The Quiles Family

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T10:52:00.003-06:00

This is going to be a really quick post. I just wanted to share my New Year's Resolution with you guys. This year I have decided to push myself beyond my own expectations for myself! What does this mean exactly? In some areas of my life, I am not quite sure, but here are a few that I have really thought about and wanted to share:

Spiritually - I want my relationship with Christ to grow farther and deeper than I could have ever imagined! I want to REALLY live for Christ each and every day. I know I can't be perfect and I will fail at times, I am human, but I want to experience Him this year like never before!

Financially - We are waiting for our house to sell (about 2 more weeks) and after this we really want to get rid of a lot of our debt. This will mean that will probably rent a place to live for a while, but that is ok. We want to be able to be out of debt so that we can do whatever God wants us to do and have more freedom.

Emotionally - I want to continue to fall more and more in love with my husband every day. I want to strengthen and deepen my current friendships and relationships with family. I want to develop new friendships with people I meet this year.

I am just ready to live a life filled with more - LIFE! Not that I have a boring life now, but I just want to experience more and live my life to the fullest. I want to push myself to do things that I never thought that I would be able to do. We all have limits for ourselves set in our minds of what we feel that we can achieve. I want to go beyond that and see what I can truly do with the help of God and find out where He will lead me and what He will teach me this year!

Woo Hoo!

2010-12-11T19:53:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to take a quick minute to document that today - 12/11/10 we accepted an offer on our house in TN! We have been praying for this day for several months! God is truly amazing and can and DOES move mountains! It is contingent on the closing of the buyer's house in Michigan and the home inspection, but all should go as planned. We should be house free on or around 1/16/11! Woo Hoo!!!

A Few Cards

2010-10-26T18:40:00.006-05:00

Just a quick post with a few cards I have made recently. It feels great to be creative recently! It is most definately my "release" from work, as it has been pretty darn stressful lately!

Enjoy!

This one is my favorite! I made it using some Practicing Creativity stamp sets - Look Up and Key to My Heart!

This one is also made using only PCD stamps!

I made this one tonight (sorry for the bad lighting). I made it using some Basic Grey paper from the Max and Whiskers 6x6 pad and some Jovial brads! The samp is also from BG and it is from their Basics collection.

Have a great night!

PCD Challenge

2010-10-07T10:54:00.005-05:00

Wow! It has been a REALLY long time since I participated in a challenge of any kind! Between all the excitement of moving (insert sarcasm) and getting settled in our new lives in PA, there hasn't been much time for anything! So I made some time and made myself sit down and be creative! I figured that Courtney's challenge was the perfect opportunity! She challenged us to make something using any of the Practicing Creativity Designs stamp sets.

I got my inspiration from this picture I took with my cell phone driving back from Hershey one day (well, my husband was driving and I was in the passenger seat):
So here's my card made with two sets from Practicing Creativity, Look Up and Barefoot Summer

I LOVE this hot air balloon stamp! So fun to paper piece and make it any design you want! I stamped it on some fabric paper from American Crafts Dear Lizzy Collection - Firefly Festival, using StazOn ink in Jet Black...

Other Supplies Used:

Paper: Green, brown, white, and blue card stock

Ink: Chestnut Roan (Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink), Tuxedo Black (Memento), Versamark Ink, Grass (Hero Hues)Vintage Photo (Distress Ink)

Copics: Cadmium Red (R27), Orange (YR68)

Embossing Powder: White

Rub Ons: Tweets - Woodgrain (Studio Calico)

Punch: Postage Stamp (EK Success)

Glossy Accents (Ranger)

Only in Nashville....

2010-06-23T19:27:00.011-05:00

Only in Nashville can you see a concert started with a welcome from a few of the TN Titans Players, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, the Titans' head coach - Jeff Fisher, The Mayor - Karl Dean, and The Governor - Phil Bredesen! Only in Nashville will the concert include at least 20 performers including Country Artists, Rock and Roll Legends, Christian Music Recording Artists, a huge Pop "sensation", and a special appearance by an Oscar Award Winning Actress! The concert was called Nashville Rising. It was a benefit concert for the flood victims of May 2010's historic flood in Nashville. It was AMAZING and worth every penny!

The concert was opened by Carrie Underwood..... She sang "Undo It" and "Jesus Take the Wheel" that led into "How Great Thou Art" - AMAZING performance! (If you click the links it takes you to a YouTube video of the performance)

Next up was Blake Shelton....Blake sang "Some Beach" followed by "Hillbilly Bone" with a special appearance by Trace Adkins to help him out on that one!

Lynyrd Skynard was next....They sang "What's Your Name" and "Sweet Home Alabama" - of course!

Next up were Michael W. Smith followed by Amy Grant, Montgomery Gentry, Taylor Swift, Luke Bryan, LeAnn Rymes and Martina McBride! We are just getting started at this point!

At this point there were some presentations of monetary donations made to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee by several companies.

Then came the hit of the night....ZZ TOP!

The played "Sharped Dress Man" and another song but I couldn't tell you what it was - I don't normally listen to ZZ Top but I will be honest - they were probably one of my favorite acts from the night!

Miranda Lambert, Julie Roberts, Jason Aldean, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, and Toby Keith all performed next.

Then to EVERYONE'S surprise.....Sandra Bullock made a guest appearance!

Almost 4 (yes, FOUR) hours later, the 2 performers who were responsible for putting such a great event together performed for us as well - Faith Hill and Tim McGraw!

What an amazing event for such a great cause!

Happy Birthday!

2010-06-22T12:53:00.004-05:00

I made this card for one of the pharmacy tech's at my store for her birthday (which is today). I love the colors (they were actually my wedding colors)!

In other birthday news, tonight I am taking my mom to a concert in Nashville that is going to benefit flood relief (from the flood that we had back in May) for her birthday and a late Mother's Day gift. We are both super pumped and really looking forward to it!

Supplies for card:
Whte cardstock
Patterened paper: both paterns were from the DeLovely 6x6 pad - Cosmo Cricket
Ribbon: random roll from craft/fabric store
Button: Obscure collection - Basic Grey
Stamp: "Happy Birthday" portion of the "Happy Birthday Friend" stamp from You're Dandy - Practicing Creativity

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T20:38:00.003-05:00

I have a few cards to share with you that I have made recently! I have been in the crafting mood so I took full advantage of it. This first card is the card I gave my dad for Father's day. Pretty simple and I hope it was masculine enough for him! I LOVE this tree from Practicing Creativity (well, really this whole stamp set). One of my pharmacy techs at work got married over the weekend and I had been meaning to make a card for his wedding but did not get a chance to do it until right before the wedding. Even though it was rushed, I love the way it turned out! It is VERY simple, but I loved it!

This week is my mom's birthday and another one of my teche's at work's birthday so I hope to have a few more cards to share soon too if I get a chance to make some. For my mom's birthday the two of us are going to a concert here in Nashville on Tuesday night to benefit the flood relief. I am super excited about it!

That's it for tonight. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great night!

Card 1 supplies:

Grey cardstock, White gel pen, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper

Stamps: Barefoot Summer - Practicing Creativity Designs

Stickers: Hannah & Henry Letters - American Crafts

Ribbon: Black Double Faced Satin - May Arts

Card 2 supplies:

Kraft card stock, Fiskar's scalloped edge punch, the pink paper is from the Poteeka Souffle paper pack - the Paper Studio

Stamps: Basic Grey freebie

Ribbon: Ivory Twill - May Arts

A Few Cards and an Anniversary Pic

2010-05-23T21:44:00.002-05:00

So I just wanted to quickly share a few cards I have made recently. They are not the greatest pictures of them, but here they are anyway:
(LOVE this stamp)!!!

Not sure I was 100% in love with this card, but I wanted to share it anyway since I haven't had much to share lately.

And here is a picture from our trip last week to the TN Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN - it was our anniversary last week and we celebrated with a night away.

Supplies:

Card 1/Caffeine Card

Card stock: white/bargain from BigLots

Patterned Paper: Max and Whiskers by Basic Grey (6x6 pad), Basics by Basic Grey (6x6 pad)

Ribbon: Cabana Blooms by Fiskars/bargain from BigLots

Stamps: Coffee Cafe by TPC Studio

Ink: ColorBox Chalk ink in Chestnut Roan

Punch: from EK Designs

Card 2/Mother's Day Card

Card stock: white/bargain from BigLots

Stamps: You're Dandy by Practicing Creativity and Scalloped Moon by Hero Arts

Ink: Bright Pink and Black from Stampabilities

Information Overload!

2010-05-22T19:57:00.004-05:00

I know I said I was going to do better about blogging - but guess what, I haven't! At least this one has only been a month since my last post right? My partner at work is still not back and I am still working a lot - next week I have a 57 hour week scheduled. I can't complain too much though, I was lucky enough to get an entire week off this week for my anniversary!

I did want to share about a new project I have started at work! My friend Summer wrote a post on her blog about recycling and this is something that has bothered a lot at work the past few years so it hit home for me! Take a look down one of our bays of stock bottles at the pharmacy: Guess where all those bottles were ending up once we emptied them? I'm sure you can guess: in the trash! I always said that I felt like we should recycle at work but I never did anything about it. I guess I was waiting for someone from corporate to do it for me. Well, after reading Summer's post, I decided it was time for my store to start recycling! So I started this basket:

And that is just after a few hours the first night I set up the "Recycle Bin" at work! My boss said that we can't recycle paper (and I understand because something with HIPPA information might end up in there and we don't want to go down that road!), but said that we can recycle bottles! I am so excited! As I mentioned before, I have been off for week, so I'm anxious to get back to work to see how many bags of plastic bottles I have to take to be recycled after a week!

In other news, my sister, Crazy Coupon Carol, did a giveaway on her blog about a month ago of organic cereal and granola bars from Cascadian Farms and I am excited to say that I won! I got 4 boxes of cereal, 2 boxes of granola bars and a reusable shopping bag. So far, everything we have tried has been yummy!

About 2 weeks ago I went and babysat my niece and nephew for a day and here are a few cute pictures of them that I just wanted to share!

2010-04-18T18:54:00.002-05:00

So, I am officially the WORST blogger ever! It has been since FEBRUARY, for crying out loud, since my last post! I am ashamed!

However, I do have a fairly good reason. The other pharmacist at my store who works the days that I am off fell down some stairs and has been out of work since March 18th. This means that there are tons of open shifts so I have been working the majority of those shifts. This current pay period I have had more help than previous ones so I'm finally getting more than 1 day off a week (and by a week I mean every 7 days since I work in a retail pharmacy and we are open 7 days a week). Still no idea when my partner is coming back - MAYBE the 28th? I highly doubt it though!

I wanted to share some pictures from last week. I went to visit my sister and spent some time outside with my niece and nephew (I apparently forgot to take pictures of my nephew :( ).
I can't wait to make a scrapbook page with these pictures and my friend, Courtney Baker's stamp set You're Dandy. How cute is that going to be???

I did get around to making the following card awhile ago. I can't remember now what all went into making this card, but I do remember that it was for an Everything But The Kitchen Sink challenge (well, 2 challenges combined into one because I missed the first challenge and then ended up missing both - Go me!). I love the fabric at the bottom of the card and how it looks like an old ruffled jean skirt! I also enjoy looking at the flower I made out of that same fabric!

Well, sorry I have been absent for almost 2 months since my last post - hopefully the next one won't be another 2 months away!

It's been a while!

2010-02-09T21:22:00.003-06:00

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have been on here to blog! There has been so much going on and I have just not had time to even think about blogging. The first main event was the 5 inches of snow we got here a few weeks ago (see how behind on this blogging I am)! Here are just a few pictures of our house and our road....

Nothing too impressive compared to my husband's family in PA who are dealing with 2 and 1/2 feet of snow over the weekend plus the extra 12 plus inches they are expecting by tomorrow! And think....I'm moving up there into that mess! The things we will do for our children and our families! :o)

Here is a card that I made for a friend of mine who just turned the big 40! I love her and you would never be able to guess that she is 40! She is so youthful and amazing and I can only hope to be like her when I reach that milestone!

This next card is the Valentine's Day card that I made for my hubby this year. He has actually already seen it laying out on my desk, but I don't think he *knows* it's for him...so it won't be a huge surprise, but we aren't big on this holiday anyway, but I couldn't NOT make him a card! I also need to send a shout out to my friend Courtney over at Practicing Creativity! I made the card using her stamp set "Key to my Heart." I am so proud of her for her efforts in venturing out and following her heart! Way to go Courtney! (I loved using your set by the way)

This next card I didn't make with any certain person or use really and this is totally not like me. I may send it as a Valentine's card, but I'm not really sure. I may just keep it and send it out later too. I also used Courtney's set for the sentiment on this card as well.

The other thing happening in the life of the Quiles Family is that we have water under our house :( We have had a really wet season here in TN and as a result, we keep water standing under our house. We had a "waterproofing company" come out and give us an estimate of $7,000 to install 2 sump pumps and a pipe system under the house, which yes, would take the water out from under the house once it gets there, but what about trying to prevent that from happening first?

So we have gotten another guy we know to help us out and he is going to build up our yard around the foundation and slope it away from the house and do some other small things to keep the water from staying right by the house....as well as pumping the water out that is there now and drying out our crawl space.

We have also put our house up for sale about a month ago, but we have not had a single person by to look at it yet. That's ok because we have had some snow and it's been raining a lot so I know it's not a very popular time to be looking in the middle of winter. It has also given us some time to get this water situation taken care of!

Shew! I think that's it for tonight. If you are still reading, thank you and goodnight!

Supplies for cards:

Happy Birthday: Striped paper is from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush Collection, Happy Birthday and cupcake stamps are from Stampabilites unmounted rubber stamp "Birthday" set.

Valentine's Card: Paper is from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush collection, stamps are Practicing Creativity's Key to my Heart set

Hey Friend: Sentiment is from Practicing Creativity's Key to my Heart set, Paper is from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush collection, the small flower is from the American Crafts Sentiments set, and the buttons are also from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush Collection.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Sketch Challenge

2009-12-20T19:30:00.006-06:00

Here's my card for this month's Everything But The Kitchen Sink Sketch Challenge:

It's a little more "girly" than I usually make, but it's what I came up with. Not sure if I like it or not? I like it, but I guess it's not one of my favorites. Anyway, have a good night!

Supplies: All patterned paper is from the Earth Love Mini Deck by Cosmo Cricket, the "happy" is some Thickers from American Crafts that I got real cheap at Big Lots (yay!), the "birthday" is from a remarks letter stickers book, I used a tag stamp from a stampology clear stamp set called Journaling Tags that I got on clearance at Target for super cheap (yay again!) and embossed it with clear embossing powder using some versa mark ink. Oh and the string and buttons were just from my stash o' stuff!

What? Four days off?

2009-12-20T16:58:00.004-06:00

I have had the past four days off from work and I have kept myself very busy! Here is a little glimpse of what I have accomplished:

1. I made a wreath out of some boas, a grass wreath, a staple gun, and some ribbon.
All I did was staple a boa into place on one end, then wrap it around, making sure that the brown wreath did not show through, then stapled the other end. I used about 5 or 6 boas (I'm not sure exactly because I started this project several weeks ago only to discover that I did not have enough boas to cover the entire wreath, and I don't remember how many I used in that first stage).

Here is the final result! I actually found the idea here on a blog that I follow! I wish I had made the bow bigger at the top and I always can because it's just tied. I love this wreath because it will be so easy to change out the ribbon based on the season/holiday!

2. I cleaned my entire house from top to bottom (well almost). I did do some major cleaning and knocked 1 room off of my "I've got to declutter this place before putting it on the market" list!

3. On Saturday, I had some not so great news with shared with me when I had someone here to look at my heating system because we always have a musty smell when the heat kicks on. That was being caused by two things. One was that the air return duct work under my house had come loose and had a huge gap in it - that problem got fixed (not to mention that it was supposed to have been fixed last year when we had someone else tell us the exact same thing)! The second reason is that we have water standing under our house! Yes, we did just have a TON of rain this past week, but it should not be getting under the house! The builder did put a "trench" around the foundation and that is where all the water stays, but this is probably the source of the musty smell. I have no clue who to call to have this fixed, so any ideas would be appreciated!

4. We went to see the movie, Avatar this weekend! I was NOT looking forward to seeing it at all and only went because I wanted to get out of the house and this was the only movie that my husband wanted to see. Well, I loved it...Go figure!

5. I taught myself to knit! I did a little learning swatch to learn the basics, and now I am in the process of making a very simple scarf - just one color and no pattern, but it's just my first one!

Whew! What a weekend! Back to work tomorrow to work 7 out of the next 10 days!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Challenge

2009-12-09T23:13:00.003-06:00

I am pushing the deadline on this one! I just have not been in a very "crafty" mood lately and I had to make myself sit down to participate in this challenge! I love these challenges because they are so different! So here we go...click on the image below for all the other great entries: Can you guess what the challenge was this time:

How about now:

It was to use toothpicks! How creative Kelley! I loved the idea and when I saw it, I got really excited, but I had a hard time coming up with something to do with them! Here's what I came up with for this challenge:

It's very simplistic this time! I look at it at times and I like it, but then other times not so much!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great night! I'm heading to bed as soon as I get my desk halfway cleared off at least!

EBTKS - November Sketch challenge

2009-11-17T20:24:00.006-06:00

The girls over at EBTKS added a new challenge - a sketch challenge based off of something in the home. This one is based off of one of the girl's fireplace mantle.
Here's the sketch (and link): And here's my card (with the kitchen sink in the background - ha ha....I just don't have the greatest lighting in my house and the kitchen counter seems to be the best place so far when I need to take pictures on rainy days like today):

The paper that I used was some glitter paper that I had from a 4.5 x 6.5 "Mat Stack."
The "Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!" stamp is from American Crafts' "Thanks" stamp set, stamped with some versa mark ink and then embossed with some silver embossing powder (I can't remember who makes it though). It is stamped on some black card stock and applied with some foam adhesive.

I had so much fun with this challenge that I actually made another card! This one is my favorite of the two (yes, again with the kitchen sink :o) )

This one I made with a stamp set that I just HAD to have! It's called "Coffee Cafe" by TPC Studio. The little stamp on the inside of the card in the circle is stamped in Chestnut Roan by Color Box and the "I like you a latte" (lol - I had to have the set for that one stamp really) is stamped with Versa Mark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder on some brown card stock. The paper is called "simple stripe" by Three Bugs in a Rug from their Simple Pleasures collection. It is a two sided piece and the blue/brown/white patter was the other side of that same piece. Oh and some white thread and foam adhesive!

Could you hold please?

2009-11-16T21:51:00.003-06:00

The other night at work I got a phone call from one of our regular customers. You know the type - the ones who are needy and require a 20 minute conversation about absolutely nothing and when you hang up after those 20 minutes, you have only spoken for maybe 3 of those minutes other than the occasional "yes", "uh huh", "I understand", "really?", "whys that?"....

The customer asked me to find out how much a particular medication would cost on their insurance. So I politely ask the customer, "Do you mind holding for a minute so that I can run that through your insurance and get a price for you?"

The response that I got about knocked me on the floor! I can honestly say that it is a first for me in the 10+ years that I have been working in a pharmacy....

"Sure, I'm just sitting here resting on the commode."

I cannot look at this customer in the same way anymore! I'm just thankful that I did not hear any strange noises while I was on the phone!

A 2nd EBTKS Card

2009-11-06T13:37:00.003-06:00

So I decided I would make another card using TP for the Everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge. For my first card, the tp was disguised and it could have been pretty much anything. However, for this 2nd card I wanted to make something that you could tell that TP was used (not used TP - that would be gross)!It's pretty simplistic, but I thought it would be a cute card to stick in with my hubby's lunch one night when he leaves for work! I used staples to secure the two "points" and then used glue dots to keep the rest of it attached to the card to get the shape - surprisingly this was a lot harder than it might look!

On another note, here is a better picture of the first card that I made for this challenge! I decided that since it was such a nice day out I would take advantage of it and take a better picture with fantastic natural light!

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Challenge - November '09

2009-11-03T22:57:00.003-06:00

Wow! Thank you girls for a TRUE CHALLENGE! I had no idea where to begin with this one. This month the challenge was to use toilet paper! Oh my goodness, I had no idea where to begin! I just went to the bathroom and grabbed a bunch of it and brought it into my office/craft area and started twisting it, crunching it up, trying to use it as a "dabber" for paint to create a background effect....which turned into my crazy card! (click on this logo above to be taken to the page to see other entries)

For my card, I ended up taking the TP and applied it to some kraft colored card stock (a little smaller than the face of my card) using some Platinum colored metallic craft paint I had in my closet. It ended up creating a textured background that, surprisingly, I really like!

So here's my card! It looks a little better in person, but you get the idea! I hate that the greens of the wreath and the "Season's Greetings" sticker don't match (and I may end up switching out sentiments if I can find a good one that matches), but for now it will do!

I hope that everyone has a fantastic rest of the week! I get to work two 12 hour shifts on Wednesday and Thursday - but at least I only have 3 flu shots left to give for the season (unless of course we end up getting the H1N1 vaccine - which I not so secretly hope we DON'T)! I gave 47 flu shots over the course of my 3 day weekend PLUS did all the other normal stuff I have to do at work - it just about did me in!

Supplies: TP :o) , platinum colored metallic craft paint, green felt cut into a circle/wreath shape, red Christmas ribbon from my stash of stuff, the "Season's Greetings" sticker is from the Paper Studio, kraft colored card stock, chocolate brown card stock, the wreath and sentiment are applied using foam dimensional adhesive.

It's Been Awhile

2009-10-29T16:13:00.004-05:00

I know, I know.....it has been a few weeks since I have posted anything! I have just been out of my crafting mood and I haven't had much else to talk about.

I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow because I know that over the course of the next 3 days I will give the 50 flu shots that we got in yesterday at the pharmacy and I know that I will have at least 50 more people wanting them after the last one is gone. I don't mind giving the shots, but when it also has to be done along with all of the other normal duties, it gets to be very overwhelming! It also becomes an issue when I don't have any one else there with me - like on Saturday afternoon my tech will leave around 3 or 4 and then it will be just me there by myself for the last 2 hours - hopefully everyone else will be consumed with Halloween and trick-or-treating to be worried about coming into Rite Aid to get a flu shot?!

On another note, we did get a new kitten, Gracie! She is not very cooperative with the camera, but this was the best shot I could get for now!

Also, I did make my niece a birthday card for her 2nd birthday:

I can't believe that she is already two! My sister is now swimming in princess/pink stuff. I didn't get any pictures from the party because I was kind of stuck in a corner and I couldn't really get out to take pictures :(

That's it for now - I am going to go put together a stand for our DVDs that just arrived from UPS so maybe I will post pictures of it soon!

The giraffes on this card are from a stamp set that I super cheap at Target on clearance for a whole $2.62! I didn't have any stamps for kids so I thought this one would be a great start! It's called Mindy's zoo by Autumn Leaves - so cute!

Most of the other stuff is from my stash - the chipboard letters are from Hobby Lobby and the buttons are from Basic Grey's OBSCURE buttons.

A Few Random Things

2009-10-05T23:01:00.006-05:00

I decided instead of posting lots of different posts, that I would post just once about lots of different stuff at once:

1. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

During my time in pharmacy school, I belonged to a pharmaceutical fraternity, Kappa Epsilon, and our national platform is BCAM!

2. I had a small accident yesterday :o( I went to spend a fun-filled day celebrating a friend of mines' birthday party at Rock Island State Park. Several years ago, I had to have surgery on my ankle due to a small birth defect having to do with the way my bones formed in my ankle. Anyway, one of the downsides of the surgery is that I am not very stable on uneven surfaces any longer because I have limited movement in my ankle.

Just after I twisted my ankle on an uneven rock stair, my friend Sam comes around the corner behind me and says, "Brandy, do you think your ankle will be able to handle this with it being so wet?" ---- Funny you should ask since I just twisted my ankle and felt something pop! I went back up to the picnic tables and sat and worked a Sudoku puzzle while the rest of the group went down and did some hiking. As soon as I twisted it, I was in an extreme amount of pain and I immediately felt a "burning" sensation so I knew the swelling was setting in immediately.

Anyway, here is my ankle last night when I got home! It is very sore and I am really not looking forward to going to work Wednesday and Thursday since all I do is stand on my feet for 12 hours a day! Let's pray that another day of rest tomorrow will do it some good and it will be better by then!??! It's not looking good at this moment - I am still in a lot of pain, but can walk on it and move it, so I know it's not broken - just sprained or strained, but it's still not comfortable!

3. We have discovered a fun movie to watch over and over again recently - Fired Up! It's about 2 high school football players who decide to go to cheer camp instead of football camp so that they can chase after girls - It's a pretty funny movie and we have watched it twice already!

4. I am in love with Netflix! Juan and I love to watch movies and what better way to rent movies than to have them sent right to your mailbox? I was sceptical at first, but I love it!

5. There are only 10 months left on my contract at Rite Aid and then we will be moving to PA to be closer to my husband's children. After spending a week up there a few months ago, we realized that we really need to be a part of their lives. I will miss my friends and family here in TN, but I know that those kids need their dad (and their mom) so we are making the move north!

I guess that's it for now.....Have a good rest of the week!

everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge

2009-10-05T21:24:00.007-05:00

I had SOOOO much fun making this card for the new "everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge"!!!!! This is a new challenge started by a few friends of mine, so I knew I was going to participate from the moment that I read their news! I was just waiting on the recipient to get her card first before posting it - because I know that she reads my blog and I didn't want to spoil the surprise! Click on the picture below and it will take you to Courtney's blog and the other entries for this challenge:For this month the challenge was to take something from your mail and incorporate it into a card or scrapbook page. Here is some of the mail that I used:

The card I made was for my sister, Carol, who uses coupons like a mad woman and can get stuff for next to nothing most of the time! I had some coupons that I wanted to send her for diapers, but I also had some coupons for other stuff that I knew I would not be using, so I sent those along as well.

The first thing I saw after I read about the challenge on Courtney's blog was a coupon book from Kroger and I immediately thought about a coupon themed card but I wasn't sure how it was going to work out completely.

Then I got the cellophane pocket idea from another one of the challenge creators, Winter. I decided that I would find small images of of some of the products I was sending in coupon form and tuck them into the little pocket. I took those images, glued them to some card stock and cut them out again and stuck them in their cellophane pocket home.

I cut the "exclusive coupons" wording from the front of the Kroger coupon booklet and put it all on top of some striped paper from Cherry Hill's October Afternoon collection. I then found a scrap of blue paper and punched a scalloped border for the edge of the card. This card was really tiny - it was only about 4X3 inches.

It seemed like it was missing something so....The last thing that I did was I stamped a "To you from me" sentiment from American Craft's. I cut that out, punched a hole in it, and tied some ribbon in it and stuck it in the little cellophane pocket as well.

Here is the finished product with the coupons inserted and ready to go!

My sister called me today to let me know that she got the card and that she thought it was really cute! I must admit that it reminded me of doing a project like you would do in elementary school, but I absolutely LOVED it - it was almost therapeutic after a long 12 hour day of work! I sat down JUST to come up with the idea and I ended up staying up until almost 1AM working on the darn thing AND I had to get up for work the next morning (thank goodness the next day was a Saturday and I didn't have to be there until 9 instead of our normal 8)!

Even though it does remind me of something I would have made in elementary school, it is still probably one of my favorite cards that I have made so far! I hated parting with it, but I am glad it brought a smile to someone else's face today!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #17

2009-10-04T00:25:00.004-05:00

I decided I needed some inspiration to come up with a birthday card for a sweet friend of mine. I thought that the colors from Dawn's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge (click on the picture above to go directly to the page that provides links to more wonderful cards) would make a great birthday card - the aqua and red make the colors so bright and "cheery!"

The middle present there and the "Happy Birthday" are applied with dimensional adhesive so they "pop-out" a little from the card. I LOVE the ribbon that I used on this card - lacy and feminine! I am not completely happy with the way that the card turned out, but that might be because it's a little late and I'm tired!

Exciting news in my life right now - I am actually not working like a mad woman this week! Yay! I worked last Sunday unexpectedly because the other pharmacist's dad at my store ended up going to the ER and she wanted to go be with him...but she offered to repay me by working my Sunday for me (this NEVER happens to me)!!!

So I have Sun, Mon, and Tues off this week as well as my normal 3 day weekend of Fri, Sat, and Sun! YAY!

Sunday I am going to spend the day with a very precious family to me who are home from their missionary lives in Honduras for a few months. I'm not sure what Monday and Tuesday have in store for me just yet. Then on Friday I am going to be able to spend some time with 3 other amazing women whom I have known for a very long time - I can't wait! I hope that you all get some kind of exciting and fun news this week as well!

Supplies for this card:
Cardstock: Kraft, aqua, and white colored
Ink: Lipstick Red and Blue Lagoon from Colorbox
Ribbon: Chocolate Brown Lace Ribbon from Jo-Ann's
Stamps: Happy Birthday 01 and Stripped Present from Stampabilities
Punch: A Scalloped edge punch that I found on Clearance at Target for about $3 - not sure of brand or what it's called exactly (I threw the packaging away already)

A Series of Cards

2009-09-26T15:41:00.004-05:00

I had SO much fun making these cards! I really wanted to just keep them and hang on to them, but then I figured it would be a wast of money (and time) to just have them sitting them around the house. I decided I would send them to some of my friends instead! I took my inspiration from Kristina Werner. I have been wanting to try this technique out for a while, but just now got around to actually doing it.
I didn't want to waste a lot of paper so I ended up making a few more cards out of the left overs from this first one. *Supplies for the card above: The paper is from Cherry Hill's October Afternoon collection, the dress step is Stampabilities' Wire Dress Form, the "Just for u" is from Stampabilities' sophie caps alphas clear stamps, and the ink was Bright Pink by Stampabilites.

*Supplies for the card above: Paper from Cherry Hill's October Afternoon collection and the flowers with "keep in touch" bellow them are two stamps from the Sentiments collection from American Crafts and I embossed them with clear embossing powder.

*Supplies for the card above: Paper from Cherry Hill's October Afternoon, the "to you from me" stamp is from the sentiments collection from American Crafts stamped in black ink from stampabilities, and some orange ribbon from the Paper Studio.

Ok, so I am off to work a day early because there is always some sort of drama happening in my partner's life! At least I don't have to be there until 12 and I will get off at 6! In the mean time, check out my cousin Lori's blog about a really funny pharmacy story! I can honestly say that I've never had this happen to me before! Enjoy your Sunday!

A Few Pages

2009-09-22T17:21:00.004-05:00

Today has been another stay-at-home and craft day! Even though neither of these pages were made today, I still wanted to share something! What I made today I REALLY wanted to share, but I want them to get to where they are going first ---- so be on the look out this weekend for a post!

This first page I am not a huge fan of! I wanted to put in a page about me starting off my career as a pharmacist at Rite Aid and I wanted to incorporate my old name plate (my new one looks almost exactly the same except that it says "Pharmacy Manager/Immunizing Pharmacist" under my name). It is an ok page and I suppose that it serves it's purpose. Supplies for this one pare pretty simple: red and blue card stock, a Rite Aid logo that I printed out on my computer and my old name plate! This second page I am much more fond of! Even though this shows that I am almost 2 years behind on my scrapbook since Lila will be 2 next month! Good grief time flies!!

Supplies for this page include some old yellow letters that I had in my stash from AGES ago, the pink background paper is from The Paper Studio, the butterfly is from The Paper Studio - La Petites 3-D Stickers, and the little round thing under the center picture is a little round "looking glass" that says LOVE from Making Memories.

As you can tell from all the different pages lately, my scrapbook is a mixture of 12x12 pages and 8&1/2 x 11 pages. So far I am enjoying switching it up a bit and I think it adds a litte interest to looking through the book!

Atlanta '07

2009-09-17T18:57:00.004-05:00

I have not done anything creative these past 2 days that I have had off, but I still wanted to give you all at least 1 post about something before heading back to work my 3 day weekend. These are some more pages that I made last weekend. They are of a trip that Juan and I made to Atlanta during the first year we were married. We had a great time and we want to go back sometime, but we just have to find the time to go! Anyway, here's the first page:

And the second page:
Supplies:

*Thickers

*Paper from K&Company Wild Saffron collection

*Flower on 2nd page is also from the K&Company Wild Saffron collection

*Buttons are just from my random button collection :)

Crazy Two Weeks

2009-09-13T18:57:00.004-05:00

The past two weeks have been INSANE for me! I normally only work 75 hours every pay period (which is two weeks). However, this past pay period, I worked a total of 96 plus hours (AND it was the first of the month and we filled over 900 prescriptions when we had been averaging around 650 to 700 per week so this was a significant jump for our little pharmacy).

I say "plus" because what I will get paid for is 96 even though on Monday (Labor Day and the day I was supposed to get off "early" at 6:00) I had someone pull up at the drive-thru window after I already had the computers shut down and the gates pulled down and I was about to walk out the door (all I had left to do was log off my cash register drawer and literally walk out the door and lock up).

Of course, being the softy that I am, I end up staying because the prescription was for a kid and I was almost certain there was not another pharmacy open in Sparta...and I didn't want to be the mean person to send them to Cookeville to a 24 hour pharmacy (and competitor). I also have high hopes that the parents will remember me staying after on a holiday to fill their son's prescription the next time they need a prescription filled. However, I do not get paid for my time that I spent there filling the kid's prescriptions (or for calling the ER doctor when I realize that what he's written for does not even exist)!

Just my luck! They will remember the nice pharmacist who stayed after her shift had ended right?!?

The last day I was at work was this past Thursday. It is normal for me to get a 3 day weekend every other week because I work a 3 day weekend every other week! However, I have NEVER looked forward to a 3 day weekend like I did this past one!

So on Friday I ran around and paid some bills and did some errands. That night Juan had to work a 12 hour shift himself so after I cooked dinner, kissed him goodbye, and cleaned the kitchen, I got to do whatever I wanted to do and that was spend some time working on my scrapbook (guilt free)! The rest of the weekend has mainly been spent with Juan since we hadn't seem much of each other the past 2 weeks.

I have been trying to get caught up on the past several years that I have neglected! I have tons of pictures in boxes that I have not done anything with! This is a picture of a page that I had done a while ago (not this past Friday). I really like it for some reason. Maybe it's just because of what it's of - our honeymoon and the start of our life together! Who knows!

I was being lazy today and didn't take it out of the page protector (and I wish I had)...oh well!
Supplies:
Paper: Feeling Groovy "No Worries" May Flowers Paper from My Mind's Eye
Tag: From the Happy Trails Tag Pad by K&Company
White Ribbon from Hobby Lobby
I'm really not sure where the sticker came from??

Back to work tomorrow :o(

Our First Home Scrapbook Pages

2009-08-30T19:23:00.004-05:00

So I have been REALLY behind on my scrapbook so I have taken a good chunk of the weekend and tried to catch up (but I didn't get very much accomplished because I forgot how long it really takes to do this stuff). These are some of the layouts that I liked the most of the ones that I did. The first one I am not crazy about, but I do like the 2nd page much better! The first page is ok, but my favorite part of it is the little "envelope" that I made to the right of the picture of our house :o) The quality of the pictures is not the greatest because I took them in my office last night kind of late and we don't have the best lighting in here. Oh well! As far as the supplies that I used on these pages, I know that the paper I used is from American Crafts and is from the alaCarte collection that I got a great deal on at Big Lots. The piece of brown paper with the white lines on it from Basic Grey's line, offbeat. The sticker that I used is from The Paper Studio (Family Sayings #2). The bird stamp is called "Textured Bird" from Stampabilities and I did some embossing with it. If you are curious about anything else, just ask!

I am probably going to be pretty quiet this week. I have to work every day between now and next Tuesday, with the exception of this coming Tuesday! It's going to be one LONG week, and I'm not looking forward to it!

More pictures

2009-08-29T22:48:00.005-05:00

So I realized that some of you who read my blog don't have Facebook and can't see all the pictures from my trip to PA so I thought I would post some more! Enjoy :)

Luna (my step-daughter) being silly at grandpa's house

Juan with his mom and dad (who are divorced, but still get along and spend lots of time together even though he is remarried and very happy)...kind of strange, but also makes it so much easier on us when we go to visit! We all had dinner together every single night! It was wonderful!

Juan and his son, Donovan

Me with Luna

Juan and I passing time by taking goofy self-portraits!

No longer MIA

2009-08-29T20:29:00.006-05:00

I have been silent for a while because I haven't really had anything to post about. I wasn't doing much in the crafting world and all I was doing was just working. We did take a week and go visit family in PA. We had a great time and we are looking forward to moving up there around this time next year. Here is a picture from our trip up there to visit family:

We watched the movie Gran Torino today. I will be honest and say that I didn't really care whether or not we saw it, but it was a GREAT movie! I would really recommend anyone watch it. It dealt a lot with racism, but had a really good ending! I have never seen all the Fast and Furious movies either and recently we have watched all of them except for the Tokyo Drift one, and I am becoming a huge fan of these movies as well. LOL. I never thought I would like cars or racing, but since my husband has an "American Muscle Car" now I have started to get more interested in cars and that sort of stuff. We are standing in front of his car (an '09 Dodge Challenger) here:

I have been working on a scrapbook this weekend and maybe I will post some pictures of it later this week. Some pages are just kind of boring and plain (nothing more than some pictures and stickers), but I have made a few that I really like and I might post some of those soon. I will be working A LOT over the next 2 weeks so it might be a little hard for me to post at all, but I will try not to let so much time go between posts in the future!

Yummy Blackberry Cobbler

2009-07-23T16:27:00.003-05:00

Last week I found some blackberries on sale at the store and I bought 2 packs of them with the idea to make a cobbler! One of the many memories I have from my childhood is going out and picking blackberries and then mom would freeze them and make cobblers and all sorts of stuff. I never liked blackberries back then because I couldn't stand for the seeds to get stuck in my teeth, but now I can handle the seeds because I know that the desert is going to be worth it! This was my 1st attempt at blackberry cobbler and I think it turned out really good (so did Juan, it was gone in 2 days thanks to his ginormous portions he had :) ).

Only 23 more days until we leave for a week in PA to visit family! I am really looking forward to seeing Juan's parents and my beautiful step-kids! I am mainly just looking forward to the time away from my job!

CPS 125 Challenge

2009-07-23T16:12:00.003-05:00

So here is another card that I made for my 2nd official challenge. I have made cards before based off of challenges, but this is just my 2nd time officially participating in one.

Most of what I used for this card was just from my stash of stuff that I have laying around. The paper I found in my scraps and I have no idea what it is from. The letters are Thickers. The ribbon and the flower at the bottom are from my box of goodies that I have no idea where they came from.

Click here to see the CPS blog and explore other entries.

My First Challenge

2009-07-17T19:49:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I am still a newbie at card making and everything, but I decided I would try a challenge this week! I needed to make a card for a baby shower that I am going to this weekend and even though these aren't "baby" colors, I still wanted to try and make it work. It was also a lot of colors to try and make work together, but I think that they turned out looking really good together! (Click on the picture to see links to other entries)The baby shower is for some friends of mine I had back before I went to pharmacy school about 6 years ago! I heard through a friend that they had just adopted twins after battling with infertility. I, rudely, invited myself to the shower that a mutual friend of ours was going to be throwing them :0) They are going to need all they can get, especially since they were blessed with twins so I figured why not invite myself!

Supplies:

*Paper: Basic Grey Offbeat collection, American Crafts alaCart collection, random stuff from my stash

*Stamps: Part Ink Lowercase - Stampabilities

*ink: Scarley from ColorBox

*Stickers: Flowers from Sandylion Essentials

The stroller image I found online, printed and cut out a pattern to trace around and cut them out myself.

Happy Birthday Summer

2009-07-17T19:20:00.004-05:00

No, it's not just a summer filled with birthdays, but it's a card I made for my friend Summer's birthday! This past Wednesday was her birthday and on Monday I went down to Mt. Juliet to hang out for the day. So Summer and I did a little shopping together for an upcoming baby shower that we are both attending this weekend. I also wanted to do something for her birthday so I took her to lunch at Olive Garden afterwards! Yummy!

I also got to spend some time with my sister, niece, nephew, and dad that afternoon as well. I was back at my dad's house trying to get some more of my old stuff (crap) cleaned out of his house. I have either trashed, am going to try and sell, or given away the majority of the stuff I had left there, but there was some stuff I wanted to keep (just not much).

Anyway, so here is the card I made for Summer. I was going for something that looked like a gift wrapped present since I didn't get her an actual gift. I actually really liked this one and she said that she did too! The ribbon made it a little too bulky, but I think it turned out really cute! Enjoy!

Supplies:

*Paper: a selection from The Glitter Mat Stack

*Ribbon: from my Christmas wrap stash

*Stamps: "Happy Birthday" - Stampabilities, "Circle and Dots" - Inkadinkado

*Ink: Eggplant from VersaMagic and Lime Pastel from ColorBox Chalk

Thinking of you

2009-07-12T21:01:00.003-05:00

Recently, I had a good friend loose a grandfather so I made her a card and sent her a Starbucks gift card (we could all use a little Starbucks to get us back on our feet). Here's what I came up with:

The center block is applied with 3-D block things (I cannot for the life of me think of what they are called at this moment), but it makes it pop out farther than the other 2. I'm not sure why I decided to do that, but I like the way it turned out. Here's what else I used:

*Paper: American Craft alaCart (both patterned papers are from the same set) *Rub ons at the bottom: Found these are clearance somewhere, but not sure what they are from) *Stamps: Alphabet - stampabilities PARTY INK, Lowercase *Ink: Colorbox CHALK - Lime Pastel

I am having a stressful month at work, and I am really trying to be more positive about the situation and remember that I should be reflecting the God I love, so I have really tried not being negative. This has been extremely hard for me lately. It is taking a lot of prayer to make it through each day. Thankfully, I only have to work 2 days this week (after working 6 last week). That will be a very welcome change! I am more than ready now for that trip to PA in just 32 short days! (NOT that I'm counting or anything)

Miss U!

2009-06-30T16:47:00.003-05:00

I recently had a tech at work who moved to FL. I hated to see her go as she was becoming an awesome tech! I wanted to send her a little card to let her know we miss her and this is what I came up with:

Supplies:

-Patterned Paper: AC alaCarte

-Thickers from AC (Prancer)

****Both I found super cheap at Big Lots recently! The Thickers for $2/pack and a pack of AC patterned paper, 60 sheets, for $8!

It is definitely not the greatest picture quality in the world, but you get the idea. Also, for some reason, my paper cutter was not wanting to cut a straight line today, so the white matting to the top left of the "M" is uneven, but I didn't feel like re-doing it so I just left it. Maybe she won't notice!?

On another note, we are in the process of planning our trip to PA in August to visit my step-kids and in-laws! I am pretty excited about the trip because we haven't seen the kids since last August! PA is just too far away! We may possibly be scoping out some potential future residences as well, but being that we aren't going to be move for at least a year, I don't know that we will do it on this trip. We are planning on driving to save a little cash, but I am NOT looking forward to the 12 hour drive! It is going to take the next month and 1/2 before leave to psych myself up for that LONG BORING drive!

Anniversary Weekend

2009-05-28T22:01:00.004-05:00

Last week was mine and Juan's 2nd wedding anniversary! We weren't really planning on doing anything special this year, just going out to eat and let that be it this year. Those plans ended up getting changed into a weekend away in Nashville due to the fact that we decided we NEEDED the time together away from all distractions here at the house (the internet, games, cleaning, crafting, etc.).

Our Saturday began with a little Putt-Putt at Grand Ole' Golf in Opryland:
Juan beat me as he always does anytime we play, but one day I plan on this trend changing!

That night we decided to just relax and not really plan too much. We did go to dinner at Carabba's at The Mall at Green Hills and it was just as good as I remember! Yumm-O!!!

I found a new hotel in downtown Nashville for us to stay at called The Hutton Hotel. Here are a few pictures of our room (the bed and the vanity in the bathroom):

It was FABULOUS! We both said that we would stay there again if we decided to do another special night away from home for our anniversary next year or something. It was the nicest hotel that I have ever stayed at myself. It was a little pricey at about $160/night plus parking, but was worth every bit of it! The shower had a rain shower head that was absolutely wonderful and made me not want to get out!

Sunday morning we ate breakfast downstairs at the 1808 Grille and it was wonderful as well! Then we packed up and headed back over to the Opryland area and went to see Night At the Museum 2 at the IMAX theater. It wasn't in 3D, but it was still pretty cool to watch it on the huge screen! As we were driving back home to Cookeville after that we decided we would take a small detour and go see another movie at our local theater because we weren't ready for our weekend to end just yet. The 2nd movie of the day was Terminator Salvation. Both movies were GREAT and were so much fun to see together!

We did not want our weekend to end because we knew that it meant going back to work and going back to the schedule that we hate of not seeing much of each other. But we are thankful that we were able to spend an amazing weekend together celebrating two years of marriage!

A Few Cards

2009-05-28T21:39:00.003-05:00

Here are the two cards that I mentioned previously that I promised to post:

This first one was for my old roommate in pharmacy school, Kathlyn. Green is her favorite color (especially the lime greens). The "Happy Birthday" did not show up very well and I obviously didn't really think about that ahead of time. You can see it a lot better in person than you can in the picture. I mailed it last week which is a little early since her birthday is actually this coming Monday. I just wanted to be able to post a picture of it sooner to be honest with you :)

This one I made for my friend Jennifer. A few weeks ago I met her and my friend Summer for lunch in Lebanon. I went to church with those two girls growing up and we became a pretty tight group, along with our friend Andrea who lives in Dallas, TX and was not able to join us for obvious reasons. Jen bought Sum and I lunch that day so I wanted to send her a little Thank You card to say,well to say Thanks :) The stamping on this one did not turn out so evenly, but I still think it looks ok!

I would give you a list of supplies, but it was so long ago when I made these that I really don't remember what I used and I am too lazy at the moment to look the stuff up :) Also, I took the pictures in my kitchen so just ignore the stuff in the background like the dirty towel laying on the counter...ooops!

Coming Soon

2009-05-19T19:56:00.003-05:00

I will be posting some pictures of the cards I have made most recently soon, but I want to get them to the people they belong to first before posting them just in case the recipient reads my blog (I don't know that either of them do, but I want to be safe)!

On another note, today is my anniversary. I was married to my amazing husband 2 years ago today! We feel like we have been married for longer than 2 years, but we can't decide if that is a good or a bad thing! I think it's good :)

We weren't going to do anything for our anniversary this year because we are really trying to get student loans paid off, but the small plans of going out to eat last night to celebrate were cancelled when the other pharmacist at my store called me Saturday morning to ask me to switch days with her this week because her grandmother passed away. Of course I didn't hesitate to switch with her and ended up working yesterday. So we decided to push our evening out til this coming Saturday night. However, while I was at work on Monday I got a phone call from another pharmacist at another store asking me if I could possibly work at her store on Friday (which would mean extra money/an extra shift) so I decided I would take it to help pay off some of those student loans. When I told Juan about it when I got home Monday night he was a little disappointed because it would mean that I wouldn't be at home as much this week, and lately we have both been working A LOT of overtime. So, I mentioned us going out to eat at a restaurant on Saturday to celebrate our anniversary that we would have to drive to either Nashville or Knoxville to go to and he decided that whichever place we went that we would stay the night so that we can spend some time together away from home and all the distractions here so we can actually get some quality time together.

I am not all that familiar with Knoxville and what there is to do there, but I can always find something to do in Nashville. But going to Knoxville would be a change of scenery for us. So does anybody have any suggestions or votes for either place?

Oh the restaurant I want to go to is Carraba's (my favorite)!

I'm Behind

2009-05-13T16:35:00.004-05:00

I am a little behind on getting stuff posted, but here is a picture of the card I made for my mom for mother's day:

It is one of the first cards that is "worthy" enough to post and share with the blogging world. I read my friend's Kelley's and Courtney's blogs on a regular basis (thanks to the wonderful Google Reader) and I feel like a lot of what I create does not measure up to these girls! I still have a long way to go, but at least my mom enjoyed receiving the card and that is all that matters!

Am I giving enough?

2009-05-10T14:57:00.002-05:00

Have you ever heard one of those sermons that just sticks with you and you can't seem to get out of your head or heart? Well, that happened to me back on Easter Sunday. We have struggled finding a church in Cookeville and we finally found one that we like back in January after living here for a year and 1/2. We have been to a LOT and they always seemed to have something "wrong" with them for us...we loved the preacher and worship was pretty much non-existent, was the story at most. But we did happen on Cookeville First Assembly and we have not gone anywhere ever since.

Anyway, on Easter Sunday they had a powerful dramatization that was set in a court room. Satan was the plaintiff and "Man" was the Defendant, represented by Jesus. Michael was the arbitrator (I guess that's what you would call him) and of course, God as the judge.

"Man" was being charged with sin (in fact he had broken every single one of the 10 commandments), but claimed that he was a "good guy" and that he went to church.

Satan put up a very good defense and Jesus didn't say much....until the end. At the end of the trial, "Man" was found guilty and sentenced to death. This was when Jesus offered to take his place and God agreed.

Now, I grew up in church and have been a Christian for several years, but I have never heard a sermon like the one that followed this dramatization. I can't tell you everything that was said, but the things that I still chew on today and that are still in my heart and on my mind on a daily basis are these two things:

1. Jesus did not die for my sins! What!? I know, I have been told this several times, but it's true! Jesus did not die for my sins, he died for ME and he died to save me FROM those sins, but he did not die FOR my sins!

2. When you buy something, you want your money's worth...you want to make sure that you weren't cheated out of anything, you want to make sure you got all the parts. And if you didn't get everything you were promised, 99.9% of the time, you would return it and want a refund or a replacement. Well, Jesus bought us with his blood which is a very HIGH price to pay for something, so.....Are you giving Jesus his blood's worth?

Am I giving Jesus His blood's worth? That question has been traveling around with me since Easter and it's something that I think about on a daily basis. Just like we want everything we were promised when we purchased something, Jesus wants all of us too! Anyway, I just wanted to share that and hopefully have others asking themselves on a daily basis if he or she is giving Jesus his blood's worth?!

A Few Pictures

2009-05-05T23:00:00.002-05:00

My sister came up to Cookeville while she was here a few weeks ago and these are a few of the pictures that I took of the kids while she was here. They were a mess and my house was a disaster area after a toddler left that night!
Lila found this cat toy laying on the floor and she draped it around her shoulders and carried it around the house...the cats really thought this was a lot of fun! One of Lila's favorite things to do is get behind you (says my sister)...well, she did this to her aunt Brandy too and she really liked that I was taking pictures of the two of us even though I couldn't get her to look at the camera!

This is her fake smile for the camera :)

Tyler got worn out and just couldn't take it any more!

This is his frog face to match his outfit!

Now he's really getting irritated at his aunt Brandy taking too many pictures and not holding him!

I got ROCK!

2009-04-29T22:26:00.004-05:00

I have been begging my husband to let me get rock put in the mulch bed in the front of our house because last year my efforts to keep grass and weeds out was pointless. As I would get done pulling weeds, the next day, there would be 10 new weeds at least!

This year I was determined I was NOT going to fight with it since I am the one who does all of the yard work...so I called the guy who mows our yard and told him I wanted some landscaping done. He suggested that I put down "river rock" since he thought it would look good with our house and since it pretty much maintenance free. This is what I originally wanted LAST summer and never got around to it. I told him I needed to talk it over with my husband and I would get back to him. We decided it was just an "extra expense" we could do without right now and that I should wait to get it. However, I ended up having to work an extra shift on Saturday so I took this as my validation that we would have the extra money right now to pay for this since the shift was unexpected and all! So, I called right away and had them come out to put the rock down.

Here is the before picture:

And the after:

I am not 100% sure I LOVE it, but I do like it better than what we had...but you can see how bad our yard looks too! I have tried to get grass to grow, but have not had much luck! Our house sits on some old farm land and the only people who have yards that look good are the ones who have spent a LOT of money and we don't really want to do that right now. For now, I am happy with the rock at least!

My Past 7 Days

2009-04-28T22:23:00.004-05:00

I have worked 6 out of the last 7 days and I will admit that today I was about at the end of my rope! If I worked the normal 8 hour shifts like most of the working world, maybe working these 6 days would not seem so bad as that would be just 48 hours. However, I am a pharmacist in the retail world and pharmacies are open generally at least 12 hours a day...which means I get to work those full 12 hours! Of my last 6 days of work, 5 of them were 12 hour shifts! At least one day was just a 9 hour day (this seems like a nice short day in my book)! So that makes a total of 69 hours that I will get paid for, but this doesn't count days like today when I was there until 8:20 and won't get paid for a minute past 8:00, or the days I come in early to open the pharmacy on time. So I really probably worked at least 70 hours in the past 7 days! I do believe that borders on insane!

Frisbee Golf

2009-04-21T19:02:00.002-05:00

Today I learned how to play frisbee golf with an old friend of mine, Peyton. I also learned that I am not good at frisbee golf (although this should be a given because I am not good at either frisbee throwing or golf)! We still had a great time though! Juan also joined us in this adventure and he was just a little better than myself. I still want to go out there and try it again and I'm sure we will, but I have already claimed last place for myself! Peyton and Juan both enjoyed laughing at me and my frisbee throwing technique (this is not a new thing for Peyton to laugh at me as there have been MANY times in the past he has laughed at me before so this just brought back all those "wonderful" memories for him). It was just such a nice day that even though I was really bad, I still enjoyed being outside and spending time with two great guys!

The One Thing I Would Change...

2009-04-19T00:02:00.004-05:00

...About my house????

That is what a girl I work with asked me today and I knew my response before she even finished the question! I have always said that this would be the one thing I would change if I could from the moment I looked at the house the first time! What is it?

Well, not just the tub, but the entire master bathroom. It is narrow in places and has kind of a strange layout, but the one thing I dislike the most about the bathroom is the tub! I know that many people will think that I am crazy, but I don't like it at all! There are a few occasions that I do enjoy taking a bath, but they are few and far between. It's not that I really dislike the TUB itself, but I HATE HATE HATE cleaning it! From the picture it looks so nice and relaxing and wonderful right? Well, it is and I did enjoy the bath this night, but tonight on the other hand, I cleaned it and was reminded why I hate it :) I am not a tall person (shall we say that I am vertically challeneged!?). Well, this also affects how far I can reach because my arms are shorter. So you can imagine that it is not very easy for me to reach down into the bottom of the tub or even just over to the far side of the top of it! Maybe it is just the placement of where it is in my bathroom...it is just behind the sink and mirror which is where I get ready in the morning/blow dry my hair. Where do you think all my loose hairs are being blown? You guessed it! In the tub! This makes it a huge chore to clean this thing! I come very close to cussing every single time I go to clean this thing!

So how would I change it? I would put in a huge walk in shower instead. I would change the layout and make one big shower instead and I would add another sink since we just have the one. I think that having a tub like this in a similar spot in a future house would be a deal breaker for me!

New Picture

2009-04-16T22:01:00.002-05:00

My mom gave me this picture this week because she is moving soon and doesn't have a place for it in her new home. Just thought I would share it :) It's kind of HUGE, but I love all the colors in it. Sorry it's not the best picture quality in the world, and I was standing beside the table and was having a hard time getting a good/non-crooked shot of it!

Busy Bee

2009-04-16T20:57:00.004-05:00

I feel like I have been a busy little bee lately but at the same time, I feel like I have accomplished NOTHING! Since the first of March I have been extremely busy. I seem to fill each and every one of my days off, but when it's time to return to work I feel like I have gotten nothing done during my time off. For instance, the past two days that I have been off have flown by incredibly fast, but what have I actually done? Yesterday Juan and I went to the grocery store (I am spoiled by the fact that my husband actually enjoys going to the grocery and loves to cook), completed an hour of live CE (continuing education) for my pharmacy license, visited with my friend Summer for a few minutes, and then headed over to my mom's for a short visit with my sister and her 2 children. Today I have managed to clean up around the house, took a nap, piddled with my blog and tried to figure out how to do a few things with it, ate dinner with a great friend, and now I am back on my blog. OK, so maybe once I actually thought about what all I did the past 2 days (especially yesterday) maybe I did get quite a bit accomplished. There is just so much more that I wish I would have had time for as well like working on a scrapbook, reading, watching movies or TV shows that we have recorded, and mostly spending more time with my husband whom I don't get to see much of (he is currently taking a short nap before heading off to work tonight).

For now though, I will go wake up my husband and spend the last 45 minutes before he leaves for work with him. Then perhaps I will get around to that reading once he leaves or maybe even some of that scrapbooking that I have been wanting to start up again. Tomorrow I will head back to work for another 12 hours, Saturday for 9 and Sunday for 6 lovely hours! At least I can look forward to having Monday and Tuesday off while the rest of the world is ending their weekends and going back to the "dreaded Monday."

My New Nephew

2009-04-16T17:15:00.009-05:00

Yesterday I got to meet my nephew for the very first time! He is now almost 1 month old but he was born the week before I left for vacation which was a crazy week for me, and then since I have been back, I have not really had an opportunity to make the 5 hour drive to west TN to visit. I was actually going to go last weekend, but then I talked to my sister and she said she was planning on making a visit to Mt. Juliet the next week so I decided to wait.

Of course, my niece, Lila, was also there, but she was not in such a great mood. Poor little thing was running a fever, but she was given some Tylenol and had a few good hours of bringing joy throughout the house. She was so busy in fact, that I had a hard time catching her still enough to snap a picture!

New Blog Location

2009-04-12T20:57:00.001-05:00

I have decided to change over to my Blogger account from now on instead of using VOX. Why? Well, to be honest, VOX didn't really offer a way to change the backgrounds/design of their blogs (at least it is just very limited and I am tired of all the options that they did have available). I know it's kind of a wimpy excuse, but I like to put a little more 'flair' or personality into what my blog looks like.
The other reason is that it will give more people the opportunity to post comments if they would like instead of limiting it to just the very few people I know who have a VOX account.
So for now, check out my new blog site at http://quilesfamily.blogspot.com/ .
The current title of my blog is "The Quiles Family" until I can come up with something more creative. Any suggestions?