Last Page

This morning I have finished the last page that is going in the album for Kevin and I. Now I just need to talk to the attorney and find out what other paperwork needs to be sent over to Kevin, make sure I have everything and then get it in the mail to him. Mail takes at least two weeks to get to Australia and that doesn't matter how you send it. I don't think we've ever had anything going either way get to its destination before two weeks.

The attorney contacted us a couple of days ago to get additional addresses for Kevin back all the way to when he was 16 years old. That is not an easy task remembering every where you have lived back since you were 16 years old! Kevin got it all together though and I sent it over to the attorney. Now that the attorney has gotten back in touch with us it has made me anxious. I know it is getting closer, yet it is still so out of reach.

This morning I'm helping Bailey finish these cookie pops at Laura Beth's place. I had her bake the cookies last night, so this morning we will melt the chocolate and finish them up. We are going to take them to my sister's today. Bailey is enjoying making them too! Pictures.. I need to get some pictures! Once we finish those up we are going to head to my sisters to hang out for the day. That way we can jump in the pool when we get hot. It should be a good day.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.. stay cool!

I used the newest sketch from Got Sketch? Cardstock is bazzill and the patterned papers are all Doodlebug. 

Cricuts...

After blogging for about a month or so I've really noticed that a lot of people swear by the Cricut. Is that pretty accurate?

What are your favorite cartridges? Do you use it a lot? Or do you own other die cut systems? There really seems to be a Cricut following, so I was just curious.

It was REALLY hot today in Georgia! Not as hot as other placed, but still a whopping 105 degrees!! We just don't get that hot in the summer here. I don't want to go outside, I know that. Tomorrow it is suppose to be just as hot. We are going to head to my sisters tomorrow and hang out at the pool all day. At least getting in the pool with make the heat bearable. We will spend the day out there and I think that my oldest may come as well! It will be good to see her!

I hope everyone is enjoying their day and keeping cool!! Or warm if its winter where you are :)

Little Bailey.. I made the bottle caps and the stencil B. Random papers. Isn't she adorable? hehehe

Blog About Where You Live

I'm issuing a challenge to all of you. I love learning about different places. Blog about where you live, or just reply. Tell us a little about the place you live and why you are there, why you love it or hate it. I also love getting to know people. And learning about where you live is a good start. You don't have to be specific.

I live in Georgia, USA. I was born in Massachusetts, but I moved to Georgia when I was 5 years old. I don't even remember anything about Massachusetts. I consider myself a Georgia girl. This is where I was raised and all I know. We have always lived in the metro Atlanta area. It is about a 20 to 30 minute drive into Atlanta on a good day. Traffic is just horrendous here. We live pretty close to one of the lakes in Georgia. Lake Allatoona. It's a pretty big lake and there are beaches on many different parts of it, places to rent boats too. We are a good distance from the ocean. With Florida to the south of us you have a good 8 hour drive to the beach there. Savannah I believe is pretty close to a 6 hour drive. The South Carolina coast is the closest I believe at around 4 hours.  We have a beautiful mountain setting to the north of us only about a two hour drive. It can be so beautiful here. It is nice to drive around and see trees everywhere; I love all the green space.

I love the winters in Georgia, but I hate the summers. The summer can get so hot and humid. The winters can get really cold. I can't take off enough clothes to get cool in the summer, but I can bundle up in clothes and blankets and sit in front of the fireplace to get warm in the winter. It wouldn't be so bad here if the humidity wasn't so high. It can take your breath away when you step outside. We can also get some bad storms. Georgia has had its fair share of tornadoes going through it. That is really scary.

I have lived in Georgia almost all of my life. My kids are in the same school district I was in growing up. They are going to the same middle school that I went to; although my kids are really good compared to what I was in middle school. My high school is right down the road too.

I like it here where we are now. It is a nice area that is pretty safe. I would like to go a bit more north once Kevin gets home. We will look for a nice little house with a yard. Hopefully we will find what we are looking for. I believe we want to look in Canton, Georgia. The church that I go to has another campus in Canton too. I'm really happy about that.

It is really funny to listen to Kevin talk about America. He was sure that everyone had a gun and there was crime everywhere. I can't say there isn't crime every where, but it isn't like what he was thinking. Although when you watch the news it makes you wonder. It just seems like everywhere is getting so violent now. It is kind of scary.

Now I need to go around and take some pictures of the area and scrap a page. What a great idea :)

Here is my layout today.. This is at the airport with Kevin when we had to send him home. It was so hard to say goodbye.

I used the Lets Get Sketch! Challenge #17 for this layout. I used K I Memories Wild Thing papers. The roses are from a wooden stamp that I have. I colored them using Copic R20, R22, R27 for the buds and then YG03 and G05 for the leaves. I added some stickles ice to them. The bling is from Want2Scrap. and the flowers from Prima.

One more layout for this album to be complete and ready to send to Kevin to take to the Consulate. I can't believe its almost finished!

Thanks for looking everyone! I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday!! Woohoo!! Halfway through the week :)

Just Another Day.. Is it Friday Yet?

Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday.. Its not Monday, but it's not halfway through the week either! Just another day at the beginning of the week. I'm at work taking a few minutes break and I wanted to see if I could get my post in for today. I hope everyone is having a Terrific Tuesday!

I'm working on the layout of us seeing Kevin off to the airport. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, seeing him off and knowing I would have to wait for so long to see him again. I should finish that layout tonight. After that I will work on a page of our dog, T-Bone and that should be the last page in the album. In another month or less hopefully I will be mailing that album off to him and planning on an interview at the Consulate. Keep your fingers crossed, say a little prayer for us. I just want to move on to the next step. I want him home.

You know, there are so many challenges out there, cards, pages, sketches for both, color challenges and they go on and on and on. I've been trying to figure out a way to organize them so when I want to make a card it is easier to find or if I'm looking for a page sketch I know where to go. I've been trying to compile a list and I'm going to put it on the blog on a tab so I can share my list for everyone. Hopefully, it will help others out as much as it will help me! I've been thinking about updating the blog as well. There are so many things out there that I stopped doing .. scrapbooking, designing my own graphics, designing sketches, and more. I am going to work on updating some things on the blog; making it my own. I'll just have to do a little at a time.

So, here is an oldy, but goody. This is my mother.. These were Club Scrap items. I hope you all have a wonderful day and rest of your week!!



Apartment Living and the Last Dining Out Layout

We have lived in this apartment going on three years. It was really nice when we first moved here. I really hadn't been out on my own. I went from my mother's home to living with my husband. It was a scary transition moving out on my own and with three children in tow! We moved to a nice apartment in a nice, safe area. It was really good to get my feet on the ground and be on my own. I tolerate the noise well, because you will always have noise in an apartment.

We have lived here for the two and half years without any complaints. The rent gets paid on time or early and we take care of the place and we don't complain. We had some new neighbors move downstairs from us a while back.. maybe 6 months or maybe a bit longer? It is a young couple with a young daughter that just turned 2 years old I believe and they have a medium sized dog. He has a military sticker on his vehicle, so I'm not sure if he is military personnel or civilian working in the military? No idea there. They are not very friendly people. They don't acknowledge you, they don't say hello or even smile back at you when you smile at them. They don't speak at all. I'm not use to that.. most of the people around here acknowledge you. I'm not very social, but I do try to be kind and say hello or smile.

We hear the neighbors fighting ever now and again.. they can be quite loud with their yelling. We live upstairs from them, so we don't hear any other noise from them. They complain on us constantly. They tell the office it seems like we are moving furniture around all the time. I can assure you we aren't moving furniture around all the time. It is myself, Bailey and Michael, two cats and a 25 lb. dog. It got really bad over a few months. There was one instance that we were watching a movie and had the surround system on. Apparently the bass was too much and they could hear it. I had no idea.. I have since then turned the surround system off so we don't have that problem. They say they could hear music playing one day when I was listening to music on my computer. I can tell you I wasn't listening to my music very loudly. The husband has banged on the ceiling a few times very loudly. One of those times was when Bailey tripped over the threshold coming in the front door and fell. Another time was when Michael fell.. errr.. got pushed off the couch in the living room. One of the times was the night before last and I can't figure that one out. I was sitting at the computer/scrapbook desk working on a layout and all of a sudden BANG BANG BANG! It felt like it was right below me.. the floor vibrated under my feet. Bailey was standing at the counter in the kitchen pouring orange juice and Michael was outside taking T-Bone for wee. It just doesn't make any sense at all.

I went through a period where I really lost it.. I was angry all the time.. every day they were calling and complaining. I found myself yelling at the kids to walk softly.. yelling at the cats for jumping down to heavy.. or the dog for wrestling around with the kids. We weren't living here.. it was like a prison. I prayed and I still pray about the whole situation. It has definitely gotten better. Yesterday was the first time I've heard them bang at us in several weeks. I have been able to let go of that anger. I feel sad for them. They seem unhappy and I don't know the situation in their household. The neighbor below them says they are really loud and they say it is the dog, but she thinks it sounds like fighting.. big people. I'm not sure what it is, but what I really need to do is add them to my prayer list. I will not get angry at them again. I have found peace with that and I am certain we are not that loud.

Yesterday was an odd day. They had issues with water on their ceiling which apparently came from up here. There was a broken pipe in the wall behind my washing machine. They came in and cut a hole in the wall to find the leak. They brought in a plumber and he repaired it. It was really loud when they were cutting the hole and making the repairs. Maybe they got agitated with that noise and it just rolled over to the evening and he was just having a bad day because of it.

On to the layout LOL Glad to get that out of my system... makes me feel better to get it out.. I feel better about it all now. So, the layout is the final page of the Dining out three page series of the family going out to eat together. I needed to add some journaling to these pages and I used the last page for that. I used Sketch #214 from Creative Scrappers. Of course I had to adjust it to my itty bitty 8.5 x 11 page LOL Oh I'm so over the rectangular pages! They have great sketches over there :)

I used the same patterned papers that I have no idea who's they are, bazzill cardstock, and the same Retro Road Trip stamp set from Unity Stamp Co. I used those stamps to make the embellishments around the photo. I glittered all the embellishments with Barbara Trombley's ultra fine black glitter. Simple layout with one last photo.. I love Kevin in this photo! and my journaling for these pages.

Thank you for looking!! Almost finished! I have the airport photos and then I wanted to throw in a page or two with T-Bone.. Our first dog together :)

Have a really great Monday everyone!!

I won a prize from hopping at the Fun in the Sun hop at ...Joyful Stamper this weekend. Thank you for having such a great hop! You put in your time so that I can find new talented people to follow and get to view all sorts of great projects!!! So THANK YOU!!!

Church, Brave and Scrapping

It has been a good Sunday so far. I got up this morning and spent time with Kevin before sending him off to bed. I cherish every minute I get to spend with him. I just wish immigration would hurry.. I need him home. Then I got the kids up for church. Today's sermon was about God's great love. And it was a really great sermon. The pastor tag teamed with his son today. I had never heard his son; he is usually at the campus in Canton, GA. He speaks just as well as his father. They really did a great job. I love that I come away with something every Sunday. There is always something in his message that hits home and makes me think. He really keeps it light, informative and he is so easy to listen to. He has a way of always bringing it down to an explanation that hits home and is real; it just makes sense in the normal world. I'm really happy I was led to this church, it has been a blessing. Now if I could just get the kids to break off into groups with kids their own age we would be all set.

After church I took the kids to the movie to see "Brave". I'm a huge Disney fan.. I love all the Disney movies!! "Brave" was another fantastic Disney movie too. And I just love that girl in all her beautiful auburn, messy hair. I think she is so adorable! The movie had a great message, it really made you laugh too. Of course I had my camera... to my kids dismay. I took photos of the "Brave" signs around the theater and then of course a couple of them. They were not happy ... and to ask them to get closer together.. you would have thought I had asked them to drink vinegar LOL They are just too old to be doing that in public! Oh no! At least I got some pictures.

We got home and I had to turn right around and head back to the theater to get Michael's phone. He had left it in the theater. I told him he needed to find a case so he has somewhere to put it instead of just where ever. We went right in and I rang the phone for verification it was ours and back home we headed.

Now I'm at home back to scrapping.. I have a page to post from yesterday:

I used a Sketch-y Friday sketch from ScrapMuch. It is the June 22nd sketch.  I really enjoy their sketches. The papers are random papers that I have no idea where they are from. There is nothing written on the back either to identify. I used bazzill cardstock. The embellishments were from the Retro Road Trip stamp set from Unity Stamp Co. I stamped them... cut them out and then glittered them with Barbara Trombley's ultra fine black glitter, some pop dots and wallah.. more hand made embellishments LOL. I love the cost! :p

Now I'm working on the final page from this outing. I still need to journal and finish the page. I hope everyone had a wonderful Sunday and I hope the rest of your weekend is great. I can't believe its almost over already! Thanks for visiting! Your comments make my day and make me smile :)

Mother/Daughter and Doodlebug

Today has been a hectic day. I woke up this morning with a note on my monitor that said "Look at the wall in our hallway." The wall appears to be almost caving in. So I decided to take a good look around the apartment. There have always been cracks on the walls. It has always made me a bit nervous. So, the cracks in my room and the living room are worse. There are cracks in the kitchen now and in the hallway. I took pictures and told maintenance to come by today. About 9 am I got a call from maintenance that the people downstairs had water in their apartment and they would be on their way up here. I told him that was good since I had a request in for them anyway. A pipe is broken in the wall behind my washing machine, he has a plumber coming out to fix that, he is going to have someone come out to take a look at the building to make sure it is still safe. That was our morning.

Bailey and I had an 11 am appointment at Archiver's across the street for the Doodlebug Mini Album Workshop. We got there a little early.. that is just what I do.. I'm always way early, and we settled in. Bailey seemed to have a lot of fun making this little mini album and of course the scrapper in me had to bring the camera along LOL. Here are few pictures:

Ughhh, she was a mess today too LOL But it was a lot of fun to do this together. Then I did a little shopping afterward. I can't seem to stop myself! And now we are home!

I came home and finished up the page I was working on. This was a dinner out with my family.. from left to right in the picture is Kevin, Me, Taylor (the 18 year old), Michael (13 yrs), my sister Lora, Bailey (10 yrs) and my mother. We went to the Golden Corral, a huge buffet right here local. Everyone had a great time and we have plans to do this again when Kevin gets back. My sister had gone to Mardi Gras recently and had brought home the beads LOL

I have no idea who these papers are.. there was nothing written on the back. But I do love them. The lettering is Bounce Sizzlits with some stamping fun from the Retro Road Trip stamp set from Unity Stamp Co. and my favorite Barbara Trombley's Ultra Fine Black Glitter. The "Family" embellishment was handmade. I stamped that from Retro Road Trip stamp set from Unity Stamp Co. also. I took part of the stamp and stamped that on the patterned paper. I adhered it to chipboard and cut out the shape.. pop dotted it for dimension.. added some Barbara Trombley's Ultra Fine Black Glitter to it and wallahhh! My own hand made embellishment. I will put this in the Frosted Designs: Fabulous Friday Challenge, which is make your own embellishments. There is also a challenge up at Berry71Bleu to use chipboard. And last, but definitely not least I used a sketch from ScrapMuch - Sketch-y Friday. This was the sketch from June 8th.

Thanks for looking everyone. I hope you have a great rest of your Saturday! Is it bedtime yet? LOL Nope.. I need my time with Kevin. Bed will come soon enough :)

A Giveaway for June from Helen Tibury

She is having a giveaway .. please check out her blog here

Next Project

I'm hoping to finish up the album of Kevin and I this weekend; maybe today even. It should only be a few more pages. I have two more sets of photos, one of all of us out to dinner, including my sister and mother. The last set is me and the kids at the airport seeing him off. There are three photos for that one I believe. I'll be glad to have that finished and ready to send off. I was stressing over it a bit since it was going to be needed.

Next, I'll be working on the 6x6 album that I was making for my sister. My sister was diagnosed with Breast Cancer a couple of years ago. She was in her mid 40's when she was diagnosed. She was moving and bumped her breast with something. It was sore after that and she had a large knot. I'm thankful that she bumped it that day. It was a large tumor that was in her breast. She was quickly diagnosed and they started her pretty quickly on chemotherapy. Lora was very angry with the world when she got diagnosed. She really didn't want to talk much, so I didn't push it. I just let her talk when she was ready. And I just let her know I was always there for her. She was in a really tough relationship at the time too, with a woman that was very controlling. I can't tell you how happy I am that she isn't with her now. I would go and sit with her during her chemo sessions if I could. I would stay as long as they would allow me until they kicked me out. Treatment was long and hard on my sister. She had a double mastectomy and has had to endure weekly shots. She is an amazing woman; strong and beautiful. I hope she doesn't have to endure what she has gone through again in her life.

Here is the first page of the album I'm going to be working on for her:

I used bazzill, patterned papers that I searched for forever to find.. I had a time a while back finding breast cancer papers. The F is chipboard that I put paper on.. I sanded the edges. The blossoms are Prima. The 'O' in Journey is a ribbon sticker detailed with a pen. Random brads on the flowers and the edge of the pages. And I inked it with pink ink. I don't remember where I got that bling ribbon. I sewed the squares with my sewing machine. I'm ready to get my new sewing machine out this weekend. My old one broke and I bought this new one. I haven't used it yet, so I need to get on that! :)

Thanks for looking at my page. I'm hoping the other pages turn out as nice. I really like how this one turned out. I'm going to put this into the Link Up For Pink - Challenge Number 3. I also added to the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge.

Have a great day everyone!

Bailey

Bailey is my youngest.. she will be 11 on the 24th of next month. She is beautiful, has a great personality when you get to know her and has the most beautiful eyes. She can be really quiet if she doesn't know you.

She struggles in school with spelling and talking too much. She doesn't do well in writing, but I think part of that is the spelling and the other part is that she doesn't seem to know how to get what is in her head down on paper. It tends to be jumbled and not make sense a lot of the time. This is something we will have to work on. She barely passed the writing portion of her big test last year.

She is really terrible at blaming everyone else for everything that happens. She is one of those people that nothing is ever her fault. I'm really trying to work on that. I am not like that at all. I always admit when I make a mistake or I've done something wrong. I am only human. I'm trying to teach her that as well.. that it is okay to make mistakes and it is better to own up to it than to try to pass blame. She is a little better, but this is something that we will have to continue to work on.

She is also one of those people that has to "one up" you. You will say that you have a cut and she will have a sprained ankle. I have no idea where that trait came from, but it has to be the one trait in Bailey that I dislike the most. And the bad thing about it is that I have no idea how to correct that behavior. I try to point it out when she does it.

Once her older sister left the house she really stepped up the plate. She has been helping out around the house without much complaining. She gets the dishes done each night when it is her night. I never have to worry about waking up to it not done when it is her day.

I always felt like I wasn't really close to Bailey. She was always really close to her father and wanted to be around him, even if he wouldn't pay attention to her. She would play in the room downstairs while he was on the computer just to be near him. Once her father and I divorced I felt like her and I got a bit closer, but I really feel like we have grown closer since Taylor left the house. She has opened up more and wants to do things together. We are going this Saturday to a class at Archiver's. We will be making a Doodlebug Mini Album. She is really excited about going. In fact, she reminds every day.. "Don't forget about Saturday!".

Bailey did really well on her CRCT testing this year. She was above standard on almost everything. She really excels at Math and Science. That is definitely a girl trait in our family. I have always excelled and enjoyed math and science the most. So has Taylor and now Bailey. Michael enjoys the writing and Social Studies; Yuck!

She finished up the fifth grade this year; last year of Elementary School. Next year she will start 6th grade, which moves her up to the middle school. Her brother and her will be attending the same school, which also means that I will not be here when they head off to school each day. I really hope I can get Kevin back here by the time they start school or soon thereafter. I need him! It is so great having him here to get the kids off to school and to be here when they get home. They don't get on the bus until a bit after 8:30 am each morning. I am already at work and have been for a couple of hours.

So, Bailey will be my little crafting buddy. I posted a couple of pages she did a couple of posts back. She is pretty talented! She is really a great kid and it has been really nice getting closer to her.

=====================================

I did the last Dahlonega page last night. I had to use these last three photos so we can look back later and laugh. I love Kevin's sense of humor and that we can pick on each other. He really makes me laugh.

 The old lady is creepy LOL  And she looked so real!! I used gold glimmer mist to keep with the gold theme of Dahlonega. Kevin likes to pick on us about living in Georgia and that we eat Roadkill. It couldn't have been more funny when we walked in a shop in Dahlonega and saw the Sun-Dried Georgia Possum and Roadkill Cafe sign. I used all club scrap papers, my favorite black ink pad by Palette, The Crafters Workshop Chicken Wire Template for my misting, and the journaling hand written with my favorite Millenium pen.

I wanted to get my first try at coloring with Copic on a card so I threw this together. I used all scraps for the card. The "thanks" was taken from part of a Stampin' Up stamp. I used the black and white twine from The Twinery and the black rhinestone gems. Entered in Challenge Filler'er Up @ 365 Cards

Thanks for looking and I hope you all have wonderful Thursday!! Woohoo!! I love Thursdays because I get to work on home on Fridays!!

Michael

Michael is a different kind of kid. He is the middle child between two girls. He had a strange relationship with his father growing up. I'm not sure what their relationship is now. His father moved to California with his then girlfriend, now wife. They have been out there since the beginning of November.

When Michael was growing up his father was distant most times, was always online on his own downstairs, and he made sure that his young son never did anything that would make him less of a man. I don't know how else to describe it. He wanted to make sure Michael was masculine or something. They really weren't very close when Michael was growing up. David would always promise to do things with the kids, or take them somewhere and something would always happen and it would fall through. The kids and I hung out upstairs all the time. We would play outside or go to the park; we would do things.

David promises them a lot of things. When he left for California he promised them he would be back ever three weeks or so. They haven't seen him since. He has promised them several times that he is coming and has never fallen through with it. Now we are on the promise that he will be here for Bailey's birthday, which is July 24th. I hate that he promises them and gets their hopes up. They both really do miss him. I hope he will follow through. I actually spoke to him about it a couple of weeks ago and told him that he needed to stop promising them things that he can't follow through on. He did agree. We are getting along okay now... able to talk about things without getting angry. I think part of that is that I don't get upset any more. I thank Kevin for that; he gives me peace.

I have tried to get Michael involved in things since he was five years old. I enrolled him in T-Ball when he was five and he hated it. We tried gymnastics/tumbling and he didn't like that either. He probably would have been really good at it too. We tried soccer and he would only play if I coached. He would pout and cry all the time when he didn't get his way. He talked about wanting to play the Cello. When he started Middle School I rented the cello and we enrolled him in orchestra. He hated it.. he wouldn't practice, he wouldn't know the songs when it was time for him to play at a concert. It was the same old thing. And I was always the big, bad, mean parent because I let him cry and didn't give him his way all the time. I didn't coddle him and baby him so he would feel better.

School has been tough since the beginning. When he started Kindergarten it all started going down hill. There were two teachers in the class. Michael was slow and he wouldn't focus and get things done. We had complaints almost every day about how slow he was. He would get sent to another room to sit there at the back of the classroom and finish his work every day. Now, this is in Kindergarten! We did not start off school well and Michael has hated school ever since. Every year it is in the same thing and now he will be starting 8th grade and he is no better than he was in Kindergarten. If he doesn't like something then he will just sit there and do nothing. If he doesn't like the teacher he gets his back up and won't do homework, projects, or anything. He is not a "bad" kid, so he doesn't stand out. He is the quiet one that sits there and doesn't do anything so he flies under the radar. But then on the other hand, when he really likes something, he excels! He really liked his Social Studies teacher this past year in 7th grade and the teacher gave him lots of encouragement. He would praise him and give him a huge boost in confidence by saying something like, "If anyone in this class is going to ace this test, it will be you Michael". He would come home and actually share that with me!  That is rare.. he doesn't share much about school at all. And when he comes home and I ask about homework he never has any or he finished it at school, or he forgot it. It is really frustrating. Honestly, I'm not sure how he passed the 7th grade this year. He failed his math class every single time. I'm not sure what else to do with him.

Michael gets really stuck on things. He has been like this since he was very little. I remember he loved Barney, you know.. the purple dinosaur. He would watch Barney over and over and over again. That is all he wanted to watch. He will get stuck on a story, like the Harry Potter series. He reads about them and researches them and can tell you every little detail about each character. And that is all he wants to talk about too. It can be extremely frustrating. He will get hung up on a certain video game too and that is all he will talk about and want to do. Until he decides to move on to the next thing.

He is a really lazy kid. He doesn't want to do anything to help out. He waits until the very last minute to get his chores done. He always huffs and puffs and rolls his eyes when you ask him to do something. He never wants to go out anywhere. And he is very selfish; he doesn't want to do anything unless there is something in it for him. And if you get something for one of the other kids the first thing out of his mouth is, well what about me? I'm hoping that is just his age. And he isn't the only one that does that.

He really has some great qualities too though. He is very affectionate and has a lot of empathy towards others and animals. He is very kind and wouldn't hurt a flea. If someone were to fight him I'm not sure he would hit them back. I'm not sure that is good. He doesn't get in to trouble, he doesn't act up and get into trouble. Michael really is a good kid.

He has always been one of the smallest boys in his class. I think that has really bothered him. He has always been picked on through school. Kids always made fun of him, because he was different. He isn't very social at all and he is very quiet. This bullying seemed to get worse this past year. It really had me worried about him and I approached the school on several occasions. There was a boy living here at the apartments that was calling him Michael Myers and Jeffrey Daumer (sp?). They would make fun of him at the bus stop and the maintenance guy even said one put his hands on him, slapping his hair away. I have tried to talk to Michael about it and he won't talk to me about anything, only saying that it's nothing and that no one ever put their hands on him. Then there was a boy at school that was calling him "Gaylor"". His last name is Gabbett. I brought it up to the counselor. Nothing was ever done about anything that I can tell, except for the boy here at the apartments. He was always in trouble, so they kicked that family out. I was thankful for that. One of the other boys was making fun of Michael and I went and confronted him about it. He hasn't had any other problems at the bus stop. I'm not sure what else I can do at school. I've brought it up several times this year.

Michael has his issues that we try to deal with, but honestly he is a good kid. He was diagnosed with ADD, but we don't do the medication. Having Kevin here will be a good thing for him. He will have a really good male influence in his life. If only that day would hurry along.

Okay.. sorry about the long post.. I could go on and on LOL but I won't!  Here is the 2nd Dahlonega page... I have one more to go. I worked last night and this morning on the cute little gold miner LOL

The photos are in Dahlonega.. the building is the Gold Mine Museum. All of the papers are Club Scrap again. I used Twine from The Twinery for the pennants. Dahlonega is Girls are Weird Sizzlits. The little metal washers I had in my stash. The gold miner was a graphic that I cut up and did a paper piecing with my scraps. I think he is adorable! I used a sketch, but I can't remember for the life of me where it was from. If I find it later I will update.

Have a wonderful day everyone! I'm leaving late for work so I'll be stuck in peak hour traffic now. Kevin keeps telling me so too!! :p  Love you baby!

Ever heard of Geocaching?

Have you ever heard of Geocaching?  

Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.

It is so much fun and I love to do it with my kids too. Although, Michael isn't so excited to get out there and hunt for a cache as much as Taylor, Bailey or I am. In fact.. it's the men in the family that don't enjoy it LOL.

People place caches all around; they are everywhere, all over the world. I have seen some amazing sites/views while searching for a cache. I started Geocaching with my android phone when Taylor and I first went to North Georgia to visit the University there. It uses a GPS and guides you to the location of the cache, where you in turn have to search for the cache. After you do it for a while you learn different places to look for the cache. Some are really hard to find, others are pretty easy. And the cache can be anything from a small little metal tube to a large plastic container. You sign your name and put the date that you found the cache. In some of the containers you can even take something out and then you put it into a different cache so that it travels. Some of the "Travel Bugs" you can even track online. It is a lot of fun. So it is just an interesting outside activity that I have been able to enjoy with the family.

Yesterday was your average work day. I was able to get one of the Dahlonega pages finished last night. I'm hoping to finish the final Dahlonega page or pages today. For the page I did last night I used a Let's Get Sketch! - Sketch Challenge #16. I'm having to adjust these to the small 8.5 x 11 pages to finish this album. I'm getting so close to the end!

I used more Club Scrap papers.. Love these papers and I couldn't wait to use them. I inked with my favorite black ink stamp, Palette. The jean and metal embellishments came out of the Club Scrap box. I added a little gold glitter to Dahlonega.. since Dahlonega is all about the Gold Rush. This was us standing in front of the Gold Museum sign. I also added some Glimmer Mist - Gold to the page and added the leaf which I have no idea where it came from. I knew I had it though and I searched for quite some time last night! One or two more pages of Dahlonega and I'm finished with that.

Thanks so much for looking! And commenting :)  Makes my day!  Hope you all have a great one today!

Glossy or Matte, Which do you prefer?

I can't believe I woke up this morning to stare Monday in the face once again. Where does the weekend go? It is here and gone in flash. It doesn't even seem to matter if you have an extra day either. Saturday seems to always be full of running around. Church was great on Sunday and then home to scrapbook. That was how the weekend went. It was a pretty relaxed weekend.

Bailey, my 10 year old daughter, decided to make a couple of cards and scrapbook a couple of pages with me this weekend. I had ordered some photos printed on glossy paper. I hit the complete order button before I realized that they were glossy. I don't like glossy prints, I much prefer matte finish. So, I went back and ordered the prints again with a matte finish. I handed the glossy prints over to Bailey yesterday so she would have something to scrapbook. Which do you prefer, glossy or matte?

Here are Bailey's two layouts that she did:

She really did a great job and she had a lot of fun! It looked like a bomb went off in here last night, but we got it all picked up before bed.

I was able to get a few pages done. I still haven't done that card with m flowers, but I'll get it done eventually. I get so focused on getting this album done. I just want to get it finished so I don't have to stress about getting it done in time to send it over to him. I used some sketch challenges and just adjusted them to my 8.5 x 11.

Here is the first page. I was able to get all of the Bed and Breakfast pages finished! This is from a sketch at Sketches in Thyme. It is the #81 sketch. I used Bazzill of course, pattered papers from DaisyD's that I had, Ranger Distress Ink (I believe it was Vintage Photo), my Girlz are Weird Sizzlits and DMC floss for the stitching. And we can't forget my handy dandy favorite ZIG Millenium for my journaling.

This was done using the Lets Get Sketchy! Challenge #8 sketch. It shows the views from the Bed and Breakfast that we stayed in. It is beautiful up there. The Long Mountain Lodge Bed and Breakfast is in Dahlonega, Georgia. I used the same papers, Bazzill, DaisyD's, Ranger Distress Ink, my favorite little banner punch from Epiphany Crafts, some miscellaneous brads I had and my small letter stamps that I have no idea where they come from, and twine from The Twinery.

These photos are from the veranda where we spent the majority of our time. It was beautiful and the storms were rolling in that evening so we just watched them roll in until it was time to head inside. It was a perfect day and night. Just what I had planned, peaceful and relaxing. I used the same paper... bazzill and DaisyD's. inked everything. This was from a sketch from My Creative Sketches - June's Sketch. Distress ink, a doily I had inked a bit with the distress ink and then sprayed with Bronze Glimmer Mist. And of course my Zig Millenium to add a few words to the page.

And the last page from the Bed and Breakfast.. isn't he adorable hehe I love this picture of Kevin.  He's just relaxed on the veranda taking it in. We really had a great time. I don't know how I can miss him any more than I already do, but some how I do each day. For this I used the same.. bazzill, DaisyD's and Distress Ink. I also used Sizzix Flourishes and added a little bit of brown glitter to some areas on the flourishes to add a little bit of detail. I used the June 2012 sketch from Sketch Savvy for this one. It was a fun little challenge trying to adapt the sketches to the smaller pages.

The last page to share with you is our visit to the Georgia Aquarium. I love it there!

I used Bazzill papers and some random glitter patterned paper that I had. The bubbles were just blue bazzill that I added glitter to with one of my favorite things.. Diamond Glaze. I love using that to make my own raised epoxy looking embellishments.  The "G" is hand drawn and cut to look like the Georgia Aquarium symbol and the Georgia Aquarium is handwritten. I cut a couple of waves from the paper and popped them. I added a bit of rhinestones to add more sparkle. Then I did a hand drawn paper piecing of "Deepo". He is the Georgia Aquarium mascot. I inked and chalked him. Outlined him and added a bit of sparkle, popped him and stuck him to the page. I think he turned out pretty cute!

And that is it! I was able to get a lot of pages done this weekend and I'm feeling pretty good about that. Now it is Monday and I have to head to work soon. The internet is playing up this morning for Kevin and I so it makes it really hard to talk and Skype.When the internet gets like this it is hard to run the cameras because the picture is awful or gets stuck. We do the best we can. I pray every single day that the time will go by quickly and we can get him home.

I hope you all have a wonderful start to your week!!!  Happy Monday!!!

Copics

Getting into scrapbooking again, the one new thing that has really stood out to me are the Copic Markers. Wow! I have seen some amazing coloring done with these markers. And I'm like a little kid;  I LOVE coloring! Looking at how great everyone's items turn out I have set out on a quest to get some Copic Markers and learn how to color with them. Yesterday, I colored my first piece with Copic. I was unable to find the greens that I wanted so the greens were colored with a different marker, Spectrum Noir. These are alcohol based markers that are suppose to be pretty good equals to Copic. I'm not sold on that though. I need to play around with them more, but I don't feel like them blended as well as the Copic. There are not enough shades of each color to really find what you are looking for to blend together. Again, I've only used them once so I will have to play around with them a little more, but my first time playing around with both I felt the Copic were better suited for my artistic abilities. The one thing I did like better on the Spectrum Noir is that they have the Broad tip and a fine tip which I find easier to color with. I find it more difficult to color with the brush tip that is on the Copic.

Here are the flowers that I colored. I found something online that said to heat set your printed image and the black will not bleed. It really works and I have found a use for my iron that sits in the closet and NEVER gets used. I HATE ironing!! LOL So I heat set the image by ironing with dry heat iron on the paper. The flowers themselves and the vase were all colored with Copic. The leaves and stems were colored with the Spectrum Noir.The flowers were from Beccy's Place Here. Now I need to make a card to put these on.

My day did not go as I planned. I didn't get anything done! I did my little bit of shopping in the morning. I came home and unloaded the groceries. I had an incident a couple of weeks back with little bugs in some opened up potato flakes. It REALLY made me want to spew; I hate bugs! So the cupboard was completely cleaned out and everything and anything that was opened or they could have gotten into was tossed. Then I invested in more lock and lock containers and everything in my closet is in containers now. I even bought bread containers so all of my bread is locked away. The point of that since I got off track LOL is that when I came home from the grocery store I took everything out of their containers and put them in my lock and locks. 

After visiting Archiver's and Michael's and not finding the shades of Copic that I wanted they sent me to a rubber stamping store not far from here that I didn't even know existed. It is called Rubber Stamping Fantasy. Apparently, they have been there for 18 years, they are about 5 minutes from home and I had no idea they were there! So, I went in there looking for the Copic greens that I couldn't find. They didn't have them either and they sent me to the Spectrum Noir.

After that I came home to make dinner, color my flowers and that was it. Not how my day was suppose to go. Oh! And my youngest, she is 10 years old, decided she wanted to make some cards. My dining room table is still full of the stuff she was using. She was having a good time though. I enrolled us in a class at Archiver's for next Saturday. She is so excited! We will be making a little mini album. I think she is counting down the days.

Now, I will see if I can get some pages finished and maybe even a card for those flowers. We will see!! I hope you all have a great day!

What is in Store for Today?

It is Saturday morning and I've been up for a while spending time with Kevin. He is getting sleepy and will be headed to bed soon. I need to run across the street to the grocery store and pick up a few things. Not much, just a few items like milk and snacks for the kids. I'll look at the fruit to see if anything is good. I also need to make a quick trip to Michael's.  I need to get some white cardstock, glue dots, and a few Copics for something I want to color.

Other than that my day will be scrapping some pages on our trip to Dahlonega. I need to use some of my scraps too! I need to make some cards LOL That will be my day. I'm planning on having a quiet, not doing much of anything but scrapping kind of weekend. What kind of weekend are you planning?

Here are some pictures of my pets.. thought I would share them.. i love my furry kids :)

This is highlight. She is about 9 or 10 years old now? She is a Ragdoll, although she does not have that known Ragdoll characteristic of just relaxing when she is held. She hates to be held LOL  She is certainly the princess of the family. She is beautiful though. (not sure why I can't get a couple of my photos are turned sideways. I've tried everything)

This is T-Bone. Kevin named him hehe. We have decided that our cats will have office supply names LOL and the dogs meat cuts. He is a rescue from a local pet rescue. His mother was found in a briar patch with her litter and rescued. he is one of the pups. He is a little over a year now. I know.. a face only a mother could love hehehe. We laugh at his cute pink nose and his big fat pink bottom lip. He has been a really good dog. He has such a huge underbite.. I'm thinking that is why his lip is so big LOL T-Bone and Kevin were really tight. We can't decide if he will remember him, but I'm thinking T-Bone will go ballistic when he sees Kevin. He will be excited.

And this is our most recent addition to the family, Whiteout. My oldest daughter begged for him, then she moved out. He is mine now.. we have gotten pretty tight :)  He is adorable. The top picture is him playing with the dogs toy. He will carry it around LOL He's too funny!

I love animals; always have. I worked as a Vet Tech in my teen years. I think I got my first job in a vet at 16 years old. It was my favorite job. I absolutely loved it and would still love it as much today if I could afford it. It just doesn't pay well. Now my oldest daughter is working in a vet hospital. She started off as an intern and now she is staying on in a paid position. I'm proud of her for that. She starts college in August and she will be Pre-Vet. She will do well.. she is a smart girl.

Happy Friday!

Today has been a good day. I usually post early in the morning, but I wasn't finished with my pages so I waited. I got some work done today and was able to get my three pages for Helen, GA done. Three more pages finished for the album headed to Australia soon. Oh my... how many more pages to go! Next on the agenda for the album are the photos from the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at in Dahlonega, GA. This is the second time I've stayed their, the first was with my oldest daughter when we went to see the school there. That is the school she will be going to in a few months. The school is North Georgia College and State University . Although, they just had a new name approved, University of North Georgia. It is a beautiful campus up there in the Georgia Mountains. Back to the Bed and Breakfast, it is the Long Mountain Lodge Bed and Breakfast . They have been amazing both times I've stayed their. They make an amazing breakfast in the morning. It is a beautiful place to go to not too far from home, but it takes you away.

I had to go to Michael's Craft Store today. So I packed up the kids, we ran in there, then headed to the pet store for cat litter, and then on to the CD Warehouse. I let the kids each pick a CD and we came home. 

Here are my layouts finished today:

Helen, Georgia is beautiful. It looks like an Alpine Village.. all of the buildings have that look. It's a fun place to go. The Chattahoochee River runs right through town. I used stickles, all of the paper is old Club Scrap papers that I hadn't used. The "A" is a Doodlebug rub-on, the "RIVER" is PC Wave font, with stickles around the edge and watercolor pencils I used to color them. The "runs through it" is hand written but made to look similar to the Scriptina font.. I used my handy dandy ZIG millennium to write it. The blooms are from Recollections at Michael's. Got those on clearance Woot!  The Helen, Georgia and Feb 2012 are also hand written with the ZIG. I inked all my edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

Same papers here, the Club Scrap older papers. The butterfly and blooms clearance at Michael's LOL All Recollections. And all inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The journaling was done with a CK font and I can't for the life of me remember what it was. I really need to write it down. I usually leave it open, but I closed it today!

This is the last page.. same papers from Club Scrap. Blooms are random ones I have in my tackle box. Butterfly from clearance at Michael's. I went online and printed out the symbol from Helen online and then colored it to make it a bit brighter. I hand wrote the City of Helen, Georgia and Georgia's Alpine Village again with my handy dandy and favorite ZIG millennium. Everything inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. 

It is so fun to look back at these and see him. Oh, I want him home so badly.

One more item of business really quick. Ginger Snap Scraps is having a Fantastic Giveaway:

We are so excited about the new Lawn Fawn stamp sets that we are giving away all seven of them to one lucky winner! Follow the link to  Scrap and Chat for more details! See the stamps below... Aren't they wonderful! I LOVE the Aussie stamps; how couldn't I LOL! :)

 

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day! I'm off to throw together some dinner, pick up my mess, pick out some new papers and see what I can do.

A long week...

This has been a really long week. I've had to stay late at work twice this week. It has been long 11 and 12+ hour days. Some of that is from home, which is really nice. I have been able to get a lot done this week at work, but the pile of things to do never seems to go down enough. And this is the time of the month that all the bills at work start piling in. At least today is my Friday; sort of. I work from home on Friday, so it makes it nice on Thursday afternoons knowing I don't have to get dressed and drive to work tomorrow. I just have to roll out of bed and begin my day.

The kids have done pretty well this week. I leave a small list of chores to do each day. Day before yesterday I was going to stop and get them their favorite dinner if they had done everything, but they hadn't. They were just working on it they said. So, I told them I wasn't rewarding them for not doing the chores I left. I told them they would have to do better than that. They didn't even finish the list yesterday even though there wasn't much on there. Yesterday I left another list which included the items they hadn't finished. They did a really good job getting everything done. They even hung up all of their clothes! Last night on the way I home I stopped at Michael's to use the 50% off coupon, then onto the grocery store to pick up milk, then I stopped at Archiver's to use the 43% coupon LOL and then finally to Cheeseburger Bobby's for their dinner. They even did a good job last night after dinner. It was Michael's turn to do the dishes. He did them without complaint and without the famous, "I'll do them later". Which really means I will see them still dirty on the counter the next morning. They both brushed their teeth and got their showers. It was a good night!

However, I did not get any pages finished yesterday. I'm working on the pictures we took on one of our trips to Helen, GA. We actually went their twice, but the first time was on the motorcycle and I didn't bring the camera. We drove up the second time and actually walked around. So I am working on those. I have the papers all picked out and I started cutting last night, but that is as far as it goes. I'll work on them tonight and hopefully get a couple of pages finished. Well, hopefully at least one finished. I am anxious to get this album finished and start working with my 12x12 again LOL. I can honestly say I don't enjoy 8.5 x 11. I like all my space. I would love to start doing some challenges and making some cards as well.

We have no plans this weekend. I plan on staying at home, because it seems like forever since I just stayed at home. I could work on the scrapbook and that's about it. That is my plan, so we will see how it turns out. My boss is going to bring her husband over to ride the motorcycle. It hasn't been ridden since March. It will be good to have him come over and just take it out for a spin. It will be kind of strange to have my boss in my home though! Oh well.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday! Now I'm off to look at all the wonderful talent of others.

What about the kids?

When I was born I was baptized. That is how it was; it was automatic. Since I grew up fighting religion and faith, when my children were born they were not baptized. I always said that they would have to decide on their own what they wanted. How do my children decide when they were never spoken to about it or taken to church? What about the kids? I should have been helping them find their faith in God all of this time.

Taylor was going to church with us when she was still living here. I told her that I wouldn't force her, but that I was really glad she was going. She has a really shocking attitude though. It reminds me a lot of me before, go figure? She focuses on the scientific, the calculations and theory that make sense. She can't believe in something that she can't see or touch. This is what she says. When she left home she didn't go to church any longer. I'm hoping she will find her way as her life evolves. I know I will continue to pray that she does. Her Shepherd will find her eventually to guide Jesus' lost sheep back to him like Kevin found me.

Michael is open to Jesus. He is the one that really always has been a bit open. He would bring up God in conversation every now and again. He is always up for a good discussion. He listens to the sermon and we are able to discuss it later. Sometimes he is frustrating with his "I'm always right attitude", but he is a teenager.

Church has been good for Bailey, although I'm really trying to encourage her to go to the class with peers her own age instead of sitting in the sanctuary with me. I think that she would get more out of it. A couple of weeks ago the pastor was talking about an upcoming baptism. She has been talking about it ever since and has shown interest in getting baptized. I'm trying to get some information together for her to read about it or someone to talk to about it. I just feel it is important for her to know what it means and what she will be doing. I'm really happy that she has made that decision.

So, what about the kids? I kept God out of their lives for way too long. Now we will open up those doors more and hopefully they will grab a hold of their faith. I regret not opening this door for them earlier, but we will move forward together now.

========================================

Here is the second page of the Acworth Beach layout. I had to do something with the rest of the photos. So I just made a matching page to add them. Started working on it last night and finished it up this morning. Thanks for looking everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Faith

I have struggled with Faith and God since I can remember. At first it was me blaming my parents for forcing me to go to church when I didn't want to go. They changed churches so often I never found my place in one. I just didn't like to go to church. As I went through my twenties and into my thirties it was so much easier to just explain that I have a scientific mind and everything has to make sense to me. And science just makes sense. The Big Bang Theory just makes sense. No one could tell me any different. They would say all kinds of things to try to convince me otherwise. And then came Kevin...

I tried to pull the same thing on Kevin, but he was the one to open my eyes. He always knew what to say. The Big Bang Theory? He would say, and where did the stars come from. Gases I would say only to get the reply, and where did the gases come from? The very beginning had to start somewhere. He really opened my eyes to Jesus and faith. Kevin isn't the most patient man in the world, but he was always patient when it came to explaining something about the bible. He went back home and went to visit his Aunt. It was a really nice weekend for him full of family and talk of faith. I was so glad he was able to spend time with his family that he hadn't seen in so long. And I'm glad he was able to be with people he could talk to. I'm pretty ignorant of the bible so he has to do a lot of explaining to me. That has to be exhausting LOL :)  Over that weekend I made the decision to find a church for the kids and I to go to; I invited my mother along as well. So the journey began...

Kevin is Pentecostal and so I began my search for a local Pentecostal church. I came across a church, Mount Paran North .We went on a Sunday that they were beginning a four week series called "God Quest" and we were there for the first week. The sermon focused on why god is real and the following weeks all went back to that initial focus. It went through the history of it all and how so many things point to everything written in the bible being true. It really put everything into a perspective that made sense to me. It was amazing that I was guided to this church at this particular time. It really helped to open my eyes and see; it is just what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. We went back each week through God Quest and the whole series was amazing. The pastor is amazing and I really enjoy listening to him each week. I had several churches that I was going to explore to see which was a fit for us. We haven't left Mount Paran since we began our journey.

More to come later :)

=======================================

I worked on another layout for the album headed to Australia. This was a page on Acworth Beach. It is a local beach at the lake here. It's a really nice area. I enjoyed taking Kevin around to the local spots we have enjoyed over the years. We will definitely go back there once he is back. 

I used Bazzill and I'm not sure what the patterned paper was. Nothing written on the back to identify it. Some fire that I had, cranberry ColorBox ink, blue stickles and sapphire glimmer mist. I also used my Derwent watercolor pencils to color in "Beach". The two fonts I used were Ahoy Sand Dollar and LD Beach. 

Thanks for looking and I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Tuesday!

Back To Work...

I've been off since last Thursday.  A nice, long four day weekend. I was able to get the scrap area all cleaned up and finished. I also got the rest of the apartment all cleaned up. I spent time with my best friend, ate lunch with my oldest daughter, and even get a few pages done. I was able to get so much accomplished; it was a really good weekend. But all good things come to an end LOL Now it is time to go back to work, back to the grind. I'm dreading walking into my office and seeing my space! It is probably over run with everything.

I need to make a list of items for the kids to take care of today. I'll at least pull out some papers for my next layouts, so I can work on them when I get home. I need to pull out some chicken so I can whip something up for dinner tonight too. I hope everyone has a great Monday!

I was able to get another layout finished last night of photos of us at the computers. I used the same DaisyD papers that I had so I could use up some of the scraps, flowers I got from a Scrapbook.com order, one brad and Script sizzlits font for the title.

Scrap Sunday

I had a really good day yesterday hanging out with Jianna and her brother, his partner, her mother and her kids. She was dropping her youngest off to stay with her brother for a month. She will be back for the Fourth of July to pick her up. We are going to spend the day at Stone Mountain. We just hung out and talked, we took the kids to the pool for a bit. It's always so good to see her. I was exhausted by the time I got home though. Her brother lives about an hour away.

I love her brother and his partner too. They are all good people. It has always felt like family being there. They are always so welcoming and open. In the next couple of months they are planning to move to Key West. That will be a nice visit LOL I have never been there either. That was my day yesterday.

I came home and talked to Kevin a bit, but got so tired I went to bed. I must have slept weird too, because I woke up with my back hurting and really stiff. This morning I'm spending my time with Kevin. I will get the kids up in a couple of hours so they can get ready for church. Off for 9 am service and then I will spend the rest of my day scrapping I hope. The apartment is clean, there is only a couple of loads of laundry that the kids and I will finish. I have to go across the street and grab a new Zig pen as mine is almost out of ink and that will be my day. I'm going to try to focus on getting a couple of pages done for this album.

I did one quick layout this morning with random photos. Kevin had shot random photos just around here. So I stuck them on a layout and I'll add it that album. I used bazzill paper, Daisy D's patterned paper, my zig pen and that's it. The layout was a challenge I had seen some where, but when I went looking for it again I couldn't find it anywhere. So, I have no idea where it came from and I couldn't recall all of it.

Best Friends

My lunch with Taylor yesterday went well. I told her exactly how I felt about her leaving. I really needed to get that off my chest. I asked her about her job, we spoke about her car and what she needed to do to take care of it. I told her she needed to appreciate what my mother and sister did for her by repairing that car. It was over $850 to repair it. I spoke with her about school and when she was going. She is not rooming with her friend, so I'm pretty happy about that. Her friend and her boyfriend are both going to the same school as her. The funny thing about that is that neither of them had initially planned to go there. Her friend pretty much had it planned that she was going to the University of Georgia and her boyfriend had planned on going out of state. Some how that all changed. We spoke about what she was going to do for the holidays. I was hoping she would come home for the holidays and she said she would. So all in all it was pretty good. One thing really bothered me though. She is living with her girlfriend, her girlfriends mother and stepfather. Apparently, the mother and girlfriend have been gone all week to Florida. She is living in that house with the stepfather! She has always been one to put herself into weird situations like that. I kept my mouth shut though. I couldn't get into a fight with her about that and she knows how I feel about things like that. I brought her back home to see her siblings. Everyone was happy to see her. Then she left for work in her car. I hope she will do what is right by my mother and sister. She really needs to show them some appreciation.

Today I get to go visit with Jianna! Jia is my very best friend. We have been friends since my oldest was in elementary school. Several years ago she went through a terrible divorce and moved out of state to Ohio. I miss her terribly! She came in town yesterday and is staying with her brother in Madison. I will be waking the kids up at 6 am. That will give them an hour to get themselves dressed, teeth brushed, hair brushed, etc. Then we can head out. She is really awesome :) I can't wait to see her.

=======================================

I did scrap a page yesterday! It is just a page of Kevin and the kids when he was here at home. I see so many pages with just empty space and I really tried. There was a lot of empty space. I couldn't do it! I had it scanned and everything, but I just kept staring at it and ended up adding to it. I don't know what it is, but I can't do empty space LOL Another thing I can't do is crowded embellishing. Where there is so much embellishment that it almost loses the photo. Or you really have to look to find the photo. It's just not my style I guess. So here you go.. still working on that 8 1/2 x 11 album. I will be glad when I'm finished. 

All of the paper is from Club Scrap. This is an old kit that I received before I stopped scrapping for so long. I absolutely love the quality of their papers. I used paint and twine.

When I finish with this album I'm going to finish the small album I was making my sister about her bout with breast cancer.

Lunch with Taylor

I'm suppose to meet with Taylor today for lunch. I have to go pick her up. Since she left she has only called me a couple of times and that is when she needs something. I guess that is what should be expected, she is only 18 going on 15. Leaving home will surely make her grow up a bit and mature. I have really held her close. I think in that way I have hurt her growing up a bit.

Every time I think about how she left I realize I'm still angry with her and hurt. I really need to let that go and I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time. I think just because I want her to realize how that I've always been there and it really hasn't been that bad living here. I feel like she robbed me of our last few months together before she heads off to school. I feel robbed of the trip taking her to school and moving her into the dorm.

She called me a couple of weeks ago because she needs her car. I can't believe it took her that long to realize she needs a way to get to and from. Her car did not pass emissions this year and I didn't really have the money to get it fixed. I was hoping that the car being down would give her a little incentive to get a job so she could help me get it repaired; I was wrong. I paid the taxes on the car in March, but it has been sitting since then. She called my mother and sister a couple of weeks ago to see if they would get her car fixed. They told her she needed to call me to see if I would put her back on insurance before they dumped money into the car. That is the reason she called. She needed the car fixed and she needed insurance. So, this past week the car was repaired; almost $900. She is still insured on it at $43 a month which she will need to pay me each month.

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I expect her to pay the insurance each month and the cell phone that I pay. Maybe I shouldn't, I just don't know. But I feel like she has made the decision to be an adult, which means she has to be an adult. She needs to work and she has to pay her bills. If she went out and got a cell phone it would cost her easily $50. Her cell phone is still on my plan and it only cost me about $20 each month with her extras. With insurance a her cell phone I'm going to ask her to give me $50 each month. Is that wrong? Is it too much? Should I just keep paying for it like I have? My mother thinks I'm being harsh, because if she was still at home and going off to school I would  probably being paying for it. But that isn't how it is. She moved out because she didn't want to follow the rules.

So, I'm meeting her for lunch to give her the car and talk to her about some things. I need to talk to her about paying me each month and that if she doesn't I will take the car. I need to talk to her about taking care of the car as well and that she needs to appreciate what my mother bought her. She really has never appreciated it or seemed to appreciate it. She was given a car! I had to work my butt off to get a car. I paid the insurance on it and I filled it with gas. I kept asking her to get a job so she could help out, but she would never really look. Frustrating! I need to explain that she needs to make sure to get the oil changed and take care of it. Also, that she needs to make sure she is taking it to a shop, because she had her friends father try to figure out what was wrong with it. He changed a spark plug and he ended up putting the wrong type of spark plug in it which was not good for the engine. I need to try to explain all of this nicely and not get my back up. LOL I'm struggling with that!

My mother lectured me yesterday about how I need to not be mean about her friends. It's really hard for me when I don't like them. And it isn't that I don't like any of them. I just don't like her best friend; she is frosty, cold, stand offish. None of that matters anyway. I'm going to do my best to not be bitter.

I need to talk to her about the holidays and stuff too. I need to know if she plans on coming home during the holidays, does she want to be there when Kevin and I get married. I just need to know what her plans will be. So, wish me luck with meeting her today and pray that I can be good and make good choices; I know I am!

=======================================

I worked all day yesterday finishing cleaning up the house. I had the kids work on their rooms and get them all vacuumed out. Michael's room is always terrible. He stuffs everything in the drawers when I tell them to clean up. They stuff trash, toys, paper; just everything! We cleaned out the drawers and through some stuff away. I told the kids they were going to work on their bathroom today. I will get that hallway done and work on our bedroom. There really isn't much to do in there. I just need to get a few things put away and vacuum. It won't take me long. We also need to work on laundry today. 

I never started a page yesterday, but I have picked out the papers I'll be working with. I'm hoping to work on that today.My best friend is coming into town from Ohio today. I'm hoping to spend most of the day with her tomorrow.

Here is one of my favorite layouts.... only because I absolutely love this picture of Bailey! It is from years ago. We were at a breakfast with Santa and she was so afraid of going up to see him that she started crying. So this is her crying face being stuffed with a donut LOL I love her eyes. I made the photo black and white but kept her eyes color to make them stand out. I came across a larger copy of this photo in color while I was bringing all my supplies up, cleaning and organizing! You can see her eyelashes all wet LOL