Volleyball Proud

For those of you who know me, you know that I love the game of volleyball. I played it every season in school since I was in Grade 6. Then when I got to high school I played every year as well. My volleyball coach even put together a team that played outside of school hours and we went to big tournaments in London and area. We had a blast! Then when I moved to Woodstock, I played in a ladies league, which was lots of fun....I even played while I was pregnant!!!! This all came to and end in 2002 when I dislocated my knee playing baseball. My sporting days were over. I miss the sport and the exercise. So I was happy when my kids both decided they wanted to play volleyball. They both played on the teams in elementary school, but to be honest elementary school sports has changed a lot since I was there. They don't even teach them basic skills any more. It just seems like an excuse to get out of class. Anyhow when Jade started high school she went out for the volleyball team and unfortunately was the very last cut from the team when she was in Grade 9. But she did not let that deter her and she tried out again in Grade 10. We had no luck that year either....once again being the last cut off the team. She has a great spirit though and she is still not discouraged and she will be trying out for the team at her new school this year in Parkhill. Joe tried out for the junior boys volleyball team in Parkhill and has made the team! We have had one tournament so far and a few school games. They are doing great for a young team. There are a great bunch of guys playing and the coach Mr. Fletcher knows his stuff - which is a HUGE bonus. I went to pick up Joel from practice last night and guess what!!! The senior boys coach asked if Joel would like to play with them in a tournament this weekend!!! So we are heading to John Paul in London on Saturday for another tournament! I am excited for him. It will be a great learning opportunity for him, to get more playing time and hopefully to have lots of fun as well! Many people have been asking me how the kids are fitting in and settling into their new school. It was a big change for them, mostly for Jade because she is in Grade 11 now. Joel is in Grade 9 this year so it would have been a new school with lots of new faces if we still lived in Woodstock too. Well their first dance of the year was held last Thursday evening. The theme for the dance was "Bright, Tight and Tacky". I had no idea what his plan was for wearing anything special, or if he would participate with the theme at all. Little did I know that he certainly did have a plan!!! Here is what he wore to the dance, so he certainly is not shy and seems to be fitting in just fine! Chow for now Jacqui

Wednesday Weigh In..

Well...kinda bummed this week - I am the same weight I was last week, so that is a little frustrating...but we had Regionals on the weekend so I ate the boxed (sparse) lunch that was provided and the 3:00 pm popcorn snack and then we went out for supper. I was supposed to have steak, but I was not prepared to pay $30 for it, so I ordered a steak wrap with a salad. Not a terrible choice, but maybe could have made a better one. I'm not really sure if I even tasted it though - by the time the food got there....our reservations were for 5:15 pm and I think they brought "some" of our food out at approximately 6:30 pm. So by that time.....as my BFF would say, I was so hungry I could have ate the arse-hole out of a skunk....so I'm not sure I tasted a thing - I think I inhaled it! But the company was good - so that made up for having to wait so long for the food! Joel played volleyball in London last night so he was not done playing until a little after 5:00 pm and we had to get some groceries before we went home, so we zipped into Quizno's to grab a sub - mine was all veggies, but I probably should have just had a small one. So those are my excuses for staying the same this week! At least I didn't go up! Chow for now, Jacqui

Hamilton Regionals

This past weekend was our Regional Stampin' Up! meeting in Hamilton. I got out of bed at 4:00 Am and got ready and drove to Woodstock to one of my favourite peeps house!! Tami!! We left for Hamilton at about 7:15. I'm glad she knew where she was going cause I just gabbed and gabbed and I was not paying attention at all. We got there in good time and got all signed in. We got our make and take supplies and our free stamp set. Then we started scanning the room to see who we could see!!! The first person we saw was Carole Moore. It was great to see her again. She was in SU before, but then she dropped and is now back with us again. It's nice to have her back! Then I think I spotted Donna Henley, but she didn't see me yet. We went to stand in line and I ran into Ruth Hill - man I love her!! She cracks me up. It would definitely be a Depends weekend if we ever hung out together for more than a day! Then as I was in line I saw Corinne Somerville! I work with her hubby so it was cool to finally get a chance to chat it up with her a bit! Then Donna saw me so that was cool - I got a big ole hug from her. We then got to go into the hall. Tami and I sat at a table with Heather, Carole, Kristin, Christine, and I cannot remember the other girls name for the life of me. Then the show began! I scooped these pictures off of Donna's facebook! Thanks hon! Chow for now Jacqui

Happy Birthday to my BFF!!!!

Happy Birthday Vicki! I love you bunches and bunches. Today is my BFF's birthday. If you read my blog you will know that my bestest friend in the whole wide world is Vicki Garrett! Isn't she beautiful. I am counting down the days until I get to see her again. 23 sleeps until I see her! I love hanging out with her. She is so much fun. She is hands down the most creative person I have ever met and I love her to pieces. I do some of my best stamping when I am with her cause I think she has creative oozing from her pores....so I make sure I sit close!!!!! I can't wait to see you hunny! Love you lots Jacqui

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Challenge 65 - Inspiration

This week over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge Blog, we were given a picture and we were to create our card based on the inspiration we got from the picture. Here is the picture. I went a little outside the box and took my inspiration from the striped pillow in the picture. The base of my card is 6 X 6 and is using Chocolate Chip Stampin' Up! card stock. The next layer is SU DSP and I can't remember the name of it. I coloured the present images with Copics and then cut them out and popped them up on a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock. I put some Crystal effects on the ribbon of the card to make it look shiny and nice! I then used my Nesties to cut the 3 scalloped circles for the sentiment and then popped it up on the card as well. I then went searching through my embellishments and I came upon this sparkly little snow man who just wanted to be on this card! Come on over and play with us this week. See what you can come up with based on the picture for inspiration! Chow for now, Jacqui

Regionals Swap Card

Well this weekend I will be attending the Stampin' Up! Regionals event in Hamilton, Ontario. My awesome friend Tami and I will be attending together. The best part is I am going to Woodstock on Friday after work and will be spending the night at Tami's house before we get up and head to Hamilton Saturday morning. We can get caught up on everything that has been happening since I moved out of Woodstock in June. My little group called Small World Stampers decided to have a swap for Regionals (Thanks Heather!) We needed to use something new with our card. So I used Concord Crush ink and paper and one of the new embossing folders. I used the spotlighting or highlighting technique, which is very fun. I followed the tutorial that Diana Gibbs (my wonderful sister!!!!) provided here. It was a fun technique and I will definitely use it again. The base of the card is Basic Black. The next layer which is embossed with the lattice embossing folder is Concord Crush. I really like this deep rich purple colour. The next layer is Whisper White which has the flowers stamped on it. I stamped the hummingbird in Concord Crush as well and cut it out and popped it up on the card. I hope the girls like it. I can't wait to see what creations they came up with. I'm looking forward to this weekend, I have not seen my Small Worlder's for quite sometime and I haven't seen other SU friends for a long time as well. Chow for now, Jacqui

Wednesday Weigh In

Well today is Day One of Week Four and I wish I was skinny, but am happy to say I went down 3 pounds last week, for a running total of 10 pounds so far. So I'm happy with that. I will admit that I have not started my "moving" part of this whole process though. With both the kids playing sports (field hockey and volleyball) it seems like I am on the go all the time. I get done work, come home, grab the mail, change my clothes, figure out supper, then off to Parkhill to pick up the kids, then make supper then clean up after supper than get a few things done around the house and then look at the clock and holy moly it's after 9 and I have to get up at 4:00 AM, so there never seems to be the time. I will insert it somewhere though. So it's premiere week. I love this time of the year. All my favourite shows are coming back and some new ones are coming that look like they will be good. The ones we have watched so far are Law and Order - SVU and Hawaii Five-O. SVU was a 2 hour season premiere, but split into two separate episodes. I initially thought the guest star was going to be a love interest for Olivia, but her turned out to the be the rapist.....so that's too bad! I think Olivia needs a love interest! It was a good start to the season though. Hawaii Five-O I watched cause I wanted to see how it was compared to the original....but then I thought to myself...I don't think I have ever watched an original Hawaii Five-O episode...not that I can remember anyway..so what do I have to compare it to? But I watched it anyway and it was pretty good. Lots of action and I like the character chemistry. The main character was in the movie The Back Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez which is a great movie. Another character played Jin on the show LOST and the female character was on a great show that they cancelled called The Cleaner. I will definitely watch it again. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing the characters develop. Tonight is Criminal Minds! I've been looking forward to the return of that show! I should have a card or two in the next few days as well! Chow for now Jacqui

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Challenge 64 - Border punches

This week over at the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge Blog, we were challenged to make a card using our border punches. We also had Pink Cat as our sponsor this week. Please check out the CSAYL blog for more information about our great sponsor. The base of this card is Pacific Point textured paper by Stampin' Up! I then used some glittery paper I got somewhere and used my snowflake border to punch out the top border and then my goo border to punch out the bottom border. I used my Coluzzle to cut out the two ovals and then used my leaf punch to punch out the leaves for the side. It's a pretty simple card, but I like the way it turned out. I used Copics to colour the image and I added some shine and texture with my Sakura pens as well. Come on and play along with us! Chow for now Jacqui

Wednesday Weigh In

Well, I was hoping for more, as I only went down 1 pound this week. That's okay though. I am not discouraged, I just need to start "moving". I hope to get out for a walk tonight. I'm doing okay though - I'm in the zone, so that is good. What I mean by that is, once I have my mind made up then normally tempting foods don't bother me. I baked Date Squares and Apple Pie Squares and Cinnamon Buns for the rest of the family and didn't even have a taste of any of them. So I'm in the right head-space for eating, now I just need to get in the right head-space for exercising and moving. I am so very proud of my kids!!!! Joel is on the Junior Boys volleyball team and they have been practicing every night. I watched a bit of the practice yesterday and he is one of the better players (and I'm not saying that just because he is my kid!) He really is good! And Jade is going to go out for field hockey!! I'm excited for her. I think it will give her a chance to let loose a bit and get to know some more people. Being on a sports team is great for getting in there and meeting new people. I hope she enjoys it. I played both volleyball and field hockey in school so I'm glad they are both playing. (It makes it much more enjoyable to watch them when you like the sport!) Chow for now Jacqui

Weekend in the country......

We had a pretty busy weekend actually considering I was thinking it was going to be a quiet one. We decided on Friday that we were going to get up early on Saturday morning and head into London to Old Navy to see if we could get Jade some jeans. She is in that stage where she is too big for girls and too small for ladies, so finding clothes is somewhat of a challenge. We had not been to Old Navy yet and I had heard from some others that there jeans have different fits and styles so we decided to go there. So we got up early on Saturday and headed out.....as we were driving we thought we would see if Grandma wanted to go with us....so a little turn here and a turn there and we were on our way to Grandmas house (one of the HUGE benefits of living where we do now!!! we can see Grandma every day if we wanted to!) So we got to Grandmas and asked her if she would like to come with us, which she did, and off we went. We actually made out very good at Old Navy. Jade got 4 pairs of new pants and some shirts. It was a good trip. Joel even got a new sweater courtesy or the clearance rack and his sister! (thanks Jade) We stopped at Crabby Joe's for lunch where Jade treated us to lunch and then we did a zip over to Forest City Surplus (man I love that store) and then we headed home. Stopped in at Benders Foodland in Parkhill to get a few groceries and then we dropped Grandma off at home. Sunday was a busy day as well. I had a hankerin' to do some baking, so I made some date squares and some Apple Pie squares. Joel loves them and has been asking me to make them for a while now. Then I finally got the inside and outside of my car washed and polished and vacuumed. Then I worked on organizing my stamp room a bit. So we were busy for most of the weekend. We decided to have family movie night Friday and Sunday night this week. So on Friday we watched Frozen. I wanted to see it because it had Kevin Zegers in it. He is a hometown boy from Woodstock (and cute to boot!) It was a pretty good movie - but now I know why I don't ski and don't think I ever will ski. Sunday night we watched Invictus. Joe got to pick out the movie for this night and that was his pick. Both the kids ended up going to bed before it was over, but we watched it all. It was quite good. I must admit I'm not all that familiar with the whole Nelson Mandela story so will have to follow up a bit, but it was a good movie. I enjoy Morgan Freeman's acting in pretty much anything and I'm a Matt Damon fan as well. Have a good Monday Chow for now Jacqui

Happy Birthday Tami!

Today is Tami's birthday!!!! She is one of my dear friends and I miss her so much since we moved away from Woodstock. She used to pop over for little impromptu visits and I miss those! She is one of the sweetest people I know and I just love her bunches! I whipped her up this card last night. I know it will not get to her on time, but I did have it MADE on time and it is actually going to be sent in the mail - so it will at least get to her the month that her birthday is in....not like other birthday cards (sorry Donna!). I really like the way this one turned out. Even got to use some of my bling I got at the dollar store when another of my dear friends was home visiting from B.C. (Hey Jenn!) Hope you have a super day Tam and I can't wait till we get together this month and hang out! Luv ya Chow for now Jacqui

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Challenge 63

This week over at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long we were challenged to create a card using Brads or Eyelets! You will notice that my card does not use a Brad or an Eyelet!!!! Why you ask......well, for some reason I had written down in my trusty notebook for the requirements of the challenges.....BUTTONS or BRADS....and as you can see I used buttons. This not having the Internet at home is really not working! If I had it at home I would have double checked and then realized and made another card. However, since I don't have it at home, I must put my card up on Thursday's so it is ready to post on Friday's. So I apologize for not following the challenge. Even though I didn't follow the challenge to the letter.....the main thing is the adorable image on the card. In Style Stamps (please see CSAYL challenge blog for more information on this great sponsor) was our sponsor this week and this is one of their fun Christmas images. The picture does not show it all that great, but I put Crystal Effects on the Christmas ball the little elf girl is sitting on to make it shiny. I also used my sakura pens to add some dimension to the bow in her hair and the top part of the Christmas ball.
Come on over to CSAYL and play along with us. It's loads of fun
Chow for now
Jacqui

Wednesday Weigh In - Week 1

Well today marks 1 full week since I started my weight loss program. So far, so good. Day 2 was H-E-double hockey sticks as I was down with a wicked migraine in bed all day. I think it was a combination of the sugar withdrawal and the HUGE drop in the barometric pressure. We went from a hot and sticky humid day of 32 degrees to needing to wear socks, slippers, sweat shirts and long pants in a matter of 8 hours. I have not started the "moving" part of my program, so far just the eating part, which most times that is the most important thing. Although I do want to add some sort of moving, walking, exercising, or something, hopefully to tighten up my skin so when I lose the weight my skin just does not hang off my body. So the big step on the scales this morning and .....drum roll please..........I am down 6 pounds!!!!! Woohooo for me. I figured it would be a good amount, usually the first week is. (Which shows how much crap I was eating) But whether it was crap loss or fat loss, I'm still happy it was a loss. I know the weight I would like to get to, but I was chatting with my BFF Vicki the other day (Hey Girl!!) and really, it's not the weight that is important, it's the size and how your clothes fit and how you feel. I know many things have happened to my body since I was at my goal weight - like a couple of kids - and just life in general. So I am not going to get caught up on the weight thing (well not totally anyway) and I'm just going to follow my eating program and try to make good choices and get moving a bit. Yesterday was the first day of school for my kids. This was a big deal for them for a few reasons. First it's the first day of school- that's always a big deal. Second, it's the first day of school at a NEW school. Third, it's the first day of Grade 9 for my son Joel. Fourth, it's the first day of Grade 11 for my daughter Jade. Fifth - which is the biggie for me.....BOTH MY KIDS ARE IN HIGH SCHOOL . How and when did that happen? Time flies by so quickly it is just crazy. They both had a good day though, which I was glad to hear, in spite of the fact that the bus driver ran the route BACKWARDS yesterday so they were supposed to be picked up at 7:04 and it was 7:24 when she rolled up. Not so bad for my kids...but the kids who were to get picked up at 7:58 got picked up at 6:58 or something crazy like that! But she said today should be right. Umm...you would have thought they would have maybe ran the route once or twice before day one??? We also got our dragon puzzle done! It was fun. We were missing one teeny piece along the edge, which you really can't see cause it's a shaped puzzle so that was not so bad. It looks pretty cool all finished. This is the next one we have decided to make!!!! It's gonna be a doozie! Chow for now Jacqui

My Weight Loss Journey

My little sister Courtney is getting married next year. I am so happy for her and cannot wait to see her in her dress - she is gonna blow everyone away - she is so beautiful. I am glad she told us way in advance the date of the wedding cause this will give me a chance to shave some of this weight off my fat arse. She is getting married September 10, 2011 so that gives me 1 year and 9 days to get trim. I decided to start at the first of the month, which was yesterday, and also a Wednesday, which is weird, cause I have always started a diet, or something new on a Monday...but I decided I would start on the first and it happened to be on a Wednesday so them's the breaks! I stepped on the scale first thing yesterday morning and was mortified. I am at my heaviest weight ever and I'm disgusted. So.. that gives me a bit more incentive to do well cause I am angry with myself. I'm not going to write the numbers down cause that would just scare all of you too...but I must publicly apologize to my knees, and my hips and my back.....no wonder you have been complaining a little more loudly of late......it's a wonder you are still functioning at all. So with that being said I have started. I am in the right head space and I WILL do this. I know I can, I have done it before. 2 years ago I lost 50 pounds and I was doing great. Then my son got ill and was hospitalized and my focus went from me to him and I never got my focus back. He is doing great now. He's a lean 14 year old going into Grade 9 this September. He makes me laugh and we have a great time together and I'm very blessed that he is still around so we can do that. So now that I know he is fine, I can refocus my energy and get back on track. I'll try to do an update once a week - more to keep me honest than anything. Wish me luck, Jacqui

King of the Grill

I was asked to make a birthday card for one of the girls at work. Her new son-in-law was celebrating his birthday so she needed a card. I asked her if there was anything specific about him, (which I ask all my card requestors, so I get the right colours, theme, etc.) She said they had just got a new barbecue and were having a party on the weekend and going to be using it for the first time, so I thought, perfect - I will use my King of the Grill set! This was the first time I used this set and I like it! I used Basic Gray as the base of the 6 X 6 card. I then used my flexible ruler to cut out the next layer from a paper pack - I believe is Basic Gray. Then I used my nesties to cut out the image and my oval scalloped punch to punch out the greeting. I forgot to take a picture of the inside ( I know - I can't believe I forgot ) but it looked so cool. I had some old designer paper back from when I first started scrapbooking and it had a hot dog in the bottom corner and ants all around the edges and it was on a red and white checkered back ground that looked like a picnic table cloth. So I cut that out and mounted it on the inside of the card and stamped Happy Birthday in the center of the hot dog. It looked really cute - I can't believe I don't have a picture of it to show you. Oh well, you'll have to settle with the outside! Chow for now Jacqui