A quick Birthday Recap

It was the big 35 for me on Friday, it's been a really nice couple of days.

Sort of not being off work and sitting on a beach, my birthday was a great day...I realized how many friends I've made since moving to Colorado...would you believe I had not one but...3 cakes and a set of cupcakes over the past four days, what could be better? My work friend Tina helped get the day of to a great start, surprising me with these gorgeous roses.

Throughout the day my friends from the Two Peas site had a message thread just for me full of great birthday wishes and beautiful cards they made for me. I was able to leave work a little early and headed up to Evergreen to have dinner with Shelley and Troy.

The birthday fun continued yesterday as I got together with my scrapping buddies at Mary Kay's store and we had a great night. Hopefully I'll get some of the layouts posted at some point this week.

Not sure how much I'll be blogging over the next couple of weeks --- we're gearing up for the start of school on the 27th and I'm sure the week will be full of early mornings and late nights.

A Pretty LO...

Here's my favorite layout from this weekend. This cutie is my nephew Grant when he was just a couple of weeks old. Isn't he just so precious.

10 on Tuesday

The latest in our ongoing series of Tuesday lists, this week...

***10 Favorite Things About Where You Live ***

(as always, not really in any particular order even though they're numbered)

1. The mountains (can't imagine life without being surrounded by them)

2. The Aspen trees in the fall

3. Seasons in general

4. Great off leash dog parks

5. Shopping (esp. Target I know my AK friends wish they had one too)

6. Studio C on KBCO (live music by major folks on a local station)

7. My pea friends

8. Family close by

9. Open air/farmers markets with fresh fruits and veggies

10. Red Rocks ampitheatre (no other concert venue comes close)

A New Toy for the Boy

It's a great night for TV --- Broncos first preseason game, So You Think You Can Dance and the finale of Hell's Kitchen. I was relived that the class I had scheduled didn't have any students so I could come home and be a couch potato.

I made a quick stop into Petsmart to get a new battery for Tanner's 'Bad Dog' collar. I hardly ever use the beep or electronic buzz, but he listens so much better outside when he has it on. I overheard one of the trainers talking to another customer about a great new toy 'the everlasting treat ball' and decided to give it a try. Tanner absolutely loved it...the picture is blurry because he was obsessed for an hour and a half when I finally took it away so he wouldn't spoil his dinner. :)

Hooray for Rock! He's been one of my favorites on Hell's Kitchen this season, I think this may be the first time on my favs from the beginning turned out to be the winner. I love how he held up his son at the end and said 'Season 12's Winner right here'. Julia was my other fav, I hope she does go to culinary school and come back in future seasons.

And...the Broncos beat San Fran --- I know it's only preseason and can't erase the horribly beatings by the 49ers in games and superbowls past, but it's not a bad way to start the season.

A Loooooooong Week

but not a particularly exciting or eventful one. It was one of those weeks were I had big projects at both jobs. It's hard to believe school starts in just two weeks. I thought by working in a more traditional k-12 environment things would be slower than at the BGC, wrong! With a charter school that it constantly evolving to make life/the school experience better for students there's a lot to be done in the summer. Not sure if there will ever be a down time here, maybe between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Life on the other side of the brain was busy too. I worked or taught class at the store every night this week. You'll remember (won't you?) my first project awhile back. It debuted to a huge audience of 1 on Tuesday. The second project was a completely different story. Those of you have known me for awhile know I have a passion for altered composition books. It's an addiction to stock up now while there cheap and cover them throughout the year. So this project was an opportunity to get others on the bandwagon. I designed a Back to School Organizer that has a calendar, pockets and lots of places for notes divided into months. A very ambitious project for a two hour class.

(grr...sometimes working with photos on the blog is so frustrating. I uploaded and deleted these 3 times to try and get them in the right place)

The class was a hit, we had seven folks who were wonderful students. I was reminded how much I love teaching adults and kids. Seeing the light come on and individual creativity blossom is such a great experience, it is by far the most rewarding thing for me in the industry.

Needless to say (what a stupid thing since I'm going to say it anyway, right) I didn't have much time for personal scrapping this week which I hope to remedy today...and if all goes well have some new layouts to show tomorrow.

10 on Tuesday...

I'm totally addicted to this weekly thread on the Peas --- such great topics to think about each week. This weeks list 'Top 10 lessons you want to teach your kids'. As you all know I don't have real kids and I thought about making a humorous list for the fur parents out there, but decided against it. Instead since I have devoted my professional career to those children whose parents would never dream of such a list, I used that knowledge to comprise a list of what I wish folks would teach their children.

1.It's ok to be yourself and ok to try out a few different versions of yourself along the way.
2. Be respectful of others as they try to find their way
3. The value of a dollar
4. You are ultimately responsible for your choices
5. Take risks
6. Try new things daily
7. Be active
8. Respect the earth
9. Learn to laugh
10. Be a great team member

Tanner takes over...

'I'm really worried about my mom, she keeps making these wierd sounds and her chest keeps moving up and down. She says it's just hiccups, but it's really strange...It's been going on for a while, I keep looking at her and tried giving her a kiss and bringing her a toy, but no luck. --- when I acted like this she took me to the vet, maybe i should get her in the car. '

A few new LOs

I totally meant to share these earlier in the week, but just never got around to it. I was inspired by scrap store buddy Tara to do some winter photos. The first is my favorite the boys are so cute when they play in the snow.
I also scrapped the pics from the first of three big snow storms. This one was a week before Christmas, so much snow the pics don't really do it justice.
Finally, I had some pics from a trip to the zoo a few months ago.

Thursday fun

I think perhaps I'll start a routine for Thursday and try to find a fun video to entertain us all. This one is especially for my Alaska friends. I was really looking for a bit on Ted Stevens from Tuesday's daily show --- no luck, but this one is just as funny. Who knew the internet is made up of tubes...father Ted saves the day again.

For my non Alaska friends this is Alaska's senator, one of the most powerful men in the Senate who routed millions of fed dollars to Alaskan projects and is now under investigation by the FBI.

PSA --- Lead Paint in Fisher Price toys

Hi folks...came across this news story when I was checking my email this afternoon. I know a few of you may have kiddos the age where these toys are really cool. I guess I find this particularly troublesome since we have known the effects of lead paint and children's health for so long, that it shouldn't be an issue. Hope none of you are effected, but just in case...

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Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys — including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters — because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead.

The worldwide recall being announced Thursday involves 967,000 plastic preschool toys made by a Chinese vendor and sold in the United States between May and August. It is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products.

The recall is the first for Fisher-Price Inc. and parent company Mattel Inc. involving lead paint. It is the largest for Mattel since 1998 when Fisher-Price had to yank about 10 million Power Wheels from toy stores.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, David Allmark, general manager of Fisher-Price, said the problem was detected by an internal probe and reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The recall is particularly alarming since Mattel, known for its strict quality controls, is considered a role model in the toy industry for how it operates in China.

Fisher-Price and the commission issued statements saying parents should keep suspect toys away from children and contact the company.

The commission works with companies to issue recalls when it finds consumer goods that can be harmful. Under current regulations, children's products found to have more than .06 percent lead accessible to users are subject to a recall.

Allmark says the recall was "fast-tracked," which allowed the company to quarantine two-thirds of the toys before they even made it to store shelves. In negotiating details of the recall, Fisher-Price and the government sought to withhold details from the public until Thursday to give stores time to get suspect toys off shelves and Fisher-Price time to get its recall hot line up and running. However, some news organizations prematurely posted an embargoed version of the story online.

Allmark said the recall was troubling because Fisher-Price has had a long-standing relationship with the Chinese vendor, which had applied decorative paint to the toys. Allmark said the company would use this recall as an opportunity to put even better systems in place to monitor vendors whose conduct does not meet Mattel's standards.

He added: "We are still concluding the investigation, how it happened. ... But there will be a dramatic investigation on how this happened. We will learn from this."

The recall follows another high-profile move from toy maker RC2 Corp., which in June voluntarily recalled 1.5 million wooden railroad toys and set parts from its Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway product line. The company said that the surface paint on certain toys and parts made in China between January 2005 and April 2006 contain lead, affecting 26 components and 23 retailers.

"Anytime a company brings a banned hazardous product into the U.S. marketplace, especially one intended for children, it is unacceptable," said Nancy Nord, acting chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "Ensuring that Chinese-made toys are safe for U.S. consumers is one of my highest priorities and is the subject of vital talks currently in place between CPSC and the Chinese government."

Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industries Association, praised Mattel's quick response to the problem, and suggested Mattel will use this setback as a lesson for not only the company but for the entire industry. However, he expressed concern about how the recall and other toy recalls will play out in consumers' minds in advance of the holiday season.

"We are worried about the public feeling," said Keithley, adding he observed how toy companies are embracing strict controls during a recent toy safety seminar in China. "We have thought all along that (consumers) can be confident in the products," he said. "But if companies like Mattel have this, then you have to ask how did this happen?"

Owners of a recalled toy can exchange it for a voucher for another product of the same value. To see pictures of the recalled toys, visit http://www.service.mattel.com. For more information, call Mattel's recall hot line at 800-916-449

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On a lighter note(ok lighter, if you don't take politics too seriously) the next story on the wire is Gonzales admits testimony 'confusing'. Gee, ya think? I think confusing is putting it gently.