the end of the year that is! Can you believe that tonight is New Year's Eve already? Where has the time gone. I think I just got used to writing 2010 on stuff and now I have to retrain to write 2011! I forgot to mention one of the movies we have watched in the last little while. It was the movie Unstoppable with Denzel Washington and Chris Fine. It was based on a true story and it was an AWESOME movie. My hubby really enjoyed it - I think more so cause he used to work on the rail road back in the day. So he was making suggestions of what they should do to resolve the runaway train situation. It was nice to see him enjoying a movie so much. The kids really enjoyed it as well. I have always liked Denzel Washington, so that just made the movie all that much better.So big plans for New Years Eve? Nothing too exciting here - the kids gave me their "orders/suggestions" of what to make for treats for tonight, so I will be zipping through the grocery store on my way home today! I also have to pick up some Dog food!!!!!! Charlie comes to stay tomorrow!!!! We can't wait. She is going to be so much fun. And my good friend Rob gave me his recipe for homemade dog biscuits, so I will be making some of those in the very near future! I think I might stamp a bit tonight - maybe play with my new Cricut too! (thanks Joe!) I want to make a point of making birthday cards for people a month in advance this year so I need to get all my January birthday cards made.....well ...I guess tonight!!!! I found a picture of a very cool birthday rolodex jobbie and I think I might try to make one of those!! It looked very cool. I will post pictures when I get around to making it!Last night we had our Christmas get together with Mom and Dad and Jay and Courtney. It was very fun. It was the latest we have ever done it this year I think, we usually go maybe a day or two before or after, but never this late, but it was fun...made Christmas last a little longer. When we were done our gift exchange we watched a few episodes of the Vicar of Dibley. Oh my gosh - what a great show. Each show ends with a joke - usually with the Vicar and (dimwitted) Alice. Here is a menagerie of some of the final jokes!!!I want to find the whole entire series - it is funny - British humour is GREAT!!I wanted to take this time to wish you all a very Happy New Year and here's hoping 2011 is a very safe, happy and prosperous year for all of you. I am blessed to know each and every one of you and I am proud to call you all my friends.Chow for now,Jacqui
Yesterday was the day we were all available to go into the nursing home and visit Granny and have our little Christmas get together with her. Unfortunately Aunt Brenda was sick, so she and Uncle Mel were not able to come over, but there was Granny, Mom, Dad, Jay, Courtney, their dog Roxy, Joe, Joel, Jade and myself. We had a nice visit. We took some treats and had a bit of a snack and gave Granny her present. We all pitched in and got her a Digital Frame for Christmas. It was fun for me to get all the pictures ready cause I got to scan a whole bunch of old ones I had not seen in a long time. I now have baby pictures of my mom and her brother and sister and some pictures of my Granny's mom and dad as well. There are some good one. I don't have the pictures from yesterday off my camera yet, so I will post a few on here when I do. We decided to watch a movie when we got home last night and the pick of the evening was Piranha 3-D. We of course did not watch it in 3-D as I do not have a 3-D television, but we got the gist of the story in spite of it being played in 2-D. The advertisement for the movie states "sea, sex and blood" and well....that was pretty much it! This movie was so bad. I thought it might not be too bad because Elizabeth Shue was in it. I loved her in Adventures in Babysitting (that has to be one of my favourite movies of all time) and in Cocktail with Tom Cruise., as well as Ving Rhames, Jerry O'Connell,(I'm liking Jerry O'Connell on the new show the Defenders...but Jerry ....this was bad......and your character was a real ass) Christopher Lloyd (his character was like the Professor from Back to the Future jumped in his Delorean and drove it to the place where the Piranha live - his character was just as crazy as in Back to the Future.)and Richard Dreyfuss.(his part was pretty short lived) I thought Richard Dreyfuss being in the movie was kind of funny since he was in the original Jaws movie. Well..even though these (usually good actors and actresses) were in the film...it still was awful. My summary of the film is that many college boys and high school boys would have loved the film...especially in 3-D cause they would have seen many many many boobs..both silicone filled and "real" up close and personal...as well as butts with thongs. I'm certainly glad I did not spend money at the theatre to see this show....and yep...they left it wide open for a sequel!We watched another show last night...well the end of another show. Joe and the kids watched it the night before, but I was falling asleep so had to watch the ending last night. It was the Last Airbender. This was a really good show. Joel has read some of the books and watched some of the cartoons and I was surprised the movie was as good as it was. I'm looking forward to the next 3 books/movies. I am assuming they will come out in 3 separate films, as this one was called book one and it was water, and there is fire, earth and wind left to deal with. Charlie comes for another visit today!! So we are all excited about that and then this evening we will be getting together with mom and dad and Jay and Courtney and Roxy for our family Christmas with them. Then I think our Christmas's are done until 2011!Chow for nowJacqui
WOW what a great and "short" holiday!!! I wish I was a millionaire so I could take a couple of weeks off at Christmas. Then I would not feel guilty about curling up in my chair in front of my fire with my book! I am reading "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" right now and it is really good. I just want to sit and read all day. Well the secret present I alluded to in my last post was a hit with the kids. Wanna see what it was??? It was a total shocker for the kids. They have been asking for a dog for about 10 years now...and so it was a very big surprise for them. Her name is Charlie! She came over for a visit yesterday, and she is coming for another visit tomorrow and then she is coming to stay on Saturday! So that will be an AWESOME way to start 2011. She is such a well behaved dog and she is so cool looking! I love her face with her one blue eye and one brown eye. The kids are gonna have a blast with her. My friend Chad has done an excellent job with her and she is a very good dog. I was surprised on Christmas day as well. Wanna see what my surprise was???? A cricut!!!!! I kept putting it on my wish lists!!! More for a joke - cause it's a pretty pricey present - and I started a "circut fund" jar to throw my pennies in!!! So you can imagine my surprise when my pretty awesome hubby managed to get this for me for Christmas!!! I have not had a chance to play with it much, but am looking forward to creating some cool things with it!!!!Chow for now, Jacqui
Is it really one more sleep though? Seriously...is anyone gonna sleep? I doubt it. I got all my groceries for my baking yesterday and I didn't start any of it!!!! We got my Granny a digital frame for Christmas ( I can say that here cause I know she doesn't read my blog!!) so I have been scanning pictures and getting pictures ready to put on the frame. The cool thing is we can change it up after a few months. I hope she likes it. So that is what I was doing last night - looking through pictures and scanning them onto my computer so I can put them on the frame. There were a lot of old pictures that I had never seen before, like pictures of my Granny's mom and dad. What a handsome couple they were. I remember Great Poppa, but I don't remember my Granny's mom at all. It was nice to see some pictures of people who have passed enjoying special days and creating memories. I don't have anything stamped to show you ..I know I said yesterday I would..but the person who I gave the item to decided he would like to wait to open it on Christmas day! So I can't put pictures of it up here...just in case. So you will have to settle with this picture that I used to have as my desktop wallpaper a few years ago at Christmas time. This card looks EXACTLY like my son did when he was small. He never got a puppy under the tree mind you, but the blond hair and the pj's - spittin' image of my son. I will not be back to Internet land until Wednesday the 29th, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy and cherish the time you get to spend with family and friends. .......cause when it comes right down to it...it's not about the presents...it's about love and friendship. Chow for now,Jacqui
Wowzers, the time is flying now. I just got the orders from my kids last night of the goodies they want me to bake for them. So I am off to the grocery store after work today. I think I'll zip out to the LCBO on my lunch break at 11:00 AM.....there shouldn't be too many people at the liquor store at 11:00 AM will there? (do I live in a bubble? ha ha) I have got orders for Peanut Butter Bites, Porcupines, Granny's Spice Cake, Cinnamon Rolls, Almond Bark, Date Squares, Cheerio Squares. There be more....oh yeah.....and Oreo Cookie Cheesecake! I made one before a few years ago for my Jactopia weekend and well...lets just use a quote my Grandpa Fox used to say...."ya got a little too much oven on this one!" .....I picked up my turkey yesterday!!!!! I picked it up at Foodland in Parkhill. The cool thing about getting it there was for the last couple of months they have been giving you a "turkey buck" each time you come in and buy groceries. With these turkey bucks, between December 10th and December 24th you can use them towards money off your turkey! My mom gave me all of hers, and the one I had, I ended up with $13 off my turkey!!! That's awesome!!! I even went for a bit bigger turkey since I had the money off, so I might be eating turkey stew, turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie, turkey soup, and turkey hash for a while after Christmas...but I think all those things freeze well too! I have some stamping things to show you, but I can't show you until I give the gifts cause I know some of the people read my blog! One person I am giving the gift to today, so I will have some pictures of things to show you after today!! So you will have to settle for this rockin' penguin today!!!!Chow for now,Jacqui
Can you believe that there are only 3 more sleeps until Christmas. This year has gone by so quickly, I cannot believe it. I have a couple of gifts for the kids this year that are gonna make them flip their lids!!! I will not mention them until after Christmas - just in case they see this post!! Joel's birthday is shortly after Christmas (not as soon after as mine, mind you!! Mine is on the 27th), January 8th is Joel's. So when shopping it's hard to decide what to get for Christmas and what to get for a birthday present. I think he will like his birthday present this year.....tune in on the 9th or 10th of January and I'll let ya know!!! I plan on watching some movies this holiday. We are not very "outgoing social" people. What I mean by that is we do not spend money to go to the show, or go out to supper or go to clubs or pubs, that kind of thing. We would much rather spend time at home as a family, playing a game or watching a movie or a show. So I hope to do both of those things this holidays season. We have started playing Euchre every night after supper. The kids are catching on, but still need a little more practice. We got the Twilight game for the Wii, but still have not played it so that is on my list of things to do this holiday as well. There are some movies coming out in 2011 that I just cannot wait to see. This one looks sooo funny/cute. It's called Rango and Johnny Depp is the voice of Rango!
Fast Five looks awesome as well. If you have followed the Fast and the Furious movies - Paul Walker and Vin Diesel are back together for some more action!!
Gullivers Travels looks hilarious. I LOVE Jack Black. He makes me laugh and when he starts singing and "Rockin' it out" toooo funny.
Unstoppable with Denzel Washington. He is a great actor and this movie looks action packed for sure!
Season of the Witch looks great too. I like Nicolas Cage. This is the movie that Joel wants me to take him to for his birthday!
Don't these just make you wanna go to the show!!!!
As you know my Granny is in the nursing home in Parkhill called Chateau Gardens. It's hard to believe that at Christmas it will be 3 years since she went there. She is doing GREAT and she looks fabulous. On Friday they had their "tree Party". So my mom headed in and the kids headed over after school was done. Jade ended up not coming because she was ill and did not want to make Granny sick. I went there right from work, but I still missed Santa - they told us he was not showing up until 3:00 - but I got there at 3:00 and he was walking out the door so I missed getting pictures of Granny opening her present. I did get a few pictures anyway though. This is the pretty tree they have up in the sun room at the nursing home. This is the nativity that they have on display in the sun room (I got orders from Granny to take a picture of this!). This one is of Granny. This one is of Granny and Mom. This one is of Granny, Mom and Joel and this one is of Granny and me. I think she enjoyed the little celebration and when we were all leaving her friend Anna was coming into visit, so she had a "friend-filled" day!Chow for now,Jacqui
Wow - what a crazy couple of weeks it has been. We have been snowed in since Sunday night. My blow dryer kicked the bucket on Sunday morning, without any warning at all, so on Sunday afternoon I decided to go and take a short trip to Strathroy to pick one up so I could dry my hair Monday morning before work. So in the car Jade and Joel and I piled and headed out to Strathroy.....visibility was not all that great, but it was still "doable". We made it to Wal-mart and then we picked up the blow dryer. The kids wanted to check out some things in Wal-mart so we just kind of walked around and looked at things. When we went through the check out....well.....things had changed outside a tad since we entered the store. We piled back in the car and headed home. I really did not think that we would make it home. The snow was drifting so bad cause the winds were very strong. Probably in the 70-90 mph zone. The snow was freezing as it hit the windshield so the wipers were all frozen up and I had to keep reaching out my window to bang them on the windshield to knock off the ice so I could see.We finally found Sylvan road and I was saying a little silent prayer that it had been plowed....no such luck. We trudged on through and we finally made it home...in spite of the kids chanting..."we're gonna die" as we were driving through the snow! The snow kept on coming and the winds kept on blowing for 2 more days. We now have some 10 foot drifts in our lane way. It took Joe and I 3.5 hours to shovel out our lane way so that we could move the vehicles in the hopes to get to work on Wednesday morning. I made it in to work on Wednesday, although the kids had another snow day. The 402 was shut down from London all the way to Sarnia. People were stranded and the military had to be called in to air lift some people out of their vehicles. It was crazy! I do hope many of those people learned some valuable lessons though. ONE: if there is a barrier by the on ramp - DON'T GET OUT AND MOVE IT OR DRIVE ON THROUGH - turn around and go home (dumb ass) TWO: We live in Canada it snows in the winter - always have boots, hats, mitts, a blanket, some water and some food in the car with you just in case. Here is a link for some of what we were going through the last few days. Kudos to all those who helped the stranded motorists.SNOWMAGGEDON I grabbed these pictures from the London Free Press website, but if you click on their link you can see some more. WOWZERS. Chow for now, Stay warm and safe,Jacqui
I love this image by Mo Manning. So I decided to make some large CD Calendar cases using this image. I coloured the image with the Copic markers. I remember when my little sister Courtney was small. We used to have all kinds of kittens running around the farm - barn cats. She used to put them in her purse and carry them around and put them in baby buggies! It was very cute. She was pretty good with picking them up though - so I don't think she almost choked them like this little girl is doing!These are the large CD calendars - approximately 5 3/4 inches square. Chow for now,Jacqui
Well the kids are headed back to school today after 3 snow days in a row! This was a great treat for my kids. We have always lived in town so even when the buses were cancelled the kids still went to school cause they walked. Now that we are out in the country, buses get cancelled, the schools get closed and the whole county shuts down for 3 days! London got over 100cm of snow in the 3 days. We are still expecting some more today and into next week. I must admit it looks beautiful. The lights look so much prettier out on the trees and on the houses when they are snow covered. I managed to get some stamping done during one of the snow days. I came into work on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday, I played it safe and stayed at home. I whipped up some more CD case calendars. These are all the same image, just different colours. These are the small size calendars, approximately 3 3/4 inches square. Chow for now,Jacqui
Well we got some snow this weekend and it is still coming. We are expected to get another 20-30 cm today and then 20-30 cm overnight and possibly 20-30 cm tomorrow as well. The snow wouldn't be so bad but the winds are nasty and they are blowing everything all over the place. We have some drifts at our place that are 3 feet deep already! The kids are pretty excited!!! Their first snow day ever!!! When we lived in Woodstock, they were walkers..so they never got a snow day. So this is their first official snow day! They better be good while they are at home!! Chow for now, Jacqui
This clipboard also uses the Bo Bunny Noel line. I like the rich look of these ornaments and simpleness of this clipboard. I put a little bit of Stickles on the hangy party of the ornament to give it some glitter. This one too whipped up quite quickly because of the great paper line by Bo Bunny.Chow for now,Jacqui
This clipboard turned out not too bad either! The Santa image is very shiny and embossed on the paper - I'm not sure if the image shows this good enough or not. By using this paper this board whipped up very fast.Chow for nowJacqui
I think this one might be my favourite snowman clipboard I did. I just love the look of the chubby fella with the little cardinal sitting on him. This paper is from a stack by Recollections. I have never used Recollections paper before I started these boards, and I really like the paper. They have nice designs on them and are a very unique texture.Chow for now.Jacqui
This is another Christmas countdown clipboard I did. It is very vintagey looking. I made one very similar, which I had posted before, but this one has different letters and numbers used. When I made the first one I was at my BFF Vicki's house and I used her Sizzix font, but I don't have that one so I had to make do with what I had. The paper used on this one is Bo Bunny's Noel line. It is nice - I like the old fashioned look to it.Chow for now,Jacqui
Well I stayed the same this week. Not surprised actually. There has been a lot of stuff going on at my work and no one wants to talk at work. So in order to talk we go out for lunch. I try to make good (as well as inexpensive) choices but when you don't make it yourself, you really don't know what is in it or what is on it, so I am pleased that I didn't go up. I cannot believe that we are already into December. In a very short time we will be starting 2011. The end of the year always makes me think of 1999 when were were all freakin' out about Y2K. It actually makes me chuckle a bit to remember all the preparations every one made in case the worst scenario happened. Maybe you all didn't feel the stress as much as I did - but working in the computer world....people were crazy worried! I made some more Countdown to Christmas clipboards this past weekend. They are so much fun to make. I hope to sell them all! I sold one yesterday. I made 3 or 4 new ones so I will show you a picture today and then for the next couple of days!! have to maximize my pictures!! This one was done using a new line by Bo Bunny called Midnight Frost. I love the colours - I think I might make a couple more using this paper. There is a tin plate behind the rectangular box which the number tags attach to with a magnet! Then you can change the numbers according to the days left until Christmas. I think I might do some Halloween ones too - but that can wait till next year!Chow for now,Jacqui
It was based on a true story and it was an AWESOME movie. My hubby really enjoyed it - I think more so cause he used to work on the rail road back in the day. So he was making suggestions of what they should do to resolve the runaway train situation. It was nice to see him enjoying a movie so much. The kids really enjoyed it as well. I have always liked Denzel Washington, so that just made the movie all that much better. So big plans for New Years Eve? Nothing too exciting here - the kids gave me their "orders/suggestions" of what to make for treats for tonight, so I will be zipping through the grocery store on my way home today! I also have to pick up some Dog food!!!!!! Charlie comes to stay tomorrow!!!! We can't wait. She is going to be so much fun. And my good friend Rob gave me his recipe for homemade dog biscuits, so I will be making some of those in the very near future! I think I might stamp a bit tonight - maybe play with my new Cricut too! (thanks Joe!) I want to make a point of making birthday cards for people a month in advance this year so I need to get all my January birthday cards made.....well ...I guess tonight!!!! I found a picture of a very cool birthday rolodex jobbie and I think I might try to make one of those!! It looked very cool. I will post pictures when I get around to making it! Last night we had our Christmas get together with Mom and Dad and Jay and Courtney. It was very fun. It was the latest we have ever done it this year I think, we usually go maybe a day or two before or after, but never this late, but it was fun...made Christmas last a little longer. When we were done our gift exchange we watched a few episodes of the Vicar of Dibley. Oh my gosh - what a great show. Each show ends with a joke - usually with the Vicar and (dimwitted) Alice. Here is a menagerie of some of the final jokes!!! I want to find the whole entire series - it is funny - British humour is GREAT!! I wanted to take this time to wish you all a very Happy New Year and here's hoping 2011 is a very safe, happy and prosperous year for all of you.
I am blessed to know each and every one of you and I am proud to call you all my friends. Chow for now, Jacqui
It was based on a true story and it was an AWESOME movie. My hubby really enjoyed it - I think more so cause he used to work on the rail road back in the day. So he was making suggestions of what they should do to resolve the runaway train situation. It was nice to see him enjoying a movie so much. The kids really enjoyed it as well. I have always liked Denzel Washington, so that just made the movie all that much better. So big plans for New Years Eve? Nothing too exciting here - the kids gave me their "orders/suggestions" of what to make for treats for tonight, so I will be zipping through the grocery store on my way home today! I also have to pick up some Dog food!!!!!! Charlie comes to stay tomorrow!!!! We can't wait. She is going to be so much fun. And my good friend Rob gave me his recipe for homemade dog biscuits, so I will be making some of those in the very near future! I think I might stamp a bit tonight - maybe play with my new Cricut too! (thanks Joe!) I want to make a point of making birthday cards for people a month in advance this year so I need to get all my January birthday cards made.....well ...I guess tonight!!!! I found a picture of a very cool birthday rolodex jobbie and I think I might try to make one of those!! It looked very cool. I will post pictures when I get around to making it! Last night we had our Christmas get together with Mom and Dad and Jay and Courtney. It was very fun. It was the latest we have ever done it this year I think, we usually go maybe a day or two before or after, but never this late, but it was fun...made Christmas last a little longer. When we were done our gift exchange we watched a few episodes of the Vicar of Dibley. Oh my gosh - what a great show. Each show ends with a joke - usually with the Vicar and (dimwitted) Alice. Here is a menagerie of some of the final jokes!!! I want to find the whole entire series - it is funny - British humour is GREAT!! I wanted to take this time to wish you all a very Happy New Year and here's hoping 2011 is a very safe, happy and prosperous year for all of you.
I am blessed to know each and every one of you and I am proud to call you all my friends. Chow for now, Jacqui
