Merry Christmas

This is my wish to you and your loved ones, that you have a peaceful and wonderful Christmas season. I know I haven't been around lately . . . I have been extremely busy. You would know this to be the truth if you know me because I have no new pages up at JSI. I hope everyone also has a fantastic new year and that there are pleasant things for all of us in 2009.

Moving Week Has Arrived

I decided after much stress, packing, cleaning, painting, moving . . . did I mention stress, that I would sit for one or two minutes and blog. I am to be in my new condo on Monday, so this past week has been a packing week. Last week was a painting and steam cleaning week. The week before that was a puttying and sanding week. So , no I haven't been in Vegas or Disneyland or on a hot beach relaxing. I am soooooooo tired and not done yet. I , weird as it sounds, hope I don't get called into work tomorrow, so I can get some moving done. As terrible as it sounds, I can't give up a day of teaching if they call me in. It eats me up and I can always use the money. Most schools have parent-teacher interviews tomorrow, so I think I'll have my day off. I did take some pictures of some pages, I just haven't had the time to post them. So, I hope next week brings some updates. I hope you are all well. Talk with you soon.

Jade - Co-op Kids' Club Newsletter

I'm kind of glad Jade doesn't look at this blog often. I told her she would be glad I did this page one day when she is older. We picked up a movie this past week and then ran over to the Co-op to get some munchies, when I spotted this Newsletter. I picked it up and pointed it out to her. Of course, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The clerk was wondering about it so I pointed to Jade in the flyer and then at Jade beside me. She smiled and told the next clerk. They thought it was as neat as did I. Jade kind of giggled too. I thought I should get it onto a page before the flyers weren't around anymore. I popped up a bunch of things on this page: the computer screen, the crayons, Jade and the title. It really looks neat in person. Since there was so much to put on the page because of the flyers, it was almost done by the time I glued everything down. I just wanted to highlight her.

Dream Machine

Sorry the colors went so "whack" on this post. I have always loved this line of Basic Grey so I brought it out of the stash. I used some amazing Prima felt (cut it a bit to make it fit), some Prima chipboard letters and some ribbon. Enjoying the page, enjoying the car. Just wish I could keep it clean in this mess we call Saskatchewan snow/sleet/flurries/slush/melt/mud mess.

No More Tough Guy Stuff Please

I decided to change the entire mood of this page. It began as a "Tough Guy" page. Then I decided that I didn't want to highlight the crazy things Matt had done; but rather state the point that the crazy things he did/does almost cost him his life. Watching my teenagers and thinking back to when I was a teenager and looking at Matt, I realize that teenagers think drastically different than adults. They think they are invincible and outwardly state that "they don't care" about the consequences. Well, after almost losing him to a single rollover accident on the highway (where the driver of his vehicle was killed) I feel it more responsible to scrapbook this page this way showing that I'd rather have him slow down, take care and stay alive. It's not worth losing our friends and family . . . So, I popped up some stars, added some orange brads on the large star, added to the title using rub-ons, added an orange circle using the coluzzle, a Creative Cafe arrow and journalled about Matt's accident on a hidden tag. Now I feel it's done.

When I Look At You . . .

This has always been a special picture to me. Somehow the page came together quite easily the other day. I found these sayings on on old sheet of patterned paper and the rest came together quite easily. I wasn't sure about the rub on but after the butterfly was applied and stickled, the stickles easily became a part of the rest of the page. I wanted to make sure that Lucas was not lost on the page.

Hot Rod Sucker

This was a fun page to do. I wanted to use the bicycle paper which had the blue on the back. I folded the bike paper back so you could see the blue. I used some mesh and then some ink around everything. I found one of Lucas's old play car wheels in with my buttons. I inked it and "drove it" across the page several times. I also made the title in the same way. I used rub-ons for part of the title. The next day I made a "sucker" out of a sucker stick and the sucker part out of glossy accents and Tim Holtz Lettuce ink. I made it on plastic and let it dry for hours. I cut it out of the plastic and glued it to the page.

Hi Lil' Guy

Man, doing this page was a challenge. Everytime someone came up to the counter at work, they looked at me with big eyes and asked whose baby it was. No, it's not Jade and Nathan's. The baby is Ty, my friend Rhea's baby. This was the first time he visited our house and everyone got to hold him. Jade was used to holding babies because of her twin baby sisters. Nathan on the other hand, had never held such a little baby before. Check out the old, old pink paper, my grandma's buttons and old ribbon. Cool huh?

Tough Guy

These papers looked so good together that I just had to do the page. I found a picture of my nephew Matt that looked perfect on it. I used some old foam stamps to do the title. I don't think I'm done with this page yet, but it was snowing outside and the store was closed and I had to drive across the city to get Jade so I just said it was done for the day. Any suggestions?

My Daughter Jade

I used an older chipboard flourish and added some Stickles and glitter. I used a couple of our dies for the shapes and some old flowers too. I wanted to do this page because of what Jade said the other day. When someone mentioned that we had the same eyes, Jade said that it was a good thing because she always liked my eyes. It made my day.

daydream

I have used this picture a few times here and there because I like pictures of people when they don't know I am taking their picture. Jade loves pink and the opposite side of the paper was herringbone. I added the blue because of her shirt. The rub-ons were left overs as was the ribbon and button. I love simple uncluttered pages like this.

Found some old pictures of the girls playing with their Polly Pocket Dolls in the basement closet. They used to love this. If they disappeared for awhile, I knew they were down their in their own little world of dollies. I added a few inches of ribbon, a rub-on and some buttons. Makes for a cute page . . . simple and effective.

Life is an Adventure, Live It!

Lucas loved teaching his cousins how to ripstick. I guess, just like anything, once you've learned how to do something, you make it look easy to do. Well, Matt thought it looked easy . . . until he wiped out. So I used some new Heidi Swapp paper and added some old rub-ons and ink. Makes for a boyish looking boy page.

Pookie Lion

This was one of my favorite trick or treaters this year. Rhea made Ty this adorable lion costume. He came over, sat, cooed, rolled over, ate and was just plain old cute all night until he fell asleep. What a cutie pie.

I Stand Corrected

Dumb-___, dumb-___, dumb___!! Why did I have to go and open my mouth. I am not bored, I will never be bored, in fact, I don't know what the word means. I hope everyone has a great Halloween, filled with candy and cute little monsters. Began a few pages over the past few days. Should be up and running on the site soon.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble . . .

I'm bored! Really, really! Weird huh? I guess when I am not running my butt off, I get bored. Anyone know any good jokes? Could use a few . . . they're fun . . . like dodgeball! No, I haven't been drinking or anything like that. Kinda makes you want to make that "WHOA" face! See Laura, I can make you laugh even when I'm not there. Tell me a story, anecdote or joke to get us all through our day. Thanks guys!

It's a Boy Thing

Ralna asked me to do a page with this paper and it was so easy. I decided to do something I haven't done for awhile . . . I used chalk to color the images. See, the pictures were very light in color, so I had to keep the page light. Seemed to work.

Being Jade

Love the paper. Love the pictures. Fun, fun, fun!!!! Simple, but effective. Ralna made a fantastic page with this paper too.

Sweet

We got the most amazing Co-ordinates Cardstock "Chocolate Box" this weekend. I finally got some of it. (I missed it the last time we got the black stuff in). I used some Riff Raff "Dill" chipboard, layed it underneath and sandpapered it. I added some bling and called it quits. I'm trying to get some MOJO back. It may take awhile.

TB Sanitorium - The Pas, MB

Again, a Page Map. These are pictures of my mom and where she worked when she met my father. Old paper, die cut letters and stuff . . . I just paid off my tab at work. I haven't paid it off since July 26th. No, it wasn't so bad . . . under $100.00. Yeah scraps. Just remember . . . I bought and bought and bought for the past 9 years. Now I have a bunch o' scraps to use up. Yess!!!!

The Petriews

Crazy colors from the 70's. I used a bunch of old paper and Page Maps to do this page. I really haven't done much scrapbooking lately and am out of my groove. I use Page Maps to get my mojo going again. These are my cousins!

He-ll-oooo

Have you seen the movie "Death at a Funeral" (I'm not asking you Laura because I know the answer)? The author brother comes in the house and says "He-ll-oooo" in a way I found quite hilarious. I keep saying it like that . . . I know I'm weird. Anyhow, thought I'd let you know, I finally got that new laptop I've been wanting for so long and now I may be able to get up on here a bit more often. From my bed . . . cool. I need to download/upload so many programs and things which may take awhile, but Jade helped me get on here, so I am happy. I'll get some pictures soon . . . like now! I must go, Jade is on Candy Mountain and I can't handle it. Talk with you soon.

What the Junk?

Well, I just typed all of this "STUFF" on here and then deleted it. It's kinda the way I shop. Today, I typed to get all of my worries out and then deleted it because no one wants to hear my sob stories. I tend to shop the same way. I pile lots of stuff into my cart and then slowly return it and some days I don't buy any of it. But it made me feel good putting it in the cart. I know, I'm weird. Well, I hope everyone had fun at the crop. The staff felt it went well and we had a lot of fun. We tend to have a lot of fun no matter what . . . I was worried about the beans and burritos for awhile; but I think everyone got out of the backroom unscathed. Deb, thank me for deleting the next ramblings I just erased. It had to do with the horse shoes and Johnny Cash. Laura or I will be glad to fill you in. I did this great lesson on how humans are destroying the earth today. I hope everyone realizes that when I ask if you need a bag at the store, it is because I have been informed that it takes 1000 years for a plastic bag to decompose in the garbage dump. Time for reusable bags ladies. I did one page this last week. Yes, ONE! When I get to my camera I may even post it. But for now, I will leave you with this so Lucas can get on the computer. Take care, hope to hear from everyone soon.

Thanks Guys!!

Geesh! It sure was nice to hear from you guys. I have been packing like crazy and moving boxes to my mother's basement, working on Estimating Square Roots when they don't have perfect squares and learning about the Pythagorean Theorem which I did not learn in Elementary School, Highschool or University; but had to teach today. Thank goodness for some prep time to familiarize myself with it. I must admit, Substitute Teaching MAKES you learn curriculum after curriculum after curriculum . . . in other words, you learn a lot. The rain is making me tired and I'm going to head to bed. Thank you for commenting on my blog, it made me realize you guys are really still out there.

"I Am Legend"

Where have all of the scrapbookers gone? I feel like all of my regular scrapbooking friends have disappeared. Part of it may be because I am not at the store as much; but it seems like I don't hear from anyone on my blog either. I know, where are my pages? Well, I managed to do one today at the store. I am moving in December and have been working on moving some stuff out of my condo and that has kept me really busy. Janys and I cleaned the store the other day and that took some of my scrapbooking time up too. I would really like to know where everyone is. I'll try to get some more stuff up on my blog soon too. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Daniel

Just another Elton page. Of course matching colors can be a difficult task and somehow I ended up spending more on this page than I wanted with the transparency, glitter paper and letters . . . but it is Elton right?!?! It has to be flambouyant and colorful. Man, can that guy play a mean piano and sing those songs that bring back so many memories. Andrea came in the store today and said she hated whoever did this page. Sorry, but I missed the last one and almost missed this one. I would have hated everyone that went if I hadn't too. I understand. It is a fulfillment of one of my life dreams and again, I thank Ralna for it.

50+ Years Later

I hope this page means as much to my family as it did to me. My Uncle Gary came down for my dad's birthday. He surprised him with a day of visiting. It was wonderful for both of them I'm sure. I just had to get a picture of the two of them together because I remembered that I had this other picture of them from years and years and years ago. I was really happy when I found it and saw that they were sitting in the same places. Mom says that my dad was probably 18 and Gary was 12 in the picture so . . . that makes them each 56 years older. It is so bizarre how you can see that it is them. Again, I am happy that I got this picture. I put the "Johnson" ribbon on it because that is my maiden name . . . therefore, their last names. COOL!!!

Happy 74th

This is that picture that I took of my dad on his birthday. My mom saw it today and loved it. It is so difficult to get a good picture of him. I used some new Basic Grey, some Creative Cafe, some 29th Street and a Quikutz on the Hotshot. Man, that seems like garble unless you know the stuff. Probably what my son thinks . . . I think that of his garble from Runescape. I am just glad I have such a great picture to remember this birthday.

Celebrate 74

We just celebrated my father's 74th birthday. While I was using my Cosmo Cricket paper for my vehicle maintenance book, I used some of it for my dad's card. I was very happy to get this picture because it is difficult to get a good photo of my dad since he has Parkinson's Disease and finds it hard to sit up straight. I also managed to get a photo of my dad and his brother Gary. I will do a page with them soon.

We just celebrated my father's 74th birthday. Since I was already working with Cosmo Cricket, I used some of it for his card. I think this is one of the best photos I have gotten of my dad lately. He has Parkinson's Disease and finds it very difficult to sit up straight. I like that the candles light up his face.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Well, this is the page. I used glitter paper, lazer cut star paper which I used bits and pieces of. I used H.Swapp Ghost letters which I stickled. I found all the letters I needed for the title which amazed me. At the end I used some of our new lazer cut star stickers and outlined a few of the red stars. I will do a few more paged eventually. Doing all sorts of things lately.

Shadow Box

When we got these shadow boxes damaged in transit, I told Ralna I could do something with one so I painted it blue and then put some black crackle paint on it. I sandpapered it and then put some memorabilia in it. I have so many letters from my ancestors in Germany that were written before, during and after WWII. They were written with the kind of pen that I included in the box which I found in my grandparents things. I included some photos and lace. I now have my father's father's memorabilia in a shadow box and my mother's mother's in one. Luckily they are done in similar colors so they should look good on a wall together.

Vehicle Maintenance

I am getting ready for the new car. I have my scrapbooked Vehicle Maintenance Book to keep track of how much gas at what price, oil changes, repairs, etc. It will be much more stylish than the ones you get with the cars. I used our die and the zutter. I also made use of some of my stash of patterned paper again . . . yes!

It May Be First, But It Won't Be The Best

Well, I have the page . . . the ELTON page up in the store (you know the one Laura was waiting for). It isn't quite done, but it is okay. I found a few things tonight that I will put on it still. I didn't have my camera tonight and since it isn't done, I don't have it up for the blog. It's weird, because Elton is such a "blingy" guy, it seems the page should follow suit. Needs more bling . . . at least this page does. The rest may not. Hopefully it will be up on my normal Sunday blog. Wait for Ralna's, it will be amazing.

Rocket Man (I Think It's Gonna Be a Long, Long Time)

In keeping with my concert/picture taking "problem", I snapped a few at Sir Elton John's concert at Credit Union Centre on Monday night. My 300 mm zoom SLR was being borrowed by a friend, so I had my new camera with less of a zoom. I took some pictures anyhow. Ralna got some amazing photos. It was the most fantastic concert that I have been whining about to everyone about for months. Ralna, managed to get two tickets the morning of the concert and graciously asked me if I wanted to go with her. I think the highlights for me were: CROCODILE ROCK, GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD, BENNIE AND THE JETS, DANIEL, ROCKET MAN AND OF COURSE: THE BITCH IS BACK. This one should last me for awhile . . . that is until AC/DC shows up . . . rumors are amongst us!

Ralna - Bo Balna - Bananabana Is My Hero

I don't usually journal blog. I almost always have a page to post. However, this weekend has had so many twists and turns that I decided to talk about it. I taught all last week in an amazing classroom at St. Philip school. The children were a delight to teach. Being able to teach the same students for five full days was so much fun. I did however, feel for the teacher I was filling in for because she had an absolutely horrible cold and everyone was worried about her. I am happy that she is feeling better and was able to return to school today. I will, though, miss those 22 smiling faces. I was tired friday night, but the exhuberant people we are able to visit with at our Late Night Crops really got me in a great mood. You guys are so much fun. Thank you for making my other job just as enjoyable as the other. How many people can say they "LOVE" both of their jobs. Then on Saturday, just after gas prices jumped to an all time "stupid" amount, I decided on and ordered a car. I have been scrimping and saving for years and holding my breath that my old van would get me through until I could afford something more reliable. So, a Toyota Corolla it is . . . but I have to wait for it to arrive. What I make in payments, I should save in gas. Then Saturday night, my sister phoned from Edmonton and informed me that my nephew was in a single vehicle roll over on the highway home. Matt was thrown 40 feet from the truck and was in hospital. He was hurt badly; but the driver of the truck was killed. The other passenger was pinned in the vehicle and needed to be taken out with the jaws of life and air lifted to the hospital. He underwent 12 hours of surgery. Shocked us all back to reality. We don't know the details; but we were told alcohol was involved. DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE AND DON'T LET ANYONE ELSE DRIVE WHEN ALCOHOL IS INVOLVED . . . PLEASE!! Now, my upside. After dropping my kids off at school this morning, I went to photograph my pages so I could blog when I got home. Ralna called me on the phone, asking me how my day was going. After I said okay, she told me she was going to make my day even better. She got ahold of two Elton John tickets and asked me if I wanted to go with her! OMG!!! She knew how bad I wanted to go and I don't know how to thank her for thinking of me. What a sweetheart huh?? So, the next time you see me, who knows how I'll feel . . . but I guess that is the same for all of us. Daily life isn't normally the expected. All I know is that I try my hardest to do what is right and hope for the best. I guess the way to look at it is: I have two jobs, am making ends meet, my children are all healthy (except for colds and stuff), my parents are okay, I have wonderful friends, I get to look forward to a new car, my nephew is alive, I have a thoughtful and kind boss and the sun is shining.

Gone Fishin' - Catch and Release

I had to include both title on this page because they went fishing; but no one wanted to clean the fish, so they let all of them but one . . . go! This is a picture of Lucas catching his first ever fish. Jordan helped him bring it in. I guess they caught quite a few, but let them go. Lucas is also catching on to the "fish stories" as he swears he caught the biggest fish of the weekend. I used our "Old Guys Rule" paper but excluded the "Old Guys" stuff from the page. I must credit my good scrappin' buddy Sheryl Schmidt with the idea to paint the fish net and "stamp" it on to my page as opposed to using the actual fish net. If she can do it with bubble wrap, I figured I could do it with fish net. I used some "Perfect Pearls" on the fish and then glossy accented them so they looked wet. It's difficult to see; but I also have some fishing line on the page with a hook attached to it just above the fish mouth. I think this was my favorite page of the past few weeks.

Sexy

It's what Faith called the car . . . sexy! As the journalling says, Cal traded keys with Faith and let her take the car for a cruise. She was so excited. She must be my child, she loves the older "hotrod-ish" cars. She loves the lines and the sound of the engine. The Basic Grey line worked really well with the colors in the picture. Helped to keep the car page "girlie". Some rub-ons, magic mesh and Cloud 9 chipboard letters helped to complete the page.

Smile

Cute aren't we? This is my brother Ken, sister Donna, brother Dale and I and in the bottom picture my sister Donna and I. My mom used to love to dress us up. These pictures were taken in a house we lived in in Sutherland on 115th Street. I used the Wild Asparagus line of paper for this because the colors worked so well. I think the sticker "SMILE SMILE SMILE . . ." is from an older line of Asparagus. The flourishes are on a transparency and worked very nice for the layout. Again, another page to help us remember where we came from and help us remember just how fast we all grow up. My children are all older than us kids are in these pictures.

Hiss Ruff Meow Bark

We had this family dog . . . Charlie. Then I got this kitten for Valentine's Day . . . Valentino. These two got along fabulously. I have had these pictures forever. We got this shredded paper out of some box (packing stuff . . . you know what we used before the styrofoam peanuts). These two played in it for hours. They were the best of friends. They would wait in line for water behind each other after playing. They would jump on each other's back and chase each other around the house. They were inseparable. I got to use one of each of the cat and dog paper for this; but it was nice because the background was the same so the page looks like it was made that way . . . nope . . . made to look that way. By the way, Ralna is amazing, I'll tell you why later.

Flocking Pages

I have really been having fun flocking on some of my pages lately. I flocked the "Bison" and the stems of the pumpkins on these two pages. These bison are on Cal's sisters boyfriends ranch. I thought they looked really unique and they worked well on the Basic Grey paper. The page on the bottom is from when we were kids. I am not in the picture because I was only two years old; but it is a page for my family album. I just wanted to be able to remember the types of costumes my parents (Mom) put us in.

School's Back In

I feel kind of terrible. So, I thought I would blog to let you know that I haven't forgotten about my blog; however, I have been very busy with work . . . teaching work! I have done a few pages; but have forgotten to take my camera to work and photograph them. Therefore, there are no new posts on my blog. I usually try to get one done on Sunday; but that didn't happen this week either . . . forgot my camera at home.

Hey, since I have the attention of so many smart women out there . . . I have a question for you I hope you can help me with:

Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla ???????

44

Another year, another birthday. So, at 44 I prefer to wear jeans and a t-shirt, I like my toenails painted blue, I enjoy reading novels every chance I get, I love my music and my children for buying me an MP3 player for my birthday and showing me how to download music onto it. I have to have a cell phone to keep in contact with my kids at all times and I am enjoying having short hair for the first time in many years. Just another milestone. It really hit me hard though, when I registered Lucas for school and realized I only have one child in elementary school and three in highschool. Put me in a whole new class of individuals and thank you to Noreen Duguid for saying to me, "You don't look old enough to have children in highschool." It helped a lot.

Ready to Ride

Again, I did a horse page; Sky tacking up Neeko. Ralna had a Tim Holtz stamp that looked like the leather flowers on the saddle, so I embossed them with Versamark and clear embossing powder. I used old metal letters and metal plates. I love that I have so many memories for my children.

Jack

This was a really fun page to make. I used really old paper and stitched the "x's" with Scrapper's Floss. Then I "flocked" the title "Jack" and the arrow.

Jump On, Hold Tight, Shut Up

Whenever we went to the farm to go riding, Sky was the one in charge. She is the best with animals and isn't afraid of the horses. Lucas got his turn on Neeko and I had to get a page done for him. I used old Cosmo Cricket paper because it was "horsey".

auntie

This is a very simple page using some new paper. I must admit, it is kinda nice being an auntie when your kids are older. Babies are much more fun when you can sleep at night etc.

Wasp Swatter Slick

I dare you to say that one three times real fast!. "Slick" was a nickname my father gave Faith when she was young . . . it stuck! While we were over at my parents house for supper on Aug. 20th (my 44th Birthday), we were swarmed by wasps while trying to eat outside. Finally, Faith got fed up and asked for the swatter. She got quite a few, but by then, most of us had escaped to the house. She gathered up her catch (which she wants in a plastic envelope on this page) and tried to save them before the ants carried them away. I love the expressions she has on her face on this layout. She has quite the personality and isn't afraid to use it.

Race Fans

Thank you Shawn/Shaun (sp) for the tickets to SIR. I went with my daughter Faith, who has decided that the Camaro in Cal's backyard is calling her to a life of drag racing. We sat in the stands and listened to engines and talked about cars. While her boyfriend is a NEON SRT4 fan, Faith and I are '60's and '70's Hotrod fans. Whenever, she heard the rumble of a "real" engine, she'd nudge her boyfriend and say, "That is what you call 'real' music to my ears."<- That's my daughter! She wants me to teach her a bit more about which cars are which: Chargers, Camaros, Cudas, Chevelles, Novas, Challengers, Mustangs, etc. Can you tell we had fun??!!

Beautiful

Well, this was my first attempt at watercolors. I know it doesn't look like much . . . but it took me six hours. It is a delicate, pretty page and that is what I wanted it to look like. I added some flowers, brads and bling along with the title from the Sizzix machine.

You know, I wondered why I put this page on the blog afterall. I was warned about not putting other people's pictures or names on here and once I got started I almost blurred everything. But I think you still get the idea. I just found this picture and thought Lucas would want it scrapbooked.

Wedding Party

Again, another wedding page with the new paper. I added some glitter flourishes using a glue pad and flourish acrylic stamps. Then I added some greet bling flowers and put some cinnamon stickles in the center. Finally getting some of those Wheeler Wedding pages done.

Bridesmaids

We got this new great paper in the other day. Fortunately, it matched Rhea's wedding really well so away I went with some new pages. I added the rub-ons on the bottom corners and used the Big Shot for the title. Simple again but effective.

Moooooooooooooo.......

Ty came over (and brought Rhea) the other day. We went out for lunch, did some shopping at McNally Robinson and then headed back to the condo. We visited for awhile and I got to play with Ty. I thought it was time for some newer pictures of "my" baby. I pulled a 1990's and paper pieced the cow on his outfit and then diecut the fence and title. Very 90's but also very baby. Is he not cute, cute, cute!

Thirteen

Well, this kind of goes with my other page. You know the one "Redrum". Well, as the story goes, this is what Sky did when I asked her to smile for a picture. Thirteen is a tough age. I guess that is why there is a movie called "Thirteen" about a girl who is wild at the age of thirteen. I don't even think there are any pictures of me at that age because I wouldn't let anyone take a picture of me. Either that or I wasn't home long enough for my family to take a picture of me. Well, if you have been wondering how I have been doing lately, this page and my 5 Rules page may explain some of it.

Chaa

Ya, a bit bizarre. The bird's name is Charlie. My children have been watching this U-Tube video called Candy Mountain about some unicorns going to Candy Mountain. They repeat the "Chaa---r---l---eee" constantly or even just the "Chaa . . ." Jade has the Chaa on her nametag at work and people actually think it is her name eventhough "Jade" is on it above it. I was going to use the new bird paper (we have gerbil and hamster too); but this old paper looked better with the coloring of Charlie so I went that way.

Snapshots

Okay, can anyone say "Old Paper" Sheesh! It matched so I used it. I also used some new magic mesh and creative cafe felt ribbon, title, buttons and flowers. Like the page, love the colors and the pictures. Fun, Fun, Fun . . .

Ach Du Lieben Bill

This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandparents. They always bickered playfully with each other in their kitchen. Bill would go out visiting around the neighborhood and Erna would wait and wonder where he was. "Where have you been Bill Follack" was a frequent question. Bill would smirk and reply something like "What, have you missed me?" They were the cutest couple, Bill always reaching for Erna's hand or leg. She would always look embarassed but smile. She passed away after a lengthy illness and Bill was left alone for a few years. He couldn't survive without his sweetheart and his health deteriorated. He ended up in a nursing home and developed dementia/alzheimers and then cancer eventually overtook him. At his funeral, the family did not want an open casket because he looked so weak and sick; but the "church ladies" had to see him (I think they were morbid) but it gave them something to talk about . . . how horrible he looked at the end. Can you tell it still bothers me because it hurt my mom so much? Anyhow, while the casket was opened, the family stayed in another room and were visibly upset by the request of an open casket. I looked at my mom and her siblings and said: "Think of it the way I see it: I see Grandma waiting for Grandpa at the gates of heaven saying, "Bill Follack, where have you been?" It made everyone smile and helped us get through the rest of the day.