I can't believe it is October already!! It's definitely fall outside...the wind is blowing, it's cold and damp outside and the leaves are falling all over the place. It's time for pumpkin patches, chili and cornbread and beautiful colors!! We have been busy working in the basement and outside (ok Mark has been working outside) but we've kept ourselves busy. We have company coming next week...my mom and stepdad and then we have a family reunion next weekend in Illinois. I'm excited to head east...hopefully the leaves will still be on the trees and not blowing all over. I also get to see my dad and stepmom, whom I haven't seen in over a year... pretty sad that it's been a year. I guess everyone is too busy these days.

So what's new with all of you?? Got your Christmas lists ready and the shopping started? I can say "yes" to both of those questions. I remember a few years ago that I had all my shopping done by October 1st. it was awesome because then I could enjoy the sales and pick up items for Mark and me without feeling guilty. Not sure that I will be done as early but want to be done by November 1st this year.

Well, take care and drop me a line and let me know you are all ok!!

Well, this has been a week of news...not really good news, but news. My mom and her husband bought a new house in Huntsville, TX. Now that is good news for them but sad news for me since both Mark and I LOVE their house in Houston. The pool and hot tub in the back yard makes it feel like you are in a secluded getaway while you are there. We love the peacefulness and it is really beautiful out there and you don't really notice you are in Houston, Texas. A bummer for us too since they will be out of Houston and all the great sights and attractions in Houston. But good for them... And in my job, we have five people who work in our house, which includes 3 full-time workers and 2 part-timers. Well, at our weekly meeting this morning they dropped the bomb that they were moving workers around and are moving my biggest ally in our house to another house. That is such a BUMMER not only for me, but the rest of our staff and not to mention the three clients in our house. This week has just been...yuck!! And to top it off, my favorite soap opera is going off the air on Friday. Guiding Light has been going for over 70 years and it will end this week. It was sad today... I know...as Mark would say..."It's fiction, Dana. Get over it!" I have watched that show for as long as I can remember. OK, I know this has not been worthy to even mention in a blog but it's what I've been thinking about this week... so I will come back when things are blog-worthy... Soon I hope!!!

So here I am, trying to decide if I have anything blog worthy to even blog about and it hits me... the weather is awesome and I am enjoying the cooler temps and the windows being open but the best thing that has happened in the last week or so is....we got a dehumidifier. I know what you are thinking...so what! But it has made such a difference in our house. Our basement is a totally different place. It's not cold and damp any more...It has dried out so much and is warmer. I will be moving my scraping back downstairs. The environment down there will be so different now that it has dried up. Neither Mark nor I would have ever thought that it would have made that much of a difference but wow!!

Speaking of scrapping, I actually tried to scrap 12x12 pages last Saturday. I haven't done those in about 2 years...for myself that is. I really struggled but because I wanted to work on something else and I wanted to talk for the first 3-4 hours, eat, shop and got going at 2:30 and it was over at 4pm. I really need the 12 hour crops so I can do something productive. Maybe in October I can get to one. I had my papers and embellishments all picked out and the photos ready to go but when it came down to it...I struggled! What do I need to do? Is there help for me? Do I just need inspiration from my friends? Help!!

I need some ideas for some scrap related Christmas presents. Does anyone have any great ideas? I thought about a calendar and will do that for one part of the family but I need some individual gift ideas. Someone out there have something I can scrap lift??????

OK, I better do something besides facebook and blogs...although I enjoy that so much!!

It's a new baby........

Boy!! Mark and I will be grandparents of a new grandson around Feb. 4th!!! There is something to be said for a mother of three little boys.... Can't wait to meet him!

Sunday afternoon with the hubby

Mark and I went to Carroll yesterday, just for the heck of it and after running around and doing errands, we ended up at Swan Lake. We stopped at the bald eagle exhibit first. I took pictures but had the little camera so the photos didn't turn out as well. Then we went to the lake...to the fishing hut and watched for something to happen...we wished and threw pennies in (well, Mark's was a nickel). We drove around the lake and stopped at the petting area. I went in but Mark decided to stay outside. I liked the pot bellied pig, but she didn't want anything to do with me... I petting the little goats and avoided the nasty big male goat who was a little, shall we say, horny. He was after the sheep and the other gilt who was trying to avoid him too. I loved the little goats. They were so CUTE!! On our way home, we stopped for ice cream. A very pleasant day and we were home by 3pm. Mark then surprised me by serving me supper in bed. (No, I wasn't in bed yet. I was watching Big Brother, Drop Dead Diva, Design Star, and Army Wives and it was cooler in the bedroom) He made eggs, sunny side up, otherwise know to me growing up at "dip it eggs" and toast. Yum! I had decided that I was going to settle for popcorn and that was a real treat! Well, I thought I would surprise everyone and blog two days in a row!!! Talk to you later!!!

A Visitor

So last week Mark sent me a photo of what he found under our bushes on the west side of our house. I could not for the life of me figure our what it was...although to my benefit, it was the tail sticking out from the branches of the bushes, so you couldn't really tell what it was anyway... A snapping turtle came for a visit but I think it had to be a male turtle because he was lost. Being a male, he didn't ask for directions and he thought our bushes was his hotel for the night. He wasn't happy we were evicting him from his "room" as you can tell by the photo of him with his mouth open. He also didn't seem thrilled with the mode of transportation we were using to help him on his detour either...the snow shovel. He tried to bite it numerous times as we were gingerly trying to get him to stay on his "taxi". Ha Ha! Well, his taxi driver, Mark, took him to the closest spot available close to the creek behind our house...the timber and put him back into the wild with the "map of the land" in front of him...the water was right in front of him...he just had to go down the embankment to get to it...Mark helped him with that too. I don't think we will be earning 5 stars for our hospitality from Mr Turtle either. I'm pretty sure he didn't like the camera lens in his face or his mode of transportation or the fact we wouldn't leave him undisturbed in the bushes. Oh, well, I don't think he would pay his bill upon leaving and more than likely, he would have vacated in the middle of the night, but we'll never know...Just call us the evictors!!!! Until later...

So, I have been a little slow in updating my blog...Sorry about that. I guess when there isn't much new going on, I feel like I don' have much to say. I have worked more in the last couple of weeks but Mark and I found some time to go to the Iowa State Fair. We saw some of the sites, ate pork chops on a stick, drank a ton of water, had some mini donuts and Mark had ice cream. We saw the bull, the boar, and part of the avenue of breeds. We walked through the scrapbooking entries (in my opinion, I have friends who would have wiped out the competition if they would have entered) and browsed the photography exhibits. We rode the Ole Mill Ride and Mark's favorite place...the Varied Industries Building. I hate the crowds in that place but appreciated the air conditioning and the bathrooms. We seemed to have missed at least half of the exhibits because it was so HOT! I want to go back but we'll see...I am running out of days.

By the way, that is last years fair...I didn't take any photos this year...too hot and too busy.

I don't really have much to blog about. I haven't really scrapped much...I did make another wedding album for the "ring carrier" in my wedding. I did it last minute (the night before) but it really turned out nicely. I heard that she loved it. The nice thing is that they have all the snapshots of the wedding that they had at the reception and they can just put them in the book. Other than that, I haven't had much to work on. I guess I could always hire out the services...

Until later....