Good News and Uck News lol

Well I told ya my life is never dull!
On the GREAT NEWS--
Dh's surgeon's visit on Friday turned out extremely well and all is good on that part. We still have all the other tests Jan 8 and 9 but at least thru the Holiday we can breathe. Right about now I am exhausted but happy that the worrying is over on much of it and my stress level came down at least for now! I had more down days than up ones over this believe me! Am going to try to get some much needed FULL sleep in the next few days and hopefully my energy level will jump back up. Thank you to all my dear friends and family for their prayers and blessings for it surely worked!

On the UCK news--CJ slipped in the messy mushy snowy wet crap yesterday and we ended up taking him to the ER and yes you guessed it he broke something! He is hobbling on crutches and wrapped up til he sees the ortho surgeon tomorrow but the poor kid did not need this! At least football season is over but dang the kid already broke one thing this year you would think that was enough wouldn't you! He's much better painwise this morning but last nite my heart ached as he is not one to cry at his age(ya know teenage boys and the macho thing) but he did last nite in my car and I felt so helpless! Please just keep him in your prayers.His lil sister is due for her hip surgery in January so they sure can use alot of extra help that way.

I put up Holiday graphics as you can see lol --My thanks to Grandma's Attic for them as I JUST LOVE them and hope you all do too! I am thinking of moving it all over to WP but am so used to Blogger I can't decide hahaha.

To anyone who reads this blog of mine sparse as it is PLEASE have a Joyous Holiday Season and I wish you many blessings this upcoming year!
Happy Holidays
Love and Blessings
Jolene

Hit and Miss

I seem to be on a hit and miss here don't I?

Added a new kit called GingerSpice to 3 Scrapateers so here is a lookie.

Have to finish up some I have in the works but have been working on my pixel site as well as all the dang dr appts dh has and mine as well. VA is not known for speed but this is getting ridiculous..it's like hurry up and wait lol. I told them this week look just make all the appts for one week and he will take a week's vacation and get them all done..they promised to do so and call me back yesterday and guess what..yeah you got it--STILL no call back. I swear government red tape is giving me a breakdown :-(.


We are going to get snow and think it's going to stay around this time wah but I do like it for Christmas Eve and Day ..other than that I wish it would just go elsewhere haha. It was beautiful here today for the last of November..was in the 60s so I even got some decorating started.. I am slow at doing anything these days so I will be lucky to be done by Christmas at this rate! Sure makes me wish I had a fairy godmother who would purchase all new decorations and do my house up all gorgeous for me..WELL A GIRL CAN DREAM rotfl! Oh to have the bucks to do what I would like to..oh well hey it's still a good dream!

I changed the video to a beautiful song I came across by Blackmore's Night. I adore their regular music but this song and video really capture the Holiday Spirit I think! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Have a great weekend!

A bit of this and that

I put up some new elements exclusively at 3Scrapateers yesterday..just some fun things to add to pages. Have a series of them in the works so this is just a few to start with. There will be a sale going on at 3S this weekend so make sure you check it out!







I am trying to get back in the swing of things but it will be slow going so bear with me! I have some things in the works for Digitals as well so please check back often!


On the personal side the news on dh is so so..surgery is coming up for some"manly ills" they found and they suspect an aortic aneursym so he has to have all those wonderful heart tests done. He is such a stubborn pigheaded man he doesn't totally understand the importance and urgency of some of this and I can't seem to get it thru his thick head ..imagine that lol. Thus my stress levels go thru the roof... DD was in the hospital with breathing problems but is doing better thank heavens. Grandkids are all healed up and back to their ornery selves as usual haha. Caitie still faces surgery after the holidays but we are trying to not even think about that for now. The custody issues are going along..both sides working for the best of the young one FINALLY but her mom does not make it easy that is for sure. The good thing is she is spending more time with us and with her aunt as well as her daddy and stepmommy and sister and she had straight A's on her report card and won 1st place in all but one of her cheering competitions! That tells us all she is doing much better with dad than she did with her mother but getting her mother to admit it is another thing. She loves her I know but some people are just not meant to be mom's and don't know how to be nor want to be..it's just something that happens. It doesn't mean she doesn't love her..she just has different priorities than a normal mom has. Sad yes and I wish it were different but after 11 years I don't see her changing any sigh.


On a fun note I have been messing with and enjoying some of my old loves of pixel drawing and painting and collecting :-) so added a sub domain to mine called RayneDropps. Just a fun way to relax with no deadlines, no pressures..just fun stuff so if you have a mind to come on by!

On my RayneScraps site we found issues with some mean posters who wanted to send trash so have changed the permissions there etc so if you can't see the forums make sure you are registered. I really wish these spammers and trash people would find better things to do than mess with those of us who just want peace and quiet ya know!

Have a great Turkey Day to everyone here in the US that celebrates it!
Hugs and blessings
Jolene

Taking a break

With things stressing me so much lately and health issues I am taking a break from scrapping until mid November. I need time to recover from all the crap that bothers me of late and all the things that I have no control over but control me lol. I am gonna lay on the beach for awhile and just veg out and breathe! Hopefully the weather is cooperating while I am there but if not hey there are hot tubs and indoor lazy rivers! Hopefully when I get back I can be back to some sort of speed and in a creative frame of mind :-). I will be playing with some pixels as well working on that side of "crafting" and designing so don't be surprised what I add to my repitoire :-). I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that side of things as well so it's an exciting adventure for when I am back as well. I do have 6 kits in the making and some freebies as well so look for them when I am back. Have a great few weeks and if I don't post you know it's because the waves and sun are calling my name lol. Hugs and blessings Jo

TY and neat find

I want to say TY for all the comments :-) Nice to know someone actually sees what I put here lol. Ya all ROCK and I appreciate it!

I am not a big fan of gothic stuff but I am a huge Jewelry nut and I came across this site that I so totally fell in love with her jewelry so just thought I would share it for any of you who enjoy it!

http://www.artofadornment.ca/main.htm

This one really caught my eye for some reason lol!


I have all this old jewelry I inherited from my great grandmother as she was a costume jewelry nut and none of my other sisters care alot for jewelry so I totally enjoy it. When I was working I always wore it ...I LOVE it lol what can I say. I rarely get much chance now as I can't get out and about as I used to but with several granddaughters I sure hope one of them loves it like I do so I can pass them on :-). I did take some of the ones that were broken etc and use them for some of my scrapping so that is a definite plus :-).

I also found a really kewl set for Halloween if I was still dressing up for a party night it definitely would be superb to own altho I don't see it for sale anymore it's kinda kewl. Her ebay site has alot listed there to and NO lol I don't know her or plugging her..Just really liked her stuff for some reason.

I Was Tagged and didn't even know it lol

I got tagged by a Digitals Maddy and totally missed it! I am so SORRY Maddy!.. that means I will have to play catch up. lol.

List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets.
Tag 5 friends and list them.
Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people.

SOOOOOOOOOO here goes lol

1. I hiccup so loud they can hear me in the next county lol.

2. I used to snore but now I don't haha..have a cpap machine so that stops it but I do tend to look like something from an alien movie if you happen to come into my room when I am sleeping rotfl.

3. I sneeze in sets of 3. Dunno why but I can't just sneeze once...its always in sets of 3!

4. I have a "designer" cane in purple and black --looks like it's one of those papers they dip in oil and water to make a design. DH says if he left it up to me I would have one in every color to match my clothes !

5. I have no pets so that's no help is it --hmmmm thinking...of #5.......
My life is NEVER DULL --there never is a week that goes by that someone in my family does not have a crisis or emergency or some health issue. I WOULD love to have just a quiet uneventful life..my best friends keep telling me to write a book..Erma Bombeck did lol and look at the money she made!

Not sure I am tagging yet..know my bud Lissa will be one and of couse Wolfie bahbay lol . Gonna have to check who hasn't been tagged yet lol.

Thanks Maddy girl!

HAPPY HAPPY DANCE!

I AM SO STOKED! MY layout of Daltie was picked as layout of the day at GOTTA PIXEL this week on October 2! What a lovely honor it is! The members there are wonderful and always always comment on every layout and are very helpful when needed! They have a great site and I do love visiting it. They have a super staff as well that is well run and well put together! THANKS GP for making my day and my week!You can view their picks daily herehttp://www.gottapixel.net/blog/

Another Day and Challenge Starting

I told you life is never dull! I got a phone call and my db's f-i-l passed away suddenly with an anuerysm :-(. They had just gone to Hawaii on Sunday for a much needed vacation so I feel doubley bad for them. His "significant other" is a wonderful person we all love dearly and know this is a terrible loss for them both.

On another note Cody's big night ( Football game under the lights :-)) was cancelled last night due to a nasty lightening and thunderstorm that blew thru here. He was so disappointed as it was the only night game they play this season but they are trying to reschedule it this weekend either sat or sun night if possible so the team still gets that chance. It's funny how such a "small" thing like a night game can make a difference to these youngsters but it does! I think I can vaguely remember that lol. We played all afternoon games at my high school so it was a rare treat for us as well to have a night game back then as many stadiums did not have lights. When ds played in Michigan we had a huge mess of fundraisers just so the high school could put in lights to play night games.

There is just something about a crisp fall night game as opposed to an afternoon game for some reason!


I did up a two page layout of my darlin redheaded gs :-) in all his glory so here's a peek at it ..enjoy!




Credits are all mine cept for his name on page 1 ..that is Letterman Alpha by my buddy Ronnie McCray whose DT I am on. SHE ROCKS! She's on loa right now from designing as she has a beautiful brand new baby boy to enjoy and that sure does take priority over anything else naturally. He is a doll baby from the pics I have seen! Congrats again dear Ronnie!

On Page 2 it is actually a background I made for my Football Fever kit at Digitals ..I colorized it with Koyoto Color to go with his school colors as I did with Ronnie's Alpha as well. It made up a neat journaling page in my opinion as used the field lines as my paper. Just a spur of the moment idea I kinda like actually lol.


Had a marvelous checkup today so that part is good. I saw my pulmonary specialist and he was very happy with my tests and heart sounds so hey that's a good thing. AND I lost over 20 lbs so that is definite happy happy joy joy! I knew I had been losing it as had that dang stomach bug for two weeks on top of dieting so I was happy with that announcement from him as was he lol. He put me on another med this time tho for my allergies as the fall seems to really drive me nuts with sneezing fits and so far so good. I used it when I got home this afteroon and so far I can still actually breathe tonite without being stuffy! GO FLONASE lol.

Tomorrow starts my challenge hosting at 3 Scrapateers. It's called Remember When with Jo. Each Friday I will be posting a challenge to remember things either from your past or your ancestors past in a page. It won't necessarily require any pictures but journaling is a must so it may prove interesting I hope! I would love to see both photos and journaling but am leaving it up to those who choose to participate. Haven't finished a bonus to hand out yet as not sure what it will be but I promise ya will get some freebie of some type from someone lol. Maybe me, maybe another designer who knows. Be surprised haha.

well I rambled as much as I can for one time so have a wonderful weekend all!
Hugs and blessings

Life is NEVER dull!

To say my life is ever dull is just a non sentance! MY life is NEVER dulll--I would love to have a dull day or week or month or year lol.

We are still doing the ongoing tests with the VA for dh which thinks we have nothing better to do than travel 2-3 hours away for tests they could do on his day off rather than making him miss a day's work. He tends to get cranky when they keep scheduling the appts for mondays and tuesdays etc and they know dang well he works...guess who gets stuck in the middle? YEP that would be me as usual!

my ds got hurt at work and is suffering with cracked ribs and alot of pain and may actually be broken or he may have back and/or spinal cord injuries ..we don't know alot just yet..he has an MRI in the morning and had other tests this week as well as going to therapy most days. It makes it difficult at best to even play with his precious newest daughter our miss wiggle butt lol and to get his older daughter back and forth to school and cheerleading and not miss her events. Somehow tho between him and his wonderful wife they manage. Having a son who is a fireman is scary enough let me tell you and knowing he has a family it worries me even more but it is who he is, it is who he wanted to be and it is what he loves to do so as a mom I deal with but sometimes I sure wish he had picked a safer profession haha!

Our sweet Caitie had her trip to her specialist at Children's Hsptl and they are scheduling her for surgery after the first of the year again. She was so little when they did the first ones she doesn't really remember how bad it was..how close we came a few times to losing her...so is dealing with it matter of factly right now as she adores her dr. She is one of these rare kids who loves getting a shot! GO FIGURE! She gets very put out when they don't have to give her a booster shot lol. Her hip is what the issue is and while it has healed fairly well it is not growing as she is and without the surgery she will have more and more difficulty as she gets older with normal activities like running and playing let along doing the things she wants to do like gymnastics or ballet. The surgery is necessary yes but...as grandma I so wish and pray it would suddenly be normal to save her the misery I know is ahead after the surgery and while it reheals. They said they are going to put her in a cast as with 5 brothers and sisters there is too much change she could hurt it so that in itself will be a challenge and she will miss school for many weeks which she is not happy about as she loves school.

As for me ugh..same old same old--good days and bad days. The fall weather bringing the colder air is already starting to effect me more each day. I cannot wait to get to the beach and sit in the sun and hottub! Well not so much the sun since as a Lupus patient the sun is not my friend but still the warmth from it sure does these old bones good! The pain meds are taking some playing with to get it so that I have more than an hour at a time without being miserable but hopefully at some point it will work on a continuous basis. I am just kinda sick of taking 14 kinds of meds for all the crap I have been dealt but guess I should be grateful that they even are able to treat them with something rahter than just giving up as was done in" olden days". I know I am blessed with some caring dr's and that is definitely a plus but it took so long to get ones who heard me and cared enough to know where to find out what was causing me such agony.

SO there is my not so dull life this week lol.---stay tuned cuz who knows what next week will bring as there is always something trust me!

Happy over the hump day..hope yours was good!

I don't get much chance to watch movies but I took time tonite to watch The Lake House starring my favorite Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves . It took my breath away in a wonderful way! This so tops my favorite movies just for the content. If you are a romantic in any sense of the word you will love this movie. While yes it's not plausible it still catches you up in a love story that transends time and space. It's one that can make your heart melt and tears come up every so often in a good way. I found it just amazingly beautiful and will be watching this one over and over like several other Sandra Bullock movies I have. This is a winning combination of these two actors and the chemistry of the love story is awsome. For it me it goes up there with Somewhere in time starring Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour and with The Bridges of Madison County. Just good love stories--the sappy kind--the good kind that make you sigh and make you dream and wish for the kind of love they have. All in all some time well spent for someone who doesn't take time to watch tv or movies much lol. If you get a chance watch it..enjoy it! I sure did!

Freebie

Please take time to visit us over at THE UNTAMED SCRAPPER and read our newsletters called the VIEW FROM UNTAMED where our OCT one is located (Just click on the VIEW).


October:
Techniques of the Month
Envelopes and "Time" --You can check out my tutorial :-)

Color Scheme of the Month:

Olive, Kraft,Pink, and Coral --You can see my layout with the colors and the freebie that I did of my best bud Lissa and her dh ;-)



and my freebie gift here --

It will be gone Nov 1 so if you want it you best get it now. AND REMEMBER IT'S NOT FOR SHARING!

Please be an angel and don't be a pirate!

New Tut Up for Digi Envelope

Did a new tutorial for The Untamed Scrapper Newsletter and also at Digitals
"Making a Digital Envelope Template"
Here is an example of what I did with it :-)

LOTS and LOTS and LOTS

Wow I have neglected here for a bit haven't I? I was working on layouts and kits and all that fun stuff I so love to do! Without further ado here are the new LO's I got done :-)

Digitals is celebrating it's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIGITALS!

To celebrate you will find almost all products on sale for 20% off or more :-)

My layouts hold just a small sampling of many of the items you can find there! Such talented ladies from all over the world add to the content each day or week so be sure to visit there often and see what's happening and what's new!

CREDITS: ALL AT DIGITALS

Sophia Davis-Sweetness

Graziela Mendes--Transparency Flowers

Sue Jones--Baby Quote Ribbons

Sue Jones-- Beauty Overlay

Font -Love

Photos by Michelle Burns Photography (Scarlett's Aunt )

CREDITS: ALL AT DIGITALS

NandinhaMenezes-Splendour kit

Sue Jones Childrens Word Art

Veronica-InSpringsGarden Doodles

Perisphere font

CREDITS: ALL AT DIGITALS

Carla Logston-- Summer Breeze

Sue Jones-- Hope Word Art Collection

Font: DaVinci Forward

CREDITS: ALL AT DIGITALS

Glenda Ketcham-Raspberry Delight Kit

Sharia Braxton-Fantasy brushes

Heather Watson--All Stitched Up WordArt

Monte Carlo font

CREDITS: ALL FROM DIGITALS

Dana-Brookwood QPS

and

Dana-Brookwood Kit alpha and tag

font for date is Freestyle Script

CREDITS: ALL FROM DIGITALS

Christine Schultz-- Cinnamon Swirl Kit

Arvita Mott-- Tonia's Antique Frames--Sepia colorized

Arvita Mott-- Tonia's Lace Butterflies

Font: P22 Corinthia

CREDITS: ALL FROM DIGITALS

Heather Watson-- Cashmere

Karin McCombes-- Circle of Life

Jen Maceyunas -Because You Loved Me Alpha

Font-- Art Deco Chic P22

CREDITS: ALL FROM DIGITALS

Heather Watson --CORNER STORE TREATS

Font used Cameo Appearance on title and Doctor Jekyll for the journaling

CREDITS: ALL FROM DIGITALS

Glenda Ketcham--Nana's Backyard

Sharia Braxton-- What's The Word

Heather Watson-- All Stitched Up Alpha White

CREDITS: ALL FROM DIGITALS

Dea Spina -- A Bit Of Autumn

Fonts:P22 Garamouche and P22 Petemoss and Poor Richard

LOL --told ya I was busy! Will post in a few news and updates and all that happy stuff:-)

Happy Monday!

Freebie and tutorial

I wrote a tut for the Digitals site called Attaching Paperclips the Digital Way back in August which you can find HERE
I have added a freebie of paperclips to the download section at Digitals for those who want to try it out. Remember you do have to be signed in to get the free downloads and membership is free! THEY MAY NOT BE SHARED in any other way!
CLICK TO GET THERE



If you know someone who wants them then please direct them to the site! Sadly there are people STILL sharing what is not theirs to share so don't be one of those! I have not put a freebie up for a long time due to the piracy issues so this is a test case for me to decide if it's something I want to do again. Once you have been burned badly it's hard to give again but I love doing what I do and generally trust that the good in people will prevail so please do this the RIGHT way :-). Thanks so much.

New stuff :-)

Grammy's Place is up at 3Scrapateers and Digitals.



Scraplets are exclusive to 3S only
You can find them here


Grammy's PLace Alphabet you can find at 3S here
and at DIGITALS HERE

Grammy's Place Scrapkit you can find at 3S Here
and at DIGITALS HERE

Happy Sunday

I found some new music I fell in love with! I am a great fan of celtic/irish/scottish music and our local PBS had a concert on by a Canadian group called Leahy this evening and I SO totally enjoyed it. The video track here is of them. They are a family group of brothers and sisters who have so much talent it's amazing from the instruments they play to the stepdancing they do. Their mother was the champion stepdancer if I recall and their dad is a "fiddling fool" lol. At any rate it's happy fun music and hope you enjoy the little bit of here.



Have a new kit ready to go called Grammy's Place and did get a layout done with it for starters so here's a peek ..it should be out this weekend.

Well I got brave

Blogger has moved to a new version and I bravely made the switch. So far so good I think lol. One issue I see is with the profile pic as it's not showing up on this main page but shows in my dashboard so will have to check on that I guess ugh.

I have two new Tuts up exclusively at Digitals so check them out when you have time. HINT there will be an upcoming freebie to use with one of them later this week :-). Have a great Labor Day Weekend.
Jo

Running in Circles

You ever have those days or weeks you feel like all you are doing is running in circles?
This has surely been one of my worst ones in history I swear lol. I don't know if I am coming or going or standing in place! Dh's appointments with setup for VA benefits we thought was going to be a simple procedure---NOT! They need stuff done that he already had done by our family dr and getting to the new med center where the family dr moved to is like going thru Ft. Knox! Getting an actual PERSON on the phone heaven forbid! I am so sick of phone tag and "i have no idea" answers! I finally hit the roof this morning and told them if they hang on or transfer me again I am calling the admin! THEY finally heard that part haha and then they argued with me that his recs did not show those tests and I KNOW they are there..I WAS there when they were done and lo and behold I got a "Oh yes, they would be in his old charts and we don't have room for them here. They are in a back closet someplace. We keep all our stuff on electronic files now." At that point I HOLLERED and lost my temper which I rarely do --the final result they went and found the file quite quickly and I am getting what we need faxed as I write. BUT why they had to make it more difficult than it needed to be is beyond me! VA has been lovely overall but they call every few hours with something new they want to change or reschedule and I am like FINE just do it as we have a full day trip there on Friday and with the price of gas we sure as heck do not want another long trip if we can help it. I am grateful VA got it all going as fast as they have as his insurance expires tonite so that part at least is a good thing.
Ok enuf of my ramble lol thanks for listening!

New Layouts and upcoming

New Layouts done yay! See I was actually working all day lol. Finished the first one of our Miss Wiggle Butt and posted the other two heritage ones I did last week.

I love this kit by Lianne Carper called Sucker for Love and it just seemd to fit our Miss Scarlett!

Kit is over at 3 Scrapateers --http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=926

Dh's Parents on their Family Homestead that still stands out by the historical covered bridge bearing our last name!

Used Kimberly Stewart for her Cottage Garden Remix and and Cottage Garden Alpha from 3Scrapateers you can find it them here:

http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=1853 and

http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=1852

And used

Christine Nash's simply stitches scribbles for the daisy on the tag and simply stitches taupe for the stitching on the papers ( all colorized) -Originally got them from Digitals but not sure where she has them right now. Will update.

Dh's Great great great uncle or maybe there is one more great in there lol and his children and his mother. We have no photos of his father other than of the headstone at the cemetary that I know of right now.Was neat to find these photos on a distant cousins site of this part of the family for his and our son's records.

Used Teri Hanson's Kings Fancy and Queen's Fancy from Divine Digital which you can find here

http://divinedigital.com/divineboutique/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=&products_id=316 and http://divinedigital.com/divineboutique/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=15&products_id=36

and Kim Stewart's Family Silver Charms from 3 Scrapateers which you can find here

http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=1868

Boy am I now pooped lol. Thanks for taking a look..and stay tuned as will be offering my first blog freebie sometime later in the week to use with the new tutorial I wrote for Digitals this week. :-)

Remembering

Over the past few months I have been slowly gathering and finding alot of info on ancestors from both my side and dh's side of the families. What started out as a quest for more info on my birth mom's side as I had a booklet done back in the early 80s I believe it was that traced one side back to the 1700s turned out to be more than I imagined! I not only got that info put into format in Legacy but managed to find similar info on my dad's side altho its sketchy as we just never got the info when we should have! But its a whole other ball game on dh's side and I am the recipient of a vast amount of info and more recently memorbilia going back to the civil war and some even to the revolutionary war! It's so amazing to find some of it and the resources out there I have found are countless! It's made me want to make sure to leave some of my own memories around for my munchkins to giggle at or wonder at when they have grands of their own.I came across the following which I did post at Untamed as well but thought maybe some of you may get a kick out of it..

so REMEMBER WHEN ?

Close your eyes, and go back...
Back before the Internet or the MAC,
Before semi-automatics and crack.
Before chronic and indo;
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo.
Way back... I'm talking about hide and go seek at dusk.
Sitting on the porch, hot bread and butter.
Eating a 'super-dooper sandwich' (Dagwood)
Red light! Green light! Chocolate milk. Lunch tickets.
Penny candy in a brown paper bag.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, Jacks, kickball, dodgeball, y'all! Mother, May I? Hula Hoops and Sunflower Seeds, Jawbreakers, blowpops, MaryJanes.
Running through the sprinkler! I can't get wet! All right; well, don't wet my hair.
The smell of the sun and licking salty lips...
Wait... Catching lightening bugs in a jar.
Playing sling shot and Red Rover.
When around the corner seemed far away, And going downtown seemed like going somewhere. Bedtime, Climbing trees, a million mosquito bites and sticky fingers,
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Sitting on the curb.
Jumping down the steps, Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights. Being tickled to death;
Running till you were out of breath. Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt!
Being tired from playing...Remember that?

I ain't finished just yet...
What about the girl that had the big bubbly hand writing?
Licking the beaters when your mother made a cake. Didn't that feel good?
Just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

Remember when...
When there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds and PF Flyers), and the only time you wore them at school, was for "gym."
When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there.
When nobody owned a purebred dog.
When a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter a huge bonus.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then.
When your mom wore nylons that came in two pieces.
When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done, everyday.
When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time.
You didn't pay for air...or drinking water. And, you got trading stamps to boot!
When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
The price of gas was affordable.
Milk came in jars with real bottle caps.
When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed... and did!
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Disapproval of our parents and grandparents was a much bigger threat!

If you can remember any of these things, I smile with you. Talk of these things to your children. Don't let these memories fade away completely. Just talking to your children, friends, or loved ones, and trading memories is a joy. Life goes quickly. Seize it! And be thankful!

I have no idea who wrote the above but it is a great piece of " Food for Thought!".
On that note I am off to finish up some work and hopefully post the heritage layouts I got done.
Have a wonderful week.
J

BUSY BUSY

I got alot of things done the past few weeks working off and on when I felt up to it and FINALLY have them uploaded to the stores! So without further ado here ya go

COMING TO DIVINE DIGITAL:

METALLICAS a divine exclusive!

NEW AT DIGITALS AND 3SCRAPATEERSSun Fun Alpha and Sun Fun Scrapkit

So what is up with me wellllllllll...............

Right about now I am seeing RED can you tell! Things for my family are never dull that's for sure! My dear sister's grandson has gone thru a horrid trauma this week stemming from his mother! It seems this dear little boy has been beaten in the head and kicked not ONLY by HIS MOTHER but her parents as well! His daddy just married my niece and had him alternating weeks but now he and my niece have him full time as DSS stepped in as they saw what had happened and have issued restraining orders on the mother and her parents and criminal charges will surely follow. NO CHILD should ever have to go thru what this adoreable little guy has been apparently suffering for some time. I cannot go into details here for obvious reasons but my sister, his daddy and my niece (his stepmom) are beside themselves. We are all thankful it's been found out and does explain why he was having headaches so much of late and why he hated getting his hair washed when they had him as he said it hurt to wash his hair. Now anyone with kids know that children go thru stages but this was different and he suffered what the trauma therapist says is a meltdown/panic attack type thing several times last weekend ..bad enough that the pediatrican saw it himself and immediately knew there was a definite problem!
The little guy is safe and secure with his daddy and stepmom and his paternal grandparents and my sister now but please ...whatever higher power you believe in say a few prayers to keep this precious child safe! I WILL NEVER understand any parent beating on their kids let alone a little one of just 5. Frankly I hope they lock up his mom and throw away the key that is how angry I am and it takes alot to get me that mad trust me! I am usually my true Libra self and like harmony but this is just so out there it made me physically ill just hearing the details from the dr's reports and therapist report. My niece is a wonderful stepmom and loves this child and his daddy is an awsome young man who is beating himself up mentally for not seeing it and protecting him ..HE had no way to know until the lil guy just apparently could not take it anymore.

On another ave my son also has filed for full custody of his oldest daughter as we have found some things about her mother with drugs, alcohol and police warrants that are no good! So we have 2 lives we are battling emotionally to keep kids safe. WHY do parents who do not care about their little ones insist on keeping them only to abuse them in one way or another? I JUST don't get it! There are loving people in this world who would be happy for a child and would not mistreat them!
SOrry am way up on my soapbox (cane and all lol) but can't help myself so forgive my rambling.
Thanks for putting up with me :-)

New Kits and Alphas

Have some new things up today at Digitals! This was so large I split it into two kits and a set of 3 alphabets. You can find them by clicking on the links below:
Summer Vacation 1
Summer Vacation 2
Summer Vacation Alphabets

Better

Well had a horrid day all day Thursday and took more meds than I normally do but am feeling alot better at the moment and managed to get another heritage layout done :-). I am determined to scrap all these old photos even if it takes me forever lol.

This is dh's grandparents on the side of their family home where there also stands one of the few remaining covered bridges in PA and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Hopefully my next layout is of the bridge itself and the bit of history we have on it.

I used Kim Stewart's Cottage Garden Remix Kit and matching Cottage Garden Alpha from 3 Scrapateers. You can find them here:

http://www.3scrapateers.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=&products_id=2150 and

http://www.3scrapateers.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=64&products_id=2151

Love the papers in particular she has in this. The alpha is a such a nice size to work with as well and love the sheen to it.

Rearing it's ugly head

It seems as tho my Lupus is trying to rear it's ugly head lately. I now have a red spotty blood blister dotty rash all over my trunk ..it's not itchy but just looks crappy and I am none too happy! I keep getting the dang white raised itchy dots on the top of my feet and ankles and now they show up from time to time on my legs.THEY drive me crazy itching but then are gone just as fast as they started and nobody can tell me what they are or why it happens! It does seem to go hand in hand with the swelling but dangggggggggggg.....
I have had alot more stress of late so that can trigger it I kknow and the sun in the summer is a no no for me much as I love it. My fatigue level is at a high and my RLS is gone haywire as well let alone the RA and OA and DDD and DJD. THis is a time of my life I SHOULD be enjoying it and instead I feel like I am 90 so many days. It goes in spurts and was feeling so good there for a few weeks but with roy's mini stroke, missy's continuous trips to the hospital, worry over one grandchild in particular and money issues I don't think my body has had time to destress at all. I KNOW I am sposed to lay down and nap when I feel the least bit tired---that my body will tell me what I need to do according to my wonderful rheumatoidologist but just how does one make the rest of one's family and friends understand that we are not being mean and selfish..its what we have to do to make it thru just the day? SOrry guess I am having the poor me's tonite as am just feeling so totally fatigued and drained. Forgive the old lady in me lol just needed to yabber it out I spose.
Think I just need to hit my bed and hopefully things will be better in the morning.

Trying it out

Ok I see the little videos on some blogs so figured hey will try it out so check out my new favorite by Josh Turner in the bar on the right------>
His voice is "to die for" lol but the video itself is wonderful I think.

Am working on a few more layouts and have some kits to go up as soon as I get the info sheets done. Ya know I really hate making previews as they really don't show up a kit! This new one coming up called Summer Vacation got me carried away so much I had to split it up into two kits and a 3 alpha set...go figure. Hopefully ya all will like it when it comes up.

Have a great week. My daughter is having some surgery tomorrow so keep her in your thoughts please.

J

New layouts done

Heres three of the new layouts I got finished of Miss Wiggle Butt :-)


Used my new kit at 3Scrapateers called Fly Away for this.



Used Ronnie McCray's Laundry Wafting for this with an adoreable bubblebath charm by one of my best buddies Firewolf.



Used my new kit at 3Scrapateers called Fly Away for this.

WOW

Wow I just realized how far behind I am on blogging! I am not sure where time goes but I swear someone eats all mine lol.

I got more layouts done yay! AND almost finished with several kits hooray again!

On the day to day things let's see whats up here---
Not alot really..the heat was killing me literally! I cannot take heat or cold due to Lupus and it was 98 and there abouts for almost a week and I could not move let alone think! It finally broke with some nasty storms the other nite and has been so comfy for the past two days I got into a creative mode at last! I dug out my OLD OLD digital camera--you know the kind ..1 megapixel at 600x600 shots but better than nothing one-- and took some so so pics of granddaughter Emily and her bestest friend Kaylie whose grandparents live across from me! They got it into their heads to build a nest(I HAVE NO CLUE LOL) so got a box and tupperware and water and dug up dirt,mulch and grass out in back. Have so few pics of them together so figured hey it was worth a try and here's the results! Not the best but hey I tried lol