New Venture Undertaking!!

I joined Stampin Up as a Demonstrator in March.  I have always wanted to become more involved with my rubber stamps, card making and scrapbooking.  So I decided to go ahead and take the plunge.  Right now I am in the set up stage of my stamping business.  I am in the process of finding customers and setting up stamping classes.  I will be doing a joint class with my upline Jean Addis on July 12, 2014.  We are going to do a Paper Pumpkin Make and Take class.  I am a little nervous about doing this class presentation but since I will be demonstrating a product that I enjoy working with, it should go well. I hope to be posting cards here on my blog as well as on my Stampin Up Blog located at http://maryhavlovic.stampinup.net  I am excited about this new venture.  I will be going to the Stampin Up Convention to take place in Salt Lake City, Utah in July.  I am excited about going to convention and meeting people with similar interests as mine.

I have been busy reading, rubber stamping and stitching.  I have so many different hobbies that I find I do not have enough hours in a day to do all the things that I want to do.  Work at the dialysis unit continues to keep me busy to the point that I don't even have time to take a break sometimes.  Maybe if I did take a break, I could read a few lines, rubber stamp a card or stitch a simple design.  Anyway...I have decided to play Bookish Bingo being hosted over at the Great Imaginations Blog.  I am looking forward to this challenge as I will be reading genres that I don't normally read so that I can earn a Bingo square.  As usual, I will be posting my Book reviews on my Goodreads site.  I my as well commit myself and list my Goals for 2014:

1.    To Lose 100 lbs.  (I am 7 lbs. away from this goal!)
2.    To read 50 books (not including the 24 books for the 2 book clubs that I am in)
3.    To finish 12 stitching projects (so far I have finished 3)
4.    To learn how to use my Mac computer and Ipad
5.    To post more regularly on my blog
6.    To organize my Craft room
7.    To learn how to sew on the sewing machine
8.    To design, start and finish all my cards for birthdays and major holidays
9.    To organize my personal library
10.  To design a way to separate my craft blog from my book blog  

I am not sure how many of these goals I can accomplish but I can sure try.  Until next time...




    

Happy New Year 2013!  It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone.  I have decided to take my Blog to a new and different level. Not only am I going to work on publishing my scrapbook pages, rubber stamped cards and needlework but I am now going to publish my book reviews on my Blog.  I also want to attach a more creative header to my Blog which incorporates all my interests. Why have a Blog if I am not going to put anything interesting on it.  Right?  Katie is going into her last semester at Wesleyan.  Hard to believe that she will be graduating in May...God willing.  I remember when we were helping her get her stuff together to leave for Wesleyan.  All the stuff we packed and sent via Fed Ex, then picking it all up and hauling it to her dormitory for the big move in day.  Fun!!!  Now she prepares for the last 7 weeks of swimming and the NESCACS event in February.  Should be an interesting 2013.          

It has been almost two years since I have posted on my Blog.  Sad to say.  In these last two years I have revisited an old hobby that I used to participate in since I was 5 years old and that is needlework.  I learned to embroider at a very young age and then from there, I went on to do counted cross stitch. I am also getting into baking fun stuff. Hum??? Should I rename my Blog??  Nah, I don't think so.  I am just going to add more topics and generalize it a bit more.  I have also discovered the world of Facebook, Good Reads, Twitter and Pinterest.  I can never find enough time visit all these cool sites.  Should I quit my job so I can visit all the Blogs and social media sites I subscribe to and participate in all my hobbies that I am addicted to including and not limited to rubber stamping, scrapbooking and card making, not to mention all the books I NEED to read?  Iguess I will slowly begin to incorporate it all into my Blog.   Anyway.......I am baaaaack!   

I have been so bad about Blogging. I have been working on all kinds of cards and need to figure out how to post them to my Blog. Also started cross stitching again. I met up with some friends from The Counted Thread which was a local needlework shop here in town many years ago. I had not seen some of these ladies in 11 years. So now I have been going to stitch-in and those are fun. I will also be going to Stitch Camp the middle of October and am totally looking forward to it. See you all soon!

Happy Father's Day

I am dropping by just to wish George a Happy Father's Day! I made a Father's Day Card and a holder for a gift card that we got him from Barnes and Noble. I will posting the card up soon.

It's been such a long time since I have written anything on my blog. I haven't even downloaded any of my recent stamp projects. I did get a Cricut Expression and a Gypsy so now I really have no excuse not to do some serious creating. Katie is home for the summer! Yay! I am proud to say she did well in her course work at Wesleyan. We took a trip up to Middlebury, Vermont to watch her swim at the NESCAC Championships. That was a fun, snow filled trip! Funny thing tho was it was not really that cold but boy did they have snow! Loved It! We went back in May to Wesleyan to help Katie pack and store her stuff for the summer. Then took a side trip to to NYC to see George's brother. It was a short but fun trip. Well I hope to post some pictures of my projects very soon! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Back!

It's been awhile since I have posted on my Blog. We took off to Middletown, CT to take Katie to college. She is attending Wesleyan University and will be a freshman (woman) this year. Move-In Day was on Sept. 1 and boy did she have alot of stuff to move in. We shipped up 4 large boxes through Fed Ex, brought in 3 of those 3-drawer rubbermaid containers along with 3 huge suitcases that were jam packed to the brim with her clothing. George and I helped her set up her room which took several hours to accomplish. Parents had to be out of the dorm at 5 pm. We shed our tears and said our goodbyes and left the premisis. We flew home the following day. That was the longest flight I had ever taken 7 1/2 hours due to all the time changes but it seemed like an eternity since we were leaving our child behind. I happy to report that Katie is adjusting to life at college. Mom and dad are counting the days until we go up to Middletown to see her for Parents Weekend and possibly a swim meet. I still haven't been able to find my Mojo as far as my Rubber Stamping, Card Making and Scrapbooking is concerned. I guess it misses Katie. Altho I am doing a M(Monday) M(Morning) M(Mailer) to her but I had alot of the cards and items made up in advance. Hope to post pics soon!

28h Wedding Anniversary

On July 25th, George and I celebrated our 28th Wedding Anniversary. Hard to believe that we have been married that long. George, Katie and I spent the day going to Carlsbad Caverns and watching the bat flight at dusk. It was pretty cool to see the bats come out of the Caverns and take flight for the night. I had never seen this before and had been to Caverns on several occasions. The walk was a long one but well worth it It was over 1 1/2 miles down into the Caverns and then another 1 1/4 miles walking through the Great Room. We spent today shopping for Katie's new bedroom items that she will be taking up to her dorm room at Wesleyan. Hard to believe that she will be leaving us in 24 days. I am sooo sad! She will be missed :( I know she really wants to attend this school and see what it is like to live in the Northeast and experience the snow. She will also be swimming on their swim team which will be quite a different experience than swimming on the local high school team and for the El Paso Aqua Posse Swim Team which is a USA Club swim team. Katie recently cut about 6 1/2 inches off her hair and now has a really cute bob. I had been working out at the gym with the trainer until I hurt my knee. Not sure if it is my arthritis or if I pulled a muscle. Either way, the pain is unbearable right now. Guess I have to break down and go and see the Ortho Dr. I am going back to the gym tomorrow to see if there are other exercises I can do that won't strain the knee. I have lost 7 lbs towards my goal of 50 lbs. this year. Sooo I can't give up.

Hard to believe but I turned 50 years old today! I am older than dirt! I decided to take the day off from work and just chill at home with Katie. We ended up going to lunch at Hudson's and ordered cheeseburgers and chocolate malts. Boy were we stuffed when the food feast was over! Then we went over to Barnes and Noble to look at the magazines. Didn't buy anything but did see come books that I want to get during another visit. Later that evening we met up with George and my Mom at Capetto's a local family owned Italian restaurant and one of my fav places to eat at. I was still stuffed from the earlier meal so all I had to eat was water and a salad. I just couldn't eat anymore. Poor George had to work so he wasn't able to join us during the day. My co-workers gave me a birthday party at work yesterday! It was really nice. They brought brisket, beans, rice. salad, rolls and cake complete with "50" candles. I am so blessed to have some really nice co-workers and a great family!

KT and the El Paso Aqua Posse Swim Meet

Today was the final day of the El Paso Aqua Posse Swim Meet. It was an intense 3 day swim meet held outdoors in the 50 meter pool at Pavo Real Pool. Ha! Ha! what a name to call a pool. Pavo means turkey in Spanish and Real means real. Real Turkey Pool is the English translation. It's been a 100 degree plus weather these last few days. Great way to get a natural tan without even trying! Katie has been swimming with the El Paso Aqua Posse Swim Team since the short course season started in the Fall of 2000. We have met some really nice people along the way, gone to some fast swim meets and visited some really nice cities as a result of her various meets. We have had the pride and joy of getting to watch her swim and win at TAGS (Texas Age Group Swimming Competitions) attend 4 competitions at the the South Zones Championships, attend several Sectionals competitions and most important, make several T-16 times and see her name published in the Splash Magazine! Way To Go! Katie or KT as her friends call her. She is now preparing to go off to College at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. She will swim for the Wesleyan Cardinals. Swim Fast KT!

Happy Belated 4th of July!!!

Happy belated 4th of July to everyone! Hope you all had fun and spent the day celebrating our great country's birthday. I know I am proud to say I am an American and am grateful to our military who are serving to protect our country and it's freedom! we celebrated by cooking hamburgers here at home and watching movies as well as enjoying the firecrackers. For once our dogs and cat didn't go bonkers with the shooting off of the firecrackers like they have done in the past years. Have a good what's left of the weekend!

It's Raining!!!

Finally we are getting some much needed rain! They are even warning us about a possible flash flooding in the area. That is so bizarre considering El Paso is in the middle of the desert. My plants will be happy.
We spent much of today trying to get Katie's computer to work. We finally had to call Apple Support and they told us that the machine sounded like it might have a defect. So we have to call them back in the morning about sending it back and getting a replacement. I am not computer literate at all hence the reason why I have not posted in awhile. I am still trying to figure out how to improve my site.
I hope to be able to post cards and projects that I made recently. I having been trying out the various card challenges that I see on some of the websites that I stalk . I am not brave enough to submit my cards to these challenges but maybe some day I will. I have been working on Katie's Scrapbook. I have almost completed her 8th grade year. I will then be able to complete the album which I started when she was in pre-K. I just need to add journaling to the pages and it will be complete. I really am tempted not to journal anything on these pages but I know if I do that, I will regret it in the years to come. I started out using the red school CM albums and am finishing out her 8th grade year in a purple CM album. Her school colors for the St. Joseph Eagles was Purple and Gold. I would like to start her high school years soon. Maybe I will get these albums finished by the time she graduates from college. There are so many projects that I want to work on and so little time to get them done.

This is my first attempt at setting up my Blog. I have always wanted to start one but never found the courage to do so. I hope to post samples of the various projects that I have been working on as well as other various random interests.