Oh for Joy!

Friday's Best

2012-02-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all.... this has been one loooooooooooong week for us. First three days were busy and yesterday hubby and I crashed; still have head colds. We gave each other permission to stay in our jammies. His cold ended up worse than mine after all. Today we ventured out in what we call "the shopping loop": library, Good Will, grocery store. After a 1/2 hour in the GW I was getting weak and told hubby we had to leave as I still needed to do marathon shopping at Safeway. I was so glad to get home.

I'm happy to say I did get some photo sorting and a little more organization in my scrap room done this week. I'm actually ready to do some layouts now. I also have two books calling my name....

Cutie Pie Granddaughter was here Wednesday (also with a cold) and she let me know she likes my soft fuzzy bathrobe. She handed it to me so I put it on and she wanted up on my lap and I wrapped her up in it and she put her head on my chest and stroked and stroked it..."soft". How can one heart melt so many times and still beat just fine?

A few pics from Wednesday:

.....the attack of the Green Caterpillar.....

"I got you now......I win"

Have a good weekend all. See you Monday

Voice Message

2012-02-06T04:05:00.000-08:00

Hubby and I came down with colds this weekend. His started Sat. a.m. as he woke up with (only) a sore throat. It is gone already...

Me: I woke up Sunday a.m. with a sore throat, runny nose and weepy eyes. I've been sneezing, blowing and coughing.

a conversation between us late yesterday:

him: what are you doing?
me: sneezing, I have a cold.
him: well stop it, I don't want it.
me: you gave it to me.
him: no no, I didn't have THAT cold.
me: hush up.

I always get things worse than him. No fair.

So our little pocket of fun this weekend was to occasionally listen to our first vm left on our phone by granddaughter. "hi".... "wuv you"... Listening to our daughter tell her daughter what to say made us realize that their voices sound alike even with GD's sounding younger. I think gd will also have our daughter's great projection. People used to ask me how such a big voice can come from such a petite girl.

Have a good Monday. I'll be back in a few days after I work hard at giving this cold to hubby.

Friday Ramblings

2012-02-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

First thing to report is we have sunshine and blue skies...my how nice. If you don't live in this region you might not understand how special sunshine in winter is.

Granddaughter was here yesterday and was just starting up with a head cold. She had water weeping from her eyes and didn't understand it. She'd swipe at it and look at her fingers with great questioning on her brow.

You might remember my post here that showed her kissing my 24" doll. Yesterday I let her have it for most of the day and she had so much fun. That does require a lot of supervision from me as that doll really is not the type to 'play' with. Granddaughter just loves her so much.

...dancing again

Those two pictures were taken with different cameras. My big Cannon took the first one and my little Nikon the second. Cannon wins in quality again... I don't always like taking my big camera with me when out and about but my little one just doesn't take great pics.

Anybody have a recommendation for a good quality 'point and shoot' camera?

Hubby and I are attending an antique show this weekend. It would be fun to find a nice little something to enjoy in our home decor. I love the hunt.

What are you up to?

Bill Medley Concert

2012-02-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

Hubby and I went to see Bill Medley in concert Sunday night. He was 1/2 of the Righteous Brothers Group that started up in the late 1950's. We like their music and are glad he's touring as a solo act. His 24 year old daughter, McKenna, joined him and she's got a great voice also. His partner in the Righteous Brothers, Bobby Hatfield, died about 8 years ago.

He communicated several times to us the audience how grateful he is for the success of his long career "because of you". Hearing him share stories about the business was great fun. The man at 71 can still sing great.

Bill and his daughter McKenna.

We had front row center seats........wow, was great!

I was a good girl and didn't sneak a live picture with my phone - darn; why am I always so good. (Because.....it'd be my luck that I turned the flash off but only thought I did and if took a picture the flash would go off and I'd be embarrassed to death...and wouldn't be writing this).

Acrylic Layout

2012-01-30T03:23:00.000-08:00

Well....I found some creative mojo Saturday. I created a fancy picture holder this weekend for a picture of my Granddaughter in her Christmas Dress. I don't know whether to call these acrylic creations Layouts or Picture Holders. I made a few for gifts for Christmas 2011 and wanted to make one for us. I really like it. I have blacked out my Granddaughters name so that is why there are ugly empty spots. I shared the ones I did for gifts in a previous blog post.

I used my Cricut Expressions to cut the thin circle frame, name and the year plaque. The flowers are an ivory color made by Prima Inc. and called Craftable Flowers. They are crafted from paper and take ink, mists and paint very well. I sprayed some white ones with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in their Pearl color. It gives the ivory a pretty sheen. I also sprayed an ivory one with Maya Mists mist in the color Cherry Metallic. For the year and her name I sprayed red cardstock with the Cherry Metallic.

The clear rhinestones around the outer scalloped edge are the self adhesive, stick on, kind. For the scrolls at the top I used an Imaginisce I-Rock tool. I'd not used it before and like it a lot. I find Imaginisce's clear crystals to be clearer, have more depth and sparkle. I will be using the I-Rock again.

I used clear photo corners for the picture so I will be able to put next year's picture on the holder. I made 11 date plaques (2011 to 2020) and will be able to lift this years and put on another year plaque.

I photographed this item in front of a white wall and a red wall. changes the look a lot, huh?

Thanks for taking a look. Have a good day.

Good Will Wednesday (on Thursday)

2012-01-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we did a little Thrift Store shopping in a big city. I found a few neat things.

When we were at the Good Will I overheard a cute verbal exchange. I was on the vases/baskets aisle and two ladies, about 10' apart, were picking up and looking at the bottom of baskets. One of the ladies was about 70 years young and said to the other one; "what word am I looking for?". The younger lady said "Longaberger Mom". Mom said "I've heard of long hot dogs but not long burgers." If you are not familiar with Longaberger baskets check here. ( The corporate office for Longaberger is a basket...cute!)

I saw these Martha Stewart punches and decided to buy them because they were only $1.99 each. I might not use them very much but I do like having choices when creating. I punched some black cardstock with them to see (and show you) what they do.

I picked up this box of plain cards with matching envelopes for card making.

My favorite find of the day is this little Lenox tea light candle holder. It is about 2" square and about 1.5" high. It is in the design of a wrapped gift with raised holly leaves and berries on it. I like it. It was only $1.99.

Have a good day all and a good weekend. I'll be back on Monday. Take care.

My Mojo is gone.......

2012-01-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

....for blogging and scrapping. Have you seen it? Help me find it? I know this happens to all us creative types but I hate it when it does happen.

It's always a puzzle to figure out.

Speaking of puzzles....... for a few 2011Christmas presents I ordered puzzles that are from photographs you submit. Kids love to do puzzles of themselves. I used Walmart's site. Have you done that yet?

Scrapbooking Layouts for Scrap Pack Layouts

2012-01-20T02:15:00.000-08:00

My Scrap Pack Layout album

...first page in the album:

A few years ago I participated in a Challenge on sb.com called The Scrap Pack. The hostess put together packets of misc. items that we were to use on a layout using specific rules. We sent her money ($3.50) via paypal for our packet. There were usually 25 scrappers involved. That challenge was, to date, the most fun one I have participated in. I participated in 8 months of it when the hostess dropped it as she was due to have her first child soon, and had gone back to work. No one volunteered to do what she'd been doing for a year so the challenge ended.

I still miss that challenge. It really challenged creativity.

The reason I'm sharing this information with you is that I started creating a companion layout for the Scrap Pack layout of the month. On the companion layout I used a picture of the Pack's contents and described how I used those contents. I got behind with creating the companion layouts and just did three of them earlier this week. They are simple layouts by design.

I will share them here and also share the original Scrap Pack Layout. There was judging each month in two categories: 'Best Overall' and 'Most Creative use of the materials'. The final voting had 5 layouts in each category to vote on. I got into the finals 6 times in one or the other category but never won.

Three companion layouts:

The companion layouts with the Layouts done for the Challenge...

I did blog about a couple of these ScrapPack layouts I've done.

So now I have caught up in one Scrapping area I needed to. More to do though....

Have a good weekend and if you live in my area; pray for warm rain. The snow and ice have caused enough damage.

Ice damage

2012-01-19T09:49:00.000-08:00

We have some healthy tall evergreen trees in our yard and neighborhood. Thankfully they can bend with the snow and survive, but the ice storm we had last night has taken a little toll.

Yesterday hubby went out and relieved some of the branches of snow which really helped them.

...down with snow

...up after some brushing and shaking.

....way down after the overnight ice storm. When it warms up in a day or so

we'll check the damage.

I snapped this photo from our bedroom. One limb broke off the tree and is completely fallen away from tree.

My van has icicles...I'm home today. When I was outside taking this photo I heard a huge "crack" and could tell a tree limb fell...not in my yard though.

We don't have our Granddaughter today as her mommy is home from work. We already miss her. She has a snow suit that needs to be grown into; but managed ok out in the snow yesterday wearing it. Her mom took her out in a sled and they walked to the post office. She texted me this pic of Granddaughter in the post office.

I think she looks like a Storm Trooper.

So, be safe if you live in my area. I've already been in contact with all the kids and they are.

Good Will Wednesday and Snow

2012-01-18T03:17:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday I had my second big shock at GW. The first one was finding this. I was at our GW late on Wednesday night because I'd just finished dinner with one of my Movie Buddies. The restaurant we ate at is in the same area as GW. It was 8:15 p.m. and I actually was undecided about going. So so glad I went.

This item stuck out and shocked me. When I saw it I bee lined for it and thought "it has to be chipped." It is not.

...yep: $6.99 (minus my senior discount of 20%). This is a 7.5" high Fenton Vase called Bubble Optic, in green overlay and made from 1951-53. The bubbles in this

piece are called "controlled bubbles", meaning they were done by design.

It was very dirty but cleaned up well....as seen below. For glass lovers it

is always nice to see the original label intact. The one on this vase is partially missing.

Close up of bubbles....

Made by Pfaltzgraff. This pattern is called Yorktowne.

Made by Pfaltzgraff in USA.

These shakers are marked with a Westmoreland Glass Co. logo. The lids remind me of ones used by Fenton. It is hard to catch a good photo of the design in some crystal; but these are a grape pattern. A funny thing about these is I found one on a Wednesday so got 20% off the 99cents. We looked and looked for the mate and didn't find it that day. Three days later it was on a shelf where the first one was....same price: 99cents.

We've had no more snow. The forecast is calling for a "mega storm" to roll in tonight and stay thru Wednesday. 6-12" depending on where you live. Time will tell of course.

Have a good Wednesday.

First Winter Snow, Jan. 15, 2011

2012-01-16T09:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday. We had 2" of snow yesterday and it's so pretty. Lots of people are off today for the MLK Holiday and that is good because this large region is one hill after the other and lots of accidents, stalls and sliding goes on when we have snow. The weather forecast is for more snow tonight.

My daughter called me last night and said my Granddaughter wants and misses her "Memaw"... that's so sweet. I had hubby take this picture this a.m. and texted it to her (via Mommy's phone)... Daughter replied that Granddaughter "is perplexed that I'm in the phone"...haha.

"Hello sweet Granddaughter"

The start of the snow yesterday....taken with flash on.

....view from my bed this a.m. Ahhh; how nice to lay in a warm bed,

watching the news with this pretty view.

...our teeny house flanked by beautiful giants.

...looking south on our ruralish street.

I thank my hubby for the outside pictures...I wouldn't chance walking on the snow with my shoulder still healing. Have a great Monday.

Contemplative Mood

2012-01-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've had so much writing going on in my brain yesterday afternoon and now that I'm at the computer I can't remember most of what I wanted to write......but here goes.

I went to a funeral yesterday of a man who was 65 and worked in church ministry his whole life: professionally as a job and personally as a volunteer. He has a resume that is very impressive yet he didn't like being signaled out as special. He was who he was because he needed to be a servant to his God - a very kind man. I didn't know him well but worked as his wife's assistant for several years. I did meet him several times and his kind words to me were "Thank you for coming back to work to help my wife. She values you." Their respect and love of and for each other was heartening.

The retired Archbishop eulogized him and spoke of the humanness of this man and spoke of our calling as Christians to do God's good in a way that works for us and to be happy in that.

Funerals always create a conversation between my husband and I about what type of funeral/burial we desire and our hopes that the endings of our lives are ones that in which we have served our Lord by being good servants of his thru respectful kindness to our families: an encouraging word, a hug, emotional support, respect of their choices and hard work as members of society, offers of help, just to name a few ways.

Our family makes us happy and supporting them, encouraging them, and loving them doesn't seem like service to the Lord... but it is. Remember the saying "charity begins at home"? Of course charity can and should continue outside the home but it is so important to be kind to our families. Children learn kindness from the hands and words and examples of their parents..... just like Jesus taught us thru his kindness and forgiveness.

Ending my life knowing that God will forgive my sins and I've been kind makes me happy. Last night I was sitting on our sofa and noticed in a mirror opposite me a wonderful red glow. I discovered we were having a beautiful sunset. Viewing that made me feel happy. I grabbed my camera:

I pray my sunset will be as rosy as last nights Mother Nature one was.

Book About Me

2012-01-12T06:27:00.000-08:00

Hi all. One of my goals last week was to start a "Book About Me". There are many lists and tutorials on the Internet about what subjects to use or questions to answer. I have some pictures from my Mom and my Brother that I want to scrap.

When I use the original picture, as in this layout below, I will not glue it down. I will use photo corners of some type. For this layout I used a punch that cuts two diagonal lines and you slip the corner of the picture in the 'bar' part created by the cuts. Another goal is to scan all the pictures I will use, for backups.

I had fun doing this layout. There are not a lot of pictures of me when I was younger and I like this one. It shows the pride my mom took in preparing me for it: curling my ultra straight/thin hair and that sweet dress pressed so fine.

I have two layouts for my book now. Some of the layouts will be a lot of journaling to share my childhood and that of my parents...well, what little I know.

I wish I'd asked my mom more questions and written down some of the things she told me.

Have a good day all.

Good Will Wednesday

2012-01-11T03:52:00.000-08:00

Hi and Happy Wednesday. This is one of those weeks where I have something going on every day......no scrapping time. But I am using a few spare moments to design some titles for future Layouts, on my Gypsy.

Last Monday Good Will Hunter and I headed over to our Good Will with granddaughter in tow. We armed ourselves with a dozen sanitizing wipes to use on the cart we would put her in. She was very quiet and observed all going on for about 30 minutes and then it was 'let me outta here time'.

...quite an intent look.

This is 12" long, and had the new retail tag still on it. I will use it for bread or rolls next Christmas....$.99

These will go to the antique mall space. Set was $1.00

PartyLite candle holder. It is in a bisque finish. Quite 'Charles Dickens' era' looking...cost $1.49

A sweet wine glass in the pattern Moon and Stars and sold by a company

called L.G Wright...cost $.69.

After the GW we went grocery shopping and this is the first time we put Granddaughter in this type of shopping cart. She loved it and even buckled herself in. At one point she was sitting there with both hands on the sides (top of little doors) and a man walked by and quipped "Just like a women. Driving hands free." I laughed.

Last Sunday afternoon we went to a different thrift shop called Salvation Army. The one we went to is newly remodeled and quite nice now.

This bisque church was sold by PartyLite and is a Church candle holder. Cost $1.50. I am not familiar with PartyLite items so don't know what an item like this would have cost 'brand new'.

This shows the depth and back of the church. The hole in the top is for the heat of the candle to escape.

Here are the two of them side by side.

At the Salvation Army store I found this beautiful Lenox picture frame for $2.99....a very nice price. I love Lenox items and will use this for a cute pic of granddaughter.

...close up of the detail.

Thanks for looking and shop antique stores for gifts.

Scrapbooking Layout - "Tree Trimming" and "Merry Christmas"

2012-01-09T03:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday. My surgeon told me last week I can unhook my sling when I'm sitting and keyboard with my right hand and use it some... so "some" to me meant doing a little scrapbooking. I did use my left hand a lot on these layouts and did not use my Cricut so that made it all really easy.

I created the picture collages on the Walgreen Drug Store site. I ordered quite a few as that is an easier way to have the photos looked matted without having to actually do the cutting and gluing.

In the layout below the green tree mesh cardstock is from a company called KI Memories. The chipboard pieces are from Teresa Collins "Noel" collection. The border on the title piece is punched with a Fiskar punch. It's the Holly Leaves one.

The layout below is of my Granddaughter and her putting candy canes on our Christmas tree. The poinsettia flowers and green ribbon pieces were created with Dazzles foil stickers.

Thanks for looking. Have a good Monday.

Good Will Wednesday and Ramblings

2012-01-04T03:56:00.000-08:00

We went to our Good Will late last week and they had cleaned the shelves... they were looking quite empty. That is one thing I like about our GW: they do a good job of getting rid of the old so they can stock in the new donated items.

Christmas items were still there with them being at 75% off. I did find a cute pottery sleigh by Fitz and Floyd. I'll keep it to add to my small sleigh collection. Also found a nice little crystal one to keep.

I think the runners shaped like candy canes are so cute.

I see my shoulder surgeon doctor later today for my second post-op appointment. Will be interesting. I hope I'm on track with healing and movement. I think the sling will be with me for a few more weeks.

Parts of the last two days have been spent cleaning my scrapping room. As I was cleaning it I remembered (was reminded) I had not cleaned up in between the last three layouts I've done....nor the Christmas gifts I'd made... big mistake! I have it looking better and can now put away some gifts I received. I do need to organize photos again.

There are so many albums I want to create. One reason is I like doing them and a second reason is I hope that family (in the future) will find them fun and informative. But then they might find them prohibitive to store and not look at them but once. I do know I'd love to have something like that that my grandmother had made. I've decided not to worry about that and just have fun creating.

We have had weeks of gray skies with no sunshine and I'm getting depressed. The seasonal depression that a lot of people get in my part of the country is really hard to deal with. The one time we saw sunshine last week I went into the dining room and sat in the window for about 20 minutes.... then it was gone.

I hope all of you my blog readers are doing well and thanks for checking in with me.

Bye for today.

Scrapbooking Monday - Scrappy Gifts

2012-01-02T03:10:00.000-08:00

Before shoulder surgery on Nov. 15th I was busy for a couple of days making three gifts. I started one for myself also but didn't get it finished. I'll have it done by Christmas 2012.

I purchased the scallop edged acrylic pieces at the CK Convention I attended in Nov. I do not know the manufacturer of them as the booth was selling them on clearance...no labels. I purchased all he had: 4. They are 11" diameter.

The finished acrylic 'layouts' can be put on an easel for display or a hole punched at the top and hung with a cord or ribbon. It takes something more powerful than a regular hole punch to punch thru this acrylic. I own a tool called a Big Bite and think that would work.

As you can see I created them to hold two pictures. For the sizes I created it would be best to print your own photos so they can be sized to fit. I think how I decorated them is easy to discern just by looking at them. I did punch the tiny white flowers out of thin cardstock with a punch I own. All of the rhinestones are self stick kind.

The first two pictures are of the same item. I took one in front of a white wall and the other in front of my deep red wall. It is amazing how the background color changes the look.

The one I started for myself is like the one below:

Have a good day. Are you still writing 2011?

Happy New Year - 2012

2012-01-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

We took care of Granddaughter last night so her mommy and daddy could have a fun evening with friends. Hubby tried real hard to get some good pictures of her and I in our New Year celebratory head pieces. It was easier a year ago... she can resist and protest much better now.

Watching her blow the noise makers was really funny and she did a good job. Fireworks rang out in our neighborhood about 7 p.m. and she didn't like the "boom".

...hmmm, what is this stuff?

...still celebrating in her new Sesame Street jammies.

Here is NY eve pic from 2010....we've both changed:.

happy 2012...make the day and year good.

December 31, 2011

2011-12-31T04:21:00.000-08:00

...the last day of 2011. It has been a great year. So many blessed things have happened to me and in my life. The constants are:

a loving God
a loving and supportive hubby
loving children and grandchild
loving spouses of my children
loving friends and extended family
good health
a talent to craft
good books to read
fun family gatherings
you my blog readers

...the special things this year:

my trip to Mexico to stay with my cousin for a week, in June
my brother coming to stay with us in August
hubby and me going to Chicago for a wedding and onto Wa DC, MD, WV, Virginia, Penns.
surgery on my sick shoulder with the hope of it being 'almost normal again'.

...what I failed to do:

keep up with some friends
scrapbook as much as I wanted to
lose 10 lbs.
exercise enough
pray more

Those are my 2012 Intentions.....

I leave you with the first Layout I did in 2011 and also the last layout I did in 2011. I don't scrap chronologically so it seems 'out of order' so to speak... I do put them in albums chronologically though.

...first layout done in 2011

....last layout done in 2011

I also leave you with the first solo picture I put of Granddaughter on this blog and also the last:

...the last

...what a difference 12 month makes....Oh For Joy!

Please don't drink and drive tonight and Kiss the one(s) you love.

See you in 2012!

Thursday's Granddaughter Day

2011-12-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

Granddaughter was here yesterday and it amazes me how quickly her language skills are improving. She says so much now that I can understand. So fun. She is calling me Memaw right now with an occasional Grammy.

I tried to keep yesterday a low-keyed day as I tend to use my right arm too much when she is here. I'm still in the early stages of healing. Grandpa does most of the work but she is into wanting me to hold her a lot. He manned the camera yesterday; thanks honey.

She emptied the Book Basket because we were going to read.

...but first wanted to know if I liked it on her as a hat.

Grandpa took a picture of us reading together. She reads out loud and it is so cute to hear her garble language with a real word thrown in once and awhile. She flipped thru my book a bit and I asked her if she liked it: "no". I am finishing up a book about George Washington...

no pictures in it for Granddaughter to appreciate.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2011. Time goes quickly. I'm trying to decide what I want to say in my blog to end the year. Tune in tomorrow.

Goodwill Wednesday

2011-12-28T04:08:00.000-08:00

We went to our Good Will last Wednesday. All 'Seasonal' items were 50% off and then we got another 20% off as it was Senior Discount Day....woohoo.

I found a very large (12" tall) red glass vase with snowflakes on it that was priced for $5.99. I was prepared to purchase it before discounts... after discount (and tax added) it was $2.62. As you can see in the photo I decided to use it as a large candle holder. It gives off a wonderful red glow when lit.

I spotted a scrapbook album on one of the Christmas Shelves and picked it up....not nice enough to buy but under it were some paper packs that got me excited.

I ended up paying $2.19 for this DCWV180 count stack of Christmas Paper.

and $ .87 for each of the 48 count packs below. This is a great find for a scrapbooker like me.

We are going to that Goodwill again today and do hope to find some good bargains: especially in the Scrapbooking category.

Have a good hump day all.

Family Fun on Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-27T04:32:00.000-08:00

Our children and their spouses and Granddaughter joined us for a pleasant day on the 24th. Games, laughter, dinner, gifts and dessert was enjoyed by us all.

Table is set.

Snacks are ready.

Granddaughter opening an early present....with a little help.

Dinner is done and here is the clean-up crew.

Granddaughter taking a picture of me with her new camera.

We sang "happy birthday" to our son before opening Christmas presents.

Granddaughter painted us a Christmas ornament. She's holding it after we'd opened it.

...close up of that ornament. I love that it has her hand print on it.

My daughter took a few pictures of her painting it and this is a scanned copy of that picture she gave us. These pics will make a cute scrapbook layout.

Granddaughter with her Auntie....

Granddaughter and her Mommy and Dada...

...all ready for bed in her new jammies - she likes Elmo from Sesame Street. She showed us that she can put on a head band now all by herself.

Our time together always goes so fast. Thanks for many blessings family.

God bless you all.

Journaling for scrapbook layouts

2011-12-26T12:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday. I will be glad when I can get back to scrapping and share my layouts on Mondays.

An Internet scrap booking friend shared she felt she wasn't journaling enough on her layouts. She said she was going to chose her pics for a layout and then do the journaling in story fashion. She had decided pictures don't always tell enough of the story. She is a digi scrapper and usually uses 2 pictures at most. I agree with her that the pics don't always tell the story.

I tend to like to use as many pics as possible on a layout and do hidden journaling behind a layout. I make a pocket on the back and slip in a piece of card stock that has my journaling on it. I will admit that because I use this method I get behind. Making pages is more fun and creative to me; so that's what I do most. Bad me.

I had a reminder this week that I have not finished journaling in our scrapbook of our trip to Italy...in 2004. That reminder came in the fashion of Granddaughter and I going thru that book. She likes to look at my layout pages..... the only one that seems to right now so I appreciate her more for that. I have the last day in Rome to finish up. That is going on my 'list of to-dos' while I'm in a sling. I can do that journaling with my left handed peck...just need to be patient.

This is a layout I did of my son that has hidden journaling. The ribbon at the top is attached to the journaling card. Just pull on it and the card pulls out to be read.

This is what the back of that layout looks like. You can see the 'pocket' I created for the journaling card. I punched a half circle on the pocket and the layout base to ease in removing the journaling card. I do my journaling first and that dictates how big of a pocket I need to make.

2012 will find me keeping up with my journaling. Honest. Really. For sure. Maybe I should do it before start the layout...yes!

I am slowly working on a few other posts. It takes me a long time to do one right now. Have a good week.

Granddaughter musings

2011-12-23T11:29:00.000-08:00

We had granddaughter here yesterday and she amazes me. I have been telling myself I need to write down some of the cute things she says.

I am getting close to doing my every-six-months printing of my blog so now is a good time to document some of her speech and antics. I am surprised at how fast I forget them.

She is 21.5 months old and working hard at our language.

Her first full sentence spoken here, probably 6-8 weeks ago, is "I want my binky!" Usually there are two arms flailing as she says that. I asked her once to say please may i have my binky and she said "yep."

She's learned "no way" from Gapa... up is down and down is up right now... snowmen are amens... she loves to dance with us... she knows the sounds animals make but still stretches out the ending of cock-a-doodle-ooooooooooooo...

Yesterday gapa gave her some rice checks to munch on and she looked at them and said "avocado" and he in his mind did not understand her... she said it three times all the while he is looking at her with a questioning face; so she raised her voice and firmly said "dip". She wanted her avocado dip for her rice checks.

Outside is side... tree is tee... lights are ights... thank you is tank-u... her dog baci is bapi... broke is boke; which is a new one as yesterday I secretly removed the batteries from a Christmas toy gapa purchased, because it was driving me insane. She brought it to me and switched the switch several times and made her facial expression of 'wth', with one hand out. I told her "it is broken..music all gone." Throughout the afternoon she would bring it to me and say "boke". Gapa thinks I am a grinch but at least I am sane.

Yesterday when I asked her to say "santa" she said "ho ho ho". She can say it and thought I was asking her what does santa say. She likes to tuck herself in corners and when did so between our tv cabinet and a china closet discovered she could see us through the china cabinet. that held her fascination for quite awhile.

It amazes me that she understands so much of what we say to her. An example is what happened with the china cabinet. It is top to bottom glass on three sides. When she saw us she said "peek-a-boo". I told her "no peek-a-boo because you can see me." She thought for a few seconds and then covered her eyes with her hands, pulled them off and said "peek-a-boo". So so cute to this grammy.

We have a toy here we play with together and she is getting good at following the verbal instructions. She twisted a little knob on it and the language became Spanish. She listened to it for about 10 seconds and said "no" and switched it back. Now I finally wish I spoke Spanish as could help her learn it.

She is loving her footed pajamas ("jammies") and wants them on over her clothes and works real hard at putting them on. That usually ends up with her having one arm in and walking around with them dragging behind.

Well, that is all for now (see...I've forgotten what else I was going to share...). Oh well.. another day and time.

I love you Granddaughter.

Yesterday morning she was covering up the faces of her three cousins with magnets. Then she'd remove one and say "peek-a-boo". After she tired of that she kept walking up and kissing them.

Have a very nice holiday weekend. It's Christmas for us and will be a great one. We have a lot of blessings in our life.

Happy Birthday Son

2011-12-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

My first born baby turns 36 today. We're hoping he can get off work early enough to go out to dinner with us. I was laying awake in bed about 5 a.m. today thinking of this day 36 years ago. I had to have a c-section two weeks before his due date and went into the hospital the night of the 21st. I had a sweet night nurse. When she weighed me she asked what I thought I was having and I said a boy....a big baby boy. She agreed with me due to the way I was carrying him. Now I don't really know if 'how' we carry a baby is because of the gender or our body shapes. All I know is I was a big mama.

So, that is me 36 years ago about 3 pm on 12/21...ready to go off to the hospital. Son was born the next morning weighing a little over 9 lbs. He probably would have been 10 pounds if born on his due date. When the doctor was performing the c-section I was awake and he was talking about his upcoming fishing trip. All of a sudden I heard him say he had a hand out and he hoped it belonged to a boy because it was huge. A few minutes later I heard lots of voices saying "it's a beautiful baby boy." I watched them clean him off, wrap him up and then they brought him to my head area. I got to touch his cheek and a hand. I gave him a kiss via my fingertips. Sweet memories.

I love you son.

Family Christmas Party of 2011

2011-12-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday night my husband's family gathered for our annual Christmas party. There were only 50 of us this year ....with all the little kids hustling around I easily lost count. Hubby took all the pictures as lifting my SLR camera up to my eye is impossible due to the shoulder surgery. His style is different than mine but I am grateful he used his time doing it.

You should see this family at a wedding reception... the song We are Family is always on the bride and groom's play list and when the family of 75+ gets on the dance floor it's a riot...so fun.

My granddaughter giving her little cousin a hug

Granddaughter didn't want to be by Santa....not even a high-five.

...me catching up with two of my special sisters in-laws. (I have 7 in this family).

...a niece and great-niece made me an ornament for my Christmas tree. They are both so pleasant and darling...thanks girls.

This is a busy week for most people. Do take care.

Joy is everywhere

2011-12-18T05:19:00.000-08:00

It is the season of Joy again. I have Joy everyday.....a call or email from a friend, a hug and kiss from hubby, a visit with family, seeing or talking on the phone with granddaughter.

Last year I spoke of noticing the word Joy everywhere. It continues this year also.

Below is a new Lenox Christmas decoration for our home. I love it

A window in the big city. Do you remember doing string art as a child? I do.

Pretty card from this blog....

Card from here....

...Just a few 'Joy' sightings at our Goodwill.

Two of these little angels have broken wings, otherwise I would have purchased them.

Two Joy items from the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications called Christmas Ideas:

This is a fun way to use cake plates.

"joy" is on the bathroom mirror... now that is what I call waking up to Joy!

I truly hope you find peace and joy this Christmas Season.

Tree Trimming

2011-12-15T11:14:00.000-08:00

Our children, their spouse's and Granddaughter came over Sunday to put up our Christmas tree and trim it. I do love having a pre-lit tree. We started using a fake tree 29 years ago when our baby girl had allergic reactions to a tree in the house and have had the current one only 2 years.

We always have fun trimming the tree and Granddaughter was very taken with it. She found the plastic candy canes we have very easy to put on so that was her job. I love her placement of them. I remember our children grouping ornaments at their eye level.

Here are some pics to share. The finished tree, first:

...the construction crew:

....concentrating on the task

...ta da; she is all done and off to check out other decorations.

Tree with flash on....I will share some close-up pics in a few days.

Thanks for coming over family. Dad and I value our Tree Trimming Tradition

and glad you all do also.

Arm in sling

2011-12-10T15:50:00.000-08:00

Wow.... I am missing my right arm/hand. I miss typing emails, blogging and crafting. I hope that doesn't come of as whining.......just want to document the truth.

I am thankful pain is receding and my loss is only temporary.

Our children are coming over tomorrow to decorate the house in Christmas fashion.. I'm excited. Will be interesting to see what Granddaughter thinks of it all.

Bye for now.

Emmitsburg, MD

2011-12-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hi. I have more to share about our trip back east.

We left the DC area on a Sunday morning to go north to Gettysburg. On the way we planned to stop at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial to pay homage to my nephew Matt. The memorial is on the campus of the National Firefighter Academy.

I have blogged of my nephew Matthew before and if you care to read one go here: http://oh-for-joy.blogspot.com/2010/07/say-thanks-to-firefighter.html

While there I thought I'd do a rubbing of Matt's name. We figured that would be a 45 minute stop at most as the campus is right off the freeway. As we neared the entrance it was apparent something big was happening as there we cars everywhere and big firetrucks flying gigantic American flags. The man at the entrance guard gate told us the yearly Memorial Weekend was in progress and we would have to go park at the close-bye local college and one of many shuttle buses would bring us on the campus. A 1/2 later we were on campus with a thousand others.

I was feeling slightly guilty about the time being used for this stop - after all Matt was my nephew. We had thought we would have a full day at Gettysburg. On the bus I apologized to hubby about the time thing and he gave me an incredulous look and said "Stop. Being here and honoring Matt means more to me than viewing battlefields at Gettysburg, no matter how long this takes." How can a heart full of love for someone grow more? It does. I am blessed that my hubby loves, likes and respects my brother and his wife, and enjoyed Matt.

The 1.5 hour memorial service and unveiling of the 2010 had about 1/2 hour left when we got there. We were greeted by some volunteers and given a packet and gently asked "who did you lose?" They gave us paper and pencil to do rubbings with. After the ceremony ended we got in line to get into the memorial circle. We witnessed sadness, camaraderie, friendships being born and great empathy and love.

...some of the attendees.

...our view while in line.

...the Walk of Honor.

While I was doing a rubbing a man asked me who it was. He is a retired Firefighter and his daughter was also a firefighter. She was killed in a fire and her firefighter husband (widower) was killed a few years after her. "I am so sorry" seems pitiful at times but he was gracious.

We enjoyed our time there (3.5 hours) and left feeling privileged to have stumbled upon the annual celebration... not inconvenienced by it.

December 1 was fun

2011-12-03T10:02:00.000-08:00

Granddaughter was here Thursday.......great way to start the first day of the last month of 2011. I hope to spend the first day of the first month of 2012 with her. She makes me laugh a lot.

...we were talking about colors and shapes. There is just something fun about water.

...feeding my doll a snack. They danced again.

and...How to diaper a purple bear...

Have a good weekend.

Washington DC - Day 2

2011-12-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon and Happy December. Decorations are appearing at our neighbors homes, the stores and malls are all a glitter and Christmas music is on the radio. I have been shopping on the Internet with glee.

I am now 16 days post-op. I had my first post-op appt. Monday and I am on track in regards to healing and range of motion from the passive exercises doc has me doing. For the next 5 weeks I am to do the same two passive exercises I started the day after surgery - working thru pain. I can get my arm up a little higher before pain hits. I am also not to use my fingers, so no keyboarding, scrapping, etc. I miss using my right hand. Hubby is getting good at chopping food but doesn't want to help me scrap.

The following was typed before surgery...it has taken me longer to edit photos than I expected and below are a lot from day 2.

Our second long day in DC allowed us to go to many of the Smithsonian museums. My two favorites are the American History and Aerospace.

I was very surprised at how big the museums are and how loooong the Mall is. As you know I love details of architecture so I mostly took pics of the building and not what was inside; with a couple of exceptions.

I took a picture of Julia Child's kitchen. It is closed off with Plexiglas which made it hard to get a great picture. It is amazing what that lady created in her small kitchen. Actually inspiring I think and just a reminder that great things can come from small packages.

...like the:

I could not capture the true color or beauty....

Julia Child

...pretty resting area

Gemini IV. 1965. This is smaller than I expected. Imagine speeding thru the atmosphere to earth in this.

this was very interesting to go in. i couldn't downsize that much.

The Mall from The Capital building.

I would have enjoyed driving one of these.

Another thing I miss doing is writing blog posts. Thanks for checking in on me.

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T05:01:00.000-08:00

and not just on Thanksgiving Day.

Monday's Helper

2011-11-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hi. I'm using as little words as possible as do not have patience for this left handed pecking.

Granddaughter was here yesterday and hubby did the 'work' of caring for her. She did not like my brace and was fascinated by my 'owie'. I was on the sofa and she was in the kitchen with Gapa when she noticed it...my sweater had slipped off the shoulder. She ran to me, pointed to it, climbed up (with help - she short) and the look of worry was surprising. She pointed, touched, pulled me forward to look at my back and then proceeded to talk to me about it... non of which is understandable yet. She was very serious in what she was saying to me... sensitive child.

Someday when she reads this blog she will know what a joy she is and she did help Grammie in her recovery.

...early in the day

..pull me up Grammy.. One time I pulled on her behind to hard and flipped her over. She liked that.

She read to me.

..whew! She's gone...rest time.

This post took 4 times longer than usual Whew! Rest time again.

Scrapbooking Layout - "Happy Mother's Day 2011"

2011-11-21T04:03:00.000-08:00

For this layout I used a sketch from a blog called The Flying Unicorn. They have a blog, a store website and put out a monthly emagazine called Enchanting Creations that is both inspirational and very beautiful. I decided to enter the monthly sketch challenge for October.

I am thrilled to report I won the challenge....and I even get a prize.

I used a few pictures from Mother's Day 2011 for the challenge. The main picture I wanted to use is landscape oriented so I turned the sketch clockwise for inspiration. The blue cardstock is punched with a Martha Stewart, large, heart border punch. The smaller punching is done with a EK Success punch. I used the Cricut cartridge Mother's Day 2011 for the Title. I added Stickles to the flowers to bling them up some.

This is the sketch I used:

Thanks for looking. I actually worked this post up before my shoulder surgery and post dated it for today. Hope you all are well and enjoying fall.

11/21/11 Post Surgery report: I am doing well.....and am very thankful for my right hand man: Mr. Blob face. He is so thoughtful.

Out of Commission

2011-11-15T05:54:00.000-08:00

.....for a bit. Below is my newest apparel item for a few weeks (not me in the pic). I am having shoulder surgery today on my right shoulder...so won't be able to easily type for several weeks. I don't do well with the left hand pecking. So I am taking a blog break for awhile. Don't forget about me....

Care to accept a challenge ladies? do your hair using only your left hand some morning. I've been practicing and mercy do I look a mess when done. Oh well...hubby doesn't really care and I'll just avoid mirrors and cameras.

Be well.

Another "I Do"

2011-11-14T22:52:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we attended the wedding of our son in-law's sister. She married his best friend. It's nice to know you will like your future brother in-law because he's your friend already.

The wedding was beautiful and very spiritual. The reception was lovely. I have a few pics to share:

Pre-wedding snack for the flower girl and ring bearer

My daughter and Granddaughter

The Bride and Groom during the toasting time

Granddaughter thought it was fun toasting with her sippy cup

Cake table...the white one was the official wedding cake

Many more pretty cakes to choose from

This was the last wedding of the year for us. I think there are only two next year to attend.

Take care all.

Scrapbooking Layout - "A duck out of water"

2011-11-14T03:49:00.000-08:00

Morning; happy Monday. I've been enjoying scrapping lately and have a couple of layouts to share. Today's is of my Granddaughter in her Halloween costume. She was a duck and their dog was a rooster. Our daughter, her hubby and gd went to a little party in their town. GD was in her stroller with the dog right next to her and from what I hear they had their picture taken a lot.

Granddaughter says "quack" very well and says "cock a doodle do" as "cock a-oodle-ooo" and she rounds out her tiny lips at the end and extends the "ooooooooooo"... so cute. The picture in the upper right is of them both at the outside celebration.

I was participating in a Challenge where we were to use a monochromatic color for our layout. Black, white, grey and tan were considered neutrals and ok to use. I chose yellow as my color due to the pictures. I did play around with shades of orange but yellow won out.

I created a collage picture using that feature on the Walgreen's Photo site. I find theirs the easiest to use. I don't print photos at home. The fuzzy duck embellishments have been in my stash for several years and the fonts cut for this layout were done using the Cricut cartridge "Gypsy Font".

The punched edge on the yellow cardstock was done using an EK Success border punch. Interestingly I saw an ornament made from a punch like this. It is in the December issue of Scrapbooks etc., page 62-63. You can go to this site for instructions.

Next weeks layout is one of Mother's Day 2011. Thanks for looking and have a great Monday.

Washington DC - Day 1

2011-11-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

Last month hubby and I visited Washington DC. I had not been there before and he was there once: 44 years ago. The city is bigger than I realized and hubby agreed it was big (now). When he was there people could get in line to go through the White House and Capital Building for tours....there were no fences, barriers or as many SS guards and police present. Now to take a tour you apply through your state's Senator's offices, and need to do it 6-12 months in advance, plus pass a security check.

The first morning we went into the city we used the subway system. After coming from Chicago where the mass transit trains are above ground... I was surprised DC's is a mile underground... well it felt like it was a mile down. Metro Rail is the official name of the subway system in DC. I had to get a hold of my anxiety real fast when I saw the escalator we needed to take down about 75' to the subway cars at the stop we boarded on......mercy!

I learned I am naive when it comes to subway stop names. To see the White House we needed to depart at the station titled "White House"... after we descended from the bowels of the earth to daylight and upon walking out of the lobby I expected to see the White House..... what I saw was many many tall office buildings and a lot of people and traffic. I looked right: no White House... I looked left: no White House.. So, while I pulled out a map to figure out where it was hubby asked a man "which way to the White House". 1/2 a mile later we saw it.

It was raining that morning but cleared by noon. Almost each evening in our hotel room I wrote down words that described what I'd seen during that particular day. My journal for our first day in DC says "white house smaller than I expected", "Lafayette park smaller than I expected", "lots of good looking Secret Service men about", "teary eyed at the war memorials", "love the architectural details", "walked 10 miles".

I took hundreds of pictures but will only share a dozen (or so). You've seen the White House, Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial in newspapers, magazines and on tv. Here are a few things maybe you haven't seen:

I wanted to yell "Is anybody down there?"

I'm glad they had this explanation of all the stars on a wall I'd just looked at (below). I did not know what they meant or were for. I got very emotional after learning that information.

The men in the blue coats are WWII veterans. We and others were shaking hands and asking them where they served during the war. One man said to me "I'm not a hero. I was just a young GI in the wrong place at the wrong time." He'd survived Pearl Harbor. The youngest vet in that group was 86 and the oldest was 98.

Well, darn. Construction always seems to be where I visit. Someone told me

"well now you have a reason to go back."

Vietnam War Soldiers Memorial Statue

Statue honoring Nurses that served in our wars.

Two views of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. I called my brother while I was standing there to tell him how happy I was to not see his name on that wall. We tried to find the names of a couple of his buddies that died in VN.

Below is a close up. The diamonds in front of a name means killed in action and accounted for. There are names on the wall that have a cross in front of them. That means they are missing in action. If that person becomes accounted for they use a hand engraver and turn the cross into a diamond. That diamond is usually a little differently shaped. We studied some to see the difference. Below, before the name Earl S Shelton (second line) you can see a cross that was made into a diamond.

....across the street and down a block from the White House....I wanted to say "I'm home" and live on this street in one of these condos.

My next trip sharing will be our second day in DC; bye for now..... But oh....before you go:

...just wanted to show you I was there (or photo-shoped)...bye again.

Scrapbooking Layout - "The Old Barn"

2011-11-07T04:57:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday. Ohhhh, it was cold here over the weekend. Sunday I awoke to a temperature of 27. Happily the days were filled with sunshine.

I scrapped some this weekend and created the layout below. It is for a challenge on my Rockin Scrappin Grams group. We had to use two patterned papers, a piece of ribbon, three buttons, picture(s) of one of our grandchildren and have an animal on it (or in the picture).

I'm really happy with this one and it was fun to create. I am a little color challenged and when I use solid papers I use a color wheel to help me create. The advantage of using patterned papers is I know what colors go good together, as they have already done that work for me.

So, pictorially........"the rest of the story" *

Daddy getting Granddaughter in place

....hurrying to be out of the way

....wait for me daddy

....trying again. Where's daddy?

....found him

joining daddy

Good Baci, stayed in place and Granddaughter did what is natural for her age. So fun.....

Have a good day. Hope you turned your clocks back. It is a good thing we do that on a Saturday night. Can you imagine how many people would be late to work on a Monday morning if we did it on a Sunday night?

* That was as tag line by a man called Paul Harvey. He was a radio host and I liked the stories he shared. This is from wikepedia:

The Rest of the Story was a Monday-through-Friday radio program originally hosted by Paul Harvey. Beginning as a part of his newscasts during the Second World War and then premiering as its own series on the ABC Radio Networks on May 10, 1976, The Rest of the Story consisted of stories presented as factual on a variety of subjects with a surprise or "twist" saved until the end. The broadcasts always conclude with the tag line "And now you know… the rest of the story."

Paul Harvey died on February 29, 2009. If you want to listen to some of his broadcasts you can go to YouTube Here is one I found fascinating.

My Little Helper

2011-11-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

We had Granddaughter here for two days. I took her outside the first day to help clean up fallen leaves. I'd purchased her a child's rake to use. It was so nice out and we had a great time working and playing.

First came the play...

Then the work...she took my rake so I was using her's

She quickly went back to play....

then back to work...

She wanted to trade rakes again...

She was a good helper overall. She really like scooping up leaves with her hands and putting them in the bucket.

Her mom sent her Halloween costume with her clothes so I could see it on her. She didn't mind wearing it a bit... so cute.

She is concentrating very hard on putting my slippers on my feet.

She was so proud she got them on (I know that because she clapped for herself)....doesn't matter that they were on backwards...

When her mom came home they bundled up to go take a walk with mommy's friend.

I'm hoping to do some scrapping this weekend and rake up more leaves. What are you doing?

Have a good weekend...... see you Monday.

Kid Day in Chicago

2011-11-03T04:17:00.000-07:00

One of our days visiting Chicago was spent with our daughter as we took Granddaughter to the Zoo and a fabulous Children's Museum. Granddaughter enjoyed the interactive museum the best. A few pics:

....not so fond of the animals

She found a friend....an animal her size.

....we hopped a metro bus (stroller and all) and headed south to the Museum.

The creativity in me loves this........

Granddaughter had a lot of fun at the museum. The Museum is at Navy Pier which we'd visited the day before.

Have a good day all. Happy November.

Best Glue Ever

2011-11-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

I discovered The Best Glue ever and ordered a bottle. All I can say is WOW. It is a really good glue and it will be my 'go to glue' from now on: perfect name for it. I used it yesterday on metal, paper, plastic and all with great success. Check out the website if you scrap/craft and watch the videos available.

http://scraperfect.com/

This review is my opinion and I am not being paid or gifted items by sharing it on this blog. (Darn...haha)

Chicago, Chicago, It's my kind of town

2011-11-01T04:04:00.000-07:00

....part two.

Sunday morning lots of family members met up at one of the subway stations and we went into Chicago to explore. After walking thru the city and the parks we headed to Navy Pier. What a wonderful place; shopping/food/boat rides, etc.

AND....surprise: an Oktoberfest Tent....we headed there

We found tables in one corner for all of us....

DARN!.... but I did dance a few times with one of my sister in-law's and a niece....I love to dance and it's easier to do so when you know you won't see all those people again (and family forgives easily)..haha. The ohm-pa-pa band wasn't the greatest but fun.

Somehow the bandleader got wind that there were newlyweds in the tent and invited them up for a dance...which they quickly invited others to dance with them. They were embarrassed at first but good sports.

After awhile the noise was bothering Granddaughter and me so we headed outside to ogle over ducks and birds and people watch (well I did).

Some other family joined us at the Pier....

Mothers and daughters walking/talking:

This is a picture of those of us that signed up to go on a boat tour of the Chicago River and the waterfront. I took a lot of pictures but will only share a few. It was an interesting, narrated tour and I learned a lot. After we'd gone back thru the locks our guides revved the boat up and we had a speed boat experience. I liked this hour long boat tour.

I decided I wouldn't mind living in one of these condos...

There are 19 bridges are over the river in Chicago.

...oh oh; where is our rain gear stowed?

It was interesting learning the history of the river flow being reversed, done in the 19th century. I didn't know that and we had to go thru a lock being the river is two feet lower than the lake. The river does not flow into the lake.

....pretty shot of the city as the boat revved up to fast speed.

I took this just as we were heading back to land....one of my favorites:

This was a great way to end our time in Chicago that day....one long gloriously fun day!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

I didn't put out very many decorations this year. I like glass items, as some of you may know, and am enjoying the glass gourds/pumpkins I have purchased this year.

The one in the middle was blown at a local glass company. The other two are from China.

The one on the right is was blown in Tonala Jalisco, MX. I bought it this summer when I was visiting my cousin in Ajijic. The other two are from the local glass company in my town.

...just a different view:

I am always shopping for USA made hand blown gourds or pumpkins....by the way: that coffee table was made for me by my son when he was in high school, ages ago.

I'm hoping to see my Granddaughter tonight; in her costume... if not then Wednesday for sure. She's a duck this year and can say "quack, quack" well.

Scrapbooking Layout - "Christmas Memories"

2011-10-31T04:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday. I scrapped yesterday as I needed to finish a layout challenge for a Scrappin' Grams group I belong to. We were to scrap an early Christmas we remember or a memorable Christmas. I chose the Christmas my son was born. That was an exciting time and event. The pics are not great unfortunately. I did not want to use the originals as they'll belong to him soon and so I scanned them...and printed them with my old 'not so hot' printer.

The green cardstock was precut when I bought it. It was made by EZ Laser Designs. I bought it at a garage sale for 75cents. woo-hoo. I added the 'oranments' to the tree. This was an easy and fast layout and sometimes I need that.

I'd like to look that young now...where has the 30+ years gone?

It was nice to scrap yesterday. Thanks for looking.

Granddaughter in October 2011

2011-10-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

Morning all. It's Friday and no garage sales... the season has passed.

We had Granddaughter here for two days and Oh What a Joy. She changed some in the two weeks we didn't see her. Her understanding of words/sentences has increased and she's saying more words. She now calls their dog (Baci), Boppi. It is a combination, I believe, of puppy and Baci.

I had a 24" walking doll given to me in about 1957 by my mom. I still have it and granddaughter discovered it in my craft room and is enamored by it. She talks to her, dances with her, and hugs and kisses her. So fun. Grandpas Beanie Babies and very very heavy doorstop are a favorite stopping place now.

A few pics:

.....always expressive

Have a good weekend all. I'll be doing some sewing and editing photos.

Chicago, Chicago, It's my kind of town

2011-10-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Going into Chicago with about 12 other relatives was fun. For some reason we seemed to never be together but kept close enough watch that we didn't lose each other. Hubby and I ended up between groups on the streets....

The newlyweds standing with the Sears Tower behind them...he proposed to her in there

at a restaurant.

The sculpture called "The Bean" in Chicago. It's fun to see how our images change as one goes around it. In this shot all the family is bunched together.

Below is an interesting Water Feature in the city.

It is so fun to come across a park in the city...

..perfect place to have my picture taken...

.....and I'm behind again. I was so busy taking photos I had to keep 'catching up' to the group.

I found Chicago to be a pretty city and so so clean. We walked miles and miles and ended up at the Navy Pier. I will share those pics tomorrow.

Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Chicago and Park and Family dinner

2011-10-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

....all in one day: this post is picture heavy...

I like touring/looking at old homes and when I found out Frank Lloyd Wright designed quite a few in, and lived in Oak Park, Il (where the Chicago wedding reception was), I declared I wanted to see Wright's homes there. The day after the wedding, after checking out of our hotel, we did a walking tour in a neighborhood that has a lot of homes and a church designed by Wright in the late 1800's/early 1900's. (There are dozens of other beautiful homes, designed by other people, in this area as well...what a treat.)

"Oak Park, Illinois is home to the world's largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings and houses, with 25 structures built between 1889 and 1913. It was in Oak Park that Wright developed and perfected his signature Prairie Style architecture, emphasizing the use of interior light and open spaces in low, earth-hugging buildings. His designs changed the course of 20th century architecture."

I share a few. First is what was the home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright:

"The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio at 951 Chicago Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois, has been restored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust to its appearance in 1909, the last year Frank Lloyd Wright lived there with his family. Frank Lloyd Wright purchased the property and built the home in 1889 with a $5,000 loan from his employer Louis Sullivan. He was 22 at the time, and newly wed to Catherine Tobin. The Wrights raised six children in the home. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and declared a National Historic Landmark four years later. The original 1889 structure was quite small. The home was extensively remodeled in 1895, when among other changes the kitchen was enlarged and converted to a dining room, the upstairs nursery was expanded and converted for use as Catherine's dayroom, and the Children's Playroom and a new kitchen were added to the back of the house. A second major addition was made in 1898, when the Studio and Connecting Corridor were built. Part of the home is now used at the tour office and gift shop."

I'd liked to have toured the home but tickets were sold out for the day.

Wright named the houses he designed after the owners. A few more recent owners have put plaques on their homes sharing history and adding their last name to the name of the home.

The Thomas H. Gale Home, 1892.

The Walter H. Gale Home, 1893.

The Nathan G. Moore Home, 1895/1923 remodel

The Hills-DeCaro House, 1896/1906

The Arthur B. Heurtley Home, 1902

The Frank Thomas House, 1901. This home was the 1st 'Prairie Style' and stucco home Wright designed. While we were looking at it a man started raking up leaves and I asked him if someone was living there and he said "yes, a man and his wife and three children." I asked "are you him." He said "yes". He gave me permission to go closer to photograph the entries.

As part of his designing homes, Wright designed patterns for stained glass windows. I bought an umbrella at the Wright Book Store/Gift Shop in an "unrealized design for an art glass window done in 1893 by Wright." It is called "Waterlilies".

The Window....

The umbrella....

After the walking tour Granddaughter, who had been in her stroller for a couple of hours, needed to stretch her legs and run free so we headed to a neighborhood park. I have to say: I'd love to live in this part of Oak Park.

and....after checking into an Extended Stay unit we went to my sister in-law and brother in-law's home (mom and dad of the Groom) for a nice dinner with her children and all of us out of towners. It was so fun to have some down time with family.

....dessert time.

Thanks for looking and it might take me an extra day to edit all the pics I took when we went into downtown Chicago the day after this - Granddaughter is here for a couple of days...I didn't see her for two weeks and what a difference that time can make. I missed her and we can tell she's happy to be here with us..fun, fun.

Chicago Wedding Reception Venue

2011-10-25T04:31:00.000-07:00

The Chicago wedding reception was held at the hotel we stayed at. It is a very nice hotel (The Hyatt Lodge at McDonald's Campus) and the grounds it sits on are beautiful. We admired the patios, gardens and trees with their leaves changing colors.

Interestingly we learned the campus is owned by the McDonald Corporation: like in 'the golden arches McDonald's'. On the campus is a McDonald College called Hamburger University. McDonald executives go to the college taking college accredited classes in management subjects.

We walked thru the McDonald museum in the lobby of one of the buildings and it was fun to see items from the 50's and 60's I'd forgotten about.

A few pictures:

...the view from our room at the hotel

beautiful grounds....

The Pool Room

.....looking back at the hotel from the college side:

The College

I don't remember McDonald's until about 1968....loved their fries. What is your earliest memory of McDonald's?

Have a good day all.

Chicago Wedding

2011-10-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

Morning all.....

Three weeks ago hubby and I were in Chicago and had attended the wedding of our nephew. I did not take good pictures; especially of the bride and groom. I remember thinking I'd order from their photographer when pics are available... now of course I'm angry I didn't take more; especially of them at the reception.

The wedding was very lovely and the hotel where we stayed and the reception was at was beautiful. The weather was sunny with temps in the 70's: perfect!

Here are some pics I took:

...being introduced as they entered the reception hall

My Granddaughter (on the right in case you're a new reader) met her Chicago cousin for first time. Cousin is about 6 months older than Granddaughter. They were so cute together.

...going in for a hug

.....now a kiss

...off to meet more new people

...the bride with her new cousins (she's holding her niece)

...cute cute strawberries

...bride and groom the next morning. They'd arranged a breakfast for their parents/siblings and us out-of-towners. There were 18 of us from the groom's mother's home town.

.....Grandpa taking the last item to the car.

I used my little digi camera and took a few short videos; trying to get Granddaughter dancing. This is the best (sad - I know...). In this one she was out dancing by herself while dinner was being served. If you have your volume up you can hear her calling for me "Grammy" in the very beginning. She pats her leg and floor like she is saying "come here". I danced with her a lot; as did everyone. She was on the floor for an hour at least.

Tomorrow I will share a few pics of the hotel (venue for reception) and our walking tour of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Oak Park, Il.

Have a great Monday all... we just got home Saturday and I'm still on East Coast time: ugh!

I'm anxious to start scrapping our trip.

Garage Sale Friday

2011-10-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

I went to 6 garage sales two Fridays ago and at one was introduced to a set of Royal Albert's Old Country Roses Holiday China. I have a set of the regular OCR but had not seen the Holiday pattern. Apparently it was released in 2006 only. It is very pretty.

I have a weakness for China dishes. It started early in my life and I'm happy to share that we use ours whenever we can.

I ended up buying what she had: 5pc place setting for four people ($20).. a large 17" Turkey Platter ($10) and a two piece 'chip and dip' set ($10). I've done some checking and have learned that those prices are very very good. Yep, very good. Now I need a few more dinner plates....

It will be on our dining table this Christmas.

This is a close-up of the center pattern.

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.

Seeing Red

2011-10-18T04:04:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I see my Granddaughter doing something amusing and I run for my camera...by time I get back to her she's stopped doing it. I should pack a camera on my hip.

She took this lid and put it up to her face and walked around looking thru it while she did so. She was talking to herself and it was very amusing. She'd stop and pull it down to look at something, then push it up in front of her eyes and look at that item again.

In the picture above she was checking Gapa out and she got the giggles. I guess Gapa looked really funny to her as red. Watching her do something so simple, yet was a great learning experience for her, made me feel I don't discover new things enough. I need to be more child like and look at the world thru different eyes. I miss the simplicity of play.

Maybe I'll buy some rose colored glasses.

Happy Day to you and take a look at your world thru 'new eyes'.

Garage Sale Friday

2011-10-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

...........has come to a close: for now. Garage Sales came to a sudden halt with the start of fall....seems to be raining a lot on Fridays here and cool.

We found some neat things this year and here is a re-cap:

Fenton Glass Co.

Unknown maker but very pretty and good quality.

Belleek Co.

Hubby couldn't pass these up!

Hall's Autumn Leaf Jewel mug

Royal Albert's Old Country Rose pattern

Lenox Co.

Match holder...too cool!

Fostoria Glass Co.

Garage sale shopping success is all about timing and luck. When we stumbled across the 10cent sale last month we were the first ones there. That's good... also she was still unpacking a box of glass/pottery so I offered to help as got first pick then...that's good. I think I unpacked two boxes for her.

Have a good Friday and a fun weekend.

Anniversary Pics

2011-10-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

...just sharing a few pics I took the night of our Anniv. dinner. None of hubby though as he's still shy and it doesn't seem right to post a pics of me and Mr. Blob face; in this post.

Wonder how she got that jello face?

...this is how!

Daughter bought Granddaughter a watercolor set.

She set about making us an Anniversary card.

Of course I saved it and it'll have to make it's way onto a Scrapbook Layout soon.

Have a good day all.

Scrapbooking Monday - "Our Lil Bugs"

2011-10-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

Good Monday morning all. The layout I'm sharing today is one I really like....there is just something about Fall/Halloween colors that makes me feel good.

This layout is for last week's challenge at the Rockin' Scrappin' Grams group. We had to use only four colors of: orange, yellow, white and black. Also had to use 1 pumpkin, two buttons and a piece of ribbon. We could use other embellishments but they had to be in the allowed colors.

The pictures I used were taken on Halloween 2010. My daughter had the ladybug costume for her dog already and found one for her daughter. They looked so cute together.

The pumpkins on the ribbon were buttons and I had my hubby cut the shanks off the back for me. The flowers were all white and I used Glimmer Mist to spray them the colors I wanted. The Cricut cartridges used are: Gypsy Wanderings for the pumpkin cutouts, Designer's Calendar for the maple leaves and Stone Script for the fonts. The black ladybug was punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

Thanks for looking... have a good day.

Happy Birthday Daughter

2011-10-06T04:02:00.000-07:00

Today is my daughter's birthday....and I won't get to see her. We did get to see her last night and sang "HB" to her. I put two candles in a package of cinnamon rolls. Her allergies keep her from eating egg and when she was growing up I made Rice Krispy treats and cut them into squares and stacked them into a pyramid for her 'cake'. She loved it.

I will get to see her tomorrow as we are attending a wedding together in the evening. It will be fun to be on the dance floor with her and family and especially with Granddaughter. I will take pictures for sure.

I know you've heard this from me before: time does go quickly. It seems like yesterday I was cuddling and kissing our new baby girl. She had dark curly hair and cute dimples. God blesses us with her daily. And she feels the same way about hubby and me...what a gift that is.

Love you Dear Daughter.

Have a good day all.