St Valentine's Day

I am trying not to be into the whole obligated holiday thing.  It may be sweet for some, but we need our money for something else at my house.  I am excited about the “I love yous” on a daily basis.  Happy that my hubby loves me 365 days a year and not just on the one day.  Happy that my hubby provides for us, feeds us (even will go to the grocery for us), that he takes my son to ball practice, that he mows the yard, that he chases moles, that he is a good driver, that he is a great grill cook,  that he can stand my craziness, that he is a great dad and husband.  I guess I am grateful that he doesn’t need $100 spent on him on Valentine’s Day, he knows how I feel. 

That aside, I was very happy with the gesture from people that did NOT have to show me their love today. 

First is my beautiful teenage daughter, who at times I know would LOVE to claim that she was adopted!  She decided to take time out of her night last night to make her family a cake.  This was the first cake that she made all by herself from scratch.  It was a tasty cake too.  I am so proud of her!!!  She’s pretty wonderful!

Then there is Cassie Rogers.  She hasn’t known me for long, but in the time that she has known me she has embraced me and picked me up after I had been terribly hurt.  She has embraced my craziness and as a matter of a fact, I think she might be as crazy as me.  She doesn’t crowd me, she knows that I like my sleep, and she still accepts me.  She has done a few things for me that have shocked me; people just don’t do things for people anymore.  Once she bought me some hand gel because we were talking about it and well, she listened.  Another time, she went to the movies with me for 10 hours and she brought me a goodie bag and a Breaking Dawn pin (that I love).  And today she topped the cake, she came to school and brought me a Valentine!!! She did not have to do that!  How wonderful is that?  I don’t deserve it, but I gratefully accept it (it was yummy too).

My point?  Do I ever have one?  This time I think that I do..... just that I am grateful for all those in my life that love me every day and NOT just Valentine’s Day. 

Laundry fairy, where for art thou?

I thought that in the future we were going to have robots to do our laundry!  Wasn't that what was promised to us? 

My life this morning:

6:32am (we leave the house at 6:45)

son: mom, I don't have any underwear.
mom:  what do you mean you have no underwear, I just did laundry on Sunday.
son:  well I don't
mom:  did you look on your dresser? (because no one put clothes away anymore)
son:  there is not any underwear there. 

Ladies and gentlemen this is the story of my life.  The never ending laundry pile story.  I wash clothes almost every day, and somehow, somehow it keeps multiplying and I can't keep up.
 There is a girl at work, and I adore her in most ways, but there is one in which I am very envious.  She said "I only do laundry on Sundays".


WHAT??? Did I hear you correctly?  Just Sundays?  How on Earth do they do it?  I believe that if I waited until Sunday that would be all I did the entire day.  I washed 2 loads all ready today (and these are full loads people). 
My reality:

My dream: Yes in my dream the laundry is folded and put in ROYGBIV.

















Oh, and the underwear?  I found ONE pair on his bed.  I just hope they were clean.  What I can't figure out is how can we go on a week-long cruise and I don't have to do laundry even once and everyone has clean undies, but back in Western KY, we run out after two days?  What do we change underwear 4 times a day?  Are the undies hidden in the back of a drawer or folded up in the fitted sheet (this has happened to me)? I guess if I could solve this, I could solve all the world's problems...in the meantime bring on the Purex!!!!

Philippa Carr-Daughters of England book series

Have you ever read a book that changed your life?  I can recall the exact year that it happened to me and the exact book that did it.

Flash backward to 1989...Picture a high school student with long hair, tease to massive heights.  She is wearing a maroon trench coat and boots.  Her clothes usually consist of a Def Leppard or Bon Jovi shirt and pants (she never wears jeans).  She is too cool to read because, well, she is just too cool.

One day, she goes to her mom's friends house.  Her mom and her friend are talking and she is not really paying attention.  She is a bit bored!  There is a book on the floor entitled "The Adulteress".  Doesn't really sound like something she would do, either by the title or the fact that it was a book.  She picks up the book and begins to read.  Zipporah is the heroine of the book.  A good Bible name, she reads on.  Zipporah turns out to not be what she portrays herself to be (you knew that didn't you?).  Her cousin Dickon is on to her, he causes a terrible accident where her husband is terribly injured and he is a blackmailer.

Yes, this did it, she was hooked. She read this book in a couple of hours (God has blessed her with the ability to read swiftly and retain lots).  Then she had to know more. There was a family tree and she realized this must be a SERIES!

When she got back to Mayfield, KY she went to the library and realized yes indeed it was a series.  A series that began with a girl named Damask in the reign of Henry VIII and ended after WWII.  It followed a whole family of women that kept diaries of their life.  The lives they led were boring for some, but most had adventures that were well... building of a historical romance novel.

This girl began collecting the books in 1990 and currently has everyone.  Many she has had to replace because she reads them over and over and over.  She wishes they would put them on digital because she would LOVE to have them on her nook or kindle.

Her favorite is the story of Carlotta Main, a woman with violet eyes and TONS of problems.  A rich heiress that seemed to have no conscience. The book is appropriately named Song of the Siren.

If you have the time read the series.  Start with the Miracle at St Bruno's and go from there.

Here is a website that lists all the books and a little bit about each one.

This is the series that made one girl a reader and for that, she is grateful because this girl currently reads tons of books because of one woman named Philippa Carr.

Here is a photo of my Philippa Carr/Jean Plaidy (same author) bookshelf.  My Twilight books are also on here because they too are special to me.  This is my favorite bookshelf in my house.

Words of Wisdom to a new mom

In August I changed jobs and I have met many new people in the last few months.  Some have changed my life, my outlook on life and how I am.  I have grown close to people that I did not even know last July.  One of them has the office next to me.  There is just something about her.  Her whit, her strength, her drive, and her personality, as one student said “she’s off the chain”.  She is simply extraordinary!!

A little bit ago, she had a baby.  A precious little baby with the most adorable hands!  We are about to give her a shower at work and I thought, what would I have wanted when I was a first time mom?  It hit me……. When I was a about to become a mom I got plenty of advice on how to do things, like caring for the baby, but no one mentioned that I would be a soul provider.  What a HUGE responsibility that is!  Even to contemplate that, well it’s a little overwhelming. 

This is the advice I needed and did not get.  This is the advice I wanted to pass on in my baby gift to my new friend.  I decided to make her a canvas with one of the greatest little prayers that I have read.  

the canvas after the inking

the finished product

c

cherish tag

close up of cherish tag

Kind of sums it up…Parents love their kids in good and bad.  And on a larger scale……God loves us when we screw up, when we do right and just us in general. 

14 years ago, I began the road that my friend is now traveling down.  It is a road that has had some bumps, happiness, tears and some wonderful adventures.  I hope my friend is showered with many blessings on this new journey she has undertaken.  My prayer for her house is that her journey is as great for her as mine has been for me and that her child knows above all God is SOOOOOO good!! 

thanks Gingersnap Creations for this challenge, thanks to God for all else.  

http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2012/02/c137-chestnut-theme-challenge-words-of.html

 products used:
Cherish tag (copper), fragment, and all inks by Tim Holtz (broken china, frayed jeans, chipped sapphire)
bear and star beads and white ribbon by trinkets
jewel from the Christmas clearance aisle
Bingo chips thingys by Maya Road
Prayer from an old children's book
Angel and baby die cut and stars/moon from things I have collected from yard sales
Blue tag (featuring baby stats) by Technique Tuesday
Cherish silver tag by Joann's
paint used for angel by American crafts

Glorious Greens: GC136

Green can mean so many things:  spring, fresh, healthy. It can be calming, earthy, or even exciting.  To me, green is relaxing, cozy and happy.  A challenge based on glorious greens is not only inspiring but fun.  I ran with the line in the blog post that mentioned getting away from the blahs of the greys of winter.  This card does just that for me...I have an escape from winter and the dream of the spring that lies ahead.


Products used:
flowers by prima
patterned paper from a CKC kit (a scrap)
inspire metal by Tim Holtz
yellow wire I have had forever
fragment by Tim Holtz
paper on back of fragment by prima
all inks by Tim Holtz (distress inks in peeled paint, tea dye, iced spruce, and evergreen bough)
rhinestone by Jolee's
 button by Making Memories



thanks to Gingersnap Creations for another GREAT challenge!!!!

http://gingersnapcreations.blogspot.com/2012/01/gc136-color-challenge-glorious-greens.html

Designer Scraps

It happens to us all, there is a piece of paper that we are willing to pay $2.00 for and then we try to use it in every possible way that we can think of.  This happens to me a lot.  You have to save the scraps of that paper and use it until every single centimeter is gone.  Here is one that I bought at CKC in Nashville, TN in 2009.

A single sheet of paper that I bought at one of the booths and wish that I knew who made it.  I believe it was the paper loft.  If you know differently please tell me then maybe I could fine another sheet.





This is actually 2 sheets that I am featuring here.  A green/brown/tan stripe and a brown leafy page. Both which are very very great.  The stripe is the real one that I love. It's a subtle print with the perfect shades of those colors.  All of the inks used are by the one and only Tim Holtz.  Dusty Concord and Walnut Stain.  Every bit of the paper used is from my scrapbin.  The thinking of you rub on, stand by me rub on, and girl chipboard are also from the leftovers box.


The stand by me card is a bonus.  I used some of the same set, but most of this card was created for a golden anniversary.  It features gold paper, gold mulberry paper and a golden butterfly.  The green strip on the bottom of the purple is from the above mentioned paper.  Everything else is from my bin.

I am hoping to wipe this bin out by the end of the year.  It's February and I feel I have made quite a dent in that little blue box. 

Mojo Monday 226-I don't need a reason

Sometimes you just want to say HI or drop a note for no reason.  Today I HAD to make a couple of cards for just NO REASON.  Collages seem to be my new favorite thing and who would not like to get one on a card?  Both cards can be used for a multitude of things.  Here's how I got the look:

I cut the square and circle shaped bases that the Mojo Monday folks wanted.  With the square one, I just took my blending tool and blended in a little dusty concord.  On the circle one, I did that, but then I spritzed water into my hand and threw it onto the card.  This is one of my favorite techniques.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way the water makes the ink look.  While it was still wet I misted on some of my very own creation of a shimmer ink.  I just can't get enough of this look.


On both cards I took wire and twirled it in many directions to make something interesting.  The brown flower was made by me, the pink flower by Prima.  The "28" was from Maya Road...the Destiny metal tag and green fragment (I colored it with Ranger alcohol ink to get the green) by the great Tim Holtz.  The domino by 7 gypsies, the "smile" metal by JoAnn's.  The green and white button made by my mom and the moon and yellow flower gemstone from a child's outfit.