A toot of a different sort...

I had a patient come back to me and tell me something wonderful. Some advice that I gave her actually made a big difference in her life. I was working in one of the outpatient neuro clinics a couple of weeks ago and met a rather young woman that had suffered a stroke. She was doing fairly well physically, but was still having trouble falling up her stairs to her home. She had no trouble on normal stairs which are closed in the back, but hers were open, and she tended to place her foot straight on through the back of the step and fall. So, my suggestion to her was to buy some of the anti-skid strips from Lowes or Home Depot and place those on the step to reinforce the visual end to the step. And you know, it actually worked!!! I was so happy to see her again yesterday and have her tell me that. Yay!!!! It's such a good feeling to know that I helped someone.

Isn't she lovely?

Anna loves to try on things... like her daddy's sunglasses... I caught her in some good light holding his glasses... isn't she cute?

Whew!!!!

I just finished my album for the KI Memories contest... now I have to make copies and get it in the mail!!!

What kind of radio listener are you?

So, I 'm on my way to work. Do I:
A: Be socially responsible and listen to NPR... so I can keep up with what is really going on in the world?
B: Indulge my inner teenager and listen to old 80's and 90's rock on the mediocre appeals to those approaching middle age station?
or C: Be totally irreverant and listen to the DC 101 shock jock?

Well, this morning I was irreverant.... yesterday I indulged my inner teenager... but this afternoon I was socially responsible!

My dh has XM radio, which is nice (especially the Lucy station!!), but I kind of miss local radio... I somehow feel very connected to my community by listening to local radio. Anyone else ever thought about this?

Here's a new layout!

I had to scrap this photo Tisha took of me with Anna.... it speaks volumes about this stage in Anna's life!!! Thanks, Tisha, for such great material to work with!!

Bazzill, ribbon (Michaels), leather photo corners and flowers (Making Memories), letter stickers (American Crafts).

Calling all designers!!!

Here's a great opportunity!!! Scrapncircle is looking for a few new DT members!!!

Scrap N Circle (www.scrapncircle.com) is looking for 5 Design Team members and 1 Coordinator! We are looking for individuals who are willing to be active members on our forums and our gallery. You will complete projects using the products sent. This will be a 6 month term.

DT Requirements are as follows:
Post a minimum of 4 new tops a week.
Reply to other topics created by members.
Comment in our gallery! We all like to hear praise about our work.
Projects to be completed are at least 2 NEW layouts monthly with products.
Create an altered project every other month. We will have 3 members do this every other month.
Advertise for us wherever and whenever you can, if another board allows you to post a blinkie please do.

DT Coordinator Requirements are as follows:
Set up a list for our DT members, such as dates challenges are to posted.
Help put together contests for the following month
Help send emails to manufacturers for sponsorship if need be.
Communicate well with Design Team and Members or our forums...and most of all
Keep our DT motivated!!!

IF you think you have what it takes to be on our design Team please send 3 examples of your work, along with the following questions answered, to scrappinhero@comcast.net

1) Name, Address, Phone
2) Please tell us what other boards you are active on.
3) Do you belong to other Design Teams?(this does not affect your chances of being chosen)
4) How long have you been scrapping?
5) Do you enjoy altered crafts, if so what item do you enjoy to alter MOST?
6) Why do you feel you would make a great member of our Design Team?
7) Tell us a bit more about yourself.

There's a great group over there!!! I have been on their DT since the fall of 2004... this site is like home to me!!! Jeri just re-opened the store (very exciting!), and we have had several great sponsors in the past few months!!!

So, check it out!

www.scrapncircle.com

I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHA was a blast!!! I had so much fun bonding with my girlfriends Tisha, Tabitha, and Shannon! I had never met Shannon before, but we had talked on the computer and phone... but it was as if I had known her my whole life!! And, of course, Tisha and Tabitha are local to me, but I never get to see them enough!! We also met Jenn from Scrappinchicks!

We even got into town to see the city (thanks to Shannon... so glad she drove down to meet us!!). We went to Windy City Scrapbooks (awesome store!!!), Margie's Candies (still the best hot fudge EVER!!), the Navy Pier (the pic of Tisha is from the ride!), and did some shopping downtown, including the American Girl store. I can't wait until both of my girls are old enough to make that trip! Shannon dropped us off in town after the pier, and Tisha, Tabitha, and I rode the El back to Rosemont!

Anyway, I met so many fabulous people!!! The pea gathering was fun! I even got to crash the CK reception with Tisha (who was actually invited!). And I loved walking the floor! Did some ordering for Scrappinchicks, but mostly just oooohhhhed and aaahhhhed over all the beautiful new scrapbook supplies! And networked!!!

So, I'm happy to have gone, but even happier to be home now. I really missed my babies!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

My baby turned one today! We had her party last Sunday... nothing too big and overwhelming, just our close family.

She sure did enjoy her cake!

I feel guilty that I am so lucky...

Truly, I do mean this. I must take the time to thank God a few times a week for allowing me to be born in America. Not only that I am American, but that I live relatively comfortably, that I have a good husband, good family, and two beautiful children.

I feel guilty sometimes to have all of this. Proud, but guilty. Why, you ask, should I feel guilty?

When I look at what is going on in the rest of the world, I do feel guilty. I am conflicted. I live my life in my own little world, full of my family, career, hobbies... and then I look at all that is happening in the real world... the big picture. It's disturbing.

How can I go about my day to day activities and pretend like there is nothing happening in the Middle East? in Africa? in Indonesia? in North Korea? or any third world or developing nation? Again, feeling guilty that America is the cause for much of the unrest in the Middle East.... I know I did not make the choice to invade Iraq, but I am a part of the nation that did.

I recently watched part of Farenheit 9/11. I had to turn it off. I literally bawled my eyes out for nearly an hour after I did... it was awful seeing what happened to innocent children... I couldn't help but think of my own and how tortured I would be if anything happened to my babies! And to see how our troops have been forced to cope with the stress of war... ugh!!! So glad my husband does not have to fight over there and that I don't have a son old enough to do so. That documentary is a brilliant piece of propoganda. It had the desired effect of making me feel angry, disturbed, and extremely guilty....

I'm having nightmares, too... since before seeing the documentary, I have had recurring dreams that my country has been taken over by terrorists. Women have no rights, even being told what to eat and wear. And we are not allowed true contact with our children... I always wake up from these and have difficulty falling back to sleep.

Yet, here I am, still self-absorbed and living my life in my own little world. How do I react to what is happening? What can I do? I don't think I can change foreign policy!

I wrote a letter to former President Bush (when he was in office... I was in high school.) I actually coplimented the way he had managed the Desert Storm conflict in Iraq, comparing him to such great presidents as Jimmy Carter with specific references to foreign policies. Do you know what I got back? A form letter that had NOTHING to do with what I had written about. That was enough to disinterest me from spending 3 days writing such a monumental document and sending it off the the circular file ever again!!! It really burst my idealistic bubble to know that my letter did not deserve a true response.

I have a friend who lives in Israel. She actually has dual citizenship both in America and Israel. She lives there with her husband and 4 children. I worry about her. I asked her when she told everyone she was moving over there if she was afraid, and she said no. Well, now I am afraid for her.

I am tired of seeing images of death and destruction on TV.... and don't know what I can do to stop the chaos in this world.

So, I guess I will continue to live in my happy world, as most of us do, and pretend that these conflicts don't exist... except when I pray at night. And I will continue to hold my children close... and hopefully, I will figure out a way to change the world eventually....

Such a little diva!!!

This behavior started in the womb... I actually have an ultrasound picture with her hand resting on her forehead as if to say, "Enough pictures already... I need to rest!!!"

And this is how Anna relaxes in the pool. Without fail this summer, she has whined to lie on the raft every time we have gone swimming. We attended a BBQ in my in-laws neighborhood, which we attend every year every July 4th, and one of their neigbhors has a pool. It wasn't long after Anna got comfortable on the raft that she drifted off to sleep. I had to take a snapshot!

Wooohooooooo!!!

The top 30 finalists (including the 3 winners and 5 HM's) in the Junkitz Designer Draft were posted yesterday!!! I was THRILLED to be among the 22 finalists. Sure, I didn't win a spot on the DT, but I feel like a winner just being a finalist!!

So, thanks, Stacey and team, for making me feel like a winner!!! YAY!!!!

A 2 pager!!!

I shocked myself with this, really.... I used to do all 2 page layouts, but have pretty much done only one pagers for quite some time now! But last night, when inspiration struck, I could only think of 2 pages!!! I knew I had to scrap these pics of my dd playing in the sprinkler!!

I used Kelly Panacci for Sandylion patterned papers, Gin-X coaster flowers, Doodlebug letter stickers, and buttons by Doodlebug and Foo-fa-la. Sorry about the crummy scan... it was very lumpy!!!

In other news, Anna has quite taken to this whole walking thing. After much practice since she began taking steps at 10 months, it has finally become her preferred mode of transportation (that is, if Momma isn't carrying her!!!)

Whew!!

I received an e-mail from Debbie Hill with Junkitz to let me know that they did receive my entry!! (thank you for doing that!!!) Now I can return to my regular nail-biting with the rest of the entrants!!!

****

Here's a layout I just just did with the April kit for Scrappinchicks. Papers are by A2Z. The sketch for this layout is posted on Scrappinchicks as part of our cybercrop we had on June 25th. TFL!!!

In other news, I am absolutely CRUSHED that I did not receive a confirmation e-mail from my Junkitz Designer Draft entry.... I just read on 2peas that we were supposed to get one, and the web site confirmed it. So, I may have done all of that work for nothing!!!! I have e-mailed them, so, hopefully I will hear something tomorrow... keep your fingers crossed that they got my entry please!!!

Ahh... the young ones are oh so wise...

So, I took my older dd (who is 4 1/2) to the mall the other day so I could shop, and she could play. We strolled through Express, and my dd saw the shorts on these models here hanging up on the rack.

"Mommy!!! Look!!! They have Anna size shorts here!!!"(Anna is, of course, her 11 month old baby sister!!!) Yes, they do have Anna size shorts, Kendall. Yes, they do!!!

She had me cracking up!!! *sigh* My body USED to be the right type to fit the clothes in that store!!!

The Dares!!!

I finally did one!!!

"Are You My Mother?"

Journaling reads:
*Anna, when you were born, I thought it took the nurses forever to bring you to me. When your sister was born, I held her and nursed her right away. But since you were born by c-section, the doctors and nurses had all kinds of things they had to do to me before I could hold you. *I often wonder what you must have been thinking about during that time, wondering yourself if all of the people holding you and doing things to you were your mother. The doctor held you, your daddy held you, several nurses held you, and I think even a grandma or two all held you before I did. Were you asking yourself if they were your mother?*I was grateful for that moment about 3 hours after you were born when I was finally able to hold you. For I am here, I will always be here, and I am indeed your mother. And I love you very much.

Supplies: Patterned paper (KI Memories), Cardstock (Bazzill), Ink (Colorbox), Staples (Target), Transparency (Apollo), Ribbon (recycled from a baby gift), Rub-on letters (Making Memories), Embroidery floss (DMC).

OK, I have to admit.... I cheated. I had done this layout a couple of months ago, but it totally fit this dare of using a book title for your layout title. And it's one of my favorites that I've ever done!

The ladies who do "The Dares" are amazing, and they have inspired a whole new aspect of scrapping challenges!!! Thanks for your inspiration, ladies!!!

Identity reality...

I wouldn't call it a crisis... more of a realization. I cleaned out my underwear drawer today. I know, not such an interesting topic, but it had to be done!!! And I got rid of everything I could wear pre-baby #1, saying good-bye to all of those pretty things I used to fit into! Very sad... but I was running out of room in that drawer. And since, well, let's face it, the newer models are larger in more than one aspect, I really needed that space!

I kept hanging on to those old pieces thinking that I'll fit into them again one day!!! But IF (and WHEN) that ever happens, all of the elastic will have dry-rotted anyway!!!

The other piece to this realization.... I disposed of all of my maternity underwear. I have officially given up on the fleeting thought that I might have another child someday!

This is a good thing, though, since I did partially replenish my undergarment wardrobe at Victoria's Secret yesterday. (you know they are having a sale, right?) My dh balanced the checkbook last night. He was very curious to find out what I had spent $$$ on in that store!!! It was all very necessary, I assured him. As my younger dd approaches her first birthday (next month), and my nursing days are *almost* over, I needed new bras! Ones that don't open in the front or have huge front hooks that show through my clothes!!! Ahhhh.... I see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

Hopefully soon I will start feeling more like a wife, and less like a mother. I love being a mother, but my dh would much prefer to have at least part of his wife back!!

Sorry, but there won't be any pictures about this!!!! And, if you made it this far, thanks for reading my story!!!

I'm throwing my hat in the ring....

For the Junkitz DT contest again. I have 2 dream teams.... Junkitz and KI Memories. Yes, there are many fabulous manufacturers out there who have wonderful products, but of the biggies, these are the two whose products I use most.

Anyway, I sent my entry already... and I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!! I know I have lots of talented competition!!!

Otherwise, I haven't done much in the way of submitting!!!

Form vs. Function

What a conundrum. I remember being asked to compare form and function in my AP English class in high school.... I struggled with the concept then, trying to figure out why the comparison was important in the first place.

Then it hit me... my "eureka" moment... FORM is what makes FUNCTION enjoyable (or not!). It is what drives creativity, innovation, and opinion. For example, you have a chair. A place to park yourself and take a rest. The chair could be simple, wooden, and hard... or it could be the latest and greatest Lazy Boy ever (same function, but which sounds more comfortable to you?).

The same is true for the art of scrapbooking... most of us started with our interest in photography. We could have settled for storing our photos in albums, or we could put them in a book with memorabilia and some words about the pictures... the advent of the scrapbook!!! And then, as we know, the concept morphed into its own artform! Same function.... displaying photos... but better form. The evolution of this artform has been fun to watch. I, at least, continue to play with form... better photos, new ideas, more mixed media... it is FORM that drives ART.

Just a few more pictures from our trip!!! The first and last images are again using Amy Howe's conversion!