A couple new pics

A very sweet friend took some absolutely awesome pics of me at our scrapbooking retreat this past week-end. You know how we always hate pictures of ourselves? Well, this gal knows what she's doing and I just LOVED them! Thank you so very much, Jeanne, for taking the time to make me look good!



And I just like the "evil" look to this one:

Look at what we came home to today...

#23

Yeah, that's this week's challenge number but have you *watched* the movie? Interesting but different...

Anyway, this post is suppose to be about numbers.

33 days until my birthday
40, how old I'll be then
60, dh's age
18, C's age
16, K's age
8, J's age
7 weeks that Dad has been in the hospital
4 days till The Slammer crop!!

and, sadly, that's all I can think of right now....

Blog challenge #22

was to do something off Blog Thing...

You Act Like You Are 28 Years Old

You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

And I couldn't resist this one:

You Are 55% Normal

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Just can't....

do this week's blog challenge right now.

My dad's going in for quadruple bypass surgery in the morning. We've had many assurances that things will go well...and I just keep reminding myself of that...but I'm a little freaked out right now. Dad's "only" 59, healthy, exercises...just does absolutely everything his cardiologist has been telling him to do, and been doing it for years!

Family

Our challenge for this week was to blog about "where we came from." I, as usual, can't follow directions very well since this is what popped into my head.

The world lost a wonderful lady late last week. My grandfather's cousin, Pauline, passed away at the age of 97. She was one *incredible* lady and will be greatly missed by many.

Pauline was very independent and lived in the home she & her husband bought when they married up until recently. When my dad's cousin went to stay with her, she came home and told us some fun stories. Pauline had been a child of the depression and, because of this, didn't believe in throwing anything away. Tin cans from vegetables were washed and flattened then stored in her basement. She was still using the refrigerator she & her dh bought when they first married....the OLD kind that had to be defrosted each week! Curtains were taken down and washed weekly and were still in excellent condition because of the care she'd given them over the years. There were many more stories about things like this but I just can't remember them at the moment.

Pauline was also our family historian. Even though we had a secretary who took notes at each family reunion, Pauline took notes each year as well for as long as I can remember. A couple years ago, she told some of the family that all her family history info was to come to me....the first time I know of that she had said who would inherit this treasure trove. And what an honor! After making this announcement, she started sending a little bit to me through my dad's cousin then my parents (cousin lives near my parents). I have a few of the OLD family reunion notebooks and it's such a treat to look through them and see my great-aunt Opal's or great-aunt Mabel...or Grandma's...handwriting! Mom has also told me that she has several wheels of slides (and I think she said a slide projector) that Pauline sent for me to have old family photos.

Tomorrow is Pauline's memorial service and I just hate that I can't be there! Mom & Dad were going with Dad's cousin and her husband but those plans had to change just yesterday. I'm sure that Pauline would have understood and expected me to spend time with my own family this week-end but it just feels wrong to not be there. I guess I'll just have to make Steve go with me some day to visit her gravesite....

Good-bye, Pauline...there will never be another like you. I love you!

Our last "love" challenge

and Katie didn't say it had to be our OWN romantic moment, lol.

This has to be one of my fave movie moments and I'm such a sucker that I can miss the whole movie, only watch THIS part and STILL cry.

I need....

a new name for this blog. "Bag" Lady worked when I was being kept busy making purses last summer but not so much now.

Any suggestions?

A couple recent layouts that I love

I "challenged myself" to mix up the chipboard letters this time instead of having them all the same.

And a bad pic of this layout but I love how it turned out.


I placed vellum over the patterned paper, stamped on the vellum, and added "bling" to the stamped images. Oh, the flower bling wasn't on stamped images but I added them anyway.

Wasn't I a cutie??

Photos I love

I'm a week late getting this one posted but better late than never, right?




(Gotta love the big boys playing like little kids!)

"I Love to Hate..."

Hmm, I didn't think this challenge would be all that hard since there seems to be so many things I "hate."

I guess I have to say that I "love to hate" Chicago sports teams. I don't know why because they certainly haven't ever done anything to me. I guess it started growing up in a family that was full of Cardinals fans so they "hated" the Cubs. And yet I ended up married to a Cubs fan and have to watch ALL their games.

Then, for some reason, along the line, I started to "hate" the Bears. Again, I don't know why...I just do.

So now that I've had to put it "down on paper" I guess it's time to rethink if I truly DO hate these teams....

10 things I love...

Katie's on a "love" kick right now because we're having a Love Crop over at Scrapbookfriends.net this month.

So 10 things I love...
my family
my friends
books
scrapbooking
stamping
movies
my enV cell phone!
a clean, organized scrap room
Mickey Mouse
a variety of music

How's that for general? lol

Making progress...

on that disaster in my scrap room. The mess is still on the far side of the table but the actual scrapping area is almost cleaned up. Two shelves left to clean up in my built-in shelves area then I can tackle the rest of the room.

Hoping to get that all cleaned up today since everyone is home tomorrow so I won't be able to do it then. And Steve said we'd start rearranging everything on Saturday. Of course, we'll just have to move everything again when I start painting but at least it's a start on getting it how I want.

Better late than never

Last week's challenge was to blog a list: resolutions, memories of 2007, favorites or least favorites from 2007, hopes for the new year. Since my memories as still colored by the latter part of the year, I'm going off-topic....besides, I'm not much of a list maker. I did make up a list of things I want to get done with my scrap room...and aren't you feeling privileged that you get to see the list?

switch sides of room: tv/accessories/stereo set in built-in shelves

color-purples
lilac/lavender walls
darker curtains
lavender or white sparkly sheers
curtains over shelves?

new table skirt

cover bb with batting & ribbon

paint table? redo top somehow

shades to replace blinds

find "bar stool" to use at table

dye fabric of 2 deck chairs? or make new?

stencil & paint inspirational words on walls?

Pretty exciting, huh? Before I can really do ANY of the list, I desperately need to clean. Took these pics after picking up enough stuff the kids had dumped on the floor when they took stuff upstairs, just so I could move around.

Follow-up to "No wonder I'm twisted"

Dad gave me permission to post the pic I saw when I opened my card from them on Christmas.

I'm telling you, this is just WRONG!



And my reaction when I opened the card to see the pic above.