It was time to reveal myself to my secret sister

I joined a secret sister swap at the Stamp Shack and my secret sister was Merry Mimi from the Stamp Shack. For 4 months, I had to send her a little item once a month along with a stamped card. As my reveal I sent her this card and on the inside I sent her a poem. Now for those who know me, I cannot write my own poem, so I went to my stamping buddy, Mary who writes really great poems. You know the kind that rhyme really great. She has done this for other secret sisters for me too. You can read it on the card. Thanks again Mary. I just love this poem! It was just perfect. And Merry I enjoyed being your secret sister!!!

When school was cancelled the other day for the flooding,

the kids were jumping up and down with joy. I'm sure you can picture it now. HA Well, last night we got the dreaded call that they have to make up the lost day. When? NEXT SATURDAY. Yes, on a Saturday. Both kids were like "What? On a Saturday?" Its just a half a day which I said "Well, that's better than a full day on Christmas break which is what is what was considered at first." So both kids will be going on school next Saturday whether they like it or not. NOT!!!

All of that water is completely gone from yesterday's photos

that I took ... so that's a relief. I was shocked to watch our news last night and how many had been effected in Cabarrus County (where we live). We noticed a ton of water in one of our empty garbage cans so we measured how much water we had in there and it was 15" and that was over a day and 1/2. That is a TON of rain!!! There were some shots of some houses had water up to their roof tops!! The creeks had overflowed that much that fast. I just could not believe it. They managed to get out in time thank goodness and now are in shelters. Nicholas came home today telling stories of some kids in his classes who had some flooding in their basements that went all the way up to their ceilings. Some teachers hadn't seen this kind of flooding in 30+ years. Too close to home!!!

We felt the effects of storm Fay last night

and had some flooding near us so I was out and took some photos of a nearby creek. We are fine where we are but this is not far from us. School was cancelled due to all the flooding in our county. You can click on the photos to see them bigger.

Its back to school - WOO HOO

Here are the kids. Not sure they look as happy as I do but I didn't want my photo taken this early in the morning. Emily is driving herself now. Oh my how can this be? HA HA Anyway, here is Emily driving herself in the jeep. She could not wait to go in the jeep. And here is Nicholas with Tudi planted by his side. Ladybug is in the back seat, you just can't see her..

I came across this cute owl card on Splitcoast and its made with all punches

and I just had to try my hand at it. It was very easy too. Of course, I only made one owl and its not actually a card, its just the owl but I still think its pretty cute. Here is the card I saw and here is my lonely little owl below but I still like him. The punches I used were:

face - Stampin Up round tab
eyes - 3/4" circle Stampin Up
nose - Stampin Up photo corners
wings - Stampin Up scallop circle
body - Marvy blue scallop circle
feet - left over from where i cut his wings

My hairdresser Amanda is getting married in October

and I didn't know what to get her but she is getting married in a barn and coming down "the aisle" in an actual John Deere tractor so I wanted to get her something with a "country-feel" to it so I came up with this idea. I found a plain white tin and decorated it with rooster paper and then I found some rooster recipe cards at AC Moore. But at the time I only found 1 pack. I had everyone hunting high and low for more rooster recipe cards. Thank goodness my stamping friend Shelley in MA found 5 more packs and shipped them to me so I could complete my project!!! Thank you so much Shelley!! Anyway, I finished my recipe box - I copied down 75 of my favorite recipes and stuck them in Amanda's box so I hope she likes this gift. Here is the finished gift.... (You can click on each photo to see them larger)

I've been tagged by an old and dear friend Robin Lehman

I have to say Robin's last name because I had another good Robin who passed away a year ago and alot of you may be confused if you see I was "tagged by Robin" so that's why I put Robin's last name in there. Anyway, I have known Robin since we were 15. At least I think we knew each other since then. Maybe longer. I barely remember way back then!!! We grew up in the same neighborhood. LOTS AND LOTS of memories Robin and I have. Anyway, she is new to the whole blogging scene and she has tagged me which means I have to come up with 7 things about me. Some random, some weird. Let's see what I come up with. HA Here's Robin's blog if you want to check it out.

1) I laugh and I laugh alot. But I think alot of you already know that about me. I would have to say I get the laughing from my mom. She laughs alot too. So does my sister. When we 3 are together, watch out.

2) I own 14 pairs of flip flops. I thought I had more but I just counted so that is the accurate count. Charlie insists I always have a pair in every room of the house. Go figure!!

3) My natural hair color is brown. Not too dark but brown. I have been coloring my hair blond for quite awhile. Its getting grayer the older I get (thanks Mom!).

4) Everyone "thinks" I am the most organized person in the universe. I am organized when it comes to being on time, knowing when a birthday is, having a birthday card ready to mail out but when it comes to finding things in my stamping room, I can look for hours for a single item. I mean, yesterday I spent a good 45 minutes looking for this one thing and I never did find it. Could it be because my stamp room is always a mess? I need to get more organized in my stamp room I guess!!!

5) I've never met a Coach outlet I didn't like :).

6) I love worcestershire sauce (but ONLY the Lea & Perrins brand) on hard boiled eggs. Don't knock it till you try it!!!

7) I can't think of a 7th thing to write about myself. LOL

Now I am supposed to tag 7 friends but I have already done that many posts back so instead of doing that, I will just let that part slide. Is that ok with everyone? :) Have a great rest of the weekend. We have school tomorrow! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I joined this swap at the Stamp Shack

and it was for Halloween ATC's. While I was at Michael's the other day I saw this cute Frankenstein door hanging "wooden" thing that needed to be painted and I knew the hostess of this swap would love it. Chris loves anything Frankenstein. So I bought it, took it home and painted it. Here is the before and after. I told my friend Traci about it and sent her a picture of it and she said I had to mail it now. She was doing a Stampin Up party at her house today and she wanted to see it too so I sent it (the ATC's aren't due till OCTOBER). Well, Chris got it yesterday and she already has it hanging in her stamp room. HA. So now I can post it on my blog. I thought it came out pretty good considering I have never painted anything in my life before. Could there be more painting in my future? Stay tuned :).