10,000 HITS BLOG CANDY, and meet Gretel !!!!!

WOW, my blog has finally reached 10,000 hits, so in lieu of a picture of a swap card, here's the blog candy announcement. I want to give a big thanks to all of you that stop in here. Reading your comments gives me warm fuzzies and makes me feel good when I know that I actually inspired someone else. I don't live around very many people that are creative in the rubber stamping way, so it's nice to have support - even if it is from people I may never meet. Thanks for all of your kind words. I don't use my comment section to reply to people's compliments, but understand that I really do appreciate them and I read every single one. If you take the time to e-mail me, I will always do my best to get back to you - unless your e-mail won't accept mine ;) Ha ha, huh, SuzieQ? Anyway, without further ado, here's the BLOG CANDY I promised followed by a picture of the newest member of our family. I will explain each photo.

The winner of this blog candy will receive a lunch box tin (fits A2-sized cards) that can be altered to hold cards, recipes, memories, etc. Also included is one of those fun $1 stamps from Michael's, 30 (2 each of 15 colors) Giga Scallop Circle punched pieces of card stock, 30 accompanying neutral colored Mega Circle punched pieces of card stock, 10 blank, 4x4, medium weight alterable coasters, some gold ribbon from Michael's, a baggie of assorted color and size Prima flowers, and lastly, a CTMH incentive stamp that I earned and have never used (it says "love" and is sitting on the coasters). What do you have to do to win this Blog Candy? Well, in honor of our newest family member, Gretel, leave a comment telling me about your favorite pet. Who it is, was, would be, something that they did, etc. If you don't have one, or perhaps don't like them, you can just leave a comment saying "enter me" or something of the sort. If you enter anonymously, you can't win, so make sure to sign in with your name. It's a silly thing to comment on, but I thought it might prove interesting. Here is a picture of Gretel, I hope the quality is okay, my father took it ;)

Gretel is a 6 week old Pug, that we got to add to our family and hopefully provide a little more companionship to Oscar (our 1 year-old Pug - see him in this post) than we are able to provide him. I find that we are far busier and out-of-the-house than I would have expected, and I don't want Oscar to feel alone. A dog isn't like a cat and they don't seem to enjoy solitude quite as much. My mom got Gretel for us in Kentucky (where I was born/lived until going to the Air Force Academy) because we couldn't find a breeder here in Texas that we liked. She's tiny still, and we'll miss the next couple of weeks with her until my parents arrive here for a visit the first week in April. Emma named Oscar (we think after Oscar the Grouch), and so fittingly, we asked her what we should name this puppy. Had we asked Sarah, it probably would have been Poo-Poo as it is, unfortunately, one of her favorite things to say right now. We didn't want to disappoint her with not using her name, nor name the puppy something awful. :) So, Emma said Gretel right away, with almost no hesitation, and Gretel it is! It's funny, as we are approaching the birth of our 3rd child, we ask the girls what we should name it if it's a boy, or a girl, and neither one of them will say anything. Ask about a puppy and there isn't even a pause!!! They do want a baby though, and Emma can't wait for it to arrive. She thinks my tummy isn't growing fast enough, but I disagree!! :)

I will leave this post up until the drawing (we'll let Emma do the honors again) on Friday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time (that's noon). It gets too annoying to have to fudge dates/times to keep a post at the top with blogspot, so you will have to bear with no posts until Friday announcing the winner and definitely with some stamped items for you to look at. Take care, and I look forward to hearing what you say!