I could’ve sworn I heard angels singing…

In case you are thinking this is some kind of religious epiphany, you can stop reading now. It is altogether a different religious experience… I made my first pilgrimage to the new Hobby Lobby in town. And, sorry to go all teenager on you, but OMG! It truly is a crafter's heaven. There were so many gorgeous items begging for my attention that I literally forgot why I went there in the first place. Their floral area alone was enough to rival a botanical garden (I'm not even into flowers and I was impressed). The home décor items are to die for. There was something there for every different type of decorating style. I did however manage to control myself and only made a few small purchases (and they were on sale at 50% off to boot, happy day for me). When I first walked in I thought, oh I'm going to be spending way too much time here. Little did I know that a mere four hours later I would be back for the second time! Yes, I did go twice in one day because as I mentioned earlier I had forgotten the item I went for in the first place. So back I went, this time with kids in tow so certainly not as much fun, to get the rocket kit for DS's camping trip this weekend. On my first trip I came back with the way cool signs below that I put up as a pseudo-backsplash behind my stove – I love it!

I feel a new decorating scheme coming on... I spotted a really cool clock that I just MUST have, hmmm, maybe tomorrow - three times in one week - could it be I have a new addiction? Stay tuned :-)

Why is my microwave bleeding?

I was shocked and a little creeped out when I walked into the kitchen and saw my what appeared to be my microwave bleeding little amber droplets onto my stovetop. Now I probably watch way too many scary movies and I have to tell you, if I had discovered this late in the evening while I was home alone I'm not sure that I would've opened the microwave. This also followed not too far after Halloween, so there was a slight chance that my crazy son or husband had planted a fake severed head in there. Fortunately, there was nothing disgusting to discover except alcohol abuse. My liquor cabinet is directly above my microwave and a bottle of Chambord Liquer had tilted over and was leaking through the cabinet and seeping out onto the top of the microwave and then dripping behind the microwave door and dripping out of the bottom, causing the pool of 'blood' on my stovetop. I hope that is the only time I see a reddish pool of liquid in my kitchen!

Byte Me! (& all hail Mozy)

As a digital scrapbooker my worst fear is losing all of my pictures and pages, so I have some backups in place.

1. Since my laptop is incredibly slow, I've moved all of my files to an external hard drive that I keep plugged in all the time.
   
2. All of those files are also backed up onto another EHD that I keep plugged into my desktop.
   
3. In addition to uploading all of my "keeper" photos and scrapbook creations to Shutterfly
   
4. I also backup everything offsite, online to Mozy to keep all of my metadata intact as well.
   

Overkill, you say? I think not. Let me tell you a little story about a cozy recliner and a clumsy ox. I normally scrap in my living room in a recliner. I'm able to be in the middle of everything – checking to make sure my son is doing his homework, that my daughter is reading, that dinner isn't boiling over and still be near enough so my husband feels like I'm 'watching' TV with him. So… back to said cozy recliner. The other day as I went to check on the progress of saving a file that was taking so long that I got up to walk away, I went to sit back down to get another file started and I stumbled. Now I'm not what most people would call "light on my feet" if you catch my drift. And, I stumbled and plopped very dramatically into my recliner landing ever so precariously on my laptop and EHD. So, I'm sure you can imagine what happened next – I retrieved my EHD from places it never should have seen (for those of you who have watched Mel Brooks' History of the World, imagine Dom Deluise saying "Here, wash this" and you'll get the picture, the rest of you will just have to use your imagination). The connector that plugs into the EHD was now bent and will not re-seat into the drive. So remember the part about moving ALL my data off my hard drive onto the EHD, well you can imagine my dismay. So I figure, no worries, I just backed everything up a week ago to my other EHD, so I'll just plug that in. Well apparently when my ever so delicate derrière plopped into the recliner I must've done something to my laptop as well, because now none of the USB ports recognize anything. So onto Plan C – enter Mozy – I have everything backed up on Mozy and am currently in the process of downloading everything that I previously uploaded for protection. So although it's taking a chunk of time, it's free, I don't have to buy a new hard drive or pay the Geek Squad $150 to transfer all of my data. I just have to be patient – so I'm still being tested after all, but at least ALL my stuff isn't gone. Although I did explode into expletives over the 5 hours I spent working on a Christmas gift that afternoon that hadn't been backed up anywhere just yet so that's gone, but it's still a relatively small price to pay considering the alternative. So EHD Byte Me! And thank you Mozy for saving what my butt ruined J

Note to self: Dance like no one’s looking

It's been so long since I danced. I'm not exactly sure why. I used to dance all the time, every chance I got. Weekends were all centered on where we were going to go to dance,what clubs had the best DJs, what we were going to wear to dance, when would be the next party, and the list goes on. Somehow over the years I stopped dancing. It didn't happen overnight. Just gradually, there were less opportunities to dance, life got into that settled (albeit happy) but content phase and movies on the couch or dinners with friends were more the norm. My husband is not a dancer, he's wonderful in every other way so that certainly wasn't a deal breaker, but it did make me a little sad. Maybe I knew all those years ago that if he didn't dance that I may not dance either. Well, I guess I did let that happen. Shame on me. A few weeks ago a wonderful thing happened. I was at a football party (of all places, because I am so not a sports person) and all of the ladies went to sit out on the porch and some this song came on that hit all of us and almost simultaneously we all just started dancing. It was like it was instinct or something primal - but boy was it wonderful. I am quite out of shape and it was exhausting and exhilarating and wonderful all at the same time. It brought back a feeling that I haven't had in a long time, almost a childlike happiness for no particular reason. So today, when I finally had everyone out of the house, with lunches packed and backpacks appropriately checked – I plugged myself in and sang at the top of my lungs with my spotted banana microphone 

and danced and twirled around my kitchen like a little kid just because I could – I feel awesome! I think I'm going to do this more often. So whatever you are doing right now – STOP – get up, crank up your favorite tunes and dance (even if you have to go hide in a bathroom somewhere) – it'll be worth it, trust me. Let me know how it goes – have a dancing day!

P.S. Thanks Julie & Trish