tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-278947402024-03-07T22:11:36.462-05:00My Simple Little LifeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger221125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-44349303873250377912010-01-01T23:13:00.000-05:002010-01-01T23:13:27.625-05:00I've Moved!<div style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've moved!</span><br />
</div><div style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can now find me <a href="http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com/">HERE</a> </span><br />
</div><div style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Please come on over and re-bookmark me! :)</span><br />
</div><div style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">See you there!</span><br />
</div><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=27894740"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="48" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="48" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-62787129619133401982009-12-28T08:08:00.001-05:002009-12-28T22:34:58.340-05:00The Post of Christmas PastWe had a lovely Christmas day. It started off with Chris and I alone at home. We had coffee, opened up our "half" stockings... Okay, short story here. We'd decided mid-year or so not to do anymore stockings, except for just the little girls. In an effort to just cut back a bit and simplify a bit and not obligate everyone else to them. But, as usual, Chris had already begun his stocking shopping - for me. He starts in, like, January, for pete's sake! I didn't know this, but as I put out my Christmas decorations in early December, I hung up all our stockings - cuz, well, they're CUTE! And as I glanced at them from time to time over the next few days, I thought maybe I'd sneak a few little things into Chris's stocking anyway - since it was going to be just us on Christmas morning. Then I found out that he'd already gotten me some stuff. So I said not to get me anymore and then I got a few things for Chris. So, back to Christmas morning, we both had a few things in there and, it was really nice. I love stockings.<br />
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And we had a giftie for each of the pets so, as we munched on our cinnamon rolls, we watched them play. Well, actually, a full-on cat fight <i>almost </i>took place, but everyone settled down once I picked up the catnip-stuffed mice off the floor. Geesh.<br />
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I got on the computer (of course) and "ran into" Matthew on facebook, so I got the condo number where they were in FL and we called and talked to them. <br />
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We'd been invited to Dustin and Emily's for dinner AND brunch, so we headed down there around 11 a.m. Eva met us at the door all lovely and excited. So, after we unloaded all the loot, we gave her and Maggie their stockings. Of course, Eva had fun helping Maggie with hers, too.<br />
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Dustin had made two DEEEElicious quiches. So we had those and then meandered back to the living room to open gifts. There's just nothing like watching the excitement of a child on Christmas morning. Eva helped Maggie with her gifts, too. Maggie really loved the wrapping paper. And pretty much anything that she could grab and stick in her mouth. She was SO animated and drooly all day. She and Emily did grab a little nap. Emily had a headache, but she was able to at least be downstairs with us all day and that was great. The Mags was quite congested, but she was happy happy happy.<br />
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At one point Dustin got out his guitar and Chris picked up the mandolin. D & E had gotten Eva a harmonica, so she joined in and, no lie, they really sounded GOOD! Chris got a video of it, you can see <a href="http://www.facebook.com/jan.barlow#/video/video.php?v=1174520083861&ref=mf">here</a>. <br />
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Dustin did a pork roast on the grill and we had that along with a twice-baked potato casserole and - my fave - brussels sprouts. Dinner was YUMMY! We cleaned up and it was about 8 p.m by this time, so we headed home. <br />
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Here's some photos of the day:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_H0JH0lhyhRtAjamrwOrUq7wTQxlLUfQbXS-0F2rmVbPBE4zEL6y0fBby_SOlKM9bHrMGg7ZmiTD9MReSQEiEygeyWx25B8JYzYFlnfkHHIafaW8P03twigDyNYgjUy2RWZXuEg/s1600-h/IMG_0338pse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_H0JH0lhyhRtAjamrwOrUq7wTQxlLUfQbXS-0F2rmVbPBE4zEL6y0fBby_SOlKM9bHrMGg7ZmiTD9MReSQEiEygeyWx25B8JYzYFlnfkHHIafaW8P03twigDyNYgjUy2RWZXuEg/s400/IMG_0338pse.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBcicbv6BANwIk0OcJ4Kt5ETHHrcVKxKDNBvcEbDr-V3rpv_QZrk7BNtRTKsDW3WKGf22GHJGcagF3XN5zHsqBfvZkO5_93eH30wCT0tkgEfx-TSdh51etUBbNSw02qGt5n7GAjg/s1600-h/IMG_0372.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBcicbv6BANwIk0OcJ4Kt5ETHHrcVKxKDNBvcEbDr-V3rpv_QZrk7BNtRTKsDW3WKGf22GHJGcagF3XN5zHsqBfvZkO5_93eH30wCT0tkgEfx-TSdh51etUBbNSw02qGt5n7GAjg/s400/IMG_0372.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, here it is, Monday. Eva came and spent the night with us on Saturday and went to church with us Sunday. Then, we went down to Kellies to experience the mass pandemonium there. No really, it wasn't that bad. Bill and Julia, Ryan and family, Cathy and family and Beth and family were all there. Speaking of Cathy and family, that Sebastian - oh my goodness, he is so incredibly darling and such a sweet sweet boy. We hung out there and then took Eva home around 7 p.m. and headed home.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Beth and John and girls spent the night here. I woke up to a very strange thing. I think they call it a "sunrise". Wow. Very pretty. I should get up to see that more often! There's a dusting of snow - hope that's all we get, because M&M come home via the H-burg airport this afternoon. We're gonna do up a big breakfast this a.m. And then, after B & J take off late a.m., I need to get to work on finishing up M&M's handmade gift. We're going to exchange gifts with them on Wednesday.<br />
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</div>I'm off!<br />
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<em>Edited to add: I was just emailed that the mini calendars I made for gifties were posted on <a href="http://littledreamerdesigns.typepad.com/little_dreamer_designs/2009/12/2010-calendar-idea.html">Little Dreamer Designs' blog</a>. I got the digi kit (by Michelle Filo) there and had posted my project in their gallery! How cool! I'll show all my handmade Christmas projects in an upcoming post - after they're all given to the recipients! (After Wednesday) But you sneakie peek at the calendars by clicking on the link! Cool!</em><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=27894740"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="42" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="42" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-59190959403153239642009-12-25T09:33:00.001-05:002009-12-25T09:39:29.443-05:00It's Here!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRQc0DiaKNtkYJ9cauJmzIwP4s84S81m9d1CcUSZlb2gmL9HpZca3HVjsK7dtLA7ALVJrxsvy0DJRu_J5nz2rcXggzK4wcvIkmaOYzHpRZBm5p23oJxBFgjvryKxJz6XWObN_vw/s1600-h/IMG_0211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijRQc0DiaKNtkYJ9cauJmzIwP4s84S81m9d1CcUSZlb2gmL9HpZca3HVjsK7dtLA7ALVJrxsvy0DJRu_J5nz2rcXggzK4wcvIkmaOYzHpRZBm5p23oJxBFgjvryKxJz6XWObN_vw/s400/IMG_0211.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><br />
Here's the song that I sang with my Praise Team buddy, Dave, last night. I love the words because Jesus IS what it's really all about. Hope you remember God's precious gift to us in Christ as you celebrate the day. Invite Jesus to His own party. And have a truly memorable and blessed Christmas!<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">MARVELOUS LIGHT</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lead us out of darkness and into your marvelous light</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When we wander into valleys far from home</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Where shadows hover over our souls</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Find us in your mercy</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Savior of the world</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the light of the world (Jesus is the light)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the way, the truth and the life, (you are the life)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the light of the world (Jesus is the light)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lead us out of darkness</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And into your marvelous light</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sanctify our spirits</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Purify our minds</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As we look to you, eyes open wide</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Give us understanding</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Set our hearts on fire</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the light of the world (Jesus is the light)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the way, the truth and the life, (you are the life)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the light of the world (Jesus is the light)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lead us out of darkness And into your marvelous light</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Give us understanding</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Set our hearts on fire</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Fill us with desire</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the light of the world</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the way, the truth and the life, (you are the life)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the light of the world (Jesus is the light)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the way, the truth and the life, (you are the life)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You are the light of the world (Jesus is the light)</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lead us out of darkness And into your marvelous light</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Lead us out of darkness And into your marvelous light<br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-32994954838396482592009-12-23T10:47:00.001-05:002009-12-23T10:51:55.029-05:00I Still CanIt's soooo nice to know that, now that I'm no longer a Fashionista, I<i> can </i>still make the <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/catwalk.php">catwalk over at SIStv</a>. I still love that community so much, but ever since I stepped down from the wonderful design team, I've barely been a presence there. MY loss, too! But we did a LOT of traveling at the end of the summer on into the fall. And then I started working on Christmas presents (boy am I glad I started as early as I did!). I haven't even made a scrapbook layout ONCE in all that time. Mini albums, projects and stuff, yes, but no layouts. (But more on that in a later post...) I'm DYING to get back to it and I WILL - as soon as all the Christmas stuff is over with.<br />
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Here's the little project that I got on the catwalk for:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrtkglhke3oIN8hn7h3afzbFU7t-WDtUKQu27GQybB7Bmh4enVXt3qkdjSpSruTSmWkYvdizQBjaeP7kiyMuFDhWQzAnuTnehuJDEy4ADvEmy_foRvoiEefpO7NgYE_CPo00qBg/s1600-h/IMG_0282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrtkglhke3oIN8hn7h3afzbFU7t-WDtUKQu27GQybB7Bmh4enVXt3qkdjSpSruTSmWkYvdizQBjaeP7kiyMuFDhWQzAnuTnehuJDEy4ADvEmy_foRvoiEefpO7NgYE_CPo00qBg/s400/IMG_0282.JPG" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I made a whole bunch of 'em - 12 to be exact:<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LyvnWnmtTvMA2TgP5yexDRObaWREu7lXCTLFGQ0UoNRHFWvJYMnLZUdLWVrM1i18nVB8t46XZatNyS_KMEwuU5LMCfrVCZFXTUGaGTsEK31A6y5VLxdGwaoLZiY-rym_BL_GMw/s1600-h/IMG_0281.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4LyvnWnmtTvMA2TgP5yexDRObaWREu7lXCTLFGQ0UoNRHFWvJYMnLZUdLWVrM1i18nVB8t46XZatNyS_KMEwuU5LMCfrVCZFXTUGaGTsEK31A6y5VLxdGwaoLZiY-rym_BL_GMw/s400/IMG_0281.JPG" /></a><br />
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Some are for my "card ladies" - we exchanged gifties (9 of us) on Monday night and I sent one to my Mom and 2 are for friends and that leaves one - for ME! Here's another peek:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2YwI9WwXI3UV5dspfcAGSdeSVRxJP_QrlVuyF0lAlxWvvk5M3mY9yNqZVE1zh3Tw7H2VNxhrLyJK-3_P5y2oAPdF9kHVAJO30_AuRoSn-PBzFpFZ3FMlrMvvrPR-hnv4LDayyg/s1600-h/IMG_0296pse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_2YwI9WwXI3UV5dspfcAGSdeSVRxJP_QrlVuyF0lAlxWvvk5M3mY9yNqZVE1zh3Tw7H2VNxhrLyJK-3_P5y2oAPdF9kHVAJO30_AuRoSn-PBzFpFZ3FMlrMvvrPR-hnv4LDayyg/s400/IMG_0296pse.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLrDcxQQk-NCUBSSABi7_LAAVhciZT2LYhDk7Tt46agPMKF3Tbt9B3hk_LzVMQTc101tUOYtVbsb9JfX6IUEnFPln5yaa7mhBsmmhcfjYWAoAK2Nxca8p-YaUerlKdBo9RLJa5Lw/s1600-h/IMG_0298pse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLrDcxQQk-NCUBSSABi7_LAAVhciZT2LYhDk7Tt46agPMKF3Tbt9B3hk_LzVMQTc101tUOYtVbsb9JfX6IUEnFPln5yaa7mhBsmmhcfjYWAoAK2Nxca8p-YaUerlKdBo9RLJa5Lw/s320/IMG_0298pse.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These puppies began as a digital kit. I printed out the little pages with the calendar on them, cut them out and then embellished away. They were much more time-consuming than I'd planned for - but, oh, SO much fun! You can see the whole calendar and the credits <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/view_layout.php?layout_id=196783&user_id=2604">here</a>. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, thanks so much, <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/profile_37.html">Becca</a>, dahling, for choosing my project for the catwalk. It means a lot to me that I can still "get there"! And I plan on get back to some much better SIStv time in the new year - not to mention being inspired all over again by the amazing artists there! Love 'em!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In other news, Matthew and Martha left this morning for Florida. Martha's sib's are all gathering there at her dad's for Christmas. I know they'll have a great time and, after all the Florida warmth - sunshine or not - I know they'll come back looking forward even more to their move back to AZ. Bah!<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For Chris and I, it will be the first Christmas - in forever, I think - that we will be alone, just the two of us, on Christmas morning. I'm not gonna pretend - it will be strange. We ARE invited down to Dustin and Emily's to spend much of the day with them and the girls. I'm REALLY looking forward to that! I haven't seen the Mags in a couple weeks and, dang!, I miss her! Can. Not. Wait. That will be all the "Christmas" I need! Truly.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Today, we're cleaning up the house. I have to admit, I'll enjoy having things picked up. Okay. I'll LOVE having things picked up. We LOVE having M&M here, and if I had to choose them over a neat house, well, the choice is obvious. Sorry, M&M. No, just kidding. But, I DO enjoy a neat house. My mind is just much clearer.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And then we'll be wrapping gifts. Playing a little Christmas music. And then Chris has a bunch of stuff to do and while he's gone/busy, I will actually be starting his Christmas gift. Oy. NOTHING like waiting till the last minute! But, it's just the way it worked out. I haven't started M&M's gift yet, either - but at least I have till next Wednesday, when they're back and we're exchanging our gifts, to get that done.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">SO - a big day, a busy day. I predict I'll be working into the night. Because tomorrow I have to do the banking stuff - I sure don't want to be doing it on Christmas day... I guess there's always Saturday, but that's too much to leave for Saturday...<br />
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</div>I probably won't post again till after the big day - so, many wonderful blessings to you. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=27894740"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="42" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="42" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-33662198205129867382009-12-12T16:53:00.001-05:002009-12-12T16:58:12.667-05:00It's Winter!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYFAXOfTgFzC9WxtwbsqcVQyBIXdw5Y9dCFWNREh3DJ6iKa7VUHhJBz-kY64ruGGpVEUDB6375woTv8jHp4j1nYTwr0dJc00MxmD0kM7C0v28ssfXoU88wnrsdxfhEm8jivhoVw/s1600-h/IMG_0212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLYFAXOfTgFzC9WxtwbsqcVQyBIXdw5Y9dCFWNREh3DJ6iKa7VUHhJBz-kY64ruGGpVEUDB6375woTv8jHp4j1nYTwr0dJc00MxmD0kM7C0v28ssfXoU88wnrsdxfhEm8jivhoVw/s400/IMG_0212.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yes, we've finally had some snow. We were all so excited to see it come, too, after seemingly summer-like weather (at least, more summer-like, almost, than summer itself!) for most of November. Of course, the first order of business was to build a snowman and, being that it was a very wet snow, he came together really well. However, just as he seemed to be sinking into a deep depression, a cold blast came through and froze his drooping little head in place. He looks like he needs a little encouragement, a little talking-to, a little counseling, a little anti-depressant, doesn't he? Too funny! :)<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOsXpDxr7TOZhu8ELyg80FJEbIyRqc-_-4O3lTqDT6jU7qx5uNzTW_0dXab41q4okVfgp67vKQ-L5t0tjI1LzA4F3AwB4OdabQHDJowpu-5ygMZQRAkbPdZg2rFvKwQdxk7RL-Q/s1600-h/IMG_0197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQOsXpDxr7TOZhu8ELyg80FJEbIyRqc-_-4O3lTqDT6jU7qx5uNzTW_0dXab41q4okVfgp67vKQ-L5t0tjI1LzA4F3AwB4OdabQHDJowpu-5ygMZQRAkbPdZg2rFvKwQdxk7RL-Q/s400/IMG_0197.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is some of the lovely goodness that happens when it's Martha's night to cook. She made three pizzas from scratch this past week; traditional, carmelized onion with bbq chicken and an apple-feta combo with other yummy stuff thrown in there. Yeah, deeeelish!<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf88n3009FMJQsQDeG7w6WMKFa9xPovFMADSyHLd2dzwsjA3Q1D1PnrNIFIGFXNxEF1YUJOJQboOBHMiy-vMgAx7AJATurarDHyZEmgokaO5BKB1zVroiUSptgWYJ7kanrUH5oPw/s1600-h/IMG_0139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf88n3009FMJQsQDeG7w6WMKFa9xPovFMADSyHLd2dzwsjA3Q1D1PnrNIFIGFXNxEF1YUJOJQboOBHMiy-vMgAx7AJATurarDHyZEmgokaO5BKB1zVroiUSptgWYJ7kanrUH5oPw/s400/IMG_0139.JPG" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And we were all SO excited and happy for Martha who showed (and sold) her fabulous Christmas "to-diarama-for" boxes at the 1st Friday event at Trimtex. It was all so fun and festive and everyone just loved her work. Here's a little sample of one of her boxes:<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They're so festive and happy, aren't they?<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Well, speaking of festive and happy, Eva has joined us for the evening. She'll spend the night and go to church with us tomorrow. And then we're having a little Christmas "talent show" tomorrow tonight including skits, songs from the kids and special numbers. I'll be singing "It's Christmastime" by Caedmon's Call with my friend Carol and with Matthew accompanying on guitar. In fact, he'll be playing all the congregational hymns. Should be great. I hope the predicted freezing rain doesn't materialize. <br />
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</div>Off to play with Eva now while Matthew and Martha whip up a lovely smoked chicken dinner! Yum!<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=27894740"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" height="47" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="47" /><br />
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</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-69265330755555901102009-12-03T11:56:00.001-05:002009-12-03T11:59:45.403-05:00Crankin' up to BUSY!Just a quickie post today. I've got the church finances and my own finances (bill paying, checkbook balancing, robbing Peter to pay Paul, etc.) to get to in a minute. And so much more. I've had my quiet time today - but, admittedly, it was hard to concentrate with all that's swimming around in my mind. Not the least of which is that I was in the midst of a <em>horrible</em> nightmare last night when God graciously awoke me <em>before</em> I got to the part where I would be screaming out loud and then Chris would have to wake me. Thank you, Lord. But that didn't stop the utter feeling of terror flooding over my body - it almost felt like nausea. I got up and went to the bathroom and came back to bed and turned on the light to read a magazine for a while in the hopes of getting the horrid images out of my mind. Just about that time a big ol' windy storm blew up, pelting the roof with rain and stuff blowing off the trees. Oy. I just prayed that God would remove that dream from my mind and bring me peaceful sleep. I'm <strong>so</strong> grateful that He did. <br />
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So, I've done my Wii Active 6-wk challenge workout this morning. I'll tell ya. I am SO inspired by those "Biggest Loser" people. When stuff hurts (like my feet in the skipping rope part) I just keep thinking of all the hard work they pushed themselves to do. I'm just hating the way I'm looking in photos and I'm re-determined - again - (redundant, I know) to get GOING. I even walked yesterday even though I think I have a mild case of walking pneumonia. It was a good cardio workout today and I came upstairs afterwards sweating. Yay. Yay for sweat. Yeah. <br />
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So, all the boxes of Christmas decorations are sitting in my living room. And I'm in the midst of working on handmade Christmas projects. (Obviously, I can't post photos here...) There's SO much to do and I'm starting to feel the panic of not getting it all done. Okay, breeeeeaaaaatttthhhhhe, Jan. Tonight there's Praise Team practice and I know I can't sing right now. That should be interesting. <br />
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So, here's my "to do" list for the rest of the day:<br />
<ol><li>Church banking</li>
<li>Personal bankin</li>
<li>Work on calendar project</li>
<li>"Un"decorate living room area</li>
<li>Clean off surfaces</li>
<li>Put together Praise Sunday song service</li>
<li>Help make dinner</li>
<li>Go to Praise Team Practice</li>
</ol>Let's see how much of that I can get done. Let's see if I can start by getting off this computer! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-76335476384386984092009-11-28T17:18:00.002-05:002009-11-28T17:40:18.581-05:00ThankfulWell, Thanksgiving is over and it was, indeed, a lovely gathering. I took on the role of cleaning nazi for a couple days, but then, by about 1 p.m. on Thanksgiving day, with everything as cleaned and prepped as it could be, I was able to get gussied up and kick back and really enjoy the rest of the day. Everyone arrived all at once at about 4:45 p.m. - about 1/2 before we sat down to eat. I was able to snap a group photo before we all sat down:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZcD6oVW1fUbEpq4EwCOk2g424ZGXJP7Y94QynJp23m-XV0L6FgNKzeAbo8d5hI4pU6uQW0ioBF-uEIe55Pcws0uxymuMTJRCZHTEhpwK0JzYspf08Gji_TOw9k3PJZqXXS3Uzg/s1600/IMG_0090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZcD6oVW1fUbEpq4EwCOk2g424ZGXJP7Y94QynJp23m-XV0L6FgNKzeAbo8d5hI4pU6uQW0ioBF-uEIe55Pcws0uxymuMTJRCZHTEhpwK0JzYspf08Gji_TOw9k3PJZqXXS3Uzg/s400/IMG_0090.jpg" yr="true" /></a><br />
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The food was fabulous. I just <em>wish</em> that the eating of it, and the conversation and just the whole scene around the table could last longer. It seems to be over so fast. And, due to my little quirk of never being able to eat much while entertaining, the food was really a blur. Though, I <em>did</em> manage to eat <em>plenty</em>, it went down, went by, went away - way too fast. However, we had leftovers last night - and they were incredible! <br />
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Here's a few other photos of my table. I wanted to keep it more simple than last year, but warm and colorful. I think I got that accomplished:<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And here's a little pumpkin/turkey guy that Chris put together:<br />
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</div><div align="center" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Chris and Eva also made some leaves, and I hung a ribbon, and we asked everyone to write down on a leaf what they were particularly thankful for this year. Then the leaves were hung on the ribbon. We read them aloud while eating dessert (though not at <em>exactly </em>the same time!). Little Maggie was adorable. Eva was not feeling well and wasn't quite herself - she didn't eat much, but still seemed to enjoy herself. <br />
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I am SO thankful for my family. They mean so much to me. And my home. I love it so much and fully appreciate the gift and the blessing that it is to live here. And my country. I'm so very thankful to have been born in the time and place that I was. I think we take it for granted so often. And, yes, our country has its faults and problems, but I really do love it here.<br />
<div align="center" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, fast forward to today. Now, I'm feeling sick again. I've developed a cough over the past 24 hours or so and my chest is feeling heavier by the hour. I actually had to get up in the night to take something because it was keeping me awake. Dang! And I was <em>just</em> enjoying feeling my energy return after being sick just a couple weeks ago. Ugh. I could go crawl onto the couch and curl up right now. In fact, I think I will.<br />
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It'll all be okay. Many blessings to you...<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-5118573232675044092009-11-25T10:39:00.003-05:002009-11-25T11:10:14.688-05:00Holiday Time<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">The holidays are upon us! Hard to believe - but then I'm always saying how I can't believe whatEVER the date on the calendar is. I guess it's just a sign of how old I'm getting. You know, the whole 'time goes faster the older you get'. Well, it does. And it is.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">So, here we are on the day before Thanksgiving 2009. Last Friday, Williamsport hosted its second annual holiday parade. We went last year and just about froze our complete patooties (and everything else) off. This year it was a comparatively mild 40-something degrees. What a difference. It definitely hightened our enjoyment of the parade. However, whomever organized it should be fired. The time lags between the different "legs" of the parade were unbelieveable. First, they started a half hour late. Then, when they FINALLY got under way, the first two segments went by and then there was this 1/2 hour long "show" in front of the announcers stand (which, bravo for us, we sat next to) that held everthing up even further. Um, couldn't they have done that BEFORE the parade started - like in the 1/2 hour while we were all WAITing for it to start? It was all too slow and too far apart. The only thing (besides the lovely weather) that made it worth it was Eva's enjoyment of the whole thing. And the fact that Maggie, who was quite unhappy in the restaurant, was sleeping peacefully throughout the entire horn-blowing, engine-revving, band-drumming spectacle. Here's a few pics I snapped...</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig6kLk0eg6TVWIj6kztVKireHiaDevShvOhJgRZSx21WHpnXy9fcwB-YVYf298MfvGrYc4OyD6eiCzLH_QoPi2fGCubPvqH2rpPqaFOF3Lkj5HwIkQjxhDI3xjhvr6WJ7SgZrCLA/s1600/IMG_0037.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig6kLk0eg6TVWIj6kztVKireHiaDevShvOhJgRZSx21WHpnXy9fcwB-YVYf298MfvGrYc4OyD6eiCzLH_QoPi2fGCubPvqH2rpPqaFOF3Lkj5HwIkQjxhDI3xjhvr6WJ7SgZrCLA/s400/IMG_0037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408066663386407122" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_uUa25AqzosQLm7n6RkMtA74zQ5KloDzLlh8eNoyOAy3AGhQ2TjWhpMAOQSo3T2GE2OwgbCKCrdhTKODiztn9_8mYOWn0h7_xVtIcPBhUK3b23E9Fa3q1A077SzM9mOubFWk2HA/s1600/IMG_0030.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_uUa25AqzosQLm7n6RkMtA74zQ5KloDzLlh8eNoyOAy3AGhQ2TjWhpMAOQSo3T2GE2OwgbCKCrdhTKODiztn9_8mYOWn0h7_xVtIcPBhUK3b23E9Fa3q1A077SzM9mOubFWk2HA/s400/IMG_0030.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408066658563754226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">Yep, love the utter glee on her face. :)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">So, the cornbread is baked, the cranberry sauce is gelled and the turkey is on ice. Today is clean up day around here. I'll be re-decorating a little. The dining room table goes under cover out on the deck (because it's raining a little, not because it's pretending to be a narc) and the rental table and chairs come in. The bathroom will get shined up and the kitchen will get scrubbed up. And we'll make it all pretty for our dinner for 12 tomorrow. The dreaded chores of today WILL yield to a great family gathering time tomorrow. So, because of that, I'll suck it up and get going.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">May you look around you and find endless things to be thankful for tomorrow - and everyday. And may God, the Giver of all good things, continue to richly bless you and yours.</span><a><br /><br /><img style="width: 42px; height: 42px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-42137353953787992772009-11-17T14:19:00.005-05:002009-11-17T14:32:32.337-05:00Feeling Digitally Creative<span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" >I logged on to check my email this morning and saw a new mini-digi kit from <a href="http://www.peppermintcreative.com/">Peppermint Creative</a> and thought to myself, "self, you haven't done a digi page since <a href="http://onelittleword.typepad.com/">One Little Word</a> folded up their cyber-tent." I was planning on blogging a little this a.m. anyway, so I purchased the kit and made the page below. Ah, that felt good!<br /><br />As usual, I have SO many scrapbooking projects swimming around in my head. Looking at scrapbooking and mixed media art magazines before going to sleep only feeds that ever-growing ocean of ideas. It sometimes overwhelms me because, even though I don't work outside of my home, I feel I'll never live long enough to be able to get them all done. And I want to use all my pretty stuffs NOW! So I take a deep breath and remind myself that I'll do the best I can and be thankful that I will probably never enter my scraproom, sit down at my desk and go, "now what?". Sigh.<br /><br />So, here's the page I made this morning. My dear friend Deborah, who shares the title of "grandma" with me (though she chooses not to use it) took the darling photo on the page. </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMhhIqWhq8lz7uAF9KKRzqfLFUp6ZE1glXA8fhhUTpSrCn-5RkFhIOSS7obhyMGWbO7Ay1gindVUMpGQNXBwws7co-zy0Y9N6_0hEwO3bBS0gOqs3bUxoK1uPoVs91-2BeAvwM4Q/s1600/ThankfulForYou_web.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMhhIqWhq8lz7uAF9KKRzqfLFUp6ZE1glXA8fhhUTpSrCn-5RkFhIOSS7obhyMGWbO7Ay1gindVUMpGQNXBwws7co-zy0Y9N6_0hEwO3bBS0gOqs3bUxoK1uPoVs91-2BeAvwM4Q/s400/ThankfulForYou_web.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405154565321151746" border="0" /></a><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/view_layout.php?layout_id=194421&user_id=2604"><span style="font-size:85%;">(Page credits may be found here)</span></a><br /><a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">With that, I must skedaddle off of here and finish my grocery list for tomorrow as well as get back to my currant Christmas scrapping project. And, now that it's 2:30 p.m., I'm gonna eat lunch, too.<br /><br /></span></span></span><img style="width: 48px; height: 48px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-86046273111496571112009-11-15T07:31:00.003-05:002009-11-15T08:04:33.402-05:00A new visitor!<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Emily brought up both girls on Friday! It was little Maggie's first visit to our house and we were so thrilled to finally have her here! She was pretty happy about it, too, as she just spent so much time looking all around at all the new surroundings. She was so alert and so happy. How fun! </span><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">The occasion was a little birthday celebration for Emily, who just turned 24 last Wednesday. I made the ice cream sandwich cake again, which is becoming a fast favorite. Here's the very simple recipe:</span></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#003333;">6 - 8 ice cream sandwiches<br />1 c. whipping cream<br />2 T. powdered sugar<br />candy bar of your choice, cooled and chopped roughly</span></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#003333;">Line your loaf pan with a sheet of waxed paper, with several inches hanging over each edge. Add the sugar to the whipping cream and whip until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Work quickly now! Line a loaf pan with waxed paper. Then place a layer of sandwiches on the bottom, cutting to fit as needed. Spread half the whipped cream on top. Add a second layer of sandwiches and the remaining whipped cream. Add the chopped candy bar to the top and press in slightly. Fold the waxed paper over the top and stick in the freezer for at least an hour and definitely for longer if you'd like. When it's time to serve, let sit at room temp for a few minutes. You can even (carefully!) run some tepid water along the sides of the loaf pan to loosen the ice cream from the edges. Run a knife carefully along the insides if necessary. The waxed paper should enable the ice cream to pull away from the edges. Invert the "cake" onto a plate and it will pop out of the pan. Remove the waxed paper and slice. You'll get 8 slices. YUM!</span></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">While Emily was here she handed me her camera, which is the very same kind I owned previously to my SLR, so I was able to download all her photos for her. And I found some of these gems (and many more!) among her pics:</span></p><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7F4jl8jpme1tOUc3jZe58XyhvVUc7wZHo8prMraWhHa4oA6wr4sMUOsPr0boNawythdmJhsDiK-aMHcq535wiHosKzH4ABv4wojvumYcM3XuU8eRl17F352rRm6Wb_4IFNhQnA/s1600-h/101_5545.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 268px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404307997817068322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7F4jl8jpme1tOUc3jZe58XyhvVUc7wZHo8prMraWhHa4oA6wr4sMUOsPr0boNawythdmJhsDiK-aMHcq535wiHosKzH4ABv4wojvumYcM3XuU8eRl17F352rRm6Wb_4IFNhQnA/s400/101_5545.jpg" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">She looks so dang cute while on her tummy holding up her (not so little) head. Just LOVE the "jowls". I could eat her up. Seriously. I can't believe she 4 months old already...</span><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnNSnI8rm5cEwSHWbAWdm3JxueAmo9X6Y4awiGAR96amYBgOW9DizFkVOvUvLUxmmogq8bVZhqkRAHAMENEUMLxDbyjWS876UQtbu14AmIu-ReR9Td-FJD2JwRPkDjAdlI1CJfw/s1600-h/sany0418.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404307993087653586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbnNSnI8rm5cEwSHWbAWdm3JxueAmo9X6Y4awiGAR96amYBgOW9DizFkVOvUvLUxmmogq8bVZhqkRAHAMENEUMLxDbyjWS876UQtbu14AmIu-ReR9Td-FJD2JwRPkDjAdlI1CJfw/s400/sany0418.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"> I love it when the kids used to fix Eva's hair like this. They did it when it was longer. She just looks so darling. And, well, she IS!</span><br /></p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2jZ-nhO6P7aYzcNJME-_zpVrKwzfSypFkYJ8csnm1Vj5ekeauOYN_Acb-BxuZTBmytVSQKB5ATjQfw7YyARZl3S3FSUc0vl_XiDgGLJqjs6KxkZbmSeAXRm3p7rjuCuB3jSKbw/s1600-h/101_5491.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404307989129188914" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2jZ-nhO6P7aYzcNJME-_zpVrKwzfSypFkYJ8csnm1Vj5ekeauOYN_Acb-BxuZTBmytVSQKB5ATjQfw7YyARZl3S3FSUc0vl_XiDgGLJqjs6KxkZbmSeAXRm3p7rjuCuB3jSKbw/s400/101_5491.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">My two precious little granddaughters. Look how Maggie's head is <em>almost </em>as big as Eva's. That's the Barlow big-head for ya. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span> </div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Well, today we are looking forward to a long-awaited music event happening at the Elk Creek Cafe and Aleworks out in Milheim, PA (near State College). One of our new very favorite ever bands, Chicken Tractor, will be playing, along with a boatload of other similar type bands.</span> <a href="http://by133w.bay133.mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0">Here's the line-up and description</a>. <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">It's a benefit for Penns Valley Hope Fund, a local organization that assists families facing sudden and unexpected financial and health crises (see their website at: </span><a href="http://www.pennsvalleyhopefund.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#993399;">www.pennsvalleyhopefund.com</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">), and the Aaronsburg Area Library. And the super-cool thing is that I actually won 2 tickets for the event. The cover charge is $10 per person, so we'll be saving twenty buckaroos! We'll have to leave church right after the song service, as this place is an hour away and you can't make reservations. And we expect it will be pretty crowded. There's about 10 of us going down. Can't wait. Should be a great time. </span></div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">And, so, I better eat my breakfast and get ready for church, which is first on our agenda today! Have a blessed day...</span><a><br /><br /><img style="WIDTH: 51px; HEIGHT: 51px" border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-76180177495202896322009-11-11T15:47:00.003-05:002009-11-11T16:24:25.917-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-xURmmBPd5G5vC2Qw-Nt0v2z2v3_SlibvILJt17qtmJ77wiudZ4BMfjYpzQahqVRfMbCwYeLOmXz2r7C3eSgA4KpV3WKfCUpr_gCq7Vf6nwf13c1bOBqHPZBcNSlc0zWMBkDsg/s1600-h/IMG_9908.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy-xURmmBPd5G5vC2Qw-Nt0v2z2v3_SlibvILJt17qtmJ77wiudZ4BMfjYpzQahqVRfMbCwYeLOmXz2r7C3eSgA4KpV3WKfCUpr_gCq7Vf6nwf13c1bOBqHPZBcNSlc0zWMBkDsg/s400/IMG_9908.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402951113483401778" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I can't believe my knockout rose is <span style="font-style: italic;">still</span> blooming! In mid-November. Surely, this must be the final one. It's almost been nicer out these last couple weeks than it was most of the summer. Matthew and Martha even took their cathedral game outside on the deck to play. Lovely.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjezmMQSWWYT6x7_nGfKf9zwHxA149_8XuO9kjY9VFvMCRbZlGWaJplZVnMa4c5Y7s1ewnOiHBFvJQFn4j6EQ-UYz4a_8d49yefz2JpjeorLXwgb5o5PViBEGrORr8kS6w1uy3Ayw/s1600-h/IMG_9903.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjezmMQSWWYT6x7_nGfKf9zwHxA149_8XuO9kjY9VFvMCRbZlGWaJplZVnMa4c5Y7s1ewnOiHBFvJQFn4j6EQ-UYz4a_8d49yefz2JpjeorLXwgb5o5PViBEGrORr8kS6w1uy3Ayw/s400/IMG_9903.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402951116099007346" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />We've all been dealing with various degrees of illness for the past week. It hasn't been anything too severe, but it just keeps hanging on, morphing into something else just when you think it's about over and then going for a few more days. Oy. I'm sooooo tired of feeling like crap. I hope I didn't make a mistake (contagious-wise) by keeping a date with Emily to watch Maggie while she went to a doc's appointment. This time I was able to stay at home with the Mags so I brought my camera. Chris came down to bring me my forgotten breakfast and I got some darling shots of him with her. You can see she's quite the reader now...<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_Gkwu59ZIq8ObzQhVG13eNmBOb4h5GhOS1VVRuivUQ2Pjo2ATQR9cIdBxyqkV7-DLA5KFGwIFKvRwUfmFcfs5-XarcJyjlBmty_Ejg5GEGVEl9RRUSqd54hvXEg11W5V67bCQQ/s1600-h/IMG_9957.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_Gkwu59ZIq8ObzQhVG13eNmBOb4h5GhOS1VVRuivUQ2Pjo2ATQR9cIdBxyqkV7-DLA5KFGwIFKvRwUfmFcfs5-XarcJyjlBmty_Ejg5GEGVEl9RRUSqd54hvXEg11W5V67bCQQ/s400/IMG_9957.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402951111131240482" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">What a great way to brighten my day - Maggie time! I sure hope I don't make her sick. That would be bad. Bad Gramma Jan.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDhLcWa9gNvV73efyPuLmrk94sZJRTdkFBCu7w3Gr8_fGIS3UNCKl2lsOcGBcYIdztsPkfsTVhBTt7Bl7IpO0JhiFL6LJhqvYfuAnlStm0DJ5-Ih5RlxG5P_zdCyG465bx3eZ2w/s1600-h/IMG_9949.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGDhLcWa9gNvV73efyPuLmrk94sZJRTdkFBCu7w3Gr8_fGIS3UNCKl2lsOcGBcYIdztsPkfsTVhBTt7Bl7IpO0JhiFL6LJhqvYfuAnlStm0DJ5-Ih5RlxG5P_zdCyG465bx3eZ2w/s400/IMG_9949.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402951105920084898" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I go to bed at night looking at scrapping magazines and then dreaming of all the projects and layouts I want to make. I'm almost done with my first Christmas project. But, again, my illness has slowed me down majorly this week. So, I hope I can get back to it all SOON! I'm so craving some creative time!<br /><br />Okay, now I'm exhausted. Bye.</span></span><a><br /><br /><img style="width: 46px; height: 46px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-43605500387680398862009-11-03T18:44:00.003-05:002009-11-03T19:04:12.027-05:00November Changes<span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">It's a new month. Things have changed.<br /><br />The time has changed. It was dark so early today. I don't think I'm ready for that yet! But I'll let it go since the days have been glorious and sunny ever since November has been ushered in. It's getting a tad chilly, too. I had to toss most of my mums. They're done. And there's leaves everywhere. I think it's about time to gather 'em up (coughcoughChriscoughcough). Before the SNOW flies! Ugh. Perish the thought. I'm definitely not ready for that!<br /><br />The other big change around here is that Matthew and Martha are in da house again. This time, it's on their way <span style="font-style: italic;">out </span>of the state as opposed to last time when it was on their way <span style="font-style: italic;">in </span>to the state. Sigh. It's going to be really hard to see them go (back to AZ). But I'm not going to think about it now. Instead, I'll just enjoy the time we have with them until they depart in March.<br /><br />I guess there was no other way to discover that AZ, not PA, is where they want to truly settle and put down their roots once and for all, than to actually move here and experience the change. They discovered that, while they do love being near family, they are truly "westerners" and not "easterners". I understand that because my family is all in the midwest and I'm not a "midwesterner". So, fine. What can I say? (I already tried "no!", but that didn't work.) They want to work towards buying a house out there. We informed them that there must be a bedroom in it for us - or a place for us to park a camper - so that when Chris retires (insert me rolling my eyes, here), we can spend the winters there. We'll see.<br /><br />In other news, I'm into working on Christmas presents at the moment. I may actually get them done before Thanksgiving! What a concept! Here's a sneak peak of my current project:<br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvw8v7466hwsv1NwgUZKCgzfnhwqFWiDSweIthZCzje0bc4hmznRyuo5ekdIsdTnUAcLba0b4O99tQ3FEhmMcndU4QwjtqIY_y0i_Upnm_ODvRVddk-38YToVrMKd0RNvstV8PFQ/s1600-h/IMG_9695.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvw8v7466hwsv1NwgUZKCgzfnhwqFWiDSweIthZCzje0bc4hmznRyuo5ekdIsdTnUAcLba0b4O99tQ3FEhmMcndU4QwjtqIY_y0i_Upnm_ODvRVddk-38YToVrMKd0RNvstV8PFQ/s400/IMG_9695.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400027718003414754" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">It's a secret/surprise, though, so I won't give any details here. And I won't tell ya about the other projects I have planned. They'll appear here eventually - but not now. Neener neener. :P<br /><br />So, Martha's concocting some fabulous veggie calzones with a whole wheat crust and feta cheese and other deeeelicious healthy stuffs. YUM! They're cooking now and we're getting ready to go and consume them. Um, that's a change I can live with! :)</span></span><a><br /><br /><img style="width: 52px; height: 52px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-6298976271743149432009-10-27T12:02:00.004-04:002009-10-27T12:20:53.397-04:00We Danced...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuANidlp3-h3TmYBpPR4kRT3Y3iek0rZ5sDAHqfcKw4J1EXIU0akvNsVXuS5B-HRBlb0PPXA9CktD4kL2q40XE5Z4EPb5XclDLlvfVJbBo2Qt6Zbjz0edLnkKWl0tjoFjB97SSQ/s1600-h/DSC02220.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixuANidlp3-h3TmYBpPR4kRT3Y3iek0rZ5sDAHqfcKw4J1EXIU0akvNsVXuS5B-HRBlb0PPXA9CktD4kL2q40XE5Z4EPb5XclDLlvfVJbBo2Qt6Zbjz0edLnkKWl0tjoFjB97SSQ/s400/DSC02220.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397311386268820706" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LICVM-EHZUy93DNIDUaQ8inM75_DfHxoeEgb_jnioAr8h4qu3Wir5FY2aYzBXXNXlpyI3ITQrZtD4OgPtdTNbArCXQdiKoKxn44eUWYwjtqG3zJskxhasRofDEym4P2Tt-wEcQ/s1600-h/DSC02158.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8LICVM-EHZUy93DNIDUaQ8inM75_DfHxoeEgb_jnioAr8h4qu3Wir5FY2aYzBXXNXlpyI3ITQrZtD4OgPtdTNbArCXQdiKoKxn44eUWYwjtqG3zJskxhasRofDEym4P2Tt-wEcQ/s400/DSC02158.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397311386179467042" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnF1YNupNpDso51Rtv6JzjT7fbMvzhZL-bRvIOkVDxdcaDpZPEnGYV6G8YbcsSS-W0L14WVWmwclD9wJlUL4GG9FP8ma5cRoDE7VfFb6-Y4JsKBRioTDHjRD3PvIGOrEHIJLA2Jg/s1600-h/DSC02112.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnF1YNupNpDso51Rtv6JzjT7fbMvzhZL-bRvIOkVDxdcaDpZPEnGYV6G8YbcsSS-W0L14WVWmwclD9wJlUL4GG9FP8ma5cRoDE7VfFb6-Y4JsKBRioTDHjRD3PvIGOrEHIJLA2Jg/s400/DSC02112.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397311384894327250" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg42EZteE6kvlRyAktjd1a1J4jVRUuC-LN0vH8TgTcZG4akN30Q9re3wDptE1rfzapIntZJa0EbngF2dTYmS0QQldNbEjRVWuITUdydUyp6tz41B26UfL7Nmar-oYcao1AX0tSlSg/s1600-h/DSC02155.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg42EZteE6kvlRyAktjd1a1J4jVRUuC-LN0vH8TgTcZG4akN30Q9re3wDptE1rfzapIntZJa0EbngF2dTYmS0QQldNbEjRVWuITUdydUyp6tz41B26UfL7Nmar-oYcao1AX0tSlSg/s400/DSC02155.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397311377989452546" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We really didn't think our annual Dancin' on the Deck party was going to happen this year. In fact, we'd kind of decided not to have it, especially since I/we were gone so much of September, when we usually have it. But since D&T and M&M are moving to AZ before we'd see another autumn in PA, and knowing that they really looked forward to it, we decided to go ahead and try. So we scheduled it for the 2nd weekend in October, hoping that the weather wouldn't be too bad by then. But people dropped out like flies due to, mainly, illness. So, we tried for the following weekend, but the weather reports weren't good and we finally called it on Saturday and said we'd give it one last try for this past weekend.<br /><br />The dancin' gods were with us (so to speak) because, even though not everyone originally invited could come on this particular date, we did have 10 people - not too much smaller of a gathering than usual. And the weather? Stellar. It was a gorgeous clear, starlit night. A little chilly, but that's actually ideal when you're dancing your heart out. And that we did. I'd have to say it was probably one of the BEST DotD parties evah.<br /><br />One of the best things we did was ask each couple to burn a CD of about 5 of their fave dance tunes. We were afraid (Chris was afraid) that no one would actually get their act together to do this. But, possibly due to all the postponements, everyone DID come through. So, we threw everyone's CD on the player and "shuffled" the mix. It was a blast not only dancing to all the different KINDS of songs, but also guessing WHO picked WHAT song. It really was FUN!!!<br /><br />So, now we're inspired to do it again next year, even though we'll be missing two of our most favorite dancin' couples. :( We told them that whenever they come back for visits, we'll have an honorary DotD party!<br /><br />It's random laundry day around here. And I'm continuing to work on my biggest Christmas project, so I'm off to get at it. Soon, M&M will be living here (this week) and I know I will be (happily) distracted by their presence. (Yes, we get 4 months - or so - of them here at the house before they head back to AZ for good. They're goin' out just like they came in by spending 4 months with us. It will be a bittersweet time...)</span></span><a><br /><br /><img style="width: 52px; height: 52px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-3472681971845909602009-10-24T11:47:00.002-04:002009-10-24T11:56:31.502-04:00October Rain<a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Last week we had snowflakes in the air. Today, we're getting pummeled with rain. That's October for ya. Can't make up her mind. At least we had some glorious and fairly warm days in between. And we're taking one more stab at having our annual Dancin' on the Deck party tomorrow. It's supposed to clear up and be near 60 during the day, chilly at night, but we should be creating plenty of warmth with all our hot dance moves. Uh huh. We'll see. Since my hip has been giving me a ton of pain lately, maybe I'll hide behind my camera lens instead.<br /><br />Look at these two babies. Aren't they so cute? They get along quite well at this point. Obviously, they're very comfortable with each other. The most remarkable thing that you can see in this photo is that Rocky, the white one, is 15 years old and Beatrix is only 4 months old. I think she's going to be <span style="font-style: italic;">much </span>bigger than him, since she's already AS big as him! He's always been a runt, though. She's spayed now. I'd say it's slowed her down a tad. She was ca-razy before and now she's just a frisky, playful kitty as you would expect. When she's not running around, she's just the most affectionate, sweet thing. And her gorgeous fur is sooooo incredibly soft. I sure do love my kitties!<br /><br /></span></span></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YnVBOqR99caJuJFyN7Nseo0BMIB_pA7oze0m5SkZAFZnqUJocmF5lwDLBkEQaMn5MPvbqXQ3bt51sGqJXRXN84_4RavMkPk6zv45twzg5s-BAQgioIFWwqO_OmJKCTaJ2WbsKw/s1600-h/IMG_9845.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YnVBOqR99caJuJFyN7Nseo0BMIB_pA7oze0m5SkZAFZnqUJocmF5lwDLBkEQaMn5MPvbqXQ3bt51sGqJXRXN84_4RavMkPk6zv45twzg5s-BAQgioIFWwqO_OmJKCTaJ2WbsKw/s400/IMG_9845.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396188678805917522" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />I took this photo last week. It's the last blooming thing in my garden at this point. Everything else is just spent or has gotten bitten by the frost we had last week. This is from a knock-out rose bush. I learned about them when I worked at Penn College because there was one outside my window and I was always amazed at how many blooms it put out and for how long. So I asked the gardening person about it. Yep. Knock-out rose. We put ours in this year and it has not disappointed. A gorgeous rose is my favorite flower.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCEjp_24_vCYqi_17d2uKEvn-5f6b2SFWtQhyphenhyphenJZVkvdfC2-yadBRu4ehqLBTcKKDIDIcd-ngNOzsCwyxDe_wwgz5augwyD3fGD1dR715-A0h8D6Z8GbNQfjTz2F5IT1gzafbKFA/s1600-h/IMG_9842.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCEjp_24_vCYqi_17d2uKEvn-5f6b2SFWtQhyphenhyphenJZVkvdfC2-yadBRu4ehqLBTcKKDIDIcd-ngNOzsCwyxDe_wwgz5augwyD3fGD1dR715-A0h8D6Z8GbNQfjTz2F5IT1gzafbKFA/s400/IMG_9842.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396188674197457298" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />Last weekend when Eva came up, we had a little cooking project. Chris found this cookbook where you make healthy stuff for kids by "sneaking" in healthy ingredients. And then, theoretically, they gobble up the good stuff. We thought these cookies would be a great thing to have on hand for a hungry little girl that likes sweet stuff. We (and especially me) don't want to be giving her junk food and unhealthy crud. So, she very enthusiastically helped make the cookies (with the same happy attitude that she has no matter what she's doing). And, though she quite sweetly posed for the photo of her tasting the results, unfortunately, that was the last bite she took. She sort of set the cookie down on the table after that and very politely said nothing - but ate no more of it, either. Ha! Well, Chris and I happily ate the rest of them over the week. They <span style="font-style: italic;">weren't</span> very sweet at all. But, really, that's what I found the most appealing! But not miss Eva. Oh well, chalk that one off the list! :)</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C0qhlMm0FqKoJOTpHlUCDf_LdPEdZ-FcwhMkpXWiMGIGbb46mj2rSvJWHY4DTRqNVbQGDHYflwWdbYiEXDc30aE24T0FPHJNOoq9BWuBigDjgDkpdD5-O82xrV6ZKzHdDUeMlw/s1600-h/IMG_9785.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6C0qhlMm0FqKoJOTpHlUCDf_LdPEdZ-FcwhMkpXWiMGIGbb46mj2rSvJWHY4DTRqNVbQGDHYflwWdbYiEXDc30aE24T0FPHJNOoq9BWuBigDjgDkpdD5-O82xrV6ZKzHdDUeMlw/s400/IMG_9785.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396188668605569410" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4HWpF0VSB_EBR2E5fH8HeMQxNLc2MmXXivzNRYBJYwtRDNJ3HbzTAXYlULDYfyAHrfmR00orht301gocrYWgHZ72QdaEf_erNmXiDRGJK2wAhaTuDzYDkQIEvzuwmpcJniUQ7jw/s1600-h/IMG_9801.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4HWpF0VSB_EBR2E5fH8HeMQxNLc2MmXXivzNRYBJYwtRDNJ3HbzTAXYlULDYfyAHrfmR00orht301gocrYWgHZ72QdaEf_erNmXiDRGJK2wAhaTuDzYDkQIEvzuwmpcJniUQ7jw/s400/IMG_9801.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396188669504746770" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />So, on this ugly, rainy day, I need to dust and clean the bathroom and then get the song service for tomorrow together. I'll have to push myself to do the cleaning. Not my favorite thing to do. Sigh. But, alas, it must be done. What I'd REALLY like to do is go cuddle up on the couch with my kitties, a blankie, some hot tea and my book. Not bloody likely, though. Nice try.</span></span><br /><br /><img style="width: 52px; height: 52px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-53894693686404761002009-10-16T10:18:00.003-04:002009-10-16T10:45:28.755-04:00A Few Prompted Thoughts...<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">I thought it would be fun this morning to borrow these little prompts that I saw on <a href="http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/">Ali Edwards' blog</a>. She credits them below.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span><br /><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Inspired by </span></em><a style="COLOR: #003366; TEXT-DECORATION: underline" href="http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">The Simple Woman's Day Book</span></em></a><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">. I did one entry </span></em><a href="http://aliedwards.typepad.com/_a_/2009/06/for-today-june-17th.html" target="_blank"><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">last June</span></em></a><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"> and felt like it was time to do it again. (says Ali)</span></em><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><strong>Outside my window</strong>...the deck is wet with the rain - and snow - of the past two days. And pretty little colored leaves are scattered all over.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><br /><strong>I am thinking...</strong>about my daughter-in-law's dr. appt. today (a neurologist for help with her constant headaches) and hoping that he gives her real help.<br /><br /><strong>I am thankful for...</strong>the fact that I can stay home and determine how I spend my days. Still so thankful for that.<br /><br /><strong>From the kitchen...</strong>a whole lotta nuthin'. We determined that we'd not get groceries this week and just make meals from what we have. We've done well. There's barely anything left!<br /><strong>I am wearing...</strong>navy sweat pants, a tee with a comfy red sweater over it, socks and slippers<br /><br /><strong>I am creating</strong>...something I've been meaning to start for a long time. Shhhh - it's a secret!<br /><br /><strong>I am going...</strong>to start scrapping as soon as I'm done with this post. Sweet.<br /><br /><strong>I am reading...</strong>Brennan Manning's <u>Ruthless Trust</u>. Just started yesterday. I'm already inspired and challenged. I just finished <u>My Life in France</u> by Julia Child. A friend gave it to me for a quick, fun read and it was just that. My next fiction up is <u>Abundance: a novel of Marie Antoinette</u> by Sena Jeter Naslund (<u>Ahab's Wife</u>). That should make me appreciate my simple little life all the more!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><strong>I am hoping...</strong>to see both of my granddaughters within the next couple days. (I go through withdrawal without them...)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><strong>I am hearing...</strong>the fan of the wood furnace going (indicating that cold weather is here to stay) and Chris fixing his breakfast.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><strong>Around the house...</strong>things are neat and tidy and it clears up my head like you wouldn't believe!</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><strong>One of my favorite things...</strong>this second cup of coffee in front of the computer.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><strong>A few plans for the rest of the week...</strong>we may go see "Where the Wild Things Are" tonight. Hope to pick up Eva for an overnight Saturday and get a visit in with Maggie, too (aforementioned granddaughters). We were planning our annual "Dancing on the Deck" party for last Sunday, but too many people were sick so we postponed til this Sunday. But it looks like the weather's not going to cooperate. We'll go back to "plan A" next year which will be to have it in September when the weather's milder. But I was gone too much this September.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><strong>A picture to share...</strong>Chris took the photo - and I photoshopped it - of me walking along Pine Creek on our recent trip to the Cedar Run Inn. Lovely.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgAwUONwSIAFmUAgRoDmadfrEFHkgl5Gh1xxMfvhrE9Z_LhN2qaWpoOqR8VHdDVwzLuid8eNCYqwfECP_iIz-3gAodD3ysAQOSKv3j54oQUWZTAR8juD0HYnaOcYmk7VcoQa2Nw/s1600-h/DSC02018.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393202438742643714" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgAwUONwSIAFmUAgRoDmadfrEFHkgl5Gh1xxMfvhrE9Z_LhN2qaWpoOqR8VHdDVwzLuid8eNCYqwfECP_iIz-3gAodD3ysAQOSKv3j54oQUWZTAR8juD0HYnaOcYmk7VcoQa2Nw/s400/DSC02018.JPG" /></a><br /><a><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="58" height="52" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-49032692223512739192009-10-15T10:10:00.007-04:002009-10-15T11:09:07.644-04:00I won!<a><span style="color:#663300;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Wow. I won the word challenge at One Little Word - for the second time. I'm SO honored and blessed - and humbled. The two I've won for have been about real personal challenges I have and, well, it keeps me accountable! :) This is the layout I won the challenge with:</span><br /></span><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJohW9cFvf3DpHv_7XaXLTxb98zG_cQGDWoVpaaYKL9Nk7lIRTSfOfSTeEtZrsCwDXqvq-5MEl96ElstzJtBF8IEHJOduiVKO5TbvMXxAd2UFXMEP-KIhcx17RBbjUQ_K0gASScQ/s1600-h/Open-(OLW)_web.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392832462728945810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJohW9cFvf3DpHv_7XaXLTxb98zG_cQGDWoVpaaYKL9Nk7lIRTSfOfSTeEtZrsCwDXqvq-5MEl96ElstzJtBF8IEHJOduiVKO5TbvMXxAd2UFXMEP-KIhcx17RBbjUQ_K0gASScQ/s200/Open-(OLW)_web.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://onelittleword.typepad.com/olw/2009/10/open-favorites.html"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Here's the link to the announcement on One Little Word.</span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">In other new, the leaves are getting really nice around here. Emily took the girls over to her mom's (also my long-time friend, Deborah) and they had a little photo shoot. So, these are photos by Deborah Leverette Shaw, but I just wanted to share them here because they're just so gorgeous and, well, they're my (our) grandchildren! ;)</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCHMy9G8oTlG6U2nhzk1SFeql7HAvrMUjLD5rfI2Cy7XdCDjppY2eUzytVjoN2tpT3jaqE1Bn1rWe4OFgw39y8D2vgrQkzG8DNa5S0zPYhCOMn9Q81zEU4FYfAFj5zANqo_omhIg/s1600-h/dsc_0634.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392839846759409186" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCHMy9G8oTlG6U2nhzk1SFeql7HAvrMUjLD5rfI2Cy7XdCDjppY2eUzytVjoN2tpT3jaqE1Bn1rWe4OFgw39y8D2vgrQkzG8DNa5S0zPYhCOMn9Q81zEU4FYfAFj5zANqo_omhIg/s400/dsc_0634.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKQkj7MMR465fWTpBT-Z3Sj4Z2j0_GWEoxVWuRqCe2NUzGDIXwyAfMGUEMgd_suMVQ-XFlKQ7xrYxIUFlhKPvUxnCdS4n3uPwfmCwbBvqypf6HY-J8TqVjY-WqlFHlFnlAxAv8A/s1600-h/dsc_0659.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392839841826453346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKQkj7MMR465fWTpBT-Z3Sj4Z2j0_GWEoxVWuRqCe2NUzGDIXwyAfMGUEMgd_suMVQ-XFlKQ7xrYxIUFlhKPvUxnCdS4n3uPwfmCwbBvqypf6HY-J8TqVjY-WqlFHlFnlAxAv8A/s400/dsc_0659.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2q1K6T0xR4JUJq8baDobWypzCS9a_yfgBs8H8g9GWjNtys3G2tIFdP3r9HEf49h-PToTK13b-LF6pXQ31V4RtKztl3mqt5DxxYlO-C2imR7eW-PopvUMn7QzlH061-f2bZWinQ/s1600-h/dsc_0670.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392839832435496994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2q1K6T0xR4JUJq8baDobWypzCS9a_yfgBs8H8g9GWjNtys3G2tIFdP3r9HEf49h-PToTK13b-LF6pXQ31V4RtKztl3mqt5DxxYlO-C2imR7eW-PopvUMn7QzlH061-f2bZWinQ/s400/dsc_0670.jpg" /></a> <p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Isn't this last one just beautiful? Sigh. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Oh, the hot tub guy just came and - YAY - it was only a fuse. I've been freezing around here lately and one of the ways I love to warm up is to hop in the hot tub. And, people, prime hot tub season has begun. But, Chris opened it up the other day and the panel was blank. Dang. So we set a limit as to how much we'd be willing to spend. As much as I LOVE that thing, it's over 10 years old and we're not willing to put tons of $$$ into it at this point. BUT. As I said - thank goodness it was just a fuse. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Ironically, the new word up at <a href="http://onelittleword.typepad.com/">One Little Word</a> is "grateful". Would it be too superficial if I made my layout about being grateful for my hot tub? Because I am really grateful for it. Just sayin'.</span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Of course, now I won't be freezing for a while because Chris also just lit up the wood furnace and it makes it quite toasty in here. Kinda kills the hot tub desires. I just never feel like getting in there when I'm already good and hot, thank you very much. :( Hopefully, he'll be able to tone down the temp a bit. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Oh, and here's more exciting news. (Kidding.) The first snow flakes were out there today. Mixed in with rain, yes, but there it is. Well, I guess it's not that unusual. I do have photos of snow on my beautifully colored fall leaves. But I am SO not ready! Ugh! And "snow" is forecast for Friday and Saturday. I have no idea if a) it will come and/or b) it will accumulate. I'm just simply not ready for that. However, it will be interesting to see how much easier driving will be now that we have the two new vehicles. My Matrix is all-wheel drive and Chris's truck is 4-wheel drive. I'm sure we'll see all too soon enough. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Okay, it's banking day and it 11 a.m. already. I've gotta get to it. Have a good one!</span><br /><br /><img style="WIDTH: 58px; HEIGHT: 58px" border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" /> </p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-12715845163571406332009-10-03T01:17:00.005-04:002009-10-03T01:53:52.877-04:00Aaccktober<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">Here I am again - stunned that another month is just... GONE! Admittedly, I <span style="font-style: italic;">have </span>been away most of the month. I just returned from yet another week away, visiting my mom in Madison, WI. We had a great visit together. I even managed to get her out twice to two of our fave restaurants. She seemed in really good spirits. We played games, did crosswords, chatted and laughed. Her situation hasn't really changed much. In fact, I'd say it's gotten a little worse and being her sole caretaker during the day presented its, er, <span style="font-style: italic;">challenges</span>. It will help to have Chris along in some respects and he will go with me next time - in the spring. (Oooo, <span style="font-style: italic;">that </span>almost sounds ominous, doesn't it? Here we are, at the threshold of fall and I'm talking about spring. And we all know what must come in between... I'm SO not ready for <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> yet! It seems like we just got done with, with, you know, the "w" word.) But, all in all, it was a good time together.<br /><br />I stayed in a nice hotel in the evenings (I was at my mom's from 10 a.m. to 8-8:30 p.m. daily) and discovered their belgian waffle maker on the 2nd morning. Yikes. And one of mom's caretakers, our beloved Gail, gave me an hour and a half out one day and I went to Archiver's. Oh, joy! What luxury! :)<br /><br />I did miss Dustin's 29th birthday party and a great family gathering on Sunday night. :( I'll share a photo or two that Chris took in a future post. Of course, I had to run down to squeeze my two granddaughters the day I got back. Ahhhhh. I was definitely suffering grandma withdrawal... <br /><br />And, speaking of withdrawal, I'm sooooo longing to get some paper scrapping done. My scrap room is so lovely, with some new goodies awaiting my attention. But, I have yet to get in there. It's hard both catching up from being away and preparing to leave again - all in the same week. And, guess what? I'm doing that very same thing yet again this week. On Wednesday - after having been home exactly one week - we will take our annual fall excursion north to the lovely <a href="http://www.pavisnet.com/cedarruninn/">Cedar Run Inn</a> for three days, two nights. Fabulous food. Gorgeous scenery. And relax, relax, relax. It's always wonderful and I do look forward to it.<br /><br />But THEN....then I can come home and BE home for, well, til spring! And scrap room, here I come!<br /><br />I did manage to get another digi done today for <a href="http://onelittleword.typepad.com">One Little Word</a>'s present prompt: open. It's pretty, um, <span style="font-style: italic;">open</span>. It's kind of hard to know how much is too much to say sometimes. But I do want to be honest at the same time and share myself. So, here's my layout: </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQi_RJSQvCM414ae7jrzKgO8tnQahZRFkKwMM7LQd3gLO3mN2uInMUF55F4bXd0yaWsTgqDSXtffFeia8-wMugyoRdmRYcZQLlunVqmzFFqAwxjo_2NMr-LZSnUTmEcT04MN5xaw/s1600-h/Open-(OLW)_web.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQi_RJSQvCM414ae7jrzKgO8tnQahZRFkKwMM7LQd3gLO3mN2uInMUF55F4bXd0yaWsTgqDSXtffFeia8-wMugyoRdmRYcZQLlunVqmzFFqAwxjo_2NMr-LZSnUTmEcT04MN5xaw/s400/Open-(OLW)_web.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388238763218821746" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(Click on image to view larger. Page credits: </span></span></span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >distressed edge overlay by Trish Jones</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; green stitches, heart by Gina Marie Huff</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; circle overlay by Jan Barlow</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; texture brush by noctourniquet texture tiles 1</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; gold brad by LivE for Jessica Sprague</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; paper hearts by Patricia Christensen</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; cross stitches, ticket by Heidi Williams</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; muslin strip by Jen Wilson</span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >; Fonts: Artiststamp Medium (quote); Bleeding Cowboys (“open”); Century Gothic (journaling)</span><br /><a><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">Seeing that it's after 1:30 a.m. (even though I </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);">can</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"> sleep in tomorrow) I feel the need to crawl in bed. Later...</span><br /><img style="width: 56px; height: 56px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-80223973361250006732009-09-22T11:01:00.003-04:002009-09-22T11:50:09.267-04:00away I go again...<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Yep, today I'm packing for yet another trip. This time I'm going out to my mom's in Madison for a week. Just me. Chris will be home holding down the fort. I'm flying, of course. You know, I used to LOVE to fly. I remember back when people actually used to get dressed up to fly. These days, you might as well dress comfortably because they're gonna squeeze you into that plane like a sardine. Not to mention you better wear shoes that come off and on easily, because you're gonna have to take them off to get through security. And, now that I have a hip replacement, I get the pleasure of being set off to the side and "wanded" each and every time I fly. They don't feed you a crumb and on some flights you even have to pay for a drink - of any kind. Oy. Nope, it ain't fun anymore at all. It's just transportation. I try to always get an aisle seat as close to the front as possible so I can 1) stretch out at least one leg and 2) get up and OUT asap after we land. But still, I do try to make the best out of the situation and look at it as at least some free time to read if nothing else. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">My week home between trips has been pretty busy. We got home late day Monday and on the next Tuesday I had a hair and pedi appointment as well as a visit to my chiropractor and a trip to the grocery store. It made for a long day. Wednesday was all about cleaning up the house because I hosted our women's bible study that night. Just before the study began, we found out that Emily was going to the ER and didn't want to take the baby and could we come and babysit the girls. Time is suspended in the ER, you know, so we knew that meant pretty much an over-nighter and then getting Eva off to school the next day because Dustin had to work at 6:30 a.m. So Chris headed down and as soon as my study was over, I went down to relieve him since he had to work the next day. Dustin was working late and I wanted to stay so he could get some sleep before heading out so early the next day. I slept on the couch and tuned in to the baby. I hadn't seen Maggie for about 3 weeks (that's another story) so at least I had LOTS of sweet Maggie time. Emily got in around 5 a.m. and, of course, wanted to go straight to bed. Gary came over to help get Eva off since Dustin had to leave so early. After Eva left, I got Maggie back to sleep and grabbed another hour of sleep myself. Dustin got home around 2 p.m. and I stayed until around 4 p.m. so he could go get some food and pick up Eva from school and etc. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">So - that was my Wednesday night and pretty much all day Thursday. Since I wasn't able to do my church and personal financial stuff on Thursday as I usually do, I had to do it all on Friday. And, believe me, after being gone for 9 days, doing 2 weeks of finances for both the church and myself is a huge task. But, I got 'er done and Chris and I were able to eat out (at Joy Thai - YUM!) and then see a really good movie - "Away We Go". Loved it. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Saturday, I had to run some more errands and get the song service for Sunday ready and then Chris brought Eva home and she spent the night and went to church with us Sunday. After church, we took her to get some new sneakers and a few other things we wanted to stock up for her at our house. We wanted to bestow our Vineyard gifts on D&E when we took Eva home, but Dustin was working and Emily, who had been out with Deborah wasn't home. We waited about 45 minutes and by the time she got there we couldn't stay long because we had a business meeting at church. M&M came over after that for a much-needed time of relaxation and spades (in which we, ahem, killed 'em). </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Monday, yesterday, I hosted our monthly card "club" - we play pinochle - so I had a bunch of cleaning and prep to do for that. But Emily asked me if I could come and watch the girls while Dustin took her to an early (and I mean EARLY) dr.s appt. So I got up at 6:30 a.m., got down there at 7:20 p.m. and stayed til around 10 a.m. Chris did come down and help with Eva, so I wouldn't have to wake Maggie to take Eva to school. By the time I got home I was so tired. I did squeeze a little nap in between all my cleaning - which I did a lot of. There were some things that just really needed deep cleaning. And then I had a great time with my card gals. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">So, today, I must do the church finances before I leave again tomorrow. And pay a few of our own bills so nothing is late. And then, I have to pack because we'll be leaving around 8:30 a.m. in the morning for the airport in H-burg. Chris is going to drive me so I don't have to leave the car there and pay for that and deal with the shuttle. And I have to get to the office so Chris can adjust me. He says he might be able to do something for my hip which has just been killing me lately. Especially when I'm in bed (<em>trying </em>to sleep). That will be later, then I anticipate some crash time in front of the tube this evening. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Maybe it's a good thing I am going away tomorrow. Because maybe I'll get some rest! After this trip, the only other trip we have scheduled is our little get-away to Cedar Run in October for 2 nights and 3 days. And that is always like a big, collective sigh of relaxation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">We've had some gorgeous weather this week. Very fall-like with chilly temps at night and only reaching the lower 70's (if that) during the day. But beautifully sunny with those gorgeous blue skies. When Eva came Saturday, she had spied the little squirt gun that I'd been using to keep the kitty off the counter and she wanted to play with that so I sent her out the back door to sneak up on Chris and squirt him. Which she did with GREAT delight! And, of course, Chris - who can't do anything half way (remember, Mr. "Invincible"?) got out the super soakers and filled up a bucket and they went at it with each other. I just love hearing Eva's squeals of laughter. It <em>was </em>kind of chilly out, but that didn't stop them from completely soaking each other. Afterwards, we plopped into the freshly cleaned hot tub and she loved that, too.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOxL_NP24c2_p0Wn3LZhg5nDplaIrxwzqo0luYom7k7xcoAlQIE0X-UpIWiY-rwLN8wzInoqXKNtSDpZC3kjuN6YgD2ZOski5C7sSkUBkfDgxsqvOyhWL9P-e63O8z6aePDS9hg/s1600-h/IMG_9664.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384310205758902082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVOxL_NP24c2_p0Wn3LZhg5nDplaIrxwzqo0luYom7k7xcoAlQIE0X-UpIWiY-rwLN8wzInoqXKNtSDpZC3kjuN6YgD2ZOski5C7sSkUBkfDgxsqvOyhWL9P-e63O8z6aePDS9hg/s400/IMG_9664.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRczHjsc7RY7PreW_UzoGuq7lwZ5nQmasTWxWLY-4uhhzoE-xLKzI6ywaAIIyCOWfPoSSBL6n8kFonO7_ZMHbJ0YFGWua536ddA6CWLaa1SiK6po2idtv4eeoda_yp9ci_MuaNbQ/s1600-h/IMG_9676.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384310196342850482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRczHjsc7RY7PreW_UzoGuq7lwZ5nQmasTWxWLY-4uhhzoE-xLKzI6ywaAIIyCOWfPoSSBL6n8kFonO7_ZMHbJ0YFGWua536ddA6CWLaa1SiK6po2idtv4eeoda_yp9ci_MuaNbQ/s400/IMG_9676.JPG" /></a><br /><div></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">So, back to Martha's Vineyard... We all decided to take a lovely stroll down the beach - we were at Abel's Hill Beach this day - practically all by ourselves. It was fabulous. The surf was fantastic. Well, for boogie-boarding, anyway. I would stand at the edge of the water and when a wave came in, it just pulled the sand out from under my feet. So, we were all walking along quite a ways down beach from where we had set up our chairs and stuff and Katy (Martha's mom) sees something get washed onto the shore, so she picked it up. It just happened to be a watch. Chris's watch, in fact, that he had lost into the ocean about an hour earlier and that we never thought we'd see again. And we wouldn't have, had we not been walking by that particular spot at that particular moment, because it would have been washed right back out again... Amazing!</span><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Okay, so I'm off to do that banking stuff. And pack. See ya on the other side! :)</span></p><a><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="48" height="57" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-10008545074342706402009-09-19T00:52:00.006-04:002009-09-19T01:37:26.022-04:00to Martha's Vineyard and back<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Chris and Martha and Matthew and I headed to Martha's Vineyard (to stay with Martha's mom, Katy) for 9 days. And I do feel like we had a proper farewell to summer. We had four beach days, three of them just stellar. And I even can say that I got me a pretty nice tan. Yeah, so it's already starting to fade. But <em>I </em>know it's there and that's all that matters. Geesh. I don't even know what that means.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">First things first. I was <em>just </em>barely able to complete a digi layout for <a href="http://onelittleword.typepad.com/">One Little Word's </a>current prompt: invincible. Even though we were gone and I've been crazily getting caught up since our return Monday night, I really wanted to do this layout. Because invincible just makes me think of Chris and how he's always doing crazy fun stuff - or just plain crazy stuff. In this case, I just happened to catch a photo of him boogie-boarding while on the Vineyard, so I just thought it all tied in so well - and what a great memory to save, too. Here's the layout:</span><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErzs4cyRreRUWpMziySiQWbwFyPBZn4oQ9OpcPzGsW5ZjWQU1ZIuFP-bMybreTVlhAVtboRCpx8DASJST5fIp5fR-p7e2JZeepi4UFb0ZpACgBcEipvm3Lj11VQ1c6i-QNS-U2g/s1600-h/Invincible-(OLW)_web.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383039440030780802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErzs4cyRreRUWpMziySiQWbwFyPBZn4oQ9OpcPzGsW5ZjWQU1ZIuFP-bMybreTVlhAVtboRCpx8DASJST5fIp5fR-p7e2JZeepi4UFb0ZpACgBcEipvm3Lj11VQ1c6i-QNS-U2g/s400/Invincible-(OLW)_web.jpg" /></a><em><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color:#336666;"><span style="font-size:85%;">As always, you can click on the image to make it larger. Credits: Patterned paper by Patricia Christensen; Fonts – Tiza (title); Century Gothic (subtitle and journaling); Wave, stitched frame by Audrey Neal; Swirl stitching by Kristen Cronin-Barrow; Stitched journaling strips by Katie Pertiet; Swirls paper by Gina Marie Huff</span><br /></span></span></em><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Here's the original photo and a few others from the trip - and I mean just a few - I took over 250 pics. And I apologize to Matthew for cutting him out of the photo on the layout. He's pretty invincible, too. But not as much as Chris! :)</span><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ku8cH50GbbJfBelt2bwoTv1EbkPBPzj4KvvmsTWxQHTQHePyJVTCDIW2ByRvZRrRV-GM4XcYpBI4gesw-fW3qLjDSPLZJ7WTbDKSq0kzRFrE0VUQCHEAsPlGnl7GK4RhDvDgwA/s1600-h/IMG_9413.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383043708128508514" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ku8cH50GbbJfBelt2bwoTv1EbkPBPzj4KvvmsTWxQHTQHePyJVTCDIW2ByRvZRrRV-GM4XcYpBI4gesw-fW3qLjDSPLZJ7WTbDKSq0kzRFrE0VUQCHEAsPlGnl7GK4RhDvDgwA/s400/IMG_9413.JPG" /></a> </div><div><br /> </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_NuQ4dYBC03X9t8vI-W90ZYfMDAsxJmRtBhz1NM3D32KJ9PDDJW4Uun0BZLbcy_Tp8UAVQ7ZWal6fSCTqSrPk4D0kj2eFaNfLjUaCcVU0An2X6qqITyJ2YoLKMGPbl0Bk8SQHQ/s1600-h/IMG_9544.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383043733013366866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE_NuQ4dYBC03X9t8vI-W90ZYfMDAsxJmRtBhz1NM3D32KJ9PDDJW4Uun0BZLbcy_Tp8UAVQ7ZWal6fSCTqSrPk4D0kj2eFaNfLjUaCcVU0An2X6qqITyJ2YoLKMGPbl0Bk8SQHQ/s400/IMG_9544.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"> This old boat was "parked" just down the road a bit from Katy's house. I thought it looked so cool sitting there in the field amongst the wildflowers.</span><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRL1RZVx-41M5Auma4qM7Asu10W1fADnyymt2Q8EuJhaxs7WauW-U5mneMXDwuD560oJKouDdNSTn3hPolyzSVx-Tax-A4LfDa0V916ictbyONt0g-s1Hoork7UPxJoQvfzqE6A/s1600-h/IMG_9530.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 268px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383043726571542882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeRL1RZVx-41M5Auma4qM7Asu10W1fADnyymt2Q8EuJhaxs7WauW-U5mneMXDwuD560oJKouDdNSTn3hPolyzSVx-Tax-A4LfDa0V916ictbyONt0g-s1Hoork7UPxJoQvfzqE6A/s400/IMG_9530.JPG" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">This is the lighthouse at Gay Head on the east end of the island.</span><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVZyrqQNhdbXe0sTfqRC81uYyu8mUj6hENA5cxmpZ6EE_0cnOsMICqrnYX8F_U876woOli4gFMe87kC4N1qnNBKT6EY3aRsDuRUDzt1bceHrhErATbSSqThQ8KkHxQYMhqGsNHQ/s1600-h/IMG_9498.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383043721777418226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkVZyrqQNhdbXe0sTfqRC81uYyu8mUj6hENA5cxmpZ6EE_0cnOsMICqrnYX8F_U876woOli4gFMe87kC4N1qnNBKT6EY3aRsDuRUDzt1bceHrhErATbSSqThQ8KkHxQYMhqGsNHQ/s400/IMG_9498.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJ3wCwjowfbviiFdc1FtlAtqnLD_NRrmNwGyTPZZP1yrb5eCd3LcI5UpiggBV45sQuMht_s0kUh6f7DvvCqBLBnDBv9faq6IYTeeCKypmKTqw5aSdTbUOgxRj25RKOyRlgivvDA/s1600-h/IMG_9482.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 268px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383043712844434482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnJ3wCwjowfbviiFdc1FtlAtqnLD_NRrmNwGyTPZZP1yrb5eCd3LcI5UpiggBV45sQuMht_s0kUh6f7DvvCqBLBnDBv9faq6IYTeeCKypmKTqw5aSdTbUOgxRj25RKOyRlgivvDA/s400/IMG_9482.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"> And these last two are on the beach at Gay Head. I'd have to say it was one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. </span></div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span></div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"><div><br />We had a great 9 days. We ate a ton of seafood, pretty much drove from one end of the island to the other, played some games, relaxed, read, did a little shopping and had a lot of laughs.<br /></div><div></div><div>I've had a lot going on this week as well including hosting our women's fellowship, appointments to keep, babies to watch and cuddle and 2 weeks worth of church and personal bill-paying and checkbook balancing to catch up on - and I'm only halfway through my week home before I head out for another week to visit my mom in Madison. </div><div> </div><div></div><div>It's late. I'll try to post again before I leave. I have more to say. But I'm too tired to say it right now...</span></div><div><br /><a><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="56" height="63" /></a> </div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-37095015927519032482009-08-31T23:43:00.007-04:002009-09-01T00:24:09.242-04:00<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">I just want to share a couple new layouts. The first one was a sketch challenge by my totally lovable FGirl friend <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/fashionistas.php?user_id=1770">Angie</a> at <a href="http://scrapinstyletv.com/">SIStv</a>. She gave us the basic sketch design and then added five things we needed to include on the layout. <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/forums/23_33671_0.html">Here's the thread with her challenge</a>. And here's the layout I made:</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0uKNdRGw2Ga5i6WOrYAAqkfCL_b5fphIp6L4b0-fbfGKE6CL8150vienl3Sx0Dcs5xdHbe5NM7A_SeVQEP5VFSv3r5wmF4Kv6CGQTy42W332bNmv_JgqsMMc6GZmBvJRiNzggw/s1600-h/IMG_9281.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376341441496260322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0uKNdRGw2Ga5i6WOrYAAqkfCL_b5fphIp6L4b0-fbfGKE6CL8150vienl3Sx0Dcs5xdHbe5NM7A_SeVQEP5VFSv3r5wmF4Kv6CGQTy42W332bNmv_JgqsMMc6GZmBvJRiNzggw/s400/IMG_9281.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13KkdfFnVVDXZ3VNewgm3JFZbrJrBrRSkGFQ3S3tjhxTHxrFhR2UieBQsmobkUAKidv6P0J5bmN6QbkSZLSKS7E_jJGUEXuhKls7RKXqizwz22E0V3QWsgIVKXK21QVYKNCGLOg/s1600-h/IMG_9284.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376341986430661970" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj13KkdfFnVVDXZ3VNewgm3JFZbrJrBrRSkGFQ3S3tjhxTHxrFhR2UieBQsmobkUAKidv6P0J5bmN6QbkSZLSKS7E_jJGUEXuhKls7RKXqizwz22E0V3QWsgIVKXK21QVYKNCGLOg/s400/IMG_9284.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLybmShIq_R7qvLjGJs9pzq2-Df3zWXpLUUiO-bK6EqxgAboh1ZNqIaUzTwVoZwzOCr8SS6v58ttc-EpkzVH3I4NxPh4cV29NsEpA53HToOPVjlb-c9_vvfWQp48Vm71cn6LaHLg/s1600-h/IMG_9283.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376341446161707618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLybmShIq_R7qvLjGJs9pzq2-Df3zWXpLUUiO-bK6EqxgAboh1ZNqIaUzTwVoZwzOCr8SS6v58ttc-EpkzVH3I4NxPh4cV29NsEpA53HToOPVjlb-c9_vvfWQp48Vm71cn6LaHLg/s400/IMG_9283.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"> In addition to the basic design, we were to have a stamped image (I stamped the script words onto the yellow circle), the word "live", the color yellow somewhere, a monochromatic patterend paper (see the dots on the yellow circle?) and a flower somewhere. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">I totally love a challenge like that because it gives you the parameters of a layout, narrowing the gazillion of possibilities available to you. For me, this is good. Scrapbooking - especially in my very well-stocked scrap room - is like going into a retaurant that has an extensive menu. I find that overwhelming sometimes because it's really hard to choose what to have. So, with a sketch and defined elements, it really helps me to focus rather than to slip into a mindless, glazed-over stupor, just staring at my desk with drool dripping out my mouth. Know what I mean? :)</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">And here's my latest digi for <a href="http://onelittleword.typepad.com/">One Little Word's </a>59th prompt: beauty. </span><br /><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhdzccJqtVhOeVXxqYwK92cT2HzfkWfqD-RhckvbOd5gWOggO1y5ykCbOzDWiglfSTLsUljxs4ZCFtka29CxWMLVeJkoc3_nQKUl7ce1Rvc7iRD9Syh_QPJyjCqH-GbtC2e-j7Q/s1600-h/Beauty-and-the-Feast-(OLW-B.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376344811907287554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBhdzccJqtVhOeVXxqYwK92cT2HzfkWfqD-RhckvbOd5gWOggO1y5ykCbOzDWiglfSTLsUljxs4ZCFtka29CxWMLVeJkoc3_nQKUl7ce1Rvc7iRD9Syh_QPJyjCqH-GbtC2e-j7Q/s400/Beauty-and-the-Feast-(OLW-B.jpg" /></a></p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">I love to use a play on words for my titles. <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/view_layout.php?layout_id=186587&user_id=2604">The page credits can be found here</a>. If you click on the image (as always) you can read the journaling a little better. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">In other news, Matthew and Martha went camping - finally (and maybe for the last time <em>this </em>summer!) - yesterday. We drove down and sat around the campfire at their very scenic campsite overlooking Lake Jean at Rickett's Glen State Park. We doggie-sat Taco, so they came back today to pick him up. They had picked a ton of wild blueberries, so I whipped up a "Huckleberry" Buckle, as Chris's mom used to call it. YUM! Chris made Shrimp fraDiavolo for supper. It was a great meal. And there was, of course, a game of spades afterwards. Dang, it was close, but they beat us. That's three times in the last couple months. Maybe they're finally figuring out how to play this game! ;P </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Tina and I have a lunch date tomorrow. We're going up to Eagle's Mere (to the Sweet Shoppe) and will do a little shopping and maybe even hiking. I'm hoping for a few photo-ops, too. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">It sure feels like fall out. It's going to get into the upper 70's this week (they say), but the nighttime temps are <em>chilly</em>! It was in the upper 40's this a.m. when I got up! Yowser. I'm just so not ready for that yet. I guess it's because summer really only just got going. On the other hand, it will make walking outside so much easier when it's not as warm. (And the lower humidity makes the body aches subside, too.) We do have a trip to Martha's Vineyard coming up at the end of the week, though, so I really do hope the warm weather makes at least a temporary return appearance. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">With that, I'm off to bed. The chilly temps do make for cozy sleeping!</span><br /></p><br /><a><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="63" height="67" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-88897913829082720672009-08-29T21:14:00.003-04:002009-08-29T21:38:07.380-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-ns-PGlL1lWFc8JsZLUCmPG2an1ytGJU23Y_ng3xkjIPobX2JTU1EjuQNGWevHjE9H2VgZbKE9YPuW-pIIgxQ4ufmZoS5Hpzbg3bS1TZqH4yNuSrcSMVj6a_pOFO5LQIPemNSw/s1600-h/IMG_9280.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-ns-PGlL1lWFc8JsZLUCmPG2an1ytGJU23Y_ng3xkjIPobX2JTU1EjuQNGWevHjE9H2VgZbKE9YPuW-pIIgxQ4ufmZoS5Hpzbg3bS1TZqH4yNuSrcSMVj6a_pOFO5LQIPemNSw/s400/IMG_9280.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375559422690558018" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDF_ngkbmWWoac5CXLVjITF09xLJgwPlmot3EU0lMp5QV_bRqdgVbsqsaKzODVI5ybCcZCd20qV_EPcA3tTmQMUtIAGATydIFZlAjPOyABcrURMbF4QJ9aWGZtTevHqstMU6hxZQ/s1600-h/IMG_9268.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDF_ngkbmWWoac5CXLVjITF09xLJgwPlmot3EU0lMp5QV_bRqdgVbsqsaKzODVI5ybCcZCd20qV_EPcA3tTmQMUtIAGATydIFZlAjPOyABcrURMbF4QJ9aWGZtTevHqstMU6hxZQ/s400/IMG_9268.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375559408514126050" border="0" /></a><br /><a><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIjxu6Oj1QIpkK4Of9N0JBcy0uqSkdG1m8eqPrCCe28uDILtNyPzC9FBN68HYeGQ-755APST5m07YT7YHqQPDZ4KEym9tOz3sKvWkjI3j2vwcBJv4cL3Xd3XqMV6tcXHjaI71sw/s1600-h/IMG_9272.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIjxu6Oj1QIpkK4Of9N0JBcy0uqSkdG1m8eqPrCCe28uDILtNyPzC9FBN68HYeGQ-755APST5m07YT7YHqQPDZ4KEym9tOz3sKvWkjI3j2vwcBJv4cL3Xd3XqMV6tcXHjaI71sw/s400/IMG_9272.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375559412899138978" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 0);"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It's every grandmother's dream when she's called into active duty. And, today, I was. Little Maggie's been fussy and - believe me, I remember how this is - Eva tends to act up when mommy needs to give the baby lots of attention. So I went down to play with Eva and do any baby holding needed. Or ANYthing needed. Eva and I played and colored. Emily brought the baby down after she had nursed well and handed her off to me. Chris came over after work and took Eva to the library and then put in a movie for her when they got back. I was able to let the baby snuggle in for a long nap on my nice, cushion-y body bed while Emily took a much needed nap herself. Bliss. Maggie would wake up every now and then, look around, smile a little and then fuss a bit and I would switch her position and walk her a little bit and then she'd fall back to sleep. Yeah. Pure bliss. :) I was able to help in the kitchen a wee little and then Chris and Eva and I took Maggie for a walk in her stroller while Emily grabbed a shower. It was heaven. Heaven, I tell you! And, obviously, I was able to snap a few sweet photos, too. Maggie's 7-1/2 weeks now. Hard to believe! That just doesn't even sound right!<br /><br />So, we brought Eva home with us and left Emily and Maggie by themselves for the two hours before Dustin came home. And Eva will go to church with us tomorrow.<br /><br />Martha's bringing Taco over in the morning, too, because she and Matthew are going camping (finally - they've been trying to get there all summer). And then we may be granddaughter sitting again tomorrow afternoon/evening a little - as Maggie will allow - because it's Dustin and Emily's 1st wedding anniversary and they want to go out alone to celebrate at least a little. And we want to help them do that however we can.<br /><br />It's so freaking wonderful to be completely free to be able to help out. What a blessing that I'm not exhausted by a job. And that Chris is so available to help, too. Because he totally wants to. That's what grandparenting is all about - being that support system. Helping your kids to succeed and to be happy. What a privilege. Sigh...<br /><br />Oh. Chris saw Maggie smile for the first time today. I don't quite know how he's missed it before. My first time was at the reunion. It was...well, I can't even explain it. But now Chris knows why I'm always trying to get her to smile. It's completely captivating. And it was fun seeing (and hearing) Chris go ga-ga over her darling smile, too. Yeah. We've got it BAD!<br /></span></span><br /><img style="width: 57px; height: 57px;" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" alt="Photobucket" border="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-63997729852804538122009-08-27T12:16:00.008-04:002009-08-27T13:06:52.597-04:00The Difference a Week Makes<span style="font-size:78%;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTENkta0KjBPkuK_K7VeQ3OPi3HTN5IpJoVYejjwkp40dysAD6iYe6Dr3-gbJUGevjahOVR01cGtPvTgRfco2m6KsOAuVOUiXOmwECKCENKne0kG-O0mc6yDjkp24KsmKHGg1EA/s1600-h/Passion-Play-(OLW-play)_web.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374686454544090370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTENkta0KjBPkuK_K7VeQ3OPi3HTN5IpJoVYejjwkp40dysAD6iYe6Dr3-gbJUGevjahOVR01cGtPvTgRfco2m6KsOAuVOUiXOmwECKCENKne0kG-O0mc6yDjkp24KsmKHGg1EA/s400/Passion-Play-(OLW-play)_web.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">There's the latest digi I did for </span><a href="http://onelittleword.typepad.com/olw/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">One Little Word</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:78%;color:#663300;">And here are the credits: </span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:78%;color:#663300;">Template, staple by Katie Pertiet<br />Papers, twine by Gina Marie Huff<br />Charm by Little Dreamer Designs<br />Heavy stitch by Patricia Christensen<br />Stripe clusters by Heidi Williams<br />Fonts: Courier (journaling); 28 Days Later (“Play”); Jefferson (“Passion”)<br /></div></span><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:78%;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:78%;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"><br />The photos are from the reunion. I so love to hear (both of) my son(s) play music. One of the great blessings of my life.<br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></div></span><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">The very night that I last posted, our little Maggie Monet was hospitalized. She is home safe and sound now and, without going into all the details of her experience, suffice it to say that in the end she just had a virus. Of course, there was lots of probably unecessary invasion to her little body, but once you're "in the system", so to speak, it's really hard to have a voice, much less use it. There are so many unknowns with newborns. I mean, they just can't tell you what's wrong and, as new parents, you definitely do not want to mess around with guessing when your child is presenting out of control symptoms. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">We're just glad she's home without any horrible diagnosis to have to deal with. On the other hand, coming home with no definite answers is a bit unsettling. And then you begin to question every pain, every discomfort, every fever, every blotch. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">We were at Dustin and Emily's for dinner last night (and a game of spades which we couldn't finish because of the time, but that the outcome of was pretty set in stone...we were killin' 'em!) and Maggie was a bit fussy. She didn't want to nurse when Emily thought she may have been hungry, but, overall, just appeared to be going through a bit of a fussy time as so many newborns do - especially at that particular hour - 7-10 p.m. ish. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">While I don't for a second want Maggie to grow up any faster than she must, at the same time I do hope she passes through this fussy stage soon so that Dustin and Emily can relax, get some much needed rest and be more free to also interact with Eva, who has just started kindergarten. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Chris got to put Eva to bed last night. And little Maggie quit fussing rather quickly (at least for a while) when I put her on her belly on my knees and "rocked" her back and forth. I offered our nightly services... ;) My philosophy when I had little ones - the one that kept me from pretty much freaking out all the time - was that my child would not be doing - whatEVER - by the time they were 18. In other words, this is a phase and it will pass - it's not forever. That's hard to understand when you're in it, but, oh, so true. </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">My favorite point in the evening was when I was holding Maggie and Eva was saying her good-nights and she came and hugged my neck and said, "we're your two favorite girls in the world, right?". (This is something she's heard me say before...) Of course, I heartily agreed with her!</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">We're hosting a little dinner party for a dear friend tomorrow evening. And in the morning, it looks like we're making another run up to NY state because the same dealer we got the Matrix at has found us a great deal on a used truck. Chris has been searching and searching (granted, for only a couple weeks), but last night he/we decided to just try to patiently wait for what he really wants instead of tending to jump on what he's finding "out there" and usually giving up in his hastiness a feature or 2 that he really does want. This morning Simmons Rockwell called about a truck that is exactly what Chris wants and it's not even on the lot yet. It's a <strong>great</strong> deal so, off we go. This time, hopefully, we'll be in and out because the whole "cash for clunkers" thing is not going on. And, now we WILL be able to give the old truck to Matthew and Martha if they</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">want it.</span> </div><div></div><br /><div><a><img border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="55" height="62" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-42689865000421836692009-08-19T12:08:00.004-04:002009-08-19T13:39:21.366-04:00Blackwell and Beyond<span style="color:#663300;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Wow. It's the 19th already. Holy moley. How did that happen? Well, I guess I find myself saying that a little too much on here lately. That <em>is</em> going to change - but probably not until about October. Until then, my posts will be only occasional - as in when I can find the time. And I want to take the time today, even though the day already isn't going quite as planned. But that's okay. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">I spent the morning preparing for a bible study/fellowship time I'm hosting tonight. We're studying a book called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/You-Matter-More-Than-Think/dp/0310245982">You Matter More Than You Think</a>" by Dr. Leslie Parrott. I just finished reading the book and our women's group has the study books as well as the videos. It's really a nice study with an important message to women who probably don't realize the difference that they make in other's lives just by the love they naturally show.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">My plan for the day included dusting the first floor and cleaning the bathroom while Chris did the vacuuming (our agreed-upon arrangement). Chris also had reviews to work on this a.m. and then was to take the new car (did I mention we got a "new" car? New to us, anyway - a 2006 Toyota Matrix) up for a free inspection this afternoon and then come home to cook supper (also the agreed-upon plan). All this and then have myself and the kitchen all cleaned up before the women come over. And all in the stinkin' hot, humid weather. Whew! </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">But Emily called this morning - as I have encouraged her to do many times - asking if we might be able to have Eva come up because the baby was fussing and she thought Eva could use more attention than she was able to give her. So, even though our day was thoroughly planned (our "Plan A"), we are adjusting to <em>God's</em> "Plan B". And that's the way I see it. Rather than an intrusion or distraction from what <em>we </em>had planned, it's a way that we can help Emily and encourage her to call on us. I see it - just as my bible study was pointing out - as a way to make a difference in someone's life by showing love. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">In other news, Chris and I have had our week in Blackwell which was punctuated with the Barlow family reunion. I think we would have come away with more of a feeling of relaxation if we had planned our week together to come <em>after </em>the reunion rather than before. Because the reunion does tend to be a little chaotic. And then there's the horrible day of cleaning and packing up at the end. Ugh. Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately if I think about it...) I put my back out BADly the day before the reunion. I was relegated to pretty much sitting around the whole time - no biking, hiking or swimming for me. I tried to go for a walk, but it ended up being a bad idea. But, that meant there was also no cleaning up and lifting and etc. It took a full week to get me straightened out. Chris did take me to a nearby chiropractor's office the day after it happened so he (Chris) could adjust me, but the tables were ancient and the adjustment was not a very good one. I needed to get home and get treated at Chris's office. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">But, all in all, it was a great time. We had a few storms, but it was sunny enough for people to get in the water most every day, although the water was quite high and "fast" at times - and quite cold! Between us, there were 3 bear sightings and we saw a Bald Eagle almost every day.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Here a just a few of the many photos from our time in Blackwell:</span>
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<br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieu4bROQ7MAv5PoDH4n-v5K1BGqfnqmhm7LDl6KX9aafwuF9BOC69vSni3EeW_ImwMVhZ35YzkxCMXrLfk0dsQNsYxVXThbGSeUqHijg-z7oi46VasdBnV1IoG6lxV2cC7nEuRfg/s1600-h/IMG_9205.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 268px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371708466535449474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieu4bROQ7MAv5PoDH4n-v5K1BGqfnqmhm7LDl6KX9aafwuF9BOC69vSni3EeW_ImwMVhZ35YzkxCMXrLfk0dsQNsYxVXThbGSeUqHijg-z7oi46VasdBnV1IoG6lxV2cC7nEuRfg/s400/IMG_9205.JPG" /></a> <span style="color:#663300;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">That's Eva and Nicholas playing a game outside on the deck.</span> </span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLVyN_5OUrnjPBHOPzRsVuWqatpSm8QejfU2Z0-rtLXDyZexUlCnCAicm_oSwS-CLP335oOCBC5IqzXb7ILVo2_3N9yjZaIeXdJ03x2qJFVJoG0zrM5diAOKvVzbwp3TPAfTEPA/s1600-h/IMG_9194.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 267px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371708460609443490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLVyN_5OUrnjPBHOPzRsVuWqatpSm8QejfU2Z0-rtLXDyZexUlCnCAicm_oSwS-CLP335oOCBC5IqzXb7ILVo2_3N9yjZaIeXdJ03x2qJFVJoG0zrM5diAOKvVzbwp3TPAfTEPA/s400/IMG_9194.JPG" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">And t</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">here's Ryan taking (most of) the kids for a ride in the "community" boat. </span></p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKxCLdKwUIlIvxLbBEpPVTJ9nsoFQSRkWCUm0ZZmxxcl-d_O4DvAauDu08bDQ7PDF733H53tXkGzgpuhr8r3jN-3EN8qsIP9_-DNf7OBpDHDoD7TWF00GUfn2ge_zDn8Pa6x3Slg/s1600-h/IMG_8991.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371708450520247314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKxCLdKwUIlIvxLbBEpPVTJ9nsoFQSRkWCUm0ZZmxxcl-d_O4DvAauDu08bDQ7PDF733H53tXkGzgpuhr8r3jN-3EN8qsIP9_-DNf7OBpDHDoD7TWF00GUfn2ge_zDn8Pa6x3Slg/s400/IMG_8991.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> <span style="color:#663300;">Taco, not being a "water" dog, was tied while Matthew was in swimming and he pined for his beloved master the whole time. I just love that photo...</span></span>
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<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxL37Is-rGoEMJA8Nqpw7CbfR277vOzK-ebTSufWR3mTUMwQUo6cL3ePHlnUue50q4pH7U94r70bNZqsppslRgEmrIaPm4rzX4RflZhWCxAyM5R1RqhXeQ_H_HpdmYWaaHUrVWsw/s1600-h/DSC01516.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371708442099398962" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxL37Is-rGoEMJA8Nqpw7CbfR277vOzK-ebTSufWR3mTUMwQUo6cL3ePHlnUue50q4pH7U94r70bNZqsppslRgEmrIaPm4rzX4RflZhWCxAyM5R1RqhXeQ_H_HpdmYWaaHUrVWsw/s400/DSC01516.JPG" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">And Chris snapped this photo of a bunch of us enjoying ice cream at the Cedar Run General Store. My back didn't stop me from doing that! :)</span></div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span></div>
<br /><div><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">And, finally, there was a LOT of baby-holding going on at the reunion. We had <em>three</em> babies. I got some great shots, but I though I'd just share this one of Emily and Maggie - aren't they both SO beautiful?</span>
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<br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITJK9bI8KZIb557xyqf8Yc56wobysx3sfuXOzZxmddZgpcIl4LdjXiVEL3E3mYMOq0k5T6UEZjTa-UW4Ka_IhFZbukgwIXal6hH_5QSI9TnMaiO55txBcGLlVdmf1Zqjhtg2n3Q/s1600-h/IMG_9120.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371708448310378802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgITJK9bI8KZIb557xyqf8Yc56wobysx3sfuXOzZxmddZgpcIl4LdjXiVEL3E3mYMOq0k5T6UEZjTa-UW4Ka_IhFZbukgwIXal6hH_5QSI9TnMaiO55txBcGLlVdmf1Zqjhtg2n3Q/s400/IMG_9120.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Emily and Eva and Maggie met us over at Kellie's pool a couple times this week and we "dipped" Maggie for the first time. Emily also expressed some breast milk and I got to feed Maggie a bottle. Sooooo sweet! And Chris got the burp out of her. If you're not a grandparent, it's hard to understand just how thrilling these little things are. ;)</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Well, Eva is watching a video and eating peaches, watermelon, yogurt and Kashi "heart" cereal. Then we're gonna squirt each other with squirt guns. Chris took the car up to get inspected and when he comes back he's going to take Eva to see a movie at the theatre and then take her out for supper. When he takes her home Dustin will have been home for a while and he and Emily and Maggie will have had some "alone" time. And, by Chris taking Eva out, I will have time to get the rest of the housework done and myself ready with plenty of time to spare.</span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">God's Plan B is all good! :)</span>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-33336012600010923792009-08-01T00:51:00.004-04:002009-08-01T02:04:46.692-04:00New Month, New Decisions<span style="color:#663300;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Well, here we are at a new month. And I've made a new decision. It has been on my mind for quite some time now, actually. I've tossed it around, gone back and forth, changed my mind and, finally, settled on what I want - what I need - to do. It is with a heart full of gratitude and appreciation that I have decided to step down as a Fashionista (i.e. a Design Team member for Scrap In Style TV). Sigh. This was something that I wanted sooooo badly. And when the opportunity came up about 8 or 9 months after I'd become quite active in the SIStv community, well, I held my breath, prayed and hoped that I would be chosen for the team. And I was! Wonder of wonders I was! And it has absolutely been everything that I'd hoped and dreamed it would be. I found it artistically challenging and fulfilling for sure. It was so fun to give other members (SISters) of the website a thrill by choosing a favorite layout each week. I so enjoyed being in the position to be an encouragement to others, maybe even a mentor of sorts. But the absolute best part has been getting to know Jeanette (the owner of the site) and the other Fashionistas. I expected that this would happen, but I never realized what an absolute blessing it would be to me. These women are amazing - every one of them. And they accepted me (being a slight bit - ahem - <em>older </em>- than them) and befriended me and made me feel so welcome. We've laughed together, cried together and have totally gotten silly together. We've worked hard together, have had virtual parties and actual slumber parties, have eaten together and have scrapped and taught side by side. It's been an amazing and wonderful year. So what the heck am I doing stepping down?</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">It's all about time. For me, time is EVERYthing. And I think the older I get, (even though I don't necessarily <em>feel</em> older) I feel my time on this earth slipping away. And as much as I love these women and this web site I have just had to ask myself if I really want to be spending so MUCH time on the computer. Being a Fashionista has meant spending hours and hours on the computer each week. I needed to look at layouts and leave comments in addition to being a presence on the message boards. In order for me to do my job to the best of my abilities - which I was whole-heartedly committed to doing - this simply required putting in time on the computer. In addition, I was working with the collections and occasionally preparing tutorials and contributing in an assortment of other ways. This all takes time. I think I realized how much time when for a couple of months, we didn't get a collection to design for and all of a sudden I actually had time to work on some projects of my own with some of the extensive stash of product I've collected over the years. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">Not only that, but I just have felt this nudging, so to speak, that there are people right around me that perhaps I should be giving more of my time to. I'm intimately related to some of those people - like my children and grandchildren and I just want to be available to them. I just keep thinking that I may not always be as healthy and energetic as I am now and I want to be free to do whatever my heart desires - in my own neck of the woods - while I can. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">I will most definitely still be an active participant in the SIStv community. I have no intention of giving that up. But I will log on when I feel like I have the time, at my leisure. And if I feel like I want to stay off the computer for a whole week (not bloody likely) then I will. I can just pop in to the website for a few minutes instead of an hour if I want. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">I have sooooo many scrapping projects I want to do. And a beautiful scrap room just full of supplies. I love being able to go in there when I want and then, when I've had my fill, I can get up and shut the door behind me and come back some other time. LOVE that!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">I'm only one hour and forty minutes into my "new" life and already I'm feeling, well, not a "relief", but a sense of release. Release to be free again with no constraints on my time. Free to choose how to spend my day without that pull to the computer. So far - it feels good. (Even though right now I'm ON the computer! But now I'll even have more time to blog.) </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">I really do plan to continue my friendships that I've made on SIStv - and there's no reason that I can't do that without the little red star by my name. :)</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">In other news - we've got some new pets around here. Just what we needed. Oy. We have THREE hermit crabs. Chris and Eva picked them out at the pet store and then came home and prepared a glass tank for them. In the photo below, Eva is very proudly showing me her dirty little feet after finishing this project. I don't think the dirty feet had anything to do with the project in particular. She just happened to think it was a good time to show them off to me!</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwn2KRVLH5JItmQWkbRv7-fB1-uOnGOjMAC9LKI9YnZKLvGbU1-5M3vMI4u9EE8XaNPm-C78qEVSjJP-DgwAsnvogcgIEIHs1nz3G9PDkxlyhwNWL8AOscCJcJ7YIXH7MiA4Q2cQ/s1600-h/IMG_8940.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 267px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364857099388420738" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwn2KRVLH5JItmQWkbRv7-fB1-uOnGOjMAC9LKI9YnZKLvGbU1-5M3vMI4u9EE8XaNPm-C78qEVSjJP-DgwAsnvogcgIEIHs1nz3G9PDkxlyhwNWL8AOscCJcJ7YIXH7MiA4Q2cQ/s400/IMG_8940.JPG" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">And speaking of pets, just look at these two. How cute are they? That Beatrix is such a wild woman. She is keeping Rocky on his toes! She has zero fear of him. She drives him crazy jumping all over him and just annoying the heck out of him (which he takes quite in stride). And then, when she's exhausted herself, she decides that he'd also make a good pillow. And, again, he doesn't mind at all. "Ho hum" is pretty much the constant look on his face. She's a riot to watch and perhaps has rejeuvenated his old bones a bit. He is 15 after all. I wonder how much all of this will change when she gets spayed next month. We'll see.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64nViQEEURh5DHtxK8IDE35CkeVA_2VDVl5CZjHIivoutyIvm_Sak54NBwoFoWDlrz92aT57sZHovWgUHfbure-ZZACwFrHjroAGSN-2kLRTbiAYvi6mwioJJQbr81GgyuOx7aQ/s1600-h/IMG_8859.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 266px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364857091568524066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh64nViQEEURh5DHtxK8IDE35CkeVA_2VDVl5CZjHIivoutyIvm_Sak54NBwoFoWDlrz92aT57sZHovWgUHfbure-ZZACwFrHjroAGSN-2kLRTbiAYvi6mwioJJQbr81GgyuOx7aQ/s400/IMG_8859.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"> Finally, here's a photo of Chris's that he took when we went out in the kayaks last week. We finally had a lovely, sunny, not-too-chilly morning, so we (meaning he) packed them up and headed to Rose Valley Lake for a little paddle. It was so relaxing and peaceful. I'm looking forward to more of that.<br /></span><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Yx-uK9Xd-MM23zETE8iVz03LzBiKgLEKx2ivuOnHaheQ98SDUOeyXFnmJmMHUIjI0x8qedbooM80L4Wrj5Qy7ASqz3834u7ukn9PXodynSuiptHaTsogr1m4n47FDAfmb3q2-Q/s1600-h/DSC01366.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 266px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364857087553128034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Yx-uK9Xd-MM23zETE8iVz03LzBiKgLEKx2ivuOnHaheQ98SDUOeyXFnmJmMHUIjI0x8qedbooM80L4Wrj5Qy7ASqz3834u7ukn9PXodynSuiptHaTsogr1m4n47FDAfmb3q2-Q/s400/DSC01366.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">So, tomorrow when Chris is done at work, we head north to Pine Creek. Blackwell, PA, specifically, where we'll rent out little green cabin again and sit on the front porch every morning with out coffee watching the ducks swim by in the creek and the fishermen come by and try to get some of those very smart fish out of there. Where we'll pack up our breakfast and bike up into the PA Grand Canyon and watch for Bald Eagles as we enjoy our little picnic. Where we'll whack around a badminton shuttlecock to work up a good sweat so we can jump in the fabulous swimming hole just 20 feet in front of our cabin. Where we'll enjoy ice cream at the Cedar Run General Store for lunch whenever we can and dinner al fresco every night unless we're dining at the Cedar Run Inn or the Manor Hotel. Where we'll play cards or read or sit by a fire. Where the phone won't disturb and the computer won't connect. Ahhhhhhhhhh yes. Tomorrow we go on vacation!<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">The Barlow family reunion will cut short our usual week up there. But the good news is that we won't have to pack up to attend - because it's right there in the same place. Sweet. </span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">So, it's over and out and I'll be back when the month is almost half over! Sayonara....</span><br /></div><div><a><img style="WIDTH: 74px; HEIGHT: 73px" border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="77" height="82" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27894740.post-80843910407309781852009-07-27T10:15:00.004-04:002009-07-27T10:54:19.051-04:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpJ3IVeLif0SOgkpzCflDjrWpkGrQMsfitZ00WR5p_N-vnKjZly3DiHavtQRyIeOhowcup0UozxHjoPjW-0Sb1Xv1vQvtmZPCybzl0Jg5EfOzoVeJFsvnYE0OaQE0Bbr6-n9hjA/s1600-h/IMG_8863.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363143772098985602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpJ3IVeLif0SOgkpzCflDjrWpkGrQMsfitZ00WR5p_N-vnKjZly3DiHavtQRyIeOhowcup0UozxHjoPjW-0Sb1Xv1vQvtmZPCybzl0Jg5EfOzoVeJFsvnYE0OaQE0Bbr6-n9hjA/s400/IMG_8863.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> </span><span style="color:#663300;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Here are a couple new layouts. I can't even tell you how precious is was to watch Eva meeting her new little sister for the first time. I just had to make a layout with the darling photos. Little Maggie is really blessed for having Eva as a big sister. I also finally cut into these beautiful papers designed by fellow Fashionista <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/fashionistas.php?user_id=561">Lucy Folch</a> from Brazil. I just adore her bright, whimsical scrap-art. I love her! :) So. There's my two favorite girls, right there in that layout. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">I "got" to take Emily to the dentist/oral surgeon - an hour and a half away - last week. Not only was I the "designated driver", but I was also the "designated holder" of little Maggie while Emily was getting her tooth most horribly yanked out. Yes, it was a tough job, but - sigh - someone had to do it! She was just an angel. I had to change her little diaper and she had her eyes open and was looking all around, just calmly and sweetly. Oh, wow. She only made the tiniest brief peeps in the car - as soon as we would slow down at our destinations - and otherwise she slept the whole time. Emily had ample time to nurse her before and after her procedure. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">I don't ever want it to sound like I love one grandchild more than the other. I really don't think that's possible. I totally am going through "Maggie withdrawal", though, when I don't get to see her. And I haven't been able to see her as much as I'd like. I'm just trying to be respectful of their privacy and home time - I don't want to be the barging-in, interfering mother-in-law, ya know. But I really, really would like to see more of her... At least I can be thankful that they only live 15 minutes away instead of hours... I can't bear the thought of that and it gives me a whole new appreciation of how hard it must be for far-away grandparents. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">The layout below is for the latest round of <a href="http://onelitteword.typepad.com/">One Little Word</a>, the word being "why". I'm not a person that questions "why" that much. I believe God is in control and, for the most part, I don't question that. So this one was a bit of a challenge for me in a certain respect. But, since Chris and I seem to have had this conversation several times lately, I thought it would be a good one to document. It was very gratifying finding out from my online friends (you can see their comments on the link coming up) that I'm not alone in my little neurosis! ;) The credits - and story - for the page can be found <a href="http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/new_view_layout.php?layout_id=181732&gallery_type=main">here</a>. </span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbDhoHD8BwpzCMP2KxOkZn58zzjquGq2e6O69y-VKaw8QyshpZjfSnRn_V60MTA1nEujgxuC_4DTcwiNF04-aGXJaG015AJxcVSRbQG_oZblG2fj3z-CCpbhHm6BCbfm3Jw0PAA/s1600-h/Why-(OLW)_web.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363143777160413986" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbDhoHD8BwpzCMP2KxOkZn58zzjquGq2e6O69y-VKaw8QyshpZjfSnRn_V60MTA1nEujgxuC_4DTcwiNF04-aGXJaG015AJxcVSRbQG_oZblG2fj3z-CCpbhHm6BCbfm3Jw0PAA/s400/Why-(OLW)_web.jpg" /></a><br /><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#663300;">Even though it started out looking like rain, it's turning out to be a gorgeous (albeit hot and humid) day in PA. Hoooooo boy, do I ever hope that holds out for our vacay to Blackwell next week. If there's anywhere we want it to be hot and humid, it's there, because we have such a fantastic natural swimming hole about 20 feet in front of the cabin we rent. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">For some odd reason, I got up early-ish, for me, (7:30) so I decided to have my first cup of coffee and then head out for a walk while it was still somewhat cool. About 1/2 down my (1/4 mile long) driveway, I heard the "beep. beep. beep" of construction vehicles and here, they were doing something in a long line coming up the road. I circled around the cemetary and then came back home. At least I got 20 minutes in. When I got home I finally, finally, got back to my Wii Sports Active 30-day challenge I was <em>almost</em> done with right before I went to TN at the end of June. I had gotten sick, then I went away for the long weekend and then didn't get back to it when I came back. Until now. I think I have 4 more workouts to do and then I'll have finished it! Awesome. Yeah, it was a little harder this morning. The program has been really great - it builds up in intensity over the 30 days and, so here I am, coming back after 5 (wow! FIVE!) weeks off and, well, let's just say it wasn't quite as easy as it had been. I'm sure my thighs will be screaming tomorrow (can we say "squats"?). But that's okay. I really want to get it done. So, if I do it every day this week, I'll finish and then I can start another one after I get back from Blackwell. They're really fun and I like that you're doing something different all the time. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">M & M are heading out to World's End State Park today. They called and invited Chris and I. (Chris is golfing right now.) I'm not sure if I'm going to venture back out today, although I can totally picture myself sitting in a lawn chair reading in the woods along the gorgeous creek. There WILL be burgers involved and, as much as we grill, we haven't done many burgers this summer and I'm really craving them... They said they were going to do the waterfall hike and, gee, I already exercised today. I don't want to become a JOCK or anything! Sitting home and reading and scrapping sounds like a great plan, too. Not sure which I'll decide to do as of yet. We'll see. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#663300;">At any rate, it's already gearing up to be a great day!</span></p><a><img style="WIDTH: 60px; HEIGHT: 66px" border="0" alt="Photobucket" src="http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f45/janlbinpa/Signature.png" width="71" height="77" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1