Is This Grounds For Divorce?

Not only did my DH eat the last of my turkey...he ate my last piece of sweet potato pie today!!! Girl I had my mouth fixed for the last piece of pie...poured myself a drink (TGIFriday's mudslide) went to the fridge and it was gone!!! Now, he called me before I left my sister's Friday to ask me to bring him some dessert. He specifically asked for yellow cake and carrot, he made no mention of pie so the pie should have been off limits, right? Oh, I'm so mad I could spit!

Who The Hell Ate All My Turkey?!!!

That's all I wanna know!

I had turkey day dinner at my sister's house this year, stayed the night so we could go black Friday shopping. Before I left to come home, I packed up some leftovers to bring home...not a lot, but just enough for me and Donovan for 2 helpings. Now Troy came home on Thanksgiving day because basketball season "officially" started then next day (it never really ends in this house but that's a whole other soapbox gathering")! Anyway, he had bought his own leftovers home...

I had to work today and all I could think about was making me a turkey club for dinner, I mean I have a serious craving for it, too! When I left work, I went to Shop Rite and bought some bread (happy that it was on sale for $1.69 instead of $2.50), picked up a bag salad 'cause you know it'll pull double duty, lettuce for my sandwich and then a salad later; got my favorite turkey bacon (butterball thin and crispy turkey bacon, we don't do pork here) this one is delish and it doesn't lay there like old cardboard like some other turkey bacon. Went on and picked up some Tropicana tropical punch (this one and the peach orchard are my faves) and a few other things, 'cause I can never just go in the store for what I needed, then off to the house.

I went to put away the groceries and noticed some of the containers that I had bought my leftovers in were on the table empty...I looked in the fridge and low and behold, my turkey wasn't there!!! What the...? I looked about 5 times but my sh!t was gone! Now my MIL and FIL came up to babysit the kids while I was at work, when I talked to MIL on the phone, it never dawned on me to say "save me some turkey" 'cause it wasn't a lot left anyway! Of course my in laws are welcomed to ANYTHING in my house, but dang...why couldn't they draw the line at the last of the darn turkey? Now I'm sitting here like a damn drug addict fidgeting and trying to figure out how I'm going to satisfy this hankering for a turkey club...so I just went to sleep! I woke up and made grilled cheese with turkey bacon on it...not at all what I wanted, but nothing else I can do about it!

Damn, I want a turkey club so bad!

ETA: OK, my in-laws didn't eat my turkey, my huband did!! Ooooh, I could knock him out right now...he should have known to leave my damn turkey alone!! Greedy behind!

From Our Family To Yours...

Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving! May you have many blessings and tons to be thankful for!



Love,

The Long Family

He's On The Brink!

My little Xan-Xan is about to get 2 teeth!!!!! The 2 on the bottom are about to pop through any day now...I can see the white...OH MY GOSH, I'm so excited! I don't know why, because that means he's growing so fast! He's 7 1/2 months old, he sits, he claps, and says "da-da" and "ba-ba"! He's still not crawling yet, but if you hold his hands, he tries to run...what's up with that?! LOL!

It amazes me how differently he and Donovan reach their milestones! At 6 months, Donovan was doing the "I'm ready to crawl" push-ups and then crawling at 7 months, Xan is 7 months and has shown no interest in crawling, he doesn't even like to be on his belly for long; Donovan on the other hand didn't get his first 2 teeth until he was almost 11 months...I remember he woke up Christmas morning with 2 teeth, just like that!

Ahhhh, my boys...I love watching them bloom!

Glitter and Stickles and Gems...Oh My!!!

...glimmer mist, pearls, and bells, too!

Oh....looks like my time at My Acrylic Album is coming to an end (weep, weep)! December is the last month of my DT term and I've been hard at work on my last assignments. I still have another one to share, but I'm posting these 2 now. MAA has a bunch of new acrylic albums debuting Dec. 1st, so keep your eyes peeled!

OK, on to the goodies! This little cupcake looks almost good enough to eat! I cut cotton balls in half and adhered them to the cover to get the "frosted" look, then sprinkled with Pink Paislee's coconut pixee stix, red and silver glitter. I then lightly sprayed with adhesive so the cotton balls would hold form. I need this album to really stand up because it going on the road with My Acrylic Album, permanently. Yep, it's going to be on display at all of the conventions and showcases that MAA travels to, so I have to kiss this little cutie goodbye. MM donated product for this album; I received Rouge paperie and let me tell you, it couldn't be more perfect!

The photos are of the 2 little girls in my life, my goddaughter and my niece...love those girls! I used lots of bling to highlight my little sweetie pies!

I gave the cupcakes a "cherry on the top" look by layering flowers and buttons and adhering them to the tops...I also added stickles to all of the buttons.

This is one chunky album! LOL!

Now if you thought that album was bling'd out, then hold on to your hats! I used Basic Grey's Wassail line (from scrap-diner) on this album which was just perfect for achieving a "vintagey" look...I think this is my favorite mini album by far...I wish you could see it, it's gorgeous and I'm not saying that because I made it...I really love it! I can't wait until Christmas so I can fill it with photos.

I sprayed the entire front cover with adhesive and coated it with gold glitter. Can, I just tell you that I made a huge mess with this. Anyone who comes to my house for the next year will probably leave with specks of glitter on their body. I spilled the glitter all over my leather couch...what a mess. it's all over the place!

Anyway, I heat embossed the glitter so it wouldn't come off. The great thing about MAA's albums is that they are a great quality and stand up really well to heat. I then sprayed 3 pieces of lace from savvy n sassy's November Ice Storm kit with gold glimmer mist and layered them on the top of the stocking. I then stitched jingle bells on the lace.

I used lots of rub-ons and glitter alpha stickers throughout the album then hand cut the borders for the stockings.

all of the Primas were spritzed with gold glimmer mist. I added lines to the toe for journaling.

The little plastic discs (I've had these for years) were too bright white, so I spritzed them with sandy beach glimmer mist to tone down the brightness. I also added stardust stickles to the alpha stickers...told you, I bling'd this sucker out!

I added Kaiser's pearls to the Christmas trees and stickles to the trunks and flourish.

I did the same thing on this page, too. I traced the chipboard piece from the back cover to create the journaling tag here.

I used one of the cut out portions from the borders as a mask for the back cover. I placed the cutout portion in the center and then sprayed the edge of the album with adhesive, removed the mask and then coated with gold glitter, heat embossed the glitter and added rub-ons, a piece of chipboard and rhinestones.

here are some close-ups of the front cover

I added a ton of ribbon and lace, some I tied gold hearts to.

Thanks for taking a peek at my projects!

Seriously Debating

I've put a lot of thought into it and I think I want to resign from my teaching position at my LSS. It breaks my heart to say so because I love the idea of teaching (and the 20% discount), but honestly it's become a bit of a burden when it should be fun. January will be 1 year since I started teaching there, but for some reason I seem to have trouble getting people to take my classes. The women who sign up for classes there seem to be more interested in doing things like iris folding and tear bears, which are nice classes, but just not me...know what I mean. Not to mention the fact that I feel shoved into a creative box because 2 page layouts are stressed!! Seriously, we (the teachers) have been told by the owners that a lot of students complain about the one LO classes...they want 2 pages. So trying to come up with creative ideas for 2 page layouts (which I only do for myself like 10% of the time), while trying to keep the cost of the class down and figuring out which techniques people would be interested in are just.......I don't know, I guess I'm just rambling!

One of the reasons that I stuck in there so long is because a few of the teachers told me they had the same problem when they started as I seem to be having right now. But I guess I'm trying to figure if it's really worth it in the long run. I mean, I may get 2 students per class and maybe a kit but it takes time to shop for supplies, prepare samples, turn in my class description and supplies list, the gas that it takes to get to the class...that time could be spent with my boys and working on other scrap stuff. I thought teaching would help generate some extra income, but it doesn't seem to be working for me at this particular store.

If you have any advice, please feel free to share!

Halloween Layout

I decided to scrap the weekly sketch that I found here on Pink Paislee's website; the sketch is from pagemaps and I thought it was perfect for this year's Halloween pics of my boys! I flipped the sketch and added my own little twist to it...ya know, to make it mine.

I added journaling between the circles on the maya road mat...love this product!

now for the details: I added my sub title using a dymo label maker and outlined the year

Here, I spruced up the owl a bit by adding black Kaiser gems to the eyes and stickles to the beak

I'm hooked on puffy alphas...especially this font from Making Memories!! Can't get enough of them! I added stickles to the die cut paper and the hand stitched across the length of it.

I'm working on a bunch of other things to share later on...take it easy and thanks for taking a peek!

Cards, Cards, Cards

Thanks to Pink Paislee and a crop challenge over at scrap-diner, I may actually get my Christmas cards done this year!!! Every year, I always say I'm going to make my own Christmas cards, I'll start and then...well, let's just say only a few get done and I end up sending purchased ones!


This year, I'm making my life easy! I used ONE piece of patterned paper (Paislee Postcards) to create the following 8 cards...super easy! All I had to do was add rub-ons, stickles...lots of stickles actually, a few embellies, some fabulous (savvynsassy) ribbon and lace, martha stewart border punches and voila..Christmas cards!

This card was created using sketch #23 from creativelyyours.wordpress.com. Noella has some pretty awesome card and LO sketches!

lastly...I created this one using My Little Shoebox's In The Garden line.

Have You Heard?

Dream Girls Challenge Blog is having a design team call!!! You can find the details here on Pub Calls! The Call ends Nov 29th...hope you'll apply!

There's a fabulous prize up for grabs for the participants of this challenge!!!! Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs has donated not one, but TWO Prizes valued at approximately $50 each for this prompt, so you'll definitely want to do this challenge!!!

Here's my LO for challenge #16-- the challenge this week is to scrap something I'm thankful for, hence the adorable pic of my boys and for the twists I had to use masking and metal. I used staples for the metal and then laid a piece of backing from magic mesh over the top of the LO and swiped in the chalk ink to get the dotted look.

See the bracket next to my baby's head? Well that pulls out to reveal the journaling card. I literally slapped this LO together in about an hour (give or take a few minutes), that is so unusual for me because I take a lot longer to complete LOs. I received my box of goodies from savvy n sassy which included 2 of this months ribbon kits, the new Crate Paper packs, some Cosmo, and MME and I just needed to create!

The lace here (and the chipboard bird) is from savvy n sassy...I love their ribbon kits...for real! I cut the lace from a thicker piece (November's Ice Storm kit).


I have a ton of quick and easy cards to share with you, but I have to wait until tomorrow so I can take a decent photo. Daylight savings time kills my photo ops!

Thanks for looking!

Scrap-Diner and My Little Shoebox Projects

I can't tell you how many LOs I've done with all of the photos I took of Donovan playing in the pool when we went to Jamaica in 2007...hence the name of THIS LO!

I sanded the edge of the shaped paper and then went around it with an edge distresser and my fingernails to get the curled look.

I've been scraplifting myself ALOT lately...the idea for this LO came from this one I created back in September.


I've been in a Christmas Craft state of mind, so I made this Finnish Star and let me tell you, it super easy and quick!! Here are the directions if you'd like to make one for yourself.

Here's a really quick LO I created with My Little Shoebox's In The Garden Line. I love this pic that I took of my sister at her wedding...she was getting ready to throw the bouquet; you can see some of the eager (and not so eager) single ladies waiting. The person who caught the bouquet deserves a LO all her own at a later time...she was downright hilarious!

and lastly, an accordian mini album also using My Little Shoebox's In The Garden Line.

the inside...

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

The Sweetest Kid Ever!!!

Today Donovan told me that he was Thankful for TV, his little brother and his mommy and daddy. He said he loves all of us and he knows we all love him! He is so affectionate, I love that about him. To top it off, he said "Mommy, you make my heart really happy"! Yeah, he just made my year! Love that little boy!

Happy Veteran's Day

To all who have served and continue to serve this country...THANK YOU!!!

Crop Projects

Just felt like creating this card!

The following projects were created for the 7 Day crop going on over at scrap-diner

The holidays are coming up and I'm trying to get a bit of a head start on gift packaging! I created 2 different gift card holders here.

...a small ring/jewelry gift box

and I found the directions for this gift card wallet here.

inside

Thanks for stopping by!

The First Family

WOW!!!

I never thought I'd see the day...not in my lifetime or even in my childrens'...as I type this, I am holding back tears for such a momentous occasion. Barack Obama has been elected 44th president of the United States of America!!! WOW!!! We have come a long way baby!

I didn't think America was ready...so glad I was wrong!


YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!!


A few years from now, when my African American sons ask me if they can be President I can honestly look them in the eyes and say yes baby, you can...and truly mean it!!! The precedent has been set!

As a matter of fact, I'm about to go and wake Donovan up so he can see with his own eyes. He won't understand right now, but years from now he will remember me waking him up on this night.


YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!! YES WE CAN!!!

As History Unfolds...

I just want to take a moment to close my eyes and say thank you to all of those that came before me...who fought and sacrificed their lives so that I could have the right to vote. You know, there was a time in history when women and blacks were not allowed to vote...as a black woman, I am doubly thankful!! I vote because of them and because I OWE them!!

So here I am on Halloween casting my HISTORICAL vote and feeling an overwhelming notion of pride!! I voted for Senator Barack Obama, the first African American to run for a major party, because his issues closely match my concerns. As part of the middle class, I think it's time we got some tax breaks! This was my first time voting early. We don't have true "early voting" in NJ, but I cast an in-person absentee ballot. This was also the first time that I voted in the primaries and closely followed the election. I have learned so much about our electoral process during this election!


I love that Senator Obama has run a campaign that encompassed ALL Americans; I think he truly understands that although we are from different races and religions, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, we ALL want the same things. We want our children to grow up and have the opportunity to further their education, we want healthcare and to not have to worry about whether or not we will have social security when the time comes. I love that he has lived his life in such a way that the Republican party had to really stretch the truth and at times flat out lie in an attempt to make him look bad. I adore his wife...Michelle Obama is my she-ro! You know how the saying goes, beside every strong man is a strong woman! Love her!

Anyway...I'm crossing my fingers, praying and wishing on a star!

It's Election Day

Make sure you get out there and vote!!!! This is a historical election and I am so proud to have been a part of the entire process!

Halloween Riddle

What do you get when the paths of a devilishly handsome...

sword toting Pirate...

who's quick to make you walk the plank...

a luring...

sneaky devil...

and a cute...

sweet...

cuddly...

unsuspecting baby turtle cross?

3 members of the Long family all dressed for Halloween! What did you think I was going to say? LOL!

Aren't they adorable?

It's all love, baby!!

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I just had to share this photo...I know, it's blurry...I always talk about how tall Donovan is, but I really had the chance to observe it while looking at him standing next to his preschool mates. The kids in his school range from 2 1/2 to just before kindergarten and he towers over all of them. I think the next tallest kid comes to his chin...crazy, right? We may have to nickname him Baby Shaq! LOL!

Hope you had a Happy Halloween...we certainly did!