Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm sure my story is not so different from anyone else's. I ate too much great food on Thursday, didn't sleep well that night and then got up at 3:30 in the morning to take Noelle and Ali with me for Black Friday Shopping! We had so much fun, met a lot of wonderful people busy getting in the holiday spirit. A nap was definitely in order Friday afternoon!
I want to share some samples with you. Amanda at In A Fog has a brand new kit out titled "Winter Blues" It is availble here at Scrappy Thoughts. This kit is versatile and great for winter layouts as well as many other pictures and themes. Great colors and textures and fabulous elements including winter inspired word art.The Scrappy Thoughts Design Team will have a great Collab Kit available December 1st. Here is a sneak preview of this georgous Collab titled "Lushious Lavender.

Sample CT Layouts

Cool News and a Sale!

First let me share with you that my mother is greatly improved and was to be released from the hospital today! Sure evidence of the power or prayer! Thanks for all the prayers sent on her behalf! The family is geared up to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. This year we are so thankful for all of our blessings. I'm relieved to have my mother's health improving and my hubby and the kids are so much happier now that Dexter is slowly regaining his strength and becoming more of his old self.

Bouquet of Pixels is having a sale! The entire store is 25% off Friday through Monday. Stop over and pick up some goodies.

In more exciting news, I've joined the CT for In A Fog Designs and am enjoying doing some new layouts with her Olive Oil Kit. Olive Oil is available at Scrappy Thoughts. The image is clickable to the store.



Here's a layout with Olive Oil. I love the colors and textures that Amanda put into this kit! they go well with many pictures and themes and will even work well for some Holiday layouts!


More exciting news in the works, stay tuned...... Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Things to be Thankful for:

With the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up this thursday and due to recent events in my life, I'm taking time out to reflect on my many blessings! My mother had a near fatal heart attack on Friday, November 21st. Luckily, she has great friends who insisted on calling for emergency medical personnel. After an angioplasty and placement of a stent in her right coronary artery, she is recovering at Straub in Honolulu. My weekend was spent worrying and praying for her. To make an attempt to keep my mind busy, I read the book "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer, cover to cover! It was great mind candy and I now find myself needing to read the other three books in the series!

My husband's best friend, Dexter, the chocolate lab, is also recovering. We had him at the Vet most of last week, not sure if he would live or not. First they thought he'd been poisoned, then a brain tumor, then a stroke. It turns out that it seems to be some sort of inner ear condition that is prevalent in dogs who have trouble with ear infections. He is slowly improving, can go up and down the stairs on his own but still has control issues with walking and standing up and laying down. I really wonder if he is milking his illness to become a "house dog"? At any rate, it's kind of fun having him in the house except he really is a bed hog!

School is busy with prepartion for the State Leadership CDE's in early December. Most of us are rather preoccupied with the short week and anticipation of Thanksgiving. I look forward to time with the girls. We'll miss Jenna but can't wait until she is home for Christmas break in about 19 days!

Snow Day!

I woke up to freezing rain this morning. Lot of late schools scrolling across the TV. Soon the call came in, we were going to start school two hours late. About the time I was getting in the shower, the next call - no school today! I've worked on a lot of catching up here at home today. Been trying to get information posted on the Cherylbration website. I worked on the graphics most of the morning and have a banner already made at school that I just need to upload. We're getting closer to having this event ready to roll! I hope that attending the event gives Dan and Cheryl the boost that they need to continue fighting her cancer.

I found time to complete a page for this weeks' challenge over at ScrapbookMax. My inspiration is our weather. I guess winter has really arrived.

While watching election returns.......

I watched election returns this evening while creating a couple of pages. The first is made with materials from the Colab Kit "Gratitude" from Kim B's surprise birthday blog train. Click here to follow the train. The other was made from Boo's kit available for the November color challenge over at Stone Accents Studios.

Home for my Birthday!

For the first time that I can remember I am actually at home for my birthday. I got home from the 81st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN on Sunday afternoon. The trip was great although a little bittersweet. My oldest daughter had worked to fulfill a dream that she'd had since about 8th grade. Disappointment was a part of our convention as she was not elected to serve as a national officer. She surrounded herself with supportive friends and they will help her through it all. The positive comments that she and I both received from my colleagues and friends helped to reassure her that she had the skills and talent to serve the organization. I got to spend a lot of time with Ali during convention. She had a great time with my students.

Jenna got to hang out with family and attend my cousin Dave's wedding this past weekend. She had a blast meeting family that she had never met and only heard stories of in the past. My cousin Jim took her flying and she actually got to fly over her dorm and the Stanford campus! I'm glad that she has family in the area that welcome her to spend time with them. It makes it a little easier for her to be so far from home. Jenna's also been officially invited to the Stanford Rowing Winter Camp over Christmas break! How exciting to have her walk on to the team and be one of four walk ons invited to camp. Her first race will be this weekend!

The weather is starting to turn. We had a hard freeze last night. I think we hit something like 15 degrees! Winter must be on it's way! Our football team begins playoffs tonight when they play Milbank here at home. Go Trojans!