I'm on a Mission

I am working on some layouts which I started a long, long time ago. I just kept putting them on the bottom of the pile. I challenged myself to get them done this week. I brought them to work with me and I finished a fall paper sack album this morning. I am ashamed to say that it is an album Maricar gave me and all I needed to do was add pictures. I just had a hard time finding the right ones. I put pictures of Jared in it. He helped me pick up walnuts in our yard this fall. I also had some pictures of Cole and Hunter playing on a beautiful fall day. I added a picture of the colorful trees in the woods by my back yard because it's a favorite view of mine. This afternoon I am working on Hunter's first Halloween pictures we had done at Sears Portrait Studio. Yesterday I finished a family picture of my mom's family that was taken back in 1962. It was nice to reflect on my mom, her siblings, and parents. It's the only family picture that they had done. I remember her fussing about having to get dressed up for that picture. I'm glad to have it even if she wasn't crazy about getting it taken.
OK I'll get back to my scrapping. I will post some pictures when I finish my mission.

Blog Challenge: Week of Feb 25

If you had to give up one of these things, which would it be:
1. Cell Phone
2. Hair products/curling iron
3. Toothpaste

This is a tough choice. I would give up toothpaste. I'd go back to the old-fashioned Baking Soda brushing. Not sure I would want to give up my curling iron. I can't remember life before cell phones so I would have to keep mine.

Monday

I decided to add some new pictures today but for some reason they won't upload. I think it's a sign that I should be doing something else instead of playing around on here.
I am off in a few minutes to pick up my new glasses. Seems like my arms were getting shorter again so I knew it was time for an eye exam. I ordered the exact same frames because I love these and didn't want to sort through hundreds of frames and end up not liking them after I got them. I already have the clip-on sunglasses which I use all the time and that will save me $60. I am still going to spend $390! Whew, they are expensive. That isn't even counting the eye exam but we are insured for that.
It was a good weekend for us. I worked Saturday morning so Larry could get away to pick up parts. He had to travel 3 hours each way. I just didn't feel like a long drive so I opted to work instead. We're only open till noon on Saturdays so after closing Hunter and I came home and did some scrapping. We went with Randi to Olive Garden Saturday evening. It was a long wait but I love their food. I went to church yesterday and found out that I needed to pick up fabric for our Piece Makers group. It was a beautiful day for a drive. Larry went with me and we ate at Denny's. Sadly he wasn't happy with his meal. Probably wont' go back there for awhile. I spent the rest of the day catching up on DVR shows.
I need to make food for Larry's Lodge meeting tonight. Last time I made goulash and he burnt it while trying to keep it warm. Tonight I'm making enchiladas and a dessert.
OK off to get my new glasses. Hope I can post some pictures later.

This week's Blog Challenge

You have to move. You have two choices:
1. A farm house in the middle of the field. Your closest neighbors/grocery/etc are miles away.
2. A big city apartment in a high rise. Yep, you still have your kids.
Which is it and why?
Hmmm this is a hard one. I already live in the middle of a field. But, I do have close neighbors and a town that is not so far away. Let's be bold! I am moving to Trump Towers for a year to see how I like it. I may get spoiled with all the servants waiting on me hand and foot. I will probably enjoy having diverse entertainment just a short trip away. Ahhh the life of luxury! (Sorry I saw something shiny!!) LOL I'm sure I would be ready to move back to my farm house in the field and watch deer and turkeys in my back yard. Watching a field of wheat wave in the wind isn't exciting to some but I enjoy it. Being surrounded by fresh air and the occasional wail of a train whistle is comforting. Mother Nature is too beautiful to give up for very long!!!

Card Swap

These are my cards for a card swap that I'm in. We only had to do 5 so it was a pretty quick project. I can't believe it but I am caught up on all my swaps as of today. Now I'm concentrating on organizing my supplies. When I'm done the boys will have a drawer full of scrappy stuff to use. Jared loves to draw and bought a Spiderman folder the last time we went shopping. He likes to keep the pictures that he has drawn in it. He will be surprised to have a drawer full of supplies to use for his art. Darrin and Cole also like to color and create fridge art. Hunter loves to cut up paper. I have some decorative scissors that will make him happy. Stickers will be included for all of them to use. Last month I unmounted all of my rubber stamps and organized them into CD cases. The left over wooden blocks have been the favorite new toy. They are always scattered on the floor. Glad I didn't just toss them into the trash. So, the boys will benefit from my purging today and I won't feel guilty letting go of anything!

Grandma's Angels

My daughter-in-law gave me this frame for Christmas. What a perfect gift for a scrapping grandma!! (Of course it was hard to take a picture of it without a glare.) I have been gathering pictures and finally took the time to put them in it yesterday. It is a mix of all 4 boys. I did some current ones and some when they were babies. Aren't they adorable?? I had them all here for a sleep over last night. They are growing up so fast and one day will think grandma and grandpa are too boring to spend time with. So we enjoy them while we can. Click on the picture for a better view.

These are my Number ATC's for our swap. Hunter helped me by sorting and finding buttons that matched. I could only come up with a dozen before I ran out of ideas. We had a fun afternoon scrapping. I'm working on my card swap next. It's a good day!

Road Trip Friends

This is a Payday Challenge issued by Maricar. We needed to be inspired by friendship and use 2 pictures, 3 buttons and have the color blue somewhere on the page. If you know me at all you know I love blue and I love to sew therefore this was an easy challenge for me. The journaling isn't done yet so here's the story behind the pictures.

It started with 4 of us gals who served on the PTO together. We went on our first road trip to get supplies for the school carnival. We had so much fun that day! We decided to make it an annual trip. When Gail and I both started working at school we invited Kris to join us. So on our last trip we had 5 gals. We leave early in the morning and come home late in the evening. Eating all 3 meals out and shopping in between. We giggle like school girls!! It's been way to long since we have done this. Most of our kids have graduated and our busy lives seem to get in the way. I need to call them all and plan a trip for this spring. So here's a layout dedicated to my friends.....Gail, Amy, Teri and Kris.

Recipe Swap Pictures

Here's my latest swap pictures. The first one is a yummy fruit dip which makes you think of spring. The second is Cheeseburger Soup and it's a comforting dish for a cold winter day. I know, I know, the pages look a lot alike. I just liked the looks of the first one so I did the same for the next set. Hope my swap partners like them.

Yet another

Yet another winter storm is predicted. I can't say that I'm sad about it. If the sun was shining and it was warm I would feel pressured to be out and about doing something other than what I want to do today. For now I am catching up on my favorite blogs and forums. I have my pjs on and scrap supplies sitting out ready to use. There's not a grandchild in site to divert my attention from playing with my toys today! (That's always subject to change though. And I am completely happy with that. They are always welcome here! ) But right now it looks like I may be working on a layout challenge. I printed out a notebook full of page maps by Becky Fleck thanks to a post from Lisa. If I can't get inspired by that I need to give up my Scrapbooker title.
Yet another postal story.....I mailed a Valentine package to my secret sis on the 5th of February. I knew it would arrive on time since I mailed so early and it only needed to go approx 55 miles south of me. Wrong!! Larry always gets a signed confirmation for me when he mails my packages. When it didn't arrive at a reasonable time I decided to logon and check it's progress. Imagine my shock when I read that it was in California!! Yep my package was now vacationing in sunny CA and it only took 3 days to get there. So now I am agonizing over it and wondering if it will be delivered to her by Valentines day. Hoping it wouldn't be returned to me. Believe it or not, it got back to my secret sis, half a nation away, and it only took 6 more days. It arrived at her home on Valentines day! How is that for great postal service??? I hear postal rates are going up in May....no wonder.....it costs a lot more to go the scenic route!! There is a sceret life to our packages once they leave our hands.

I recieved this award from Shawn and I want to pass it on to a few friends.
Karen you are cleaning and organizing your whole house. You are inspiring me to get a head start on my spring cleaning.
Kris I was glad to read your post today and know that you were recovering from your surgery.
Kerry I enjoyed your post about lettuce. You always make me smile.
Lisa I was glad to see your comment on here. I enjoy chatting with you at the Scrappy Chicks forum.

Kelly's Blog Challenge for this week

Remember those "choose your own adventure" books from when we were kids? One decision takes you one direction...another decision and you end up somewhere completely different...That's the basis of this challenge:You didn't meet your husband. You didn't have kids. What would you be doing? What kind of life would you be living? Mention some of the PROS....and the easy to list cons.

I see myself still living in the same town because I'm contented here. I would probably be working at a job that I didn't really enjoy and married to an ex-boyfriend. Life would not be as easy as I have it now.
Pros for that choice are:
Last summer would not have been a nightmare and there wouldn't be the fear of it being repeated.
There wouldn't be any kids to worry about.
I would have traveled a lot more.
Cons for that choice are:
There wouldn't be any kids to worry about!
There wouldn't be 4 little grandsons to love and spoil.
I wouldn't be financially stable.
I wouldn't be able to stay home from work in bad weather.
I could probably go on and on because I'm sure I did make the right decision. I have a husband who spoils me and our kids. He makes life pretty easy for us!

Special Blessing

I received a "Blogging Blessing" today from Karen. This is a first for me so I hope I do it right.

The idea…it’s a game of tag with a difference, rather than looking inwardly, we look outside ourselves and bless, praise and pray for 3 blog friends. By participating in this endeavour we not only make the recipient of the blessing feel valued and appreciated, but we are having some fun too. We’re going to see how far the bloggin’ blessings can travel around the world and how many people can be blessed! Recipients of a bloggin’ blessing may upload the above image to their sidebar if they choose to.

It was hard to only pick 3 because there are so many more who inspire and Bless my life! These three are interesting, wonderful people who love their families and it shows! I look forward to chatting with them each day. Enough said......I tag:

Shawn: You are such a good friend and we haven't even met in person yet. I enjoy all your positive comments on my blog and at the forum. You are a wonderful mom and wife. You are a blessing to me.

Maricar: Another great friend whom I have met in person. Your inspirational swaps are wonderful. I love how you show your faith to all who see you. I do a lot of traveling via your posts. What a great mom and wife. You are a blessing to me also.

Kristen: What a wonderful mom you are. I love how you focus attention on your son and his happiness comes first. I enjoy your comments on my blog and your posts on the forum always make me smile. You are a blessing to me too.

Haybug

Just look at that face!! Isn't she the sweetest thing?? These aren't the greatest pictures but they are all I have loaded on my computer right now. (She will probably fuss at me for posting them because she is a big 6th grader now.) These were taken one day at our elementary school during Agri Days-I think in 2000 but not sure. I used to take her to school for special events. I babysat for her for a few years. She was the sweetest girl and I enjoyed having her. She wasn't impressed with the sack lunch that day. She loved to have the same thing for lunch everyday....Spaghetti O's, cottage cheese, hot dog, and as she called it Hopscotch (butterscotch) pudding. She always cleaned her plate. Of course she hated naptime. But she was always asleep 5 minutes after laying down. I still have the little pink car that she always rode on. In fact Cole is riding it right now! We call it the Pink Cadillac. Don't worry Hayley if you don't like these pictures....I plan to add some more later. LOL
Happy Chinese New Year!!! Love ya' Haybug!!

SummerPulls 2007

Snow Storm

Wow we are getting another snow storm in our area. Larry had a hard time getting home from town. He couldn't see where he was going. He was in his truck with the snow plow, salt box, and emergency lights. Can't imagine anyone out tonight!! He will have to travel out early in the morning to start rounds of snow plowing business lots. I'm sure school is out tomorrow. Hunter and Cole have been playing all day. They are having fun being rowdy with grandpa right now. Can't wait for bed time. I want to watch some recorded shows. I haven't watched the season premiere of LOST yet!! Everyone stay safe and warm tonight.

Blog challenge from Kelly

The ol' rodent in Philly says there's more winter ahead. Could you use one more snow storm, or are you done and ready for Spring?

I could use one more snow. I am looking forward to the predicted snow for tomorrow. I know that sounds strange but, I love snow days! Everything looks so clean and bright with a fresh layer of snow. Hunter and I get to stay in our jammies all day. He loves Max & Ruby so I may even get to scrap while he watches it. So I say "Let it Snow"!

A Sweet New Baby Boy Has Arrived!

Congratulations to the proud parents!

Congratulations to the proud parents. It's always exciting to have a new baby in the family! This is my niece Kathy's newest grandson, Dane Michael. He was born Janruary 24th. Looks like grandma is spoiling him already. Isn't that a great picture of grandma's kisses?? There are only 3 years difference between my niece and I. We grew up together. And now we are enjoying grandkids together. Baby Dane is my great-great nephew. Whew.... that makes me sound old!
Below is my sister JoAnn (great grandma) with Dane & his older sister Kayla who is 5 years old. And next are Cousins Tanner & Kelsea. Don't they all look proud? He is one lucky little boy!