I attended my first-ever scrapbook "crop" - here at my house! I have forever been wanting to have some of the teens from church (and anyone else interested) over to make these cute little matchbook mini's that BasicGrey puts out. I've done several and they're so fun and cute and easy to do. They come in a punch-out kit that consists of two double-sided sheets, so, like I said - EASY!

So, here are a few that attended (there were 7 of us all together):

And here's what we were making:

Mine is a Christmas theme, but the others' were much more "girly" (you can see the papers under my little book) - great for "friends", "family", etc. I brought out a bunch of my goodies to share, put on some tunes, set out the m&m's and we totally trashed the table and had a blast!

I've never had a desire to attend a crop before because 1) I work very slowly and 2) I want to have access to all my "stuff". So, having this at my house solved both of those issues. We had so much fun that everyone wants to come back and finish their books, so we'll do that in September.

I signed up for an online digital scrapbooking class here, not so much because I want to do digital scrapbooking, I do, but it's mostly because I want to learn better how to use Photoshop Elements. It's the OPPOSITE of Picasa (free from Google) as far as user-friendly and learning curve goes. Very complicated. Obviously, you can do way, way more with PSE than you can with Picasa. I've done a few digi layouts and I would like to learn how to really do the intricate ones. So that starts on Monday and I'm excited about that.

And, I signed up for a "me" (it's always all about me, isn't it?) scrappy-journal challenge that will give prompts/challenges twice a week. It's called This Is Me Journal Challenge. I really enjoy journaling, but sometimes (just like as on this blog), I just don't know what to talk about, Also, I want to challenge myself to work faster and to not obsess so much about my pages. While this isn't a scrapbook, per se (i.e. no pictures are really needed), I still tend to just THINK way too much and take too long!

I finished my circle journal pages for SIS and I'm going to scan/photograph them all this weekend and them send them all away on Monday. They're actually due on the 25th, but I don't want to be late. I'm sending all the pages to the organizer of the journal, who will take everyone's pages that she's received, sort them by the owner of the respective journal and then mail said pages to the rightful owner. In other words, when she gets all the pages from everyone that have been done for my own journal, she'll pack 'em up and send 'em to me.

So, I have to say, it will be sad to part with some of the layouts I've done. At least I will have an electronic version, but, I did put my heart into each one and I'm really happy with what I did, so I'm kind of attached to them. Some were really a blessing to do. I'm sure I'll post those on here for "all" to see...

It's a spectacular day out there in Muncy, PA today. The humidity is gone, my ankles are back to their normal size and it's so "cool" out, that the windows have been shut this a.m. But I think it's warming up now, so I'm off to fling 'em open, put on some tunes and scrap the cover of my journal! Happy weekend!

So, we stopped at our favorite local farmstand yesterday to buy some fresh sweet corn. And here's what we found:

Not a soul in site, all the goodies done up in bags with prices posted and the cash box. Full of money. In plain sight.

I LOVE it! I love that I live in a place where, not only do you not have to lock your doors at night, but we rarely do at all. Really, only when we go on vacation or out of town for more than overnight. And we leave the keys IN the car - at home, anyway. Yeah, it's a small town. Okay, there's not that much to do around here. But that's okay - I'm a "type Z" personality, anyway. I like the slow pace. I like that no matter where you go, you're bound to know somebody. I like the fact that there's never any bad traffic. Heck, there's never any traffic at all! (Actually, I LOVE that little fact of life!)

So, does it disturb me that I must leave my hard-earned - okay, Chris's hard earned - money out in plain sight - stuck under a rock just beggin for someone to steal it? No - because I'm so happy that I live in a place where you can trust most people. And, for heaven's sake, if someone comes by to buy tomatoes or corn or peppers and feels it necessary to take an extra quarter or two - or the whole dang thing - then let 'em have it. I'm willing to donate to their destitute situation - or their hunger for an ice cream cone down the road - whatever. It's all for the good of living in the wonderful little town that I do...What I get to take away is the happy truth that I still live in a world where you can use the honor system!

We had a lovely time in Blackwell at the family reunion. THIS is what we mostly did:

It was perfect swimming weather pretty much the whole time and this is just the greatest swimming hole. They are all on top of this huge rock that lies just under the surface. It's surrounded by a very deep creek bed. The water was super comfy, not too cold. Many of us (including moi) went snorkeling. Some jumped off the cliff, as seen here:

That's Dustin in mid jump. But almost everyone was in the water at some point. And when we weren't doing that, we were hanging out on the deck, painting rocks, riding bikes up into the canyon, reading, playing lawn games, or the family favorite, eating. It did end up raining Monday morning, but that just made it slightly easier to pack everything up and leave as planned.

It seemed a little more low-key this year. There were some people missing, most noteably, of course, was dad. I guess, also, with the kids being another year older, they weren't quite as noisy, wild, etc. So, it was nice. But - last night in my own bed - oh yeah, baby.

And we have now acquired the MOST ungodly hot, humid weather. UGH! When we came home yesterday, we opened up the house a bit because it was a little stuffy and actually cooler outside. But in the time it took to go see "Hairspray" (LOVED it), this super-oppresive humidity rolled in. Dang! So the house is again closed up for the day to try to keep it OUT!

Dustin has now moved back home, temporarily anyway. He had his last night of work at Russell's last night and today starts work at a restaurant in Hughesville. He's secured an apartment in H-ville, but can't get in until September 1st, so he'll be camping out here until then. That will be nice. And it will be SO great having him 10 minutes away as opposed to 50 minutes! (Especially as he doesn't yet have a vehicle!)

Now we only have to get M&M back to this area...and, unbelievably, it appears that they will be making that move next summer! I'm starting to allow myself to believe it a little bit. They, too, will be living with us for a time. I can't express in words how fantabulous this will be. Both boys together again AND right near US! WOOOOHOOOO! Ahem. I'm just trying to restrain the emotions until it's actually happening.

I've been away from my scrap room (and my circle journal projects) for 4 days now and I hear it calling my name....I still have 4 layouts to complete and have mailed by the 25th. Time is closing in. I'm off.

I've been creating! I can't stop! I don't want to stop!

I've noticed an interesting trend, too, which you can see in these last two layouts that I did. Well, it's interesting to ME anyway! I've been leaving scraps of papers and elements from the previous layout on my scrap table when I start the next project (because they're coming so fast - for me) and those pieces/elements are influencing, or making their way into, anyway, the next layout to come. For a while it was a green thing. Now I'm on a pink/orange thing. Notice the same alpha-letters in both layouts.

Tomorrow we head back up to Blackwell for our, probably, last Barlow family reunion. Dad B. always treated the fam to this and, now that he's gone, the sibs are using estate money to fund one last reunion. Now, it's not like we don't see each other often - we do. But not everyone all at once. And...even this time, not EVERYone is coming. The especially noteable person not in attendance will be, of course, Dad himself. We'll miss him...

It's supposed to be stinkin' HOT, too (as it is now...) which, up there, is EXCELLENT news! I'm gonna just keep my swim suit on and be ready to jump in that creek at any given moment because it cools you off for hours afterwards. Can't wait for that.

And Chris and I have another "coffee moment" planned one morning. We'll pack our bikes with coffee and nylon folding chairs and ride up into the canyon, find a nice place to look out and then sit down and enjoy a lovely cuppa joe. Wonderful way to welcome in the morning - which we will have to do EARLY to beat the heat!

I predict several trips to the Cedar Run G.S. for ice cream as well... I'm not bringing much to do - basically reading and photo taking. That's about all the heat will allow for me energy-wise (when not helping in the kitchen, etc.).

It's late. I'm mostly packed, but have a few things to get together in the morning so I think I'll actually hit the hay!

Ah, Dustin has arrived. Chris went down to pick him up after his work. Let the reunioning begin!

Some pretties blooming on my deck:

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

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

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

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

And now - it's TIME - for bed!

Summer goodness.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.slept in 'til 8:15

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Off to bed - finally!

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

So, I'm in bed the other night watching Rachel Ray's Tasty Travels and she's in NYC and she's visiting a restaurant called "Dips". It features fondue. (Go figure.) Dang, that looked so good. All I have to go on is the fondue that our friends, David and Teresa make and it is deeeelicious. Mmmmm. Totally made me want some.

Oh, did I mention that when I'm watching this the other night, we had already been invited to D&T's for dinner Saturday (meaning tonight)? It's true! But I didn't know what they were serving.

Well, by now, I bet you've figured out that they, indeed, by some miracle of nature, had fondue. And, oh my goodness, it was just as deeeeelicious as I remembered. What great timing! In addition to the bread and cheese you see above, there were also veggies to dip in the cheese. And there was hot oil for doing meat - we had beef, chicken and shrimp - plus two delectable dipping sauces for the meat (which we dipped everything in). One was a cilantro ranch sauce and one was a sesame ginger sauce. Can I tell you - this was a FONDUtastic meal. And I love how fondue takes a while to eat and you chat, and sip and dip and on and on.

Well, if that wasn't enough, there was bavarian chocolate at the end. We could drizzle it on little cheesecakes AND also dip into it such delicious little goodies as pound cake, rice crispie treats, marshmallows, strawberries and bananas. The bananas were hands down the best thing skinny dipping into that chocolate. WOWSERS! That definitely pushed me over the edge of delightfully satisfied to FULL!!

All of my fondue cravings have been quenched - for the time being anyway. I'd better be careful what I watch on the Food Channel next!

Happy birthday to me! Oh, and happy anniversary, too. It's kinda sad that the first time I was wished happy birthday was when I signed in to msn.com to check my hotmail. Yep - MSN wished me happy birthday! In all fairness, I should say that Chris had already left for work when I got up. Hey, it's summer, no job AND it's my birthday - I can sleep IN! :)

I don't think there's going to be one special thing today, but we are planning a little jaunt to NYC to have dinner at our fave restaurant - Nino's - and to visit the Met. Museum of Art again. I think this will have to entail an overnight stay.... Working on finagling that...

Well, I'm involved in another circle journal. This time it's for the SIS website, which, by the way, I must say is so super cool. It was started by the wife of a member of the Christian Rock band Audio Adreneline and it is very "weighty" in the spiritual realm. Meaning that God is discussed, praised, included in the scrapping a lot and there's even a prayer request room on the message boards. And, mostly, the gals (and a few guys) on there are not only very talented scraptually, but also very fun, nice, supportive and women of high integrity and character. I can say this because I spend a lot of time (late at night, it seems) on the message boards and it's very apparent. VERY cool. It's an awesome community.

Anyway, I very much digress.... SO, I'm doing another circle journal with about a dozen other women this time. We have each picked different topics and they'll all be SO fun to scrap! Mine is "things you want to do before you die". Here's the cover page to my album:

I liked that quote for an inspiration to thinking about what ELSE you might like to do with your life before you die. I think it will be a fun subject as well. I can't tell you how many attempts I made at this page. Okay, I WILL tell you - 3 to be exact. Ripped the middle out 2 times. I'm happy with it now. And NOW, I'm going to go spend the rest of my birthday/anniversary (oh, that's 55/32 by the way) scrapbooking! Yeeha! :)

This is where we've been this week... This is Blackwell, PA, where we rent a little cabin on an offshoot of this bigger creek (Pine Creek). It's at the base of what we call the "PA Grand Canyon". Oh, it's lovely. And sooooooo relaxing. And after all the wedding stuff, that's what we really needed. LOTS of relaxing!

Mission accomplished!

We biked, swam, hiked, grilled, ate out, had friends up, read, watched the wedding video, went to bed early and got up - well, okay, early. But we like that. All so wonderful and regenerating. I think my favorite part, though, is getting up and taking my coffee out to the little porch and listening to all the birdies sing as we watch the creek gurgling in front of us. We just kept saying, "now THIS is the life!".

NOT that we have it bad here at home, mind you! It's pretty darn swell here, too. But up there - people don't know our phone number and there aren't projects and responsibilities calling our names. And there's no creek 20 feet in front of our porch. Or a bike path 50 yards away. That's why they call it a "getaway"!

In other news, we found out last night that we are officially done with Fresh Air in all it's entirety. We retired as chairs last year (this being our first year off), but we said we'd have Dennis (our umpteenth Fresh Air child in 23 years of hosting...) as long as he wanted to come and then that would be it. Well, he couldn't come last year and last night I found out he's moving to ALASKA of all places - with his sister. How she came to that I'll never know, but if he thought PA was culture shock, he better hold on to his hat, socks, whatever, cuz they're gonna get knocked off! Can we say g-r-i-z-z-l-y b-e-a-r? Well, we'll miss Dennis and all his antics. He was like part of the family for sure....

So - our summer is now (with the exception of VBS this coming week) truly FREE. Wow. For the first time since we've had kids! I think I can handle it!

This is a page for a scripture circle journal that I'm participating in. You create an album with a theme and my theme is "Words of Encouragement". Everyone is to share a bible verse that is encouraging to them (mine is on the page in the book just before the page above - it's Ps. 104:24, 33) and then scrap about how/why that verse encourages you. Then you send your whole album off to the next participant in the circle and they add their pages and send it on, etc. Everyone starts a book this way, so, hopefully - if everyone sends the journals around - at the end you end up with your album full of layouts by everyone in the circle. Cool, huh?

And TODAY - we are heading up to this very gorgeous place that I'm looking at - the PA Grand Canyon, specifically, Blackwell, PA - for a much needed week long getaway. We're packing now and I can feel the relaxation coming....just knowing we'll be there with nothing to do but bike, swim, read, eat and hang out... bring it on!

Presenting...

...Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Barlow!

Our long-planned-for day has finally come - and gone. And what a fantastic day it was! We were concerned about rain, but instead we had extreme heat. A fair trade because all the fairy maids and the fairy queen, Miss Martha, got to walk out of the woods as planned. It was truly magical. The rain did come later, but only after we were already under the tent eating and listening to the band and then it brought a very relieving cool-down. Everyone had a great time, the vows were beautiful and, well, now we are just enjoying the aftermath of food and visitors and memories of the day. And some napping. I quit taking photos shortly after the one above because I figured everyone else was taking them, including the professional photographer, and so I knew I'd be getting those. Can't wait to see all the photos and to preserve all the memories (i.e. scrap 'em)!

What will we do now????

I love my new chair! And even though it goes really nicely with that blue rug underneath, it also goes fantastically well with the new rug we just got. I'm loving that, too. So, okay, I think we now have all the furniture secured. Chris is going to install some track lighting in the living room, but not until (way) after the wedding.

Chris brought Dustin up today and he's here for the week now. He got a new job, but he doesn't have to start until the 12th, so that will work out great. He can stay the whole week with us.

The Methodist church at the end of our driveway had a turkey dinner tonight. We thought we were getting there early by going at 4:30, but we actually had to wait for about 1/2 hour. Geesh! It was good. It's just kind of a fun thing to do, too. Real old-timey and country.

I'm off to get my beauty sleep b'cause we leave in the a.m. to get the newlyweds-to-be at the airport. They'll be in the air in about 3 hours from now....Godspeed...

Here's my latest scrapping creation. Yes, I have actually had time to scrap - at, like, 1 a.m.! This was for the 1st challenge at SIS - you were to take a pic you've been wanting to scrap and do it "andy warhol" style. I really like how this turned out. A bit of a stretch for me, cuz I usually do more "pretty, tidy" things, but I've been loving this style and want to do some more.

Chris has all the crap from the basement loaded in the truck and is dumping it at the, yes, dump - as I write. Whew. THAT was the last BIG project and now we're just down to regular little stuff like making up the beds, vacuuming, sweeping off the porch/deck, etc.

I am pretty good. I have a few little things on my own personal list - dust my scrap room (wouldn't let the cleaning ladies touch it!); re-arrange the CD's (like move some of 'em to a different location); make signs for our driveway/church parking; arrange/refill candles; tweak the last little bit of clutter (i.e. get RID of it) and that's about it.

But, baby, toNIGHT, we are going to celebrate! Chris and I are going to Franco's and enjoy a well-deserved "we did it" meal. I could almost get teary-eyed when I think about all that's been accomplished around here. Amazing. Okay, I had to exercise a bit of the push and prod and threaten technique, but we ARE still married and, well, it WORKED! :)

OH - the little reddish-orange chair we ordered to replace the queen-anne thingy that just didn't work anymore came today. I am LOVE, LOVE, LOVing it! It just looks GREAT in there with the sofa and pillows. I'll blog a picture of it soon. It's too cute. AND we got the new sofa/bed and ottoman for the TV room. Would you believe I haven't even been downstairs to see it in my own house since it came? I'll have to take a little walk down there. :) I KNOW we're gonna be lovin' that, too, and our BACKS will thank us as well. It will also be nice to have another bed for guests OR for when it's too stinkin' hot to sleep upstairs and we sleep in the lovely, cool "lower level". It IS a queen-size bed, so I know that will be happening.

Lastly, the rug we ordered online from Lowe's is in, so we'll go take a peek at that tonight and, if we like it, we'll figure out how in the heck to get it in the truck and bring that baby home and neatly deposit it underneath our gargantuan new sectional. It's "arts and crafts" style, so I hope the color works, b'cause the style would be perfect in our ever-evolving living room.

Well, I must go shower and get ready for our DATE! Yippeee!

It's another stellar day in PA. (Hey, that rhymes!) But really, God, can you pleeeeease save one of these fab days for June 8th? I'm sorta happy it's supposed to start storming Thursday. For one thing, I won't have to water the plants, but for another thing, just how many perfect days in a row can you have? The odds are it can't last another 10 days, so we have to have some bad weather to break the cycle (and then start a NEW beautiful day cycle).

I found this new scrapbooking website and I'm so addicted. The site was started by the wife of one of the members of Audio Adreneline (a Christian band), so that's cool right from the start. But it's a new community, so I like getting in on the ground level. But most of all - the art/scrapping of many of the "SIStahs" is, like, WOW. I love that style. I've been soaking it in (til way into the wee hours) and can't get enough. There's a great challenge on right now that I'm getting ready to do a page for, but I feel I should finish the guest book for the wedding first. That should happen today (if I ever get off the computer).

I made a list for the guys for yesterday and everything got done and then my dear friend Deborah invited us for dinner, so that was a lifesaver. Didn't know WHAT in the world we were gonna eat. I'm not shopping til Thursday, so my cupboards are a little bare.

Today Dustin is going to mow and slap one more layer of paint on the basement door. And then tomorrow it's clean up the crap day. Upstairs, b'cause those raging cleaning ladies are coming to do the bedrooms and upstairs bathroom Thursday (hence, my grocery shopping trip that day) and the basement so that Judy can have a clean place to do the flowers for the wedding.

Then......there's, like, a doorknob to install and wastebasket to purchase and WE ARE DONE. Oh, no, wait. We're still getting more stuff delivered Friday - a new living room rug and chair and a new sleeper sofa (i.e. COMFORTABLE - FINALLY) for downstairs (and an ottoman for said sofa). Presuming that all that stuff will INDEED be delivered on time, we should, dare I say it?, be FINISHED on Friday! I think Chris and I shall go out and do a pre-wedding celebration Friday night. We (especially he - and Dustin) have been working out patooties OFF!

Speaking of off, I'm off to work on my Experiencing God study and then scrappin' (i.e. guest book...)

Getting ready... Matthew sent us a little preview of his wedding attire. Now Chris and Dustin need to go and get theirs. I think that will happen tomorrow evening. I picked up an outfit at the Dress Barn when I went to Madison. Click here and "turn" the page with your mouse to page 6 - it's the outfit on the left.

Tomorrow I'll be working on the guest book and Chris and Dustin will (hopefully) finish up the few remaining projects around the house. The place is looking pretty good. There's still some furniture to arrive (again, hopefully) this week. And little odds and ends. But, I think we're pretty good to go.

I went to my 20th "Ladies LYFE" conference this weekend. It was a celebration of their 25th anniversary doing the conference. The speakers were great and the group of ladies I went with were great. We had a fun time. I have to say, I was really tired. Can't seem to get enough sleep these days (so why, I might ask myself, am I writing this at 1:44 a.m.). Well, I'm sleeping at the wrong times, maybe. I did have a big nap this afternoon. I just think I'm a little consumed with the whole wedding thing. Though I totally am looking forward to it, it's going to be wonderful!

Okay, I'm off to bed!

Here's a little "random questions" quiz I just picked up. It's fun to do!

1. Do you like cheese? Yes. My little secret pleasure is using cottage cheese as a dip for chips...

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? uh, NO!

3. Do you own a gun? Does Chris's rifle count?

4. Do you dance? Oh, yeah - we even have an annual "dancin' on the deck" party! (Though my body protested quite "loudly" this year when I went to bed...)

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Sometimes, depends on what I'm there for.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? I'd rather have a cool cat.

7. What's your favorite Christmas song? Mary, Did You Know (Kathy Mattea version)

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I'm a coffee girl

9. Can you do push ups? Sure! I LOVE the orange-cream kind!

10. Is your bathroom clean? It is now, since cleaning ladies came yesterday...

11. What's your favorite piece of jewlery? My Chico's silver watch

12. Last thing you ate? Ok, I confess - those orange peanuts... (I think I'm gonna be sick...)

13. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex? A barcalounger in front of a wide-screen TV and a remote.

14. Do you have A.D.D.? Appropriate Diet Disorder? Yes! (see question #12)

16. Middle Name? Lynn

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
1. "why don't I go to bed?????"
2. "my feet hurt"
3. "why did I eat those orange peanuts?"

18. Name the last 3 things you have bought recently.
1. a green market umbrella for the deck
2. contact solution
3. lamp finials

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:
1. water
2. coffee
3. Fresca (but not that regularly - maybe once a week...)

20. Current worry? I'll forget something really important for the upcoming wedding at my house.

22. Favorite place to be? In my home

23. How did you bring in the New Year? This is the first year I think I fell asleep before the new year. I honestly can't remember, so it wasn't exactly life-changing...

24. Where would you like to be right now? In my bed

27. Do you own slippers? Who doesn't?

28. What shirt are you wearing? My peach Glen Arbor, MI tee with a hoodie I got in FL on top of it.

30. Favorite color? turquoise blue

31. Could you be a pirate? Huh?

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don't

33. What's in your pocket right now? The only thing I dislike about these pants is they don't have pockets!

34. Last thing/person that made you laugh? Seeing/hearing Sanjaya sing on the American Idol finale tonight....

35. Best bed sheets as a child? white background with a tiny floral pattern. I had plenty of time to bond with 'em b'cause my parents put us to bed at 7 p.m. - in the summer!

36. Worst injury you've ever had? A "broken", (i.e. lliquified) wrist. I knew I was in trouble when the orthopod told me in the busy waiting room full of mostly children, "I'm saving you for last..." He knew I was going to make noise....

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? 3

38. Who is your loudest friend? I'M all my friends' loudest friend!

40. Does someone have a crush on you. My cat

41. Do you wish on shooting stars? I only wish I'd see more of 'em...

43. What is your favorite candy? M&M peanuts, hands down!

43. Television or Internet? Mostly internet

44. What song do you want played at your funeral? Here comes the bride!

45. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Watching Laura Geller on QVC

46. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I hope that noise isn't the bear getting into the bird feeders again!

47. What is your last thought before going to sleep? The point is to have NO thoughts SO I can go to sleep...

48. What do you like to do to relalx? Soak in the hot tub in the winter and "read" (with my eyes closed) on the hammock in the summer.

49. Do you like to shop? Only for scrapbooking supplies and, ok, food.

50. Can you wink? Comin' atcha, baby! ;D

There's a lot going on around here. The place is starting to look pretty spiffy!

Our stone facing is almost done. It looks amazing.

Our front porch is looking beautiful.

Chris and I planted lots of flowers - now they need to grow!

And here's a sneak peek at our new sectional. It's awesome!

I can't believe there's going to be a wedding here in two weeks! Wow! We keep thinking of stuff to do. One day we'll just have to quit and say, "enough". But we'll have to stop doing stuff like burning up the surround to the firepit on the patio, because now that will have to be rebuilt. (I guess you could say we had a rather hot fire in there Saturday evening...Chris woke up Sunday and discovered it still smoldering where it burned through...)

We have an insane cardinal that's been trying to come in our picture window in the living room literally ALL day. I guess he sees his reflection or the trees' reflection. But he won't quit. He's going to tire himself to death. Rocky is only mildly interested. The cardinal tries flying into the window and will also perch on the bench outside the window and peek right into the living room. Rocky would peek up from the other side and then the bird would fly. But he KEEPS coming back! He comes back so much that Rocky can't be bothered anymore. Maybe if I put up a 'scarecrow-like" image it would keep him away. Poor thing.

Well, it's time for me to get scrappin'. I'm making the guest book for the wedding. It's a gorgeous day, by the way. We'll be so blessed to have a duplicate of this one for the wedding!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

This was a fun little link I found. Just click on "get your own..." to do one yourself!

I got to spend time with my siblings over the Mother's Day weekend. We met in Madison so that we could take a photo for my mom for Mother's Day, but also for her 80th birthday, which was the day after Mother's Day. We had a blast together, as we always do. The time always goes too fast.

I spent the day with Mom on her birthday and then flew back home to PA on Tuesday. Having left my house for this trip on Friday - the day after my last day of work - I can now say that Wednesday - yesterday - was officially "the first day of the rest of my life". It was so nice to sleep in and stay home. Truly. Dustin was still here and he polished the (barenaked) living room floor and cleaned off the front porch while Chris did reviews and I did the church banking. Then Dustin and I went and I got my first load of flowers. I'm going to get some planted today. Our new couch and ottoman is coming today, too. And somewhere in there, I'm going to go get groceries. Chris will bring home more flowers at lunchtime and there will be more planting on Friday. I'm getting a little panicked about getting these flowers into the ground. They need some time to spread a bit before the wedding.

The leaves are fully out now and what a difference this makes. Without much landscaping at all, it's just naturally beautiful here in the woods. I love it. So peaceful...

The day awaits and I must get crackin'!

This is our granddog. Taco. Yes, he can fly. He kind of looks like a big, muscle-y fly, doesn't he? But then, with the background, he becomes more fairy-ish. I'm fascinated and greatly amused by this photo. Hope you enjoy it, too...

Well, the countdown has begun. Actually, it's been going on for quite a while. And, come to think of it, there's TWO countdowns happening.

The first is for when I'm done working - FOREVER. The kind you get paid for, anyway. I only have 9 more working days as I write this. And I've been SO crazy-busy at work, too. My dear boss keeps thinking of all these wonderful projects I should get done before I leave. Before I know it, I'll have half of next semesters workload completed! I understand where he's coming from. As he put it, when my last day is here I'm going to really need a rest!

But, am I going to have a rest? Noooooo. The very next day after I'm done with work, I'm packing my bags and heading to Harrisburg to spend the night so I can fly out to Madison the next day. My siblings and I are surprising my mom for her 80th birthday which is the day after Mother's Day. That will be great, even though it hadn't been in the plan until last week.

I'll get back on Tuesday to find my living room furniture-less. Chris will be polishing the wood floors Wednesday and then Thursday our new furniture (check this post) will arrive! I will be busy preparing some wedding decorations and making the guest book and I go away for three days again the last weekend in May and then THE KIDS WILL BE HERE! I made the mistake of looking at my calendar before I left for work yesterday and I about had a panic attack in the car!

* b r e a t h e

i n

b r e a t h e

o u t *

Yes, that's my second countdown - to the wedding. It's going to go so fast now.

Ironically, even though I'm crazy busy at work and I know I only have 9 days left, the time is just creekping along - because I'm counting the days. The day itsself goes fast but the days are creeping by.

I do hope this theory works for the wedding countdown in May, too! Because there's still LOTS to do around here.

I'll keep you posted.

Warning! Winter is holding spring hostage! No seriously - wait I AM serious! We decided to spend our Easter Sunday afternoon (Chris, Dustin and I) driving up to the Pine Creek area, just because we love it up there and also in hopes of spying the eagle we know is nesting in one certain area. It was freaking COLD! Geesh! I mean, it was 30-something and windy - just raw!

But it's always beautiful up there and see the eagle we did:



This was taken with my optical zoom - to the max. I think the photo turned out fairly well, considering. And it was nice of the eagle to be sitting out on an open branch like that. We couldn't tell if there were any young in the nest and we only saw just this one. We did see another one in a different location a little later. He/she was flying and getting hassled by a hawk. Maybe out hunting or even trying to dissuade the hawk from getting near the nest. Who knows? But it was - as always - such a treat to see them.

We also saw this little guy - a SURE sign of spring:






We cruised on over to Blackwell (our beloved summer cabin rental location) and then on up to Morris where we had supper. I just had a burger, but, wow, it was DEElicious!

We did manage to have a great day together, even if Dustin did keep saying he wished it was summer. Not me! I don't want to miss spring - whenever it finally gets here!

Is it over yet?

It's hard to believe that this was just one week ago! Since then, we've been pretty much in the 50-60 degree range, with one day actually hitting 80! And now, finally, all our snow is GONE! So, (oh let it be so) this will be my LAST winter picture for a LONG time!

The house has been abuzz with contractors coming to check out our driveway and also the unfinished basement wall and chimney. We are going to replenish the shale on the driveway - it's been pretty bad for several years, but THIS year - well, we're down to the MUD. So the shale lasted for 20 years or so. One guy wants to rebuild the whole driveway for, like, 5000 buckaroos. Uh, no. We'll try another 20 years worth of shale, thank you very much. (We'll be outta here by then, anyway, one way or the other - more on that later). And then we're also going to cover the outside unfinished basement wall and chimney with stonework. Okay, fake stonework - but don't tell anyone, cuz you won't be able to tell. We made a "fake" brick hearth for our cookstove indoors (so it wouldn't be so dang heavy) and it looks great. Oh, gosh, please don't think it's that plastic crap. Ewwwww. No, it's like stone, just very thin.

Okay. So, Chris and I were talking several months ago (yes, we have spoken to each other since then, too!) and I mentioned something about wanting to live in this house until I die. Because I just love it here. Love it in the woods. Love the utter seclusion and privacy. And he goes, "you won't be able to live here after I'm gone". Uh, excuse me, WHAT? How DARE you! Hmmmmmppphhhhhhhhhh........ (read: indignancy and pouting)

So this is how my mind works. I need to chew on things a while. (Dustin is the same way, I've noticed.) And since that conversation, I have come to realize that, no, I won't be able to live here without Chris. Not unless I re-marry some 30-something little chore-boy man or something. Ha! Not bloody likely! Even Chris won't be able to live here in another 20 years (or less) without a chore-boy. Also not bloody likely.

So, we've actually discussed of late the long term plan of selling this house and downsizing. Well, down-maintenancing. There's just too much HARD stuff to do around here. And, to retire comfortably, it would probably be a good idea to get a low (or no) maintenance kind of place so that when Chris goes (cuz men usually go first - statistically speaking) I can still remain independant. Yes, I realize I could be drooling in my plate next month, but, I guess that will be Chris's problem! :) But, I mean, Chris rented the ol' carpet cleaner yesterday and did our downstairs carpets and last night his exact words were something like, "OW! Argh! This is the LAST time I'll be doing these carpets myself". See? If we're going to have to start paying people to do stuff, well then we might as well move to a much smaller place - all on one level with no wood-burning furnace, no treatable logs, no driveway to shovel, no grass to mow, no chimney to clean and no carpets. Hmmmm, is there anything like that other than, say, the Lycoming County PRISON???

Well, we always dreamed of going to Ireland to live. Do they have retirement condos there? I doubt it. One little town we visited in northwest Ireland only got electricity in the 50's. I doubt that they have retirement condos. If I can't be in the woods, I'd like to be on the water. Like on our beloved Pine Creek or on a beautiful lake or even the ocean. But no, we're not moving to Florida. I still want the four seasons. Oh well, There's lots to think about. We're going to formulate a 5, 10 and 15 year plan. (It's all in God's hands, yes, but it's fun - maybe even wise - to plan ahead, anyway.)

For now, we're just happy it's spring!

Well, it's official...

I've given notice at work. I have 37 days of (paid) work - EVER - left! I finally got ahold of my boss today and told him that May 10th (the end of my scheduled semester of work) will be my last day. Wow. It's real now. I'm beside myself with excitement in looking forward to what my "free" life will be like.

Of course, I had a "free life" for 24 years when I decided I should go back to work - four years ago. Chris and I both agreed that it would be a good idea for me to go to work just so we could start saving up some retirement funds. The deal was I'd have to find the "perfect" job in order for that to happen, though. So I prayed and God most definitely answered. This has been the perfect job for me. I love what I do at the college (Athletics secretary), I work in a beautiful environment and I have the greatest boss and department staff ever. I will honestly miss them all.

But out of unforseen and unhappy circumstances has also come blessing and we are so grateful that now our retirement isn't as much of a concern anymore. Simply put, I don't have to work!

I'm experiencing the whole "the grass is NOT greener" thing. What I had before I went to work was what I now realize is best for me. But, God really gave me a gift in this job and I'm so glad I've had the experience there. Besides the great people I've met, I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned that I do have half a brain (though it's been leaking out with the estrogen lately...) and that I'm pretty darn good on the computer and that I DO get along well with others, by gosh! And working has also given me a perspective on my previous "free" life that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

I've also learned that I really am a homebody. I miss being in charge of my home. I've found that I can't work (even part-time) and keep up my home the way I'd like (and the way that it should be kept). And, since Chris IS home 4 days a week, a lot of the household stuff has fallen to him (i.e. cooking, dishes, bedding changes, floors). But there's just stuff that he doesn't do that simply doesn't get done if I don't do it. And it's so hard to come home from work tired (yes, even with a part-time job) and still have to do the stuff I must do. Anticipating being home full time again, I actually look forward to cleaning my house again. (Geesh, did I actually put that in writing?) And I want to take control of my health, too. Get back into meal planning, cooking healthy meals and exercising. I miss my lengthy quiet time in the morning and SOOO look forward to that again. I look forward to lunching with my friends and having time to serve in other ways in my church and community. And, now that I'm a scrapbooker, I have a ka-jillion projects swimming around in my mind, dying to get out. I may need to make more trips to Madison (to visit my mom) in the future and I want the freedom to do that. And, while Chris and I are still upright and walking without assistance, we want to travel any old time. And head up to Pine Creek on any beautiful day of the year. And go out to breakfast if we want - on any of his days off. And so on, and so forth...

Freedom. It's a beautiful thing. I need it. I thank God I can have it. I am truly blessed.

We're expecting!




New furniture, that is!

We began the search for new living room furniture and we were having trouble finding something that a) we liked, b) was the right color and c) we could actually sit on (to test out) in the store. But today we fell in love with this new baby! We knew we wanted a sectional, and we would have preferred it to be a little more "red" or I guess it would actually be called "burgundy", but this set is "black cherry" and since we didn't have to order it to be made and then fret over the arrival time (since we were literally on the brink of un-deliverability by June 8th) and also since we could actually sit on the piece instead of ordering something from a catalogue, we compromised on the color.

But not on the style, baby! We love this one. Love the sleekness and how it's tailored, low-backed and doesn't have all that pouffy stuff on the arms. We are also adding 2 seats to the side without the chaise and then, the whole thing will actually be flipped around in our room from what the picture shows.

And then, if the sectional wasn't cool enough, we found this awesome ottoman - elsewhere in the store - I mean, they're aren't part of a set or even by the same company, but the color and style match is spectacular. AND the thing opens up in the middle so you can store stuff in there... I love how you can put your feet on there, but can also slap a tray on there and still use it as a coffee table...

And then, it's going to be held in the warehouse until the middle of May, so it can be pretty brand spankin' new on wedding day. Oh, did I mention that this is part of the "house-fixup-for-the-wedding" project? Yep, the wedding is our excuse to fix/replace every crappy thing in our house. Well, on the first floor, anyway, which is all most people would see.

So, we came home very happy today and are excited to welcome our new addition home in May.

I found out about this link from a favorite blogger's site. You can download, for FREE (and for your own personal use), some way cool vintage and artsy stuff. Check it out! I'm happy to participate and celebrate a little o' the irish!

Hey, how do ya like that?

I decided to change the look of my blog. A little more muted. A little easier on the eyes. Yet very pleasing. I like it. No more red or green text, though.

My head is still like a fuzzy balloon today. I just can't sleep with it like this. I hate that. I even missed Praise Sunday today - for the very first time ever. I LOVE Praise Sunday more than anything else at church. I know everyone survived just fine without me. It's good to know they can. I guess. Ok, I admit I hope they missed me a little...

But my ARM. It's totally whacked out! I had an inkling something was wrong last night when I tried to move a pillow (regular size, not gargantuan or anything) and I felt some pain in my left arm. But then it got worse in the night. I couldn't sleep on my left side. (I actually couldn't sleep on ANY side, but I've already said that.) And by morning, I had to get out of bed before the alarm (which was for just in case I had a miraculous sinus drainage in the night and could actually go to church in the morning) even went off. Because my stupid arm hurt so much. Like, all the time, not only just when I move it! What is up with that?? I came downstairs and took some Ibuprofen which took forever and a day to kick in and now my arm only hurts when I MOVE it. Not good. (Yes, I can type without moving my arm.) Chris thinks it's some muscular thing - as opposed to a heart attack or some other horrific thing that we can't even think of.... Geesh. How will I go to work like this??? I'd love to try to go to a meeting at church tonight - but how can I take a shower and wash my hair and FIX my hair and get dressed and put on make-up? All those things definitely require MOVING my arm!! Well, Chris put the ki-bash on me going anyway. He says I should rest it as much as possible. Normally, I would love to have orders like that, but, well if you read my last blog entry, you know how I feel about that...

I'm falling apart, people. Not fun. Not happy. And do you think my back likes all this sitting around? I don't think so. My lumbars and my tailbone are NOT happy! Good thing I'm married to a chiropractor...

Aaaaccckkkkk! But I DO like the new look of the blog, don't you?

I'm home sick.

Not homesick. Home. Sick. As in laying around in bed and feeling like crap. When I'm not sick, having a sick day sounds like an inviting idea. But when I am actually sick, it really sucks. Because a sick day sounds like it could be a fun day - filled with laziness, coffee with your newspaper, devouring a novel or, of course, scrapping. But actually being sick? Well, I'm doing real well on the lazy part. It's taking every ounce of energy I have to hold my head up and to work my fingers on the keyboard.

Oh, it's nothing serious. Just a sinus thing where my head feels as big as a watermelon and throbs and aches and my left nostril is burning as is the back of my throat with post-nasal drip. Then there's the snorting and blowing and, well, I'll stop there. All so fun. NOT!

Being sick is such a waste of a perfectly good day off.