As The New Year Approaches...

The Christmas season has come to an end and the New Year is approaching. Time flies, and as my grandma use to say "the older you get, the faster it flies." For the most part, we had a blessed year in our family. Things were a little rough on the job front for some family members this year, but all worked out in the end. We had babies born and more are on the way. We have had health issues resolved and some that will soon be as well. As 2010 draws near, we wish you and yours a HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS and JOYOUS year ahead.

With much love,

Jorge & Debbie

Close Your Eyes and Picture Christmas!

If I close my eyes, this is what Christmas looks like. Just wanted to post a reminder for all of the kiddies and of course to all the kiddies at heart. Rudolph is on CBS tonight and switch over to ABC Family right after to catch Pixar short films.

Ready For The Christmas Season!

Thanksgiving is over and now it is time to focus on the Christmas season. I figure I have about 25 more shopping days left. This week we will pull out the numerous plastic boxes loaded with Christmas doodads and start to make some order out of it all. The tree will go up over several days, that is the goal anyway. The best part about the upcoming week is the show's begin!!! Monday 11/30, the original green dude arrives to kick off the holiday viewing season. The grinch arrives first, followed by the new green guy Shrek the halls. Tuesday was suppose to be A Charlie Brown Christmas followed by the newest Disney creation Prep and Landing, however, the president is going to take up that time slot and it has been pushed back a week. I'm on it though, ABC Family channel starts the 25 days of Christmas on Tuesday as well, Santa Clause 3 is on tap. Wednesday, the best of the best, Rudy comes to town. Pixar short films at 9p on ABC Family, what an awesome t.v. night. If that wasn't enough, one of my favorite holiday movies of all time, White Christmas on Saturday. I love this Christmasy time of year, as Sam the snowman would say...

Thank You Veteran's!!!

Just wanted to send out a HUGE thank you to all of our Veteran's and to those serving here and abroad!! God bless each and every one of you!!

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

My first copic piece...

I finished my copics class online and this is the first image that I colored. Copics are alcohol based markers that enable you to do your own highlights and detailing. Not the best picture but I think you can see the change in colors from the highlighting?.?.?.

November 10th!!!

I had to come home and check the calendar. November 10th, yep, Thanksgiving is still two weeks away. Now, you figure the malls would be decorated for Christmas already, the almighty dollar at work. The last place you expect Christmas decorations AND Christmas music playing throughout would be the grocery store. There are turkeys to sell yet, why would you be playing Christmas music already? Just to clarify, not my store, I had to run into a competitor today and they were reved up for Christmas already. From a business stand point, this is stupid! You are trying to get your customers to order their Thanksgiving dinners from your deli or buy a big turkey from you meat department. You want to sell your pumpkin pies out of the bakery as well as your dinner rolls, so why in the world would you be pushing Christmas already?

My Guestbook

Please...when you come to visit my blog, please sign my guestbook in the middle of the page, just above the ph0tos. Thanks!!

Outside My MIL's Window

When my MIL walks across her street, this is what she sees...this shot was taken right after all of the feathers landed in the water.

Back From Fall

Just returned from our annual fall trek up to Massachusetts to visit Jorge's family. We had the best weather the entire time. The Pat's were finally in town this year so Jorge was able to catch a game at the stadium. He did not anticipate the snow however. He caught a nice bout of bronchitis and spent a couple of days just resting. Toward the end of the trip we were able to make our annual journey north to Yankee Candle. Oh, how I love that place. Not only the candles, but, the Christmas room, the kids room, the kitchen section, the bath section the Vera Bradley room, there is so much to see that it can be an all day trip. We came back to some of the hottest November days in the Tampa area of course. Now the weather is starting to level off and remind us of why we moved south. Too bad we can't afford a northern place in the summer and stay down here in the winter, oh well, that's what Powerball is for, the dreamers...

Bad Blogger!!!

I know, I know, I have not been a very faithful blogger. I said on this very blog that I was going to attempt to become a regular blogger. It takes time folks. The problem lately is I am being sucked into other peoples blogs as of late. Anyone who knows me, knows, that I am fascinated with other peoples creative spirit. I love color, design and lines and when it all comes together in someone's personal masterpiece it makes me smile. Let me tell you, I have been smiling a lot lately. I am currently enrolled in a Copics class, hoping, that I can learn how to turn my creative thoughts into some really great art like I have been seeing in these blogs. When I finish this class I may post some of my work here. We'll see.

UGH!!

I had to put a soothing pic on my blog tonight to calm me down. I was surfing for some new blog graphics and ended up losing all of my fun toys that I had. I have spent the last hour trying to get back as much as I could find again. UGH!!! I am too tired to look anymore tonight, I am throwing the towel in for now.

CHA

It is finally here, after all of the weeks of waiting it is here, CHA. I am so excited that in a few short hours we will be there. Bags are packed, supplies are in the rolling scrap case, toothbrush, etc. lined up and ready to be thrown in the bag in the morning. I love that it is in Orlando this year and that I have this opportunity to go with my my friend Kathie. We are going to pick out new yummies for her store. I have been reading the CHA and scrapbook tweets for the past couple of weeks. Eating up all of the info and the sneak peaks from some of the companies. Some great stuff coming out in August for all of us crafters. If you are wonder what CHA is all about, check this out http://www.craftcritique.com/2009/07/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know.html

Where you can find me...

These days you can either find me tweeting on twitter http://twitter.com/dizfreak or you can find me blogging on blogger http://dizfreak.blogspot.com/ or you may find me farming on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/dlgomes?ref=name . No matter how you slice it, I am addicted to this new world of "networking" as they call it . I have found so many interesting websites and people via these formats. I am even helping friends link up to this new world. Come on people, jump in, the water's fine!

Back From Chi-Town

"Unseasonably warm for this time of year," every day since we came back home. We just left mid 70's during the day and low 50's at night, ahhhhh...slept like a baby. Had a wonderful time with family and friends and a beautiful 1st Communion for Jake. Now back to the heat, work and reality. What a bummer!

Count Down To Chi-Town

Yes, I live in a year round spring break now, and it is really hard to make a case for wanting to go to Chicago when you have just left a leisurely lunch at a fabulous restaurant on the water. I know all of this, yet I cannot wait to get to the Windy City. Jake will be making his first communion and as his Godmommy I would not miss it. I miss my niece and my little guys and cannot wait to see them. This trip will be spent with friends and family, some that we have not seen in quite some time. So, yes, I had a fabulously relaxing lunch with friends by the water on a sunswept afternoon with a beautiful 80 degree breeze. Tick Tock, I am still counting down to Chi-Town...

New Toys

On AOL you can surf the WWW and if you find something you like or wish to go back to it at a later time, well, you pop it in your "faves." I have an extraordinarily long list of faves. So, today, I decided to go through and see what was there and what websites needed to be deleted. As I was going through, I came across a website that linked to an add music to your blog site. So, I followed the link and viola, I now have music on my blog. I love it!! I also found a link to count how many visitors come by my blog and what countries they come from. Not that I think I will get many hits from across the pond. However, when my friend Jean goes back home to England next month and she gets a little sad missing me, she can just pop into my blog and see what is going on. Plus, I will get a hit from England, too cool. So kick back, relax, enjoy my tunes, read my blog and escape for a few moments. Enjoy!!

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

It is always a good thing when you can find value for your money, especially in these tough economic times. There have been many times over the years when I have run out to buy a new CD based on the one or two songs that I like on the radio. I would say that roughly 70% of the time those are the only good songs on the CD.

No bang for your buck there. However, there is, maybe, a handful of artists that you can consistantly count on to deliver that bang for your buck. You know, that as soon as it is announced that a new album is in the works, you will be one of MANY that will be running out to buy it as soon as it is released. Long before that one song is leaked to the public, you know that you will like at least 95% of the CD. I am happy to say that I got BANG for my buck last week. I was one of many that helped raise this CD to the ranking of #1 on the Billboard charts. As always, I am not disappointed by the latest endeavor from U2. I can honestly say that I LOVE this new CD in my collection. "No Line On The Horizon" is another triumph from the U2 music catalog of which I own EVERY one. I remember, being on my honeymoon in the south of France and passing the home that U2 uses to write most of their songs. Craning my neck to get a look out the bus window to see if I could get a glimpse of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton or Larry Mullen Jr.., only to be disappointed for having no such luck. On this album you hear strains from the beginnings of the group U2 along with new mixtures of rythyms and melodies. It is one of those creations that allow to leave, just for a little while, the mundane, hectic and stressful moments in this life. Thank you U2 for another great musical adventure and making me feel that I really did get BANG for my hard earned buck!!

Is There Such A Thing As An Organized Place To Create?

This is not my mess, it belongs to someone else. I stole the image off the world wide web. I wish my craft room was this organized. I have spent hours in my craft room trying to make some sense out of the mess in there. I literally have product for every craft out there in the creative world. Wanna scrap? Gotcha covered...wanna paint?...gotcha covered...wanna stamp?...gotcha covered...wanna make jewelry?...gotcha covered. How do you put it all together to make it work as one? That is the question. Trust me, I can find most of what I'm looking for, I just need to remember which pile I saw it near. I was not born with the organizing gene, that could be part of the problem. I do dream of a day when everything will have its neatly marked space and will be easy to reach. A day when there will actually be a designated work space to create. I have seen it many times in my dreams, sometimes it looks like this

sometimes it looks like this

ah....one day...

Facebook

I don't know who to thank for this...I think it was my brother or maybe it was my sister-in-law. I guess it doesn't matter at this point. I am addicted to this stupid site. I'm sending flairs and drinks and pieces of the rainforest. The cool thing about the site is I was able to reconnect with a friend from high school who is now living in Norway. On sites like classmates you have to pay to find out where your school friends are, on facebook you don't. So thank you to whomever introduced me to this addiction. They say the nuts don't fall far from the tree, which could be why most of my family is on it as well.