2010: A Year in Pictures

January: Bowling Party for our Friend Chad's Birthday

February: Petsmart Charities 5K PetWalk

March: Coyotes Defeat Ducks


April: Sky Fox Lands on our Playground

May: We Drain the Pool Which Boggles Captain's Mind

and I Meet Luis Gonzalez (Which Boggles My Mind)!

June: My Niece's Wedding in Kansas

and Traditional Flagstaff Fire for Corey's Birthday

July: We Add a Family Member!

August: We Go to Gonzo's Jersey Retirement Game

September: Corey Has Surgery But He Has a Window Seat

October: We Buy a Motorcycle!

November: Suns Lose to Bulls :(

December: Caprica's First Motorcycle Ride

Love and Happiness to All in 2011!

B is for Barn

ARTastic challenged scrappers to use the Botticelli painting "The Mystical Nativity" as inspiration this month.


When I saw the stable I knew I had to scrapbook the big, red barn my dad built in our backyard when I was a kid.

I found 4 good pictures of the barn that I wanted to use. I wanted to make the pictures float above the barn like the angels in the painting.
I noticed in "The Mystical Nativity" Botticelli uses a lot of red, gold, and blue so I tried to stick to that color scheme. I drew the barn's floor plan in the letter B, which at first I painted black but then changed to red.

It felt good to document at least a few of the many happy memories I had in and around that barn.

Silver Dreams by Sondra Rice Newman

Sometimes you just need to read a book where a girl quits her successful career, buys a one-eyed horse for $500, discovers the horse is a race horse, and becomes even richer as a result. And sometimes you need to read a book where a girl falls in love with an alcoholic who quits cold turkey for her. And sometimes you need to read a book where you never have to worry one minute that something isn't going to go wrong like in real life. If it's that time for you, read Silver Dreams.

And now I've completed my Colorful Reading Challenge! A recap:

Ruby by Ann Hood finished 4/27/10

Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman finished 5/2/10

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman finished 8/7/10

Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead finished 9/4/10

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg finished 9/8/10

The Red Dragon by Thomas Harris finished 10/10/10

Rose in a Storm by Jon Katz finished 10/20/10

Lily White by Susan Isaacs finished 12/19/10

Silver Dreams by Sondra Rice Newman finished 12/26/10

If I had to pick a favorite from the batch, I would have to choose Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.

Four of the books I read for the challenge have been on my shelf for quite awhile, so thank you Lost in Books for hosting the challenge and getting those books off the shelf.

Now I need to find a new challenge for next year...

scrapbook room remodel part 1

I just wanted to tear the carpet out of my scrapbook room because I was sick of it! In my mind this was a one day venture, and like all home improvement projects, I grossly miscalculated the span of this enterprise. First I had to take each and every knick-knack, box, and bottle out of the room which took forever. Corey decided since that took so long we might as well paint! We painted one wall Pepper Grass and the bookshelves and desk hutch Wickford Bay which is blue.
Do you like the green? I made a little place I could put my Fuji Instax pictures until they get scrapped:

I also put up these mini-clothespins I had to hang up pictures that come in the mail, pictures I come across and want to scrap soon, etc. I was thinking of putting up more because I'm a "more is more" kind of gal. Should I put up more or is that enough?

I put my Jackass 3D glasses on my model. You can see the blue we used on the shelf.

I hung up this banner I found at Target to display the handmade cards and drawings my friends and family make for me.


This had a bunch of scrapbook junk on it before, but now it's for my most frequently used scissors.

I painted the outlet covers to match. It took about 4 coats of paint (they're at 2 coats in this picture)! A little tip: if you put them on wax paper to dry the paint will stick but it peels right off.

What's left? Flooring, track lighting, and chalkboard paint talk bubbles on the closet doors.

2010 Book Quiz

I found this book quiz on LibraryThing and had fun wasting time filling it out. You're supposed to answer the questions with titles of books read this year.

Describe yourself: The God of Small Things
How do you feel? The Running Man
Describe where you currently live: City of God
If you could go anywhere...? The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Favorite form of transportation: Coal Black Horse
Best friend is: Chocolat
You and your friends are: Outcasts United
What's the weather like... Bless Me, Ultima
Favorite time of day? V
What is life for you? The Slippery Slope
You fear: Breaking the Tongue
Best advice: A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life
Thought for the day: Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior
How I would like to die: Garden Spells
My soul's present condition: Rose in a Storm

Who else wants to play?

P.S. Can't remember where I found this picture. It was called Washed Up Lovers or Dance with Voices.

Merry Christmas!

Dear Nicole,

Merry Christmas! I've made a $25 donation [to the Arizona Humane Society] in honor of you and Corey and Captain and Caprica. I think it's amazing what you guys did for both those little dogs. They are in a good home and safe (and fixed!)

Love,

Stephanie

What a great gift! Hope everyone gets what they wished for today! And here are some gratuitous photos of the little dogs:

secret santa

I was Secret Santa to the guy who doesn't know how to ride a bike. He was the most difficult SS I've ever had. He said he liked the Eagles and cooking, and he needed something useful and a vacation. Oh, sure, no problem. I decided to give him a Mind Vacation instead, leaving a page here and there in his box, and the rest on Reveal Day in a scrapbook. I've been wanting to do a paper doll project so he got to be my guinea pig (not Strega Nona).
I was trying to make a paddle board and paddle out of cardstock just from looking at pictures on the internet. It was fun!

My favorite part was making the mask. I punched 2 holes with a hole punch and then cut around them:

Here's his girlfriend. She's really nice so I think she should get to go too:

I wanted to make him hang-glide but it was just too complicated for a short time-frame! I like my hot air balloon though! I used a balloon template and string to help make the balloon:

You can see where the "paddle board" picture came from:

You know you're running out of ideas when...

I only had to make the hat, gloves, and boots because the suit came from an old gift tag. I used a cotton ball for the hat.
I call this one, "Standing in the trees watching you! I'm your Secret Santa/Stalker!" I took his pictures off of facebook so I felt like a stalker. But we are facebook friends.

I also gave him some lottery tickets so hopefully he will win enough money to take a real vacation.

Let's play a game!

Can you guess which book I finished reading yesterday? I've actually read it before, but I read it again because...well, that might give it away.

Thanks again to Polaroid Cupcake for the inspiration.

Photo Credits:
1. Treasure Map 2. King 3. Shore 4. Mouse 5. Dragon 6. Mermaid 7. Birds 8. Lion 9. Anchor

Lily White by Susan Isaacs

I love the movie Stranger Than Fiction. I noticed once while watching it that I had one of the books sitting on Professor Jules Hilbert's bookshelf, Lily White.
I bought this book from Hastings for 25 cents some time around 1998. This book has survived 5 moves and sat on my shelf quietly until the Colorful Reading Challenge combined with my love of Stranger Than Fiction forced me to actually read it.



Before I started the book I began thinking about this scene:

Harold: I just remember "Little did he know that the simple, seemingly innocuous act would lead to his imminent death."

Professor Jules: What?!

H: "Little did he know..."

PJ: Did you say, "Little did he know"? I've written papers on "Little did he know." I used to teach a class based on "Little did he know." I mean, I once did an entire seminar on "Little did he know." Son of a bitch Harold. "Little did he know" means there's something he doesn't know. That means there's something you don't know. Did you know that?
Uh, I want you to come back Friday.

H: Ok.

PJ: No! "Imminent." You could be dead by Friday! Come back tomorrow at 9:45.

H: 10 seconds ago you said you wouldn't help me.

PJ: It's been a very revealing 10 seconds Harold.

Was this book carefully placed on his bookshelf because it contained the phrase, "Little did he know" or was it randomly placed there by a prop master? Would 'Little did he know' be in the book?

Although I never read that phrase, it was there thematically throughout. Little did Lee know that the defendant... Little did she know that his girlfriend... Little did she know that her husband... Little did she know that her best friend...

Movie connection aside, I wished I hadn't waited so long to read it! Lily "Lee" White is an attorney defending a con man in a murder case, and every other chapter is devoted to Lee's life story which is filled with family drama, feminism, and friendship.

Because this story had many little surprises and a good dose of girl power I loved this book. Little did I know I had a great mystery sitting on my shelf all these years!

P.S. I've read 8/9 books for the Colorful Reading Challenge! One to go!

Happy 1st Day of Winter!

And it's raining today!!! A Christmas miracle!!!

P.S. Meeting to feed birds is by Matte Stephens.

We got a new dog!

Just kidding! We are dog sitting for my friend. Have you ever seen a blonde weiner dog before? I haven't! Her name is Chicago. She's a Chicago Dog! Get it?!

Caprica needs to know I still love her.

And I took this right before my battery died. You can sort of see Caprica's fauxhawk.

They are all getting along pretty good. Captain is friend to all.

Good Luck Sea Shepherds!

The Sea Shepherds left for the Antarctic on Thursday, and for the first time they will get there before the illegal Japanese whalers! According to the Sea Shepherds website, the Japanese are having trouble hiring a supply ship since they have done such a good job convincing people the Sea Shepherds are terrorists. Ha!

Good luck with Operation No Compromise! Save the whales!

P.S. Humpback Whale is by Lisa Congdon.
The second photo is of the Sea Shepherds' new interceptor vessel, Gojira!

scrappin like a mad woman

Over the Thanksgiving break I finally got to organize my scrapbook room which is almost done with stage 1 of its remodel. I had a bunch of pictures hanging around that I've been meaning to scrap, and once I got my table cleared off I did all of this in one night!!!

2008 Photo Cards (I love photo cards!):






From a broken photo frame (I only had to trim it and add journaling):


Last year's photo cards:




Next time I'll have to post my remodel pictures.