If you somehow didn't know......

I am a scrapbooker!! I even have a blog dedicated to my layouts! I have been a more diligent scrapper but without an internet scrap-home, I will admit I have lagged. So that blog is aptly titled: Sometimes Susan Scraps.

I bring this up now because on Saturday I get to participate in a really cool event: Operation Write Home's World Cardmaking Day Bloghop! The organization collects cards for the troops to use to send home messages. I went to a crop this past weekend and made a card after each layout. It was quick and easy and a great way to use my layout scraps!

The Bloghop on Saturday has over 100 blogs signed up! That means 100+ great Christmas cards to check out! If you are a cardmaker or scrapbooker with a blog, I encourage you to join the event. Sign ups are welcome through Wednesday night. If you aren't, I encourage you to check out the hop, see some beautiful works of art!

And, have no fear, I'll be sure to remind you about the hop again later in the week. Right now I need to work on my card!

Things to do......you know, pretending its Fall and all!

And here is where you expect me to tell you "go to Apple Hill....see the leaves turn.....blah, blah, blah." Assuming you live anywhere near here, you already know about Apple Hill (go early, leave early). I want to tell you about the other things happening! Let's call them the "B-side" of the things to do list! lol!!

This Thursday, September 22nd is West Wind Theaters annual Customer Appreciation Night! What is better than the drive-ins? How about FREE drive-ins!! You get your choice of Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Transformers 3. Long rumored to be their "last year" every year, West Wind has done a great job of remaking themselves as more of a family destination. Let's hope the weather is a bit cooler than those meteorologists are saying so we can all hang out watching movies and eating $1 nachos......oops! I forgot to mention that! Yeppers, $1 nachos!

If that puts you in the mood for some more family together time, check out Citrus Heights' Sunday Fun Day on Sunday, September 25th at Rusch Park. This is the 15th year for this free bounce house, pony rides, rock climbing wall, live entertainment, and give-away event. There will be lots of food, music, and fun for everyone in the family! I have some great photos of a cute little Ryan on the amusement rides, and the boys a bit older "steering" the fire truck, and now spinning give-away wheels. The worst part of this event.......parking! Be patient and be willing to walk. It will make life a lot easier.

So if anyone has any pull in the weather department, order up some cooler fall weather!

Winner Winner Cheesy Dinner!! Tillamook Cheese winners!

A couple weeks ago we had the awesome pleasure of inviting another family over for a wonderful fondue dinner with the cheese supplied by Tillamook. Oh, it was SO darn tasty and we had a blast!! I posted about the evening here and then gave readers a chance to win themselves some free Tillamook Cheese! They could win one of two ways: tell me how they would Share the Loaf with family or friends OR tell me a cheesy joke! (come on now......you know me, you know I couldn't resist!)

So here are our winners and their entries:

Tamaralyn Kieso said...

For my next college friend get-together, I would take my Tillamook cheese blocks and slice them. I would have several varieties. Then, I will blindfold my friends so they can guess what kind each cheese is. Because I'm from the cheese state (Wisconsin) we know a lot about cheese. I will also have my friends guess about how old we think the cheese is and what kind of milk it is made from. What a great way to educate ourselves from this game all while enjoying our favorite cheese 

Nancy Niles said...

What type of cheese isn't your cheese? NACHO CHEESE!
What do you call cheeses made in Israel? Cheeses of Nazareth!
Knock Knock
Whos there?
Gorilla
Gorilla who?
Gorrilla me a cheese sandwich, I'm hungry.

Try&TryAgain said... I would use the cheese when I babysit my friend's two young children. I would get out some fun cookie cutters and let the kids "cut the cheese". I would also make grilled cheese sandwiches that can be cut into shapes. Fun kid friendly activities with the best cheese ever!

MommyRandomness said...

My daughter is 6 and a very tender heart and loves grill cheese and we pass the local Salvation Army and when we go to the bank she sees all the people waiting on the sidewalks for lunch and she always says we should make them grill cheese so they won't be hungry while they wait...I would make grill cheeses with her to give to the people so she feels like she shared her desire to be a chef and love for grilled cheese!!! GO Tillamook!!

Oh!! doesn't that last one just pull at your heart? Thank you Tillamook for giving me the opportunity to share the fun with my friends and hear these great ideas!

And if you need a laugh, there were a few more hysterical cheesy jokes in the original post. Congrats to everyone! I'll be contacting you to get addresses to send out your cheesy rewards.

Oh, and while I know that "real" bloggers never mix topics in the same post, I don't have the patience for that! So, to update my list of giving things away:
got those bags of clothes to Goodwill and have filled up another one
2 sketch books!
I am hoping they will help inspire my friend to scrapbook more......and in turn bug me to do more! And if you are interested in what I am scrapping these days (when I DO scrapbook)......check out my scrap blog: SometimesSusanScraps

A girl and 3 movies....

I probably could write 3 different posts talking about each of the movies separately, however I don't know that I have that much to say. But, I did want to put my $0.02 in on them!

Contagion came out Thursday. This movie demonstrates how quickly a virus can spread throughout the world. I still had a bit of a cough and I could feel the entire theater cringe every time I coughed. I even cringed when I had to cough! The movie was done in such an understated almost factual manner that it could easily double as a documentary for a high school health class. While I am sure you can guess the eventual outcome of the storyline, I was not the only one who left the theater feeling despair and helplessness at the possibility of the movie becoming reality. Overall, it was a good quality piece of film work with quality acting, but falls on my "wait and see it at home" scale of movie rating. Bonus: at home you don't sit there wondering who last touched your arm rest!

Lion King 3D is roaring back into theaters for a limited 2 week engagement starting September 16th. (Can you hear the commercial: "Disney is opening the vault for a limited time"?) Same story, same taglines. Heck, depending on your kids' ages, you might be able to mouth the entire movie along with the characters! So, why should you consider going to see it? And why am I going to suggest that you go so far as to plunk out the big bucks for the biggest screen you can find? Well, because if any animated movie was meant to be pulled out and redone in 3D, it was Lion King. You know that the minute the bird flies over your shoulder and into the screen. I am not a fan of 3D, but this movie did it right! In fact, I am disappointed to see that it won't be showing at our local IMAX theater.

50/50 is going to be called one of the best movies of the year. I put it up there with The Help. And you know how much I loved that movie! The storyline is about a young man finding out he has cancer and how he and his circle of family/friends all deal with it. I am not going to go more into it than to tell you that not everyone reacts the way you think they will......and that is kinda the point of the movie. I was fortunate enough to see a really early sneak preview 50/50. Took the boys with me even though I thought the subject matter might be a bit too grown-up for them. They laughed, they cried, and they want to see it again! The movie did an excellent job of balancing the seriousness of the situation (hey! the guy has a 50/50 chance of survival! can't get more serious than that!) and providing enough humor to make it feel "real".

So, if I had to pick just one of these movies to see, it would be 50/50. Sad, because Contagion had such possibilities along with my favorite quote: "Blogging is just graffiti with punctuation." Let me know what you think about these movies.....and how do you feel about the whole idea of remaking movies in 3D? Is it an easy way to make a quick buck or are they really that much better?

PS: Today is your last chance to try and win some Tillamook Cheese!

Give it away, give it away, give it away now!

A friend of mine posted last month about challenging herself to give away 100 things in 100 days! You can click through her blog post to see the original inspiration which is to par down your belongings to 100 things (oh, frightening, isn't it?) Her last update was August 14th and she had gotten rid of 18 things!

I love her version and definitely have more than 100 things that I would never notice gone. So for my own challenge, I am not giving myself a time limit.....but I am also not limiting myself to only 100 things! To date I have happily found new homes for:

Sanrio chopstick, rice bowl, cup set
3 Copic markers
2 sketch books
yards of ribbon
Blackberry cell phone, case, charger

Not bad! I still have several books that need to get to the library and 5+ bags of clothes to head to Goodwill. (Per Arlyn's directive, they don't count until they are OUT of the house....and I do not count the trunk! lol!!) I am glad to know that these items will be appreciated and used by their new owners. Sadly, their absence has yet to make a dent in the clutter that is my house. (Wonder where she is at now......oh, Arlyn!!)

The same friend has a GREAT idea about clothing: only buying a new piece when getting rid of an old piece! For me, I think it should be "buy one new to replace two old"......but that is for another challenge!

And as a reminder, you have until September 10th to win some Tillamook Cheese! Yes, I am giving it away, but no, it doesn't count for my challenge since Tillamook gave it to me for the purpose of giving it away......just a nifty little tie in! lol!!