a simple party invite

The phone just rang. My father, giggling and sounding very excited with a quick hello followed by a "guess what I recieved in the post on Friday?!" was on the other end.

I didn't attempt guessing as I knew he would tell me sooner than I'd have time to say anything.

"Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The Andersson family would like to invite you to a pre-Christmas get together on the 7th of December. RSVP" he read out loud, giggling aloud.

"Sounds lovely" I said. "What a nice idea!"

"Nice?!" he hissed. "Sounds like they think they are the bloody Royal family! If they want me to come around for a cup of coffee they could quite easily have phoned me!"

I said I thought it was nice of the family to send out an combined invite/christmas card and make it a little extra special. It's the kind of thing I like to do too!

"Yeah, I bet you'd like to go to see if there was any gossip there, wouldn't you? Nose around a bit, eh?!" He continued - being his usual charming and loving self.

I told him it must be horrible being so suspicious, cynical and negative of everything, then explained I had lots to do and finished the phonecall.

Yep, good people, yet another anti-energy-kick from my father. Now I'm in a vile mood and hate myself for answering the phone.

All Men Be Careful While Making Relationships On Dating Sites

Internet dating is growing more day by day and most importantly it is attracting both men and women vastly with their so called feature or service "End to loneliness for good".But do you know that you could even get in some real trouble if you're not careful or sensitive while making a relationship with somebody online and meeting him or her in person?

Internet dating has also lots of snags that are not often talked about openly.The practice has been hugely focused and encouraged everywhere from main motion pictures to great commercials.Besides women, men are also cheated or victimized by the persons with whom they made a good relation in the hope of good.Sometimes they are assaulted, robbed and sometimes even got murdered from encounters with "women" met online.This is because some predators target elderly men,some targets homosexual individuals and others target some general men.But the fact is, these incidents are never taken seriously and never got the alertness they deserve.

One man was hospitalized who seriously injured after meeting a women he met online.The women brought with her a number of guys who were hiding and when the opportunity came he got seriously beaten by those guys and everything was taken away from him and then they left the place leaving him wounded on the road.Now how can you make sure that you're not going fall in this same situation?Well if you follow some common steps and got some common sense then surely you can also avoid such situations.

1. Do not get too much attracted seeing the profile picture at first because those images can be easily faked or taken from other photography sites.Make sure the person you are getting in touch with have no criminal backgrounds like charges of robbery,theft or frauds.You should also keep your own information as private as possible

2. Your Social security numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, bank account information, and any other sensitive information should never be given to another individual over the internet.

3. When you finally meet her in person, always try to meet on public places rather talking yourself to some deserted places where groups or gangs might be waiting for you.And never open your wallet more often if not necessary.

I am not saying everyone in the dating sites are frauds,but in most cases scamming has been the main issue.So why to take the risk if you know that if you're a bit careful then you can avoid these troubles?Love scams normally target men as well as women. If you come into contact with someone you believe to be a scam artist, end the relationship, and don't respond to further communication.

Do make good relationships whom you like or love but it's also your responsibility to keep yourself safe.

OMG!!! I've Received...

An amazing blogger award!!!! From my DEAR sweet Friends Rita her website is http://ritaloyd.blogspot.com and Christina...her website is www.christinalytle.blogspot.com/!! Both of these ladies are absolutely amazing women whom I'm inspired from and thankful to know as MY FRIENDS...Thank you SO much!!! This is quite an honor and I am so touched!!! The guidelines for the award are as follows...

The rules for receiving the award are simple:
1. the winner may put the logo on their blog;
2. put a link to the person who sent you the award;
3. nominate 5 blogs;
4. put links to their blogs; and
5. leave a message for your nominees.
So here are my blogs:

Now I'm supposed to name 5 blogs that inspire me!!!

1.) Chrystal Schilling - http://cscraftstudio.typepad.com/ - She is an amazing ARTists and makes beautiful handmade paper!!
2.) Angie Hall Haviland - http://angiehallhaviland.typepad.com/angiesartfulllife/ - She is a WONDERFUL friend and Mixed Media ARTist!!
3.) Shelly Woods - http://shellyraewood.blogspot.com/ - A very dear friend and a SUPERIOR Mixed Media ARTist!!!
4.) Debbie House - http://flightofgrace.blogspot.com/ - Such beautiful work she does!!! Such pretty collage work!!!
5.) Robin - http://rockinrobin1973.blogspot.com/ - She does gorgeous detailed work!!

This award is such a wonderful surprise and I THANK my dear sweet friends Rita & Christina for blessing me with this!!! I am totally honored!!! Makes me want to play more with paper!!!

More and MORE Fun...

Playing with my new toy and creating til my hearts content!!! I finished the last 2 swaps for the www.craftycardcreators@yahoogroups.com I belong to......Have I mentioned what a WONDERFUL group of people we have in this group!!!!

Anyway, thought I would share with you what else I created today....
This card is for the "Monogram/Heart Swap"......I wanted to make it something unique......so here's what I came up with.....I LOVE IT!! I used my CE ALOT in this card/envelope creation....It has so much going on in this card....Let's see...we have glitter, cutting, rubberstamping, ribbon....copper kryon pen.......chipboard.....decorative paper I printed and specialtly word collage I made......




Is this card set rockin' or what!!!

The next and last swap for this group this month was for "Christmas Ornament Swap"...the goal was to create an ornament for the person......Soooooooo, wonder what I decided to use AGAIN......yep, you guessed it...my CE! I had alot of fun creating this ornament....I cut all the layers...then ran the 2 top layers on either side of the ornament through my xyron sticker machine and then coated with a white glitter......the under layers I used my versamark stamp pad with a stamp then used some of my pearlized chalks....then coated the entire piece with resist pad and covered in clear embossing power and embossed.....I then layered the levels together...remembering when I put the front and backs together to put a ribbon in the middle to be used to hang the ornament on the tree......Very simple but affective look don't you think!!!


I could see making a bunch of these for a small tree...they are super easy and fun to do!!!

So, I'm sure I'll be playing more tonight but I just was so excited to have all my swaps done I just wanted to share with everyone........Man oh man do I love my Christmas present!!!!! Again I want to THANK YOU for stopping by and visiting again......I hope to see you again soon!!! Until then....

countdown in lights

It's four Sundays until Christmas.

And I love the first Sunday in Advent, when almost everybody in Sweden decorate their windows with lights in shapes of stars.

I cheated and put mine up one day too early. During the day it's just a star, but at night... Aaahhh, at night it gives the most wonderful glow.

How I love the build up to Christmas!

watch out

DUhhhhhhhhDum!

I've been playing....

With my WONDERFUL new Cricut Expression I SO love this new toy......boy do I still have ALOT to learn!!! :) I was up until 2:00 a.m. this morning playing with paper.....I did create 3 more cards for swaps I'm signed up for in a wonderful group called www.craftycardcreators@yahoogroups.com!! I thought I would share them each with you!!!

This first one is for the "Sunflower Card" swap.....you need to use sunflowers somewhere on the card......I started with a blank piece of white cardstock and went from there!!! The words on the card I did with my CE!! Aren't the colors of the overall soft and warm feeling...I used a versamark stamp pad on the background words then used some pearlized chalks brused over the versamark words....I also stippled the edges with some colored ink pads as well as a bit of distress ink pads.....the base of the card does shimmer if you see it in just the right light!!! I of course made an accompanying envie to go with it...AND I cut the envelope out with my CE! I am LOVING the envelope feature of the Plaintin Schoolbook cartridge....so COOL!!!




The next swap I had to create a card for was "Challenge Color - Red & Gold"....humm, what was I going to do for this one.......I did a double layer of the letters with my CE with 2 different papers and layered together.....I adheared the letters to some of my red crayon paper I had previously made and used a decorative punch for one edge of the paper and lined some of the paper I used for envelope behind it!! In the top layer of the card I stippled some Mahogony Distress Ink around the perimeter of the card and stamped with a gold pigment ink pad the swirleys and embossed a bit with ultra fine embossing powder gold......gives a little rich color pop on the card.....the card needed something else SOOOOOO, I decided to cut with my CE a tree image from the Chrismas Noel cartridge....I first took some gold foil wrapping paper and glued it down to some white cardstock...that was the paper I used to cut the tree image from.....then I decided to wrap some ribbon around it to finish it off and wrap ribbon around the top layer of the card as well....



I wasn't sure what I would think once completed...but I LOVE the way this card turned out...it has a bit of an elegant look to it don't you think!!!

The last card for today was for the swap "To Lift Your Heart Card"......you needed to incorporate the phrase into the card in some manner...The colors I decided to use here are WAY out of my box!!! I'm not a turquoise color person but WOW once I decided on the colors the card REALLY catches my attention!!!




For this card I cut the letters and the envelope with, you guessed it...my CE! The image is one I had in my image files....I printed it onto white card stock.....then I stippled the border with a truquoise dye inkpad and the center I stippled with more of a sage/yellow color...trying to bring the colors from the letters and envelope onto the top layer of the card.....the turquoise really makes the card pop!!! The indian angel is 3D and you'll notice her wings are actually bird feathers.....but don't they look realistic!!! I used some ultrafine snow glitter on her halo!!! I truly feel, even if I do say so myself this card is breath taking!! So so happy with the results!!!

Ok, so now you've seen what I was doing til 2:00 a.m. in the morning!!! Today I hope to finish of a couple of items I need to make for swaps and I have 4 page savers I have an order for...Then I want to work on some items for my ETSY store which is very outdated...I need to put some TLC into my store!!!

I REALLY want to THANK YOU all for stopping by to visit with me...I have had so much fun sharing with you what I've been doing!!! I look forward to sharing more and more!!! I hope you all have a FANTASTIC day today!!! Talk with you soon...Until then...

Health: Nutrition In Childhood

Childhood & teenage is the most important time in a person’s life. After birth the increased growth rate of the child continues up to 18-19 years of age. Thus the amount of nutrients needed for a child is much greater than an adult. At this age the physiological development of the person is not complete, so the person is not very aware of maintaining a balanced diet rich in the nutrients needed by the body. As a result, the person fails to obtain the nutrients in the food needed by the body. Owing to fewer nutrients the body becomes weak; the person can suffer from serious diseases, and many times the patient have to live the rest of his life with his or her body thin & weak. So the responsibility of the parents towards their children is more. They have to be very careful about the food their children eat.

The rate of growth is the fastest in females from 11-13 years and in males 13-15 years. The amount of nutrients needed by the body is not same for all. We have to consider the person’s sex, age, the rate of growth to know the demand of food needed by the person. The more the rate of growth the more food is needed. The growth & development of the body depends a lot on food.

Nutrients that are required to be in the food eaten by the children:

• There must be enough calories to provide the working energy.
• There must be enough proteins for repair & fast growth of the body.
• As the bones & teeth develop in this age, so there must be sufficient minerals & vitamin D in the diet.

In many countries children of this age suffer from the lack of nutrients mostly protein, calcium, iron, & vitamin A, whose main cause is poorness, lack of knowledge on food nutrients, and lack of a good appetite. In this age the children spend most of their time in school & the amount of food they eat there is inadequate for their body. Amount of food a 10-12 year old child should ingest everyday are as follows:

· 320g fiber

· 60g split peas

· 100g fruit

· 50g milk

· 200g fish or meat

· 130g oil or butter

Lack of the above mentioned items can be harmful.

If the child does not like to eat then vitamin D capsule can be provided but the age must be considered. The demand of food by the body is very high in this age even though the child has low appetite. So take care of your child very well and make him understand the necessity of food that he must eat to keep his health good.

I'm SO Spoiled...

I just gotta share with everyone how spoiled I know I am.....I have the best hubby ever!!! He let me got ahead and get my Christmas present today.....and I AM LOVING IT!!! Guess what it is.......It's a Cricut expressions!!!!! It's the one that cuts up to 12x24......SO nice....I also got the Design Studio and a total of 5 cartridges.....I also got a black/brown set of the markers to use with the Cricut.....Did I have a GREAT early Christmas or what!!!!

I've been messing with it most of the day and did use it to create one card so far...Just thought I would share it with you.......

I had been debating back and forth about wanting either the Cricut Expressions or the Wishblade.......I gotta say I do totally feel I will be quite happy with my CE!!! The possibilities are really endless with the software that you can use with it!!!

Ok, now it's time to come back down out of the clouds!! Just had to share with everyone my wonderful surpise!! Thanks so much for stopping buy and please come back to visit with me again!!! Until then....

Christmas cards

It's that time of year again... The time of year when one should start thinking about Christmas cards.

A couple of years ago I made a Snow White inspired card (click on the pic below to see it in it's full size), which I thought was sooooo funny. But quite a few people didn't get the Snow White-Disney theme.


So last year I decided to keep away from Photoshop and just send a photo of me in the snow at my dad's. (Again - click on photo if etc) Strangely enough this Crimbo card got lots of praise. I guess it did so because it looks exotic to lots of people.

This year I want to include Kif and Tylor on the cards, of course. So Photoshop is inevitable. Hmmm, I really don't have any good ideas yet but luckily I do have a day off with nothing to do and can play around with my computer...
... Watch this space!

tomorrow tomorrow I love you tomorrow

Tomorrow I have a day off. A proper day off with nothing to do. It's been a long time since I had one of those.

Noone to meet for lunch, no errands to run, nothing that needs buying or baking. Just a proper day off. I plan to stay in my pyjamas all day. Maybe do a bit of ironing, but then again maybe not.

Watch day time telly. Cuddle my cats and read a magazine or a book. Mmmmm!

Oh, and don't bother calling me tomorrow. I've already switched my phone off. :-)

Celebrity: Bobby will Re-Marry Whitney Houston

I must say Whitney is a very lucky lady to have her man back again.A very close friend of Bobby brown has said that, "Bobby Brown is going to re-marry his ex-wife Whitney Houston".Both of them were often seen together on different spots which was a clue that their romance was rekindling although very slow.

Bobby's buddy told: "They're more in love than ever - and Bobby's going to re-marry her." "Bobby wants to make a reality show about their new life - kind of like a Being Bobby Brown PART 2."

We wish them both very best of luck on their reunion and hope this time they don't break up and live a very happy life and love each other more than before.

Technology: Get your Phone Bills paid if you Buy Two Peek Handhelds

November is not over yet.You all still have a chance to pay up your phone bills for the month instant.Yeah it's true because getpeek.com is giving you this offer.

There is a saying: The longer you wait, the sweeter is your fruit, and that means the more time you give or have patience,the result is surely going to be satisfactory and better.Just like that the longer you wait, the better the deals for the Peek email-on-the-go handheld get.At first an offer with a price drop of $80 was there and then unlimited texting and now the company is offering you to pay your whole November iPhone or G1 bills( upto &150) if you buy two peeks, one for your friend and one for you, before Monday, 1st December at getpeek.com. It means those of you with sky-high phone bills can still go for the offer and get your bills paid easily.

spy

Spy Among us!

Bodybuilder celebrity babes pictures(Funny)

Surprising Change in Macho Man Randy Savage--Former WWF Superstar

He was one of the most famous superstars in the WWF/WWE history. Savage became instantly recognizable by wrestling fans for his distinctively deep, husky voice, colorful attire (often comprised of sunglasses and a bandanna, gaudy robes and/or a cowboy hat), intensity exhibited in and out of the ring, and his signature catch phrase "Oooh, yeah!"

Savage is a six-time world champion, with four WCW title reigns and two WWF title reigns. In WWF, he was a 2 time WWF Champion, a 1 time Intercontinental Champion and the winner of 1987 King of the Ring tournament. In WCW, he was a 4 time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and the winner of 1995 World War 3 battle royal.

And now seeing the pictures below, no one would believe that this is the present Randy Savage.After all he is 57 now.

a bit of bragging

As a Northerner I've been brought up with Jantelagen. For you who don't speak Swedish it's "the Northerner's law", which translates to something like this:

You’re a nobody.
You’re not as good as us.
You’re not as smart as us.
You’re not to believe that you are better than us.
You’re not to believe that you know more than us.
You’re not to believe that you are superiour to us..
You’re not to believe that you are worth anything.
You’re not to laugh at us.
You’re not cared for by anyone.
You’re not capable of teaching us anything.
(very quickly and freely translated from "En flykting korsar sitt spår")


To sum all of the above up - it is bad to brag. It is bad to tell people of your knowledge. This explains my father's reaction to my staff training days (see my previous blog). I bragged. And he just couldn't stand it so he was quick to tell me I had nothing to be proud of.


But you know - I'm sick of not being able to tell the world of good days! Days that turn out nice because of me and my actions. What's so wrong about feeling proud of somthing you feel you've achieved?

So here's my bragging of today:

I facilitated a staff conference from hell today. There were arguments and accusations and petty bickering. But I stood my ground and sorted it all. And by cry am I proud of it! I rocked!

WWE: Survivor Series 2008 Results

The Undertaker defeated The Big Show in the Casket Match, which is a trademark match for the Phenom as with it he debuted his wrestling career. The Phenom is the master of Casket Matches and he again proved this last Sunday winning the match with the worlds largest athlete who claimed would earn a victory with The Undertaker.

In front of a capacity crowd in the TD Banknorth Garden, Edge stunned the WWE Universe by returning from Hell to become the new WWE Champion, defeating former champion Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov as a late entrant in the Triple Threat Match.

After months spent recovering from emergency neck surgery, John Cena’s return to the ring was a triumphant one, as he defeated Chris Jericho at Survivor Series to win his first-ever World Heavyweight Championship.

Team HBK defeated team JBL. The match ended with only team captain Michaels, Mysterio and Khali remained sole survivors with their feet placed firmly on canvas after a contest in which participants can be eliminated by count-out, disqualification, pinfall or submission.

Randy Orton is a deviously cunning individual, and due to that very fact, the Legend Killer was able to lead his team to victory over Team Batista at Survivor Series with he and Cody Rhodes as the only survivors.

Health: The facts behind Ginger

Life is not guaranteed because we have to face many difficulties relating to our health as we come across it. After an operation we are provided with pathedin in order to stop the feeling of pain. But sometimes patients vomit owing to the side-effect of pathedin.The paralyzing drugs may also be the cause of feeling nausea. At that time anti-nausea drugs are given.

Recently in a research it is found that 1gram ginger is much more effective on preventing the feeling of nausea & the feeling of dizziness. Ginger is being used from long period in Chinese & Indian herbal medicines. It can be found anywhere and comparably it is also cheaper. Journal of abstratrics & gini of America has considered ginger as an alternative medicine especially for poor countries. It is also found that ginger is very useful for our digestive tract. It also acts as an anti-inflammatory. So arthritic pain can be cured by eating ginger.

According to the UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COMOREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER, in research it is seen that ginger has momentous medicinal properties. It can also help cholesterol in our body & can also prevent clotting of blood. Other researches indicate that the components present in ginger might have anti-cancer activity and not only that ginger also a potential blood thinning agent. According to the doctors, ginger should not be eaten in pregnancy. So if you are under other medications, then ask your doctor before taking ginger.

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt Wedding: Got married so soon? How come?

After the hullabaloo that’s been going on with the sudden breakup of Paris Hilton and Benjie Madden, reality TV’s most annoying couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt is said to have tied the knot in a secret wedding ceremony in a resort, just outside Cabo San Lucas in Mexico last Thursday, November 20. Geez! I’m wondering why they got married so soon. Oh well, I think they are both happy together and I think they’ve finally realized that they are meant for each other. The funny thing is, sources say that there’s not even one close family member present during the ceremony, which lasted only for about 15minutes. Goodness gracious, what kind of a solemn wedding is that? I bet you their relationship, I guess, wouldn’t even last for 15 years. Bring it on splitsvillers.

winter is here

I found this photo in today's newspaper (photographer Epstein):

The snow has arrived in Stockholm, and in the middle of a square in the city centre a couple of people made a snowman today. How wonderful! We should all give ourselves time to make snowmen. I think it would make the world a happier place.

Happy Monday...

Everyone...I hope you all had a great weekend!!! Mine was full but fun....My oldest son, Billy, came and spent the weekend with us and he and his brother had a great time together!! Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving at Craig's side of the family and I made from scratch pumpkin pies...they were very good even if I must say so myself!!! :)

I did get to do some ARTing this weekend....I completed one project I'd been working on for a while...it's a purse that I crocheted and lined.....I thought it turned out very nice.....






I do not use patterns...I just create from my imagination...it is very relaxing for me to sit and crochet...can definately lose track of time.....

I completed a swap for a wonderful group I'm in called craftycardcreators@yahoogroups.com....this these was called "Keep it Jolly"......here's what I came up with....






It's a fun card....I loved interchanging the bows on the packages....I printed all the designs and the rubberstamped embossed and cut out...I also made an accompanying envelope....I love the dimension of this card!!!!

Ok...lunch is over, back to work for me.....I want to thank you for stopping by again to visit!! I pray you all have a wonderful week and great Thanksgiving!!!! Until next time...