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I love to take a bit of time out of every day and sit down to create.  It’s my break from cleaning, cooking, and caring for children.  Might I say, it’s a much needed break every day!!!  I have got to have that time for the sake of my sanity.

What do I like to create?  Lots of things!  I enjoy scrapbooking a lot.  The other day I made the first page based around our family tree.  I never thought I would scrapbook our family tree, but I do want the boys to have some special pages in their scrapbook telling them about there great-grandparents, grandparents, and probably even their parents.  I want them to have something to look back on later. 

Another thing I enjoy doing is making my own handmade cards.  Cards are a great way to express creativity and share it with others.  I personally love to send my cards in clear plastic envelopes even so that the mailmen and sorters can also enjoy it.  I’d imagine it has to lend some excitement to the normal white envelopes!

There are tons of other things I enjoy creating including stamped 3D items.  I can’t even say what all they are because the list is always growing.  It’s not unusual for friends to hand me something that they think perhaps I can be creative with.  I enjoy taking these items and seeing what I can come up with.  Recently a friend gave me little syrup bottles from Cracker Barrel and I turned them into little bud vases.  You just never know what can be made out of a piece of “trash” until you sit down and give it a try.  I probably would never have thought of using those little bottles if Linda hadn’t given them to me!

I enjoy making all these things enough that I am a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator!  I have been a demonstrator for three years now and just love it!  I love having an excuse to be creative and being able to support what I love to do!  Of course it’s great to have an excuse to get out of the house once in a while too, and I’m not even spending money when I do get out!  Last month I started my own Stampin’ Up! demonstrator blog where I have lots of samples and ideas.  I try to write in it every day and post a sample using Stampin’ Up! products. I  hope you will take a minute to visit my blog and even leave a comment.

If you like to be creative as well you may find you would like to attend one of my stamping events in York County, PA. There is a contact form on my blog where you are welcome to contact me if you would like more information.

I love to shop at Big Lots. I find the neatest junk there. Their prices are right and I can waste time in there and truly enjoy myself just looking at the variety of stuff they have. I have been able to pick up a lot of scrapbooking items from there even though I don’t scrapbook. I make cards with the goodies I find there. Most of their stuff is good quality items at discount prices.

When I enter the store, I have a set pattern that I go thru the store that way I’m sure not to miss anything. The other day I was fortunate enough to find 20% off coupons for Big Lots and I had a hay day. Usually, the items I buy at Big Lots are not necessities; however, toothpaste, deodorant and such items do fall into that category. You just never know what you’ll find there. It’s one of those stores that you have to keep shopping on a regular basis if you’re looking for something specific. You’ll need the patience of a saint sometimes but eventually you’ll find something that you’ve been wanting for a while.

I was in there about a year ago and picked up a college flash drive for a little bit of nothing. I had been looking for one but wasn’t willing to spend a small fortune for one. Big Lots was selling theirs for $8.00 a piece. It didn’t take me long to convince myself that one of those should be mine. I had looked at one similar to it online at but I determined that they wanted too much money for it.

I’ve also picked up clothing and household furnishings at Big Lots. I love their candle selection. They sell furniture also. If you join their Buzz Club, you get notices of things that are going on sale and also extra discounts. They recently received a whole shipment of drug store items that came out of a drugstore chain that was closing. I found some mint scented shampoo and conditioner that was great for only $3.00 for a one liter bottle.

Back in the summertime, they had a whole lot of Pier One furniture items on sale at about half off Pier One’s price. Beautiful pieces going for much cheaper that the original store’s prices.

My kids love Big Lots for their toys. They run off and shop the toy isles and then they shop the clothing racks. My husband has his own car detailing business and he purchases a lot of supplies and equipment from Big Lots. The vacuum cleaner that he uses is a refurbished one he bought from there. To me, it just makes sense to buy at discount prices when the economy is down in the toilet right now. I’m watching my pennies everywhere and Big Lots is a great place to get things cheap.

Have you ever noticed that when one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong?  It seems like everything will be working fine and life is going along nicely and then, bam, everything decides to break all at once.  We’ve been having some of those breaking moments around here. 

Living in a house with three boys, those little door stopper things just don’t always seem to be enough.  I don’t know how it happened, but one of my sons managed to put the door knob of the front door through the wall.  There is a stopper down  by the floor but . . . .  Hopefully that will not happen again, at least with that particular door.  I purchased a steel plate attached to drywall tape.  If they put a door knob through that the whole wall will be in trouble!

The next thing to have problems was the van. It has been making funny sounds.  There doesn’t really seem to be a consistent time or place or anything else to the one sound.  Another sound seems to possibly be related to the coldness outside.  It likes to grunt and groan until the vehicle is all warmed up.  We took the van to Gordon’s Body Shop whom we’ve come to trust and he said it’s just signs of old age.  Signs of old age when it’s only 6 years old - what’s this world coming to?

This weekend we’ve had the worse blow yet.  Problems with the Septic.  Yuck!    My landlord called Ken Greer the plumber on Saturday morning.  Naturally, being a Saturday he didn’t have an assistant to help him so all he could do was drain the access (right into our front yard!) and tell us to be conservative with the water until he comes back on Monday.  What a fun weekend.  The laundry piles are growing.  The dirty dishes stacks keep increasing.  Oh, and did I mention that my middle son came down with the stomach bug Saturday night?  There’s nothing quite like having a son throwing up when you can’t use the washer to clean the clothing and bedding!

As I write, I am waiting for the plumber to come and fix everything.  It’s amazing how much water a family uses!  You never realize it until you’re restricted in use.  I hope this is the last of the problems in this round.  I think we could use a little break now before we have any more.  The questions is, what will go wrong next and when will it be?

I think after all of this we deserve a fun yet practical gadget or two from The Home Automation Store.  The decorator wall switch looks like it would be a good addition to our house.  When we come home in the dark we have to go in the house and search around blindly for a lamp to turn on in the living room.  Perhaps having one of these switches right inside the door will keep us from falling and breaking a leg and adding to our list of problems in the next round.