Today was our Sea World day during our Florida vacation. It was chilly, but sunny, so very nice. We didn’t get too cold until the sun started going down in the evening.

We started with the sting ray and dolphin feeding areas before heading to the dolphin show. It was so fun, and very cool getting so close to the animals! The penguin habitat (photo) was neat too, as was the shark exhibit. They have a very cool “cirque” type show, and we finished the day off with the Shamu show. Unfortunately it was too cold to run the roller coasters (or at least that was the story!), so we missed out on Manta & Kracken.

It really brought back memories since I remember having season tickets to Sea World in San Antonio back when I was 12! It’s amazing to see how things have changed. Very, very cool experience today.

Oh yeah, and we topped it off with dinner at Miller’s Ale House… Awesome seafood mac & cheese!! :)

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So yesterday we went to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was very, very cool! We were lucky to see the space shuttle Endeavor out on the launch pad. It’s scheduled to launch in early February, but they roll it out 30 days early, so we hit it just in time.

If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit. It wasn’t so educational that it lost interest. There’s lots to do too, so definitely plan a full day! We’d love to go back and hit the Hall of Fame as well!

Pics to come… I didn’t take any with my phone, just my digi camera.

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Holy cow!  I log on to my computer, and my RSS reader comes up just like every day, and I see Margie Romney-Aslett has a new post… cool!  She’s super talented and super funny, I always look forward to her posts!  She has been embarking on a new and exciting adventure since leaving a scrapbooking company recently (Hmmm, sound like someone you know?).  A few days ago she posted a contest for a prize from her new endeavor which was still top secret! lol

Ok, so back to the post… I’m reading it and she announces she’s teaming up with her daughters for a new online kit club!  Very cool! And the prize she’s giving away is 6 months membership to that club!  Even cooler!  And then… you’re not going to believe this… she drew MY name!!  Holy heck! Seriously?!?!  The video’s even there to prove it!

WOW!!!  Thank you Margie!!  This is so awesome! I am so excited about this, and here’s why… over the past year I’ve kind of lost the “spark” for scrapbooking. I’ve been needing a swift kick in the pants to get me back in the groove.  And on top of that, there’s the whole unemployed thing going on, so it’s an awesome, awesome, awesomely exciting thing! 

~Heather

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This past weekend was Bike MS, a 150 mile bike ride from Frisco to Fort Worth. To say it was eventful is an understatement! lol

First of all, the City of Fort Worth cancelled all outdoor public gatherings due to the swine flu!  Well the ride was supposed to finish on Sunday in Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth.  After some scrambling, the route for day 2 was changed to be out and back from Texas Motor Speedway.

So Friday night was the Expo at the Embassy Suites… very awesome! Jack and I decided not to stay at the hotel this year since we had Angel recovering from seizures and Spaz recovering from his surgery.

Saturday morning started bright and early.  Jack had to be at the SAG meetup at 5:45 AM, so yeah, very early!! lol  I was lucky enough to be driving a loaner Toyota Highlander since Toyota was a sponsor.  Woo hoo!!  Once Jack was loaded up with his SAG driver, I headed out to the first rest stop.  The day was full of driving between rest stops, picking up lunch and running it back to other rest stops… thank goodness for that Highlander and my GPS!!

All day long it was overcast and threatening rain.  At one point in the afternoon you could feel the temperature just plummet! I was passing the Tour Director on the road, and the next thing you know she’s pulling up next to me and her driver is waving me to her car.  I got in to find out that hail was moving into the area, and they were calling the ride.  We had to clear everyone off the road.  We were at the only rest stop with no shelter, so they immediately got moving clearing out that rest stop while I headed to the last one to help the SAG coordinator from that end.  Not long after I got out on the road, it was raining.  I felt horrible for those cyclists who were riding in the rain.

I got to the rest stop, donned my poncho (thank goodness I remembered to throw it in the car), and we directed cyclists to cover until we got the official word that the road was clear behind us. As I was heading back towards the finish, I came across about 50 cyclists huddled under an overpass.  Police were with them and they were waiting for SAG vans to come pick them up.  No one was willing to leave their bikes, so I left empty handed.  The same thing happened a few minutes later at a Valero station.

It was such a relief when we finally heard that everyone was safely off the course. Now the question, with the threat of more weather, what would happen to Day 2?? When we left the Speedway there was a weather meeting about to take place, and on the way home we drove through a monsoon!

It wasn’t long after we got home that I got the phone call… Day 2 was cancelled. It was a bummer, but I knew we couldn’t put people out there knowing that we’d be having bad weather again.

Well, we woke up Sunday morning, and it was a great day!  The sun even came out at one point!  Apparently the weather that we were fearing came through faster than they thought, and passed through overnight.  So we ended up with a nice Sunday, and got lots done… including cupcakes! :o)

Next year will even be bigger and better! And I think I may try to get my HAM license before then so we can be a better part of communications.  But we’ll see!

~Heather

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I’ve decided that I’m not going to call it “busy” anymore… just active! lol

Last weekend was the celebration of my grandfather’s 97th birthday.  I made him a cake that looked like his cowboy hat that he wears to church every Sunday.  I’ll post a photo soon.  Most of our extended family came up for it, so it was a great time of visiting and catching up with everyone!

This past weekend Jack rode in the Tour of Dallas bike ride.  20 miles!  I’m so proud of him!  I’ll post photos later once I get them off the camera.  I was supposed to ride too, but had some mechanical issues.  Instead I was his personal SAG vehicle. :o)

Later that day we took the dogs to the off-leash dog park (which is becoming a daily thing), and since I didn’t ride that morning I decided to walk them to the park!  It’s 2.05 miles… gulp!  Cool thing though, I bought the Nike+ sensor thing that you can put in your tennis shoes and it feeds information about your walk to you iPod.  I don’t have the Nike shoes, but there’s all kinds of ways to use it with other shoes too.  When I plug my iPod into the computer it uploads my walk/run information and keeps track of it online.  Cool, huh?  Even cooler is the little avatar thing that I can put on my blog so that YOU can see how far/fast/etc. I’ve walked/ran and keep me accountable!  Right now she’s on the right sidebar, down towards the bottom.  Check her out, my mini me is pretty rockin’!

This month is going to be super, super ACTIVE!!  Next weekend is Easter and we’ve got family egg hunts, and more.  The next weekend we travel to Houston and Austin to drive a SAG van in the BP MS 150 bike ride.  Monday, April 20th we’ll also be in Austin for the Cyclists in Suits lobbying day at the Capital.  Then there’s a soldering class I’m helping out with.  Then the next weekend (the first weekend in May) is the Sam’s Club MS 150 in Dallas/Fort Worth where Jack is HAM’ing, and I’m helping with the rest stops!  Whew!  So basically, if you don’t see me, don’t get responses to emails, etc. during the month of April, don’t send out a search party just yet!  lol

Today, I’m chilling out at Panera Bread, taking advantage of their free wi-fi while waiting to go to my doctor’s appointment, then heading to the office after that.  Also working on a new website for Jack, but more on that later.

Lots of stuff for “later!”  So I’ll definitely be posting again real soon!
~Heather

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From Ali Edwards’ blog:

Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2009?It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother’s word or your spouse’s word or your child’s word – this is YOUR word.

One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here’s one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren’t ready for it yet. Again, be open to the possibilities.

One. Little. Word.

Ali has posted this challenge on her blog for a couple of years now, and I always think about it, but can never seem to settle on a word.  Well this year is no different!  I have three.

Hope
Health
Happiness

Hope – Hope for what this year will bring, especially in the area of expanding our family.

Health – Because Jack and I both have plans to better our health this year.  It’s just something we can’t ignore anymore.

Happiness – I want to do what makes me happy.  If there’s something that doesn’t make me happy, make me smile, make me appreciate life, it’s not going into my life.  I’m tired of the negativity.

So, I guess it’s Three Little Words! :o)

~Heather

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If you don’t know, I have another blog that I’ve kept up with off and on (surprise, surprise!) for over three years.  It’s a chronicle of our journey trying to conceive a child.  I’ve updated it with our saga from this past week, which kind of gives you an idea of what’s been going on around here lately!  lol  http://build-a-family.blogspot.com/

Other than trying to make a baby, I’ve been swamped with custom charm orders (see http://sweet-and-charming.blogspot.com).  Luckily I’m finishing up the last of my outstanding orders tonight.  The rest of the week I’ll be working on a cake for a party on Saturday.  It’s going to be a challenge, and I can’t wait to show you pictures… if it turns out ok!!  lol

So that’s my quick update.  I’m fully expecting the next couple of weeks to be crazy! My last craft show of the year is Saturday,  and my custom order deadline is the 19th, so maybe it will calm down after that!!  Maybe!

~Heather

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Happy Pre-Halloween!

Originally uploaded by dacriscloset

Today was our company Halloween day since a bunch of people will be
off tomorrow. We have a costume contest, a spooky spread (pot luck),
department decorating and pumpkin decorating contests. I entered the
pumpkin contest with a Cinderella’s Coach (pictured). It turned out
really cute, but I didn’t win. :( the “blue whale” pumpkin won… I
have to admit it was cute though, she used excedrin for the teeth!
My pumpkin is still a winner in my heart! LOL

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In the words of a super cool friend of mine….

OH. MY. HECK!!!

Found this on YouTube today!  If you have kids you’ve probably already seen it.  It’s from a show called LazyTown (what’s scary is that my husband recognized the song and knew the show!!  Um… honey, we need to talk! lol). 

So here it is… and I DARE you to get the song out of your head!!!  lol

(If you can’t see the embedded video above, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-azqXygCzO8)

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Yep, yesterday I aged a whole year… in one day!  lol  Seriously though, it was my birthday, and after a Multiple Sclerosis Society fundraiser in the morning, I had an awesome evening with Heather, Valita and Joanna!  Thanks ladies for a great birthday… and to Heather for the fabulous chocolate fondue!

Tomorrow morning we’re having a bake sale at the office for United Way, so of course I had to do a cake!  I had this great idea to do a bunch of little cakes with this new flower pan I bought, but um, they didn’t turn out so well.  So plan B was this… a Chocolate Irish Cream cake with Irish Buttercream Icing, and fondant flowers & leaves on top.

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We had a special surprise tonight after dinner. well sort of at dinner. lol For his gift, we gave my dad tickets to the Mavericks game tonight! I kind of cheated. our gift limit was $5, and these were $150 seats, but I kind of didn’t cheat because my boss gave them to me from his season tickets! :o) I’m such a cheater!

Here’s a few shots from the game… me and Jack, my guys (Jack, my dad and my brother), and a panorama of the game.

The panorama shot is actually four shots merged together (which is why you see players at both ends of the court! lol). If you have any version of Photoshop, go to File -> Automate -> Photomerge and Photoshop will automagically merge together photos that have common pieces. So it will put your panoramas together for you! Cool, huh? Now you can never say you didn’t learn anything from this blog! lol

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Here it is, the birthday cake for six people, and yes, that is over 240 candles on the cake!! I’ll try to post another picture with them all lit!

EDIT: Here’s the photo of the lit candles…. well as many as we could get lit before we started getting scared that we’d burn the restaurant down! And we had lots of tables around us watching us carefully! lol  Jack started lighting one side, and the candles were so close together that they began lighting each other, which is why there’s a big flame on one end!  And we didn’t have a lighter so we were doing this all with matches… YIKES!  We fore-went the “Happy Birthday” song and just went straight for blowing out the candles!  Whew… if you ever think that covering a cake with candles is a good idea because it will be funny to see them all lit… think again!  Or have a fire extinguisher ready!!!

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Mmmmm…. Dessert!

Originally uploaded by dacriscloset

When our waiter found put we were celebrating our anniversary he insisted on bringing us a complimentary dessert… This AWESOME cheesecake!!! It was seriously wonderful, not that frozen cheesecake like most places serve! LOL.

Overall a great (yet overpriced!) meal!

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More Food part 2

Originally uploaded by dacriscloset

Had to share this photo of Jack enjoying his dinner too! Can’t forget Jack! :o) He was in the midst of picking up a roll when I snapped this!

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More Food!

Originally uploaded by dacriscloset

We decided to celebrate our anniversary by dinning at Fogo de Chao this evening. Cool experience but seriously pricey!! Oh, and definitely NOT a place for vegetarians! LOL.

If you’re not familiar with this place, basically you have a little card that is green on one side and red on the other.  When you want them to bring food, you turn it to the green side.  When you want them to stop, you turn it to the red side.

What kind of food?  Well… meat!  Seriously, it’s men running around with meat loaded up on these sword looking ka bob thingys!  Bacon wrapped chicken, filet mingon, garlic steak, lamb, prime rib, parmesan pork loin, and much more!  Then you get sides (those little silver dishes in the middle) of mashed potatoes, polenta and caramelized banana or plaintains (we couldn’t figure out which it was!).

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Let Them Eat Cake!Originally uploaded by dacriscloset

As previously posted, I’ve been taking cake decorating classes. I just recently started the Intermediate classes. Well it came time for our company picnic, and I went to price a “cool” cake. HOLY COW!! It was going to be like $2,400!! So being the enterprising person I am, I did it myself! :o)

Ok, for honesty’s sake. I bought the cakes, UN-iced, from a local store, cut them into shapes, iced and decorated them. They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself! Everyone liked them (as far as I could tell, since they were all gone by the end of the picnic!! LOL). And in the process we saved about $2,200! Hmmm, now to figure out how to get my boss to add even half that to my check! LOL

Oh yeah, that’s the picture of the cakes (six of them) all lined up before
they were cut! Not bad, huh?

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Lots of changes going on!  If you’ve been redirected from the old blog… Welcome!!  :o)  New site, new look, and yes, I’m still making tweaks and changes, so bear with me!

I’ve got links to all of my Cafepress stores over on the right…. all of the old links, plus some new ones are over on the left.  And you can always find old posts in the Archives, the Blog Topics, or by using the search box.  Cool huh?  lol

Jack and I had a fun trip to Fry’s last night.  I bought a new soldering iron.  This weekend I’ll post exactly what I’m doing with that soldering iron!  :o)  Let’s just say it has a lot to do with Something Splendid!

Ah, today is Friday… been looking forward to the end of this week, it’s been a rough one.  But Friday is here, and the weekend is about to begin. Make the most of it!

~Heather

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I’ve decided to consolidate all of my “projects” in one place… a blog of course!

ScrappyKnits is going to be where I’ll post new projects, designs, etc. that are for sale. This includes Etsy stuff, Cafepress stuff, etc. Aaaannnndddd…. thanks to some prodding from outside sources…. I’m hoping to start designing some digital scrapbooking elements soon. We’ll see! :o)

Big plans for this weekend… I’m a co-hostess for a wedding shower tomorrow, and then I’m planning on going to a yarn social on Sunday at a local yarn store. Plus, I’ve got some freelance design work to finish up in addition to yard work that is loooonnngg overdue!

Jack went to see Dr. Kelton this week… yep, we thought we were done, but one of the spots on his wound decided to reopen. So we’re battling that. Fun. (yes, that’s sarcastic!) Dr. Kelton basically said that Jack will most likely battle this for the rest of his life. Real fun. (Can you just smell the sarcasm?)

On a happier note… Jack and I are talking about going on a cruise this fall! Woo hoo! We’ll finally get the honeymoon we never had! lol I’m looking into renting a scooter for the duration of the cruise so it will be easier for him to get around. It would just be a short cruise (relatively)… 5 nights with two ports in the Western Caribbean, and we’d port out of Galveston. I think it will be a nice treat after all the crap we’ve gone through. When we go it will be just short of the 2 year anniversary of Jack’s accident – and our 6th wedding anniversary!

Everything I earn through ScrappyKnits will go towards our cruise, so if you’re looking for a gift for someone you love, check it out! :o)
~Heather

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So, back in December, Jack bought me this for Christmas. And it has sat on my desk, with the cover on it ever since. Now, you have to understand, I have never learned how to sew. My mom used to sew (I say used to because I know she hasn’t pulled her machine out in a long, long, LONG time! lol). But I never had an interest in learning. And to be completely honest, that didn’t change in December either. I wanted a sewing machine so I could do those cool stitches on my scrapbooking layouts – yes, sewing on paper, it looks cool, I promise!

So anyway, there it sat on my desk. Until tonight. I finally pulled it out and with the help of the owner’s manual I learned how to thread a bobbin, thread the needle and yes, I sewed. I’m so proud, even if it was just random stitches on a scrap of fabric! There’s a reason that I wanted to pull it out though. I found a cool pattern for a knitting needle holder. I’ve been looking for one and can’t find one that is perfect, so I figured I’d sew my own! I bought the pattern at Joann’s – Butterick 5006. I want to do the straight needle holder and circular needle holder. My next step is to go find some cool fabric for it.

The other thing I did tonight was make my planner. I’d been tossing around the idea of what I wanted to do. I’ve been using a blackberry, but it’s just not working for me, so I’m going back to a paper planner. I downloaded some printable forms from DIY Planner, modified them a little bit, and printed them out for a 9×7 3-ring binder (the pages are a 1/2 sheet – 8.5×5.5). I covered the binder with some of my favorite Chatterbox paper and ribbon. Then I used the Fiskars Craft drill to drill a hole in both sides of the cover, and threaded a ribbon to tie it closed. The section dividers are Chatterbox cardstock, again in patterns I love (and match the cover of course!). Again, just like the needle holder above, I was looking and looking for a planner that was perfect, but couldn’t find it… and what I did find was incredibly pricey! So… I made my own! I wanted it to be something beautiful, and something that I loved. And yes, I can say that I love this binder! I need to find a solution for the spine (hopefully my coolio friend will have some ideas), and I need to die cut some tabs for the dividers, and then it will be absolutely perfect! :o)

In other news, just about the time we think we’ve cut the strings, they get tied back together. Yes, we… well, Jack, really… was back at Dr. Kelton’s office this week. If you remember, he released Jack back in March or April. Well, the one part of the wound that is still open, started getting deeper last week. Not wanting to risk anything, Jack called and made the appointment. Dr. Kelton doesn’t seem to concerned about it, at first, but wants to see it again in 2 weeks. And Jack has strict orders to stay off of it as much as possible, and to leave it uncovered when he’s at home. He had been keeping the bandage on until bedtime. So we’ll see where that goes. And here we were celebrating last time when we left the hospital, not expecting to be going back!

I think that’s about it around here. Happy Cinco de Mayo, National Scrapbook Day, etc.
~Heather

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Seriously, I have a challenge for you. Seriously. Go (seriously) to my friend Heather’s blog (click here), seriously. And seriously count how many time she uses the word seriously on the front page. Seriously. If you guess right, I’ll seriously send you a surprise. Seriously.

Seriously get seriously counting seriously! LOL

(Love ya chica!)
~Heather

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