January 31, 2012

10 on Tuesday… AKA Happy Birthday Baby!!

Today’s 10 is an Ode to a Very Special little girl, who’s very rapidly approaching “not so little.” I say it every year, but Holy Cow!! How is it possible that she’s 8 years old today??? I simply cannot believe that my “little” 9 lb 7 oz baby girl is rapidly going to be taller than I am!!! Doesn’t matter, I still call her “Baby” as a nickname :) even if she’s 4+ feet tall :) Here’s a few photos…

1. A digital layout I made with a “came home a couple days ago” photo… How sweet was she with her Heart Shaped head?

2.  A photo from our “Traincation.” a visit to Strasburg PA to see the Train Museum…

3. Just before leaving for a little trip to the Butterfly Place… See that look in her eye? Yup, I’m in trouble…

4. A little trip to NH to see the leaves…

5. Apple Picking…

6. another digital layout, with some of my all time favorite pics… the girl LOVES to swing!

7. This past Easter… Looking like such a big girl…

8. Flying Kites (well, taking pictures and video of Daddy flying kites)

9.Checking out here video…

 

10. And… An annual trip to the mall, to get the “birthday” build a bear, and then on to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch… including, VOLCANO!!! with candles and everything  (at Rainforest Cafe… A towering brownie sundae… and the entire staff yells… VOOOOLLLLLCCCAANNNOOOO!  as they come toward the table… so fun!) Happy Birthday Baby!! We love you!!

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January 24, 2012

10 on Tuesday

Today’s “10″ is dedicated to one little kitty, who it’s looking like we won’t have for too much longer, and we’ll miss very much… His name is Oscar, but we usually call him just “kitty kitty” (in a sing song voice). We had him at the vet yesterday, and I fully expected to not bring him home last night… He’s old, and sick… But, he’s home… We go back tomorrow to the vet again, but I couldn’t get him to eat last night (even the super “yummy” smelly special cat food from the vet)… You never know, maybe he’ll surprise us… not sure how many of his 9 lives he’s used already… Anyway… Here’s our kitty kitty…

1.

2. Oscar is a wonderful kitty, more like a dog in his friendliness… If you ever get the chance to rescue an older kitty, I say “go for it.” He is a very good boy…

3. One of my very favorite stories was when we first met him… In the PetSmart in Nashua, NH, where “Kitty Angels” had several rescue kitties available… Kathryn was not yet 3, and Sean was 5.  They took us to a small cramped back area to meet the kitty, and with a squealing 2 year old, and literally jumping up and down 5 year old… When they let Oscar out of his crated area, instead of RUNNING AWAY from the commotion, like any normal smart kitty would have done, he came right over to that squealing 2 year old and jumping 5 year old and purred like he’d been ours right along… We took him home that very day :)

4. Poor kitty had been abandoned (or I guess, maybe lost) with a harness on him, it had been on so long, they they needed to surgically remove it from him… He had had a pretty hard time of it before we got him… But he had a (mostly) happy indoor life for the last 6 years.

5.

6. How young does that adorable boy look? That picture is from when Sean lost his first tooth :) January 2008… A boy and his cat… Looking now for some more pics…

Oscar sleeping in Kathryn’s Princess Chair…

7. Ohhh… I found a very old digital layout…

8. and another…

9. oh, I found one with a “first day of adoption” picture! Do you see that “What have I gotten myself into?” look on Oscar’s face? :)

10. apparently, in ’06, I was in my “digital scrapbook” phase :) I know I have a 2 page paper scrapbook layout as well, but not sure I have an image of it…

We love you kitty kitty…

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January 21, 2012

Upcoming New Class!

I’m so excited to be teaching at the annual “Super Bowl Event” at Ink About It this year!! The event is on Superbowl Sunday, and runs from 10am-3pm (you’ll get home in plenty of time for the big game!!). It’s 4 mini workshops, lunch, prizes and more!! Call the store to get signed up as this even usually sells out quickly!!

Here’s a couple photos of my portion of the day!! This super fun wall hanging will get you through the rest of the winter (as it seems that winter is finally upon us).  We’ll be using the Zutter Bind it All, but don’t let that scare you!! I’ll have mine for anyone to use, and will be there to help everyone!!

The project uses the fun Echo Park patterned papers (and faux snow… what could be better???) with 2 places for photos, and also has patterned paper on the back so that it can be hung in a door or window…

Here’s a little closeup of the top so you can see the snow on the letters a little better.

The project will be at the store for you to take a closer look at it by Monday afternoon :) Call the store to get sugned up for this great event!

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January 20, 2012

Faithful Friday

Ok… so, I like alliteration, sue me  :) Although, I may need to change my “Friday” title to “Forgiveness Friday.” I’ve been spending an awful lot of time lately pondering forgiveness… We’ll see… I intend to post various faith posts on Fridays, just whatever I’ve been spending the week thinking about…

Forgiveness…

It’s HARD…  I’m a fairly difficult person to actually offend… I do get my feelings hurt fairly easily, but those aren’t the things I’m taking about… I mean the big things. The things that come to help define who you are, THOSE kinds of forgiveness. It is easy to “understand” that forgiveness is good, and that carrying around the burden of non-forgiveness only serves to continue the hurt, and also give power to those that hurt you… But ACTUAL forgiveness can be elusive.  I can go though several things that I am 100% sure that I have forgiven.  Things that I believe I have dealt with and am done with.  Then “Surprise!!” some completely random and unrelated comment by a completely unrelated party will bring it all back up again with a fury, and I’m thinking, “Crud!! I thought I was all done with that, and here it is again, I need to let that go”… and yet, there it is.

At our last Parish council meeting, we had a discussion of The Rule of St. Augustine, Chapter 9: Reconciliation.  This line in particular struck me… “Whoever has injured another by open insult, or by abusive or even incriminating language, must remember to repair the injury as quickly as possible by an apology, and he who suffered the injury must also forgive, without further wrangling.”

First… I need to incorporate the phrase “without further wrangling” into my regular vocabulary… It’s a great line… :)

But seriously, I believe that I’m “ok” at apologizing… Maybe not great, but I do try to sincerely apologize when I need to, even if it was something said unintentionally… BUT “and he who suffered the injury must also forgive, without further wrangling.” Now, THAT (in my opinion) is the hardest part of the equation… And forgiving yourself for things may be even harder…

Something to think about and work on…

and a photo from my phone (my current phone home screen) from band camp last summer…

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January 17, 2012

10 on Tuesday

Happy Tuesday, which feels very much like a Monday :) Loved having that extra weekend day this week!! Here’s my 10 for today…

1. Christmas is finally put away, decorations down, and tree put away for another year…

2. Everytime I think Christmas is put away, I turn ar0und and find yet another decoration that we missed… This morning was the Santa door hanger… it’ll all be found and put away by Easter :)

3. Today is the start of our second semester at school, what that means for me is all new students… and the “big boring rule speech” today and tomorrow… My voice is already tired!

4. Random discovery… Laptops are MUCH more expensive than I thought they were… Yesterday we went to look at them, because between the children and my husband, I can never get to use my own computer… and my only 2 “requirements” were that I wanted it to be small (I don’t need a big screen and I want it to be portable) and have a hard drive of at least 500 g.  ummm… all the ones that had what I wanted were over $500, so no new laptop for now… 

5. “My” china has been discovered!!! I sent an email to www.replacements.com with the pictures I posted last week, and in 2 days got an email reply with the name and pattern of the china that belonged to my grandmother!!! Yeah!!  They say that it was actually “Blue Brenda” by Sovereign Potters… They didn’t have any in stock…

6. After a frantic search of the internet, and my mad googling skills, that actual pattern can’t be had anywhere… BUT I went back and re-read the email they sent me, and the pattern was also made by another company!! Taylor Smith & Taylor made the same pattern, and it’s called “Silver Mist” AND even better, you can find some!!

7. I thought about it, and decided that I don’t really care which one I get… either way it’s a replacement, but makes me smile when I think about having the pattern… I can’t wait to get them in the mail!!

8. 2 teacups and saucers, along with the covered sugar bowl and creamer are on their way to my house as I type :) I love ebay :) There’s a pickle dish up for sale too… I might “need” to get that too…

9. I put together Kathryn’s new desk this weekend… I think it’s been sitting in her room in its box since October… I honestly never want to put together another piece of IKEA furniture… What a pain in the neck… Nice desk, will be great for her, but ack… putting it together was NO FUN at all…

10. It’s not too late to sign up for my Christmas Card book  this Thursday at Ink About It…  So, gather up all your Christmas Cards, and give the store a call if you want to come!!!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!!!

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January 11, 2012

Annual Christmas Card Book

It happens every year… You pack up all the holiday decorations, and have a pile of beautiful cards that you don’t want to throw away, but really have no place to keep… Here’s the perfect solution!!! Take them with you to my next class at Ink About It in Westford on Thursday, January 19. Call the store to reserve your spot, and we’ll bind your own beautiful cards together in a book and you’ll have them to look through for years to come!!  Here’s a preview of the book, it uses BEAUTIFUL SEI patterned papers that are foiled and glittered.  We’ll make the covers in class, and then use the Zutter Bind it All to punch and bind all of this year’s cards into a wonderful keepsake!!

Sneek Peek at this year’s cover…

I had the last 3 year’s worth of books on the coffee table this year, and it was so much fun to look through all the old cards, and expecially the photo cards!! Here’s the details on the older books…

The 2010 Christmas Card Book

The 2009 Christmas Card Book

The 2008 Christmas Card Book

 

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January 10, 2012

10 on Tuesday

So… Today’s 10 is part of my new found obsession… Replacing my Grandmother’s china… Which would be easy, right? well, yeah, IF I knew the name or even maker of the china… If, for example, some family member had the china and could read to me what it says on the bottom… Unfortunately, all I have is a vague memory… Until… Well, Here’s my Ten for Today…

1. I have no idea what happened to the vaguely remembered china… Kinda grey flowers, maybe silver trim… in the old hutch, which all seems to have disappeared when the old hutch was replaced in the 80′s…

2. Message all my friends and relatives on Facebook to see if I’m crazy and the china was a figment of my imagination… and some remember it… but no one has it…

3. Spend literally hours googling “White china, silver rim, grey flowers” Do you KNOW how many china patterns fit that description?? ummm, about a billion!

4. THANK YOU Kathy for the suggestion of looking through old pictures!!! I found some, and have emailed Replacements.com to see if they can figure out the pattern…

5-10 Look at just a couple of the cool photos I found while looking for china :)

Hmm… See that tea cup? That’s the back of the pattern :) This is my Grandmother on the right, I think my Grandfather’s mother in the middle, and his younger sister on the left… Could be wrong on the left…

So, my Dad in the middle (photo dated 1962, long before he was my dad :) and my Uncle Dave on the far right… Not a clue who the other 2 people are… but that’s “my” covered sugar bowl and creamer on the table! Look familiar to anyone? I’ll take any suggestions… If anyone has one in their hutch and can just look at the bottom for me…

Pics of the teacups and another shot of the fabulous sugar bowl!

And, here it is… the dinner plate… That’s right… I did remember it… now if I can only get my xray scanner to work so that I can read the back… :)

OK… last 2 have nothing to do with my global search for the china pattern, but, honestly, I HAD to scan them too… Who wouldn’t want matching crocheted vests and skirts for Easter… circa 1975-ish :) Kathryn’s already lobbying me to make her one… Me and my sister :) We’re pretty cute!

Oh, look! Who’s that adorable baby? Oh, me!! and my Gram. January 1970… So I was about 8 months old… Kathryn thinks Gram looks exactly the same as she remembers, but with brown hair!

Hope everyone has a fantastic week… I’ll be searching for china!!

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