christytomlinson

catching up.. CHA and more..

it's time for CHA and Ben and I are off to attend the CHAW 2008 show. To view all of the products manufactures have in store, so we can purchase them for our kit club.

We are excited to see all the new stuff and to have some alone time (I never complain about that! LOL).  Sorry I have been MIA again.. it was crunch time for Scarlet Lime, plus getting ready for 2 months of kits in advance, so we could be prepared to go and "buy" what we need at CHA.. has been crazy around here! Plus kids stuff like BB games as usual, keeps us busy too.

Saturday we watched the funeral of President Gordon B. Hinkley. Thanks Donna for sending me this link. I enjoyed watching it, though it made me cry.  I was a mess all day Saturday.. as I truly loved our Prophet of the  church. I couldn't stop crying all day long.. I know he is in a much better place, with his wife.. but it's sad to have him gone.  He was a rock for me and my testimony during the last 15 years and I will miss hearing his sweet voice and gentle words. There were so many times his simply kind words pulled me through difficult times in my life. He will always be a huge inspiration to me. Just wanted to pay tribute to him and what a wonderful person he was.

I  also wanted to post on here really quick about a really COOL benefit going on for a daughter of a fellow scrapbooker in the UK. You can read more about her story below, but I hope we all can pitch in a bit. I know a little will go a LONG way and it's for a GREAT cause!

Simply Click on this link to learn about how you can help!

hope you all have a wonderful week,.. I will take lots of pictures!

Hugs!
Christy

Good things...

I just had to post about a couple of good things..

Yesterday we had the opportunity as a family, to go to the Rexburg Temple Open house. If you haven't been, and you live in the Idaho falls or even surrounding area's, you have to go! It's so beautiful and it's the only opportunity for non-members and even members without a recommend to see the inside of the temple, see the sealing rooms, the rooms where we do baptisms, etc. Once the temple is dedicated (which will be on the 3rd of February), then it is no longer open to the public, only to members with recommends.. SO.. if have have ever wanted to see or were curious.. now is a good time! and it's a wonderful opportunity for kids.  I believe Saturday is the last day.. but it's worth the drive. It was Parker's birthday yesterday.. and so we did that for his birthday, but then on the way home, we were going to head to Leo's place in Idaho Falls (it's kinda like chucky cheese's).. and celebrate his birthday there.  My sister called me with another "good" thing on our way to the temple.. and told me about a huge sale that Old Navy was having! Their clearance items, which were already marked down 75%, where another 50% off the lowest marked price. So after Leo's, I managed to head to Old Navy after all of the fun and got SOOO Many great things for my kids for school next year. (I know.. it's a long time away to think about school for NEXT year..but when you have 6 kids.. this is how we buy our school clothes! LOL)..

Last year I was able to get all of Allie's school clothes for about $70.00.. that included 20 shirts and at least 10 pairs of pants.. they were all about 1.00-3.00 each. Well I did just the same last night.. and got all of Allie's school clothes again for next year, PLUS shirts for Braden and Parker and a ton of clothes for Noah. So go check it out! I am not sure if the sale is Nation Wide.. or just in Idaho Falls, but they said it was actually going on last weekend, and they extended it through this weekend.. that's why I am not sure if it's still going on everywhere else!  But I got alot of shirts for Allie for $1.75, pants for $3.50-$4.00 and shirts for my boys for $2.00 and sweatshirts for $5.00. I also got Allie a really nice coat for under $10.00! They have these great sweat type pants (more like track pants, but make out of sweat material).. for little boys, that were only $2.00 each and great shirts for little boys for $2.00 too (perfect for Noah for everyday where).

So check it out.. seriously.. saves you ton of money for buying school next for the next year.

Another good thing I i had to share, I also found in Idaho falls, is Hot Chocolate.. I enjoy good hot chocolate and when we went on the Alaskan Cruise about 2 years ago, for Ben's parents 50th wedding anniversary.. I discovered the cruise lines, have the BEST hot chocolate in the world! They only serve it in the "fancy" dining rooms.. but oh my goodness I loved it. I thought it was only on that cruise.. but I discovered  on our last cruise, last week.. which was a completely different cruise line, they actually had the same food and that same hot chocolate! I had it every night for dinner.. oh yum! Well last month, I was heading to my sister's house, with another sister.. it was right before Christmas.. and we stopped at the Chevron on Hitt road and SunnySide in Idaho Falls (the one by Kohl's and the Movie Theaters).. to get something to drink, and it was so cold out, so hot chocolate sounded good. You want to talk about GOOD.. holy cow that is THE Best i have ever had.. even better than the cruise lines.. and they have this fun little hot chocolate "center" where you can put all sorts of flavoring into your hot chocolate like vanilla, or peppermint or what ever.. and also these tiny little marshmallows or chocolate chips.. or sprinkles.. or whip cream.. oh my goodness... I was in heaven! and it was all included in the price of the hot chocolate!  So after that.. I kinda just assumed that all Chevron stations were the same.. but sadly no.. i have been to alot of the other ones over the past few weeks here in Idaho Falls and nope.. not the same.. even stopped at a couple on the way to Utah.. and not the same.. So if you live in Idaho falls and you want some GREAT hot chocolate.. go visit that Chevron.. YUM!

on last good thing I have to talk about our my two oldest boys.. I have to wish a quick Happy Birthday to Braden and Parker!  Braden turns 12 today (we are having a "bowling/Rockband" party).. and Parker turned 11 yesterday! What a wonderful duo they are. They truly are two of the best things in my life! Love em both so much.. happy birthday boys! I LOVE YOU!

hope you all have a wonderful day!
Hugs!
Christy

Lots to share...

First off.. holy cow is it cold here! LOL.. I mean it wasn't super warm by any means in San Diego or in Mexico (only got up to about 72ish... i love being in 90 degree weather! LOL).. but this morning we woke up and with the wind-chill factor it was a whopping -31 Degrees outside!  It was about -16 degrees without the wind-chill, and they are normally supposed to cancel school when it gets below -10. They did cancel is in all of the surrounding areas, but in Shelley, they decided to have a "late start" and started school at 10:00 instead. The funny thing is that by 10:00 is was still -13 degrees (without the wind-chill).. and I was kinda frustrated they didn't just cancel it.

All of the schools besides ours were canceled.. so who knows? LOL Poor kids..

Well our cruise was amazing. San Diego was gorgeous, even in the middle of "winter". We got to spend a few hours both on the day we sailed out and the day we came back from the cruise, in San Diego, because of the times of our flights. ON the cruise we didn't have much "sun" and too much warm weather, we only got to really sunbath and swim twice.. for about 2 hours each time. It was pretty chilly with the winds, but man we had fun. I was glad i brought a sweatshirt and a pair of long pants, because I pretty much ended up wearing it everyday of the cruise! LOL.. So in just about every picture I have the same clothes on.. But it was still fun.

Our friends, Dave and Kara, were so much fun to be with. We are both so laid back that sometimes we would have  hard time choosing what to do every night of the cruise. We saw alot of fun shows, and went to alot of the games they do. We ate a TON of food... holy cow too much. I mean we would eat even if we weren't really hungry and then we would order room service and eat more! LOL! I was pretty sick before our cruise.. and lost about 8 pounds.. but don't worry, I gained every bit of it back! ACK!

I went to the dry sauna EVERY NIGHT and almost every morning. Love Dry sauna's! So great for releasing toxins in your body, and of course it's a dry heat and about 150 degrees.. I LOVE being hot.

And then we would sit in the hot tub at night drinking hot chocolate! LOL.. But what a good time and a fun time to relax. 

Like I mentioned previous, we had some time to kill in San Diego on two days of our trip and the first day we walked from our hotel through Balboa Park and over down by San Diego Zoo (see first picture) .  It was so pretty and the buildings they are restoring down there are amazing.  On our last day, before we flew out, we also got to spend about 6 hours in San Diego and so we took a ride to the San Diego Temple (Second picture) ) ,  Coronado Island (over the cool bridge) and then we thought it would be fun to go to the San Diego beaches and try and lay out and get a nap in before we headed home. We put on our swim suits and headed down to the beach and as you can see in the third picture,  it didn't quite turn out the way we had planned! LOL!

But we had a good time laughing about it and ate at Joe's Crab Shack on the beach. I love San Diego. What a beautiful place to live. Mexico was fun too, but I would suggest to try and do the Mexican Riviera cruise if you can. We went to Cabo and Ensenada, and both cities were not quite as "tropical" as I had thought they would be. In Ensenada, there isn't a beach so we decided to take a Taxi to a flea market about 45 minutes away and we actually really enjoyed the ride through "real Mexico". So interesting to see other places. I have been there several times before growing up.. but it was cool to see it again. Cabo, there are beaches, but you have to take water taxi's to them.. which was fun, but mostly just shopping too. Next time I would love to go further south, where it's a little more tropical and where they have a lot of history sites and ruins.

Here are a couple of pictures of us in Ensenada..  Ben was being silly..  we were trying to get a picture of us with the boat and this giant Mexican flag in the background.. we are such dorks!

Well it's good to be home! I was going to share this other thing with you before I left, but didn't have a chance.. You would be so proud of me.. My best friend, Liz, had a baby girl just a few weeks before we left and oh my goodness she is so beautiful! I decided to make her a couple of burb rags and a bib with some chenille and flannel I found a few months ago.  I love making quilts and things like this, but haven't done it in SOO long!  Probably since Noah was born. So it was fun to work on something like this. I cut out and appliqued flowers onto the front of each piece, with several different layers.. it was fun.. just had to share!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! it's good to be home.. we missed our kids.. but they had fun at my dad's house.. it's always fun there!

Well have a great day!

leaving...

AKK!
I know i have been terrible about keeping my blog up and believe me.. I have SO much to share with you!

We are leaving for a trip in about 30 minutes.. but thought I would share with you ONE thing..

we played this board game over Christmas time.. with our family.. and I LOVED It. We became SO addicted too it (okay I did).. I wanted to play it ALL the time!
Then my SIL told me that you can actually play it online.. on their website.. for FREE..against other people! I was like EEK!

Mainly because we had tried to go out and find the board game and no one carries it.. only specialty shops.. soo.. now I can get my fix online! The only problem is.. I work late.. because it's a good time to work when the kids are asleep (like from 9:00-1:00am).. and then I think.. oh. I am going to play ONE game.. and then one game turns into 20 and by the time I know it's like 3 AM!!! LOL

So.. I wanted to share this with you.. BECAUSE.. I know expect ALL of you to go and get and sign up to play (it's free!).. and then let me know what your name is.. and I will include you in buddy list.. and we can play online together! so practice while i am gone! LOL

the game is called "Ticket to Ride".. The website is www.daysofwonder.com 

they actually make alot of different board games, so when you get there, go to "Play online" and then choose "ticket to ride". That is the game you want.. Make sure you check out the tutorial first on how to play! OH! Love this game.. so fun!

okay.. better be off.. gotta pack and only have 20 minutes now!

be good while I am gone! I have something fun to show and share with you when I get back! :)
p.s... I am SO short on time, I am not even going to proofread this.. so sorry about the bad grammar :)

Christy

EEK! what did i DO!!!!????

soo.. a about 2 weeks ago,   I was standing in front of my bathroom mirror and my husband came in and pulled the back of my hair up into his hands.. just kinda playing with it while we were talking.. then we both looked at my hair that way (the front of my hair had fallen out of his grasp but had created this very dramatic A-line hairdo).. and we were both like.. hey.. I (you).. should get your hair cut like that!  Then we kept on with our conversation.. but all morning I kept thinking.. I SHOULD get my haircut.. I hate short hair on me, but It's so long (it was about 1-2" past my bra line!).. I hadn't gotten it cut in 6 months! .. so.. then I called my hair girl (she is SO great! and so reasonable!).. and she got me in that night. So i went in and told her what I wanted..   A very deep a-line, but I wanted to keep it somewhat long in the front, so I wanted it at least to my collarbone, but the back like to my hairline (I know.. she was like.. hum.. okay.. that could be cute).. , Hard to image I know, but think of Posh Spice.. but ALOT longer version. I left the Salon.. Somewhat happy.. sorta of.. the color looked GREAT and the cut was what I had asked for.. (love my  hairdresser she was so great to put up with me and only charged me $65 for the cut and color!) .. but I just wasn't sure that the Aline thing worked with such LONG hair in the front (we cut like 8"-10" off the back, but only like 2" off the front)..

Well got home, and the first thing my husband said is.. "it looks good!" (good boy).... then a few seconds later.. "it looks kinda weird".. or something to that effect (honest boy! LOL.. love my husband’s honesty)... I kinda agreed.. I could have pulled it off If I lived in New York or LA and was a hip movie star.. but alas... I live in small town Idaho, rural and I would say somewhat conservative....

and so I decided that the front of it needed to be just a tad bit shorter, (like 2" shorter :))..  so  it wasn't such a dramatic a-line.. so I cut a little off the front.. but then I kept cutting and cutting.. THEN I cut too much and it wasn't really an a-line anymore. So then, I asked Ben my husband to come in and help me fix it.. and so he cut the back so it was shorter than the front...

It looked pretty good wet, so we called it good.. and although I didn't like it straight.. when I curled it from the roots out, (like I have it curled in my picture above to the left.. you know that picture up there that everyone says makes me look "proper" and stuffy :). Anyhow.. if I curled it like that.. it looked GREAT! I actually kinda liked it.. (you can get that look with a curling iron by curling your hair around the barrel from the roots out.. or using curlers the same way. I posted about it once here.. )

well today I really wanted to wear it straight.. we were going out tonight and I just didn't have the time to curl it (it takes longer to curl short hair that way then it does long! EEK!)..  and so I thought I would use some REALLY large curlers.. just enough to get the ends to curl under and see what would happen. WELL finally found a hand mirror.. so I could see what the back looked like and I hated it! the back just didn't seem short enough.. it was almost as if, my Aline only came in from the side.. then once it hit my shoulders on both sides.. and across the back it was like a little kids bob..

well I was trying to figure out what to do and after playing with it I decided the back needed to be shorter.. more Aline and also the back (and only the back) needed to be "stacked".. kinda where the hair is long on the bottom and has a few layers that are shorter and shorter.. to create "volume".
So the best way to do that was to call my hair dresser and have her do it. So I did.. but she couldn't get me in today.. and I am in the MOST impatient person.. So.. next thought, have my husband do it. So.. looked around the house and realized he was outside in his shop. Too cold to go out and get him and he didn't have his phone on him, SOOOO.. next option.. my oldest son? No.. he's more impatient than I am and that could be bad.. so okay.. then I would just do it..

so I did.. I started with the top layer of my hair in the back and cut about 2" OFF!! EEK!.. then I did a second layer and only cut about 1" off.. then another one.. then I kinda cut here and there.. and guess what.. it actually TURNED OUT..okay!!! LOL.. all with only a hand mirror and a pair of old hair cutting scissors I bought at wallmart.. I just saved myself 15 bucks! LOL..(though I know my hairdresser would have fixed my mess for free.. she is just that way..). but It's not bad.. and i can at least live with it..

so... without further adew (have no idea how to spell that word)... here is my new short straight hair cut.. ).. I still like it curled best.. but now I can just wash it and dry it and go.  if i want. ( I will curl it tommorow for church and take a picture of it curled!)..

granted.. I WILL be growing it back out.. I really really really like long hair. (I don't know what i was THINKING cutting in the first place)... but oh well hair grows! :)

So one other story before I go.. this one is funny!  So we went to see Santa last Monday, outside.. in the cold in Shelley. As we were standing in line, my son Parker (he is the one who is 11 and has Aspbergers)..  this is Parker he kept "licking" the life size candy canes that were lining the walkway we were on. I told him he better not to do it because his tongue might get stuck on it.. (Like on the movie.. A Christmas Story.. I think that's the name).. anyhow.. he stopped.. sorta of. and we got to see Santa and then left. Sooo.. the NEXT DAY.. I got a call from his School saying that he, Parker,  had stuck is TONGUE to a pole outside during recess. They couldn't get it off, so they had to radio in to get someone to get hot water and come pour it on his tongue.. so It would release from the pole. I just started to laugh!!! I am sure the person on the other end of the phone thought I was so weird.. but I just couldn't help it... she said he wanted to talk to me, as it had shook him up a bit.. so when he got on I asked him.. Parker, why did you do that? didn't I tell you that it would get stuck? He said "well yes, but I had to see for myself!"  LOL.. oh he is the FUNNIEST kiD!! I just love him to death..

well.. better go, hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas, If I don't blog before then..

hugs to you all!
Christy

Some cool things to share! :)

I am sorry it's been so quiet around here. Life and Scarlet Lime has kept me busy this past 2 weeks!
But kits are off, which means life will settle down a bit until after Christmas (right? LOL)

So.. I got this really cool thing from Making Memories and I just had to share it with you. It's perfect for your Desktop.. both in a scrapbooking room or a home office   (my husband actually loves this entire line.. he is using some of it on his own office for his "bills" and stuff). But this rounder thing is SO cool. you can spin it around to find the exact tool you need  (favorite scissors, hole punches, pens, eyelet setter, adhesives, stapler, paint brushes etc). Or fill it with your favorite products that you reach for again and again.. I have these little note tags I use on just about everything I do, so they take up one of the spots in the carousal.  It  comes with little drawers too which would be perfect inks, gems, flowers, buttons, small items like that.  They are just now shipping into stores.. so make sure you check them out! So fun and would be a GREAT gift for Christmas!

So what else is cool? I love Shutterfly... it's a great place to get prints and I LOVE their photo books. (So my style).. well  Shutterfly recently started offering single 12x12 and 8x8 prints for digital scrapbookers. They also now offer 4x8 and 5x7 photo cards for scrapbookers to create custom holiday cards.   I LOVE this concept because some of you may not know.. but I love to dabble in digital scrapbooking. My sister, Leora creates lots of fun digital embellishments (you can see them on this site here).. and so she got me started in it, when she would send me samples of the digital papers and embellishments she created.  Lots of people don't have a 12x12 printer and can't print off their 12x12 digital scrapbooking papers, but now Shutterfly has made it possible. I was just thinking.. what an GREAT gift for a husband or a grandparent. Create some quick pages for them in photoshop of the past years events and print them off at shutterfly, then put then in an album for a gift! Love it..

so anyhow.. I am just about done with a project I am working on for someone special (can't show you.. because they read the blog! LOL)..

anyhow.. so I know I mentioned my health in my last post.. didn't mean to scare anyone (my mom called and e-mailed me right away).. but I had been feeling so tired and just not myself. So I went in and had my blood work redone and found out my PCOS had actually gotten worse (PCOS is where your body produces too much testosterone and insulin). Did you know that one in every 10 women has it? MOST people don't know they do. I am already taking glucophage (which is what people take for diabetes).. I am taking it 3 times a day 500 MG per day. So now he has bumped me up to 2000mg a day.. and told me because my insulin was so high... even ON medication, that i need to go on a low carb diet and exercise.

Okay, I can totally do the exercise part (as long as I can do it at 1 am in the morning.. after all my work is done.. have to laugh at that thought).. but actually I can do it. I don't mind it, it's just finding the time.  But Low carb? AHH! I have always.. ALWAYS been on a low calorie diet. As many of you know, after my 4th child, Preston I weighed a little over 220 pounds. I finally got my butt into gear, because I had 4 small kids and needed to be healthier.. and I went on a low calorie diet and lost 90 pounds in 9 months. I have had 2 kids since then.. and have been able to loose the weight each time (this last time.. took a little longer.. and still have 15 more pounds to go).. but I have done it mostly with a low calorie diet.. and little exercise. I can totally go with little food.. but I don't know if I can go without carbs! I love bread, love pancakes, love cold cereal.. and even though I actually already eat whole grain breads (wheat and bran) and also eat wheat pancakes.. I think my doctor wants me to go on an even stricter diet. He mentioned the words "Atkins " and i was like NO!! LOL

As much as i want to be healthy.. I personally don't think an Atkins diet is healthy for anyone.. so.. I am eating a lot of cream of wheat, veggies, and protein shakes. I am not a big fan of meat and as much as I try I can't eat fish.. actually I can.. TUNA fish.. but every other kind of fish or seafood makes me gag..

so.. It's hard for me to eat meat.. because I am not a fan of steak or chicken either.. i do like ham, but that's not soo  "lean". Anyhow.. so that's my story. I started exercising last week.. ONE DAY.. then forgot to the rest of the week..so my goal is this week to start again! LOL.. we have a tread mill and weights we bought earlier this year..

and i am going to follow the book I bought last spring that helped me get into shape.. 28 day Body Shape-over  LOVE this book..seriously the BEST book every.. love it! It's great for telling you WHAT to work on (body-wise) and what to eat and when! I  would recommend it to ANYONE..

anyhow.. check  it out.. also make sure you check out Shutterfly and the new Making Memories Carousel thing. It ROCKS! have a wonderful week!
Christy

christmas at my house...

Okay, so I have been promising to show you my Christmas tree, my messy house and my "white" tree.. I will show the all except my messy house.. only because i didn't want to bother trying to get a picture of it! LOL..

so.. as I told you before, I went to Canada a few weeks ago and besides teaching classes, I also got the chance to TAKE a class from miss Carol Wingert.. ONE Freaking talented lady!! Well, I made this incredible mini album.. called the "White book".   It's full of mostly just kraft colored papers, vintage Christmas clipart and white embellishments.. plus we used this white paint stuff that was more like chalk and for the LIFE of me i can't remember the name of it now! AHH! Anyhow, Here is the picture of the finished book and one of the inside pages.. I JUST LOVE it.. so totally out of my comfort zone. I love glitter too and this book was full of it. Kinda hard to see on the pictures, but WOW.. loved it.

Well it inspired me SO much that I wanted to come home and do a "white" tree. I already had most of my decorations for our main tree, (pretty much the same as last year, but instead of the white accents with the red and green, I found these GORGEOUS glittered bronze/copper birds.. so I decided to take the white out our main tree and have the tree be red, green and copper..more of that later).. but so anyhow.. I wanted a "white tree, so I saw these fun 4' trees on sale at Michaels for $29.99 each. They came pre-light and were either in this fun ornamental "box" (for the base) or a more Tuscany style pot thing.. I opted for the white base, since most of the wood, carpet and walls in my house are brown. I needed something to contrast. PLUS it went perfect with the 'White" tree concept. I bought tree of them.. one for the white tree, and two for outside on our front porch! I didn't take picture of those, but will when we get all our "outside" decorations up..

anyhow.. so I had all of these left over white ornaments from not using them on our big tree and so I didn't even have to buy a thing for it.   All of the ornaments, balls, ribbons, garland.. everything came from the Dollar store last year.. and then the wonderful women from Canada last year.. (same event as above).. sent me these two gorgeous white glittered ornaments all the way from New Brunswick for Christmas. I almost died! They were so gorgeous..   so everything just fit so perfectly on the tree. It sits in my front entry way of our house.. right as you walk in.. and I love it..

So next to the white tree, I have my "entry way" table. I haven't quite finished decorating it yet, but I have all of these candles from years past, and I so I found this fun wreath on sale at JoAnn's.. and just put the candle on a "plate" I got for a $1.00! and put the wreath around it. Then I have this cool glass   vase I got at a local store here called " real deals.. LOVE That store.. you can also find glass vases like this at Wal-mart or craft stores.. Wal-mart has them for CHEAP those (under 10 bucks). Anyhow.. just filled them up with the balls left over from years past, that had the tops "pulled" off them by kids.. it worked out perfect. I still have a few more things to put on the table.. but I like it. Above it sits a picture of Christ and the Family Proclamation.. (which is up actually all year round).. but so fitting at Christmas time.

So our Main Christmas tree, like I said it alot of things left over from last year and the year before, but I wanted to take out the white and put in the copper to give it a more "homey" feel.. much like our "old" house is.. just cozy and comfy.. so here is our tree. I found these dang cute birds at the Dollar Tree store (they had them in gold and in white too).. and then I also found a bunch of "copper and bronze" embellishments at the dollar store too, like picks, feathers, balls.. etc.. all fit perfectly! and cheap! I found these cool felt stars too.. SOO dang cute.. they had them in red and green.. so I bought the green ones for the tree.. and bought a few packs of red ones for craft/scrapbooking projects.   I thought they would Be SOO Cute in a mini album.. I bought a few of those ATC rounders from 7 Gypsies, and i want to make a few Christmas "albums" using those.. one of them I wanted to do red, black and green, and I thought these stars would be cute like cut in half.. and halfway on the page.. LOVE em. They are so intricate.. they had ornament shaped ones too, and also reindeer ones too. They came 4 to a pack.. and they are about 4-5" wide.. that's pretty good deal..

anyhow, so that's my my story..

I have some news about my health.. and exercising again.. but this post is so long.. and we don't want to spoil it with boring talk about me and my health! LOL.. so I will post about it later..

Happy Holidays!
hugs!
Christy

and it's almost DECEMBER??

holy cow.. where does the time go?

Well in the past 2 weeks (since getting back from Canada).. we managed to get up our Christmas tree (a week BEFORE thanksgiving).. have a WONDERFUL, laid back and RELAXING thanksgiving.. holy cow.. one of the best times ever.. just so nice.. thanks TIA. Get ALL Of our christmas shopping done (again ALL before thanksgiving.. (can you believe it? NO black friday shopping for me.. that's a FIRST).. well okay, I Lied, I did get a few things online. but it sure beat getting up early and leaving the house in freezing cold weather.. and I STILL got what I needed for the kids.

I am going to post later tonight or tomorrow with pictures of our tree, OUR MESSY house and some other cool stuff I found these past two weeks.. sorry to be so bad at this..

getting everything under control... slowly..

christy

update on New Scrapbooking store in Shelley..

Okay! I have an update for you on the store in Shelley. I have had a lot of e-mails asking about the hours, etc. So I thought I would post it here too.

SO to recap! There is a new scrapbooking store that opened up in Shelley! It's called Simply Scraps and this store has unbelievable prices on everything.. EVERYDAY. Like I mentioned before some of the things she had were the American Crafts "thickers" for $2.99 (GREAT deal), cardstock for $.20, the new expressions cricuit for $329.00 (I THINK).. but i Know I paid $349.00 for mine ON SALE at Roberts)..

anyhow, so if you are in the area.. you need to stop by!

Her GRAND opening is Saturday!! (she hasn't opened yet.)

and here are her stores hours>

For her grand opening this Saturday: 9-6

Regular hours:

Monday- Thursday: 10-3

Friday: 10-6

Saturday 10-2

The store is located at 173 W. Pine (right off the main hi-way in Shelley). SO easy to find.

Anyhow.. If you are in Idaho falls and out about on Saturday, stop by! I know the The big Craft show is also this weekend at the Bonneville High School, and Mini Bazaar is this weekend.. so if you are out, come this way and see what she has in.. one thing i did see when I was there a week ago was the new chipboard alpha/shape combo from Bo Bunny.. SO dang cute.. she has most of their "dots" line.. which was released at CHA summer.. so cute.. I have been considering it for the kit club!

oh and thanks for all the e-mail on Lasik eye surgery! excited to check out all the places recommended so far..

hugs!
christy

Back from Canada...

Holy cow.. what a wonderful trip that was.... It's always very tiring.. and alot of work (I taught 5 different classes in 2 days).. but MAN so worth it. I swear there is something in the water in New Brunswick.. but everyone there is just Sooo seriously nice and easy going. Plus not to mention the staff.. so fun to hang out with and SUCH wonderful help! I was there with 4 other teachers.. the same teachers I attended the event with last year and I always love spending time with those crazy ladies.

Tena, Carol, Kah-mei,  and Debbie.. we sure know how to have fun. I got the opportunity one night after classes were over, to take one of Carol's classes. It was a "white" class. OH my goodness! I loved it! Some really cool techniques and not to mention the project is beyond gorgeous. It's something totally outside of my element (very shabby vintage) and oh wow.. I was so excited with the finished project. I have plans for it.. so I can't show it just yet (Christmas present for someone who reads this blog! LOL)..

but it was gorgeous! So thanks Carol! :) and thanks the Scrapgala women.. ALL of them for making it such a wonderful experience for me.

Now it's back to life.. as usual. My husband did a great job while I was gone.. getting lots done around here and loads of laundry finished. What a great guy. I could tell that he was ready for me to come home though! LOL..

He's got lots of jobs going on this month.. so he is busy himself.

I have to tell you about a VERY cool store that just opened up here in Shelley. If you live in Eastern Idaho, you have to make a drive to come visit it.. It's a new scrapbooking store, called Simply Scraps..  It's a friend in my neighborhood, who decided after I don't know how many years.. to finally follow her dreams and open up this store. The idea behind it is that everything is ALWAYS on sale. I mean her prices are unbelievable. She has a ton of great stuff in too.. great selection of all styles. My favorite was her  American crafts "thickers" wall.. she has so many different styles and the great part is they are all only $2.99!! I can't believe it.. I mean the normally retail I think for at least $4.00, I have seem them sometimes for even $4.99.. Her cardstock is $.20, she has all sorts of fun papers from just about everyone, Adhesives, brads.. She EVEN has the new Expressions Cricuit! and the price was unbelievable! I just bought one at Roberts and it cost me like $349.00 ON SALE.. and hers I think is listed at $329.00, every day price.  She has lots of cartridges for it too.. and all the cool gadgets like mats, blades.. etc. SO much cheaper than Roberts sale prices.. It's great to finally have a store in Shelley that is not only so close, but to have great prices!

If you want to check it out, it's pretty easy to find. If you come in on the old Hi-way from Idaho falls, you will come down the "main" street of Shelley, that has all the fun little shops on it like the Ribbon retreat, the Virginia Theater, etc. Well just past the Mexican restaurant, there is a small road that curves to the right (that goes down to the post office).  I can't remember the name, but if you turn right onto that street, the small shops continue and she is like the 3rd shop down on the right. It's a cute redbrick front and her sign is on her store. It's so easy to find. You have to go.. if you are even thinking about getting one of those Cricuits.. you have to go there to get it. Can't beat the price!

Well.. Lots to catch up on today... but wanted to check in and say hello! Missed my kids and my husband while I was gone.

OH! I did have a question for all of you who live in Idaho or Utah. I am looking into having Lasik eye surgery.. I almost can't even wear my contacts anymore and I have a hard time wearing glasses without tripping over things.. or misjudging the distance of things. I hear you can get it done pretty reasonable in Utah.. and for as much as these "special" contacts cost me.. I swear I could have paid surgery and saved myself money in under 2 years (compared to my yearly doctor eye exam and my contacts every month). I wondered if any of you have had it done.. if so, where? .. I want to go somewhere with great prices, but also want to go to someone that I know someone else has gone too. If you have and would be willing to share that info, e-mail me! Christytomlinson@gmail.com

Have a great week!
Christy