It's been a long, LONG while since I blogged, but Darcy Baldwin posted this over at Sweet Shoppe Designs, and it looked like fun, so here we go!
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate. With mini marshmallows. Yum
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Usually Santa just puts presents under the tree, but there's always one small gift in the stocking (usually a piece of jewelry) that is wrapped.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored. White lights are SO pretty, and I love them, but I'm just a colored light kinda gal, they look more festive to me.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope. My house consists of 3 single women...not a whole lot of point there, right? lol
5. When do you put your decorations up? I usually put up our tree and my indoor decorations on Thanksgiving weekend. My outside lights go up during that next week.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? My mom's caramel nut rolls. She only makes them once a year, for Christmas morning. So yum.
7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child? The year my Grandpa came down from Michigan and spent Christmas morning with us. We had Christmas at home, then went to my Gram's and her husband (who was also Grandpa). I remember loving having both my Grandpa's with me. I was a spoiled little girl that year, lol
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember how old I was, but I'd gone into my mom's room searching for our cat, who had a habit of getting locked in the closet, and when I opened the door to let him out, I saw a camera sitting on her closet shelf. Christmas morning it was under the tree from Santa, and that was that, lol
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? C does. She gets a new pair of flannel or fuzzy PJ's every year, and she gets to open those on Christmas Eve. She always knows what it will be, but it's fun for her to get that "peek" anyway.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Usually, with C7 flasher bulbs, garland, and tons of ornaments. But this year we splurged on a real tree, so we have micro LED lights, a few ornaments, and a blooming TON of tinsel. (C went a lil overboard with the tinsel, lol)
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Snow, I love. Ice...not so much.
12. Can you ice skate? Honestly, I have no idea. I've never tried.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? A silver and gold crucifix that my uncle bought for me when I was 16.
14. What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you? For me it's the spirit that seems to fill the air. Giving thanks for family, friends, and loved ones. The goodwill that I feel. Teaching my daughter that the meaning of the holiday is more about giving than receiving.
15. What is your favorite Christmas Dessert? Wedding Cookies. (Pecan shortbread cookies covered in powdered sugar)
16. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Um...wow. This is a hard one. There are so many. I think I love our Christmas Eve the most. We order pizza for dinner, watch Miracle on 34th Street, then I read the Christmas Story and Twas the Night Before Christmas, then C goes to bed, and I sleep in the living room with the Christmas Tree lights left on.
17. What tops your tree? A star.
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? I love the giving. For me, it's all about finding just the right gift for the people on my list, and the look on their face when they open it.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? I have 3. I love Oh Holy Night (when it's sung properly, by someone with the voice to do it, like Josh Grobin, wow). I also love Do You Hear What I Hear, my fave version of that one is by Bing Crosby. And Christmas Eve Sarajevo by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
20. Candy Canes: Yuck or Yum? They're good for stirring into hot chocolate and decorating the tree. That's about it, lol
21 Favorite Christmas Show? I haven't seen it in years, but I used to LOVE the Garfield Christmas special. And who doesn't love A Charlie Brown Christmas? The ending? iCry.
22. Saddest Christmas Song? This is another hard one. The only really sad Christmas song I can think of is Christmas Shoes.
23. What’s your Wish for Christmas? That my friends, family, and loved ones are filled with the peace and joy of the season.
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Scrappers Give Thanks
They say that the children are our future. I totally agree. And because children ARE our future, it's super important for us to take care of them. I'm a lucky mom. My daughter is happy and more important, healthy. Not all moms are as lucky as I am when it comes to that. They have children who are ill, facing dreaded diseases. Living through the fear that all moms have hidden deep in their hearts. As we enter the holiday season, I realize how incredibly grateful I am for my daughter, and for all of the children in my life. And it occurs to me that I need to do something to show that gratitude.
This is where Scrappers Give Thanks comes in. SGT is an annual scrapbooking community project that benefits a specific charitable group or organization. Founded by Jennifer Wilson, with support from Anna Aspnes, the first project resulted in over 650 handmade cards being delivered to Operation Write Home in 2009. In 2010, the focus of Scrappers Give Thanks is children in hospitals across the US and Canada. The goal? 2000 cards, giving joy, laughter, and inspiration to these children, and their families. I have set a goal for myself to design and submit 12 cards to this project. One for each child in my extended family.
If you would like to contribute to this wonderful cause, please click the Scrappers Give Thanks logo on the right side of this page. The link will take you to the Scrappers Give Thanks website, where you can find out about how to submit your card. Want to help even more? Spread the word. Blog about it. Put the badge on your website. Tweet about it, share it on Facebook. My biggest reason for being grateful? This beautiful girl right here.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Somedays
Some days are better than others. I have good days, where I don't have a problem being "up" and I roll right on through the day. Then there are the "some days." Some days, things get to me, and I find myself cranky and withdrawn. Today was one of those days. It's hard to focus, my brain seems to move in slow motion. I have a hard time coping with life. I feel tired and just blah. I was told to expect this. Despite the fact that I had the treatment 2 weeks ago, the medicine will be in my body, in my system for weeks. And there will be days I feel it. Days it makes me tired, days I feel sick, days I just want to crawl in bed and stay there. But ya know what? Expecting it, knowing these days are "normal," doesn't make getting through them a lot easier.
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Story
Throughout my life, I've had to deal with Cancer. Twice as a child, my grandmother underwent mastectomies for Breast Cancer. My great-grandpa passed away when I was seven from Leukemia. When I was a Senior in high school, a little girl I babysat died from Brain Cancer. When I was 20, my grandfather passed due to Abdominal Cancer. In 2007 my best friend fought the same battle and I lost him too. I've always known Cancer, known its effects on people. And in the back of my mind, always knew that at some point in my life, it would be something I dealt with on a personal level, within my own body. There were just too many people in my family who had dealt with it for me to imagine that it would never strike me. Back in March of this year, I went to the doctor for some small cysts. They weren't painful, or anything like that, just annoying. The doctor agreed that they needed to be removed. He informed me that once removed they'd be sent to a lab for tests, and that this was standard procedure. So in April, I went in and had the surgery to have them removed. Turns out, they were malignant. (Cancer.) I was, to be honest, stunned. I'd expected Cancer, but not now. Not like this. In the span of 2 seconds I became a Cancer survivor. As that sank in, he explained that he needed to do more testing to find out if there were any more abnormal cells. If any were present, we'd need a biopsy. I went in for the tests, and he found three areas that popped for abnormal cells. He did the biopsies and explained to me that from there we would have three options. 1, they would come back as Cancer and have to be removed immediately. 2, they would come back as something we would need to watch very carefully, which would mean biopsies every month. 3, they would come back as just abnormal cells and we'd keep an eye on them and biopsy them every 4-6 months. When the results came in, 2 of the 3 areas were Cancer and surgery was scheduled. He also set me up on one round of oral chemotherapy. He was convinced the surgery would remove all of the Cancer, but the chemo would take care of any that he might possibly miss. I had the surgery, and 5 days later I went in for the chemo. It was all rather anticlimactic. I took the pill, sat in his office so they could watch me for any immediate reaction, and came home. I have had a small bit of nausea from the chemo, though the nausea medication I was given keeps that under control. And I am losing some hair, but I have enough that so far it isn't overly noticeable, both of which I'm very grateful for. And that's where my story is for now. There are days when it freaks me out. When I wake up thinking about how scary it is, how different it could have been. I thank the Lord every day for bringing me through this, for giving me a wealth of friends who have been there to support me, cry with me, chit chat with me to take my mind off things, make me laugh, hope with me, pray with me and stand behind me telling me that no matter what I need they're there for me. If nothing else, my journey down this road has taught me that with the kind of friends I have, the family that has chosen me, I can make it through anything.
**This post approved by Amanda Heimann ;)
**This post approved by Amanda Heimann ;)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Kelleigh Ratzlaff Blog Hop
I'm SO thrilled to have been a guest CT member for Kelleigh Ratzlaff this month, and even more excited to be able to participate in her blog hop! All of the projects in this hop are adorable and so inspiring! And the best part?!? YOU get to play along! Just visit all of the blogs in the list, and then go back to Kelleigh's blog, and vote for your favorite project. And there just might be something in it for you if you do!
Here's my project, using Kelleigh's Sassy Purse #3 Template and papers from Amanda Heimann's Ba-Da-Bing kit.
***You Are Here***Sally - http://arainbowslife.blogspot.com/
Tracy - http://tracykosofsky.blogspot.com/
Laura - http://www.lauras-little-corner.blogspot.com/
Juli - http://julifreshfish.blogspot.com/
Julie - http://mycrazylifeasamomandawife.blogspot.com/
Christy - http://scrapsofme.com/
Dana - www.paperdaydream.blogspot.com
LuAnn - http://livelaughcreate-luann.blogspot.com/
Jacinda - http://www.digikiwichick.blogspot.com/
Viva - http://vivaartistry.blogspot.com/
Dalis - http://www.stampergirl.com
Holly - http://lv2scrapnjp.blogspot.com
Sharyn - http://analteredlife.wordpress.com/
Karen Lewis - http://scrappingmum.blogspot.com/
Linda - http://www.yamstamps.com
Alice - http://aliceslittlewonderland.blogspot.com/
Mel - http://domesticatedlady.com
Sunghee - http://www.creativityinprogress.com/blog/
Carolina - http://creativepad.typepad.com
Debbie - http://www.debbieseyer.com/my_weblog/
Kim - http://paperrocksscissors.blogspot.com/
Here's my project, using Kelleigh's Sassy Purse #3 Template and papers from Amanda Heimann's Ba-Da-Bing kit.
***You Are Here***Sally - http://arainbowslife.blogspot.com/
Tracy - http://tracykosofsky.blogspot.com/
Laura - http://www.lauras-little-corner.blogspot.com/
Juli - http://julifreshfish.blogspot.com/
Julie - http://mycrazylifeasamomandawife.blogspot.com/
Christy - http://scrapsofme.com/
Dana - www.paperdaydream.blogspot.com
LuAnn - http://livelaughcreate-luann.blogspot.com/
Jacinda - http://www.digikiwichick.blogspot.com/
Viva - http://vivaartistry.blogspot.com/
Dalis - http://www.stampergirl.com
Holly - http://lv2scrapnjp.blogspot.com
Sharyn - http://analteredlife.wordpress.com/
Karen Lewis - http://scrappingmum.blogspot.com/
Linda - http://www.yamstamps.com
Alice - http://aliceslittlewonderland.blogspot.com/
Mel - http://domesticatedlady.com
Sunghee - http://www.creativityinprogress.com/blog/
Carolina - http://creativepad.typepad.com
Debbie - http://www.debbieseyer.com/my_weblog/
Kim - http://paperrocksscissors.blogspot.com/
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Jennifer Fox new releases
Head over to The Digichick and check out Jen's new release, Whisper of Spring and the Easter Sunrise Add-On. They are beautiful, soft kits with springy colors and elements. Easter Sunrise is a faith based add-on with gorgeous word art and elements.
ALSO....if you are interested in joining Jen's super fun CT, tomorrow is the last day to apply so head on over HERE and check out her call!
Oh! And one last thing, if you head over to Jen's blog, there's a special blog only coupon for her store!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Catching Up!
Wow this has been a crazy hectic week. Don't ask me exactly how it happened, but somehow this week I've picked up FOUR new CT gigs, lol. Yup. I'm now creating for Wild Dandelion Designs, Geek Chic Scraps, hybrid team for Jennifer Fox Designs, and I'm guesting for Kelleigh Ratzlaff next month! Wow! But, as a result of all this excitement, I've gotten way behind on my blog posting, sorry about that! So here's the last few days worth of photos, and hopefully tomorrow I'll have the weekly layout posted. And of course, Sunday night or Monday I'll have the February layout done. But in the meantime, I'm playing catch up with my photos. So here we go!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
February 20
I made homemade bread tonight! It was my first time making it and it made my house smell SO good! And it tasted REALLY good, lol.
Friday, February 19, 2010
February 19
Chocolate. Yum. Who doesn't smile when they see chocolate? Especially when it's wrapped in pretty flower foil? lol
Week 7 Layout
Week 7's layout. Lots of fun stuff this week. Casey's first dance, my weight loss goals kicked back into gear, Valentine's Day, and a new camera!!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
February 18
I've been taking random photos, trying to get used to the new camera. This was one of my favorites today.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
February 17
I was wandering around my house looking for things to take pictures of with the new camera, and these butterflies that "float" from my daughter's bedroom celing caught my eye. I thought they were pretty in front of her blue walls.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
February 15
My new camera arrived today!! So get ready for some MUCH better quality photos from me, lol. I'm so excited to get out tomorrow and really play with it!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
February 14
The drawing my daughter did for me as one of my Valentine's Day gifts. She's quite a talented artist and I love it when she does drawings for me.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
February 13
I'm kicking my weight loss goal into high gear. I bought these two DVD's and plan to use one every morning and the other in the evenings.
Friday, February 12, 2010
February 12
Casey had her first school dance tonight. She went with a group of her friends, and this is a photo of her with the little sister of one of her best friends.
And here's a picture of Casey before the dance, I had to show her off, lol. Can't believe how pretty and grown up she is.
And here's a picture of Casey before the dance, I had to show her off, lol. Can't believe how pretty and grown up she is.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
February 11
A cute little box I made for Casey. I'm going to fill it with Sweetheart candy for Valentine's Day :)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
February 10
I did a layout for ADSR of things I love about hybrid. This is one of the photos, a small portion of my hybrid ribbon stash.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
February 9
Well we got our snow. Another 8 inches last night and this morning. And more on the way. Casey did snow angels today.
Monday, February 8, 2010
February 8
Time for soccer! The season started today, and Casey had her gear set out for me to bring to her for practice, but they cancelled it due to the snow.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
ADSR Season 5
It started today! My good friend Jennifer and I are partnered up for the race this year, check out our team blog to see our Challenge One Layouts!
Same Brain Scrappers
Same Brain Scrappers
February 7
We have more snow predicted for tomorrow, but with all the coats hanging on our coat rack, I'm pretty sure we're ready for it! lol
Adorableness from Amy Sumrall!
So Amy is one of the guest designers at Scrap Orchard this month, and she's released two kits this week that are just adorable. Check these out! The kit images are linked to Amy's store over at SO.
Peaches for Me
Here's a layout I did with it:
Forest Frolic with Suzy Q Scraps
And a layout:
Peaches for Me
Here's a layout I did with it:
Forest Frolic with Suzy Q Scraps
And a layout:
February 6
It's been cold and rainy here for several days. Since it's Saturday, I can break out the sweats and fuzzy socks. Comfy and cozy. Perfect attire for this nasty weather!
Friday, February 5, 2010
February 5
Rain. It's been raining for days. Not exactly making me happy, but it will make me appreciate the sun more when we finally see it!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
February 4
What can I say? I love my dog. She's always doing something goofy to make me laugh. And she cuddles with me, lol.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
February 3
Ordering pizza for dinner is always a treat, it means I don't have to cook for one night, lol.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
February 2
I love having a neat and organized desk. It makes it much more enjoyable to sit here and do all the things I do on the computer.
Monday, February 1, 2010
February 1
The Biggest Loser. Bob is my hero. I love it when he gets all mean and evil and then turns around and gives the contestant he's working with a hug.
January Layout
This is the first of the monthly layouts. Each month I'll do a layout that looks like this, an overview of the month. It's really neat to have this layout to get a quick view of all the photos I took. Project 365 is going really well for me so far, and I'm really enjoying it!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
January 31
My kiddo and cousins built an awesome snowman today. They have had so much fun playing in the snow this weekend. Back to school tomorrow though!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
January 30
And it snowed some more! By morning it had finally stopped snowing but we had a total of about 10 inches of snow. My daughter is out at my Gram's farm so she can play in the snow with my cousins. My uncle has been pulling them around on the four wheeler and they've been sledding. I'm sad that I'm not there to play with them and take pictures, but I sent my camera with them so they could take lots of pictures for me. (Someone had to stay home and take care of the animals here, lol.) I'm using my daughter's camera for these couple of days, so the photo quality isn't going to be as good as it usually is, but I wanted good pictures of them playing in the snow, so I sent mine. Hopefully someone out there is a decent photographer! LOL
Friday, January 29, 2010
January 29
It snowed and snowed and snowed! I took this photo at about 10pm and we already had 5-6 inches. We don't get this much snow very often, so it was neat. You can even see some of the flakes falling where the flash caught them. Very cool!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
January 28
Yes, my photo for today is bragging on my kid again, lol. I'm allowed to do that, tee hee. We found out today that she got 2nd place in a poetry contest, and I'm super proud of her. A couple friends asked me to share the poem, so here it is:
Morning in the Forest
The wind blew through the forest
Her legs clung tightly to the flower as she sucked down the nectar
Refueled and ready to fly, she slowly spread out her wings
And then she waited
She waited for a gust of wind to blow her out into the morning sun
Slowly it came and gently plucked her off of the flower and carried her away
She felt her wings surge gracefully up and down to the beat of her heart
She was flying
She was beautiful
She was magnificent
She was a butterfly
Pretty good, huh?
Morning in the Forest
The wind blew through the forest
Her legs clung tightly to the flower as she sucked down the nectar
Refueled and ready to fly, she slowly spread out her wings
And then she waited
She waited for a gust of wind to blow her out into the morning sun
Slowly it came and gently plucked her off of the flower and carried her away
She felt her wings surge gracefully up and down to the beat of her heart
She was flying
She was beautiful
She was magnificent
She was a butterfly
Pretty good, huh?
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
January 27 and a blog revamp
Here's my photo for today. Casey made the honor roll for 1st semester, so she got a certificate for a free pizza from Papa John's.
Hopefully you've noticed that the page has been renamed. I spent some time thinking about it and I decided that I want this blog to be more about my life in general, as opposed to just my Project 365. I'll still be posting my daily photos, and weekly layouts here, but I also want to be able to post about other things happening in my life, and I didn't want to do a seperate blog for that. My goal for this year is still to find joy in everyday life. But I've decided that trying to focus my P365 on that is quite restricting when it comes to taking the actual photos. The thing is, obviously whatever I photograph is something I find some joy in, or I wouldn't bother to take a photo of it. So my new idea for my P365 is just "life." Whatever it throws at me that I want to photograph each day. I might try to set myself some themes, but for the most part my photos will be completely random, just whatever strikes me and says "take a photo of me."
This blog is still about a journey, and it's still about finding the joy IN the journey, but now I just feel a bit less restricted about what I can photograph, or what I can post here, and THAT makes me feel good! :)
Hopefully you've noticed that the page has been renamed. I spent some time thinking about it and I decided that I want this blog to be more about my life in general, as opposed to just my Project 365. I'll still be posting my daily photos, and weekly layouts here, but I also want to be able to post about other things happening in my life, and I didn't want to do a seperate blog for that. My goal for this year is still to find joy in everyday life. But I've decided that trying to focus my P365 on that is quite restricting when it comes to taking the actual photos. The thing is, obviously whatever I photograph is something I find some joy in, or I wouldn't bother to take a photo of it. So my new idea for my P365 is just "life." Whatever it throws at me that I want to photograph each day. I might try to set myself some themes, but for the most part my photos will be completely random, just whatever strikes me and says "take a photo of me."
This blog is still about a journey, and it's still about finding the joy IN the journey, but now I just feel a bit less restricted about what I can photograph, or what I can post here, and THAT makes me feel good! :)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
January 25
The kid and the dog, lol. Asia has a couple new miniature tennis balls and she has to have them in sight. Just seconds after I took this she jumped on the one in Casey's hair and scared Casey to death, lol.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
January 24
How can this picture not make you laugh? This is my Gram. She's 80 years old and obviously can be goofy as all get out. But she's my rock. My home port in a storm. But I love that I point the camera at her and she makes faces at me like a 4 year old, LOL!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
January 23
My new best friends, lol. I don't go anywhere without one of these two water bottles. I've cut down from 8-10 diet coke a day, to MAYBE one. I'm pretty proud of that. I'm now drinking about six of the purple bottles per day. (That's about 144 oz of water, lol)
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