Hurting children

I've always had a heart for hurting children even when they are my own.  I was visiting Jennifer McQuire's blog today, she happens to be one talented woman.  She also has a heart for hurting children and runs card drives for children in need of encouragement.  She told of a young girl named Grace that just lost her twin sister Ellie to cancer. 

Cancer is such and ugly disease in any form.  Would you do something special for me today?  Would you visit Jennifer's blog, pick up her address and send a word of encouragement to a little girl who misses her sister more than anything?  I would appreciate it and so will Grace. 

A bit weird

I just love weekends, especially when I get a chance to be up before everyone else.  The house is so quiet, it starts it out right for me.  Next school year I need to remember this, maybe I'll make a habit of it.  This weekend also marks a start to a very differant summer for this family.  We are all doing differant things for the next couple of weeks.  My son is traveling to CA to spend time with his Uncle, my youngest and I will be traveling with my Step Mom to NE and my husband has graciously agreed to stay home to watch the animals and work.  His vacation time is already set for later in July.  It is just a bit weird to realize we won't be together.  I will use this time with my youngest daughter to just do as much relaxing as possible and try not to miss my boys to much.

The last week we have been in full get ready mode.  Last minute chores to do, suitcases to dust off, trying to figure out what to pack and we have also been creating.  Silly as it might be, when I go on a trip I like to have a couple of new things a purse/tote bag, a pair of fuzzy socks and a couple of new clothing items.  My youngest has been wanting to learn how to sew and it was the plan to do that this summer.  So we have taken the week to make that a reality and kill two birs with one stone, we made tote bags and I made a new purse.  The pattern for the tote bag was a challenge for a beginner like my daughter but she did well.  I am very proud of her!  You can find the pattern for the Amy Butler Birdie Sling tote bag here and the Bow Tucks Tote/Purse by Quilts illustrated here. 

So here is to the start of a wonderful summer!   

On it's way?

It is the last day of school, if you can really call it a day.  Seriously, do they really need to go to school for a total of three hours?  It has been over a week that I have had a hard time getting my children out of bed, there is NO motivation what so ever.  We are all excited about our plans for the summer, which I HOPE all work and no one is disappointed.  I am however really wondering if the summer weather will ever get here?  We are 10 to 15 degrees lower than we should be for this time of the year.  I know it is better than having 100 degree weather at least for me but I REALLY need the rain to stop doing it's thing everyday.

The last few months for me have been a jump start to getting things done, mainly scrapbooking projects.  I have discovered again through LOAD a few things.  I LOVE this hobby of mine and I believe I am over the guilt of every being caught up, it is pretty freeing.  I have learned about my style, what colors I use the most and what I love to do on my pages.  I have learned I am not a digital scrapbooker because I have this love affair with paper and pretty things.  I just LOVE it to much!  I know there are pretty things for the digital scrapbooker but reality is I am a hands on woman.  I have also been able to start to pin point the things I have purchased and just don't use.  Again pretty freeing to say it is okay to not use that and turn around, selling it to someone who will.  In my case it puts money in my pocket, so I can take a couple of online classes learning more about product that I own but haven't really used.  Like this class with Claudine Hellmuth and if you want to see a preview of what she has in store you can go to her blog.  With the help of LOAD in February and Shimelle's class I started on a road to spending less on scrapbooking supplies and actually using what I have.  Again freeing, especially walking into a store and looking around and saying........ya know, nothing really jumps out at me on a got to have list.

I shared my layouts in February here on my blog from LOAD but have decided to just post a link to my flickr gallery for the May LOAD.  I also completed my two oldest daughter's wedding albums, that you can see here and here, if you so desire.  For my own fun purpose I am keeping track of how many layouts I do this year and how many photos I will end being used.  Through the end of May, I have made 132 layouts and have used 512 photos.  When I started scrapbooking years ago it was with Creative Memories and I cut my photos into weird shapes.  I have also made a promise to myself that I will use those photos even if they are cut into weird shapes.  So if you see those weird shapes in some of my layouts you will know why.  Enjoy looking!!  Come back and let me know what you think.

Finally!

After weeks of rain here and cool temperatures, I tell you what I am ready for the warmer days!  It is so hard to get caught up on the weeding with the rain.  Finally got out there today, there were some that were over waist high.  Now if I can only get the dog to stop digging a cool spot from under my curly fig tree(that doesn't bare figs) I will be a happy camper.

I made it to my local nursery yesterday for some flowers.  Oh, how I love flowers and color!!  I decided this year to go pretty low key as we have some trips planned.  Plants in pots placed in just the right places so the sprinklers will hit them.  I really don't know how I did without underground sprinklers for years.  I love that I don't even need to worry or think about it anymore.  One of the things that made me totally happy this year was our monster Hydrangea bloomed.  It is so beautiful and I can't wait to figure out how to make it change color.  I promise I will post flower photos as soon as I can.  My video card died this week so as we wait for a replacement the computer isn't happy with the slower built in card OR maybe it is me that is impatient. 

Slowing Down

I tell you what, it is always the best of intentions.  You start each day with a list of things to do, then somewhere down the line you find that your day takes a turn.  It isn't the way it was suppose to be.  That pretty much sums up my life the last few weeks and months.  For the most part I feel like I am on a rollercoaster just hanging on for dear life, just hoping the next corner doesn't make me fall off.

So I think this week started out to be busy but has turned into a lesson of relearning to slow down.  Living in the moment, finding joy that has been misplaced and just being thankful for what I do have.  I am trying to not look at the fact that yesterday durning my errands my key phob decided to not lock my car, making it easy for someone to steal my hands free bluetooth device.  I don't understand why people feel the need to take things that don't belong to them.  I am also trying to not look at the sad fact that my computer has decided to be sick.  Instead I'm trying to see the silver lining......Maybe someone needed the bluetooth worse than me.  I can always buy another one.  I am thankful I had enough time to backup my photos to cd last night before my computer decided to really be sick.  I should have done it a long time ago.  I am thankful I have my hubby's laptop to even be able to post today and wondeful people in my life that are trying to help my sick computer.