Off to Vegas and Offline for a Few Days

I am counting down the minutes until I depart for four wonderful days in Las Vegas. Every year, I meet my sisters and mom for a girl weekend. We just hang out and catch up. Fun Fun. Momma Bear just had her second knee replaced so not too much boogie-ing down this year (not that there ever is). Have never won THE jackpot (have one 10,000 pennies once) so have to keep going back to keep trying. ;)

I just saw on Mel's blog that someone posted a freebie using her Just for Fun kit. Have to say, I love that kit. Great colors and elements that you can use for many different looks. You can get the freebie at her store at http://studiomcadesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=56. Here are a couple of pages that I made with her Just for Fun kit.

This is Going to be Expensive!

We are starting to gather bids for fixing our "skylight." The first bid was over $20,000!! Oh my! The insurance adjuster finally came and immediately OK'd a new roof and new wall. They are still deciding on whether to replace the floor or just try to "buff" out the nice warping. Now we have to figure out where we are going to stay when they do all this. I don't think they are going to replace the studs in the wall but have to bleach them to keep the mold at bay. Little one can't be around when that happens.

I am so looking forward to this weekend. It is sisters (and mom) in Las Vegase time. We meet once per year in Vegas for a girl weekend. It is something we look forward to every year. Good to just chill and catch up. Mommy Bear just had her second knee replaced so won't be running from slot to slot but will have fun nonetheless.

Here is a photo of our unexpected Ike visitor.

But...when little one is around and smiles at me....all worries go away.

Credit to PillowGirl's It's All Me kit....love this kit. So very versatile.

A New Week

A new week started today. It has been awhile since I have worked a full week with the holiday week, then Ike interrupting two weeks. I might just have to take a day off this week to work my way back into full time. ;)

Little one has been "hanging" out. Since Rilee started walking, every trip through the backyard meant a slide down the slide. Now, I am wistful for those calm days of sitting down and joyfully sliding. Now it is grab onto the bar above the slide and swing and giggle. All the while, my heart pounds and my hands are ready to grab in case of a little hand slipping.

Credits to MCA Designs Conrad kit. Love the colors of this kit.

Hubby was feeling left out so had to scrap one of him and little one. They are best of buds - reading, playing, drawing and just hanging out.

Credits to Kathy Goldstein Super Star Daddy Freebie from Ahh Scrap!

Grand opening for New Store - MCA Designs

Most of my layouts are created with either MCA kits or her commercial items. I have so much fun with these kits and designs. Now, Mel of MCA Designs is opening her own store. Time for more shopping!!

Summer is Officially Over

We are enjoying some great weather, not too hot and not too humid. Mother Nature's payback for the recent hurricane that passed through. This weather must be enjoyed by being outside....any old excuse will do. So, little one and I pushed her car around, fed the ducks in a nearby pond, and played with the dog. To cap off the day, I decided a swim would be nice. Since summer is winding down, the pools have been open only open on weekends in September. So, beings that it is a weekend, we suited up and drove to the pool... only to discover it closed. Guess I should have checked. Once I did check I was informed that due to the hurricane, the pools will not reopen again until May, next summer!! Little one was NOT happy about this. She loves to play at the pool. As a consolation, we filled up the plastic dog pool in the back yard for a little splash time.

Had a little time to scrap today during little ones nap. Am trying to expand from my normal. For this layout, I used several MCA overlays to gurnge up the paper and the frame. I also used a couple of MCA elements from her Just for Fun Kit (the brown circle and the brown smudge). The swirly with stars came from Random Inspirations Lullaby Lamb kit (have got to use that kit for a couple of Rilee sleeping photos...as it will be perfect!) I also played with colorizing things. I am not real thrilled with the way the title came out so this may change in the future....but, here it is. Little one's first skinned knee.

Catching up

We are still sorting how the hows and whys of insurance, Fema, etc to help us fix the house. The tree is now removed and moved out of the yard. We have tarped the roof. We are waiting on a quote from the contractor and our insurance guy before we can move forward. Hubby has really worked hard in getting the yard and house cleaned up.

Work was up and running yesterday and today so have been busy trying to catch up. (The rest of the world did not take a break while we were digging out from Ike.) People are sympathetic about the problems we have had but that only goes so far.

Have had a chance to scrap a bit. Here are a couple of pages.

Credits: Pillow Girl's It's All Me from MyScrapShop.com Love this kit.

We Are Back!!

Ike came, conquered and moved on. Ike hit us about 2:30 am on Saturday. Have to admit, we slept through much of it....until "thump." (As an aside, thumps in the middle of the night in the middle of a hurricane are probably not good things.) The house kind of thumped. Hubby walked through the house but did not see anything except some water in the kitchen so thought we had cracked a window. Was still dark outside and power was out so we listened to the wind and snoozed a bit. At daylight, we saw the damage. One of our large oak trees fell over and landed on the house. When I say fell over, the roots were pulled from the ground and it just tipped over. Yes, the wind was that strong!

In the backyard, we have many trees...oak trees, pine trees and a couple of sweet gum trees. (If a tree had to fall, we would root for the Gum tree, which is a nasty tree that drops these spiky balls that serve no purpose and are impossible to rake, trip the child and hurt the dog's paws.) Unfortunately, the tree that fell was one of the nice shady oak trees. It toppled onto the roof over the kitchen.

The elbow of the tree punched a nice hole in the roof. As Ike did not dump that much rain (only about 4-5"), we were able to keep the water somewhat at bay. Then came a thunderstorm. We haven't seen rain like that since the monsoon season when we lived in Flagstaff. In a fairly short period of time, we had another 12" of rain. Really hard. Really big drops. Really wet. Hubby, and our friend staying with us during the storm, rigged an inside gutter system to catch some of the water. Between this system (which caught about 10" of water), the tarp and all of our neighbors pitching in towels, we kept most of the water confined to just our kitchenette area. The walls are puckered and, 2 days later, still wet. The wood floor is looking a bit warped. But, we are all ok so life goes on.

The power went out Saturday morning and just came back late this afternoon. Also, telephones (cell and land lines) have been out. I was able to get the occasional text message out but that was iffy. (I could see that the number of voice messages on my cell kept growing but did not have enough service to actually check messages.) We did have water and gas. So we could shower and cook. Mother Nature cooperated (after Ike and the thunderstorm) and gave us some nice not so hot, low humidity days making the last couple of days quite bearable. (No hairdryer though so not a pretty sight.) We are so thankful that the house is in tact and all our friends are OK.

This evening was the first time we have had TV. We are really sorry to see the devastation in Ike's path. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all that were affected by this storm.