Sunday, December 31, 2006

Marley Update and Scrap Stuff

Marley is doing great. When Chad brought her home on Wednesday, she didn't really know what to think, but she's doing better now. We have to keep her calmed down and near us every minute so she doesn't put strain on her foot. She really wants to run and play, but she's being really good. The bandages come off this Wednesday, and the stiches come out next Wednesday, but she still has to take it easy for 6 more weeks after that.

I went to my monthly crop with my scrap group yesterday. I only managed to finish one page, as we had alot of other stuff going on, too. I did a page about Marley's surgery. She only has to wear the cone when we can't watch her constantly.


One of the girls who came as a guest yesterday was getting ready to have a scrap supply 'garage sale', so about 9 of us went to her house to go shopping. OH MY GOSH...this girl was selling the best stuff! Stuff on my wishlist! I got the Autumn Leaves/ Katie Pertiet journaling stamp set for $5! A quickutz accent die set for $10, a few sheets of 7gypsies rub-ons, some AC Thickers, a big package of glue dots, a tin of the elusive Maya Road huge bottle caps....almost $70 worth of stuff for $20! And all of it was brand new and unopened. Awesome.

Have a very Happy New Year!!! I'll be scrapping some more over the next couple days, so more layouts will be coming!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

New Layouts and Christmas

I hope everyone out there had an awesome Christmas. I know I did! Christmas Eve, my friend and I scrapped until midnight while the guys watched football (and whatever else!). I had gotten our dogs fluffy bell collars to wear for the party we had on Friday, so I made her dog a flower collar to wear. I took a photo of Greta (their dog) in it, and it turned out so good, I just had to scrap it:


Christmas was fun. I got my big present a few weeks ago, a 50mm f1.4 lens for my camera. Chad suprised me with it before we went on our trip. On Christmas morning I opened up some kitchen utensils (OXO wooden ones...Chad thought he was giving a corny gift, but I LOVED it! I NEED new utensils!), a digital meat thermometer (I actually wanted that, too!), a cool Neoprene lunch bag that we had seen on TV, a dark pink Colombia sweater, and Chad suprised me with a pair of Pearl Studs. I've been wanting some for over a year, because I lost one from my other pair I had. So sweet!

I got scrap stuff from Chad's parents (Including the pink bag with the pink Cutterpede trimmer), and GC to Jo-Ann from one set of friends. Another friend gave us a GC to the movie theatre, another gave us a GC to the Cheesecake factory, and Chad's secretary and her husband gave us a GC to a nice local restaurant on Marco Island. Both Chad's parents and my parents are giving us money to go toward our new patio furniture, and my Dad made us a whole gallon size baggie FULL of his famous home made beef jerky. Seriously, it's the best jerky on the planet. We got it a week and a half ago and it's almost gone. I've been eating it for meals.

Yesterday, we went out and picked out our patio furniture, made a quick run to the Scrapbook store so I could replace all those brads I used up fr gift wraping, and then I scrapped some more when I got home:


Yes, that is THREE photos you see on that page. Amazing, isn't it? And they're ALL 4x6! I usually scrap one 5x7. I easing my way into multiple photos, so I will be all set when I tackle the page about Chad's mahogany chair.

Marley (our lab) is getting her knee surgery today, so please send out good thoughts! She's going to be babied and spoiled for the next 8 weeks!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Random Shots of Christmas

Well, everything is done. I'm all ready and looking forward to Monday. We finished tidying up the house tonight for our Christmas party that we're having tomorrow night. Everything just looks so pretty, so I thought I'd take some random photos of all things Christmassy.










I think my favorite is the one of my Mermaid Angel. My Mom got it for me as a Christmas gift about 6 years ago before Chad and I moved away, so I'd have it when I had a tree of my own. It's so pretty, and so FLORIDA!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Wrapped Gifts


I just wanted to share a few of the gifts that I've wrapped so far. I love gift wrapping. I treat each package like it's own individual craft project. I got three different papers from Pier 1 this year, and the white one in front is American Crafts paper! The glittery snowflakes are also from Pier 1. The flower centers in the gold one and the small one are seed beads. I think my favorite is the pink one, because, well....it's pink! And I put a double layer of Heidi Swapp flowers on that one.

I hope everyone's holiday preparations are going well!

Zing Boom Design Team Search


So, last week I submitted to the Design Team search for the new kit Zing Boom. I didn't get chosen, but when I saw the names of the ladies who got it, I didn't feel bad at all! They're so talented. Then, I scrolled down. There, under the Honorable Mention section, near the bottom was my name. Penelope Lach. How freaking cool is that?

I haven't been on any DT's or been published, so this is like WAY COOL for me! This is the first thing I've gotten as far as scrapping related stuff. I'm so excited! This kit looks like it's going to be really cool. She only has a sneak peek posted right now, but I still want one! Definitely check it out. I bet it's going to be one of those ones that sells out like mad.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Update on Marley

Well, Marley didn't end up having surgery yesterday. When they put her under at the surgeon's vet to do more detailed x-rays, she got a rather bad case of diarrhea. Yuck. They said it's probebly because she's nervous from being left at the vet so much the past few days, especially since we've been away. So of course it made me feel horrible that I made my poor baby sick.

Soooo, they want to make sure that gets cleared up and give her a couple weeks to chill. She goes back in on the 26th of this month to get the surgery.

The surgery is the other new development. She DOES have hip displaysia in her left hip, but it is in the VERY early stages. The nurse said dogs with hips several times worse than her are often not limping yet. What is causing her limping is her knee- she has a torn ligament. I don't know how it happened, but it's there. So, Marley is having knee surgery instead. The part that's going to be a little difficult is instead of a 2-day recovery time as with the hip surgery, this one will be 8 WEEKS! No running hard before the surgery so it doesn't tear completely, and then after, no getting up on furniture or the bed. Only walk outside to go to the bathroom. Very limited time on her feet. We'll see how it goes. We're talking about a dog who loves to run and play, get up on our bed and curl up with us, and has a little doggie brother that she likes to wrestle with. I'm sure all will be fine, though.

I found these treats on the Trixie and Peanut website when I was ordering their Christmas presents. I am totally getting them for her for after the surgery. They are just too cute!


Thank you so much to everyone who left well wishes for her surgery! I know she'll be fine. I'm glad we can do something to make her all better!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Miss Marley Butt


Our baby Marley has to go in for Hip Surgery tomorrow. Several months ago we noticed she was getting stiff after running outside alot, so we started her on Joint Care vitamins. It worked for a while, but over the past month, it's gotten worse. By the time we left for vacation, she was hardly walking on her back left leg.

She went in yesterday, and as we assumed, she has full-blown Hip Displaysia in her left hip. The surgery is something to the effect of grinding out the cartilidge surrounding the joint so muscle can grow around it. The Doctor said she'll be walking and playing withing two day after the surgery, so that's good.

She's 4 1/2, so I know the sugery will go well for her. I thought that was young at first, but the vet said it is pretty common for it to show around her age. Just keep my sweet pea in your thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery!

Monday, December 04, 2006

...to Grandmother's house we went!


Imagine this house, but with fallen leaves. I love that house. It's home to me. It's weird now that Grandpa's gone, but I still love being there and seeing Grandma!

We left the Sunday after Thanksgiving and took a day and a half to drive to North Little Rock, Arkansas. We stayed there a couple days, then took Grandma with us to my parents house for my Bev's (my sister) 18th birthday party. Grandma is staying with them for a few weeks. We got home last night. It was so hard coming back to work today!

Oh, and a really cool thing...Grandma has a Hobby Lobby AND a Scrapbook store a block from her house! Of course I came back with a couple goodies, but I was pretty good and didn't spend too much (A lort of it was adhesive!). We need a Hobby Lobby here.

I'll update with some photos soon. I just need to get back into the swing of things. A very long blog post is coming up!