Ahhhhh..............Spring Break

Late last week I was honored to be with the travel party of the men's track team to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in College Station, Texas. It was a wonderful trip, and I learned much about collegiate track. The competition was incredible! I witnessed the University of Alabama have two indoor All-Americans, Krystle Schade on the high jump and Fred Samoei in the 800m.

After I returned home, I settled into my "staycation" for Spring Break. Yep, an entire week without a thing to do. No plans, no trips, nothing. Just spring cleaning and doing some digiscrapping, which has been delightful! Not to mention it's the start of March Madness to keep me occupied. And my precious lovies, Puddles, Grover and Wilbur. I don't know who has enjoyed each other more so far!

I scrapped two pages today - here they are! The first one is of my nephew Josh:


and the second is of Angel, my neice:


I used templates for both of these, one from Paislee Press and one from Fizzy Pop Designs (It's the one on top).

Hope you enjoy. Love one another.
Till Tomorrow,
Ozziepuddles

Finally - able to Digiscrap!

It's Sunday night and I'm pooped, but have done absolutely nothing all day except wash laundry, and make a trip to Sam's. For the past two days I've woken up at noon. Yes, noon. Oh, and I did go to Dollar General yesterday in the rain and picked up some double-stuffed oreos. It was a small package, but I ate half of them yesterday. It's because they were sitting on the damn counter, and every time I passed that counter I had to have an oreo.

I have done a couple of scrap pages this weekend, one of Payton reading a Dr. Seuss story and one of Angel my neice. I'm starting to use templates and I really love them. It will be obvious on the pics which one was the template, because I could never create such perfectly divided squares otherwise, even with a grid.

I'm home this week through Wednesday, then Thursday I'm off to Texas with Men's Track and Field for the NCAA Indoor Championships. I'm really excited because it will be my first national track meet in six years to attend! Then, it's home for an entire week off for Spring Break! Yep, one of the perks of the job is the University Holidays - a week for Christmas and a week for Spring Break. After Spring Break it's Alabama Relays week and I'll work the track meet for 4 days. Whew! I might have to give myself a little break and go to the casino during my break...........although I'm severely trying to talk myself out of it. I need some fun and some penny slots are calling my name (Jackpot Party baby!) I'll probably end up going, and hope I win enough to at least break even (that's what my goal is every time).

Here are my latest scrap pages:



Love one another.

Till Tomorrow,

Ozziepuddles

On The Road Again............

One of the perks of my job includes the ability to travel with my teams once per year. So, for the past four days I have been on the road with UA Women's Track and Field at the SEC Indoor Track Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I thought I would have lots and lots of time to scrap............wrong! I ended up being the unofficial photographer, which was fine, and all of my nights were spent having a date with Lightroom3. In 2 weeks I'll travel with men's track to the NCAA Indoor track and field championships in College Station, TX. I wanted to make that trip because Coach Harvey Glance, the men's head coach, will be retiring after this season, and I've never been to a national track meet before. I want to experience that with him.

Harvey is very special to me. He is a mentor, friend, and boss. He cares for his athletes deeply and has taught many of them life lessons they will carry with them forever. He is also a "real" person, and although he has won an olympic gold medal, been an olympic track coach and Junior World Championship Head coach (just to name a few), he is one of the most humble people I have ever met. Harvey listens. And that is important to someone like me who is very low on the department totem pole. His men's team finished fourth this year at the indoor SEC's, something I know he must be very, very proud of - the best finish since 2002. I will miss my "Harvalina" so much. He is the only coach who has ever taken me to lunch on a regular basis, just to visit with me. Wow. A celebrity who is my boss who is super cool...........who could ask for more?

So, no digi scrapping but lots and lots of pictures. And I also saw one of our Alabama men's track members break a world record in the 400 meter race. His name is Kirani James, and his home country is Greneda. He entered college last year when he was only 17, and is not only an exceptional athlete but also an exceptional young man. He is selfless. He doesn't run for the accolades - he runs for his team mates, his school, his coach and his country. He is a very quiet boy who is most polite and considerate. I'll never forget last year when I traveled with men's track he opened doors for me and carried my luggage. These days you don't find many kids without egos or alternate motives. We are so lucky to have him at the University of Alabama.

I say all of this because the two men above have both influenced my life just because I know them. I can't say that about many people. They are diamonds amongst the rocks of life.

Here's a pic of Harvey:

And a couple of pics of Kirani, the first one just minutes before he broke the world record:

and another one I took in the stands:

Ok, enough about travels - I'm off to digiscrap!

Love one another.

Till Tomorrow,

Ozziepuddles

My Top Ten Television Shows

OK I have committed to do several top ten lists in order to look back years from now and remember what I enjoyed in my 40's.

So, here are my current favorite Top Ten Television Shows:



1. GLEE!!!!! I am a GLEEK!!!!!! This show just makes me happy. And I love the music!




2. I love a good talent and this show is so much fun to watch, especially the try outs and finals.
3.I stopped watching last season because even I, who enjoys to chuckle at the occasional bad talent, couldn't stand anymore squaking. I don't even know who won and don't care. This season, the addition of Steven Tyler sweetens the pot for me as well as some very talented kids.
4. I am addicted.
5. Hilarious. Never fails to make me laugh out loud!
6.This show always makes me feel better about the state my own house is in. In addition, it makes me want to go scrub every inch of my house. I call this my motivation show.

7. Because even rednecks get married. This show is why people under a certain IQ should not reproduce.

8. I keep hoping to see something on this show one day I have in a closet that's worth $1 million.

9. Maybe because I'm southern, but this show never ceases to astound me. I mean how many smoky eyes can one create in a television series?
10..This show is number 9 because it only comes on once a year. And it takes me all year to recover from the bad talent.
'Til Tomorrow,
Ozziepuddles

Lots to Talk About!

This past week I have discovered the use of templates for my digital scrapbooking. My opinion? Great results in about 1/2 the time. I've enjoyed using them and here are my results:

and this one:


I also did some pages - this one is of my mother and my grandfather. I've decided I need to scrap more family memories and I love this picture:

I also did this one of Payton:

I have some more big news to post tomorrow!
Til Then,
Ozziepuddles

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day everybody! Ah, the day of love. I am so thankful to have my family, husband, puppy dogs, and friends! I love you all!

Yesterday we spent the day moving my sister Stephanie and her three children back to Alabama. Friday I rode the train up to Greenville SC and met the most interesting people - a college professor, a man who was moving to Carolina from New Orleans, and a retired USAF master seargant something or another. They were delightful and I really enjoyed the train ride.

So, we spent Saturday packing and loading and packing and loading, and hit the road yesterday at 7:00 AM. Everything was just peachy until we were on the west side of Atlanta. I was driving behind Stephanie and all of a sudden her Budget Rental Truck started rocking from side to side for no apparent reason. We pulled off the road, called Daddy and he eventually towed it to Tuscaloosa. Never a dull moment! In the meantime however I was able to snap some long overdue pics of my nephew and neices, Josh, Sarah and Angel. Here they are being silly:



My favorite pic of my youngest neice Angel:

And her brother Josh:

And Sarah:

The kids are all starting a new school today..........I hope it goes well!

Woo Hoo!!!!!! Happy Day!!!

I am thrilled to announce that I have made the layout team for Sweet Tomato Scraps! Here are my first three layouts that are available at Scrappity Doo Dah through the month of February, where Cara is the guest designer! The first kit I've worked with is named FROLIC and it is soooooo precious! I'm learning to shadow, too to produce a better finished product.




I can't wait to do more and share them with everyone - her kits are amazing! Thank you Cara, I am thrilled to be on your team!

'Till Tomorrow,

Ozziepuddles

Christmas in January

Last weekend Bill and I met the rest of his family (or most of them) in Brent, Alab ama at their family farm. His cousin Paul and Paul's wife Robin were in town, and the rest of the family gathered for Christmas. Yes, Christmas. We had the traditional turkey and dressing, candied yams, etc. (yum), and dead man's cake which was delish! Here are some pics:

This is Julian, Bill's second cousin. He is three and is the most beautiful boy I have ever seen! Can boys be beautiful? LOL

Here is Graham Martin. He also has a big sister Lane. They are both so precious!

Here are Chaz and Graham playing in the barn:


How lucky I was to have such great subjects, and they were such great sports! I'm already looking forward to the next Christmas in January!

Their Big Fat Redneck Wedding......

Last night Bill and I were flipping channels and came across a show we rarely watch anymore - My Big Fat Redneck wedding.

The wedding was of Tina and Chase. Chase is a taxidermist and both are avid hunters. Which led to eventual true love and thus the wedding:


These squirrels would be the wedding cake topper. Nope, I'm not kidding. Chase stuffed them himself and Tina painted the fingernails and made the clothing. That's one wedding cake I would not touch with a ten foot pole!


This picture is of the entire cake - complete with bud light cans..........what camoflague squirrel wedding cake is complete without them?

Ah, the bride and her father coming down the isle - no, you're not seeing things. Dad's carrying a shotgun. And the bride has a camo wedding dress on complete with camo veil. Pardon me while I go throw up - I'll be right back LOL.
Yep, the man in the tree stand is the preacher. And by this point I was laughing so hard I was crying.

I woke up this morning giggling to myself about the squirrels. It's gonna be a crazy week.

Till Tomorrow,

Ozziepuddles

Home Sick

I think I've lost it. My throat was killing me this morning and I called in sick to work. After sleeping most of the day, it is now 10:00 PM and I am watching a car auction. No, I'm not kidding. 500 television channels and nothing else on. I think I'm about to switch the channel to cartoons, because the auctioneer is getting on my nerves. I settled on Family Guy, which is much better than a car auction. Peter Griffin is sporting a mohawk (LOL), and evidentally the family dog, Brian, has spawned a human child. And it's still better than a car auction. Where is Jersylicious when you need it? LOL

Oh well, enough with the television rant. I digiscrapped this evening - I'm a top five finalist for the CT Team for Scrapable.com - what an honor! I had to participate in a challenge to make the team out of their monthly FEB mega kit, and here is my submission:


I also did a page from Kitty Designs and the name of the kit is Lovey Dovey. I love the name!!!!! I feel like I stole it because at Oscraps.com this was only
$1.00, which I also love. Cute stuff for cheap!

Have a wonderful day. And don't forget to tell someone you love them.

Til Tomorrow,

Ozziepuddles

Digi Scrappin Saturday

I have another weird injury - I have hurt my back. Thursday I was carrying a mail bin from the Mal Moore Athletic Building across the street to my office. It only weighed, oh, 150,000 pounds (kidding but it was extremely heavy). In fact, the only way I could carry the thing was to prop it on my left hip and kind of waddle across the street. Well, that was the wrong thing to do. Evidentally I've pulled something in my back in by Friday at lunch I was at the doctors office. Now, armed with 800 mg motrin and loritab, I've spent all day at my friend Melissa's house digiscrapping!

Here are my latest creations:




'Til Tomorrow,

Ozziepuddles

OK so I'm a little late.............

First, the BIG NEWS! I applied for four digital design teams and I've made TWO! I'm officially on the design team of sweettomatoscrapper at polkadotplum.com and also a new designer at the same site, Jumbbumble Designs! Yay! I'm so excited to be a part of these two fab teams!!! I can't wait for you to see my designs for them - they both ROCK!

In other news, I snapped some pics of Payton recently at my mother's house. She's starting to say some words, and can climb on anything. I turned around for just a second, and when I turned back around I saw this:


Yep, right there up on the dining room table. She was up there quicker than a spider monkey. And cried like she broke her leg when I took her off. She knew she wasn't supposed to be up there because she pointed to the table and said, "No, No, No!" Lord have mercy. Wonder if I was ever this mischevious? Probably. No, definately. LOL

'Til tomorrow,
Ozziepuddles

Curses, Curses!

So............I packed up everything but the kitchen sink and everything warm I could think of and moved into mama's house for 3 days. As promised, the first night produced sleet, covering around 1/4 of an inch of the ground, then it was snow and sleet, then...............nothing. I mean nothing. Not a flake. Not a drop. It was icy enough, though, to have a "Get Out of Work Free" day on Monday. (Sigh), I know, we must be grateful for the small things. Meanwhile, my sister in South Carolina got a foot of snow. Her kids have been out of school all week. I mean does Tuscaloosa have a snow curse on it or something? It's those weathermen. Unless my eyes deceive me does the snow accumulation map below not say we would get INCHES of the white stuff? That's just plain not nice to tell people that.

Oh well, moving on, I was very grateful to my hubs Monday evening when he came to rescue (and I mean that literally) me from the one year old, chiuauah, and my mother, who currently has cancer. I was exhausted. My good samaritan duty is done for the month. I did, however, have a moment (and I mean one) to do some pages:

This Kit is Memories Captured available at 9th and Bloom.com:

Here's the preview:



This Kit is White Linens by Lynn Marie Designs. I've had it for awhile but this is my first page with it:

Here's the preview:


I have HUGE great news to share tomorrow!

Ozziepuddles

Dear God.............Please deliver SNOW!

Although I definately believe in God, I don't often ask him for many favors. Except today. Please, Please, Please may we be graced with 14 inches of white fluffy snow on Sunday night? OK, Ok, 4-8 inches will be plenty. Here's what James Spann is predicting........gotta go get the milk and the bread!!!!!!!


I really wanna look out the window on Monday morning and see this:


They are predicting the biggest winter storm for our area since 1993. Whoopee!!!! I wanna see Payton play in the snow. I wanna see Ashley make snow angels. I wanna see Alli and Sally jump on their new trampoline in the snow. And I don't want to go to work on Monday. And I want the snow to make my mama feel better. I want to see Snookie eat snow and frolic. And I don't want mother to kill the dog while she's snowed in.

I wanna see a SNOWMAGEDDON!

Probably won't get an inch. But a girl's gotta hope, huh?

Till Tomorrow,
Ozziepuddles

Holiday Pics

Tonight Bill is bringing home pizza. From Pizza Hut, my very favorite. Did I mention I'm starving? Soooooo broke from the holidays that I can't even buy a digi scrap kit, and that's BROKE. Oh well, it certainly won't kill me not to eat lunch for a few days. But I might have to have a bag of microwave popcorn to stop my stomach from screaming!

I took some pics, many of which you see below, of course on Christmas Day with my family. My dysfunctional, loving, great family. God help me. I thought I'd share a few of my faves with you today:

Here's the traditional picture after the kids wake up and before they see what Santa Bought. I have no idea why we do it in the Hallway of my sister's house, but we do.



Here's Payton with the Baby Alive that I gave her. It is nauseating to listen to and never stops jumping up and down. The batteries came out shortly after this picture.



Did I ever want crap like a Smurf hat for Christmas when I was a tween? Well, Sally did. And Santa delivered. In spades.


This is my bah humbug husband Bill. And this is the happiest he looked all day until he had a beer in his hand and a football game on TV. Sware. Ho ho ho.


Here's Payton with the rocker mama gave her for Christmas. I hope she keeps it and cherishes it forever. And rocks lots and lots of baby dolls in it. :)


Ah, the brother in law Tom. I can't tell you how late he stayed up Christmas Eve with wrenches and hammers and screwdrivers (not the liquid kind, although he would have much preferred that). This man loves his children. And my mama. And I love him for his sacrifices. And I love him for teaching me some brand new curse words on Christmas Eve. My vocabulary in expletives has definately expanded!


Shall we see who's next? Oh yes, the dog. Also having a scrumptious Christmas.


Sally is not short. She is fun-sized. And she wants the entire universe to know it. So I'm helping her by posting her new shirt on my blog. Which I am sure she will wear on the first day back to school.




This is my sister who requested I not take a picture of her. So, I took a picture of her front door and living room and she just happened to be in the way. (tee hee)