Wowzers

My last challenge to do for January scrapping was a layout using one element in three different formats. I chose the circle and I used it on paper, as stitching, and for the journaling block. I called it Wowzers because it is so hard for me to believe the difference in these pictures. Especially Matthew. He looks so young in the first picture and so grown up in the second one. In case you can't read the journaling - the first pic was taken in 2001 when Amanda turned 13 and the second one was taken in 2006 at Thanksgiving at Mama & Daddy's. WOWZERS!

Pig Out Weekend

The last time Frank and I went shopping at Sam's, we got a really good deal on pork - not just pork chops, but pork butt and ham, too. And this is the story of how we ended up having all of it in one weekend:

One of the ladies was cooking pork chops with Classico Tomato Sauce and provolone cheese. It reminded me that Amanda had requested Lasagna for the next time she was here so we thought this might close but give her a taste of something new but still use some of the flavors of lasagna.

Now, I have been craving barbecue for about a month and when we got such a good deal on the pork butt, Frank promised to smoke it and make me some barbecue.

Last week Nick called and said to Frank, "Why don't you invite us over for dinner sometime?" Frank told him pick the food and he would be happy to. So all the kids got together and decided they liked his pintos with ham the best and it was set to have that on Sunday night.

So, after we were all sitting around tonight feeling stuffed and fat - Frank called us all little pigs and pointed out that every meal we had this weekend was courtesy of three little pigs!

Needless to say, we sure did eat "high on the hog" this weekend!

A Few of My Favorite Things

A scrapbook page for a Book of me I am doing.

Woo Hoo Falcons beat #1 Team in the State

Way to go, Falcons and a Happy Birthday present for Matthew! The Falcons beat the previously undefeated, and ranked #1 in the state, Smoky Mountain Mustangs, in a very close game tonight. It stayed close the whole game and came down to two free throws that put them ahead by three - it was so awesome! Because they are such a good team, we really didn't expect Matthew to get in the game much, but he did - long enough (almost 2 minutes!) to get called for 2 fouls! He said he was no where near the guy on one of the calls, but of course what baller doesn't say that? :) Anyway, Falcons can hold their heads up high tonight! The win makes them 2-1 in the conference and they face North Henderson at North on Friday night. Congrats Falcons and Congrats & Happy B-day, Matter!

PS I took pictures with b.w film and Billy took them to be developed, hopefully I got at least one shot of him playing!

Happy Birthday, Matter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATTER!

I can believe it's been 16 years since you were born! WOW - where does the time go. I put up this picture of pooh because before there was always a ball in your hand there was a pooh. Oh how you loved pooh! It makes me smile to think about the little boy you were carrying around your blankie and your pooh. I am having to post from my work computer so I don't have access to any pictures of you, but when I get home, I will be sure to put up a few of my favorites. Love you so much! Have a happy, happy day!

Only one day ...

... until my baby turns 16! Sometimes when I think how cute Matthew was when he was little, I totally agree with Joanna when she says, "Sometimes, I wish they would just stay this little." But then I think about all the joy he has brought us as he as grown up. I mean, afterall, if it weren't for Matthew would any one of us know anything about sports? LOL!

Hope you enjoy the layout below ... maybe I will have to do one tomorrow of my baby!

Happy Birthday, Tiffany

Hope you have a great day! So glad we're family!

My Baby Sister - by Harmony

Xyla @ 5 Weeks & 3 Days

One of the pictures I took this morning at Tiffany's -Isn't she pretty? I think everyone is right when they say she looks a lot like Harmony did at that age. I guess I better make sure I label these layouts. I remember when Amanda and Amy were little I thought I would always be able to tell their baby pictures apart because Amanda's hair was lighter than Amy's. Well, let me just say there are a lot of pictures that Mama and I have looked over having to find other things in the pictures to help us remember which one it is a picture of. Pictures can sometimes lie ~ Amanda's hair was a lot lighter than Amy's - always has been - but there are pictures of her that I would swear were Amy, but when you turn them over, thank goodness, Mama had put the year on the back! Point is ... I should discreetly add the date to all of these layouts! I got some great photos today and hope to share more soon.

More to the Story ...

These are my friend Angela's daughters, playing in the snow. I think she got some awesome shots - she was very wise to have them dressed in such vibrant colors - they show up so well against the snowy white background. She sent these to me last night along with the funniest little story ... I just had to share it with you. After you read it you will understand why I like her so much, she tells great stories and she is just so funny - I can always count on her for a laugh and after the day I had yesterday, she knew I needed one.

READ THIS ~ It's great!

Okay, so I just uploaded some pics I took today of the kids playing in the snow. They're really cute, but it's what happened after the pics were taken you might enjoy most.

In the pics you'll notice a happy, excited Emma spending a ton of time working on building a snowman. This was her very first ever real snowman with rock eyes, stick arms and everything. Anyway, after working feverishly to get the snowman together, rolling up each ball, picking out the perfect rock eyes, etc., etc... the 6-year-old-snot-nosed-@!$$-ant-little-brat-of-a-boy who lives a couple doors down comes over and kicks it square in the stomach! Snowman flies everywhere! Emma is crushed. Mama Bear here sees it all. I'm like, "Hey! You don't come into someone else's yard and kick down their snowman! It took her a long time to make that snowman! What's wrong with you?!" The 6-year-old-snot-nosed-@!$$--ant-little-brat-of-a-boy who lives a couple doors down is standing shin deep in what's left of my daughter's snowman. He looks at me matter of factly and says, "Oh, I'm sorry about that." He then turns and points to a lady walking slowly toward us on the sidewalk and says, "That's my mom." I get down eye to eye with the 6-year-old-snot-nosed-@!$$--ant-little-brat-of-a-boy who lives a couple doors down and whisper quietly, "Good thing mom's watching or you'd end up like Mr. Snowman."

The moral of this story is there's always going to be a 6-year-old-snot-nosed-@!$--ant-little-brat-of-a-boy nearby, eager to kick down your snowman. Just hope he's dumb enough to do it in front of your mama. ;)

See what I mean? Bet you are laughing at loud! I just love her!

Not the best news I've had this year ...

At 4:19 today Frank called me to say he lost his job. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as he searches for a new job in a not so job friendly area.

Workin' it!

I don't have much to say tonight because I am really sleepy and a bit tired from working out tonight. I will say that my workout included something new tonight ... the elliptical machine. I tried it last week but it went backwards and I just couldn't get coordinated. I thought it was the only way it went. Thank goodness I saw my pod buddy, Ben, (from work) and he told me it was all in how you get it started. Funny, even after I told Frank I was too uncoordinated to do it backwards, HE never offered to tell me it would go forward. Wonder if he knew? I am betting he did, he just wanted to keep the machine secrets to himself! Anyway, he goes about 3 miles on the thing every time we go, I thought I did good to go 1/2 mile. That thing wore me out! I like the treadmill best. I do 3 to 3.5 miles/hr. at a slope of 3. and I make my mile in 20 minutes. Thursday night I walked 2.5 miles. I think I was walking off stress from work. Anyway, I just kept pushing it.

Okay, I am curious ... are we going to get any snow? Not you, Mama & Daddy, I know you've had some already. I want some here and not just some ... a foot! Something pretty and debilitating! LOL! Kidding ... well kind of! So I am pretty tired now, night night, please cross your fingers for me ... I really want to see some snow soon!

Saying Thank You

Tamara sent me this video and I think it is one of the nicest ideas to come along in a while. I followed the links at the end of the website to learn a bit more about the gesture. The guy who started the whole thing, Scott Truitt of Seattle, was an army brat as a child and always felt the need to connect with the military when he saw them passing by. The trouble was that it sometimes made them uncomfortable for him to just come up and start talking to them. He decided to start this national campaign to give everyone a way to show their gratitude without making anyone uncomfortable. Two news stations in Seattle aired stories about the campaign and the Seattle Seahawks played it on their jumbo-tron at a recent home game. He has also posted it on you tube.

The gesture starts with your hand over your heart like you were going to say the "Pledge of Allegiance" and then you bring it down opening it up at hip level. It actually means, 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

I would like to offer a "virtual" gesture here - (you can't see me doing it, but I promise I am) to the servicemen who've made a difference in my life ~ Thank you, Daddy (Navy, 1960's); Thank you, Art (Air Force, 1960's); Thank you, Pop Quinlan (Army, 1940's); and Thank you, Nathan Brookshire (Army, Today).

I hope you will pass this on ... Seattle gave us Starbucks, too. If this catches on as well as their coffee did ... well, you can only imagine!

12 of 12 January 08

My 12 photos from the 12th - Something I try to remember to do every month.

The journaling tells that we watched Carolina clobber State; Matthew downloading tunes to his new iPod; Amy studying Arts Appreciation; Amanda studying World Civilizations; the shadow I took of myself to prove how sunny it was outside; Amanda pointing out the answers in her book; my Titanic Music box playing to celebrate mine and Frank's first date 10 years ago; Matthew's new shirt and tie; our peppers drying on the front porch; parsley growing in the flower bed; an almost cloudless sky; and the thermometer showing that it hardly seems like January when its almost 60 degrees outside!

My Pretty Bags

First, since Amanda pointed out in the last post comments that I didn't mention it, is my adorable Eeyore Bag. The kids bought it for me to take to the gym but it's a bit small for all my junk when I am going to swim and workout. It is, however, ideal for my lunch and snacks every day. I love it! They also bought me a cool sweat suit for wearing to the gym. They're the best kids ever! Love you, all three, Amanda, Amy, & Matthew!



And second, the Vera Bradley bags - one big one for all the water, shoes, bathing suit, MP3 player (thanks, Art & Helen), books to read while treadmilling; and a smaller one for the shampoo, deo, q-tips and baby powder. When I fussed at Frank for spending too much on them his words were, "You are always buying fancy stuff like that for your kids and everyone else and I wanted you to have something that nice to carry to LPC. You said, 'Buy something from my heart', " then he patted his heart and said, "That was your gift from my heart." Isn't that just the sweetest thing?

We did it!

Frank and I joined LPC yesterday and ended up working out for the better part of the afternoon. I went 1 mile in hard fought effort of 20 minutes - I had to run at the end and a couple of times in the middle to make it - but I did it! Then we went around and learned all the different machines, taking turns counting and setting them up for each other. Frank did the elliptical machine while I did the treadmill. We ended it all with a nice 10 minute soak in the hot tub. I was a afraid I was going to be super sore this morning, but it really isn't too bad so far. I just got back from doing another 25 minutes on the treadmill and 25 minutes doing the weight machine circuit. Go to find something that works to get rid of my belly! That ab-machine is a killer! Oh well that is where my biggest problem is so guess I will just have to suck it in and keep on trying. Wish us luck. I really know this is where I need to be for now. Doing WW points, too. Decided since our first month and registration fees were waived yesterday, I could afford to do the WW online for three months. Their website is just full of helpful recipes and exercise ideas as well as the BEST place for me to track my weight. I am ashamed to say I have put back on quite a bit of what I lost but I am headed back in the right direction now and I have only added back one size (still out of the 20's, thank goodness, just should be headed more towards 14 than 16 at this point.) Oh well, if I dwell on the negative it will depress me, so here is to the positive! Two workouts down, 300+ to go (for this year anyway!) Have a great day!

PS Remind me later and I will put up a picture of the beautiful "gym" bage Frank bought me to go to workouts with!

Happy Birthday, Ethan

Happy Birthday to Ethan - hope you enjoy a great birthday with those 3 pretty girls you live with!

The New Year is Here ... Time to Catch Up & Start Over

Tonight Frank and I took advantage of the Carrabas GC we received from Tiffany and Shawn for Christmas and boy, was it good! I had the Steak Marsala with Garlic Mashed Potatoes (probably my last BIG meal before I start counting points again on Monday) and Frank had the Veal Piccata. The steak was so tender. Thanks, Tiffany & Shawn!

As I stated earlier, Frank and I will be starting the WW system of counting points again on Monday. Our "big" gift to each other was a membership to Lelia Patterson Center in Fletcher. We will be joining on Sunday. I won't be going to the WW meetings, we do plan to count the points using their system, we just decided to take the money I was spending there and put it into a monthly membership that both of us could take advantage of. LPC is less than 3 miles from the house and though it bothers me that they close on Fridays at 4 and are closed on Saturdays, we decided they had the nicest facilities around and it was still worth it. Besides I was taking Matthew there to play basketball every Sunday, so I might as well stay and put the time to good use, too.

So, did you make any New Year's resolutions. I made a few: blog more often (and finish the Jamaica blog review); start and continue exercise routine; get back into the WW way of eating; read more; learn more about InDesign & Photoshop; hold my temper [impatience] better; quit procrastinating at work; and manage my money better. Tell me about your resolutions ... oh and I have been putting up quite a few layouts, how about sharing some comments with me about them - they really inspire me to build more! Love you all ~ Happy New Year!

Magical Christmas!

Christmas ~ For the first time in many years we celebrated Christmas Day at Mama & Daddy’s. From the big table to the train going round its center to all the wonderful canned goods they gave us to stock our pantries for the coming year - everything was just perfect .... magical!

December Baby

Another one for my Christmas book.

Journaling on the page reads:

Baby Xlya Rose, born December 13,2007, our first December baby. What a beautiful pre-Christmas gift for us to celebrate. Here she is being held by Daddy Ethan, while big sister, Harmony, sings o her the Spider Man song - hey that’s what sisters are for - right?

Finally

So I am looking through all my scrapbook stuff and suddenly I realize ... I finally have a good use for all those leftover "x"s in my scrapbook stash. Thanks, Joanna & Ethan! LOL!

Guitar Hero?

Another page for my Christmas scrapbook ~ this one's about Amanda's "gift" to Atley and how we all thought it might really be for her! LOL!

Just a reminder: clicking on the picture should bring them up bigger on your screen.