My Awesome Friends!

Happy Thursday everyone!  Yikes just a few more days before Christmas & I'm ecstatic to say I'm DONE...DONE..DONE!  I even have 90% of my holiday menu planned & bought except the fresh items.  I just have to start wrapping...James & I always do a marathon wrapping night while watching movies and eating yummy snacks since the kids were babies.  Now that they are older I make sure everything is boxed up and covered up while we are wrapping...since they want to watch the movies with us.  Course they want to do EVERYTHING with us nowadays which I think is hilarious since they are teens...instead both them AND their friends are always here, around us, going somewhere with us LOL.  So James and I do not have much time alone anymore but that's ok...Alexa will be off to college in another year (YIKES...sniff sniff) so I'm trying to have as much quality family time as I can.  I cannot believe in a few short months I will have a 17 yr old daughter & a 15 yr old son..my how the time does fly.  But we have always put family FIRST...we call ourselves the Dean 4-Pack lol and we try to spend as much time together as we can, having fun, hanging out and making memories.  In light of what happened in CT...awful, tragic & heartbreaking..it made me reflect a bit on things.  Do we spend enough time with the kids, do we tell them we love them, do we show them we love them?  And the answer to all those questions was YES, at the end of the day I know that the kids KNOW how we feel and they know they are #1 with us...I don't want to have any regrets about that ever...because you truly never know when it may be your last time with them.  So even when they drive me nutters...and trust me they push my buttons like no one's bizness...I still love them, I let them know and they know it too.  I'm not a push-over parent, I'm their mom FIRST, friend second, I practice a lot of tough love because the world I'm sending them into is tough and my goal is to raise good, happy, healthy, loving & vibrant citizens for this world first and foremost.  But no matter what else I accomplish on this earth...nothing matters to me more than my kids saying they had a great life, great parents and lots of love...that's all I want.  And may god forbid that NOTHING happens to them like what happened to those beautiful children/angels in CT or to anyone else...that is my holiday wish.  I cannot imagine the grief, pain and sorrow of those parents and everyday I'm sending up a prayer for them that they may know peace, however it may come to them at some point..the road for them is going to be rough this we all know.  And I pray that the US and the world come to some greater solution to change these things so they never happen again..wishful thinking...but everything begins with one..one person, one belief, one hope, and one change at a time.

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Don't forget the CMC HOLIDAY BASH is on-going thru Jan 4th!  So you have plenty of time to join all the challenges and win some fantastic prizes.  GO HERE to see more details and YES ANYONE can join in the fun!!!

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I don't have a project to share today but I will tomorrow for you all, so check back in for that!  

But I wanted to dedicate my blog post today to my 

CMC DT gals.  

These ladies are the BESTEST...I say that with all my heart & sincerity.  They are lovely, super talented, my friends, supportive, kind, funny and just all around wonderful ladies.  I am so proud to have each of them on my team and to call them my friends as well.  They always create such beautiful work for all the challenges and support me along the way as well.  They also like to surprise me with special gifts and blog hops...that make me CRY ugh LOL...but I feel so blessed and lucky to have them in my life.  To me I TRULY DO have the best DT in the world!!  

And I've been lucky enough in my travels to meet most of my DT gals.  I'll see Sandie again at CHA as she travels from Ireland each year to work at the show...she is also very dry & sarcastic like me so we are quite a pair.  And Andi is my Canadian "trouble buddy" LOL, if I'm up in Canada then we are usually doing something up there together that involves laughing and good times. Tina is my BM...I mean BFF and keeps me in line when I need it and is always just a TEXT away..if you've been to a CMC chat you know we can bicker like no one's bizness, but she's like my family LOL.  Marie & Pat are too beautiful ladies that have supported me from the get go and are 2 of the sweetest women you will ever know.  I'm sure Brook STILL thinks I'm nuts after going to dinner with me in SC LOL with some of my pals after classes...I'm sure she thought a mini-tornado had passed thru town.  And sweetie-pie Michele who I am sooo gonna visit for a crafty weekend in Orlando while I visit Mickey Mouse.  And Shelby who is my country music pal in Texas..oh the trouble we could get into if we lived closer...but I'm coming to the San Antonio Rodeo this year I swear Shelby!!  And Anary who is the bestest & sweetest of friends, always thinking of me & keeping me in good supply of zebra-themed goodies!  And poor Melanie who was stuck in the car with me for 24 hours (12 hrs each way to Michigan) last year for a retreat...Melanie is beautifully quiet, very UNLIKE me and I bet she was sooo ready to get outta my car ahahahah...BUT we did have lots of laughs!  And there's Marti...Smurfette..who lives 20 mins away...we are both Tauruses yet we get along just so well, who knew huh?  UNLESS she's waking me up at 3 am at CHA to BLOW DRY her hair cuz she's a freak LOL! Jenn & Dana I still am waiting to meet and hope to try this year *and Ruby who is in the UK who was with us too*...I know they are waiting on bated breath right? heehee  I love all these girls and I THANK THEM for everything!!!

So take a minute to stop by their blogs, holler hello or just see their beautiful work.  

The newest gals on my DT start in January but I want to say a BIG CONGRATULATIONS to them & we are so happy to have them join us at the CMC Family!

Click HERE to see their pics & bios too! (I know they love that ahahaha)

And below their names is a slideshow of their current CMC holiday projects AND holiday-zebra cards they made just for me....awww...sweet right...cuz I DO love my zeebies?  Their projects are fabulous!

Tina Gilliland (DT Coordinator)

Brook Guinn

Anary Baumgarth (guest DT)

Melanie LaBelle

Marie Gamber

Pat St. Martin

Jenn Cochran

Michele Spera

Sandie Dunne

 Dana Joy

Andi Murdock (guest DT)

Shelby Goolsby

Marti Wills (colored penciled expert)

Newest DT Girls:

Linda Payne

Julie Price

Karen Gauthier

Shannon Kromeke

Kim DeRuosi

Denise Modin