Happy (Slightly Early) Thanksgiving!!

Not much to say today, but thought I'd post a few layouts I've done over the past few days while I've been "trapped" in my office.  All the pages were done for challenges from the Sentimental Journey crop going on over at Scrapadillly, and the last one is meant to be a sort of Thanksgiving "greeting card" . . . in lieu of the ones I didn't get sent this year (bad Dee!)  As always, credits are listed in my Flickr gallery & you can just click on an image if you want a closer look.

First is a page I did using some of the cute pics Kelly posted on Facebook of Emma's first trip to the Pumpkin Patch:

Here's one about Janneepoo & her beautiful horse, Baron.  The photos are over a year old, as Jann wasn't up for riding when I visited earlier this fall - but I know she'll be back in the saddle just as soon as she can be, and Baron seems to be quite content with "just" visits in the meantime :-)

Finally, here's a layout I did with every single one of you in mind . . . I've always loved Norman Rockwell's stuff anyway & this is one of my favorites.  Whenever I look at it, I remember of all the wonderful times we've had together in the past - and look forward to the ones yet to come.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Gloomy Sunday Here . . .

Well, it's pretty gloomy in Flower Mound today . . . no rain, but a heavy cloud cover all day long.  The good news is that it got up to 80 lovely degrees this afternoon, and I am NOT going to complain about temps like that at the end of November :-)  Oh, and it's been soooo nice & QUIET here today - for a real change from the past couple of days!

In our original remodeling plans, Dave & I had every intention of removing all the old tile and laying the new stuff ourselves. Eventhough we knew it wouldn't be easy, Dave is a Tile Layer Extraordinaire (here's a pic of the floor he did in Amanda's bathroom) & we still thought it was doable . . . until we ran into a big problem with somebody's version of thin set.  After several unsuccessful attempts to remove the corrugated concrete from our kitchen floor, a LOT of knee pain for Dave, and the realization that we still had three-fourths of the demo left to go, we finally admitted that we'd have to call in the pros for this part of the job.  

Even with their experience & special equipment,  it took them two whole days just to demo the remaining tile and remove what they said is the thickest thin set they've ever seen.  Their assessment did make Dave feel less like a wimp for not doing it himself - but YIKES, the noise has been deafening, and all this peace and quiet is soooooo refreshing :-)  

Guess Who's Four Years Old!

(I know, months with nothing & then three posts in one day - hey, it's either all or nothing, I guess!)

Well, like I said before (at least a couple of times), I've missed a whole slew of birthdays this year. But I'm only one day late on this one, so I'm taking this opportunity to wish our beautiful Nathalie a very happy, if belated, birthday. Not sure about the rest of you, but it's hard for me to believe that she's already 4 . . . eventhough I can't imagine what life was like before she came along!

I haven't done a layout of her lately, but here's one I did a while back - this series of pics was taken at one of Kayleigh's softball games last year.  Nattie's such a little character, and it's always hard for me to stop taking pictures when I'm around her (and all the other Stone & Muterspaugh kiddos).

Sentimental Journey Crop at Scrapadilly

It's time for another fun-filled crop at Scrapadilly - this month our theme is Sentimental Journey, and we're traveling back to the 1940's with Drea's extra-fantastic challenges & even a jukebox in the sidebar so you can listen to the Big Band sound while you scrap. The crop just started today & runs through the end of the month, so there's plenty of time to complete the challenges - even with Thanksgiving thrown in next week.

I haven't had a chance myself to complete any layouts, but I thought I'd show you a few of the ones I've done over the past several months but haven't had a chance to post yet.  If you want to get a closer look so you can read the journaling or anything, just click on the image.  (Credits for each layout are posted in my Flick'r gallery - link on sidebar.)

First, here's one I did about John & Liz . . . and it's waaaaay overdue.  I never did get around to writing about the phenomenal trip we took with them in May to attend several events honoring John as a distinguished alum of Henderson University. Lots of photos got taken that weekend, but the one I used for my "bad photo" layout last month was probably my favorite. Mind you, I only call the photo "bad" because it wasn't in proper focus - IMHO, it's a wonderful picture of two of the people I love most in this world.

This one about Amanda (and her amazing smile) was done for a Chinese Whispers challenge (one person starts with a sketch, sends their layout - but not the original sketch - to the next person, who sends it to the next person, etc. It's pretty interesting to see at the end how the sketch has morphed after everyone is finished.)

I did this layout for Mary's birthday - way back in June, but never got it posted here on my blog.  Boy, have I missed a ton of birthdays this year . . . I know this isn't the first time I've apologized, but I swear I'll try to do better!

Finally, here are a few from last month's Scrapadilly crop . . . mostly they're about my visit to California, but the crop theme last month was all about disco music & the 70's, so I just had to do a layout using one of the infamous Muterspaugh Kid Pyramid Pictures . . . we were soooooo stylin' back then!

All I Wanted Was A French Door

I know it's been forever since I've posted anything here - eventhough I said months ago that I'd be more regular about it.  But I just seem to manage to stay busy constantly, although I couldn't provide an alibi for most days if my life depended on it!

Mostly what's been taking up my (make that OUR) time & energy lately is that "little" remodeling project we undertook a while back.  It started out small . . . as I mentioned before, I've been wanting a French Door onto the patio ever since we moved into this house nearly 11 years ago, and Dave finally relented.  But, Scope Creep (changes to a project after it has started, causing it to expand from its original purpose, timeline, and BUDGET) overtook us & the project now involves an entire kitchen remodel, replacement of all the tile in roughly half of our house, and an overhaul of our guest bathroom . . . sometimes WE amaze even me!

Anyway, the train had already pulled out of the station before I thought to take "Before" pics, but here's one from a couple of years ago that shows the kitchen pretty much as it used to look:

And here are some "Work In Progress" pictures . . .

Fridge in family room - classy, eh?  (It's now in the living room!)

Kitchen as of last night - tile (and EVERYTHING else) removed.

Family room as of this morning.

Front hallway looking into family room - tonight.

Anyway, I'll undoubtedly be posting plenty more about this mammoth project we've undertaken, but meanwhile - for any of you who has ever wondered if we are totally insane, this should dispel any doubts.  By the way, if you think these rooms look bad, you should see the ones where we crammed everything to clear the demolition areas. I absolutely only wanted a French Door.