The Battle of the Davids...Idol Style

It's a big night at my house...the end of American Idol Season 7.

We have a slight problem. We're split down the middle in the battle of the Davids.

My girls have loved David Cook since day one (and we're not sure why at first, but it didn't take us long to follow), and I've been a fan of David Archuleta...something about that smile. My David and Colin seem to be fans of both.

Honestly, I'd be okay with either one winning, for the first time ever. They're both good, and they're both going to do amazing things after this is over. Last night was the best final I've ever seen.

So what's your vote? Post a comment and let me know!

Freeloader No More

So I sometimes blurk on some of my friends' blogs just to listen to their very cool playlists. I admit it. I'm a freeloader. And proud of it. Music makes me very happy, and my blogging buddies have done a most excellent job of choosing wisely. I have discovered a few new artists I need to add to my collection...and I've found out just who sings a lot of the songs I've heard on the radio recently.

At least I musically blurked until now. Just a couple of hours ago, I discovered that I, too, could make a playlist. My very own. For free. And I don't have to own every album on it! (Okay, so I really do own about 98% of the albums I pulled from, no matter how old they are. No kidding. I'm a music savant. You should see my stacks of CDs.) Thanks to the beautiful people at playlist.com, I didn't have to download the CDs and wade through the technobabble to get it done.

So my current playlist is long, and it covers a few decades, and it's missing so many important works of pop, rock, and miscellaneous music that mean so much to me. But check it out over there in the right-hand column. I think it turned out very nicely. Find anything you like? Freeload away!

But if you should find me camped out on your blog, listening away, please indulge me. In the immortal words of Depeche Mode, I just can't get enough.

This one's for Betsy

So my scrapbooking buddy Betsy and I have discovered each others’ blogs. And she’s much more faithful than I am. Betsy has the scrapbook room to die for, including the most amazing library file cabinets. (Thou shalt not covet thy buddies’ scrapbook storage…) Check her out at delightinsimplethings.blogspot.com. It is, quite literally, a delight. And no simple thing.

When I told her about my lack of time to post anything because I was busy working on scrapbook classes, she asked why I don’t post anything creative to my blog. Huh. Good thought.
So this post is for her.

Here's a mini-album class I created using a Bo Bunny My Word chipboard album. I’m teaching it next week at SSD.

And here’s a layout class called "One More Candle". It's based on my plethora of birthday celebrations (see post below). I’m teaching it in June. Enjoy!

Portable and Loving It!

(Okay, so I wrote this a little while ago, but my unabashed joy is still the same, so I thought I'd post it anyway!)

Two days ago, I fulfilled a dream of mine...I bought a shiny new laptop! And today I finally got the wireless up and running. Oh my, I'm in love... I had a more than vague idea that the techie world had some great new things to offer me, but I had no concept of how slick this would be.

I knew the desktop I was using at home should have been deemed obsolete a long time ago...I've frankensteined it almost to death, adding RAM here and new hardware there and software programs all over that it had no intention of running properly. Tonight, in a matter of minutes, I'd downloaded some genealogy software, then 600 photos from my flash drives, checked my email, surfed a little, and played a few games of FreeCell. And at home, on my faithful old desktop, I'd probably still be waiting for MicroSquish Windows to load all the garbage it needs to even start a simple program.

As I write this, I'm sitting on a bed in a hotel room in Kansas City where we're visiting my family. Wired to the world wide web. And I can surf the net all night if I want to. Ah, the possibilities! I spend enough of my life running around...think of all I can do on the go. It's a multi-tasker's dream.

(And for what it's worth, here's proof that I'm still enamored with my new toy...I'm posting this blurb from my seat in our piano teacher's dining room, where I'm waiting while my girls take their weekly lessons. Logged in to the internet, accomplishing much. Yippee!)

Oooh baby...I'm in heaven. Thanks, David. I owe you big time!

Birthday Palooza

40 must be the year to be spoiled…I had five different birthday celebrations to mark my new decade. Not that I want to brag, but I must give thanks to those who made this rite of passage much less threatening! The real date was March 10, so let me share with you a few of the delights you might have missed…


My friend Amy hosted an open house with the girls a few days early. She provided an absolutely gorgeous cake and fabulous flowers, along with many tasty treats. My friends spoiled me with girly gifts, including plenty of chocolate! Oh, how they know me...

On the Friday night before my birthday, my darling husband David gathered together several of our friends and we headed out to Johnny Carino’s for a little pasta and a lot of gabbing. It was nice to have an adult night out, and I love being with friends.

The always surprising gang at Signed Sealed Delivered (where I teach classes and run crops) pulled a very fast one on me the Saturday before my birthday. I was scheduled to run an evening crop right after my Saturday afternoon class, and while the store manager delayed me up front, the rest of the crew transformed the studio into Birthday Central. Several massive personalized signs, decorations, and 40 black balloons let everyone in the store know something was up. Shoppers and friends even got in on the action getting it ready while I took care of business in the other room. We then celebrated with lots of scrumptious cake and party hats. I wore my hat the rest of the afternoon, often forgetting it as I helped customers with scrapbooking questions (yes, I’m a goober). We left the signs up all night, and other friends came in to wish me well. We almost set the sprinklers off with the 73 candles they put on my cake.Very funny, ladies.

And then it was finally my birthday itself. Once again, David treated me like royalty, cooking a fantastic meal (including his savory pork roast) for us and our family that lives in the area (his mom and dad, and my brother-in-law and his family). Once again, a cake and presents for the birthday girl! It was fun to finally get to celebrate my birthday with my kids. And to actually have a birthday party where I got to say I was 40 and mean it!

And so my birthday passed…but my Bunco (and scrapbooking) friends would not let it die. Our monthly Bunco party was two weeks later, at my home. They arrived with black balloons, gifts, and delicious chocolate cake. We’ve all been friends a long time, and it was so much fun to stretch out the birthday wishes with them! Thanks to them for all the gag gifts. They truly took the turning of the years seriously, and I have some memorable gifts to remember them by!

I think I can safely say it's over now (sigh). I can't thank everyone enough for the fun presents, the well wishes, and the joy they filled me with!

(P.S. Thanks to Kasey and Jimmie for the inspiration for the title of this post. You know why.)