Merry Christmas!!!

Led lighting

You know what I love about this time of the year? All the Christmas lights that people have out all over the front of their homes. Bright colors, various shapes and all pretty. The one thing that driver me crazy about my Christmas lights is when one of the bulbs burns out and the whole strand goes out. Something that I found a few years ago at the after Christmas sales was LED lighting. LED or light emitting diodes are what you find in the rope lighting that has become so popular in the past few years. I use my rope lighting all year round in my landscape design. We have 2 strands that run along our deck out the back door, to help light it and down at the campground to illuminate our campsite, we run the rope lights along the fence and under the bottom of the camper. It adds ambiance to the site and provides great light. And it's very inexpensive to run. The cost to run 2000 LED lights for 8 hours a day, 365 days a year is only $50. And they last a long time without burning out and you never have to worry about a bulb getting smashed and the entire strand not lighting up. So why not consider adding LED lighting to your landscape. It's not just for Christmas anymore.
Christmas lights
Disclosure: “Carjaziscraps - The Rants of a Buckeye Scrapper” is a personal blog written and edited by me. In it I write about things that interest me and/or that I feel need to be mentioned. From time to time I will be writing about products, services, websites and assorted other topics in posts sponsored by one or more advertisers.Any claims, statistics or other statements about a product or service mentioned on this blog should be verified with the manufacturer or provider thereof. The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own regardless of the topic and whether or not it is a sponsored postings.

This one's for you Aunt Hannah

So my Aunt Hannah forwarded me an email today. She gets lots and lots of funny emails from all her friends here in Ohio and in Florida. She's gotten and forwarded some that I've had to send her back an email with an explanation from Snopes.com as to why the photo or email is a hoax. I really think she hates it when I do that, but I do it to a LOT of people. My FIL got a really nasty note from me when he forwarded the Bill Gates/AOL will pay everyone lots of money hoax. Yeah, you know the one. You usually get it about once a year now cuz most people have actually heard it's a hoax. Anyway he stopped emailing me after that one. But my aunt, she's gotten pretty good about checking out the emails at snopes.com but this one she didn't. So I sent her an email saying, hey it's not true, the kids not missing but thanks for sending just in case. She sent back a reply, laughing at herself and saying she was so sure on this one, but will check em out in the future. But she said she loved my blog. Well, I didn't know any of the family was reading it. So here's to you Aunt Hannah!!! These are layouts I did last weekend. They're in my slide show but I never posted em here for everyone to see.

I'm off to wrap more gifts and pack. I'll tell you what Shannon bought himself, I mean me for Christmas tomorrow. Enjoy your night.

Carolina Coffee Company

Ok, I thought I had all my Christmas shopping done. Then I realized I forgot 1 person, my SIL. Yikes. So I started to think about what she likes and then decided to do a little surfing to find something that may work for her. And I found this great site that I know will suit her to a tee. Carolina Coffee Company!! Chris loves her coffee just like millions of Americans. The day doesn't start until she has at least 1 cup down. What better gift for a coffee lover? I was so amazed at the variety to choose from. They offer a wide selection of specialty single origin estate coffees, specialty blends, including top selling Carolina Christmas Blend, certified fair trade organic coffees, Swiss water decaf coffees (100% chemical free), and their own Owens Family Roast Signature Series. But what I really loved about the site was their great selection of gift baskets and gift items. They have cookies, cakes, candies, biscotti, breads and mixes, cocoa and an entire section of what they call Artful food. Oh, the Bella Cucina Artichoke Lemon Pesto sounds to die for.

These are 2 of the many gift items that I'm seriously considering ordering for her. Gourmet coffee and Christmas Biscotti box. Just 2 of many gifts being offered at this terrific site. So if you're a coffee lover or know of one that you need a gift for, check out this great site for gourmet coffee.

Disclosure: “Carjaziscraps - The Rants of a Buckeye Scrapper” is a personal blog written and edited by me. In it I write about things that interest me and/or that I feel need to be mentioned. From time to time I will be writing about products, services, websites and assorted other topics in posts sponsored by one or more advertisers.Any claims, statistics or other statements about a product or service mentioned on this blog should be verified with the manufacturer or provider thereof. The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own regardless of the topic and whether or not it is a sponsored postings.
gourmet coffee

Buckeyes & Buckeye Nuts

A lot of people having been asking me what a Buckeye is. Here is a picture of a true buckeye nut from a buckeye tree. It's the state tree of Ohio.

The buckeye nut is poisonous. People often will gather the nuts and then turn them into jewelry for Ohio State fans. The often appear on necklaces and key chains of the Buckeye faithful.

These are Buckeye candies. Everywhere other than Ohio, they are Peanut Butter Balls and are completely coated in chocolate. They are to die for! The recipe that is in the prior post is just one that I found when I Googled buckeyes candy and have not tried that one. I think that if you were to Google Buckeyes, you would definitely find lots and lots of recipes for them. They are not hard to make, just a little time consuming. Also you can Google Peanut Butter Balls and get the same thing.

Careers in music

I think that it's every one's dream to be a great singer or a rock star. I know it was mine as a kid, but as I grew up, I realized I can't hold a tune and a dream of a music career was shot. But there are lots of other careers in music available. And I found a great site that explains what they are and offer videos on how you can get started. Artistshousemusic.org is a website dedicated to explaining the business side of the music business through video interviews with top industry leaders, musicians, and professors. It really offers a great perspective on the behind the scenes on the music industry. Some of the sub sections include Marketing, Production, Legal, Education, Genre and Resources. There is also a community section that you can join for free that offers benefits such as free lessons, industry news updates and exclusive music content available just for members only. There are video interviews with big names in the music business such as Murder Inc. (The Inc.) producer Irv Gotti - former head of RCA Records Bob Jamieson - musician Randy Newman - Interscope president Jimmy Iovine - Allman Bros. bassist Oteil Burbridge in addition to prestigious schools like NYU Steinhardt School and Loyola University school of Music. So if you've ever considered careers in music this is one great site that you definitely need to check out.

music careers
Disclosure: “Carjaziscraps - The Rants of a Buckeye Scrapper” is a personal blog written and edited by me. In it I write about things that interest me and/or that I feel need to be mentioned. From time to time I will be writing about products, services, websites and assorted other topics in posts sponsored by one or more advertisers.Any claims, statistics or other statements about a product or service mentioned on this blog should be verified with the manufacturer or provider thereof. The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own regardless of the topic and whether or not it is a sponsored postings.

The holiday is closing in fast

Hi there,

Well, I got the last of my wrapping done last night and went and grabbed the last of the gift cards I needed. My laundry is all done and all I need to do is pack up and I'm ready to take off tomorrow. I'm still searching for my holiday spirit, it's missing too. I think it and my mojo took a vacation together. So I started thinking about the holiday spirit and realized that I missed 2 important things this year. I didn't go to any holiday parties that had Buckeyes. Shannon's Aunt Sandy and my cousin Beth make the best Buckeyes I've ever had, even better than Anthony Thomas or Cheryl's Cookies. I'm seriously considering picking some up to take to my SIL cuz she loves em too and the one's they get in Michigan aren't true Buckeyes for obvious reasons. Someone had made a layout with a recipe for them that I saw on their blog yesterday and had me thinking about them. The above recipe came from a google search.

I also realized that I haven't caught ANY of the usual Christmas shows. No Rudolf, no Charlie Brown and most importantly no No Snow Miser & no Heat Miser. A Year Without A Santa Clause is hands down my favorite Holiday special. But not the movie they made of it last year. That was sooooo lame. Give me the claymation or how ever they did it. I love the songs and the theme behind it. Maybe I just didn't check the right channels, but I swear I never saw it advertised on regular TV. And you'd think with this writer's strike, they'd use as much filler as possible.

Oh I am so ready for today to be over and it hasn't even started yet. Why is it the day before a long weekend is always the longest day of the month????? So no scrapping news today. I am so out of the loop. Maybe I'll get a chance tonight to scrap since every thing's pretty much done. We're not leaving til tomorrow late morning. The weather's going to cooperate, at least for the ride up.

Wishing you peace today. Scrap happy!