Still here

I am still around but not much going on lately. I'm still working on the giveaway for my 100th post which will be the very next post I make (after this one :-) I am also having a custom blog designed and it will be revealed at my 100th blog post as well. I have the comment glitch that I've never been able to figure out so I have someone working on it while they design my new blog bling. Susie at 1st Floor Flat Blogology is working on the new design for me and I am so excited that I'll have my very own blog bling!

I also want to give some blog love to the customer service at Provocraft. I bought a Cricut machine a few months ago and when I got it home, the cartridge wasn't packed in the box. It had to have been an oversight at the factory because the box was sealed with tape with the Cricut logo printed on it. I contacted their customer service department, emailed them a copy of the receipt and they sent me the cartridge right away. Fantastic customer service and I will definitely give them more of my business.

Please bear with me as I get the new site design implemented and all the glitches worked out. I'll be back very soon with the actual giveaway announcement and photos of the goodies to be sent out to the winner.

My son is coming in to visit and to go deer hunting with my husband. I'm excited to see him; it's been a few months since he was home last. As a Marine currently stationed in North Carolina he doesn't make it home very often.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving or if it's not a holiday you celebrate, have a fantastic day! God Bless You

Please click on the date/time to leave a comment. It sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. A Blogger 'glitch' that I won't have to put up with for too much longer, YAY!! :-) Just in case, my email is theresainms (at) hotmail (dot) com

Wonderful news about my husband

After 42 years of smoking, he has officially quit! He hasn't had a cigarette in over 2 weeks and I am so proud of him. He is using the Chantix and it REALLY works. It's rather expensive but not as expensive as cigarettes would be for the same amount of time. AND there's a website he checks into every day plus he gets an automated phone call every night that's interactive. There's also a number he can call and talk to an actual person if he needs extra support. I'm so grateful he's quit and so very proud of him!

Well, I'm coming up on my 100th blog post and I'm getting the craft goodies together for a giveaway. Due to postage costs I'm not sure if I'll have to limit it to the continental United States or not. I've got friends all over the globe and I don't want to leave anyone out. I've got to think on that a bit more.

Before I sign off for tonight, here's a great site with some really good recipes. The link here is for Slow Cooker recipes but there are tons more recipes at this site too if you just look around. My aunt sent me this link and these dishes sound wonderful. I have a really good slow cooker that doesn't get used enough.

Have a great Friday/Saturday everyone!! God Bless You

Please click on the date/time to leave a comment. A Blogger 'glitch' :-)

Believe

Believe
Originally uploaded by theresa_a

All rights reserved. Please do not copy, print or download, in whole or in part.

My very first posted ATC - this one was made as a gift for my lovely niece, Kristina. The lettering, viewfinder and all the borders are from a Tumblefish Studio collage sheet. The card background was 'polka-dotted' using brush tip markers.

Shopping trip with Mom and giveaway preliminaries

Had a fantastic day with my Mom. I have to say she's my best friend and we never get tired of hanging out. We shopped a bit and talked a lot! She is retired and doesn't go too many places during the normal course of her days. She and I always have a great time no matter what we do.

I found 2 blouses and a pair of jeans that made their way home with me. Mom was more successful at resisting the 'buying bug'. I could've bought tons more but made myself stop by not going into any more stores haha I have been searching for some ankle boots that I like but have not yet found 'the perfect pair'. Oh well, I've got enough shoes already. More than enough if you listen to my husband.

I have done nothing artistic today other than view other people's work. I get so inspired by viewing blogs and flickr photostreams. There are some truly gifted artists out there and I am so glad they post their creations on the web.

I added a list of image freebie sites to my sidebar tonight. I will update the list as I find new sites as well but there's enough there already to give anyone several days of web time. I LOVE image freebies and the list I added tonight never disappoints. I hope you enjoy it and please leave some blog love comments for these selfless artists.

I am swiftly coming up on my 100th blog post and I am planning a giveaway. Not of digital images but of 'real' stuff that I've collected from here and there. This is a good way of doing something fun on my blog, giving back to my readers, hopefully stirring up more interest in my blog and the best part, cleaning some things out of my craft room LOL! I promise that the giveaway won't be just stuff I no longer want; it will have some cool things and be a sampling of more than one genre of craft products. No junk either (unless it's of the artistic variety) . More on the giveaway in the upcoming posts.

Have a great weekend and God Bless You!

Please click on the date/time to leave a comment. A Blogger 'glitch' :-)

Week 60 Crowabout Challenge

week 60 crowabout collage
Originally uploaded by theresaashmore

This week was a real struggle for me to come up with something to create. The images are great but the mojo just wasn't working. I've been working on this in fits and starts for 3 nights. I've changed my mind about being finished or not finished at least a dozen times. I now declare that it is officially finished! It's as good as it's gonna get.

I hope all the text is readable. I finally came up with the theme 'Fairytale Facts of Life'. The text above the wolf reads 'beware of cross dressing wolves with big lungs'. That's the extent of my humor for this piece haha

I am learning more and more as I participate in this challenge every week. The other ladies in the group are absolutely fantastic. The level of talent I'm surrounded with is incredible. I plan on learning more from them for a long, long time.

Long week this week and will be a longer one next week. My supervisor is on vacation, a well-deserved one, and I'll be handling some of her duties. I'll be resting up this weekend LOL!

Have a great weekend and God Bless You!

An award and a rant

First for the good news, I won my very first blog award. Woo hoo!!
It's from Spyder's Corner which is a really nice place to visit so please check out her blog. As I read her blog, I imagine her speaking in an English accent (since she lives 'over there'). If you like, y'all can imagine me speaking in a slow 'suthern drawwwl' and it will give you an idea of my speaking voice.

Now for the rant. I know that we did without computers for many years. I vaguely remember keeping books without the aid of a computer. I remember updating receivable accounts by hand and sending out statements by hand. So how can it be that an entire car dealership is totally *screwed* if the computer goes down. Not even all the way down; just can't communicate with Ford. Internet works, main accounting software works but can't order parts, can't send financial statements, can't send warranty information for payment approval. This has been going on since Friday of last week.

Now, I'm the accounts payable/title clerk for this dealership. I am not nor have never been an IT person. The only qualification I have for being involved in this problem is that I have been using a computer for several years and I was the one who answered the phone when the calls started coming in. I could go on about that unfortunate happening but I won't. Not tonight anyway. I'm exhausted.

The best part of the afternoon was when our IT person made the mistake of walking into the office. I immediately (with absolutely no guilt) passed the phone to him. I mean, I'd been on the phone for TWO HOURS and all I'd determined was that the ISP technician and the router manufacturer technician were blaming it on each other's equipment. I actually could've kissed our IT guy, Brandon, when I saw him walk in if it wouldn't have scared him to death.

So, all that junk was to get you up to date since I haven't posted in quite a while. I really wanted to work on my piece for the Crowabout group tonight but am just too tired. Dancing With the Stars comes on tonight and normally hubby and I would watch that. I really don't think I'll last through all of it tonight though. My brain is just too blitzed to take in too much more information. I need to do something totally brainless. Like this blog post that I hope makes some sense.

I certainly hope y'all's day went better than mine. At least I can laugh about it now which is always a positive sign. Better to laugh than cry, right?!

Big hugs and much love to all!!

Please click on the date/time to leave a comment. A Blogger 'glitch' :-)

week 59 crowabout challenge

week 59 crowabout challenge
Originally uploaded by theresaashmore

My contribution to the Week 59 Crowabout Challenge at Flickr. Great group and I have so much fun creating these pieces. This is all digital. One day soon I'll actually create one with paper images. Right now though, digital is just too convenient :-) Happy Tuesday everyone!!

I won a Blog giveaway!!

I am so excited! I actually won a blog giveaway at Tumblefish Studio. Marsha Jorgensen is the absolute greatest and I've sung her praises before. Here's the excerpt from the Marsha's announcement at her blog explaining the prize:

"There are more winners! For the rest of you, I have drawn six other names to complete my part of two very special prizes I won earlier this year. One from Terri of Pringle Hill and one from Cathy of Reflections of a Ramblin' Girl. Both of these talented ladies had a drawing to win a surprise piece of art sometime in the year after the drawing. The recipients of the prizes had to also promise to pay it forward and send three more pieces of art to three other people. So, the six of you listed below need to send me your addresses as well so that I can truly surprise you sometime in the next 12 months with a piece of art from little ol' me. You may receive a set of limited edition prints, several ATC's or a larger original piece - time will tell and you will just have to wait and see. I may contact you just before mailing so you know to look for it in your mailbox. Now, you were not given the opportunity to enter into this drawing and may not wish to participate by sending on three pieces yourself. In this case, I say you can fudge if you promise to do three random acts of kindness in whatever way you can, whether it is sending art or doing something special for someone who needs it. I leave it up to you."

Isn't that the coolest?! It's just what my motivation and inspiration needed; to be asked to 'pay it forward' by giving away 3 pieces of art or doing a random act of kindness for someone who needs it. I can hardly wait.

I'll soon have my 100th blog post and in blogland, that is a big deal. I'd been wondering how to mark the event and now I know. I'll come up with some way to choose a winner and be thinking of some sort of prize that will be worth winning. Maybe a collage or maybe a few vintage images from my stash. I'll try to think of what I'd like to be surprised with and do something along those lines.

It will be an honor to participate in my own giveaway; I've had so much help from selfless souls who have been so patient with my questions. If I can brighten someone's day for even 5 minutes I'll be delighted knowing I did even that. My family and I have been so blessed with good health and loyal family and friends; it's truly a privilege to simply be able to 'be nice' to someone just because I want to.

DH has 'the crud'. That's what we've always called it in our house; it covers a cold, flu, bronchitis, whatever we happen to have. This is his 2nd round with it and I certainly hope he kicks it soon. AND I hope I don't get it again; I'm getting over my mild case finally. I'm trying to stay away from him but that's kinda tough to do.

Well, I'm off to think of what I can do for my 1st giveaway and to mark my 100th blog post coming up very soon. Happy Tuesday!!

Please click on the date/time to leave a comment. A Blogger 'glitch' :-)

Not exactly a race fan yet, but...

I did enjoy going to the race and having that experience. I may never do it again but I did have a good time. I really felt crappy the entire trip there; this cold that's hanging on. I was afraid a couple of times I was going to have to ask DH to stop and pull over for a while. I made it though and after getting outside and walking around some I felt alot better.

The race was loud, colorful, fast, dull at times, filled with a lot of wrecks, oh, did I saw LOUD!! I had earmuff type ear protectors and they helped a lot. Truth is, they were off more than on. Every 10 or so laps there would be a wreck so the next few laps would be fairly slow til they got the track cleaned off. DH's man, Kyle Busch, came in 2nd place and he was fairly happy with that. We didn't stay for the Bucky Covington concert afterward but headed on home.

Of course, I HAD to get him to take me to the bookstore when we went thru Southaven and just HAD to get two of my favorite Stampington magazines; got the newest Digital Studio and the latest Somerset Memories. I get Somerset Studio by subscription now so I got out of there with only two. I wanted to buy a couple more but held myself back. I wish we had a big bookstore in town but it may be a good thing that we don't. I probably couldn't resist.

DH is getting a cold now and I'm not totally over mine yet. I'm saying it's a cold because I don't want to call it the flu. I did miss work Wednesday and am definitely better but not well yet. Of course, sitting out in the grandstands at the race in the heat and then walking in a cool wind about a mile back to the vehicle probably didn't help. Ah well, we only live once. At least my back and fibro have been better.

Happy week!!

Please click on the date/time to leave a comment. A Blogger 'glitch' :-)

week 58 Crowabout challenge

week 58 Crowabout ATC jpg
Originally uploaded by theresaashmore

My 1st entry in Crowabout's Weekly Challenge at Flickr.com. This is my first time to join a challenge group and I thought about a lot of them before deciding I'd like this one. I've admired many of the artists who already participate for a long time. I hope I learn a lot just by being in closer proximity to these wonderful creative souls. My greatest wish is to grow and learn and create more and more and at a much more frequent pace.