It's official. I'm now the mother of a 2nd grader and a 4th grader. My middle daughter was ready for school at 6:45 and didn't need to catch the bus until 8:07...LOL Do you think she looks excited? Her enthusiam was contagious.


The oldest was nervous I could tell. I'm hoping that the first day at her new intermediate school goes well and that she likes her new teacher. She seemed excited but once the bus came she looked like she might cry.

This last picture is of my son (in red) and his good friend Zach. They've watched the bus leave without them too many times to count and here you can see them thinking "one more year." I can't wait to scrapbook that. I just love this photo.

Dear Big G,

How can you be starting 4th grade? Didn't I just take you to preschool yesterday? When did you turn into a "tween"? Why are we always at odds? What happened to the little girl that held my hand and said, "I'm sure going to miss you, mommy. Don't have any fun without me."

Now you are off to intermediate school. You'll truly be on your own. You will ride a different bus than the one that takes your sister to elementary school. You will be the youngest, surrounded by 5th and 6th graders.

Those quirky songs played on the other bus will be replaced by ipods and swear words. You will change even more this year and I'm not sure I'm ready for that.

But trying to keep you little is like holding onto sand. Soon it runs through your fingers and tries to catch onto the wind.

I'm excited for you to take on this new adventure, but part of me is sad.

Sad that I can't be there, if no one wants to sit with you.

Sad that I can't help you figure out what to do in that huge cafeteria.

Sad that you will have much fun without me.

I'm excited that you will likely make new friends this year and will cross my fingers that they will treat you the way you deserve to be treated because over the next few years you will value their opinion more than you value mine.

As I look at you, I can't help but remember the baby who looked at me with big bright eyes and prefered no one but me.

Where did she go?

Do you know how much I love you?

Good luck in 4th grade. I'll be here when you get home.


Mom (formerly known as mommy)

Thanks so much for all the kind words about my Tuesday post. He didn't even acknowledge me at the meeting on Tuesday. Hopefully he'll have forgotten all about it by the time the next meeting rolls around.

I'm busy today making some candy for a craft show I'm going to do tomorrow. It is just a itty bitty one and I love the little ol' lady who organizes it. The girls and I usually go for the morning and we have a really good time.

Hopefully, we'll sell a few cards and some gift boxes. I made some homemade chocolates and some pretzel dipped in chocolate. I'm crossing my fingers that they don't melt tomorrow. LOL

If I can a chance I'll post some pictures.

I can't possibly write anything creative because I'm soooo irated right now. I'm trying not to be, but I am. As my profile indicates, I'm a freelance writer. I cover a handful of school boards and townships for our local afternoon paper.

Last week a story of mine ran with a quote from a very outspoken board member and now he's claiming (get this) not that he was misquoted but that he didn't intend the comment to come out that way.

So now he is threating to quit the school board and according to the superintendent he is quite irrate.

As newspaper readers, do you expect the quotes in stories to be what people were inferring or what people were saying.

Yeah, my point exactly.

How am I to know what you are inferring, I can only write down what you are saying and if you are going to say something completely off the cuff at a public school board meeting while the press is in attendance than you deserve to be quoted.

In fact, you should be quoted.

Even the superintendent says the quote is correct, though she claims a small portion of it was attributed to the wrong individual. I spoke to that individual and he, of course, says that he has "no recollection who said what." Big F'n surprise!

So I'm off to the same school board meeting and I'm bound to be verbally assaulted by a professional who regrets his own words. I'm bringing a friend to serve as a bodyguard and witness. Plus the meeting is near a Starbucks and who can refuse that afterwords. LOL

I think there is a valuable lesson in all of this. If you are going to open your mouth at a public meeting, expect to be quoted and you can bet that whatever I file tonight, will definately include a quote from him.

After Disney-ing myself out a while back, I didn't have any desire to work on by scrapbook anymore. (GASP). But now I'm happy to report that I'm out of my rut and finally posting some new layouts for that book.




This first one is an animal kingdom layout and I, of course, cut the words with Zoobaloo. Goodness I just love that cart. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I added some stickles for detail. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

This one is a collage of memories from MGM studios. I cut the pictures so they would make a square like that and added Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable's autographs to it. They are copies from my kids' book. The font is Printing 101.

This picture is kind of dark, but this is a mosiac of our breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe. I like the final look, though I don't think this picture does it justice. No I didn't cut all of those little squares. It is a customizable layover that you can get here. I love that guys designs. He has a lot of unique things and I always stock up when I find him at the CK convention.

This is a muppet layout from Disney. I freakin' love the muppets. Always have and always will. Unfortunately there wasn't much to photograph. Oh how I wish they would have had the characters there to meet. I would have waited forever to see Gonzo. LOL

My kids loved this playground of things from the movie even though they hadn't see the movie at that time. They slid down a blad of grass out of a film canister (boy that dates the piece) and road on an ant. It was really cute.

Thanks for looking.

Hey everyone be sure to check out http://going-buggy.blogspot.com/ She has some great blog candy to be given away celebrating 65,000 hits! You're gonna love it. Best wishes and feel free to share the love if you win...hint hint.

Let me start this post by saying I really hate posting pictures of myself. However, today I used a gift certifcate my dear hubby got me to get my hair cut. As you can see from the first picture I have A LOT of hair and it is naturally wavy and it has a mind of it's own. I don't like to get it cut. I perfer to just pull it back and not deal with it ever. However, see first sentence, I had a gift certificate. Who can pass up a free hair cut?


Anyway, below are the results. I have to say I'm not sure I like it. The stylist obviously ironed my hair and who are we kidding I'm never going to do that. Even when I was a teenager in the 80s and the bigger you could get your hair the better, I never wanted to be bothered. Back then I used to lie and tell the stylist "oh sure, I use a curling iron all the time" Now I'm more straight forward. I told her "I'm pretty sure you spent more time on my hair today than I did all week" LOL.

This week started off with the ALS walk. This is an annual event for my family as my mother's sister died from the disease in 2005. Our team raised close to $2,000 and the grand total of the walk was almost $50,000! I'm in the center of the photo my mom is on the left and my good friend Becky is on the right.

The rest of the photos show some of the fun I have been enjoying with my youngest while his sisters are off having a fun filled week with their grandma. I must say that people with one child have little to whine about. There is no fighting and hardly any crying at my house this week. **smile** I miss the other two but I'm enjoying the peace and quiet and I'm beginning to see how much my son misses his siblings.

Little one and I are soaking up the last few weeks of summer and doing it by spending little cash...which is always a plus.

We took the canoe out with daddy and went fishing. Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything but we had some bites. We had rain earlier in the week so we used some free coupons we had to go bowling. The only cost were the shoes. I bowled terribly and really struggled to beat my five year old. How sad is that?

Tuesday we went to a free movie at a local theater and used more coupons for free meals. Sweet. We saw a movie, had popcorn, a drink and some skittles and got two free kids meals and the only thing I paid for was the popcorn ($5.00)!

Today we went golfing with a gaggle of boys and one dear little girl...all friends from our neighborhood. It was a fun time, a little hot, but we had ice cream later. Total cost for 24 holes of mini golf and ice cream for mom and child around $8.00.

I'll post more pics of the fun we have the rest of the week. TFL

A blog I enjoy called Rocks in My Dryer featured a letter to herself this past week. I loved it and while I can't compare to hers, as part of Just Write Tuesday I wanted to try one for myself. I would highly recommend the exercise. It was very fun.


Dear me (1986)

Hi. It's me. I wanted to drop you a line to let you know that boy who just broke your heart isn't worth one more tear. Life has someone so much better in store for you. So pull you head up off your pillow, wipe your tears and put a smile back on you face. You have so much more to offer, you just don't know it yet.

Another little thing I should tell you--your sister, I know she gets on your nerves, but someday she's going to live many hours away from you and your heart will ache with a need to see her. Oh you'll call her often, but those days when she wants to just "hang" out with you more than any of her friends, those days will soon fade and you will realize too late how much you miss them. Try to enjoy them.

Let's talk about mom. I know that lately you and her haven't seen eye to eye, but someday you will realize that she is struggling with problems you know nothing about and that she is doing the best that she can. Cut her some slack. One day it will dawn on you that you have become very much like her and that ain''t all that bad.

Don't get me wrong you won't see eye to eye on everything, but isn't that what makes life grand. How boring it would be if no one had a different opinion.

Dad will be faced with some hard decisions and will want reassurance from you. Try to give it to him. He just wants you to know that your opinion matters. Don't dismiss it.

Many things will change and that dream job of yours may never materialize in the way that you want. Oh you will see your name in print, but it remains to be seen if it will ever grace the spine of a book.

Remember that there are more important things than moving out of your parents home. One day you may go out of your way to drive by that very house just to see who lives there and if it remains red.

Your family will spread out all over the place and will welcome more new members than you can currently imagine, including a few step siblings. But at the core, there will always be the same players and while it is hard to imagine now you will appreciate all they have done for you more than you can imagine.

As for what's important, you and I won't agree on that right now. I can tell you this. Your values will change. What is important to you now will be but a memory today. Now go hug your sister and kiss your parents. Get out of your room more, open the door and let more people in. You won't regret it.

All my love,

Me (2008)

P.S. Wash that stupid black eye liner off. You look like someone punched you.

Many have asked me how to make the the exploding box I featured a few posts ago. Here are the directions. If you make one, link it to this post so everyone can see your design. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

OUTER LAYER: Start with a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock. Score every 4 inches from all sides, creating 9 scored "boxes". Cut off the 4 corner squares leaving your paper in a + shape. To cut mats for the interior flaps cut printed cardstock 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches;

MIDDLE LAYER: Start with an 11 x 11 sheet of cardstock. Score every 3 3/4 inches. repeat above steps. Printed cardstock mats: 3 1/4 x 3 1/2

INNER LAYER: Start with a 10 x 10 sheet of cardstock. Score every 3 1/2 inches and repeat above steps. Mats for this layer are 2 3/4 by 3 1/4 Center of the box is 2 3/4 x 2 3/4

LID: Start with an 8 x 8 sheet. Score 2 inches in from all four sides. Now CUT a slit in from each corner diagonally to the score line (2 inches). Cut off one of the halves remaining from each corner. Fold all the score lines. Glue each remaining "flap" to the inside of each of the lid folds.

If you have any questions let me know. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. TFL.

Thanks again for nominating me. I've enjoyed looking at all the recently nominated blogs.

“Kaylee! Where have you been?” asked Lester, a sheep dog who lived on the farm.
“Here and there,” said the gosling. She had her head in the clouds as she gathered the last of the wild flowers of the season. “Why? Was I gone long?”
The dog nodded his head, “Your family has been looking everywhere for you. Some thing about a trip and relatives coming. Your mama was frantic saying they could not wait for you and that you were specifically told not to wander.”
“The trip south!” exclaimed Kaylee, dropping her bouquet and scuttling to the pond.
No one was there.
Surely they waited for her. They were probably playing a joke on her -- teaching her a lesson. She could hear her papa now, “Young goslings should be focused on the trip ahead. This is only the second time you’ve made the journey and you must remember the route. Future generations depend on it!”
How many times had she looked at that stupid map? A billion? Maybe more.
Her brothers had been totally entranced by the roads, by the rivers and by the distance they all would fly. She’d rather play with the frogs. Who needs a map when you can follow the others?
“I’m sure they’ll be back. They wouldn’t just leave me here.” She nestled down along the pond and waited. . . and waited. . . and waited.
No one came back.
Kaylee awoke the next morning with a shiver. She couldn’t believe her family hadn’t returned for her. She scuttled off to the gate to ask Lester what to do.
“You should believe in yourself and take charge of your future. If you stay here, you’ll freeze to death. You must take flight and follow your heart.”
“But, Lester, I don’t know the way. They have a whole day head start. I cannot catch up.
“Nonsense,” said the dog. They are traveling with the elders. They will break often to rest. You can and will catch up.”
“But. . .”
“Kaylee, go. I will see you in the spring.”
With a heavy heart, no map and no one to follow, Kaylee took off on a journey of faith.
After nearly two and a half days of flight she found no one from her party. Having to rest her wings and grab some lunch, she landed at a nearby pond. A family of geese was bedding down for the night. She longed for her family, including her brothers, even though they usually got on her nerves.
All of her instincts were telling her to push on; that she was traveling in the right direction. She almost gave up and followed a flock in a different direction, just for the companionship, but she was sure that the direction she was headed would lead her to the others.
After nearly two weeks, her faith paid off. She recognized the summer resort. She made the entire journey alone, with nothing to follow but her heart.
Soon she heard the gleeful honks of her family and saw the stern look of her papa. “Well, look what we have here,” he said,” I sure hope you learned a lesson, young lady.”
“Oh, I did, papa. I truly did,” said Kaylee.
The elder said nothing further and gathered his only daughter under his wing.

This weekend was the annual Creating Keepsakes Convention near my home. Usually my sister and my mother come in for the weekend and we have a rowdy girls weekend. Unfortunately, my sister had a work obligation that she couldn't get out of and was unable to attend this year.

Here is our adventure in photographs.

Ribbon, Ribbon, Ribbon. Who doesn't love ribbon. I loved how this booth looked. I just wanted to stare at it all day long. Isn't is beautiful. Don't you just want to run your hands over it and take it all home! It's hard to hold back at these conventions!

Here's an ulta faltering picture of me at the card making class my mom and I took. It was sooo fun and the best part was that everything was pre-cut and you had to do very little thinking. Nothing worse than a class where the teacher is randomly throwing out measurements.

A booth of embellishments. Only at a CK convention! There were at least 100 vendors there; many booth with make and takes; and classes in every direction! And I didn't even mention the nightly crop...

This is the third year we have attending the convention. There is about 10,000+ women in attendence and my mom, who doesn't really scrapbook, won a door prize. Figures. She picked out a new doggie scrapbook that looks pretty simple to put together for her new puppy.