Yummy Tried Recipe

I was watching Food Network this morning all snuggled in my warm bed since it is snowing here and she made these Pumpkin Bars that made my mouth water for some reason so I went and got the recipe from her show and they are delish! If you like pumpkin you will love them!

Here is the recipe from her site

Pumpkin Bars

Recipe courtesy Patty Ronning as adapted by Paula Deen

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Serves: 48 small bars or 24 larger bars

Ingredients

Bars:

4 eggs

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

15-ounce can pumpkin

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:

8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing:

Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until
smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Holiday Giggle

I had to share this one! was browsing around for some holiday gifts for my family and came across these holiday napkins and they just struck my funny bone!!!!!! Sounds like something one of my grandchildren would have come up with lol. Found them at The Weed Patch -how cute! They do have some other wonderful holiday gift and party items!

While we were on vacation I always had Daisy Cottage someplace in the back of my mind as I saw homes for sale and when we visited B&B Antiques! I lay you odds Daisy Cottage owner Kim and I could have spend hours there if she had been around!!!! I have come to the conclusion while I may never have my own cottage I can still find goodies that will remind me of them and so with that in mind I intend to redo most of my townhouse as time goes by!!! I took some photos of the outside of B&B but totally forgot i had my camera inside duhhhhhhhhhhhh me!!!! Will post them as soon as i resize them as they are a bit too big for here.

Well I am finally settling back in after my vacation hooray!

Things really changed while I was gone as first 3Scrapateers was closing then not and is now under new owners. I have looked and corresponded extensively over the past few days with Barbara who is our new co owner at 3S and have made a decision this morning to stay with 3Scrapateers and see where it leads. It looks like it will be a new adventure and I am sure I will learn new things along the way as well. I know that if it does not work out I can always leave but am willing at this juncture to give it a go ...at my age I can still learn something new! LOL.

The time with the original girls of 3S was such a joy and they are family in my heart and know that it was not an easy choice for them to make! It takes alot of time, work and energy to run any site and one such as 3S I am sure really took a huge amount of all of that! I hope they know how loved they are and how much any of us that worked with them appreciated them each day.

Okay off to figure out some new kits, get ready to go out for a long lovely dinner with my hubby, son and daughter in law at the Oakhurst Tea Room this evening to celebrate their anniversary and both their birthdays. We have not been there in ages and we are really looking forward to dinner for it is always yum yum yummy!

Luceeeeeeeee I am homeeeeeeeeee lol

Well we are back from our much needed R&R errrrrrr vacation :-) ... We extended it a bit longer than we thought we would but to be honest I am extremely happy we did.

We moved from one hotel that we love called the Captain's Quarters up to another one called the Grande Shores and we had a groundfloor efficiency that I could just walk out the patio into the outdoor pool! We were lucky to have wonderful weather most of the time and I came home feeling better than when I left. The pneumonia seems to have also have gone away save a few "rattlings" yet when I lay too flat but my old bones feel wonderful!

For the first time in 7 years I was able to walk on the beach! That alone is a major accomplishment..many thanks to percocet lol. I do understand my dr not wanting me on it all the time due to its addictive properties but I would give alot to feel this way all the time. I got to sit down on the floor and actually play with our Jack which I normally cannot do and puttered in my yard! I am down to my last two doses of it but I am going to have a very serious chat with my doctor on what we can do to keep me feeling this way rather than slipping back into constant pain mode. Cross your fingers!

Took tons and tons of pictures so as soon as i figure out my wonderful new digital camera uploading them to my computer will post some! Also had a great day with my son and his family for his birthday yesterday and they had all his girls and Jack so it was a super celebration in my eyes. His Em is still going thru much difficulty struggling between where she wants to really live so please keep her in your prayers that she can come to a good choice for her and that she stays safe while with her mother for that whole situation is one that no child should have to endure. She will be 13 next month is old enough to choose now and says she wants with her dad but she has such a fear of her mom and hurting her mom that she waffles alot. She knows her dad and stepmom love her as do her sisters and brother but she naturally has the fear of hurting either parent even tho her mother is well shall we say less than a mother should be. i try NOT to say alot negative about her mother but one day I may just let loose. I do not want Em to feel we pressure her for that would be wrong too but i worry about her safety emotionally and physically constantly.

ok enuf rambling. off to catch up..it will take me days just to read mail lol and I see some interesting scrapbooking mail so stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugs and blessings
Hope you had a happy and fun halloween if you celebrate it!
Jo

Sick Humor

In case ya all didn't notice I am not having a good few weeks/months healthwise for myself nor several of my family members! I have added some health links to the sidebar------------>
so feel free to check them out if you or a loved one suffers from any of them.
This is a "gotta laugh" from But you don't look sick website and just have to share it!

letter from your chronic condition and a reply. Sometimes you just have to laugh!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To whom it may concern:
Congratulations! You have been selected to be the host for (any chronic condition -- RA, FM, lupus, MS, you name it). You will begin to experience many or all of these symptoms -- and may even deal with several of them at the same time.
--Pain can be anywhere you can imagine. We are equal opportunity destroyers, therefore we will choose many places for you to experience pain. We have even devised many different types of pain -- it could be aching, stabbing, throbbing, tingling, burning, gripping, or cramping. We are continually improving our repetoire of pain categories, so updates are to be expected.
--Dizziness. This can be accompanied by nausea, mental confusion, ringing in the ears, vomiting, loss of coordination, and sensations of spinning, rocking, or shaking. We try to simulate the experience of riding a never-ending roller coaster to satisfy your adventurous spirit. No safety harnesses required, and you have no choice of when the coaster ride starts,ends, or how fast it goes.
--Extreme fatigue (Now remember, this is not just being "tired". We will suddenly "pull your plug", so to speak, and you will have NO energy at all. Even dressing or taking a shower will be too daunting of a task for you to complete. And because we like surprises, we will NOT give you any advance warning, so you could be in the middle of the grocery store, at work, playing with you kids, or trying to clean the house.)
--Poor balance, lack of coordination. Let's just say you may walk or talk like you are drunk -- even if you haven't had any alcohol recently. And for those of you who have never indulged in alcohol, you are now going tounderstand what it is like to be drunk and to have a hangover.
--Forgetting, losing, dropping things. These are just a few of the perks of your condition. You will learn to expect them, but never to enjoy them.
In addition to the symptoms above, we also want to eliminate some things from your crowded lifestyle. Here are a few of the things which will be taken away from you now that you are chosen to have a chronic condition:
The ability to stand or walk for longer than 15 minutes without experiencing pain in you feet, ankles, knees, or legs.
Tthe ability to sit for longer than 10 minutes without experience cramping in your legs and butt, or shooting pains in your back.
The ability to complete any task which requires more than 10 minutes of concentration, multi-step activities or long-term projects will take 2-3 times longer then average.
The ability to play and run with your children like you did before.
The ability to have a "normal" social life.
The ability to accumulate sick days at work/ school to earn the perfect attendance bonus.
As indicated previously, this condition is in constant flux and more symptoms will be added as we deem necessary. There is no warranty guarantee, technical support, or customer service available.
Sincerely,Your chronic condition


_________________________________________________________________
Dear My chronic condition:
I would like to clarify that, while you may wreak havoc on my body, and maybe even confuse my mind -- you cannot have my heart or my soul. You cannot have my faith, my hope, or my love. There are some good things thatyou have given me, things I never could have experienced had you not come to possess my body.
You have given me:-- strengthened prayer life and increased dependence on God's grace and strenth, rather than my own-- renewed friendship with strong, close, true friends.-- appreciation for every precious moment I am given. A gift that is sometimes lost on the "healthy".-- growth in character, perseverance, and hope.-- inspiration for to help others.-- more compassion for others who are suffering.-- better knowledge of my own body & health.-- a reason to eat more nutritiously and take care of myself.-- reasons to rest when I need it.
You see, you will not find me an agreeable host. I will fight you, I will not give up. On bad days, I will take care of myself. On the good days, I will take advantage of every precious moment. You have thrown some obstacles in my life's journey, but I will go over them or around them, no matter what it takes. In fact, while I am overcoming them, I will stop for a moment to reflect upon the mountain I am climbing, plant a few seeds and then continue on. I will learn and grow from this experience and help others.
Sincerely,ME
Article written by Brandi Lasnick, © 2007 butyoudontlooksick.com

New products

FLORA DORA SETS

FloraDora Full ScrapKit at 3S and Digitals

FloraDora Alpha's at 3S and Digitals --comes in pink, green or blue and also a copper set.

FLORADORA FULL KIT 3S

DIGITALS

FLORADORA ALPHA PINK 3S

DIGITALS

FLORADORA GREEN 3S

DIGITALS

FLORADORA BLUE 3S

DIGITALS

FLORADORA COPPER 3S

DIGITALS

FAMILY IS SET


Family Is Alpha at Digitals and 3S

Family Is Scrapkit at 3s and Digitals and also just a paperpack as well

FAMILY IS SCRAPKIT DIGITALS

3S

FAMILY IS ALPHA DIGITALS

3S

FAMILY IS PAPERPACK ONLY 3S

DIGITALS

HnH at 3Scrapateers

Well I know it's been a bit since I added new products but did get around to some this past week or two so here a preview of what's happening.
At 3 Scrapateers I have the HalfNHalf this upcoming week on the 23rd. Since we may not be home from Pittsburgh in time Carla has offered to stand in for me if I cannot make it but please stop by and yak a little and maybe grab a free goodie or two! For details on the HnH you can go to HERE

LOL ok next installment

Now where was I? The comp dr here finally did call back yesterday morning and we have an appt with another specialist down in Pittsburgh on Tuesday..nothing like short notice is there since we have to gather all his xrays, ct scans and mri's by then! Luckily we already were going to Pittsburgh that day for the VA dr appt in the afternoon so at least that saves us the gas for an extra trip! Small blessing at least :-)

Daughter dear's other half is also being sent to Pittsburgh get this ...one dr on Tuesday and one on Wednesday and her adult step daughter is in the hospital here for ear surgery here to clear up an infection that has been ongoing for months before they send her to Pittsburgh to a specialist. Sometimes I wonder why our local dr's cannot be just as qualified as those 2 hours away sigh. We are taking DD other half to his Weds appt but can't take him with us Tues as it's in a totally different area and at the same time as our appointments! Ever feel like you are going in circles? Come to my house lol we can show you!!!!!!

I stopped at the store this afternoon and didn't you know there was a lady at the table outside the one store collection donations for the Lupus foundation. We sat and chatted awhile since I have it and her daughter was dx'd 4 years ago we had alot to yak about. I sometimes forget there are others here that do have and really should look into their support system locally. I have been lucky with my online support groups and venting here helps relieve the stress that can trigger outbursts but am actually blessed that mine has been under control this long. They said about 10 years is the max for that and I am about at 8 now so kinda keep waiting for the other shoe to drop but knock on wood have been lucky so far.

Our Jackson will be turing 1 next week! It does not seem possible bless his wee heart! He is such a gem and a happy little guy!!!! I remember when they were all this age from our precious CJ who is now almost 16(where has the time gone)down thru Chrisser, and Ems to the next group of Liv and Cat and now miss wiggle butt and Jack! Each of them is priceless in this Nana's eyes and of course totally perfect lol. If it were not for them sometimes I really think I would have given up back when they first dx'd me but they keep me wanting to be around for a long time and to know they are grown and safe and happy. Grandchildren are the biggest blessings in life!!!!

What's New or Where have I been?

Well despite the best laid plans to post everyday it seems a whole month has gone by again! An old dear friend once told me "Jojo if your life were a movie it would be a soap opera!" LOL how right she was! It seems things are never dull for even a day around our household! With that said will just have to fill you in on bits and pieces as I go.
Dh's knee injury is NOT improving at all so they are sending him to a specialist in Pittsburgh ....however we cannot just call and make an appointment like we can around here..nooooooo that would be too simple! We had to have all his records sent to this particular dr and he reviews it and then decides if he will deign to see us! Go figure! It's now 3 weeks since all the info was sent to him and despite numerous calls from us and from the local dr this dr there has not made a final decision! Now I grant you Dr's are busy people but ya know what..we have lives too and our time is just as precious and valuable as his is! I KNOW he is a wonderful specialist but you would think he could take some point in 3 weeks to make one simple phone call! We got a call yesterday from someone there who dh did not get his name ugh and was told to call scheduling to make an appt. SOOOOOOOOO i call the number he gave dh and they have NO CLUE who to schedule him with and will not make an appt with us until we find out. I called the number back to the person who called and of course nobody can help as " we have hundreds of employees for about 60 dr's here and if you cannot say who called we cannot help you!" So we are in a vicious ring around the rosie! One lovely girl did FINALLY take pity on my frustration and spoke with the secretary of the Dr we were requesting and she said she will investigate it as the Dr. was still working on dh and had not made his final decision so wants to know too who it was that called and why. At any rate she is SUPPOSED to call me back today..we shall see if that happens!
DD is still in pain and we had a trip to the local ER AGAIN this week but at least this time they gave us a better idea of what is causing her so much abdominal and back pain..it seems she appears to ahve some HUGE cysts on the ovaries they left after her hysterectomy so we will be trapsing off to the GYN dr again for her!
Dh had his annual checkup with his regular dr ( he normally sees the dr's at VA hospital since he has no insurance) and our reg dr was NOT HAPPY!!!!!! Dh's blood pressure was so low they could not get it standing and when laying down or sitting they had one heck of a time. It turns out that the VA dr that is no longer with VA had him on TOO MANY blood pressure meds at one time!!!!!! The woman was nuts. We told her before there was something not right and all she did was add more meds!!!!!!! Talk about dangerous and wasteful! Our dr took him off the latest one and we had a bp recheck yesterday(two weeks time passed) and it appears to be back in normal range altho the resident who checked him said he thought it was a little HIGH lol ! We are about ready to smack them all and wonder how we can have so many differing opinions within 2 months!!!!!!!!!!!! It is totally absurd!!!!!! We saw the new VA dr last week and told him what our dr did and he was okay with it and said obviously our dr knows what he is doing but agreed that dh's color was very pasty and white. He felt we should increase his diabetes meds going by their blood work and I said NO WAY until I talk to our family dr. Our family dr hit the roof again and said dh 's bloodwork is marvelous and he is doing VERY well with his diabetes control and there is no need to double meds again! I swear sometimes VA does it just to make money or something. It's just a mess! Without health insurance dh doesn't have alot of choice but half the time I am afraid they will do more harm than good for him!

My sister is coming up this way the weekend of my birthday HOORAY!!!!! I haven't had any of my siblings here for my bday in years so it will be wonderful!!!!! The bad news is our oldest sister is not doing well and her malignancy is non operable which means she once again must go thru intensive chemo which she is dreading. Brother dear is going to see her this weekend to convince her she needs to do it but I know that there is a part of her that does not want to go thru it yet again. We love her and want her with us as long as possible and I pray she listens to him as they are very close. While I do not see her often she is my sister and I love her and worry about her. Please keep her in your prayers and thoughts!

Let's see what else drama wise I can pass on lol
Hmmmmmm time out for now..will catch up a bit later in the day with hopefully more fun type stuffers. I just needed a vent for now THanks for reading!

Cookbook Layouts

I had been wanting to work on cookbook pages for our family and when I saw Sarah Meyer's Grammy's Apron Quickpages and Scrapkit at Digitals I knew it was perfect for the project. Here are some of the pages I have gotten done so far!

Late as usual!

I totally meant to post a sneak peek at the rest of the SAD kit but things at home went haywire as usual lol. Seems like there is always something going on never a dull moment! With that said here is a sneak peek at the second half you get for posting your layout!

Hope to see you there...Weds Aug 20 3Scrapateers Chat room at 10 pm Eastern Time!

So what's new?

Well let's see...update on little Zach is he is home and doing just fine! He is on the monitor but so far it's not gone off again that I know of so thanks for good things!


A new scary note this afternoon I went to the store where dd works and when I looked down thru the parking lot in the lower end there were several fire trucks, ambulances and men in chemical suits all over the place and it was all cordened off with police tape! Come to find out apparently there was an anthrax scare at the post office!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I dont' know much more and will have to check the news at 5 to find out details as the news crew was there as well but I sure hope it was a false alarm!!!!!!!!!!


On a designing note I have the Scrap A Deal Crop coming up at 3Scrapateers on Aug 20th so check out the deal then buy it and join me for some free goodies that night and get the other half of the kit when you post your layout in the proper gallery! Can't beat the deal for $2.00!

Wanna peek?

Here's the first part

And then you will get alot more when you post your layout! Sneak peek you say? Hmmm stay tuned tomorrow haha. May even give you a peek at the goodies you will get if you come to the crop!
Have a super weekend!

ANother visit point

I have totally forgotten to say i love Shabby Miss Jen Designs! I so love her style and products and her tuts are understandable hooray! I want to be her when I grow up haha!

On a note about baby Zach he is being kept in the hospital yet again tonight and will be sent home on an apnea monitor. They have ruled out any major heart and lung issues thank heavens and apparently he suffered the horrid apnea that sometimes takes a child in their sleep! Two of my grandson's also had it happen when they were several days to several weeks old and were both on an apnea monitor the first year of their lives. It is scary at first but bless the inventor of this monitor as it alerts the parents or sitter or grandparents ect the moment the baby is in distress or stops breathing for so many seconds. It became a normal routine for us and I am sure Zach's momma and daddy and grandma will adapt to it tho he will adapt sooner than they will lol..children are so adaptable most of the time to things that make us adults cringe! I have apnea which developed since I was "blessed" with the Lupus and Fibro and sleep with a CPAP machine which is a normal part of my life. The grands were a bit curious and a bit itimidated by it when I first got it three years ago but now it's just part of who Nana is when she sleeps. One said I look like I should be in a star wars movie hahahaha! God Bless the mouths of babes! I find I CANNOT sleep without it now and have learned to sleep in any position with it on and just change the hose and mask to roll with me!

Ok so much for wierd pictures of me to float in your heads rotfl.

Have a great week. Off to work on some kits..have a crop coming up at 3Scrapateers so check back to see what, when and where!


My August girl is by

Scary Moments

I had quite a scare a bit ago. I was sitting here working on a kit when I heard voices outside and someone yelling for help and recognized my one neighbor's voice. Ran as fast as these old legs would take me down the steps and out the door to find her sobbing hysterically and holding her brand new grandson of 5 days not breathing. The baby's mother was in hysterics and daddy was on the phone with 911 who were not coming nearly fast enough! I went to her and tried with her to get the lil guy breathing hollering at them to run up and get my next door neighbor who is a paramedic and one of the 911 directors. We beat on their door all the while trying to get Zach to breathe and he did take one gaspy one and i could hear him whimper a bit but he just stopped again and his lips were turning blue. Our neighbor's wife did hear us and got him fast and he grabbed the baby and did a fast mouth to mouth and got him breathing again and he let out a huge wail much to my relief. Grandma and mom were still in sobbing mode naturally but did get them to realize he was okay and awake and looking at them. Meantime the ambulance and police got to the complex only to go to the wrong area. We could see their lights but they were not where they could get to us so the daddy tossed me the phone and he ran as fast as i ever saw anyone run to where they were and the paramedic and emt came back with him. Bern did have the baby breathing and doing okay but they naturally grabbed him and mommy up and took them into the ambulance and made sure he was stable and that mom was okay and then came back to check on grandma as well before taking them all to the ER to make sure things are okay. I am still shaking and while he is not my grandbaby it felt like it was! To see that lil precious face turning blue terrified us all. Apparently he has apnea which two of my grandchildren had as babies and i can remember how scary it was! Hopefully they will put zach on an apnea monitor like ours was on! Keep them in your thoughts and prayers and will update when grandma comes home and I hear how things are!

Something done :-)

Happy Sunday everyone!

I want to say thanks to Kim from Daisy Cottage for even visiting my blog here! Thanks so much for your comment on my layouts and stuffers here. It's wonderful know someone at least checks on me from time to time and I am soooooo loving her home and what she finds along the way! In my next life I swear I will own a home and one similar to her awesome place. I so love cottage style living and decor but alas at my age fat chance of that ever happening so I live my life vicariously thru her lol. Thanks Kim for the visit and keep the wonderful finds coming! My "wish" book is slowly filling up with ideas and finds and wants and many thanks to you on alot of them. My health does not allow me to go yard sale'ing, or antique browsing so it is lovely to be able to visit her finds! I used to work part time for a writer in Chicago area who did alot of articles and photo shoots for several of the magazines on Kim's site so they are very familiar faces to my old weary brain :-) Sad to say my old boss passed away of breast CA many years ago now but i have alot of fond memories of the treasures she would find and some of which she shared with me and some of which i just got to enjoy when we would also house sit for her at her lake house in Michigan.

Found a wonderful desktop freebie and just had to use it! I rarely put anything on my desktop as it seems to suck up my resources but could not resist this one! It's from Jennifer Layden/Misty Cato. Thanks for looking!

Ok so true lol I love Country Music

You Are Country Music

You are friendly, down to earth, and fairly conservative. You are true to your friends and your upbringing. Change is hard for you. But beneath your old fashioned attitude, you are expressive and artistic in your own way. Very few people can express pain and pleasure as eloquently as you can.

What Kind of Music Are You?

Just browsin around

I have been just a browsin' around some the past week or so and also helping ds and dd with computer problems along the way(UGH). Son got infected with a dang trojan on his laptop that is about to drive him mad and he finally had enuf sense to call mom lol. Think we have him about fixed now thanks to places like Tom Coyote's site What The Tech which I swear by and a few others out there. I even learned how to run and read HiJackThis and it's been a huge livesaver many times over the past two years and it was all we needed to fix daughter dear's. Honestly you would think grown children in their 30's would know enough to NOT click on some of the sites you see on the internet but dd has a roomer that just doesn't get it lol and I told him I will cheerfully break his fingers if he does it one more time on her computer! I am the one who spends hours with them either in person or on the phone with them fixing booboo's!


Discovering blogs I never had time to find before has been an adventure as well the past few weeks. Some of them I found and enjoy are places like Cen's Loft, Scrapping with Ikeagoddess, Daisy Cottage (whose house i would love to live in lol), A Work In Progress, Women - Art - and Life, ScrapDoctor, BubblesBabbles (who makes me laugh so hard sometimes it's embarressing lol), and MyGrateful Heart just to name a few. Some have made me laugh so hard and some have brought tears and prayers but they all have something to offer me. Not always scrapping related stuff but life stuff too! I am not sure sometimes how I find some of them but tend to check out links on blogs I enjoy and wah lah sometimes it just sends me someplace I fall in love with.

Judy at My Grateful Heart made me a wonderful new siggie :-)

Isn't it gorgeous? The artwork she purchased is from Kreated4U whose talent just puts me in awe! I love this little redhead! THanks again Judy! You are a super lady and I am so enjoying reading your day to day life and how you are dealing with some rough and some wonderful times!

Hmm where else have I adventured lately? A new to me place called Step by Step Digital Scrapbook run by Karen at ScrapsOfMind looks like it would be a wonderful resource for newbie scrappers and give ideas to us oldbie scrappers :-) It looks really informative!

Oh and for any of you who love pixels please take time to visit my friend Susan at Grandma's Attic. She makes wonderful websets, sigtags, and other items from her own artwork. She is awsome in the pixel world in my opinion. Pixels are my second love next to my scrapping can you tell haha. I have my own pixel site that I mess with from time to time as well ..the link is over -------------------------------------------------> at the top. :-)

Ok rambled quite enough for one night ! Hope you are all well!

nEW LaYOuts

I had a productive day yesterday :-) Got some layouts done and worked on several new products and kits hooray! Told DH I just had to have a day without all the interruptions and sidetracking he tends to toss my direction let alone phone calls and noise so shut myself up in the bedroom with my friendly computer and got something done for a change lol.
Here's the layouts I have finished so far :-) THanks for looking!

ALL BOYS -- Credits :
Vicki Acreman -- All Boy QP
http://txbubbles-bubblesbabbles.blogspot.com/

My Daddy's Chair
Credits:
Flergs AML Freebie

WILDFLOWER GIRL
This was my first attempt at blending a photo with a paper and am really happy with how it turned out. I fell so in love with products over at Weeds and Wildflowers so downloaded a couple of challenge freebies to see how i like them and I am officially HOOKED lol. Thanks for looking!
Credits:
AMenegassi -fun garden doodles flowers
boyerville-whoababy paper
Digitalegacies --alpha
Chez Nanine -- "Romance"Stitches and "En attendant le printemps" buttons colorized

Two Littlest "Weeds" lol
Another from Weeds and Wildflowers challenge freebies!
Thanks for looking!
Credits:
DJB ANGELA font
Weeds N Wildflowers -- GinaMarie Huff --Freebie Challenge --
Doodly Patterns and Word Art

Inspiration

In case you hadn't noticed I really have been in a bad slump for inspiration and ideas. I went traveling the past few days checking out sites and blogs and so forth and happened across a designer and site I had not seen before and totally fell in love with their site--tis called Weeds and Wildflowers. I loved the offerings of the designers there and think they gave me a "oomph" in the ideas..now if i can make myself sit and draw lol. I have been playing more with my wacom and since it's been sitting here gathering dust it's about time I just bit the bullet and learn how to use the blasted thing! Doesn't do me any good to have spent that much money on a "toy" I have only used a couple of times since I got it! I should have my son come learn with me as he is the artist of the family..he does such beautiful freehand work and now is doing tattoo work and I am just sit and oooooooo and ahhhhh when I see how easily it comes to him! Two of his girls so far love to sit and draw for hours on end as well so hopefully it keeps on going in the family! Then I came across a few bloggers that I had not seen before either and one in particular I ended up spending half the night reading all her past posts and laughing sometimes so hard I about pmp! ROTFL. She also does some super QP's for free and of course I had to grab those too and that led me to another blogger who does only QP's for free and spent a few hours there as well..NOW maybe I will get more scrapping done yes? Check them out in the side bar for blogs I visit..they are WMP and Bubbles Babbles.

We had a big ole turkey dinner with the trimmings down at my son's yesterday and it was YUM! I get so hungry for it at other times of the year other than Thanksgiving and Christmas so it was a lovely change. Tracey did it in the roaster so at least it did not heat up their home too badly but the humidity here was really bad and by the time I got home i felt like i had been under a shower for days I was that drenched! I dunno sometimes what is worse..heat or cold with this lupus! Both really bother me and make my skin awfullllllllllllll!

Woke up to a nasty thunderstorm half way thru the night and my left ankle feeling like it did when i first broke it back in 1991! It's so swollen up it looks like an elephant foot at times and trust me that is NOT a pretty site! UGH!...Don't get old and break your bones folks lol !

Hmmm thinking ...yeah me thinking that is scary isn't it? DH is making me crazy..he's been off work now since Feb and the dr told him Weds it will be after labor day now before he can go back to work! He is no spring chicken and just is not healing fast since his surgery. Mind you I love the man and would miss him if he wasn't here but having him underfoot 24/7 can make me totally nuts! I finally got so mad this week I told him either he finds a hobby or gets out of the house more or I will go stay with one of the kids for a few weeks just to have some peace and quiet lol...Fat chance of that happening there but you get the drift! Every time I am into something design wise he manages to come up and want me to look up stuff on the computer for him. I keep saying he needs to learn how to use a computer and would hook up the old one to the internet for him in the spare bedroom but he doesn't seem to want to. Think my son may talk him into it so at least that part he would keep busy doing something else instead of standing over my shoulder! That's another side effect of the dang Lupus..I cannot stand it when anyone is hovering or to be in a crowded place even on the interstate highway i freak when cars and trucks have me "penned" in. I can't control it and I can't explain it --it just happens. One of the meds I take now helps some but for someone who was always a people person and who used to travel for work it's really is an odd way to feel trust me!

OK i really have babbled tonight errr this morning haven't I! Hope everyone out there is well!

Dunno if anyone even reads me anymore but hey at least i am trying to blog a bit more often than I had been!
Hugs all arround to those who need it!

Summer Fun at Digitals

If you haven't checked out the Christmas in July fun over at DIGITALS now is the time!
There is a treasure hunt in the forums and a Polar Express Blog Train going with some wonderful free items done by some awesome DIGITALS designers!

To visit DIGITALS and find the treasures hidden for you go HERE and follow the directions!

To visit the POLAR EXPRESS BLOG TRAIN:
Individual designers involved have their blog links in that thread!

ANDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

great great Sale right now til July 25th at Digitals

Get 50% off my products (no coupon needed)
Go crazy and SHOP TIL YOU DROP! :-)

and a wide variety of discounts from many of the other Digitals Designers!
CHeck out the info HERE

New kit Release

AMERICAN MADE

Check out my newest release at both Digitals and 3Scrapateers called American Made!

Red, White and Blue this is the scrapkit for You!
Whether for the 4th of July, cross country vacation, summer picnic or other red, white and blue events this scrapkit is perfect for those photos or cards and layouts!
Kit Contains:
Upper and lower case blue chipboard alphabet with numbers and extras
11 12x12 300 DPI papers,
1 round fringed mat,
1 fringed flag mat,
1 bordered mat,
2 buttons in red and blue,
1 gold brad, 5x7 chipboard photo frame,
3 acrylic Stars with firework "sounds" on them,
1 Gold starred 12in.border,
4 ready to use tags,
Lady Liberty,
3 flowers in red, white or blue U, S and A in gold outlined white painted metal hearts,
4 crossed ribbons,
1 beaded red, white and blue tassel,
1 gold star eyelet

You can find it at DIGITALS or 3SCRAPATEERS

Get Your 3S Scrapkit of the Season Now!

From bold and bright to muted and distressed, you're sure to have just the right collection of background papers and embellishments for any of your Summer layouts! This is a mega kit full of great scrapping items from these 3Scrapateers Designers --
Yours Truly me :-) Jolene Shaffer, April Staker, Kim Stewart, BonScrapit Designs, KutnKudly Kreations, Kashiabean Kreations, Deanna Patterson, Carla Ware, and Lianne Carper. It has a great mix of colors for any part of the summer in any part of the world!
All of this includes:
10 Spectacular Summer Digital Scrapkits consisting of
90+ 12"x12" Background Papers
325+ Individual Embellishments
All on sale for $19.98--that's half price of it's normal rate! Think about it..that works out to about $2.00 per full kit! How can you go wrong with that price?

http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=6095

You're Only Limited by Your Imagination With almost 350 unique background papers and elements, you'll find yourself returning to the Scrapkits of the Season - Summer Edition over and over to bring your Summer memories to life. From bold and bright to muted and distressed, you're sure to have just the right collection of background papers and embellishments for any of your Summer layouts.Create Pages You'll Cherish for a LifetimeBut that's not all...Layouts, Cards, Altered Art, Journals, Recipe Books, Candy Wrappers, Home Decor, Papers, Crafts, Calendars, Hybrid Projects
For Personal Use Only.
Feel free to check out the other Seasonal ones now available and watch for the new ones every quarter!

My contribution is "Cool in the Pool"

You can find it by itself here:

http://shop.3scrapateers.com/shopexd.asp?id=6088

Go have fun..shop til ya drop!

4th of July

Just some fast pics from our picnic on the 4th!

--The merry go round has been there since I was a kid lol

Miss Wiggle Butt and I rode this..needless to say it was the ONLY ride I ended up on as was so sick when I got off I didn't think we would make it back to the picnic table. This ride was not that far for most people but it seemed like a million miles to me!

Our Pavillion was in such a nice area and we all enjoyed just sitting around yakking. My bro in law and sis in law with Dh.

I love this shot of the Ferris Wheel all lit up that night!

3 of our girls ..they really had a ball and were quite pooped by the time the day was over!

Bad Blogger lol

I am such a bad bad blogger! it's been forever it seems since I have energy to even update!

With that said just am gonna try to do some bits and blurbs as I can and hope eventually I can be current every day..Yeah ok we shall see lol







Came across this while looking for something else and thought where was it when I used to have a closet full of shoes for work? I admit when I was working I was a shoe and purse hoarder! I had a purse to match every pair of shoes and shoes to match any outfit I wore to work! At any rate it's a neat idea and they even have one for kids in different colors ..what a clever idea!
They are made by Rakku Designs and run about 35.00 - 65.00 depending on the size and color and model lol. WOuld have been worth it space saving wise back in my working days! Now I am lucky I wear a pair of flip flops, a pair of slippers and my good ole tennies!

Things around here have been up and down as usual! We took some time to spend the 4th of July with our kids and most of their kids at Idlewild Park which is something we all used to do when my kids were growing up. My son wanted us to have a old fashioned 4th so got us all together and he made arrangements for us to have a pavillion close to the restrooms and on a level area due to my walking issues and my brother in law uses two canes now so we could not manage otherwise! THe folks there had a lovely small pavillion set up complete with the red and white plastic tableclothes on them 4 huge picnic tables and 5 other long serving wood tables with electric outlets and all set up for us just near the main ride area and handy to the restrooms and by the little creek. The weather was not to be great so we figured we would be rained out at some point but it turned out to be a perfect ride day! No storms tho it did spit a little rain twice but the sun was not miserable and we all had a wonderful day. We stayed for the fireworks which were superb as we all remembered. Needless to say I spent the next two days in bed recovering..walked too much but it was worth it to see the smiles and hear the laughter coming from all our girls and our Jack. Hubby's brother and his wife came as well as friends of our Son and his wife with their boys too so we had a great group and lots of good food and conversation as well as making some great memories! Daughter took some pics and believe my d-i-l did as well so will be posting them later on. I thank the folks at Idlewild for hearing what my son said about having some of us with disability issues for they really did a wonderful job on picking out a perfect pavillion and setting it up so we didn't have to do anything except open the coolers and picnic baskets!

Yeah okay i have rambled on..and will ramble more in a bit haha. Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July if you celebrate it and for my canadian buds hope you had a super Canada Day!

TAGGED

Arghhh Lissa got me lol. I so suck at these but because she is my best friend in the world guess I better do it eh? Here goes!

Rules :
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

(Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

M---More interested in reading about others lists lol
A---Athletically challenged
R---Redhead at heart
I---I love my granchildren
E---Enjoy my scrapping and my pixeling more than I can express!

So who can I pick..hmmmm this isn't gonna be easy is it lol?
Marsi
Alisha Hess
Ronnie M
I DON'T KNOW ANYONE WITH I LOL
E E DON'T KNOW ANYONE WITH E EITHER LOL
Any volunteers with I or E? haha

Took time to play today

I took time to play and shop today lol. I finally learned how to make and save my brushes in PS and to make fuzzy fibers all by myself..no actions yay! Think I will be playing a good bit now that I have figured out more of what does what in the thing!
As to shopping I am totally hooked on ideas and actions by Monica Larsen! I nabbed a grab bag from her and am so tickled with what was in it that I went and got another one haha. I can see playtime more and more so I can mess around and get what I want with her help!
I really want a really satin look to ribbons and have been working with that with help from Roberta's actions to come up with silky looking ones so hopefully with all the trial and error I can accomplish the look I want with a silk ribbon as have not seen anyone offering one that does what I want it to do! So cross ya fingers it works!

LOL OK I tried it

Lissa had a name meaning on her blog so of course I just had to go try it out..

What Jolene Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

WOW

With the bad two or three weeks I have had I just got a huge pick me up from an internet friend!
Tracey from Rainy-Daze gifted me with a 12 month membership to a pixeling site I have been wishing for for over a year now! I am so stoked as I love Paint My Dreams and Thalia is amazing! I love my pixeling altho it is more on the back burner than my scrapping is and this is the pick me up I really needed. Thanks to Tracey from the bottom of my heart..it means more than you can possibly know! You made my week!

Susan from Grandma's Attic made my week as well as she gifted me with a cute st pat's sig tag

and when I purchased something I had been wanting from her she added another gift that I had my eye on lol. She is such an awsome lady and I love her dearly for her friendship and her work. It's great to have another "Nana" who I can yak about our grandkids with lol. Her lil guy is a cutie for sure.

sO at least some good things came about this week yay!

Peeved!

ok you all know its been a rough few weeks around here and now on top of it all it seems that someone named Snarky has put my commercial use psp script up for grabs in her pirate group! I have news for you cupcake..I know who had access to my files at all 3 stores and i know who purchased this legally so don't think for one minute I won't yank it down and you along with it! I guess I should feel ummm "flattered" NOT! My scrapping pays for meds and some other things I would go without and while I sure don't get rich from it by any means I still need it. AND btw i have licenses for all my work and yes I bought my graphics proggies so don't even go there! I still have the boxes and cd's! There was a time when I was in the tagging stuff too and didn't know better but I do now and anything I had for free either got left behind years ago or I went and bought it so it is all legal. I pay for my cu items and I paid for my graphics programs and I am so sick and tired of reading all the drama and all the backstabbing name calling crap in some of the blogs and communities ..What are these people? A bunch of kids in junior high? Honest to Heavens you would think they would grow out of it! but noooooooooo..sorry it's been a horrible horrible week for me and this added to it just sux. Feeling like you have to save every email every scrap of paper in case someone comes after your reputation stinks. I am at least smart enough I email back and forth to make sure terms are met and always have been treated respectfully and the makers appreciate it but I am not doing it just for them....with all the crap I am covering my own butt for the future! You would think at my age I would not have to do that wouldn't ya! My grandchildren behave better than some of those people do in the "bad" blogs and groups! The language on some of them is worse than a truckstop and the truckers don't talk that way in front of others outside themselves but those ***koff Koff*** "ladies" (and i use that term very loosely) have the foulest mouths on the planet!

The sad part is we have lost several excellent designers over all this and even some great scrappers let alone community members in all the various stores and forums. There is plenty of room in the digi scrapping world for heavens sake..why do some people feel such a need to break it apart so? I am no big name nor great designer..i just plug along and if you like my stuff great if not that is okay too..each of us has our own taste and our own way to scrap or design but attacking others is just so wrong on so many different levels. The one thing it has done is brought together alot of others who may not have otherwise known each other and made them stronger so it will backfire in the long run to the evil minded ones. What goes around comes around!

Ok off my soapbox! Take it or leave it :-)

Time Flies When NOT having fun!

Gawd life is never dull around my house!!!!!! This past two weeks have been totally insane I swear! Is it too much to ask for peace and quiet on a continuous basis lol? Not in my lifetime!


DD has had some terrible issues with her teeth due to no insurance so like the rest of us we kinda put off hitting the dentist. She had several trips to the ER with severe pain but was not able to find a dentist willing to help out unless you have bookoo bucks up front! This of course is the same predicament her dad and I are both in and caused me to write a letter to our local newspaper's readers forum entitled SHAME ON YOU DENTISTS OF OUR TOWN or something to that extent. I lambasted them for being so greedy that they cannot donate a few hours every month to the local clinic like the doctors do! They have been unable to get any dentists willing to help out and to me that is sad sad sad..the Dr's can do it so what is wrong with the dentists?They think they are too good for this or what? THere are way too many people like me whose dental health is directly related to their physical health but health insurance does not cover dental duh! On limited or non exsistant incomes what is one to do? I can't draw blood from a turnip ya know!

Ok here it comes..ROUND ONE! DING DING DING!

At any rate on her last er visit they recommended her going to Pittsburgh to the Dental school clinic and we were told it was low cost if not free so she called and made appointments not only for herself but for me, her dad and her other half. We loaded up the car Friday morning early and headed off on the two hour drive. Half way there she said pull over and stop now dad..just pull over to which he did and she immediately proceeded to lose the contents of her tummy all over herself and car door as it didn't open fast enough bless her heart. Apparently she took a reaction to the meds they gave her at the ER the night before. My heart ached for her watching the misery she was in. Mind you she can drive me batty at times but she is still my little girl and seeing her so miserable tears me apart! For once in his life hubby was patient and didn't get all huffy with her for throwing up all over the car door and even got her out one of his sacred sweatshirts for her to change into...wonders will never cease lol. We got her resituated and stopped at the local dollar general and grabbed some paper towels, garbage bags and a big bottle of Febreze..don't think I need to explain further on that part!
We finally got to the dental school with no problems and even got a super dooper parking spot in the parking garage across the street on the same level as the street and with my handicap sticker it was a prime spot that I did not have to struggle to cross the street! We entered a lovely building and all of us had to hit the bathroom first of course lol. I was the first one to make it to the receptionist window and proceeded to try to sign in when they asked me for all of us to pay up front to the tune of 120.00! I about choaked and went into " Excuse ME! that is not what we were told" conversation as we called not once but twice to verify cost etc long before we went down there! DD and DH came out and I let it in their hands as I was livid by then. Not one person admitted they told us that nor apparently believed anyone would tell us that and got rather rude! The rest of the family got mad and walked out but me in my blithering fog wandered over to another window to at least get my parking validated and one of the nicer gals came out and grabbed me and gave me some info she said she thought we could use about Catholic Charities opening a new dental clinic that is absolutely free if you qualify. She at least cared enough to try but our trip there was all in vain and we came home with dd in worse shape than when we left! She did call CC and went thru all the info on her cell phone while we were driving back home so we figured by Monday we could start again and figure a day out to go back to pittsburgh for the day yet again...

Now you would think this would end here yes? NOOOOOOOOO not in my family life hahaha.

DING DING DING --ROUND TWO
Saturday dawned and I could barely walk and dh was having issues as well and we all decided to wait until Sunday to have cake and ice cream for our "Cat" who had her birthday last week. Loving child that she is she said wait til you feel okay Nana and Pappy Dog (as she calls her grandpa!). Saturday kinda just passed in a blur and Sunday dawned. We ran for ice cream that we knew she loves and headed to their house. I got up to the top of the steps, walked in the door and took one look at my daughter and had no clue who she even was!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have ever seen The Grinch stories she looked like Cindy Lu Who! Her face and lips were so swollen and distorted I did not recognize my own child!!!!! SHe had been to the ER yet again and they gave her more antibiotics, did a ct scan that showed multiple small abcesses up into her sinuses and was in agony. At this juncture this mom had had it! I called the local oral surgeon and they tried to tell us to wait and call Monday and i hit the roof and told them to find him and i wanted called back immediately or i was calling the local tv and newspapers to tell them just what greedy dental care we have here! Well not in those exact words but you get the point lol. The upshot was he did call me back within 4 minutes and while he himmed and hawed about payment he agreed to see her first thing in the am and would work out payments for her. I went with her first thing monday am and when he first came in i was not impressed with his manner but then i watched a sudden softening in him when he saw her and how much pain she was in. He graciously agreed to cutting his prices tremendously and did not charge her for a special film he needed and agreed to payments. Faith is restored in at least this dentist now lol. He put her out cold and extracted several severe abcessed teeth and said she will have to have more later but this will take care of the problems she is having now. She could not be left alone nor drive so brought her home with me for the day and her honey had a chance at some extra hours so just had him leave her here. Her daddy was going to work anyway so she may as well stay here with me where at least if she needed something I could help to some degree rather than have her home alone.

She did sleep once I got her the pain meds and some chicken broth into her tummy but by 8 I felt like I had been hit with a bus emotionally and physically. Having Lupus and the other ills i have stress of any type causes extreme pain for me but had tried my best to ignore the worst of it since Friday but think it caught up finally and I keeled over out cold by the time her other half picked her up.

I was suddenly awakened Tues am at about 7 by DH who said please get up I got hurt at work and I need to go to the ER!

DING DING DING can you hear it ROUND 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The upshot was we spent til about noon at the ER and while it rulled out a blood clot he either pulled or tore a muscle/Tendon his leg and can't walk! He is off work at least a week if not more and starts with the local work comp dr tomorrow morning! He cannot use the steps and he sounds like he is in labor when he tries to walk. He does have ahigh pain tolerance so I know he really is hurting but after the past few days I am out of patience with all of them sorry. I have secluded myself to the bedroom by choice lol..I check on him every so often but other than that I am just done at least for now.

I am totally wrung out and feel like a wet dishrag and am not functioning for chit. I know they need me yes but right now i don't have anything more I can give til I can revive myself sigh. I this will pass...it always does but I needed to vent folks so guess what ..ya all are my recepients lol.
Keep saying to self..The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow!

Thursday

Feb is tomorrow already ugh. Where did the last year go let alone last month?
I gave up my Christmas look boo hoo so switched up to a Valentine's one..hopefully a bit perkier since it's so nasty here ..we had a decent morning but it's raining and turning to snow and bitter cold with high winds. These old bones of mine HATE this time of year! Seems like all of us from little JT thru Royboy have the stomach flu these past two weeks. So far I am not suffering ill effects tho Roy is down with it pretty bad today and had to call him off work!

I added some new Templates to my store at 3Scrapateers...they can be used for BOTH Personal AND Commercial use so check them out if you need some Time Saver Templates!
You can find them HERE

cUTE cUTE cUTE

I was watching ELLEN this morning and she got such a cute gift from the one guest (can't remember her name at the moment sorry)..it was a bow and arrow that shoots minature marshmellows!!! It's called a Bow and Mallow and each pull of the bow string hurls mini-marshmallows up to 30 feet! Ellen was having a blast with it!


All I can think of is sister dear Marsi! When I was laid up with a shattered ankle back in 1992 I was confined to the sofabed and wheelchair for several months and my dh and dd would get into fights over how to do the dishes or who was going to do what...Sister dear showed up one afternoon and gave me a pingpong ball gun to shoot them both when they had me upset..needless to say I TOTALLY enjoyed using it and it did stop them from fighting lol. The bow and arrow one would have been great too!
Thanks sis again for thinking of me when they drove me batty!! Mwahhhhhhhhh!

Ok i know i said end of discussion

I know I said end of discussion on the DSD issue but right now I am stewing and brewing and believe me I am enough of a redhead at heart I can get pretty boiled and I AM!

***DISCLAIMER***This is my personal opinion, I have the right to express it, state it, rehash it in anyway shape or form I choose. You can choose to disagree and I encourage you to do so however that doesn't mean you're gonna change my mind. Thanks...and have a GREAT day!****

(BORROWED DISCLAIMER FROM ROSE FARBER!)

I am sorry but enough is enough...Tandika has a right to be protective of her work YES but I also have the right as a PAID subscriber to have what I paid for originally!!! For someone who continually preached about professionalism in this industry she has totally done an about face. I doubt she really gives a rats patoot what I think let alone what the other subscribers think but I have to let off steam and its gonna be here! Part of me wants to resort to the name calling trust me! I am so angry right about now I cannot even type right!

I got the email from her saying it was open and one month had been added to my subscription. WELL GOODY GUMDROPS...one month for what? I cannot save the tuts to work on them at my own time..not everyone has the moolah she apparently has and my computer cannot handle keeping all those screens open and run PSCS at the same time! NOR does my health allow me to sit continuously while working on tut only to find her site logged me out for staying on one page too long...DUH..I am slow..I type slow..I have RA and Lupus I am NOT FAST duhhhhhhh. I understand her need for security but its gone overboard when you have one small paragraph per page on a tut that you cannot print out, screenshot or copy to use on your own personal time and personal computer. That 35.00 we each paid is pretty substantial when you add it up and to some of us like me it's alot of money. I had to save for months and put off joining because of the cost and finally did but I expected my year's worth out of it. ONE YEAR was my terms of use when I subscribed and ONE YEAR it should have been ---changing your tou suddenly when everyone started filing complaints with the BBB and PP does not change what you agreed to in the first place as you so many times stated, preached and posted not only in your own forums but other places as well!

There were many more honest faithful loyal upstanding members/subscribers to her site than bad apples so why is it that the good ones have to suffer the consequences of the rotten apples? We are battling those people too Tandika..you are not the only one suffering from their actions...many of us have had and will continue to have problems with because they do what they do no matter how much we fight them!

And let me tell you something else...logging our IP address on the site is hunky dory but do you not know that IP addresses change ..that when cable users or even dialup users have not logged on or had their computers on their IP addresses change? What good it is doing you is beyond me but hey if you have been advised it will help then I have no problem with it..just seems a bit over the top in my opinion.

My issue is NOT with the closing of the site..it is with HOW IT WAS HANDLED! How it is still being handled! I learn alot from any tutorial not just hers but she did have them in a manner that was effective for any of us wanting to make a go of it in the digi scrapping industry. HOWEVER the way she spoke to some people has often rubbed me wrong but I bit my lip many times figuring she is who she is and maybe she didn't mean it to be snarky. However I truly believe now she is a first class snob sorry but that's the only way I know how to put it. Because she knew alot and shared it with so many she apparently feels no loyalty or obligation to treat others in a fair and decent manner. Talking down to subscribers and loyal customers does not make you any better than the rest of us..you still have put your panties on one leg at a time same as we do! Where are the apologies to the faithful members? I kept hoping to get even a "We apologize for any inconvenience" letter but heck we don't even rate that! Sorry ..to me she is acting like plain trash and I call it as I see it. I rarely get this mad as know it is not healthy for me to but I am just seeing red at the moment. My faith in people is often tested but this one really cuts deep..I respected her, trusted her and admired her at one time. I am wondering why now!

Agree or disagree it's your option but I feel what I feel and I needed to say it. It's my blog and it's how I feel!