesterday. I even had a hard time getting things uploaded to them. Hopefully, everything is worked out now, but just in case I'll give you the mediafire and the 4shared links for today's wordart.

Download from mediafire here

Download from 4shared here

Did you pick up the first part of Shel Belle's Hope Kit yesterday? You should be able to pick up the first part of the elements today. Here's another layout I made with the kit.



In honor of this weeks Presidential Inaguration I've used the Hope Kit to make you another candy wrapper. I didn't have a chance to put one together for you to see, but here's what the wrapper looks like...



I left the back blank so you can put your own info there. Download wrapper here

Enjoy your day!

Eye Candy

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So, Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day and I'm feeling a little better. We went over to Ocean Drive earlier and checked out Art Deco Weekend. Here's a picture of my favorite part of the parade...

LOL! These are some of the firemen that posed for the 2009 Firemen of South Florida calendar. How's that for eye candy?

If you visit Shel Belle Scraps today you'll be able to pick up the first part of her new kit called Hope. It's a beautiful kit. Here's a preview for you...


Isn't it awesome? I think it's the perfect release for this week. I made a few layouts using this kit and here's the first one...


Some of you are having trouble with mediafire today, so here's the 4shared link. Hope it works for you.

http://www.4shared.com/file/81318954/2fe3ea56/Game_1-18-09.html

It's Saturday

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Wow, It's Saturday already. I slept through most of Friday. I was just going to take a little nap but before I knew it more than three hours had gone by. The good news is that I'm feeling a little better. The bad news is that I'm wide awake now. LOL!

It's art deco weekend here on Miami Beach and there are lots of activities going on. Parades, street vendors, tours, street performances and of course lots of food. I may take a walk down to Ocean Blvd and check things out.

Are you staying warm?

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I know we're wimps here in Florida when it gets cold, but even I have to laugh at all the heavy winter coats that people have pulled out of their closets to wear these days. I guess we're going to be cold all weekend. Sounds like a good excuse to stay indoors, wear jammies all day and drink hot chocolate.

We received three postcards from Daytona Beach today. Those were a big hit. The other teachers are just as excited about our mail as the kids are. Eveyone gathers around my mailbox at lunchtime to see what has arrived. It's so cool!

Here's a cute story about one of my students for you. I have a little boy in my class this year that has downs syndrome. He is the sweetest and happiest kid you've ever met. Well, apparently, he has heard the term "You're giving me a headache" a few times. LOL! He's taking the term literally and today while he was in the art corner he kept drawing little scribbles on paper folding them up and bringing them to me. He told me to "open it" and when I did he announced that he had just given me a headache. LOL!

One time I tried telling him that I didn't want it cause I didn't like headaches, but he assured me that it said I was the prettiest. So, I unfolded the paper and he doubled over laughing because it was another headache. LOL!

He enjoyed telling the other teachers that today he gave me a "big headache". Now, if only all headaches could be that enjoyable.

There is a HUGE charity kit at Divine Digitals that Deanna took part in. The kit is only $5.00 and here's what it looks like...


I made a couple of layouts using only Deanna's portion of the kit. Here's the first one I did...



I just love the colors and all the glitter! Here's the second layout I did and you get this one as a quickpage today...



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Now, if you go visit Deanna at Flower Scraps she is giving away an adorable add on to this mega kit.

The cold medicine is kicking in so I've got to go to bed now. Enjoy your day!

Long Weekend

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I am so glad that this is a long weekend! I'm fighting a cold and I'm just not feeling too good. YUCK! So all, I have to do is make it through the day on Thursday and I'm home free till Tuesday. YIPEE!

So, I owe you an apology. I woke up this morning and found an email from Deanna saying that she has pushed back the release date of her Winter's Spell Kit by a couple of days. I'm sorry that I didn't check my email before making the post. It should be out soon and I promise to let you know when she has it posted.

I did make a note of the postcards that arrived this week. The mail was empty today but on Monday and Tuesday we got cards from Sydney, Australia, Cape Town, South Africa, Manchester, NH, Nova Scotia, Rome, Helsinki, Finland and Tucson, Arizona. I just can't believe how beautiful the postcards are! Thank you Momo, Shrek & Family, Lynne & Millie, Mindy, Moe & Bono, Yaffa, Sebastian & Dante, Miss Lori, and anyone else that I might have missed.

Our weather has taken a turn for the COLD! LOL! Tomorrow it might get up to 70 degrees. I've got the long sleeves out and ready to go. I need to get some sleep. Enjoy your day!

Sleepless in Miami Beach

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Have you ever been so tired that you couldn't sleep? That's how I felt Monday night. I was exhausted, but my mind was racing and I just couldn't fall asleep. Needless to say, Tuesday was rough! LOL!

We did get lots of postcards and I feel awful because right now I just can't remember where they all came from. I know there was one from South Africa and one from Sydney. I promise to let you know tomorrow where the others were from.

There are a couple cool things going on today! First of all make sure you go by Shel Belle Scraps to pick up the last part of the Tropical Punch Kit. Today you'll be getting the alphabet.

You also need to go visit Deanna at Flower Scraps. She's giving away an adorable set called Winter's Spell. Here's what it looks like...



Isn't it adorable? Here's a couple layouts I made tonight with the set...





Now, I am going to bed. Enjoy your day!

What a long day!

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OK, so I showed up for jury duty at 8AM this morning like a good little girl. Lunch was a hot dog from a street vendor a little before noon. It was going on 2 PM before I got called to go to an actual courtroom. Then it was 4:30 before I learned that I had to stay and be on the jury. At 7PM, the judge announced that I was the alternate and sent me home while everyone else went out to deliberate. So after spending eleven hours at the court house I don't get to know if the girl was found guilty or not. That just doesn't seem fair, does it? LOL!

Oh, and since it was dark outside and the courthouse isn't in the best of neighborhoods there was a court officer that drove me to my car in the parking lot. How's that for scary?

Here's another layout I made using Shel Belle's Tropical Punch Kit. You get this as a quickpage and you should be able to pick up the second part of the elements at Shel's Blog today.



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Now, I'm going to bed. Enjoy your day!

Time flies!

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Wow! I can't believe the weekend is over already. Where does the time go? Of course, I completely wasted this day and it was so much fun. LOL!

Tomorrow morning is jury duty day. YUCK! Oh well, at least it will be over and I won't have to worry about getting summoned for another year or so.

Have you checked out the shop at Aimee Asher lately? Tammy DeYoung has put up some Valentine things that she had out last year and this one is my favorite...



Check out the template designer. Yep, that's me! Guess you know why it's my favorite. LOL!

Have you picked up the papers from Shel Belle's Tropical Punch Kit? You should be able to get the first part of the elements later today. Here's another layout I made using the kit...



It's an awesome kit and it's free. You just can't beat that!

April has a cute set called Gingerbread Lane in her store. It's really cute and I've got a quickpage for you that Ill post later this week. It's perfect for any Christmas pictures you haven't scrapped yet, but it can be used for other photos as well. Here's a quick layout I made today...



During the month of January, we teach winter at school and that's such a hard concept to teach in Miami. LOL! Basically, we only know it's winter when the traffic gets even worse because the snowbirds have returned. LOL! I used April's Winters First Snow kit on this layout. I'm trying to get better at extracting parts of photographs. How do you think I did?



Now, I'm off to get some sleep. Enjoy your day!