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!