Hello everyone. I hope you are all well. We haven't gotten totally rid of the sickness around here. My little MoMo got it and so did big R. Ack! Hopefully we are all healthy soon. And I really hope I didn't infect anyone else while we were visiting. I apologize if I did. Sincerely. I don't know why I ALWAYS get sick when I go to AZ. It's so bad.
Anyway, I was pretty excited yesterday when the UPS guy brought me a package. It was my FREE photo book from PhotoWorks.com! This one was totally free, didn't even have to pay shipping. And the book is so nice! It's awesome!
The only downside is that the size of the book is different from the size I scrapbook in. I normally make 12"x12" layouts. The book was 7"x9", I believe. So, not square. This meant that I had to choose layouts which if parts were cropped out, wouldn't look too odd. Of course, I had to act quickly to get my free book. I think it was the first 25,000 who got one so I didn't have time to make new layouts or anything. But I still LOVE how it came out, even with the cropping issue. I can definitely recommend the Photoworks photo books. This is the one I got. I guess it's actually 8 1/2"x 11". In addition to it being FREE and great quality, I got it super fast. I think maybe about 1 week from the time I placed my order it was on my doorstep. Very nice!
Ah, well, unfortunately I forgot what else I was going to write about. Besides, I really ought to get a few things done around here. So, until next time...

p.s. If anyone out there knows about iTunes, I'm having a problem that I can't figure out how to fix. Whenever I listen to songs in the iTunes library on my computer (as opposed to on my iPod), it will play the song I select but not the whole album or playlist. So, if the album or playlist contains 9 songs it will play one and then stop. Then I have to tell it to play again for the next song and it stops after the song is over. I must repeat for any remaining songs. It didn't used to do this. It would play the entire album or playlist. I can't figure out what's gone awry and how to fix it. It's VERY annoying!

So, we went out to the hot spring yesterday. You can see in the pictures the steam that was coming from the very hot water. It was way too hot to touch (the water) but when I got home I looked on the internet and found out that the water is about 190 degrees. We decided to take Kaos with us so he could run around. And guess what he did? He tried to lap up some of the hot water! He actually stuck his big ole tongue in it! You'd think the heat would warn him to keep his distance or that the steam would burn him as he got close but apparently not. He's not too bright.
Here's MoMo standing near it. And another with hubby, Big R and MoMo. I also took some video of it bubbling and steaming out of the ground, in case you were interested.
We also looked around for some cool rocks and things. We found quite a lot of quartz and purple glass. I found a spot where I collected quite a few chunks of obsidian. And right where I was finding the obsidian I started digging and found an old rusty square nail! Ok, I'm a dork, I was really excited when I found it. LOL
Anyway, today I went to Reno with some other friends/Twilight fans and we saw New Moon and ate at Olive Garden (YUM!). It was a lot of fun. Always nice to get out with other adults leave the kids at home!
Well, I have to get the kids all washed up and ready for bed so until next time...

Hi all! So I was pretty excited yesterday to get my FREE Shutterfly book in the mail! Yes indeed. I got a free hard cover 8x8" book, just had to pay shipping. I tried to take a couple of pictures but they didn't turn out so great. If you'll excuse my photography skills (or lack thereof) I'll post them anyway.
I'm so excited that I finally have a book of my own. And hopefully someday I'll have all of my layouts printed. I also got the other photo book from Kodak. Again, just paid shipping. But I was actually kind of disappointed with that one. It's not hard bound. Actually just printed on photo paper and bound at the spine. And it's smaller. But, you know, it only cost me like 2 bucks so I can't complain too much.
You can judge the size by comparing it to the DVDs in the background. But still, I can take it out and look at it and remember some of the special summer memories. I also got free (gotta love freebies!) a cute little almond tin. It's from the Almond Board or something. Just a little tin to keep your almonds in. Apparently it holds a perfect 1 oz serving size.
I don't think I'll actually carry almonds around in it, though. Maybe a new tin for my "traveling pharmacy." LOL
Also yesterday we had terrible wind. Kaos, who is terrified of the wind, pretty much cowered next to my leg all day. They said we could get gusts of up to 60 mph. I don't know if we got any that strong but we definitely got wind strong enough to knock down a portion of our fence.
Sorry, I just accidentally published this post before I was done. Oooops! Well, I guess that pretty much covers everything, anyway. We're off on another little adventure in a bit. Last weekend hubby went out alone and found a place not far from here that has a hot spring. He found some cool rocks, too, so today he's going to take all of us to see. So, I'll probably have some new pics later!

I just wanted to wish you all a very happy Digital Scrapbook Day! Yes, it is a REAL holiday! I'm celebrating by filling up my hard drive with some of the various freebies offered. Woo hoo! And I'm wishing I could shop all the sales and buy all the items on my wishlists at a discount. That would REALLY fill up my hard drive! LOL Well, this is just a quick post. Talk to you later!

Ok, so today I took a little trip to Walgreens and snagged me some bargains! Woo hoo!
I tried to estimate the retail value. It would vary depending on what part of the country you're in and what store you're shopping at but I tried to estimate on the low side. I figure the retail value is at least $62.40. But I paid less than $27. The makeup alone would normally cost just about $26. So, I basically got all the rest FREE! I LOVE free stuff! Just look in my closet at all the free razor, toothpaste, and shampoo/conditioner, etc samples I've got! LOL Plus, last Friday I got a great deal on shoes for the kids. Payless Shoes (apparently in conjunction with Oprah) had everything 50% off but just for 2 days. It just so happened that both my kids needed new shoes so we headed on down to our local Payless and got 4 pairs of shoes plus a snazzy scarf for myself for $40. Big R got 2 pair of skate shoes, one black and one white. Momo got some pink sneakers and a pair of black dress shoes with rhinestone accents on the buckle. We were all pretty happy when we left the store with our goodies. And so was my wallet!
Well, I just had to share my shopping with all of you. I'm heading back to Walgreens a couple more times this week to pick up a few more bargains and spend some of my Register Rewards. Can't let them expire! Talk to you all soon!

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween! My little MoMo pronounced it the "Best Halloween EVER!" She's partial to that saying. Almost everything when it is happening is the "best EVER!" LOL So, I got the ninja costume done in time. After I finished sewing it, I had hoped I could use an iron on transfer to add the dragon. Alas, when I tested it on a scrap, it did not work out. So, I set to work hand painting the dragon on the fabric. MoMo was pretty excited about her costume so it was worth it. Big R was a Clone Trooper. He had a cool Clone Trooper helmet and blaster that I thought he'd wear with the jumper I bought but he opted to head out with just the cheap mask that came with the jumper and no blaster. We began the day yesterday carving our pumpkins. Here they are lit up.
The top is mine, the middle is MoMo's and the bottom one is Big R's. After the pumpkin carving we made our creepy creature cookies.
After dinner we got ready to trick or treat.
I took the kids around the neighborhood while Daddy manned the door here. Here are the kids with their candy haul.
Look at all that candy! Big R's candy bag (remember the old jack o' lantern bags that we had as kids?) was full right up to the top! So, today we have been taking it easy and trying to come down from the sugar high. LOL It seems as though I've crashed and I'm pretty worn out at the moment, So, I guess I'll finish this here. Bye!