Sharing Some L-O-V-E. Have you checked out the dollar section at Target lately? These wonderful, pink, glittered garlands are only a dollar. They also have these, begging to be altered, magnetic stands complete with the red glittered heart magnets. Gotta love Target.

I have a new toy. I spotted these heart-shaped tins in the Valentine section at Michaels about a week ago. I immediately had the idea of attaching magnets to the back and putting them on a magnetic bulletin board in my scrapbook room. I ended up buying a piece of sheet metal from Lowes. I stamped the edges pink, of course and have been having so much fun filling them up with embellishments. I'm even thinking of going and buying a second set. After all, you can never have too much storage, right?

I've been tagged by Andrea to enlighten you with five things that you may not know about me.
Here we go:
1. I am a hopeless romantic and feel very lucky that my first date with my husband was on Valentine's Day. Next month will be the 21st anniversary of our first date.
2. I was on the gymnastics team in high school. My speciality was the uneven bars. I can't believe it now that my body was even long enough to reach those bars!
3. I love to read everything I can get my hands on. I adore magazines and am a member of two bookclubs. We are currently reading "Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons" and "The Kite Runner".
4. I have a love/hate relationship with myself when it comes to entertaining. I am very social by nature and love to entertain. However, I keep myself sooo busy with commitments and hobbies that I don't entertain as often as I would like to.
5. I love being a Mom and am cherishing these wonderful days with my children. I fear that I will be one of those "lost" women after my children grow up and leave home.
I'm tagging Anastasia and Lauren.

34 degrees at 7:30 a.m. For the Phoenix area, that is unbelievably cold. Yesterday, at this time, it was only 20. Too cold for me to go outside and take the picture. We are wimpy here. We are all wearing layers, cranking up the heat, turning on the fireplace and piling on the blankets. Phoenix has been breaking all kinds of records for this cold weather. That was definitely not one of the reasons I moved here from Iowa 22 years ago. The day I graduated from Iowa State University, one cold December day, it was 18 degrees below zero. Now that's cold! All of the girls were required to wear panty hose and dresses. I distinctly remember how cold my legs were. There are alot of homeless people here in Arizona. I've had a hard time getting to sleep these last few nights. I've been praying for them, hoping that they are finding a way to stay warm. Also, there's a town within 12 miles from us, Maricopa, that has hundreds of brand-new homes. Southwest Gas Company ran out of gas and several of those homes were without heat last night. I've never heard of anything like that happening before. Southwest is our gas provider too. We take so much for granted, just flicking the switch on our fireplace and cranking up the heat. Stay warm!

Nell Hill's. Have you heard about these books?? Or the boutiques? Dorothy was lucky to have lived in Kansas. Mary Carol Garrity lives in Atchison, Kansas and owns a few home furnishings and accessory boutiques that she named after her grandmother, Nell Hill. Lucky for me, she has written books and so generously shares with those of us who aren't near Kansas, her style and vinettes. I've been collecting these books for a few weeks now. Would love to visit her shops someday.

Her Christmas book had some wonderful ideas in it, including using an urn for your Christmas tree instead of a stand. If you enjoy home accessorizing as much as I do, you won't be disappointed in her books.

Lots of fun was had yesterday when my two great friends, Tina and Carmen came up from Tucson. We try to get all of the kids together over Christmas and summer break and I'm so glad that we make this effort. We took all six of the kids for an afternoon of lazer tag. I made arrangements earlier for we moms to use the birthday party room to scrapbook while the kids played their games. Amongst all of the chit chatting, we managed to squeeze in a little work. We later went to dinner at the entertaining Organ Stop Pizza. They do a great job of entertaining people of all ages. They play everything from Phantom of the Opera to The Little Mermaid soundtrack. Can't wait until we get together again.

Let the Games Begin! Happy 2007. We had the type of New Year's Eve Celebration that I love. Just the four of us at home, dining on party foods for dinner, sitting in front of the fire, playing board games, watching movies and planning our vacations for 2007. I keep a stash of party poppers for the kids for New Year's Eve. We started with English crackers and of course, we all wore our crowns. Then the kids went out every hour, on the hour to pop their fireworks. I made them quit at 10 because thankfully we live in a quiet neighborhood. I also filled in my calendars, another great New Year's Eve tradition. I remember when Mark and I would get dressed up and go to New Year's Eve parties. I definitely enjoy our new way of celebrating.