BUSY BUSY BUSY :-)

Well FINALLY I am back up and running and hopefully at full speed so here is an update of what I am up to :-)

My newest kit at Digitals is Olivia's Tree.





















A mix of sage, heather and butterscotch colors. Great for family layouts or even that heritage tree. Kit includes 14 12x12 backpapers, 7 mats (pinked or vellum type), vellum backed words, 2 large photo frames, photo charm to hang, stamped leaf tree, 2 sets of corners, 2 ready to use tags, 2 ribbands, 4 metal plates, 2 plastic square "tokens", 3 sliders (vellum words fit in these), and a threaded tied token.
To see one of the ways I used it please view my layout at the gallery at Digitals.
AND DID YOU KNOW--DIGITALS has a new gallery set of guidelines so check it out and post your layouts no matter who made them! Just be sure to credit the designer properly!

I am going to try my best to post everyday as I have neglected this poor blog so much since DH had his mini stroke and it's time for me to get back in gear!

Happy 4th!

I hope you all have a safe and happy 4th of July for those who celebrate it! Happy Canada Day as well (belated) to all my Canadian buddies too! May the rest of your summer be full of laughter and love and take lots of pictures :-).

Doing a Happy Dance

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO tickled to say I am a designer and DT at DIVINE DIGITALS! I have so long admired Royanna's work and it is a divine privilege to become a part of it. I am working on some new kits for there to go up with the grand opening! There is fun to be had so please come on by and check the site out. She has a wonderful podcast which just had it's first broadcast and is about inspiration for our scrapping in the world around us everyday. It was delightfully divine to hear it and I hope many of you will take the opportunity to check it out.




On another note I just added a new kit to Digitals called Olivia's Tree which came from my wanting to do an immediate family tree for myself.
This is the layout I made with it. Will post the kit preview later in the evening.

Lastly but certainly far from least is one I did of little miss wiggle butt with my Scarlett's Kisses kit from Digitals. My mother's Day present from her was a 8x10 of her in her stunningly beautiful purple set with matching hat :-). Who can resist this smile!

Day 4 from Royanna's 40 day Challenge at Diving Digitals was to scrap something or someone who made you who or where you are now. I chose the chapter of going to live with my grandparents as the biggest thing that makes me who I am. Used a kit by Maya for it and just love this kit! I had held onto it for a bit as my sister does smocking and that's why I bought it in the first place! Great great elements and papers in this kit! I have been a fan of hers since first digi scrapping but this is the first time I have used one I purchased and am so happy I chose to get it!

I managed to get a mini kit refurbished and up at the store at Digitals called Apple Basket Mini Kit. This is a layout of my gorgeous redhead love of my life grandson when he was a little guy using that kit. Nowadays he is a teenager and keeps his hair almost shaved lol which I HATE but it's their thing these days I guess but oh what hair he had! He is the only one of the 6 that got my red! It's a simple kit and minimal but I enjoyed making it.

Here's a couple I did from the wedding over Mother's day. The one is Bec and Joey's Invitation which I scanned then did a digital layout of using Bannerwoman's kit from Digitals:-).

The second is from the rehersal party the nite before held at a friend of my sister's and was a Mexican themed party complete with pinata and all the fixings. They had a blast. I was so wiped out from the trip I didn't get to go as it was just too much for me but loved seeing all the photos! Used Cristina Blomberg's Hot Pepper kit also from Digitals.

Catching Up

My poor blog has been so neglected :-( I had a bad bad case of viral bronchitis and it left me feeling high and dry ugh! AM FINALLY feeling better and did get a few layouts done and a new mini kit up at Digitals. Will get them up and posted as soon as I get myself caught up. Hope ya all are well.

Journey thru time and Day 3 of 40 days Challenge

The Family Tree for part of my Journey Through Time Heritage Book. I am a late starter on this one but it is so interesting to work on this ancestory project. I have had wonderful success on some sides of both our families and hopefully will be able to have this all done by Christmas time for my family. Used parts of both the Kings Fancy and the Queens Fancy kits by Teri Hansen from Divine Digitals which you can find in the Divine Store.


























This is for part of my BOM going with the 40days of Scrapping Challenge with Royanna at Diving Digitals. Used Sue Jone's Dreams Kit from Digitals which I just love!
You can find it in the Digitals Store!

Was wandering!

Well I was away for my niece's wedding in NC for a bit and finally got home and collapsed from sheer exhaustion. The wedding was so beautiful and Becca and Joey also added to the ceremony with a signet ring for Ethan (the groom's son) and a promise to him and that just brought us all to tears. While they were technically already married back last fall when they eloped this was their official wedding and it was simple yet fabulous. The place it was held was outdoors at an old log cabin type hall and they wrote their vows. The music was a beautiful sax like that of Kenny G and the weather was ordered for any perfect wedding day! We spent those few days there with my family and then took a side trip up thru the Skyline Drive in Virginia and it was magnificent! Hopefully some of the photos turned out on my daughters cell phone since dummy me totally forgot to take a camera bad scrapper bad scrapper! I did get some pics from the wedding already from my sister and more to come so can't wait to scrap those.
Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's day for those who celebrate it!
Did get a layout done just before we left for Divine Digitals Journey Thru Time and for day 3 of Royanna's 40 days challenge and will post them here shortly as well.
Happy Tuesday!

Sisters and M-I-L moment

Working on some more older photos. This one of my baby sister and me is one I simply love and it did have some water damage for some reason(still don't know how or why it got it!)but was able to use the makeup brush in psp x to elminate most of the problem areas! What a great tool it is! I still stick to psp 7 most of the time but finding psp x and pscs to be wonderful and the more I learn the more I will probably be using them. At any rate used Lianne Carper's Vanity Lace Kit from 3 Scrapateers and just love the kit! The charm alpha is beautiful..took the hanger off the ones I used in our names and replaced it with the bow I cut out from the locket to match up with the locket. I love the rich look of this kit it rocks! I love Lianne's work! The sisters button was blank and just used the font she used to make it myself and came as close as I could on the gold setting for it.

Have so many photos we went thru the other nite and dh and I had a couple good giggles at his departed mom's expense bless her. I had a wonderful mother in law who I loved dearly so it was nothing bad. I came across an envelope with some letters and photos in it from someone she was dating when she met dh's dad and they turned out to be love letters from this young fellow and some pics he had sent her. We both laughed so hard as on the back of one the pics his mom had written that he had surprised her with a visit from NJ when dh's dad happened to be there and that was the last she heard from the fellow from NJ ..wondered why??? ROTFL .. his mom was a hoot when you got her going but normally she was quite proper around people and everyone who knew her loved her! It just tickeled us both at her comments and the fact she had saved those few love letters all those years. We lost her just before our son had his daughter Emily who is named after dhs' mom but we still miss her to this day in the little things. Will have to see about scrapping these things without revealing too much hahaha.

Shopping and crowds UGH

Now I KNOW for many of you shopping is so much fun and for me it used to be. These days it is a chore due to pain issues for me but I HAD to go shopping for something to wear to my niece's upcoming wedding! Now mind you I have not bought a new dress in over 5 years as I just don't get to go to things much as physically I cannot manage alot of places and others I get hit with panic attacks in crowds so I just tend to avoid them. I never had panic attacks until I became ill back in Sept. 2001 and didn't even realize that is what I was having but that is what they are. Most of the time they are manageable and I can tell when one is coming and just get myself outside to a quiet spot til it passes. My dh bless him can tell now when one is coming on just by the look on my face so he will steer me out of the crowded areas sometimes before I even realize it. For me this has been difficult to accept as I was always a people person and loved going places and nothing would phase me but nowadays ugh! I don't to to walmart til after 10pm at night(they are open 24 hours)just so I don't have to deal with alot of people "crowding" my space--I rarely go to weddings or to shows or even malls because of it. I don't think I knew how bad it can be for people who have it happen all the time no matter what until I started getting them sporadically and my heart sure goes out to anyone who suffers from it constantly!I think mine came on as a result of being in fear of getting jostled around when my back and neck and leg hurt as much as they do as so there just seems to be too many people who are pushy and shovy and hurry hurry and don't notice that maybe one person cannot seem to manuver fast like they do. After getting knocked into shelves and clothing racks one too many times I guess my brain said enough was enough lol. It helps now that I have the use of the electric scooters at places like walmart and the mall and even two of the grocery stores but I still have to stay outta crowds or I feel that closed in feeling coming on. At any rate I really digressed lol now where was I? Oh yeah shopping..well I ended up going to 6 places and let me tell you I felt great when I left this morning at 9am but by the time I got home at 3pm I was totally exhausted, disgusted and depressed! The styles were either for young chicks (with great figures) or granny goodwitch (who has boobs to her knees and no waist and huge butt) no matter which store I was in. AND finding something AFFORDABLE to add to the mix! I did finally settle on one that seems to fit other than the length (I am vertically challenged shall we say lol so everything is too long on me). I show it to dh and he just makes a face and says ok. SO WHAT DOES THIS TELL ME? I am going back to the drawing board sigh. I wasn't really sure on it and seeing his face I definitely am taking it back. I HATE SHOPPING I HATE SHOPPING I HATE SHOPPING!

Word of Caution

I recently had purchased a few things here and there at some different digital stores. I am finally able to actually try to get myself back on track layout wise so naturally unzipped them and went to use some of them. Something just did not seem right however ..they looked rather small on my layout and the site where I purchased them is supposedly a leader of digi scrapping so it of course surprised me! I went and looked and they do not create theirs at 300 dpi which is what I use and what most of my kits are and what most of the ones I have bought or gotten are. Now I know there is the controversary over the difference in 200 and 300 being neglible but in all honesty I SEE a difference! I was extremely disappointed with the size of these elements on my page and in one case they were all shadowed totally and shadowed in a way that is dark which I did not want! The previews did not show the shadow but was on a black background so of course I did not see the shadows before purchasing. If I had I certainly would NOT have bought them! There is nothing in the description that states they are shadowed so I had NO way to know! Some things I don't mind if they are shadowed but in this case I did not know ahead of time! Needless to say I doubt I will use them anytime soon if at all. Just a word to the wise don't be dumb like me and assume ..ask the store first before you purchase elements and kits if you can't tell from the description or preview! No I will not name names..and yes I am contacting the store. Just felt like I should speak up so others remember to check as I got in the habit of trusting where I buy or get normally for quality etc and just assumed that other places were on the same mindset but found out not all of them are.

40 Days of Scrapping Purpose Day1&2

Royanna is doing a marvelous look at ourselves challenge called "40 Days of Scrapping Purpose" over at Divine Digitals. I had signed up at the beginning but then dh had the mini stroke so mine got put on hold until I was able to get to it. I finally got started and here is day 1 and day 2.

Day one was to do some photos with us and think of the artist within not the outside of us. I am one who has always hated getting my picture taken so I really did hesitate at this one but ya know at my age it just doesn't seem to matter so much anymore lol. I know I my illness has caused me to be even more camera leery the past few years but hey I did my best.

Day two was to say why we love to scrap...NOT for anyone else why but why for ourselves. I chose the main reasons from my daily life as it is a very good way for me to forget my pain levels for short periods of time and to get lost in the memories sometimes of my childhood good and some eh so so and to watch the wonderful grandchildren I have grow each year. Having one who turned 13 last week and a new little munchkin only 3 months old it keeps me laffing at the things the others did when they were tinier and looking in awe at the "teenager"the oldest is now and the man he will someday become.

I think this set of challenge purposes is going to very soul searching sometimes but also a great learning process for any of us that ventures out to do it.

TY Royanna..this is an awsome challenge and your inspirations and challenge with each day from you or Andrea is super.

Heritage

I have been working on heritage layouts for both sides of the family..mine and dh's but mostly had done mine. I recently got more photos to work with from his side so got some done! It is so neat to see some of the old photos having known these folks before they passed on and have to wonder at stories behind some of them as never had a chance to ask. I have been trying to use kits more suited to these but find that almost any kit can be used for heritage layouts actually!

Autumn Charisma Kit by Lianne Carper at 3 Scrapateers for this one of dh's Aunt

Eve Renceilla's Collingwood Kit From 3 Scrapateers for this of dh's mother and father's wedding day.

Ronnie McCray's Simply Crafty Kit from Scrapbook Bytes for dh's Aunt again

More Miss Wiggle Butt :-)

Got some new layouts done of Miss Wiggle Butt :-) I used Ronnie McCrays absolutely awsome The Pacified Baby Kit from ScrapbookElements and it ROCKS! These are two of the quickpages included in the kit! If you have baby photos this is a MUST HAVE!

This is one of the first pics of Scarlett at the hospital in January taken by her aunt. She is one of the delights of my life!

photo: Michelle Burns Photography(baby's Aunt) Font: Basic ttnorm

From the day she was born in January my newest grandbaby's nose has fascinated me for some reason. It is just sooooo cute!
Photo: Michelle Burns Photography(Baby's aunt)
Font: Mr Keningbeck

Some New Layouts

Well I went on layout catch up late last nite as felt up to doing more but blogger is having hissy fits for some reason today with uploading pics so will wait and load them later.

HAPPY HAPPY NOTE

I am so tickeled to be a member too at Divine Digitals with Royanna and Andrea! I adore their work!! Please if you have not visited there do so! It's an awsome place with alot to do and see! I am getting caught up with Royanna's 40 day challenge( ugh still on day 1 but will get there this weekend i hope totally caught up) and will be doing Teri Hanson's Heritage Challenges so I can get all these heritage photos scrapped and done with her help! The link is in my links to the side-------> so stop on by there they really are awsome! I am learning so much it's just wonderful! I know alot of familiar faces I see there as both designers and members so know alot of you out there have found them as well!

What's up with where I am at now?

I am now going to be helping take over the Bingo Challenge at 3 Scrapateers after next month and can't wait to get on my feet there to get it in gear! I have to get some new kits up there as had not been able to put anything up there with all that was going on around here! Thanks to Linda for her patience with my trial runs :-) and to the wonderfully awsome support I have had from everyone while going thru all this with Roy.

I have several new kits up at Digitals and am the Featured Designer there for two weeks so make sure to visit me there. If you post a layout with any of my creations in the Featured Designer-Jolene Shaffer gallery you will get the free mini kit mentioned in one of previous posts. Make sure to check the Gifts of Promise daily in the store there and see our new designers and all the awsome kits that come out almost daily! Thanks to everyone there who has been a huge support to me and to Stacey and Rick for all their hard work! OH yeah and did you know DIGITALS has GONE INTERNATIONAL? Rick has it set up for many languages to now be able to read and process items there! He so ROCKS!

Untamed is getting back on it's feet with the server move so look there for an upcoming Grand Reopening soon! Better than ever I know it will be! Lissa and Teri-Lynn have had their work cut out for them but know they will have it awsome before long! To my bestest buddies there I love ya all and TY for all the support and help! You are awsome!

Do It Digi was hacked sad to say and everything was totally lost and while Wendy is working on getting it back up and running I am not doing much there at least for now.

Ronnie McCray Design Team
I am so tickeled with Ronnie's new kits! Just finished two layouts using her Pacified Baby Kit and will have them up here when Blogger Cooperates! you can find her work at SBE and SBB.

Ok babble mouth has run long enuf lol
Have a great weekend ya all!
Jo

Sad thing

Ya know how the piracy thing has affected so many designers and sadly Tandika Star is another of their victims! As a result she has pulled all her freebies to the paid area which I totally can understand but sure hurts those of us who cannot afford paid memberships sigh. Her work is awsome and I totally adore it and want to join her paid area anyway to get her tutorials which I hear are phenominal so guess I best save up :-).... Do these pirates not realize how much damage they are doing? So many designers are doing this now and I can't blame them!!! How hard was it just to send someone to their site instead of packaging it up taking the time to delete the tou from the files, upload them to some sharing service which took 10 times as long? It just boggles my mind! I hope some them get their just desserts as the saying goes and they need to remember what goes around comes around! To designers like Tandika we support you even if we can't always join we still love your work!

GREAT NEWS

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dh's tests results are back and they are all great! The Dr. still can't explain why he had the mini stroke nor promise it won't happen again but all of the heart tests and brain tests and scans are all wonderful and he can resume normal activities and just take his normal bp and diabetes meds along with a new eyedrop from the opthamologist to stabilize the pressure in that eye all the time. The Dr. just shook his head and said he was surprised they were all so great but pleased and said stop worrying unless there is a symptom as it may never happen again. I think maybe it was a higher power telling him to stop sweating the small stuff so this hopefully got his attention!

At any rate I hope to start getting myself back to normal now as won't be stressed with this now! Thanks to everyone for the wonderful support in my groups, forums and emails as it sure means alot to know people care!

Piracy and whining

Just a reminder for new people and oldbies too! Remember just because it's free does not give you the right to resend it to someone else! DO THE RIGHT THING---Send your friend to the site to sign up and get it or buy it themselves! If it's a case of you wanting to gift them then get them a gift certificate or contact the designer and ask them for a way to purchase it for them to use without it looking like piracy! I had a super designer get back to me and she said if I give her the email of the person I wanted to gift she would email them with a link so they would get it and there would be no question!
(cannot remember who made this logo but ty for sharing it. If you know please let me know!)

I AM TIRED

That's all..am just plain tired! I am whiney and tired and just feel like crap today. I know some of it is weather related as fell asleep with the window open all nite and woke up and just ached all over with the damp and chill in the air. Then I had also managed to twist the tube on my CPAP machine under my neck and laid on it apparently most of the nite so have a dent in my neck and it feels like there is clamp there inside and just plain hurts. I can't descibe it just that it made me dizzy and naseauted when I turned my head for a few hours. AND the TV remote also managed to find its way under my chest when I rolled over and it's imprint on one of the girls! NOT FUN! shhhhhh lol funny but not fun! I was on a roll getting my stuff out to Digitals for the Featured and was so stoked on it and need to get so much more done for both there and DID and UT and while they are all started I am just feeling so wiped out again tonite I can't look at them. I know mentally I am exhausted with worry over Roy and that adds to it I am sure. Sorry but sometimes I gotta whine lol so its my blog and am gonna whine hahahaha!

On a really kewl note I was asked to join someplace as a designer and it is an awsome offer (can't say anymore right now) and I don't have to give up where I am already so am thinking on that one as it really is an offer I would love to take them up on. Wish me luck on the thought process! Alot of things weigh in on what I decide to do and am too tired tonite to examine all the pros and cons lol. I have no plans to leave where I am so it is a plus if I am told I can stay put. I had other offers but would have had to leave my "homes" and that is just something I am not wanting to do. Right now the timing is off some as still have to finish up getting on board at 3Scrapateers but with all that happened with Roy etc I am like wayyyyyyyyyy behind on everything cept Digitals which I caught up I think yesterday finally.

Ok this chickee has rambled quite enuf for the whiney mode sorry!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope ya all have a good week
Jo

Designer Spotlight at Digitals

I am so happy to say I am the Featured Designer at Digitals for
April 24-May 7! Anyone posting using ANY of my products from the DIGITALS STORE in the Featured Designer gallery here will get the free "Gubble Bum" mini kit you see here. It is a mini version of an upcoming kit that got it's name because our Cody kept saying gubble bum instead of bubble gum when he was a little guy. The colors remind me of those bubbalicious flavors including the blue raspberry that turned his mouth and tongue a bright teal blue lol. It includes 2 12x12 papers, a set of 4 fun sweet bubblegum ball words, two raffia bows, a tag made using my doodles and a pink vellum envelope. So come on over and post a layout with any of my products and get it free. You never know just maybe you may get an extra surprise :-)
Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Jolene
BLOGGER IS HAVING FITS so if the page is not loading right please stop back later! THanks!

New Scarlett's Kisses Kit and Alpha at Digitals

I was able to FINALLY finish up this new kit called Scarlett's Kisses after my new grandbaby! I had such a wonderful time working on this one tho it was slow going with all the other real life things going on! It just reminds me of her with her always smiling face and happy disposition. The Kit is available now at Digitals and you can also purchase the alpha alone if you wish just that part. The alpha IS included in the kit as well.










The inspiration for it came from a card so went to work playing with circles to see what I could "draw" and the flower and butterfly were the main results and am very happy with them. They have a "chalky" look to the flowers as I "spray painted" them and the butterfly was circles all spread about.













I tried to do a mix of colors so it can be used for male or female layouts and the alphabet has two uppercase as well as one lowercase and number pebbles and includes fun happy word pebbles to match. Special credit to Christine Nash for some of her stitches I used on the tag and to Atomic Cupcake for her pewter action on the brad.

I am Stoked!

I got an email and one of my layouts is nominated for a Scrapper's Choice Award under
FAVORITE LAYOUT WITH THREE OR MORE PHOTOS! It's one of my son's wedding that is one of my all time favorites so that is a double bonus.

Credits:BiracDT font on the journaling

Sue Jones-Love and Marriage Word Art from Digitals

Sue Jones-Shell Seekers Kit from Digitals

Photos by Michelle Burns (bride's sister)

Voting starts April 28th to the 30th so if you have a mind to I would love to have your vote :-) (Yes it's a plug lol). Here's the link
http://www.onesourcescrapads.com/nominees.shtml There are alot of other people there I know and enjoy so take time to check out their layouts and vote vote vote when it starts next week :-).

Livy Girl

If you can't tell I decided rather than feeling so icky with all this waiting on an outcome with my dh's tests etc. I needed to do someting more constructive so went to work finishing undone layouts and working on new kits to go up hopefully at the beginning of the week. Sitting here feeling crappy and worrying is not doing anyone any good and certainly isn't going to change the fact that he had a mini stroke. Enough of the poor me's at least for now lol.

Heres one with the new photos we got of Livy in her school uniform! Used Jenniger Maceyunas Waiting For Summer Kit and the matching Waiting for Summer Bottlecap Alpha ...from the store at Digitals . It has such bright pretty flowers in it and they just seem to fit Liv's personality! It's just ending summer there going into fall so its perfect!
Have a great over the hump day ya all!
Jo

Vroom Vroom

I have been sitting on these for some time as needed a "Harley" type kit to do them and when Tina Williams came out with this one at the Digitals store I knew it was perfect! This little guy is the first grandbaby for a dear friend of mine and they asked me to do some layouts for their use at home and this is just a few of the ones I have finally finished!

This kit is so full of different papers and embellishments it makes is so great to do multiple layouts with the same theme! I love the word charms in particular. Her wordart overlays were perfect! She has them in both the black and the white so if you cannot change the art colors its done for you! Totally awsome kit and well made! He is such a cutey in these and they just crack me up! I had so much fun scrapping them.You can find her kit at Digitals

The Girls and a Long Vent

We got some pics of our Livy since she moved to NZ and I love the grin on her face! She wears a uniform to school there so for a little girl who loves clothes I am sure this was quite a change for her lol. She looks so great tho and when we have talked to her she sounds her normal happy self so I think the move has gone well so far. I know she is well taken care of as her mother is a good one but oh how we miss our "Dutch" as her pappy calls her. It was so good to see her smiling face and her mom had some other photos so will be scrapping them I hope when things are calm here.

Our Newest Little Easter Star was all dolled up for Easter and her mommy took some awsome pics as you can see! I can't resist showing her off in her Easter finery :-) and with her bunny we got her that is wearing ducky slippers! Her smile is one that just melts our hearts and she is a "pappy's" girl as she just jabbers to him a mile a minute and laughs as soon as she sees him!












CAUTION THE NEXT IS A LONG RANT AND I WON'T BE OFFENDED IF YOU DON'T READ IT! I JUST NEED TO GET IT OFF MY CHEST!

On to a frustration note and if you don't want to read my vent then stop here lol.
As some know my dh had what the dr thinks was a mini stroke about two weeks ago and we had an appt on Good Friday for 3 tests at a local hospital. To backtrack the day we were at the dr's after the nite in the ER his normal secretary had taken the day off so there was a "temp" there filling in who totally ticked me off because she was just plain "dumb". Sorry there is no other way to put it! If you are going to send a temp to a dr. office the least one can do is make sure she knows SOME medical terminology and at least the process that goes on in a dr. office! She had no clue that day and it took her almost an hour just to schedule the appts for him.

Now keep in mind that our family dr of 30 some years retired two years ago and we continued with his replacement as we do like him alot. His sec and nurse stayed with our new dr so we have known them for years and they know us. At any rate (and yes I AM RAMBLING because I am still astounded!) we got to the hospital on Friday spent almost two hours there while they searched high and low for dh's orders! Of course his office was closed so nobody was in but they do have a service that goes to the nurse connection at the big hospital here. HOWEVER the reg clerk was filling in for the registration clerk we know and who I TRAINED 10 years ago so know she knows her job. The substitute one had no clue where to look so told her which she did and all the depts had dh on their list for the test to be done but NOBODY had the actual orders. Meanwhile this clerk is yawning every five seconds and looks like she hadn't washed her hair in days. Sorry I have no patience with that. I worked that hospital for 10 years and part of my job was training their registration people and if any one of them had done that I would have had her butt in a sling! (SEE TOLD YOU THIS WAS A LONG RANT and I am not done yet lol).

The upshot was she said well we can't do it without the orders which I know is true so we did not get the tests done and wasted our entire morning there! WHEN I got home I was fuming so called the dr. office and talked to the nurse connection just because I needed to have my say. IT seems that had the reg clerk stayed on the phone longer and talked to one of them THEY would have contacted our dr and faxed the orders over so we could have had them done! AND it seems the reg clerks are taught this nowadays but ours apparently chose not to do so! The nurse there apologized and even offered to call the hsptl and see if they could get us back in that day but by then we were both wiped out and dh had no sleep as we had gone there as soon as he got off work in the morning but did write down all I told them and was sending a note to the dr so he would have it by this morning.

SOOOOOOOOOOO this morning I call the dr. office and got another temp! It seems the big hospital that bought out all the others around here and now has taken over many of the dr. offices is closing our dr's office and he is going to a different practice and his girls are out of a job! I AM SO ANGRY I COULD SPIT! (THAT is another long story for another day!) At any rate I told this temp the whole story and she said well I think that was me and I made his appointments. I said and just what happend to his paperwork/orders. SHE COMES BACK WITH "What orders? All I do is make the appointment!" I explained to her excuse me you have to fax the orders to the appropriate facility! She again comes back with "How was I supposed to know that?" I just wanted to crawl thru the phone and shake some sense into her!

....EXCUSE ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does anyone else see something wrong with this?First of all if you are going to work there you should know the basics and secondly you DO NOT TELL A PATIENT that EVER!!!!!!!!!!

All in all I am NOT happy and so stressed I could just scream. I had chest pains and naseua off and on for the entire weekend and while we had a wonderful Easter with our family at my son's it just spoiled alot of my humor. His tests are reset for this upcoming Friday and I will be on the phone belive me to make sure the orders got there and to the Supervisor who put that clerk there and to the person who put that temp at my dr office . Not that it will make any difference I know but PEOPLE need to step up and do their jobs correctly.

YES this is long and I apologize if I have offended anyone as that is not my intent I am just mad as a wet hen. Had I not been in the business for almost 20 years and didn't know what is proper and not proper maybe I would be more tolerant but I doubt it since it is all common sense. I worked in hospitals and dr offices all over this country either training or in the finance side of things and I just have had it with slipshod attitudes and people who should be doing other jobs since they apparently have no job integrity.

My rant is done and yes I feel better lol so it was worth it.
Happier posts later in the week I promise! :-)

Bear Scent Pics

Aren't these the cutest! To explain the stuffed
bear collection my dh started by giving me a cute white polar bear and the girls loved it so they sleep with it when they come have a sleepover with Nana. DH started then getting me a new one for every holiday and or special occasion and I now have a mess of bears all over my room. My oldest granddaughter Emily even got me one for Valentine's day at the dollar store just because bless her heart so it's up there with the big ones as it is just as special! My favorite is one of the ones he gave me for my birthday this past year and its got on a cute plaid hooded sweatshirt and just is so snuggled in there! THe other favorite is one he gave me at Christmas(he got me 4!) that has a sleep cap and jacket in tartan plaids and what I call a "chitty" grin on its face! I love all of them and many have the years embroidered on them as keepsakes. He got me one holding a box of chocolates for Valentines day with a cape and top hat called the Kissing Bandit that just cracks me up every time I look it. I know they are not expensive ones like my boyd's bears one is(yes i adore boyd's bears!) but they are so full of personality and just make me smile. I am after my daughter's other half to build me a long wall shelf to put up on my bedroom wall so they can all sit up there cutely! OK again rambled didn't I? See why its called the ramblings and babblings of a happy digi scrapper? ROTFL! Have a good one! Nitey nite

Candles and Bears Oh My!

The two things I collect are stuffed bears and candles of any type but the little tarts are a definite favorite. Yes I am a dedicated member of Gina Miller's Tart Fan club lol. My daughter just gave me my first REAL tart warmer from Home and Garden Parties with an apple design on it and I just love it. Along with it she gave me some apple cinnamon scent tarts with a wee heart cut out in the middle and it smells so good! I have candles in every room in the house with scents from blueberry and black raspberry to lemon and peach and everything in between. I am not big on floral scents mostly due to floral allergies so its usually food scents imagine that lol. We have a new candle/primitives store in our mall that when I do manage to get out I love to just go in and wander as my electric chair fits in the place yay! She has some awsome sugared candles in there and some other great items I could spend spend spend ..have been bugging her to let me do some online stuff for her as she does not have a website and all I want in return are candles lol. Wish me luck!
At any rate back to my collections..tonite I came across a candle store(while looking for some primitives websets) that not only has candles but they do scented bears!!!!!!! My two favorite things. (will splain the bears later lol).THey are not toys nor do you burn them so am going to have to order one and see how they are but will try to post pics if blogger lets me(it's being a pita for some reason tonite!) and the site for anyone else interested. I just think they are so adorable! The price seems good as well! IF I get one will let ya all know my opinion if it matters :-).
Site is called Simply Charming Boutique
http://www.simplycharming.org/home1.html

Let's see what else ..oh yeah I ordered some cute little brass charms the other day from A Charming Place and they came today. They are so inexpensive and so cute that even tho I am not a paper scrapper I do make cards from time to time and love charms hanging on my candles or my watches and bracelets so figured at the prices I would try them out. They came today and I am just tickeled with them. They are tiny but you can see the detail well in each one ..I got a few of the fireman ones as my son is a captain for the city fire dept and have some photos and layouts of him to do. Just thought if any of you love things like this you may want to check it out as the service was fast and the prices are great!

Ok I really have rambled way too long tonite and need to be up early to keep Miss Wiggle Butt in the morning :-) plus its storming and not happy being on here when it is lightening so much.
Have a great day!

Just some pics of Little Miss Wiggly Butt as I call her lol. Two from yesterday and one from last week. She has such a smile doesn't she? She has her pappy wrapped around her little fingers already lol. He has been great with the grandkids but she is the only one he held alot before age 6 months ..he was always afraid of babies imagine that! Off to nite nite time..its beena long day. Have a good one !

Updating

As you can see I have updated the blog and am kinda happy with how it's turned out yay!

DH is doing MUCH better and ty for all the nice notes and the comments! His vision is back to normal and still has to have the tests done on Friday but the initial scare is calmed down now. I had very little sleep or even inspiration since this all happened but last nite I finally had a good nite's sleep and am not feeling all foggy today.

I got a new kit up at Digitals and everything there is on sale til Sunday 25% off so if you so feel an urge to shop please stop over :-) The new kit is called Bunny Hunt and will also be at Do It Digi later this week. I had been working on it for a few weeks and finally finished it so sent it to the admins to post. Hope you will like it! Will be posting layouts with it later in the week.







We are going to my son's for Easter on Saturday so hopefully will have new pics of our little munchkin and the others as all of them except our Livy will be there. Livy called from NZ this week and both of us got to talk to her and she seems still very happy with school and her location so that is a plus for sure! They moved her up from 1st grade to 2nd grade there as she was so far ahead ..she is a smart lil girl :-). I am not so sure our Caitlyn will be happy when she hears that as they are the same age and Caitie is older by 3 days! Hopefully it won't upset her too much since Liv is in an another country. Having the two of them so close in age can make for alot of competition lol.

Okies on that note will get myself in gear and try to start catching up at my sites and see what I have missed or need to get done. I hope all of you have a Happy and Blessed Easter no matter how or if you celebrate it..stay safe, stay happy and keep on laughing as it's one way to get thru all times be they good or bad!
Gentle hugs

Jolene

Scary Time

It has been a very scary few days. DH has had a mini stroke that occured in one eye and we are not sure how much damage it has left behind if any. For him to ask me to take him to the ER totally terrified me as he NEVER asks that and he is one you have to drag kicking and screaming to the regular doctor lol. He had lost his vision in the one eye with a headache and just felt like things were not right . He is doing much better today but will have to have a mess of tests next week when they were able to schedule him in and until I know what we are up against it's a very scary ordeal. I depend on him for just about everything since my illness began in 2001 and we got our act together. I am the one who has had to have the care and now I feel like I need to care for him yet he is acting like it was nothing but being in the medical field all these years I KNOW it was nothing to mess with. I know I am babbling but that is what a blog is for right lol? I am downright scared of what may happen to him and part of me worries some too about what will happen to me if he can't be the one taking care of me? Selfish side of it too I know and admit it. I am so used to him taking care of the things I cannot either because I can't physically do them or because they are too emotionally draining which sets off my Lupus. I know it took my illness to wake him up and guess maybe this is God's way of shaking me up as well as I know I surely can not be easy to live the days my pain levels are high yet he sticks right here with me. We have a wierd relationship all 30 some years of it lol with off again on again issues but since I was diagnosed and so ill in 2001-2002 he just sort of stepped in and took over and has been awsome for the most part. oK ok done babbling for the moment lol sorry but hey not sure anyone even reads this except myself so if i can put up with me lol then what can i say?

Family Fun Night

arghhh I thought I had posted this layout as it was a hoot to work with! Apparently Blogger ate that post the other nite when it was actingup so badly :-(.

My niece Becca recently eloped with her honey Joey and this is of them with his son Ethan having a family day! They surely get very involved in things which is a plus for Ethan who loves "MY BECCA" as he calls her. They are fun loving adults and wonderful parents for this little guy.

They are still having their big Catholic wedding next month so hopefully will have alot of great photos to add to pages for them!

This kit was a gem ..I ADORE the accordian album that Lianne put in this! It is definitely the

hightlight of this kit! The colors and elements are just perfect for this photo and added small photos of each of them in the album with a quote that seemed to fit each. VERY unique embellishment and a definite must have!

Fonts are artistamp on the ribbon, doodle cursive and doodle noodle for journaling

Such a cute Denim Kit!

Used Lianne's Denim Delights for a Girl Scrapkit for this
layout of my granddaughter Caitlyn . This is such an adoreable
kit with the jeans and pockets accented with daisys and a cute
bottlecap alpha. The "sweetie" and "cutie" appliques are done
beautifully and really add a nice touch! I had a hard time with
the photo as it was small so did some manuvering and did my
first extraction by taking Caitie out of the photo and putting
her sitting in the pocket. I am kinda pleased with the way it
turned out especially on my first time trying this.
Journaling font is doodle noodle.

Wonderful kits by Lianne Carper

Did two more layouts with some of Lianne's kits from 3 Scrapateers. I can't say enough good things about her work as I just love ALL her products! Check them out at her part of the 3 Scrapateers Store here
This one is using her Precious Memories Kit. Font used is
Cochin. LOVE this kit for the rich colors and the variety of
elegant items that can be used for fun photos as well as elegant
or heritage ones! Super super kit! I am a big fan of hers can you tell lol?