Heart of Gold

Freebie time folks! I just learned to make these embossed metal charms. I may have more as I get better or explore some other uses for my new found skills. Either way, these are today's freebies! Spread the love!

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Also, as an added bonus you can help yourself to some birthstones. You can keep them round or you can stretch them to make them oval...

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Santa Debacle

Desmond sat with Santa yesterday. I say "with Santa" because he was not going to sit "on Santa" for the life of him. He took one look at that guy and started screaming. I had to sit with him and Santa had to bribe my child with M&Ms...It turned out that we got one cute picture! By the way, this is the Quick Page you see can grab below!

Christmas Brag Book QP

Grab these two QP for your 4x6 brag book! I made them from my free Christmas Kit. Click the picture to see a larger version!

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QP Freebie Kit

I made this QP with the freebie kit I made.

Freebie Kit: Snow Day

FRIDAY...and I am feeling fantastic. I plan to go out in the cold today so here is a freezing freebie for you! Snow Day debuts today! Enjoy! You get three backgrounds, one frame, one ribbon, four giant felt snowflakes, six snowballs, one set of mittens and the snow day wordart! WOW! This was fun to make. It's pretty awesome because this matches the other wintery freebies I have posted for you! Don't miss this one!

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Christmas Wish

Last February my in-laws had to put down their 14 year old golden retriever. For the past few months my father in-law has been talking about the springer spaniel they used to own years ago. Yesterday he offered to buy this one if we wanted to give him as a present at Christmas to our son. The dog would stay at Grandpa's house since our black lab would never tolerate another dog. Isn't he a cutie!?!?!

HOLY COW!

I woke up this morning to two inches of snow! I am in heaven. It's sunny, cold, snowey, and wintery. I love it! I look forward to winter days like today as much as I look forward to thunderstorms and windy spring days. I brought my bran new christmas coffee mug to work today. I plan to fill it with holiday cheer and Hot Cocoa! I wish I had the day off so I could go play in the snow!

I spent, as I alluded to before, Saturday at a baby shower in Maryland. A good friend of mine is having a baby in January. I think she will pop sooner, but I will keep that to myself...and you. shhh... Anyhow, she made out at the shower. Just watching her makes me want to have another baby. The bitty socks, the pjs with animals on the feet, the little hats, the tiny diapers...it's all so cute. I miss the days when I could put my baby down and he would stay where I left him. My baby was 14 months old yesterday. He keeps getting bigger, more agile, faster, and funnier by the day. I love him. Time...it's keeps moving forward. With a toddler there is no time to look back. It will be fun to have a newborn around. We plan to have more kids, but my husband wants to wait a little while. Perhaps when he holds the new baby it will make him want to have another one sooner.

Well, have a snowflake day and a cup of hot cocoa!

Today is "D Day"

I was making a list of things to do today and every item began with the letter D.
- Call Don Black for Insurance
- Detail Car
- Dishes
- Diapers
- Dog Food
So, instead, I made a few scrapbook pages.

This weekend we bought a neused car. A what? A new/used car. Yes, a neused. It's a 1999 Subaru Forester. I love it. It had less than 50K miles on it! It's perfect for us. I should have some new freebies up soon so check back soon. I just havn't felt like making any this weekend. It was a little hectic with buying a car, a baby shower in Maryland, visting with the rents and other odds and ends.

Liberty is Colorblind

1. If coal and oil and gas and all the other big bad industries go out of business who will pay the taxes we need to fund the all the social welfare programs, bailouts, and stimulus payments Obama wants?

2. If minorities are being kept down through discriminatory practices then explain to me how a black man, raised by a single mother, was able to go to an ivy league school and rise to the highest position of authority in this country?

3. How is it that creating more benefits for unemployment and disability going to encourage people to become productive members of society and contribute to the work force?

4. When did the basic principals of liberty and capitalism die?

FREEBIES!!!!!

I had a terrible nightmare last night that involved me visiting the house of William Ayers, witnessing four or five plane crashes, climbing a huge hill covered in rocks and bananas and being chased by zombies. I was not going back to bed. So, I stayed up and here are some freebies!

You can grab this great date stamp by clicking the dowload link below...This is the November stamp. I think I may do one each month that is a little different! You can move the black circle to the date you want!
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My next freebie for the day is this great alpha set...you can change the color of the tiles!
Grab it at the download link below...
DOWNLOAD

Blog Backgrounds!

I was searching the cutest Blog on the Block database for christmas blog designs and I hated them all...so I made my own...feel free to take it for your own!

1. Sign in to Blogger. This will take you to your Dashboard.
2. Under the blog you wish to change the background for, click on Layout.
3. You are now in the 'Add and Arrange Page Elements' screen. Click 'Add a Gadget'.
4. You are now in the 'Add a Gadget' screen. Scroll down to where it says 'HTML/JavaScript'. Next to that, click on the (+) sign.
5. You are now in the 'Configure HTML/JavaScript' Screen. Under Content you'll see a large box, paste the entire following HTML code in that space inserting the web address of the background you desire.
6. Click 'Save'.

It's that easy!

<style type="text/css"><br />body {background-image: url("WEB ADDRESS OF BACKGROUND YOU WANT</span>"); background-position: center; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; }<br /></style><br /><div id="tag" style="position:absolute; left:0px; top:30px; z-index:50; width:150px; height:45px;"><br /><a href="http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com" target="_blank"><br /><img src="http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/images/tag.jpg" border="0" /><br /></a></div>

Today is ending up being a bit stressful. I went to Wal-Mart for an oil change and decided to get my son his first haircut. It turned out well. Not a tear was shed. We walked around the Christmas stuff and shared a box of animal cookies. What is a stressful you ask? My husband. I can't decide if he is inefficient or just thorough. It's irritating because I am a get it done now kind of person and he wants to "see what they will offer and think about it for a few days" kinda person. As you can imagine, clashes ensue. The day will end and a new one will begin soon. On the bright side, my son looks SOOOO handsome...he always did, now he looks spiffy!

One more...hehehe
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One more winter freebie...
DOWNLOAD HERE

I have been feeling quite festive lately. I am actually excited about Christmas this year. This morning was one of those mornings. I was up at about 5am naturally. I got up and there was that Christmas chill in the house. It was dark and cool and quiet...just like Christmas morning. So, I made a chilly Overlay that you can grab. If you make a scrapbook page I would love to see it! Just leave me a link here!

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Car Shopping is Hard

We spent all day yesterday shopping for a new car. I want a manual Forester. I am not asking for much...that's all. We went from dealership to dealership from 9am until 6pm. I found one I like in Pittsburgh. It's black with tan interior...heated seats, moon roof, power everything. They tried to tell us yesterday that they couldn't go below $13999, but that's the internet listing price. Plus, I found out that car fax is listing that it was in an accident. I think we are going to call back Monday or something and negotiate more. There is one in Wheeling too that I am going to inspect Monday or Tuesday night. Hopefully all will turn out well.

I also want to comment on a few guestbook comments left for me.

1. I am not closed minded or racist. That's ridiculous. If you assume that because I didn't vote for Obama then then you are the racist one. I voted on the issues.

2. Nowhere did I ever state that this was a "scrapbooking" blog. This is MY blog. I will post/talk about whatever I want, including scrapbooking...which I need to get back to doing...I have been a slackersaurus lately...

I voted

I voted. It didn't count. I am wearing black today in protest and in mourning of the death of liberty.

Yesterday, as I stood in line at the polling location, I overheard an African American Woman in line. She said, "This is the first time in my life I have voted. I just want some change." She voted Obama. I woke up this morning and a friend of mine who has always voted libretarian said he voted for Obama. Look, this is just rediculous. How can someone with libretarian views vote for anything the remotely smells like socialism? It makes no sense.

I am not mad that McCain lost. It was a tough election. I am mad because the people who elected Obama listed to mass media, did little research on the candidate, and in most cases can't even state coherent reasons why they voted for Obama. In the instances when someone could state reasons, they were unwilling to entertain alternative views of Obama's plans. I only found one Obama supporter who was willing to entertain alternative views of Obama's plans. His arguments were based on his values, not the media. I respect that voter.

I am proud of this country for making it through another election.
The people wanted change.
Change is here.
I am just not sure it's the change everyone expects.

Bankrupt an Industry?

I give up. This weekend Obama said he would happily let the Coal industry bankrupt itself trying to conform with the "clean coal policies" he proposes. He wants to bankrupt an industry with law. I have NEVER heard a presidential candidate speak about bankrupting an industry. He wants to change the way we deal with 401Ks. He wants to "protect jobs here" by putting restrictions on trade. The problem is that the people we deal with are not stupid. If we restrict what comes in they will restrict what goes out. We are in for a hurtin' folks.

This is a mad man. We are dealing with a socialistic, environmental psychopath and we are ONE day away from possibly changing the nation forever.

Anyone who knows anything about economics knows that under Obama rule we lose big time. We lose jobs, wealth, respect on the international front, dollar value...we lose. You think the value of your home is bad now...spread the wealth around baby and see what happens. You think you have trouble paying bills now? Bankrupt coal and see what happens to energy prices.

This is all part of his plan. It works like this...bankrupt coal, which provides a huge majority of the energy in this country, and energy proces go up. We complain about paying high energy costs and he swoops in like a savior with plans for an alternative energy that we do not have yet.

Maddness. I can't believe my country is even allowing this guy to run for president.

Freebies!!!

I finished PBandJ today, in honor of my son finishing off a whole sandwich, not cut into bites, with no help. Good job Des. As I was uploading the kit I realized I had a bunch of freebies I didn't realize I had posted. So, go grab them if you like.
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This is what they look like:

I love photography. I have found, that many photographers in my area just don't have the stuff that dreams are made of. I have begun a hunt. I am hunting for a photographer. I want to see natural images, playful images. I am tired of the old portrait studio stuff people are still turning out. I think family portraits should be whimsical, light and fun. You should look at them and say, wow, that was a fun day...not remember when we went to the studio for pictures? Yes.
I want something like this...

I have found two photographers...
1. Grace-ful Roots Photography
2. David Burke

Do you know any other photographers in Washington/Pittsburgh who take pictures with this style?

Let's Talk About Sex Baby

So, let's talk about abortion...
Let me start out by stating that I would never choose to have an abortion. However, I would never want to take away your right to make that choice. The key question surrounding the abortion issue is when life begins. I am of the opinion that life begins when the child you are having can survive outside the mother's womb on it's own or with medical assistance. When that occurs is ever changing. There is no black and white. The earliest born surviving child is Amillia Sonja Taylor and she was born in October after less than 22 weeks in the womb. I am of the opinion that this "life line" should be moved as new children are born and as medicine advances. Right now, before 22 weeks of pregnancy a child can not survive without the protection of the Mother's womb.

Now, let's take a look at politics. Many abortion rights activists condemn Palin for being anti-abortion. They say the republicans will take away abortion and overturn Roe v. Wade. They claim that rape victims and incest victims will be forced to raise the children concieved as a result of the attack making them forever a victim and that a woman who's life is in danger will be left to die instead of aborting the child. I think this all crazy and rediculous. In 1996 there were 1.37 million abortions performed. 64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%. When asked about the reasons for the abortions, 1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient). 7%...Only 7% fall into the category that the democrats use to fuel their entire argument. 7%.

The republicans argue that babies are being killed avaery day. That late term abortions are rampant. (Obama always votes yes for abortion, no matter how late in the pregnancy. He also voted against providing life support to children who "survived" abortions.) Most women are getting abortions early in the pregnancy. 52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy. Only 11% of abortions happen after the second trimester. Just under half, 48%, of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds.Keep in mind that 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.

What bothers me most about these statistics is that a majority of abotions occur for social reasons. If we eliminate the ability to have a social abortion we can appease the republicans. At the same time we are still allowing a woman to abort a child for rape, incest, and medical reasons. You see, many abortions could be prevented with a little self respect and personal responsability. How about this for abortion...close your legs and take some birth control. I forgot, this country doesn't encourage personal responsability.