Artfire Easter Egg Hunt

Do you like Easter Egg Hunts? Do you like to win prizes?
On Wednesday April 1, Artfire will be holding a Easter Egg Hunt for all to join in on. I believe there are 50 studios involved in this hunt and you can play for 1 of 3 prizes. Prizes go to the highest score who will win a $50 gift voucher, 2nd highest gets a $20 gift voucher and 3rd highest gets a $10 gift voucher. The best part is, you get to use your gift voucher in ANY of the participating stores! Make sure as you are looking for eggs that that you check out everyones stores so when you win you will know what items you would like to purchase! You can get all the information on how to enter and what you need to do here on the Easter Egg Hunt Blog.
This is the first time I have been involved in something like this and I am very excited about it. Moonstone of Artfire has put this whole thing together and has spent A LOT of time on it. Please stop by and sign up!! Don't worry if you don't have a lot of time to do something like this, it is going on for 3 full weeks, so you have plenty of time!! If you have any questions on the process you can leave a message on the blog and Moonstone will get right back to you. You can also leave a message for me here and I will find out the answer for you.

Come by and join in the fun for some great prizes!!

Cathy's Angels My Newest Adventure

I would like to share with you my newest "adventure". I am proud to announce my involvement with starting a non profit organization call Cathy's Angels. It is a non profit organization for ALS. If you are not familiar with ALS you may know it better as Lou Gehrig's disease.

I got involved with this new organization kind of by mistake. It all started with a friend of my brothers named Melinda. Her mother was diagnosed with ALS about 8 yrs ago, when my brother and Melinda were just out of high school. Melinda held a few fundraisers in which my brother and parents attended. I didn't know Melinda very well but new of her and her mother through my brother. Melinda then started a Facebook causes page for her mother called Cathy's Angels and my brother passed the page on to me and of coarse I joined. I then saw a post from Melinda asking if anyone knew of any fundraising ideas. I shot her an idea and from that point on we have been talking and messaging each other. We have also become very good friends.

After getting to know Melinda a little better she told me about her idea of starting a non profit to help others with ALS to find resources and used equipment to donate to families in need( ALS is a very expensive disease). She then asked if I would be willing to help out with starting the non profit and of coarse I said yes!

I am proud to announce that I am the Secretary of Cathy's Angels! This is so exciting for me. I have never been involved with such an important cause before and I can't wait until we can get cranking on this. There is so much paperwork that needs to be submitted to the State and IRS and such to get a non profit up and going. We currently have some of the paperwork in and being processed. We have just gotten back the paperwork from the state of Connecticut stating that we are officially a Non Profit Organization!!!! There is much more work to be done but it is slowly coming along.

I am currently in the mist of starting a blog for Cathy's Angels, to write about our journey of starting a non profit and what it entails. Also, Cathy has agreed to write some for the blog (when she feels up to it). I hope to have a special day put aside for just her posts. We are also starting a website that will hopefully be up and running in the next month or two.

Please stop by Cathy's Angels when you have a few minutes to look around. I am asking all of my blogging friends to share some feedback with me. I am trying to make this blog very professional and informative and need any and all feedback, good or bad, from anyone who would like to share. Please remember this is a work in progress and I would love to hear any ideas you may have. Our goal is to help others with ALS but also maybe give someone else the strength and encouragement to start their own non profit by learning through how we did it.

I am very proud of doing this and I think we will do great things for other people who have ALS and their families. I hope this new adventure will be very rewarding and fun all wrapped up into one. I hope you will stop by every now and then and show Cathy how great the blogging community is! Thank you for staying and reading this, I really and truly appreciate it!!

I would just like to share a few of my newest listings in my Artfire store. Just click on the pictures and it will take you to the listings. Have a great day

I would also like to say thank you to all of you that sent Birthday wishes to Thomas. He had a great 4 days of celebrating! Imagine what his 21st birthday is going to be like with having his birthday after St. Patricks Day?! Oh my!!

Thank you to everyone!

Happy 4th Birthday!

To my son Thomas. I can't believe that it has been 4 yrs already.

I put together a little slide show of some of my favorite pictures since the moment he was born till now. I hope you enjoy a little trip down memory lane :)

Sorry couldn't get the slide show to work but I got it working now!

Bob Bull Breezes...Getting Closer

Bob Bull is doing great! He has been out on the track breezing. A Breeze is when the horse runs with a bunch of other horses, just like in a race but the horse is not pushed. They run easily without much encouragement. This is to get them back out on the track with other horses and in a real racing environment. You also want to start them out slowly so they don't get hurt in the process. It is like building up to running in a 5k road race, you wouldn't just go out and run. At least I hope not!

His first breeze was on Sunday March 8th. He ran on a fast track of 3 furlong and had a time of 39.20 seconds and was 7th out of 10.

His second breeze was this past Sunday March 15 and again ran 3 furlongs on a fast track. His time was 36.40 with a rank of 2nd out of 10!

Tom said he came out of both breezes just fine and that Bob is doing great. This last breeze Lisa just sat on him and Bob did it all on his own, no pushing. He cut 3 seconds off since the 1st breeze. Imagine what he can do if he was pushed! Tom is very pleased with they way Bob Bull is performing and he says that things are going according to plan.

Way to go Bob!!! and of coarse Tom and Lisa!!

He's on his way!

The first picture is of Lisa and Bob getting out on the track while Tom is on Bobs stable buddy Atlas Peak who escorts Bob to the track and will run with him when Bob is not breezing. Tom says they are great buddies.

Giveaway Winner

I would like to say thank you to all who entered! It was great fun to look at everyones stores. I would also like to thank Dawn at Lifesmomentscaptured for helping me with this giveaway. We enjoyed it and we hope you did too!

The lucky winner for the banner giveaway is....Lillies!

Thank you everyone and have a safe and fun St. Patricks Day!

Last Day and a Thank You

I would like to take this time to say thank you to Sundays Pearl and One World. They were both kind enough to give me a blog award! Make sure you stop by there blogs, they are both wonderful blogs!

Thank you guys for thinking of me!

Hopefully this week I will be able to get back to writing and I would like to share my newest project/adventure with you. I have been working on another blog that I am starting for a friend of mine and I will explain everything real soon!

Today is the last day for the banner giveaway! Please enter 1 post down

Banner Giveaway!

Do you have a lame or ugly banner? Does your banner hurt peoples eyes? Maybe you are banner less or in some need of fine tuning.

Then let us help!

Baci's Creations, PaprikasPlace and Life's Moments Captured have teamed up to give one lucky shop a spring makeover! The winning shop will be able to pick any basic banner and avatar set of their choice from Life's Moments Captured Etsy or Artfire shop (excludes custom orders).

This was a fun contest that came about on the Artfire forums in which a shop named PicardCreative decided to do something nice for someone and offered to purchase a banner and avatar set for someone who had the "Fulgiest Banner". Baci's Creations was one of the winners in the first contest and wanted to extend the act of kindness to someone else in need and purchase a banner and avatar set for the winner here. Dawn at Life's Moments Captured is so sweet to offer her services once again! She has 2 amazing shops with many styles and colors to choose from. I know you will find something you will love in one of her stores!

Let the contest Begin!!

This is what you need to do:

1. Go to Dawns Etsy and or Artfire shops and pick the banner and avatar set that you would like to see in your shop.

2. Leave a link to your shop with your name and tell us why you deserve or need a new banner! Also make sure you leave the link to the banner and avatar that you want changed, this is what is going to be judged.

3. Tell us how you would give back to the Etsy and/or Artfire community if you had the chance (examples: give someone their first sale,offer a service, purchase a new banner ETC)

Please make sure you stop by Baci's Creations and PaprikasPlaces shops. Both shops are offering 10% discount on anything in either store for the length of this giveaway. Please include "lame banner" in note to seller during checkout.

If you have a problem leaving a comment please be sure to let us know or enter into the contest through Lifesmomentscaptured,Paprikasplace or Baciscreations, just leave us a message! :)

Contest will close at 6 pm EST Monday 3/16.

Winner will be picked by their families of the participating shops based on the lamest/ugliest banner.

Winner will be contacted on Tuesday 3/17.

Please be nice and have fun!

Kissing up will not get you further ahead but would be enjoyable and fun!

Please make sure you also stop by Picards shop and take a look :) Trust me you won't be disappointed!

1st Blog Giveaway!!!

I would like to announce that tomorrow 3/9 I will be launching my first giveaway!!!

I have teamed up with a wonderful women named Dawn (who I will introduce to you more tomorrow) who makes wonderful banners and avatars in both of her shops on Etsy and Artfire. I had a new banner and avatar made by her from a contest on the Artfire forums called the "Fugliest Banner Contest". I had so much fun in this contest that I have decided to do the same and purchase a banner set for someone else out there that has a banner that needs help.

I will fill in the full details tomorrow when the contest starts.

Please get the word out! If you know someone who has an ugly banner or even no banner at all, let them know about our contest!

See you tomorrow!

Spring Ahead

Don't forget to change your clocks ahead 1 hour before going to bed tonight! Yes it sucks since we loose 1 hour of sleep but I will take the extra hour of daylight anytime!

Also take the time to change the batteries in your smoke and CO detectors too!

We are going to be around 60 today so hopefully the snow will be gone soon and I am getting outside today in the warm sun! Have a wonderful weekend :)

Spring is Almost Here!

Some of us watch for those first tulips or crocuses to pop out of the ground. Some wait until we set the clocks ahead an hour and get more daylight and some wait until the first day that you can walk outside and smell spring in the air.

This is not how I know spring is coming. I guess you may have figured it out but I know spring is on my back doorstep when I start getting a lot of eggs!! Yes, Eggs!

I went out this afternoon to feed all my girls and I was soooo happy to find 10 eggs! This is a awesome number for this time of year and for having 13 chickens, 10 is a wonderful number to have in 1 day.
Now how do I tie eggs into spring you may ask? Well, chickens stop or slow down their reproductive cycle when they loose daylight. So in the winter some hens will stop laying all together and some will lay every once in a while. Once the daylight hours start getting longer the chickens reproductive cycle kicks back in again and they start laying again. So now you understand why I am so excited about getting 10 eggs. I was only getting 2 or 3 all winter and then the other day I had 5 and now 10!! Yea!!!

My girls are wonderful. Believe it or not every one of them has a different personality. I know, who would think that stupid chickens would have personalities. They really do. Some not so nice and others just totally lovable. The 3 in this picture are Ginger on the left, Sesame in the middle and Sage on the right. Ginger and Sesame are so friendly and Sesame will actually talk to you! I will talk to her and she has her own way of answering back. I always know when she is near me. Mostly all of them will let you pet them. Miss Paprika, aka Paps, will let you pick her up carry her around and she will even help me garden! They are also a lot smarter then you think they are ;)
Here is a real treat for me to show you. Ok, maybe not a treat but let me explain. You are looking at an egg. Yes, a shell-less egg. Every time I have found a shell-less egg it has always been destroyed and I end up having to clean all that yolk out of the nests. This egg was perfect. It was fully formed but just no shell. This picture shows how the membrane is fully intact and why it has a "tail" I have no idea. But this was so awesome to find!

A missing shell is when a hen's shell forming mechanism malfunctions or for some reason and one of her eggs is rushed through and laid prematurely. A shell of an egg forms just before an egg is layed so if it passes through to quickly then the shell never has the chance to form. This is something that is common this time of the year because the chickens cycle is getting back into motion and it can sometimes move the egg faster then it should.

Just another piece of information, it takes 25 hours for a chicken to produce an egg. I have read that it takes a bit more but that is an average time.

Well that is my egg laying lesson for today...LOL. I hope you all enjoyed it :] Maybe I will have to fill you in a little more on where your eggs come from in the future. It is really fascinating to know where and how you get some of the items you use all the time and are always in your fridge.

This is a very happy time in our household knowing that the girls are starting to lay again and that spring is just around the corner! Thank you girls!

Bob Bull

I finally received pictures of Bob Bull! Tom and his wife Lisa were so kind to purchase a disposable camera and fill it with pictures of Bob. I can't believe that the pictures aren't that bad! I am so used to looking at digital pictures that I thought the film would be horrible, but they aren't bad at all. Anyways we get to enjoy seeing Bob get ready for April. I can't thank Tom and Lisa enough!

This is Bob all decked out to run out on the track. Toms wife Lisa is the one riding him. She works out the horses every morning and is a huge part of McSchell Racing. Lisa was a jockey herself a few years back (I will fill you in more on her later) but now runs their horses.

He is currently running 2 miles to get him warmed up for his 5-5 1/2 furlongs (almost a half mile) 1st run in April

Here is Tom giving Bob a bath. Looks like Bob could care less about it. I can't tell if he is really enjoying it or hating it..LOL. I would think after a nice long run in Miami, I would enjoy a wash down.

Here is Bob out on the track with Lisa in their morning run. I know the picture isn't that close but it is still a nice picture of what you see around the track area and it gives you an idea of how wide the track is. If you look a little further above the white barrier you will see green...this is the infield where turf races are run.

Here is Bob looking all handsome in his "racing uniform". If you are wondering what is around his eyes, well those are blinkers. Blinkers stop the horse from seeing the sides to the back of him. A horses eyes are set more on the side of their heads so they can see all around them. If I am right, horses can see all around them except for the tip of their nose and tails.

Tom says he needs to wear these blinkers otherwise he is not very cooperative out of his stall. As Tom put it "if you take him out of his stall without them on, your in for a wild ride!"

He is all saddled and ready to go! Look at him waiting patiently, I think. That look may be also..."Let me out of here!"

We are getting so excited to see him run in his first race! Tom says he is doing really well and has good feelings about Bob. So do we!

I really hope all of you will share in our excitement on the day that Bob Bull races. I will have to check to see if you can streamline the race on the web or you will be able to get the race on HRTV if your TV carrier provides that channel. I will have more details when the race gets closer.

More of the White Stuff

Yep, we had another round of snow last night and today. We got about 12" maybe a little more, but this is the first big storm of the winter. We had a lot of snow this winter but it came little by little. It seemed like it snowed everyday there for a while. This storm was a good one for the amount but not for the quality. Not good snow for making a snowman or snowballs. I had one very upset little boy who wanted to make a snowman so badly. But we all still got out there and enjoyed it and I mean everyone!Reese LOVES the snow. Sasha doesn't like to be cold or wet for that fact, so she gets a little upset with her brother when he wants to play. She is usually a good sport and goes along with it for a little bit. She is 14 but still has a lot of pep! You also have to imagine that this poor little dog couldn't walk in the snow..she had to hop!
Thomas was so upset that we couldn't make a snowman or make snowballs so he went with the next best thing....throw snow at everyone. Daddy got smart and started going after him with shovels full. Thomas didn't mind at all.

After Mark got home from work, we all headed out to watch the 2 "big boys" clean all the snow off everything. You did catch "watch" right...LOL. They do such a good job all by themselves! I did have something set up with our neighbor that was supposed to come back and plow the driveway before Mark got home...he never showed. Nice neighbor :/

It really doesn't help that the dogs have a touch of spring fever and have so much built up energy from being inside all winter. It was fun to watch them get some energy out. Sasha kept up...at least Reese made her think she did!

Now who wouldn't love this face!

He is the sweetest and most loving dog! Yes, he is one of those dogs that thinks he is human. Can you tell? Ok, we let him think that way too...LOL.

Monday Morning Wake Up

It's Monday, it's cold and we have about 7-9" of snow outside which is only from round 1 of this storm. They say "March roars in like a lion and goes out like a lamb". I hope this is true and that this winter is coming to an end soon.

Grab a cup of coffee and look at these cool illusions. Wake up that brain this cold and wet Monday morning!

I just thought that this one was so awesome! Painted Eagle on hands :]

This is double illusion as well! First thing you'll notice is that this "spiral" is moving in some strange way. It appears it is somehow rotating, even though it is actually standing very still. Your eye movement across the image makes the illusion of movement. Like Borat would say, "Niicee!". The second illusion is that this "spiral" is actually no spiral at all! It is made of two concentric circles (two circles with same center).

Can you find the word 'Liar' in the picture of the face below

Have a wonderful Monday and I hope everyone stays warm and dry. I know I won't be....I have a snowman to make today!

These illusions were found on Mighty Optical Illusions

Plurk?

Ok, So I am trying this Plurk thingy. Seems like it may be a little too addicting for me. I don't need to spend anymore time on this stupid computer! I have never tried Twitter so I have nothing to compare it to. It seems really easy and fun too. Is anyone else out there on Plurk? Any tricks or special things to know? I am soooo behind on the times...LOL.
Come join me if you are!