Great Quote

Happiness...not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour - Walt Whitman

Came across this while blog surfing - is that even a real term? Loved the idea and thought I'd share.

I am SO PROUD

of my girl. Abby placed third in the regional spelling bee about a month ago and this Saturday was in the State Spelling Bee. We were so excited because the three places in her regional group were all held by girls from her school, and not only that - they were all in the same class. They worked so hard and have such wonderful teachers, both the classroom teacher and the gifted and talented coordinator. Abby finished very strongly in the state bee, about 17th out of 52 qualifiers; 36 actually competed on Saturday. We are thrilled with what she accomplished, and equally thrilled for her friend who placed Second in the state for their grade level. Excellent job, girls!!!

I don't understand

why when you tell you someone you can't/won't talk about something, that they insist on proceeding. I knew that having any semblance of a discussion would only end up in a fight and therefore I didn't want to go there. I was pressed into it, ended up in the fight I didn't want to have, and now I'm reworking my life to avoid this person. Stress Dieting - I don't recommend it! I wish I were strong and could just let it go, instead of internalizing it. Going over and over the words spoken - of course, later I came up with several good responses that may have ended things, but I was way too emotional at the time to think clearly. Ugh -my stomach hurts.

No TV

Well, it's Turn Off the Screen week. My kids' school is offering prizes to the kids that participate all week, so they went for it tonight. It made for a long evening as on Monday nights we usually watch the recorded Planet Earth shows from Sunday. So we played The Game of Life. My boy is so funny - tonight it was "My taxes are only $30,000. That's not so bad." Ahh, to be so innocent. My DH always has to ask "Why do we have to play the Game of Life? I do this for real every day."

We have just a few shows that we watch consistently. I am glad we have a DVR so we won't miss any thing.

Maybe this will be an extra push to stamp this week.

Demo Day

Today was demo day at the LSS where I work. Basically this is our chance to inform our customers about new products, tips and techniques or old products coming around again. I think this is my favorite part of my job, along with teaching specific classes. I love being able to teach our customers about the great new products and cool ways to use them. Today's featured product was the Essential Glue Pad. I love the pad. The ability to ink your stamp with glue, stamp it, and then glitter that specific stamp image is wonderful. I think right now it is a toss-up between the glitter and the metal flake as to which is my favorite.
Another part of this that is so much fun is doing the research. I spend a lot of time reading, surfing the web, and playing in order to be able to really know the product and to be confident in what I'm demostrating. I've heard myself referred to at the store as the walking encyclopedia. I love that. Being in the know is quite intoxicating.

Welcome to Pineconegirl's View.

Welcome to my blog - this is my first attempt at creating a continuous online life, so here goes. A couple of things occur to me as I begin this - for those of you who know me, you already understand my title. For those of you who don't - pine cones are my favorite flower, favorite decorating device, and all around favorite. I am very proud of the fact that I was born in Wyoming and grew up in the Panhandle of Idaho. Now I live very far away and I think I cling to the mountains and their forests by bringing pine cones into my home.

The photo is Lake Moraine in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.