Doodlebug Design Kit Giveaway!!

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Doodlebug Design Kit Giveaway

Let’s Kit Together: Coordinated Papers & Embellishments
Doodlebug Design
www.DoodlebugDesign.com

Review by Maria Nerius
This was a coordinated kit of 12”x 12” decorative and solid color acid free papers plus rub-on letters, ribbon, sequins, brads, letter stickers, and embellishing stickers. The kit also included instructions and several samples of finished pages to inspired. The color theme is bold, youthful, fresh, and towards the girly side. There are 3 patterned papers and 8 solid colors: 2 each of white, orange, and black; 1 each of green and black. You can make pages, tags, gift cards, and more.

Testing Feedback
Loved the bold colors, very trendy green hot pink, and orange.
Great to have everything so beautifully color coordinated.
It was helpful to have instructions and samples of pages, cards, and tags to look at.
The ribbon designs were unique to me. Enjoyed learning to ways to incorporate ribbon into scrapbooking and cardmaking.
The sequins were new to me and I liked the extra sparkle this embellishment gave my cards.
Everything in one kits to make dozens of projects. Perfect gift for a child, teen, or a scrapbooking adult.
Win this Paper Kit!
We are giving away 1 kit of coordinated papers and embellishments to 1 lucky winner. Enter with the form below.
If you blog about this giveaway at your blog, we’ll give you an extra entry. Contact us with a link to the blog post.
If you twitter about this giveaway, you’ll get an extra entry. Again, contact us with a link to the tweet.
If you add a link to us on your blogroll or website, we’ll give you an extra entry. Again, contact us!
Contest ends January 8, 2009. You can enter once daily, so return often to improve your chances of winning!

My newest little man!

Luke and Monica gave us a wonderful little boy at 3:29 AM November 3rd. Everett Walter Rayburn weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long! He looks a lot like his big brother Nolan and is just such a peaceful little guy.

Monica is known for her rapid deliveries and this one was no different. She woke Luke up at 2 AM and they left for the hospital at 2:30 after her sister arrived to take care of Nolan. Hospital arrival time was 3:10 and Everett's entry into this world came at 3:29! Unbelievable to me!

While it would have been nice to have had a granddaughter I think I can find it within myself to really enjoy this little man! Three grandsons is just fine with me!

New Challenge from Legacy of Faith

This is the message from Legacy of Faith about the upcoming 2010 challenge.. I for one am excited to do this!!

As the year is coming to an end we are busy planning for next year. In 2010 we are going back to the basics of leaving a legacy of faith. This years challenges are all focused on YOU and your lifetime story. When you join us in this challenge you will be creating a mini-autobiography. We are counting down the days till January 6th because we are so stinkin' excited about the My Lifetime Story challenges!!! Wouldn't you to know what your grandma's favorite toy was as a child, how she felt when she met your grandpa, her favorite scripture and the song that expressed her heart? Your children and grandchildren will have that treasure when you join us in this challenge! We will start out with your family roots in January and move into your childhood in February. We will continue throughout the year with your teen and adult years as well. The last challenge of the year will be a letter to your future generations or anyone who reads your book. Each of our stories is important. This is a book that everyone should create about themselves. It will be the most treasured album of your family. As you create this album about your lifetime story you will be leaving YOUR LEGACY OF FAITH. This is an album that can make an impact in your life as you create it, but it will also create a major impact in the lives of your family both now and in future generations. As your children read your story in this scrapbook that YOU created, they will take your stories to heart. Your stories may have more impact on them than even Bible stories, because they are personal and from someone they know and . When friends and neighbors pick up your storybook and look through it you will be witnessing without even saying a word. They will read your lifetime history and discover your of Jesus, and His forgiveness and faithfulness in your life! The My Lifetime story challenges will begin the first Wednesday in January. A new challenge will be posted each Wednesday all throughout 2010. The last challenge will be posted the last Wednesday of December. Just because the challenge series ends at the end of 2010 doesn't mean your lifetime story album is finished. We will continue to offer periodic challenges to continue your autobiography and keep it current. Please join us in this year long challenge! Some of these challenges may be layouts you have already completed. That is ok! We need to get these all compiled in your lifetime storybook. Everyone deserves to be the star of their own book, including and most importantly YOU! If you don't put some time aside to create your My Lifetime Story album now, you may never find the time. If something were to happen to you, would your legacy of faith be lost forever? Take action now, join us as we create our lifetime storybooks for the next generation to see the glorious work the Lord can do in the life of a woman that loves God! Begin thinking about what size album you would like to use for your My Lifetime Story challenge. started hers in an 8x8 but now has decided that she needs more space so is moving up to a 12x12. is doing hers 12x12 also because she knew she had a lot she wanted to fit into this album. What size do you prefer? Start gathering your supplies now so you will be ready to start when we kick off the first challenge January 6th! Next week we will post a Photo List so you can start gathering photos that you will need for this challenge.

My totaled car!

Tuesday, October 6 TH I was driving along one of our country roads here. It was around 8 PM, raining, dark, no moon, no street lights.. I always look for deer because there are so many hot spots here where they cross the roads. I thought I saw something move so I squinted to see through the dark but didn't see anything. Suddenly everything in front of me went total black! It was a panic feeling..as if someone had moved a black wall in front of my car. Now common sense told me that no one did that so I proceeded with caution . Once again I saw movement and a Black Angus cow turned it's head toward me! There were two of them facing each other standing across the two lanes of the road!!!
My reaction was.."It's a cow!!!!!!!!" then immediately I heard "BAM!" I had taken the one cow out from under it's legs and it hit the hood of my car and then up into the windshield and over the side or top..not sure which.

All I know is that I braced for impact and had turned my head to the left in case it landed on my side of the windshield..I didn't want glass in my face. I called my husband in shock that I had hit a cow! Who hits a cow??? He then reminded me to call 911 which I did and within 5 minutes two State Highway Patrol cruisers arrived. Then the squad and fire department.. I was told that the cow was up and limping. That hurt me even more. I couldn't stand the fact that I had hit it much less that it was suffering now..I believe it had to be put down. I have no clue what happened to the second cow.

Apparently the pasture gate was ajar. The farmer's insurance adjuster called me and she asked if there was anything I could have done to avoid it. There was not..If I would have swerved to the right the cow would have landed on the windshield directly in front of me and if I swerved to the left I would have hit the other cow!

It is amazing the thoughts that sped through my mind while all of this went on. Everything happened so fast but it felt like I was going in slow motion. Of course they totaled my car. It was a 97 with 240,000 miles but it was in great shape and was running good. I cried...I loved my car.... Now I have to deal with the insurance companies not wanting to give me much for it. The Blue Book is $2895 but they say they don't go by Blue Book..Which is ironic because when I buy I will have to buy according to Blue Book.

They have you over a barrel..So I am going to wait it out to see what his insurance offers and then I will determine if I have to get hateful....I know that comes to a surprise to you all but I have been known to get hateful from time to time!!! LOL!!!

So thanks to all of you who have prayed for me through this and please continue to pray that the insurance company will be fair.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad turned 81 yesterday so I thought it appropriate to complete the layouts for his 80Th birthday last year!! I wanted to be able to remember who all attended his party so I did the layout like this.. I have actually done several of the 9 picture page and love the way it always turns out. To be able to identify everyone I used just a small strip of paper with their names on it and placed then katty corner across each photo. When I finished I realized I didn't have a picture of my SIL and figured out that she was the one taking all the pictures! LOL!! Sorry Ruth!
I probably should have photographed this picture somewhere other than the concrete because the first page blends so well you can hardly see the outline. I thought I had cropped it but alas...I am not as computer savvy as I thought and I obviously forgot a step!

Where have I been?

Dealing with family issues and working just takes all the fun out of everything and it strips time away before you know it. I have gotten a few layouts completed with two of my clients. This is Kevin's layouts for his Special Olympics Track and Field this year. He did really well and is proud to have his album growing with his accomplishments. He took it to Columbus to show it off to his brother. They were very impressed. While the pages are more simplistic than I like to do they are still great pages because the guys pick their papers and assist with all the cropping and placements.

As you can see..Kevin received a blue ribbon for his 100 yard sprint and a red ribbon for his softball toss. You can't see the bottom two pics on the second page very well but it captures him throwing the ball and the middle pic shows the ball in mid air.

Post # 3 My Birthday!

Annie made my card for my birthday and it is so cute! She has a knack for this stuff. I love how she made the money clip in the upper corner and I like how when you open the card the age is on a tag. It was a treat to receive it!

I had a great birthday! Received enough money to pay 3 maybe four payments on my cruise next spring! YEA! A scrapbooking cruise for SEVEN days!! I can't wait!

Jim got me these beautiful roses, carnations and lillies and Annie got me the carnations..Look at that yellow one!! Needless to say it smells great at my house!! LOL!


Well, thanks for letting me share all my stuff! I have had a great couple of days!!

Post # 2 for the day

I took the Ju-Ju out to catch her bus this morning and when I opened the door to come back in this caught my eye!! I don't know how we kept from knocking it off it is so close to the door but we didn't.

Anyone who knows me understands that nature fascinates me..to think that this locust fit into that shell is just amazing. Because the wings are green I know that i has just hatched and is drying it's wings which will later turn black and at the bottom of each wing there will be lines that are in the shape of a "Z". If you look close you will see where the eyes were in the shell and the legs are so so thin. Yet it will take some care to pull the shell off of the wall..it is in for the long haul! lol.. A couple years ago I had taken one of my clients to the park and we were sitting in a double swing just enjoying the breeze when I looked down and saw something crawling out of the ground leaving behind a perfect circle hole! It was a locust and it began it's trek to the tree to develop it's shell so it's wings could form. As it approached the tree I noticed that the tree was covered with shells, some broken open, some still inside and yet others that had come out and were drying their new wings!! We got to see ALL the stages right there on that one tree!! It was incredible! Well, Rae Lynn wasn't amused but I sure was!! LOL!!

Each year when the kids were smaller they would take the empty shells into school for show and tell. The Lord knows that I love nature and he sends me treats all the time..For example..last week I was headed to Robert's and sitting outside the corn field in the tall grass was a RED FOX, bathing!! And then Monday I was standing at Kevin's kitchen sink looking out the window at the cornfield that backed up to their property and saw a very young Doe and right behind her were two Spotted Fawn!!! All of these live in my neighborhood..no fences, no admission price, just running free....AWESOME!!!! Thank you Lord for your creations!

Where do I start? Post 1 for the day

OK..Let's do layouts from yesterday with my client Robert. I used a page kit from one of the color swaps that I did on ScrapbookingPizzaz for this first layout. Robert liked it so we went with it..He chose the green for the lettering and used my QuicKutz, Katie font, for it. He is very hands on with this scrapping and enjoys it so much. We already have 10 layouts in his album. The first layout is his certificate he received from his Special Olympics Track and Field season this year. How do you scrap those things? I had that paper that looks like either paneling or I thought it kinda looked like fencing so I scrapped it to look like a notice posted to a fence. He loved it and that is all that matters!! He uses my Fiskars to cut and he applies the adhesive too, all I really do is supervise. Did a good job didn't he?

I have a couple more things to share in my blog so there are going to be several posts today! Thanks for reading.

Lots to show ya

I really don't like to have my picture taken but since I have gotten my teeth fixed and started dealing with reality I am getting more comfortable in my skin. These are my scrapping buddies, my clients, Kevin and Robert. They love to bowl so we go every Saturday. The Special Olympics league will start Sept. 26th and they are really looking forward to it!

Early this Spring I was stepping off my son's porch and was shocked to see a pumpkin plant growing! It seems a seed from their fall pumpkin carving session made it through Winter and took root!! Luke was going to pull it out! I convinced him how fun it would be for Nolan to have grown his own pumpkin this year so he left it. I don't know what I was thinking because it has now spread completely across the front of the house on the left side facing..

There is one little pumpkin so far but you can see the blooms!

Monica said the funny thing was that now there are pumpkin plants in front of alot of the houses on their street!! Trend SetterS!!! LOL!!

Check this cake out!

60 candles!!! Today was DH's birthday and the girls wanted his cake to shine!! LOL.. He did well..the kids remembered and each gave him money as did his grandsons. I got his cake and took him to dinner. I wanted to through him a big ole party but he doesn't handle that stuff well and I usually end up angry by the time the party is over.

My daughter's family

THis is Kate, Alan and my Eli-boy! I did a little changing on this layout because it just looked to plain before I added their last name and moved the flower up. But I am happy with it now. Only two 5 x 7's left...Now if I can only find them!!!

One more 5 x 7 bites the dust!!

I wish that the colors were true here because they are so much prettier in person than on here. I even took this pic outside in natural light. Oh well, you can get the idea..Now I only have two more 5 x 7 family pics to do and I will be finished!! Yea!!!!!! This is my brother and his second wife Ruth. They will be married 12 years the end of this month. She has been a real treat to have in the family and she takes great care of Mike.

Annie's calf

Well tomorrow is the final day of the county fair.. Annie raised a dairy feeder for her FFA class at school and showed it on Wednesday. She placed 5th out of 12. Only 6 ribbons were given so she was happy that she at least got a ribbon. I joked all week that it was actually her dad's project and she just showed it! He got ridiculous for a grown man, over this silly cow! He is already making plans with Annie for next years cow! We got the guy when he was only 2 days old and started him off bottle feeding. It really is a fun project but the kids never make enough money to break even unless they get sponsors to donate..(go begging!..Makes me so mad the fair board expects them to do that!) We did not get any answers from the letters we sent so fortunately the FFA Alumni bought her calf for $250 and then sent it for resale which means she gets what ever price per pound the producers are offering. In this case they offered the kids a whopping 70 CENTS a pound!! Think about that the next time you see T-bones for $9.99 a pound or higher!! They should be ashamed of themselves. These calves are grain fed with top quality feed not grass fed in a pasture. The kids put their hearts and souls along with their bank accounts to purchase the calf, get them castrated, de-horned, shots, bedding and fed, taking one on one care of them for 7 months only to have the producers give them 70 cents a pound!! Can you tell I am angry?

AB Graham started 4-H in my county and this was not what his plan was! The kids have to pay to register their projects, and to get a pass for the week. Even tho they do not get any of the gate proceeds for keeping their animals out there all week and letting people come to see them. Annie will get a check after the fair board deducts a 3% fee, totalling $516..There is no profit here my friends...

But what are you going to do as a parent when your child loves to stay at the fair all week and share their time with friends and class mates taking care of their projects? Life is to hard so how can I deny her this time once a year to make memories and learn something too?

We rent a camp spot each year and usually one of her friends will get a camper to put on it and they basically live out there coming home long enough to shower and catch a much needed nap.

Jim (dad) is already making plans to buy an old school bus and convert it to a camper for next year. Again ..it could be worse..he could be a dead beat dad who walked out on her and refuses to pay child support. So I guess I will just count my blessings and let the memories continue so that I have something to scrap!!!! Like I don't have enough already!! LOL

'Nother layout!

I have several 5 x 7's of my family that were taken last summer . My brother and his wife came back for my dad's 80Th birthday and we all went to have pics done. Thirteen of us total so everyone took the opportunity to get pics of the individual families done as well. Here is my son Luke, wife Monica and my first ever grandson, Nolan.. They are expecting their second son November 5Th. Another little boy to play with!! I am so blessed! I really wish the pictures showed the true colors, they always look so muted but anyway, here is 5 x 7 number two!

Blog Candy Giveaway!

http://pollycraftdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/07/twiddly-wings-candy-giveaway4-sets-to.html

Check this link out to sign up for a chance to win some soon to be released fun!

My Brother

Last summer my brother and his wife came in from Arizona and we attempted to get a family picture with my parents, my kids and grandsons. There were 13 of us..The group pic was certainly not the best in town. We were shoved into this small room with 2 two year olds and it was just short of a nightmare. However we did get some great shots of the individual families and I got this picture of my brother and me. I don't often do one picture layouts but since I have these 5 x 7's I will make an exception. Now I will move on to do Luke and Katie's families and then one of Annie Leigh with her nephews..

I pulled these colors from my blouse and even tho Mike doesn't have even one of the colors I still think it turned out well. What do you think? Please be honest..my feelings can handle it...

The Ugly Duckling

Remember how in the ugly duckling the black duckling turned into a beautiful white swan??? Well, at our local park we have a Black Swan! What do you suppose went wrong?? A few years back a black swan was stolen from the park and later recovered so I am not sure if this is the same one or not..but it sure is fun to watch.

Cheap Fun!

How much fun can you get for $1.29? Kids today think that they cannot have fun without all the new electronic games that cost boucou bucks, well just look at these guys...Give them two pinwheels and an air conditioning unit and you have loads of fun!! lol.. You can see the air from the unit blowing Nolan's hair and the pinwheels are going to town...Proof right there that fun doesn't have to cost alot of money!

These boys are just less than 4 months apart and I love to take Eli to play with Nolan..They are learning how to share and get along , important social skills.. I can only imagine what these guys will get into once they start driving!!!! I love them so much .

More Blog Candy w/deadline!!

http://inkedinspirations.blogspot.com/2009/07/birthday-candy.html

Check this out by midnight tonight to qualify!!!

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

Entry Title:
Entry Title: Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!
I have just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest - "The Journey to 1,000"! They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help. To enter all you have to do is go to their site, sign up as follower and complete a few easy steps and you could win a $1,000 gift certificate to Custom Crops (www.CustomCrops.com)! GO NOW and check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com

Blog Award!

Shame on me for not being up to date on my blog and reading yours or I would have seen that Cyndi was gracious enough to give me this blog award! It's always nice to know that someone is reading your thoughts and enjoying your posts. Thank you Cyndi for this, it is so thoughtful!

The rules are to display this award on my blog with a link to the senders blog and then I am to list 7 blogs that I will be passing the award to. So here goes..

http://cyndistreasures.blogspot.com Sender

http://thepaperpurse.blogspot.com/
http://kimbaskreations.blogspot.com/

http://paperandstring.blogspot.com/

http://cinemasaturdaycreativechallenge.blogspot.com/

http://thepinkstamper.blogspot.com/

http://tammeybrown.blogspot.com/

http://noncutegiftsforeveryone.blogspot.com/

Esther and Olenka..I would have shared this with you but since Cyndi honored you too, I am going to honor some others, but know that I love your blogs and you two are special to me

Blog Candy..get your free blog candy!

Hurry over to Esther's Blog to find out how!!!!

http://estherscreativedesigns.blogspot.com/

Time flies!

Goodness..so much has happened in such a short time...Katie came through her surgery well, but no one had told her how much pain was involved! So for a week it was pretty rough but somehow once that first week is gone everything starts to settle down. She is healing well and Eli is being a pretty good boy considering he has lost his playmate until mom can get the stitches healed. He also encountered a serious allergy attack and then the meds gave him a buzz that I thought was going to put all of us over the edge! To top that off they had to take him to Urgent Care yesterday only to find out he was in the beginning stages of a double ear infection! I credit Kate and Alan for getting him there early so that he will not have to encounter to much pain and discomfort. He is such a good boy....

I took two of my clients to the July 4th parade yesterday and we hooked up with another one of my clients there. It was so much fun watching them interact with the characters in the parade. Robert is going to love scrapping these pages!! I think Kevin and a I will scrap his too....

You can see by the pic above that they loved being there. Kevin and RaeLynn were out front with the kids catching the candy and items that were being tossed from the floats! The weather was PERFECT! I have an album of my pics if you would like to see them just let me know and I will share it with you..It was a very good day!

Wow!! It's been a week since I was here last!

Not a lot of scrapping going on..my birds are all gone..hmmm.. Well, I have been working some in my yard. My neighbor has a wonderful yard that looks like a park! I always feel so bad for her because she blesses me each and every day with all that beauty and then she looks over here and sees weeds and only green!

Well, after 3 years I think it is, we finally planted some shrubs to replace the ones we took out in the front, Jim bought the most gorgeous Angel Wing Begonias that are absolutely huge!! and we planted them between the shrubs. Unfortunately they are annuals but will help this year and then maybe next year we can plant some perennials.

While walking my clients dog each day I travel behind a discount department store and they had these racks out back that had dead and half dead plants in them. It was so hard for me to watch them just die so for many days I just watered them.. Now how silly is that?? Watering plants that are just going to be tossed into a trash pile.

Then there were several days where it was obvious that kids were having a field day throwing them against the building to watch the dirt splatter all over the place. Well, I finally couldn't help myself and I brought home 5 Garden Mums and a couple of perennials that were hanging on for dear life. Is that wrong? I mean they had trashed them..there was no way anyone was going to buy them, that is why they took them out behind the building.

Well, I planted them and they seem to be doing well, I have an old wagon wheel that really should be trashed itself. I mean it gives a whole new meaning to rustic! LOL! But I planted the Garden Mums and a few spikey type plants that my client gave me. When they get over transplant shock and start growing I will take some pics.

We live on top of a limestone bed and when they dug to build this house in 1970 they hit a huge rock and it has honor in our yard.. After planting my mom's Wave Petunias that I got her for Mother's Day there were some left over so she had me bring them home and I planted them in the front of the rock. I had also purchased some orange Zinnias for myself, (my grandpa's favorite flower) and I planted them in the back so they will grow tall and there will be so much color there! I really can't wait.

On the side of my house I have Railroad Lilies that were beginning to be taken over by thistles and then I have Black-Eyed Susans that Jim tried to kill thinking they were weeds!!! MEN!
I was able to save most of them and I pulled all the weeds from both beds and have been watering every day. I have Snow on the Mountain in front of my front porch and it is going strong too.

So in a few weeks when everything has taken hold I will post some pics, but I am really excited to see the growth and the color in front and on the side of my house!!

Where does the time go?

An entire week -plus has gone by and I have not been here.. How did that happen? Well, life is relatively slow right now and I guess that is alot to be thankful for..

I turned my scrapbooking yahoo group over to Cyndi and signed out for good. Feels pretty good too..I was just tired of working so hard to make something work and there are so many issues coming up in my family and I just didn't want the stress any longer.. So maybe now I will get some actual scrapbooking done!

I was at Robert's again this week and he wanted to make Father's Day cards for both his dad and brother. What a treat for me! I also spent Monday with my other client making a card for his dad as well. I am telling you..this job is tough!!! LOL

As soon as I can get to Robert's I will take a picture of them to post. I can't take one of Kev's because he already mailed it to his dad.

Just wanted to say hi and touch base with you all. I'll be posting the pics of the cards very soon..

Got to Robert's this morning and his mom told me that he wasn't feeling that well and didn't want to go anywhere but wondered if we could scrap!!! HELLO....................don't have to ask this chick twice!!So I loaded him up in my car and came home to get my STUFF!!I had taken some pics of him on his lawn tractor and then one day we were at Crafts2000 and found some patterned paper that was nothing but grass..He has been stewing about it ever since and wanted to see it in a layout!! Well, of course I didn't bring everything I needed..ie..my Fiskars!! or my Xyron..so we improvised. When it came time to cut the grass paper I had a wavy Creative Memories cutter with me so that is why the grass is wavy..To balance it out I used the same cutter on the top right picture. Actually it all adds some dimension, I think.Robert picked the papers and I was going to use Hunter Green on his title but he wanted the red. His album..his wishes I was thinking..only much to my surprise it worked really well!! It pulled the red from his shirt and the plaid paper and so we added some red brads...I "let" him cut the letters from my QuicKutz being sure to tell him how strong he was!! He loved it! Didn't have my Xyron so I had to use my tape runner..Not an easy task on those small letters but we did itThere is alot more open space than I like. He didn't want me to journal on it but like I said ..it is his layout and a darned good one if I do say so myself. So to address the journaling I am going to type all about the selection process and the story about the pics and then put it in behind the layout so that mom and dad have it..It is from a page map...gotta love those things!! I hope you enjoy it..Robert did!

39 YEARS!`

Who would have thought that I would be able to say that I have been married 39 years! And where did that time go? While I am only 56 years old I am still on the downhill slope so it is important to me to make the next however many years worth something.

Looking back...would I do it all over again? Just to have my kids and grandsons I can say yes without reservation..but without those factors??? Wow that is a hard one to say if I am going to be totally honest...

I know that I love Jimmy but I hate alot of the crap we have gone through..there have been times when I have gone outside with the intent to look to the heavens and to scream at God because I prayed with my pastor before I ever accepted my engagement ring because I wanted to know for sure that at my young age I was doing what He wanted me to. And to this day I truly believe that I did..However, that doesn't mean that from time to time I didn't question it!

Jim and I are both Leos..smack in the middle of the sign, Aug 4 and Aug 11. Now I don't agree with alot of astrology because the Bible teaches against it but I do believe in the characteristics of the signs. So here we have two very head strong individuals trying to survive together. WOW..

In fairness to Jim..he has never drank, smoked, done drugs, chased women, gambled...has ALWAYS worked hard...two weeks after major melanoma surgery he was back to work! He loves his kids to a fault, is good to ANYONE in need and always sees to it that we have what we need and more.

On the downside...he has a horrendous temper and is a control freak! Now having said that I should clarify and say that those characteristics were severely tested when we were married 31 1/2 years and I left him and took the girls with me..Luke was on his own then..We were separated for 16 months. It was an awful time but it taught him some self control and it taught me that I had an inner strength and stamina that I didn't know I had.

Now I am no saint! While I was handling the money our house went to foreclosure twice and our car was repossessed twice. I was robbing Peter to pay Paul and not telling Jim the conditions of everything because I didn't want to deal with his anger. Eventually I had to deal with it anyway so THAT idea didn't work! Together we redeemed the house and the cars not losing them to anyone. Today HE handles the money....yea! And we are doing fine..not rich by any stretch but we do have a small cushion in case of emergency.

The good parts of our marriage are obviously our kids...GOD I love those kids! We have been so blessed that for having such a stormy marriage..at least the first 22 years of it, our kids have turned out fabulous! God knew what he was doing by not letting us have any kids for the first 11 years of our marriage, that's for sure.

As I pondered where we are at this point all kinds of questions came to mind...Why didn't we divorce? What would my life have been like if we did? Did we harm our kids in any way? You know..I will never know the answers to those questions. I didn't divorce because the Bible said not to..because in spite of how I was treated I KNEW that in his own way Jimmy loved me and still does. I didn't want to put my kids through custody battles, visitation battles, child support battles..I didn't want them to see only the negative aspects of their dad because there are so many good things about Jim. I didn't want to struggle to take care of them on my own and have them do without or have to be at a school function alone because I would have had to work to keep things going.

I hope the kids will have learned from our mistakes and will fight hard to not make them either.

Last night we went to dinner at TGIFriday's. It was delicious and we had a good time. We were supposed to have gone to Vegas..a place that Jim has wanted to go to for some time, but we let Annie go on vacation with her friend. She would be in Alabama and we would have been clear across the USA so he opted to take a trip at a later date.. He could have told her NO..probably should have told her NO..BUT he has a problem saying NO to his kids...He really is a fantastic Dad...

So I guess as I reflect back and look forward I don't think I am or would change anything..The grass is NEVER greener on the other side..that's a whole different set of problems and issues and who has the energy to start over??? If I am truly honest..I DO love the man and father that Jimmy is..I would love for him to be a romantic husband but hey..there is more good than bad and I'm just about getting to old for romance myself. Plus at $15 a pill it's getting to costly too! LOL!! But THAT is another story!!! LOLOLOL!!

Bless his heart, he has had to deal with me too and I am anything but an angel..It's kinda nice to say you have been married that long in a world that takes marriage so lightly. Besides..my 40th high school reunion is next year and we have always been the second longest married couple from the class and I want to hold on to that!!

So with hind sight being 20/20 there are many things I would have done different and would have loved to not have happened but even on my darkest days I am secure because Jimmy is my husband and I know that he will get us through whatever comes our way. I just hope he never writes anything about me .....

New project now

Last week my client and I scrapped his first ever Special Olympics story. I let him choose the papers that he thought would work best and then being the large fellow that he is and pretty strong I "LET" him squeeze the letters out of my QuicKutz!!! lol.. THen we mounted his ribbons onto the page. He took 2nd in the softball throw with 34 feet and received 1st in his 100 meter fast walk! His first meet he left his lane and was disqualified so we worked really hard to get him to concentrate on staying in his lane the entire way down and to not RUN..If he would have run he would have been disqualified again. I was so proud of him!! He is of a nature to kind of blend into the background so it was a major feat for him to follow through with this and then to be so successful!!

For a challenge on ChitChattin_N_Scrappin, a group that I own, we were asked to do a layout about our state. There is such a wealth of topics for Ohio that it was difficult to choose but decided to do a layout about Ohio's Official Rock Song: Hang on Sloopy! I was able to print the official resolution put before the assembly that was ratified and then the words to the song. In addition I posted the state flag, the only pennant shaped flag in all the 50 states, the state bird, mammal and flower. This challenge is being voted on now. Keeping my fingers crossed because there are some really great layouts .
The next challenge presented to the group from Doris was to do a layout with two patterned papers for fall and a chipboard. I am going to have to adjust this one a bit because I forgot the chipboard! LOL..BUT I included a tear bear special designed by my good friend Esther. I sent her the picture and asked her if she could make me a bear on a magic carpet. She did a wonderful job don't you think??

Well that's it for now. My creative juices are flowing somewhat and I have so much more to get done but until I do..please enjoy these for a while!

Day 9 My heart sank!

My heart sank as I went out to take today's picture...they are gone!! Jim mowed the grass yesterday and came in and said.."Well you did it! They moved them.." I thought he was blowing smoke because in all my 56 years I have never known birds to move their young. I mean I can't even imagine how they could do it. Has anyone ever heard of that before? There is NO sign of stress, the nest is not torn up at all, there are no body parts left on the ground where an animal may have taken them.. The thing is ...Mom and Dad are still out there !
Now I am left with questions ...did an animal take them as I feared would happen or did the parents move them? If they have lost their little lives is it my fault because I should have left them alone? I mean I touched nothing! Didn't really get close enough to even breathe on them. I hate the unknown! They were just to young to fly away and something has happened to them, will I ever know what that was?

Day 7

They are getting bigger and darker now..You can clearly see the beaks of two of them.. Once again mom was not happy with me and I swear to you all that I go out take the pic and leave. I want to cause her as little stress as possible but I really want to chronicle this event.. Today she actually flew between my arms while I was taking the picture so she definitely means business..that was close. I'm looking forward to the day I go out and when they hear me all four will poke their heads up thinking I am mom with food. THAT is going to be a great picture! If she lets me get it. I absolutely touch nothing and use my zoom so that I do not have to get real close. Anyway..enjoy day seven! (I think you can click on the pic and it will enlarge it for you.)

My umpiring son and hubby

My DH has been umpiring baseball for quite a few years now and he finally talked my son Luke into umping as well. He came up to do a couple games to help one league out and I stopped to watch him. I know I am prejudice but is he not one handsome guy?? Before I got there he got nailed with a ball in the collarbone! I just couldn't understand how that could happen since that chest protector goes up practically to the base of his neck. He thinks it hit the bottom of his mask and ricocheted down to that bone. He is a hairy sort, so it may be difficult to see the goose egg there but it was really painful and it is going to leave a real mark in the morning. Of course I had to call my DIL to remind her to take care of my baby!! She just kinda laughed at me...hmmm..what do you suppose that meant?? LOL

This is my DH (right) and his buddy umpire. They are like a tag team in wrestling...Someone goes after one they might just as well go after the other. They are good umps tho and people request them... I call them Moe and Shmoe! Either they are grumpy or they are acting silly like this...MEN!

Day 5

Not alot of change in these two days but the birth fuzz is just about completely gone.. They are sticking their heads up now to be fed.

Momma was UPSET with me today! She flew right in front of my face, lucky the camera was there. I don't blame her, I try to talk to her first but hey...I don't think she gives a hoot.

Next time I'll take my umbrella to keep her from hitting me. I will open it and hold it close to my head...lol..

I just wish there were a way to reassure her I mean no harm or I wish I had a camera with one fantastic ZOOM lens!

OK, I'm crazy!

At least some of you may think so by the time these birds fly the nest!! I started spring cleaning my bedroom today so I not only opened my blinds but I lifted them halfway up so I could enjoy the sunshine. In a short break, I sat at my computer and looked out at my neighbor's beautiful poppies that are in bloom and her bright red geraniums that she has strategically placed in hanging baskets from her trees and it occurred to me that while sitting here I have a "birds" eye view of the nest!!! Now, it's to far to see the babes but I have been watching Mom and Dad all day!! Staying close and hunting in my yard. It's amazing the bugs that are in my yard!!! LOL!!

I have watched as they have literally fought with the starlings that get to close. Poor birds..they stand back and look at them like they are crazy themselves! It amazes me to see how animals, birds, even insects have automatic instincts and how they act on them.

I haven't always been enthralled with nature, in fact I remember when I was younger that I thought my mom was looney. She would ooh and ahh over a cloud. I remember traveling one time and we went through Georgia and all of a sudden she let out this terrifying scream!! Scared the crap out of my dad, brother and me!! She was screaming because she had always heard about the Georgia clay dirt (it is red!) and she had never seen it and for the first time she was experiencing it.. or the time we pulled into a motel in the dark, went to bed and couldn't find her the next morning..she was outside crying because when she walked out the door to get some air she came face to face with a mountain.

I just couldn't get it..ya know it's kinda like every time your are driving your car listening to the radio and your son/daughter changes the channel..that's it...we just weren't on the same channel.
To me it was just dirt and a mountain...

When I had my kids I found myself doing the same to them..One time I had Katie in the car with three of her friends..all of them guys..we were coming home from a youth meeting at church, it was summer and the days were long then, and the clouds were just so thick and billowy and I kept hitting the brakes of my car to point them out! They just laughed at me and teased me and it was that moment that I realized..I had become my mother!

Now I am experiencing those things with the grandsons and again I take the road back to the memories and I realize that my mother's love of nature was actually her love for God.......

Day 3

Well, the babies fuzz seems to be giving way to allowing the feathers to come in. They are pretty bare here but it looks as tho all four hatchlings have made it so far!

I know it looks like I got incredibly close here but that is all due to the wonder of a zoom lens. Trust me..the way Mom and Dad were dive bombing me I will not get close enough to do any damage or cause Mom and Dad to leave...

I hope you are enjoying this journey with me..

May I introduce to you......

Well, I have no idea for names yet! lol!! They are just little fuzz balls. The incredible Robin Egg Blue has been replaced with fuzzy yellow. Mom and Dad have been most patient with us..I think they can sense that we mean them no harm and we touch NOTHING! This is going to be so fun...I just pray that cat's, raccoons, skunks and all will leave them alone..I don't know why she built them so low to the ground.

What I find is amazing is that there is no trace of the blue egg shell!! I am going to follow this family!!

Another Nature Story

This is the base of my redbud tree and as you can see it is just about three feet from the ground. Now if you look in the "V" of the trunk you will see a Robin's nest.. I am thinking.."Is she stupid?" I mean there are cats, raccoons, possum, even coyote running around here at night and even in the daytime while she is flying for food her nest is open for destruction and pending death for any hatchlings that will come along.

Now why would she want to do that? I have been watching her from my bedroom window and she is scuttle butting all over the ground looking for food so I suggested to DH that we hang one of our feeders in the tree so she can get some food for herself and still be close to the nest. Of course after the eggs hatch she will have to go looking for the worms.......Well instead of hanging the feeder he took older bread out and broke it up and laid it all around the base of the tree! Sometimes he has a good heart and like me he loves nature.

SO here are her four eggs..I only hope and pray they hatch before becoming some animals dinner and then after they hatch hopefully the predators will leave them alone to grow. I just know that when they fly from the nest here, they are in for a rude awakening! Hope they don't knock themselves out in the short distance they have to learn to fly!! I will keep you updated with photos and we can watch them grow together....

Special Olympics Track and Field

Yesterday was our 2ND track meet for my guys and Julie but the Ju-Ju was sick and couldn't go. However, Kevin and Robert did so well, I was so proud of them!

Kevin got FIRST in his throw and SECOND in his dash!!! He is 46 yrs old but he could sure run!! We had one gentleman who ran who was 77!!!! They love it!

This was Robert's first year in track and at our first meet he was disqualified for leaving his lane and going into another. It is so easy to do but the rules of the Fast walk are that you have to stay in your lane and you have to walk fast not run. Someone stepped into his lane so he moved over thus disqualifying himself. This time he stayed straight as an arrow and made it the 100 yards to his finish line in FIRST PLACE!!! Then he finished second in his softball throw...

It was a rainy day but they never complained and what fun we had!!

I hate how this blog works or at least I can't figure it out! When this posts to my blog it is going to have Robert's pic first and then Kevin's dancing pic next..Just so you know who is who.

Jeri's class

Most of you know that I am owner of a scrap booking group called ChitChattin_N_Scrappin. The participation level was pretty near to nothing and it was very discouraging.. I sent an email to the group stating that I thought I was just going to close it down due to activity. I hated to do that because my Katie named it and I love the name and I love the members. I knew that I could catch up with most of them because I am in other groups where some are members and I have email addys of everyone and have made some really good friends.

Still it's hard to give up because then you are left with a feeling of failure. I know everyone has problems, life issues, illnesses , jobs, this stinking economy..and more but I would see them active on other groups and it made me wonder why.

I am on several groups that uses the YIM to have conferences and the webcams and microphones have made the interaction so much fun. Classes are being held where you can learn new techniques or work along side someone teaching a class on a layout, card or other items and I so wanted that for my group but just couldn't seem to get it going.

Along came Jeri..bless her heart she stepped up to the plate for me and gave me ideas for a challenge and then she agreed to teach a class. So ChitChattin had it's first class on Thursday this week and nearly half of the members showed and it was a success! I knew that once they participated they would see how fun it would be and how they could use this tool to learn..

We started a challenge where we put our names in alphabetical order and every three days a member posts a new challenge for a layout, tag, etc... while the posting of the challenges is every three days they actually have five days to post the finished product to an album and providing there are at least three entries or more a poll will be established for voting on the fave from that challenge and a prize will be awarded. All but two have signed up out of 16 and that is a wonderful thing! So we will see how it goes.

The 29Th of May is the one year anniversary of the group and I am going to hold a crop with challenges and prizes. I am excited to see it moving along.

Have I ever mentioned that I just love my Internet friends???

Let me Clarify, please

I don't want anyone here to think I am whining about no comments to my blog.. I know I am not out there that much for one reason, so please no need to apologize about not commenting. I just wanted to temp you all to see who is out there!

And I check out everyone's blogs that are on my list each day and don't necessarily comment either. I am getting my candy together to see who gets it so I will be back on Wednesday with a winner. Thanks for the link I needed!!

Is anyone other than Andrea reading

my blog??? I appreciate you following my blog Andrea and I know that I haven't posted much that is scrap related but I would love to know if others are following. So to find that out I am going to offer up some blog candy!! Not sure just yet what I is..lol..I need to get some stuff together but I will make it worth the visit! It's late right now and I have to work tomorrow but Saturday I will take a pic of the "Candy" and post it. Who will be the lucky winner?

Can anyone tell me how to hook up with the thingy that randomly pics a winner? Or I will do it the old fashioned way and have my DH pick from a cup of names...

Talk to me my friends!!

Scrapbooking

You know..I seem to remember that I used to scrapbook! LOL! I have not touched my stuff except to put it away from retreat the end of March! That is just unforgivable!! I had all of these pictures ready to do and don't you know that now I have two proms to do as well!!

SOMEBODY HELP ME, PLEASE!!!!

I need help focusing!! I want so much to get my albums going again...I missed all the National Scrapbooking Day fun and challenges due to work and situations here at home..Well, yeh and then there was the heart cath....

Anyway..I am ready to get going..I am ready to share, I am ready to play...anyone want to play???

Annie's Greenon Prom

Annie had her prom for her school last Saturday. Again she and Stephen (Steven) went and again they looked so good together! This first pic was an accident really but I love it! I love the grass, trees, the stones around the tree and it is not a traditional pic. I love the behind view of her dress. And of course I had to get my classic pic of her dress bodice, corsage and nails! The bodice of this dress had scattered light yellow beading that just glistened in contrast to the pink.

Of course I need to have a full view shot of them together. This time Steve wore a white tux..Annie was not happy at first..until she saw how great he looked next to her dress. His pale pink vest and tie in no way made him look like a sissy..like they always say.."Real men wear pink!"

They had such fun together . I wanted them to have pics taken next door to us. Our neighbors are elderly but have an absolutely beautiful yard complete with a gazebo and

a double seat swing glider and they love seeing the kids in their dress clothes...but because the other couples wanted to have them at one of the girls houses we had no voice. Which ticked me off because we spent a fair amount of money on that prom and I felt they could have at least done both places. SO our pictures have a construction access road in the background and utility lines and an above ground swimming pool with the cover still on it! Gee do I sound grumpy? After the prom they came back to the house to change in to after prom clothing. I was impressed with how patient Steve was waiting for Annie to get ready. She had to re do her hair of course! You can't go to a bonfire looking all dishoveled from dancing now can you?

Anyway, I was sure a proud momma! I love my kids so much and since I didn't get to go to any of my proms it was fun to experience some of Annie's with her. I talked with Steve's mom and we are going to get to gether to exchange pictures and then I will scrap the event. I want to get them done because next year is her senior year and I want to have this year completed to be able to concentrate on next year and have the album finished in time for graduation.

Thanks for letting me share!!

Here I go again!

Well, today I am heading to the hospital for my third heart catherization in 16 months! Is that not ridiculous? I'm not scared I am just over it. I told Jimmy that as soon as this is done and everything is fine I am going to take the heart rehab classes that I should have taken in Dec 07 when I had the stent put in and I am going to take my diabetic training that I should have taken as well. I am going to learn to eat right and I am going to get a membership to the gym and get the fat off of this chassis once and for all!! I didn't take them because they interfered with my job but if I don't take care of myself I am not going to need that job right?

So please think of me today and pray about 12 noon EST that Dr Akhter's hands will be guided by the Lord!!..And then I will be back to let you know just what he found. The only reason I am somewhat concerned is that there were irregularities during my treadmill stress test on my EKG. From experience I have learned that unless you are in the middle of something at the time the EKG is taken it generally doesn't show anything. My MIL had an EKG that showed nothing and came home from the doctor and had a massive heart attack! So for them to find something does give me some concern. But I have put myself in God's hands and he knows I want to watch the grandsons grow and I want to meet my new grand baby on the way. Not to mention watch Annie graduate and eventually get married ..oh there are just too many reasons to live so I am going for it!!!

You only have to look up!!

Is this not gorgeous?

You only have to look up to see the beauty surrounding you. God is so good to give us wonderful things to look at. This morning while driving to my client's home I was going down the country road, open fields on both sides of me, and straight ahead was a gorgeous image! It has been rainy today, kinda cool and dreary really...but this morning the sun was trying to break through the clouds and the rays decending from the heavens, through the clouds, to the earth made a beautiful image that has taken me through my day! I often think of Jesus ascending into the Heavens when I see things like this. Or I think about the day of His return but either way, I am grateful for the treats that He gives us each day...we only have to look up to enjoy them..