Monday, December 29, 2008

Flooding in Chicago in December???!!!

Yes, this picture is from our area! I can't believe how crazy the weather has been in Chicago. The first few weeks in December brought us more snow than we've seen in quite a few years, along with the snow we had record low temperatures. The snowfall caused schools and businesses to close the week before Christmas and just when you think it can't possibly snow anymore the temperatures then jumped overnight to 62 degrees a record breaking event for temperature in Chicago "in" December since the mid 1900's. Along with the warm weather came a downpour 1.5" of rain water, add that to almost 20+" of snow accumulation on the ground. What does that equal? Flooding throughout the Chicago area!!

Flooding in Chicago is normal during the late spring and early summer season but in December??

So why am I blogging about this? Because in almost 10yrs I've been at my house other than seepage I've never dealt with flooding UNTIL NOW! It was only a few inches but a few inches throughout the ENTIRE basement and it was sewer water that just sat there for 16 hours before we realized it had flooded. We lost a lot of items we stored in the basement but worse was the mucky cleanup we had to handle after the plumber left. We are now waiting for our insurance to determine what and how much they are going to cover. Our walls look lovely! I can't wait to knock them down. YUCK!
We've lost a lot of items including 3 machines I use for my cards, paper I also use, Mark's prized comics, 2 mattresses but my personal biggest loss was an outdoor fridge I had given Mark for father's day this past summer. I saved up so much to be able to buy it for him since he loves grilling and being outdoors in the summer that hurts me the most! Hopefully, it will be something I'll be able to recover and replace.

Mucky Sewer Water, yuck!
After the water was drained out, the wood panels wall are totally warped!
The epoxy paint came off the floors (I didn't know that could happen)

My rolls of vellum, a total loss!
Mark's comic collection this is one of 3 boxes (they were white boxes)

My little studio is now a temporary storage room for my tools and things I stored in the basement.

Monday, December 22, 2008

A blast from the past!

I had so much fun this past weekend reuniting with some good friends I haven't seen in about 15 yrs. I can't believe how fast time flies, it seems like just yesterday we were hanging out in front of school. We met up with Jessica (birthday girl) at the Filthy Libertine in Chicago. I had not seen Jessica since graduation (1992), the girl hasn't changed a bit! Two old friends Jackie and Mireya were also there, what a great time!! The club closed at 1:30am so from there Cesar took us (Mark, Jackie and yours truly) to one of his cop hangouts. After a couple hours of laughing and catching up on the years we went to grab a bite to eat and finally Mark & I got home at almost 5:30 am!!!
OMG! I can't remember the last time I came home so late, needless to say we weren't drunk but were we TIRED!!!! Thank goodness the kids we at grandma's house because we slept until 11:30! LOL
(Jessica, Jackie, Mireya, me)

(Jackie, me & Mireya)


Tuesday, December 16, 2008

This is harder than it looks...

Okay, I'm still getting used to this blogger thingy. Of course I would decide to start something new right before the holidays and of course as my luck would have it I'm running around like mad woman! LOL

We bought our Christmas tree a 1 1/2 wks ago, I love the smell of it!! The kids surprisingly have been really good about not picking off the needles. Here's a cute pic I took of the 3 of them:
Of course it only took me 15 shot before I got a 1/2 decent pic. LOL

Aside from our tree we've been busy shopping for presents for family, friends and teachers and in the evenings I've been working on my Xmas cards and tags. Last weekend the boys (Mark & Malik) took off to Wisconsin for their Boyscout weekend, Ian slept over grandma's house on Friday night and Nanda and I enjoyed a quiet girls night. Saturday both kids went to grandma's and I enjoyed our yearly Xmas dinner with my dear friends Cesar, Margaret, Mark, Alex, Erin and Vlad. Our yearly Xmas celebration is held at Cafe Lucci in Glenview, IL. We wined and dined our little hearts out and enjoyed catching up.

The boys: Vlad, Alex & Cesar

Margaret & Mark
Alex & Erin

Cesar -aka- the brother I never had


Friday, December 5, 2008

Happy Friday

What a hectic day!
Going Xmas shopping at the mall is a workout in itself!

Now that the kids are in bed and I've put away the presents I was able to finish my prize give-away.

This is part of a 6 pack that Meghan will be receiving. The card is made out of Cappuccino Metallic Cardstock and the embossed background is made out of Rose Quartz cardstock. The monogram was printed on Opal cardstock in a matching brown tone.

I've got a hectic weekend ahead, a birthday party, more shopping and I'm hoping to start designing for CutCardstock. Wish me luck, I'll be living off these all day tomorrow:

For those of you celebrating Eid on Monday. May you have a Happy Blessed Eid!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

And the Winner is.....

Congratulations to Meghan from Meghan's Mindless Muttering.

Meghan has won a personalized stationery set from last weeks Black Friday give-away.

As soon as Meghan picks out her colors I'll post samples of what her cards look like.


Keep an eye out and make sure to follow my blog another give-away will be coming up soon.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Wow! What a way to start the day!

The main reason I had started this blog was so I could enter a contest through one of my favorite online stores cutcardstock.com. The contest didn't require a blog but I thought having a blog made it more personal/professional. Imagine how I reacted when I read the email that I had won!

WOW!! I will be their guest designer for the month of January but the news doesn't stop there. They will also be sending me merchandise from their store so I can design some more cards for them to showcase during the month of January.

What a way to start off the New Year, right!

Thanks Norma and Cutcardstock! I can't wait to begin designing!

Here's my winning card:


Monday, December 1, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We had our first official snowfall this season. It's not much but it definitely makes it feel a lot like Christmas. I can't wait til we go get our Christmas tree this week, I love the smell frest cut pine!
We skipped the tree thing last year because Ian and Miranda were too young and I didn't want them ripping off all the ornaments. :)

I've been working away today on my Christmas cards for my family and friends.
I've got to admit I did cheat this year, I went digital. I took a picture of the kids and added a holiday border along with our sentiment. I did layer in onto a coordinating scalloped cardstock though :) Why did I cheat? I have A LOT of cards to send out this year and I ran short of time.


I've also been working on a set of Christmas cards and matching gift tags for my shop.

Well, I'm off to begin dinner. Tonight it's a peppered roast with pasta and asparagus. YUM-O!