Some pretties blooming on my deck:

I love how, in that top photo, the orange flowers look kind of spikey, harsh, but they open up to be gorgeous. And this one, right above. Wow, It's so lovely, so pure and fresh looking. Just love those. I forget what they're called.

We've been having some cloudy weather, with sparse rain lately. The rain could definitely step it up a bit, we really need more. People's wells are getting low and up in Williamsport the grass is brown and crunchy. At least here, in the woods, we manage to stay fairly green.

I'm still in super-scrapbooking mode. Still working on the circle journals that I'm in. Well, one anyway. The other one has hit a snag, but, hopefully it will resume soon. The delay allows me to work more on the other one, for which I have 8 more layouts to prepare - by August 25th. I don't think that will be a problem at this point because, thank the Lord, I have TIME!

I'm loving having time. Free time. Yes, I have the regular things I must do and maintain, but they're not very demanding right now, which is great because I'm craving all this free time. Tonight I was even perusing my new Cooking Light magazine and pulling out recipes I want to make! I do have cleaning/organization urges, but the scrapping is taking precedence over that right now and not working up a sweat is equally appealing. I think I'll save the cleaning for the cooler weather.

And now - it's TIME - for bed!

Summer goodness.

Yes, people, I actually BAKED! This is something that I do enjoy - on my own timetable. In fact, I'm learning a lot about my own timetable these days...

At ScrapinstyleTV (my fave scrapbooking site) there was a huge weekend of online challenges to compensate for those of us that had to stay home and weren't able to attend one of the biggest scrapbooking events of the year - the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) show. It was called a cyber "crop". Now, in scrapping terms, a "crop" (probably derived from the fact that you often "crop" your photos prior to scrapping them) is a gathering of scrapbookers for the purpose of making scrapbook pages. Often, the idea is to make LOTS of them in a short amount of time. Personally, I've never really been interested in this because, a) I want, no need, to have ALL my supplies (all fiftygazillion of them) in front of me when I scrap and, b) I am a slow scrapper. I have no desire to "speed scrap".

Okay. SO. There must have been a dozen or so challenges at SIS this weekend - all with prizes for the "winner" of the challenge. A challenge is when someone challenges, dares, etc. you to do a scrapbook page or project within certain parameters, i.e. there was a "1, 2, 3, 4" challenge where you were to make a page - in this case "1" page, using 2 photos, 3 patterned papers and 4 embellishments (hence, the 1, 2, 3 and 4). And the subject was to be "great friends".

Now, I really enjoy a challenge. I like that some of what you are to do has been decided already for you. BUT - all of these challenges had to be completed by the end of the day (that is, whichever challenge you decided to participate in, your work had to be in by midnight Saturday). THEREIN is where it really became a challenge for me. As it turns out, many of the deadlines were extended and there's even two challenges that won't be decided until about an hour from now. But I didn't know that when I started on Saturday a.m.

So I did seven of the challenges. For two of them, I was albe to use one layout for two different challenges.

Please forgive me for the uber-long explanation, but having said that and having done these challenges, here are some things I've learned about myself:

1. I am a slowwww scrapper. Well, I already knew that. But the point has really been driven home to me this weekend. I like to think about a project for a long time in my head before I ever sit down at my desk. Roll it around in my brain like you would a fine chocolate in your mouth until it melts. And the thinking part, as long as that takes, is just half of the lengthiness...

2. I am a meticulous scrapper. As much as I love the fresh and funky, thrown together style that's so popular right now, I am just anal about lining things up and balancing stuff and having everything JUST SO. For me to depart from that - which is what I've been trying to do of late - takes me even longer! It's like trying to learn how to play a song on the guitar when you've never heard it before. Yeah. Hard. In my defense, I am a very organized person and so, not surprisingly, I scrap that way, too.

3. I really enjoyed the process and was happy to just scrap all weekend (said weekend would be excluding yesterday, but including Saturday and today...) and I'm a better person for it. I don't need to win. It's not about winning - it's about stretching yourself and having fun and getting some great scrapping done.

4. That's a lie. I want to win. I want praise and admiration from other scrappers, I want recognition for my amazing skills and I want prizes.

5. But that is NOT going to happen. Because I scrap just like ME and not like what is really popular and it's okay, sometimes really nice, but NOT amazing!

6. And I'm really, truly, okay with that. Because I LOVE TO SCRAP and it really isn't about what other people think. It really is about self-expression and preserving memories and doing what makes ME happy, ultimately.

So, yeah, it would be awesome to win, but I know I won't. But what I really love about this website is that whenEVER I upload a layout that I've done, someone will make a nice comment about it. And I do lots of the same for other scrappers. Because we like to encourage each other and it's just an encouraging, supportive website.

So, this weekend was fun. It WAS challenging! And I DID learn a lot about myself. Will I ever do another challenge? ABSOLUTELY! I love the push myself to think differently than I might have otherwise. I love having someone ELSE think of an idea! But, I will only do challenges when I have time and I can roll it around in my brain...

like you would a fine chocolate in your mouth until it melts.....

Sure do love those guys...love to see them together...love to hear them play music together...love that they love each other. And it may be happening on a more regular basis sooner than later because now the latest on the front from M&M is that they may be moving back to - not only our half of the USA, but, well, possibly even our half of the house. Ok, it won't be quite that intimate, well, maybe for a while, but I have all confidence that they WILL want to get their OWN place soon enough after moving here. (Hear me, you guys???) :) No, seriously - heck, yeah! I am serious!

Well, I can't really let myself wrap my mind around it because, what if? Nope. Can't go there yet. I'll still have to see it to believe it...

So I've walked twice now in the last 3 days. (It'll never happen on Sunday a.m.) And I am eating better. I really want to make a change - I must.

So, anyway, Chris and I go to the fair tonight. For what purpose? To eat nothing but greasy fried crap. WHY, oh why do I do that to myself. Because I'm certainly sitting here regretting it now. My tummy is NOT happy with me! And, sorry for the details, but I'm sure I'm gonna - well, let's just say I think I'll take a good magazine and place it in the bathroom this evening before I go to bed. A magazine that I'll be interested in looking at for a while.... Ew.

Oh, in that scrap page up there, I actually made the pattern on the paper with all the letters. I stuck a bunch of alphabets down on white cardstock, then inked over them and then removed the stickers, revealing the white underneath. It was time consuming, but I really like how it turned out.

Well, I'm off to bed. and to get my magazine. for later. ugh.

The heat wave has finally broken. I feel like I can breathe again! Ahhhhh...

So here's what's happening on my Friday the 13th:

.slept in 'til 8:15

.had a lovely (UNhot and humid)devotion time on the front porch with my rye toast and cuppa coffee

.fixed a 2nd cuppa and watched 2 whole, lovely, uninterrupted hours of scrapbooking on QVC (yes, I bought one thing)

.hopped in the car with Chris to head to Williamsport. I got my hair cut while Chris ran to ML to make a deposit.

.visited the brand spankin' new scrapbooking store which was, like, a block from where I got my hair cut (I will be back!)

.went to the "Homemade Days" in Brandon Park where we hunted up Judy, who is selling some jewelry she made. I bought these:

Aren't they cool? The rest of the day should pan out as follows:

.Chris is making pizza (from scratch) while I scrap (if I get off the computer in time!)

.a little more scrapping after supper and then i have to watch "What Not to Wear" on TLC.

.must make myself stay up uber-late b'cause there's two MORE hours of scrappin' on the Q at 1 a.m.! (Thankfully, I can sleep in Saturday all I want!)

Sounds like a pretty good day! Hope yours was, too!

We're havin' a heat wave....

I used to have this game when I was a kid called "Park and Shop". I loved that game and always did very well. The idea was to choose "errand" cards and then maneuver your way around the board to get your errands done before the other players. This actually could be one of the things that greatly influenced my need for organization. No - wait - it was my perfectionistic parents. Oh, well. I did well at the game and any time I have a day like this (which, now that I'm "retired", I guess I will be every Tuesday - my "errand" day!) I think of that game. Here's how it went: McD's (ok - I admit that I love their sausage biscuits and the iced coffee didn't hurt, either); AC Moore to spend my 50% off coupon; Big Lots to check for a hammock pillow (got one); Wal Mart for the usual and then some; Merrill Lynch to make a deposit and ask Christine a question; and, finally, Wegman's to get groceries. I actually spent less money than I deposited! :)

But, DANG - it was HOT out there! I can't believe I ever drove a car without air conditioning. Man, if I didn't have that for all my running around, I'd be as melted as a box of chocolates left on the back seat while I did my shopping would have been.

Here's a sample of some new stuff I made:

I got the idea for these tags from one of the fabulous "Fashionistas" (i.e. design team members) on ScrapInStyleTV - my fave new scrapping website. The whole site has a "fashion" theme going on. And one of the cool things they do is weekly "webisodes" that feature interviews with scrapping "personalities" or projects, whatever. So last week there was one that featured a project using old (or "vintage" as I like to say) record albums to make postcards. I needed some tags and translated the idea to tags. They turned out pretty well and so funny with the whole fashion theme going on...

Well, now I'm going downstairs where it's cool to crash in front of the tube...relief!

My sweet little Rocky... Isn't he a cutie? Hard to believe he's 13 years old!

What am I doing up so late? It seems like this terrible habit I've had lately. Or maybe it has to do with the fact that I chugged a huge soda while watching "Transformers" earlier this evening at the movies. (My review: super-fantastic if you like great effects, lots of crash-bang action and really big metallic monsters. I think I prefer the fuzzy ones.)

I've been having so much fun (another reason I'm up so late) playing at my favorite new scrapping website ScrapInStyleTV. It's a great, positive and fun place. And I found out tonight that I have a chance to win this new book - by leaving a comment at Nic Howard's blog, here. I'd love to win it because it's all about the kind of scrapping I like to do the most - scrapping the ordinary, everyday things in life. (Did ya notice the name of my blog - or see the previous post and scrap page? See what I mean?)

Off to bed - finally!

So, I've been playing with digital scrapbook kits...finally! Yes, finally I have time! I made two yesterday and the one above is the second one. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. Don't know really what I'll do with it though - mainly post here and on my favorite web galleries. But, I can't print it out because it's 12x12. Well, I supposed I could make it smaller, but the other reason I don't think I'd print is because it will be flat - even though I did some stuff to make it look layered (i.e. drop shadows). Anyway it was really fun - and time consuming. So now - back to the hands-on stuff because I need to do some layouts for the circle journals I'm in!