For those of you...

drooling over the new MacAir and if your not why not? Ok, so maybe it's a little on the spendy side. Considering the cost of my last LO, I'm not really one to talk. Until we all win the powerball so we can buy this great machine, here's a little video to make you smile.

The most expensive scrapbook page ever...

Looks simple enough right...would you believe that it's true total is $171.00. Crazy! So how did something so simple become so costly? I love the font used in 'our' and 'ladybug'. Usually I wait for alphas to get a little old and people of tired and put them up for sale on eBay and pick them up for cheap. But for this one, I just couldn't wait. My original plan was to cut it at the store, but then the Revolution (great table top tool) went on sale and I just couldn't resist. I bought it too. So much for being better at saving money in the new year.

What Kind of World Do You Want...

Have you heard this song by Five for Fighting? It touched me the first time I heard it and made me stop and think...then I was sent this link by Tara and immediately thought I needed to share this with everyone.

http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214 Sorry, I can't embed the video like I usually do, but I promise it's worth the extra click. Not only will you hear this song you'll also see powerful images and words regarding autism and the need for early intervention.

Plus... whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com will pay $1.00 per view of the designated charity’s videos - how cool is that.

A few new pics...

Sienna grows so much each week...here are a few from last weekend. I was talking to my friend Mary Kay tonight and she mentioned that I don't talk about my brothers and sisters very often, although I do talk about there cute kiddos. So for the record...here are a couple of pics of my brother John (for those of you keeping track of my crazy family, he is married to Lisa and they have the adorable 10 month old Connor)

And here's my younger sister Julie (married to Brian, mom to Ben and Grant)

Emptiness...

It's gone, I finally took down my tree on Tuesday night. It's an easy process physically, but I still hate the void it leaves in my living room. My desperate need for curtains and better lights is evident without the tree. I was so disappointed to find that I didn't take a full picture only this close up as I was trying to learn more about my camera.

On a happier note, I'm super excited because...

The Daily Show is Back!

I was starting to resort to watching actual news channels --- desperate times call for desperate meaures, right? Thankfully Jon and the crew have rescued me from Lou and Wolf, hopefully no long term damage has been done.

Finally a project post...

but not the kind most of you are expecting. No new LOs or paper crafts. Instead one of the projects I'm most proud of completing, a hand knit dress for Sienna. It's still to big for her to wear, a couple more months and it will be perfect. Here's a quick snapshot in the meantime.



I love the process of knitting, ...how each stitch connects with the other and how a project comes together with each row. It never ceases to amaze me the that a few different stitches combine to create unique patterns. This project was a big step for me, for the past couple of years I've stuck with fairly basic projects, scarves, hats and a few purses. Now I have the confidence to try even bigger projects, maybe a sweater for Sienna's 1st birthday --- since I'm not a speedy knitter, I should probably get started now.

A little video fun

It seems like everywhere I go I hear about Wii and how fabulously fun it is. Perhaps someday I'll discover for myself and maybe by then there will be Tetris for the Wii.
In the meantime, I'll have to think about this video...



Is it wrong that I kept waiting for them to score the big points by lining up for rows?

Clearly I haven't figured out the banner problems yet, but am trying out the pink template.

Blasted Blogger

Has my banner pic and title always been off center when you view with a PC? I hope not. I was just taking a peek at comments...wondering if a random stranger took the my Hillary bait. Just my sweet friends...can't wait for the next crop to discuss further.

My exciting news for the day is my dryer is finally back to life. It's so one of those things you take for granted. I think I especially do since I have a little shopping problem that results in seemingly endless amount of clothing and 'unmentionables'. What I learned is that I have about 6 weeks worth of the latter. And realized my dryer was broken nearing the end of the pile. Panic...hand wash? go to a laundry mat? where is a laundry mat? Luckily I camped at my sister's house and snuck in a load while the maintenance guys took their sweet time to fix it.

Moral of the story: Be nice to your dryer.

Why Women Might Not Vote for Hillary and Other Random Thoughts

Disclaimer: I know most of you who are so thoughtful to spend a minute of your day reading my blog are here for my 'creative genius' :)(such as it is), no creative goodies today. My inner politico is coming out so you can indulge me or stop reading and it won't hurt my feelings.



No surprise that our social studies teacher is a very politically oriented young man. I tend to indulge him and actually listen to his various epilogues on politics in America. I remember being that young and full of belief that one person or a particular party (in his case the dems) could solve all of the problems if they had complete power. Since I have become so disillusioned, I tend to listen and not actually have a dialogue --- it would be pointless. So yesterday of course we needed to discuss the Iowa Caucuses (which I personally feel like should be labeled carcases since some political careers die at this point).

He was still surprised the O'Bama won --- Iowa is the whitest state he said. (which I think is wrong and told him that) My pithy response was don't underestimate the power of Oprah. If we read books, lose weight, eat food, buy gifts all because Oprah said so, why would we not vote for a president. Heck ,if O did run for president we all know she would win. So then he said he was surprised more women didn't vote for Hillary. I said the are some reasons why women might not vote for her. He asked if there was an underground movement in women against her. I don't think so, at least I haven't been invited to any meetings. I offered a couple of light weight reasons.
1. People want real change (personally I believe impossible) so we Hillary as someone who was in the White House for 8 years and Congress since then. No change there
2. There are some women who don't understand why she didn't leave Bill other than for pure political reasons and find this slightly disturbing. And if you apply that slippery slope argument to other aspects of her career you have to wonder? Right

That satisfied my teacher for the moment and I thought me, but I woke up still thinking about this...I'm not sure if it's ignorance or arrogance for folks like my teacher and politicos across the land to make the statement 'Women will vote for Hillary because she is a woman' I'm sure we've all heard this a zillion times and not thought much about it, but this am it really made me mad. It assumes that:
1. I don't care about the issues or worse make assumptions that because Hillary is a woman she automatically feels the same way as I do on issues
2. I'm incapable of independent thought (ok maybe a stretch)

Grr...if the tables were reversed and there were 9 women and 1 man would the same statement occur? Unlikely.

On the flip side --- republicans not that much better, but if you think of the Hollywood title "Mr. Huckabee goes to Washington" or just hearing about President Huckabee you've got to smile.

Oops

Shocking two posts in a row I know...don't get your hopes up. I realized late yesterday that I put a link to baby girl that requires a password...here you go

again the link is
and the password is christmas07

Here's hoping my new modem comes today so I can have internet at home after 3 weeks.

SHE'S HERE

Our family welcomed my beautiful niece 'Sienna Christyn Grice' on Saturday Dec 22nd 2007 at 11:33 am.

She is the best Christmas present ever...as precious as can be.

Second best Christmas present ever I gave to myself a Nikon D40 a wonderful camera to take pictures of this beautiful girl to share with all.

You can see more of the first couple of weeks of her life here http://siennagrice.shutterfly.com

Fashion Cents

So I ventured out in the snowstorm around 11 am yesterday...I should have held out for a couple more hours by 2 o'clock the sun was shinning and the wind had died down (still nippy though).

At any rate I was rewarded for my troubles when I got to Target --- I spent more than my usual 5 min in and out just perusing the aisles. I was so excited to find a cute dress for $14 bucks(on clearance of course).

Next on to the tights section(thanks to Tanner who decided to 'alter' my brown tights to a toeless version) Tights are clearly en vogue this year there were at least 20 different varieties. As a tight lover I personally don't think they should ever go out of style. I couldn't help myself I picked up 5 new pairs.

And just in case you're wondering --- I didn't forget the dog food. Thank goodness!

Don't you just love getting ready for work when you have something fun and new. I am and I guess I wasn't the only one who spied the dress on the clearance rack, one of our temp workers had the same dress on and paired it with the same color top. Imagine our surprise when we ran into each other in the am. Later in the day my friend Tina said she had also picked up the dress. Crazy, huh.

Fall Snow

So it's 8 am on Sunday and I'm excited that I got my fireplace going...I love the gas fireplace! It was one of the things that attracted my to this apartment. I love that I can flip two switches and have a cozy flame and a little bit of heat.

So why do I need a fire so early in the morning on a Sunday? Because outside it's doing this...

Yep it's the annual fall snow storm. They predict 3-4 inches over the day. I thought they were wrong early this morning --- Tanner woke me up at 6:30 and it was only raining. But over the next few hours the rain turned to snow.

It's amazing how fast you forget that snow can be a normal part of life...it is possible to drive and do things. But --- right now I'm content to sit in front of my fire with my cozy fleece blanket and knit the day away. Unfortunately I'm almost out of dog food so that won't be the case at some point I will have to venture out.

The good news is that tom. in true Colorado fashion will be sunny and a warm 50 degrees and that's why I love Colorado.

A Couple of Layouts

Work has been crazy the past month, but hopefully now that the funding count window is complete it will get back to normal.

I've been trying to do something creative everyday to maintain some sense of balance.
Here are a couple of my favorites from the past few weeks.I've had this picture for almost four years and have scrapped before, but it's one of my favorites and I found this quote and thought it would be perfect for the pic.


These are some of the pics I took in Vegas last month --- yes I did glue each of those circles individually. Crazy!

Tanner is...

totally pissed and not talking to me.

Why? Today he spent the day at the vet's getting his teeth cleaned. I dropped his off at 7:15 this am, poor guy had to go under anesthesia. True to his 'charming' self he had everyone in the office falling in love with him. So much so they let him out of the kennel when he was awake and let him have the run of the back office area.

But as for me, none of the charm --- he's sleeping in the other room and avoiding me. It's so strange to have him be so mellow.

Vegas 1

Okay so these guys weren't there...shocking! I think Ocean's 11 is one of my favorite movies. Yes, I know totally implausible which was hammered home while I was in Vegas. Still it is immensely entertaining, so it should be no surprise that I headed off for the Bellagio after checking into my hotel. We stayed at the Stratosphere, much nicer than some of the reviews I read, for $53 bucks a night you can't beat it. The only problem is that it is on the way North end of the strip. I spent a lot of time on the monorail going back and forth. So off I go, the independent explorer as Mary Kay didn't arrive until the next day. I was a girl on a mission! Recreate the ending of the movie for myself. And I was not disappointed...I arrived at the front of the Bellagio just as the sun was setting. Unlike the movie I was one in about a thousand people watching, but I still got a great photo spot. Too bad my camera is really night photo challenged. As you stand there you can see the mechanisms start to rise out of the water and before you know it the music has begun and the mist is rolling off the 'lake'. You can feel the cool air and slight mist on your face --- so refreshing for Vegas.


There is something so mystical about water...soothing and energizing at the same moment. From the misty start the fountains burst out of the water, you can't help but be mesmerized by the movement.

5 minutes later, just as it began the fountains sink into the water and the lake is still again. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, I dragged MK back after a long day at the show on Monday night just to see it again.

aah vacation!

I just took a short break from the craziness at work to head off to Vegas for the Memory Trends show in Vegas. But before I took off for Sin City, I spent a little time with my parents as they were in town for their quarterly 'Spoil the Grand Children Visit'. Next to spoiling grandchildren, I think my dad's favorite thing to do is shop. Now that Shelley and Troy are expecting they get to be part of the fun and dad has an excuse to do his favorite things at the same time. The day started with a trip to Babies R' Us...it was Shell's first look at the world of baby stuff. I love the look on her face in this pic as she takes it all in and Dad gives his stroller recommendations.

Of course no stroller purchase can be made with a test run. So off they go, having stroller races around the store as mom and I watched and tried to keep other shoppers safe. After the stroller choice was a traveling crib set and the ever important swing. Finally a trip wouldn't be complete without picking out a few outfits...make that a few wardrobes when Dad's at the helm. Sadly, I had to leave them after a quick lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Tanner needed shots before he could go to Camp BowWow while I was in Vegas and then the parents were off to the Pueblo kids.

I just downloaded my Vegas pics tonight a whopping 80 pics for 4 days...I'll try and pick out my favorites and share them over the next few days. Man, Vegas has changed since the last time I was there about 10 years ago. I actually enjoyed the city much more than I was expecting too.

A few new layouts

Even though work has been super crazy, to keep balance I've been trying to do something creative as often as possible. Here's some of my most recent work...

A Little PSA...

saw a quick blurb about this on the news last night.

Doctor warns consumers of popcorn fumes

Consumers, not just factory workers, may be in danger from fumes from buttery flavoring in microwave popcorn, according to a warning letter to federal regulators from a doctor at a leading lung research hospital.

A pulmonary specialist at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center has written to federal agencies to say doctors there believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several times a day for years.
"We cannot be sure that this patient's exposure to butter flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease," cautioned Dr. Cecile Rose. "However, we have no other plausible explanation."

The July letter, made public Tuesday by a public health policy blog, refers to a potentially fatal disease commonly called popcorn lung that has been the subject of lawsuits by hundreds of workers at food factories exposed to chemicals used for flavoring.

In response to Rose's finding, the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association issued a statement Tuesday recommending that its members reduce "to the extent possible" the amount of diacetyl in butter flavorings they make. It noted that diacetyl is approved for use in flavors by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

One national popcorn manufacturer, Weaver Popcorn Co. of Indianapolis, said last week it would replace the butter flavoring ingredient because of consumer concern. Congress has also been debating new safety measures for workers in food processing plants exposed to diacetyl.
The FDA said in an e-mail it is evaluating Rose's letter and "carefully considering the safety and regulatory issues it raises."

Fred Blosser, spokesman for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, said it is the first case the institute has seen of lung disease apparently linked to popcorn fumes outside the workplace.

The occupational safety arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is working on a response to the letter.

William Allstetter, spokesman for National Jewish Medical, confirmed the letter was sent by Rose, a specialist in occupational and environmental lung diseases and director of the hospital's Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic.

"There have been no other cases that we know of other than the industrial occupational ones," Allstetter said.

Rose acknowledged in the letter that it is difficult to confirm through one case that popping buttered microwave popcorn at home can cause lung disease.

However, she said she wanted to alert regulators of the potential public health implications.
Rose said the ailing patient, a man whom she wouldn't identify, consumed "several bags of extra butter flavored microwave popcorn" every day for several years.

He described progressively worsening respiratory symptoms of coughing and shortness of breath. Tests found his ability to exhale was deteriorating, Rose said, although his condition seemed to stabilize after he quit using microwave popcorn.

She said her staff measured airborne levels of diacetyl in the patient's home when he cooked the popcorn. The levels were "similar to those reported in the microwave oven exhaust area" at the quality assurance unit of the popcorn plant where the affected employees worked, she said.
David Michaels, of the George Washington University School of Public Health, who first published Rose's letter on his blog, The Pump Handle, said the finding is another reason for federal regulators to crack down on diacetyl exposure by workers and consumers.

"This letter is a red flag, suggesting that exposure to food flavor chemicals is not just killing workers, but may also be causing disease in people exposed to food flavor chemicals in their kitchens," Michaels wrote on his public health policy blog.

Then and Now...

Life is starting to get back to normal, I don't anticipate any more 12 hour work days, at least I hope not.

I was thinking this morning that I have been back in Colorado 1 year today. Time marches on so quickly as an adult, it's hard to keep up sometimes. New location, new life? Not so much...

Lots of things are the same with just a couple of tweaks...

• I still hate to laundry and procrastinate doing it for as long as possible, but at least now it's on the same floor as the bedroom and I do sneak in a load at night every now and then
• I still live less than 10 minutes from work, but now I take advantage of it and come home for lunch a few times a week.
• I still buy lots of groceries, but now I cook less...it's the multitude of take-out options that's so tempting
• I still spend lots of time surfing the net, but now I've made some friends and my scrapbooking is really developing in a more true expression of my style
• I still work for an organization that serves kiddos, but now I am learning how to balance work with the rest of my life and leave at 4:30 most days without feeling guily
• I still spend lots of time with my fur baby, just a different one

• I still shop to make myself feel better, no buts here unfortunately

The biggest difference is that I have a more positive outlook on life, I still get sad and scared that if I start crying I won't be able to stop, but I do and I move on.