It's Friday...AGAIN??

....so ANYWAY...I go see the oral surgeon on Tuesday, JUST for him to tell me that he made a mistake-2 years ago. Really?? I wasn't upset with him or anything. I actually thought it was kinda funny. I mean, stuff happens. However, I'm not looking forward to having any type of surgery. Do you know he asked me if I wanted him to do it that day?

WHAT?

Are you serious?

Uh, NO!!

He also asked me if I wanted to just have a local and some laughing gas. Well, my question is, what's gonna be so funny? I want the heavy duty drugs, pal!...just like last time! :-) Gotta love Valum :-).

So, I've scheduled my wisdom tooth removal Part deux for Feb. 5th. Gonna be fun!

Anyway, I have a cute story to tell you. Allow me to set the scene (I've always wanted to say that)

On Wednesday morning, a little after 7am, Jayla and I were headed out to school. And as I'm pulling out of the driveway and about to put the car in "drive", the conversation went something like this:

Jayla - (yells) "STOP!!"
I thought she'd forgotten something for school or had hurt herself or something. So I slammed on the brakes.
Jayla -"MOM, look at THAT!"
Mom - "Look at WHAT? It's dark out here!"
Jayla - "NO!, look right there!" (pointing at my neighbors trash that's out by the curb) "Do you see it?"
Mom - "What, baby?!? See what?"
I now see what she sees. Look at what she spotted...


Our neighbor was throwing this cute little doll crib out.
Jayla - "Oh MOM! Can I have it?"
Mom - "Really? You want that? It is kinda cute, isn't it?"
Jayla - "Yes, mommy! I LOVE it! Anna (my life like granddoll) will LOVE sleeping in there! Mom, can I have it, PLEEEZE?!?"
Mom - "Well, I guess so. They're throwing it away!"

So, I put the van in park and get out...looking as lovely as ever in my fuzzy purple socks, striped capri pajama pants, a nightgown, and my black winter coat (Ya'll are so jealous!) lol. I grab the little crib and put it in the back seat. I get back in the van and pull off. As we get to the entrance of our neighborhood, the conversation continues...

Jayla - "Mom, oh NO!"
Mom - (sarcastically rolling my eyes) "What is it?"
Jayla - "Mom, are we gonna go to jail? Are Mr. J & Mrs. L gonna call the police on us for stealing their bed?
Mom - (laughing) "No, sweetie, they were throwing it away. So I don't think they will mind that we got it."
Jayla - "Well, I hope not. Cuz I don't have time to go to jail, I've gotta finish school!" :-)

(side note: To ease my daughters concerns of a possible "theft by taking" criminal record, I assured her that I'd call our neighbors that day and let them know that we got their "trash" and we're gonna turn it into a "treasure".)

Anyway, I've been doing a little scrapbooking too. I kinda took 2008 off and only worked on a couple special projects. So I'm gonna try and get back at it this year. Here's a shot of both pages.
Below is a close-up of each page. I'm kinda pleased with how the turned out.




Alrighty then, I think that's about all I've got for today. Oh, how bout a Flower Fix?

Pretty, huh?

Well, ya'll have a great weekend and I'll talk to you soon. Toodles!!

One week down

I'm glad to announce, that Jayla successfully made it through the first week of school (so did I). To her, everyday was AWESOME! :-)

My goal was to park and walk Jayla to her new classroom the entire first week of school...just like I did last year. But being that she's no longer "new" to the school, I was a little lenient on the idea. Only thing is, SHE didn't know that. So on Friday, we were on our way to school and our conversation went a little something like this...

J- "Mom, do you think I can walk in by myself today? I'm a big girl, you know!"

M- "Well, I had planned to let you walk in by yourself, starting on Monday."

J- "C'mon mom, I'm a big girl. Can I PLEEZE walk in by myself? I'll go straight to my class!"

M- "Hmmm, well, it's just one day sooner. So I guess so. Are you sure you don't want me to park and go in with you, just one more day?"

J- "Nah, I'll be fine.

M- "Ok then."

J- "Thanks mom! And don't worry mommy, I still need you in my life!"

Ok, now what do you say when the conversation ends like that? LOL My little Jayla is just too much. And I guess I should mention that as she got out of the van to go in the school, she blows a kiss at me, tells me to have a good day and REMINDS me to pick her up after school, LOL. Hmm, I guess she DOES still need me in her life :-).

Alright, about this picking her up after school thing, I wasn't able to on Friday. Several months ago, I scheduled an appointment to have a physical. And of course, they scheduled it at 2pm on a school day. So Jayla got to ride home with one of her friends on Friday. She was so excited about that "change in plans". Talk about an eventful day :-).

Let me just go on record and say that I didn't know that women had physicals. I mean, why would I think that? All women "supossedly" go for their annual appts with the OB...so I just figured that was our "physical". Or maybe, what I really thought was, "SHEESH, isn't the OB appt ENOUGH!?!?!" Hmmm, guess not.

Well, you'll be glad to know that I got a good bill of health. And to be a 41 1/2 year old woman, I'm in pretty good health. Better than I thought, really. For those of you who have actually met me IRL...you'll be surprised by this one comment the ole doc made. She told me that I need to...get this...eat MORE! Maybe she needs her eyes checked...I'd be happy to recommend someone for her, lol. Strangely enough, you have to eat to lose weight. Talk about an oxymoron! I am a VERY, VERY picky eater and to be honest, I don't eat that much or that often. I told the doc what a day of eating consists of for me, and she was in shock. She said she's never met anyone who doesn't LIKE to eat. Well, that's me. Eating is just not at the top of my list of things to do. And by the time I do eat, I'm only reminded to do so by the hunger headache I get (almost daily). A normal day for me is MAYBE eating lunch and a little dinner. Me and Advil are real good friends. To me, it's easier to pop an Advil to get rid of the headache than it is to take the time to eat.

Anyway, I'm gonna try and work on that. But one bit of good news the doc gave me was, that Chick Fil A is one of the healthiest fast food restaurants there is. 9 times out of 10, if I eat fast food, that's where I go. I LOVE IT!!! So, I was happy about that.

Ok, ya'll know Jude, right? Well, although I've never met her IRL, we've exchanged a few emails and we comment on one anothers blogs. So I FEEL like she's an ole friend. A few months back, we talked about doing a photo swap. Well, we finally did that and completed a few scrapbook layouts for eachother. I just got the ones she did for me this past Saturday and they are AMAZING! She's gonna post those on her blog soon. But in the meantime, here are the LO's I did for her of her boys: (not sure if you can click on them to make 'em bigger...but give it a try)

The baby, Alden.

Of the 3 boys, Alden loves the water more than his big brothers did at this young age. He's so cute.

The middle son, Emerson.

Jude says that Emerson loves dogs. But being that he's allergic to them, these stuffed ones are the closest he gets to them...and he loves them just as much :-).

Emerson, obviously had fishing on his mind. So he laid down the basketball goal, propted himself up on it and pretended that he was fishing. I just love that. He's creative like his momma!

And, the oldest, Lincoln.

You all know that soccer is s big part of my life. So imagine my delight when I saw these pix of Lincoln. :-)

Thanks Jude, for trusting me with your memories. I hope you enjoyed these LO's as much as I enjoyed the ones you did of my Jayla.

Alright my fine people, what's going on this week? Anything interesting? Hopefully this week, I won't be in an alone FUNK like I was last week. I think I am now use to the fact school is back in full effect. So that means, I just need to find ANOTHER life, right? (at least until time to go sit in the carpool line, lol)

Have a great week. Talk to you soon.

Fun at the EXPO

Happy Saturday, everyone!

So, did everyone enjoy their Friday? Mine was bunches of fun. But before I go into that, I'd like to say, that I hope my buddy, Jacki, is feeling better. She was supposed to go to the Expo with us yesterday. But she wasn't feeling well. Hope you're better today, my friend!

BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...we interrupt this post for a special announcement. If you have no interest in scrapbooking, this may be a good place for you to stop reading. No hard feelings! I haven't always been a scrapbooker, so I totally understand ;). Thanks for stopping by and for reading THIS far. Check back later for my "normal" posting. And now back to our regularly scheduled post.

Ok, as I mentioned in my post yesterday, Jayla and I went to the 6th annual Scrapbook Expo. Jayla doesn't like having to get on the highway to get anywhere. So she really wasn't happy about having to travel on, not 1, but 3! Oh well, she did fine and the trip was uneventful. However, coming home was a totally different situation. I HATE TRAFFIC!!!

I had our $2 off general admission coupons and we were ready to shop. We even got some good news when it was our turn to pay. Jayla was FREE!!! This was my 6th year going to the Expo and I had no idea that kids were free up to age 12! SWEET!!!

We walked into the exhibit hall and Jayla was speechless...shocking, I know :-). She had a ball looking at all the stuff. There were SO many people!! Anyway, we got some good deals on stuff and I only spent $40! Ok, $39...Jayla asked if she could "borrow" a $1, cuz she saw something she just HAD to have, lol.

Check out my loot... This is what I got: Heidi Swapp small white flowers, Heidi Swapp Hibiscus & Drama foam stamps, Heidi Swapp "Cute" clear stamp, Heidi Swapp "Dots" foto folders, Melissa Frances Open-Up Albums (the large ones were a steal at $5 for 3 and the small ones were 3 for $4. I got 6 large ones and a small one for Jayla), EZ Laser Designs swirl, "Fisherman" & "Girls Night Out" titles/border, Snag 'em Stamp clear Calendar stamp ("Jayla" got this for free because the lady said she was so patient while standing in line), Quick Quotes giant chipboard "J", Pebbles Inc. School days double sided paper in Orange/Circles & Red/Stripes, Sandy Lion "Art in Motion" & "Around the corner" paper, Carol Wilson Fine Arts "Girly" Soccer papers and Adornit Carolee's Creations "Soccer Team Spirt" & "Soccer Ball Dots" papers

I was pretty pleased with what we got this year. I'm already looking forward to going next year. Who's goin with me??? Bring the kids...if they're under 12, they get in FREE!! LOL

Well, that's about it for me today. We're about to go over to my sisters house. My mom and her husband are in town this weekend, so we're going to visit with them for a while.

Ya'll have a great rest of the weekend! And remember, Be Inspired...I AM!!! Toodles!

Puttin the studio to good use...

Happy Sunday everyone.

If you've got a minute, I'd like to share a few things with you. I've actually spent the past week or so since my studio has been finished, just sitting in here admiring it :-). I spend a lot of time admiring stuff, don't I? Well, it's pretty, what can I say?

Well, I actually completed my very first scrapbook layouts in my studio. Tell me whatcha think...

~This first one was obviously inspired by Mister M's recent birthday. I just can't tell ya'll how much I love this picture of him. He does NOT like having his picture taken. So to get one this natural and candid was awesome. Actually, he was just as surprised as I was to see it. As he didn't even remember this one being taken. He was just standing there talking and laughing with our friends, Trish & Juan (the photograhers), waiting for them to tell the rest of us where to stand :-). Love it! And I think the title fits perfectly. As soon as I saw this photo, "Sexy Cool" was the first thing that came to mind.

~This second one was one I've been wanting to do for several months now. Just hadn't gotten around to it. Ya'll know I'm a big Jayla fan, lol. And when I walked past her room one day and saw her "on the phone", I just had to grab the camera. She loves when me and daddy get new cell phones. As she gets to have the old ones. So there she was, laying on her bed "chatting" away on her new phone. And I just knew that this blog name would be PERFECT for these pictures of my Jayla. Tanisha, I told you I was gonna "borrow" your heading one day, didn't I? :-). Thanks!~This last LO wasn't actually done in my studio. But it's the first one I've done at our weekly Girls Night in a while. So I had to share it too. I thought it was time to spotlight the other handsome guy in my life :-).Alrighty, that's all the showing off I have for tonight. Thanks for looking.

NOW, I have another issue to talk with you about. Yesterday, I took Jayla to look for some more black dress type shoes. Being that all the Spring/Summer stuff is out now, black dress shoes are hard to come by. But not to worry, I found some that both of us like. And they were on sale too. Gotta love that, right?

Ok, that wasn't the "issue"...THIS is the issue. I HATE SHOPPING FOR MYSELF!!! Before Jayla and I left, Mister M. told me that I could find myself a few pairs of pants and maybe some tops. You know, something other than the standard issue uniform jeans that I wear on a daily basis :-). Every Sunday, I'm hard pressed to find anything to wear to church. Or for times when we go somewhere that jeans may not be appropriate.

For some time now, I've been joking around with my MIL and a few friends, that I'd like to get "nominated" for this show. At first, I thought it would be tons of fun to be able to shop for myself with someone elses money...in NYC no less. But after yesterday, not so much.

ARGH!!! I went to one store and I was totally disgusted. I literally left there with a headache. And I was only in there for about 15 minutes. I have no problem (anymore) admitting that I'm a plus sized woman. And that's actually not the problem I'm having. Because I CAN find stuff that fits. It's just that...everything these days looks so....so WEIRD!!! I mean, I'm not trendy by ANY means. But I DO like for my clothes to match and to look neat. The fashions these days look so SLOPPY!! And don't even get me STARTED on how much stuff costs!!! I will be the first to admit that I'm cheap...especially when it comes to purchasing things for myself. I have (almost) no problem spending money on my family and/or things for my home. But stuff for me...can't do it. I did, however, manage to find 2 pairs of pants that I was willing to pay for. Mainly because they were 50% off at Kohl's. So that worked well for me. But I was looking for a couple of tops and I just got overwhelmed. Ya'll should've heard Jayla lecturing me about how I should "take care of myself" (insert rolling eyes here). I'm convinced my MIL and Mister M. told her to give me a hard time about this whole...shopping thing. lol

By the time I was ready to throw in the towel and just go home, Jayla says to me, "Mom, what's WRONG with you?" LOL (yes, she asked me that again! That's twice in one week!)

Ok, so that leads me to my questions to all of you women out there. 1. Does it have to be this difficult? 2. Is it just me? Or does everyone have a problem finding "normal" looking clothes these days? 3. Is it easier to shop for yourself when you're by yourself? Or do you need "assistance"? 4. Do I just need to find someone to shop for me? Or just someone to tell me where to go? (not in a literal sense, mind you. lol) And lastly, 5. Is it easier to shop for yourself or for your family?

I wish ya'll could've seen Mister M's face when I came home with only TWO pairs of pants. It was too funny. But he knew it was quite the chore for me, when I popped 2 Advils and took a nap! ARGH!!

Happy Anniversary to me....

Hey ya'll!

Guess what? TODAY is my 19th wedding anniversary. Can you believe someone has been married to ME for 19 years? :-) Sometimes I can't. But I'm so glad he chose me.

Well, we officially celebrated our special day this past Friday night. And we went to our favorite place. Here we are...

Sadly, we didn't get "our" table this year. But we were in the same area. We were actually close enough to reach over and touch it...so I'd say that still counts.

If you notice the beautiful flowers on the table...those were a special delivery from Briyanna. That sneaky daughter of mine, got to the restaurant a little after we did (we didn't see her though), and had the hostess deliver them to our table. Both me and Marque were so shocked. It was a very sweet surprise...I love flowers.

I don't think I need to mention that the food was DEElicious! So I won't :-). (but it was)

After a tasty dinner, we ordered dessert. And this is how they brought it out to us:

Aren't those lovely? You can't see my dessert from the side. But it's their Chocolate Mousse Cake. It's about 4 layers of DEElish-ness!!! One layer being white chocolate (I think). And the Mr. got the Key Lime pie. So pretty!!

Anyway, today, our actual anniversary, has been a very laid back/low key day. We had lunch from here today. During the soccer season, Marque was given a restaurant gift card. So we used it today. Very yummy! It seems like all we do is eat, doesn't it? lol

A few posts ago, I said I would share the Christmas card that I designed and mailed out. Before I show it to you, let me admit that I realize this is a very tacky way to "send out" a Christmas card. But there are SOOO many people that I want to share it with and mailing them would just be too much to take on. So for those of you who didn't receive one in the mail, please accept this online version from me and my family. (Sorry to be so tacky)

This is the front of the card.

This is the inside.

Ok, I only have one more thing to share with you all. For those of you who are scrapbookers, you'll appreciate this. I'm not really into the whole "altering" thing. But I've been wanting to make a clock for my craft room that is currently under construction. I didn't want a regular ole clock. So I bought one of the clock faces by Heidi Swapp. At Michaels, I found a 14" round piece of unfinished wood, with a hole already in it. It's actually to be use for making a clock. ANYWAY, I painted the disk black, decorated a round scrapbook layout, added the HS clock face and this is how it turned out:

You guys, I absolutely LOVE it! As you may have noticed, it doesn't have the clock hands on it yet...but it doesn't have the mechanism in the back yet either. I'll be picking those up this week. But, this is pretty much how the clock will look in it's finished state. And I may hang it up with black grossgrain ribbon. Also, the b&w damask print that you see is actually a scan of the fabric that I'll be using in the room. And the purple paper is from the Bazzill Bling line. Pretty cool, huh?

Ok, that's all I've got for today. Hopefully, over the next few days, I'll show you the rest of the pictures from our family photo shoot a few weeks ago. So until then, you guys enjoy the rest of your day. And don't forget...Be Inspired...I AM!!!

Friday Flower Fix & Weekend

Happy Friday...it IS Friday, isn't it??? These days, I don't know whether I'm coming or going. But the calendar says it's Friday...so that's what I'm going with.

Before I go any further, I'd like to wish you all a happy FALL/AUTUMN. Again, looking at the calendar, I see that Fall doesn't officially begin until Sunday, the 23rd. But Happy Fall anyhow!!! :-) So here's your FFFF (Fall Friday Flower Fix) Aren't these pretty? I apologize if I've shared these before, as I try and delete the photos as I post them here. But it feels like I've seen these before. ANYWAY...they just scream Fall to me, so I thought they'd do (possibly again...lol).

I have something else I'd like to share with you too. I frequent a site called Roots Scrapbooking. And once a month, they have a featured designer. I was the FD back in February of this year. That was WAY cool for me. I was welcomed with such wonderful comments from people. This month, Tina Cockburn was the FD. And let me just say, she rocks! If you keep up with the scrapbook magazines on the market, she has been in several of them. Anyway, as part of Tina being featured, she suggested a challenge to us readers, to "scraplift" a layout and post it on the site. Tina offered a RAK to who she chose as the winner. Well guess what? I WON!!! Check out the scrapbooking stash she sent me:

What fun stuff!

So, what have you guys got planned for the weekend? Not only do we have the regular 2 soccer games tomorrow (weather permitting), Jayla also has team pictures. And get this...we have to be at the field at 8am for their 8:15 pictures. ARGH!!! That sure is early to get a bunch of 5,6 & 7 year olds to smile. Oh well, I hope everyone gets enough sleep so that they'll be in a good mood for pictures. Hmmm, I'd better go to bed now, lol.

Alrighty, that's all I've got for today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Oh, and before I go, let's all congratulate JUDE on the birth of her new baby!!! CONGRATS!!!

I've been a scrappin fool...

Alright, before we go any further, for those of you who have ZERO interest in scrapbooking, this would be a great place to stop reading. But before you go, leave a comment just to say hi :-). I love to see that people stop by to see me.

Ok, now for you readers who have an appreciation for the hobby of scrapbooking...continue on :-). Well, I've been on a roll here lately and have popped out quite a few LO's. Sure, it has taken me several weeks to complete these, as I'm just anal like that. But in my own defense, when you have a subject as beautiful as my Jayla is, these things can't be rushed...lol. (What a bunch of ka-ka, huh?) Ok, the part about Jayla being beautiful wasn't the ka-ka part, cuz there's truth in EVERY part of that...but me just being slow and anal and mojoLESS was the ka-ka part. But anyway, they are now done and I LOVE them.

These are more shots from the photo shoot that Jayla did back in April. If you've been keeping up with my layouts, the most recent ones I posted are from that same shoot.

OK, ok...I can tell when I've talked up something enough. So without further ado, here's my most recent work.

This first one is entitled: Lovely Day
I was driving down the street a few weeks ago and the song "Lovely Day", by Bill Withers came on the radio. This is one of my all time favs. As the song played, it made me think about Jayla and how she just brightens my day. Part of the lyrics say, "Just one look at you, and I know it's gonna be...a Lovely Day!" And to me, that perfectly describes how I feel about my little princess...Every single day.

This next one is entitled: Girly Girl
Not much needs to be said about this one. Jayla IS a girly girl...or a Girls Girl :-).

This one is entitled: Feisty Fairy
I simply love these shots. At first, she wasn't too happy about having to wear the little tu-tu. I think she said it was a little too tight around her waist. So we fixed that for her and the rest is "Feisty" :-). I just love the funky socks, the "old skool" sneakers and the expressions on her face. Once the "fairy" part of the shoot was over, Jayla was disappointed, she was NOW having a good time wearing the tu-tu.

Well, that's all I've got for now. But before I sign off for the evening, I want to give acknowledgement and a BIG OLE appreciation shout out to my friends over at Cherry Berry Studio. Cynthia and Lisa, ya'll ROCK and you sure know how to work a camera (you too Theresa). You guys are the best and I can't thank you enough.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Friday Flower Fix & New Layouts

"Never let a cloudy day ruin your sunshine, for even if you can't see it, the sunshine is still there, inside of you ready to shine when you will let it."

Happy Friday everyone!


I hope this post finds you all well. So, did everyone have a good week? I did. However, it sure seemed to go by quickly. I did some shopping, met up with a dear friend for lunch, did some more shopping :-), ate at Chick Fil A (YUMMY!! I could eat there everyday), hung out with my daughters & ate ice cream, did a little more shopping and ended the week by getting the oil changed in my van (and eating Chick Fil A) :-). Don't tell me I don't know how to have a good time...lol.


We don't have too much going on this weekend...which is a good thing. Because in a couple of weeks, soccer begins and that means that the weekends will be spent on the fields. Can't WAIT!!! So tomorrow, we're going to buy new soccer cleats for Jayla and Coach Daddy, so they'll be ready for practice to start next week. Other than that, nothing else will be going on.


Well, my friend, Veroncia, finally received the layouts I did for her and her daughter, Ava. So now I have "permission" to post them. And without further ado, here they are:

These first 2 are from Ava's ballet/tap dance recital. She's such a cutie. That made these LO's very easy and very fun to do.

The next 2 are from a mini vacation to San Diego. That little girl sure makes playing in the sand look fun :-).

Well, that's all I've got for today. Hope you enjoyed the FFF and the new layouts. Until next time, have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend. See ya soon....

Inspired to INSPIRE & New Layouts

Hello everyone.

How was your weekend? Mine was great! Let's see, on Friday evening, I listened to High School Musical 2 in the background as Jayla TRIED to sing the songs :-). But I have to admit though, the few parts I did see, were pretty cute. It's just hard to get past the "cornyness" of it. Don't get me wrong, I wish teenagers DID act that way and work things out the way the kids on HSM do. Those kids really are good actors...pretty impressive actually. But now that it's premiered...it'll be on EVERY day for the next 6 weeks!!! LOL. So now Jayla has time to learn all the words and dance moves :-).

On Saturday, I got up early and made Fried Biscuits for my scrapping friends (a Paula Deen recipe). Then I loaded up the old van with just about every scrapbooking supply I could get in there, picked up my friend Stacey and all HERstuff and we headed on over to the crop. We were in our friends basement, so we had room to spread out and get some scrappin done. We also had some really yummy food. I even got 10 pages done. Check them out:

This first one has GOT to be my favorite. I absolutely love it. I think the pictures just speak volumes. That's why I decided that no journaling was necessary. BEAUTIFUL...says it all.

This next layout was just down right fun! And I thought the quote fit perfectly: "JOY is not in things; it's in us...so JUMP for it."

As I mentioned, I did several LO's. But this is all I can share right now. The others, I did for a friend and I can't post them until she see's them. So check back for those at another time.

NOTE: All of the photos of Jayla were taken by my good friend and her sister. They run a photography studio and do AWESOME work...especially with kids. Thank you Cynthia and Lisa...ya'll ROCK!!

ANYWAY...I think it's time for your little inspirational nugget :-).

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Well, that's all I've got for today. I hope you have a wonderful week. Oh, and thanks for looking at my LO's.

New Layout - Missing U & 300th post

I know you're shocked...2 posts in one day...that's SO unlike me :-).

Well, I've been working on a layout and I wanted to share it. Doing this LO, I think, has been part of my "therapy", so to speak, in working through this. I thought it would be best to make it a little more upbeat and not so depressing.

Anyway, here it is:

I'm actually very pleased with how it turned out. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted my journaling to say. Like I said, I didn't want this LO to be depressing or make it sound morbid or anything. I've had to come to grips with the fact that, the good news in this "transition" is that Markell has only left my house...not my life or my heart. I'm sad that we haven't spoken with him since the 4th. But I hear that he's doing well.

SO...I said all that to say that, in thinking about what I would say in my journaling, I found this quote that fits perfectly. It says:

"Missing you is my hearts way of reminding me that I love you".

I thought it was very appropriate and fits the LO perfectly.

Well, hopefully, I'm on a roll with my scrapbooking. I've done 2 other LO's for a friend. But I can't share them with the world yet...as she wants me to let her see them first :-). So, as soon as I get done with the other 2 I'm working on for her and getting them to her, I'll share.

Lastly, guess what? THIS is my 300th blog post!!! I've still got quite a ways to go to catch up with some of you. But I'm on my way...not to worry...I've got plenty more to say. Just not at the moment, LOL.

Have a groovy weekend!

Expo Loot!

Hey ya'll!

Well, I successfully got my grocery shopping done and I made it to and from the Scrapbook Expo safely. :-) (Thanks again, Mandy!)

Mandy and I got an early start this morning and headed to the other side of town. The conference center was really easy to find, all we had to do was look for all the SUV's and minivans :-). We got there about 17 minutes after the doors opened and STILL had to park about 50 miles from the entrance...ok, maybe it wasn't quite THAT far. We get in, walk right up, pay our admission fee, fill out our door prize tickets and we're ready to get our shop on!

On a funny note, as we're filling out our tickets, we notice a lady with some free give aways. You would not believe what she was giving away....RICE! Yes, rice. I don't know about you other scrapbookers out there. But when I have a touch of "scrappers block", a nice single serving of microwavable RICE always gives me the boost I need...LOL. Seriously people...RICE??? I just found that pretty humorous. But of course, when we were leaving, they were still opening cases of the stuff and giving them away to people. So GUESS what Jayla had for dinner tonight???LOL (she loves rice)

Anyway, we had a really good time. There weren't as many vendors there this year as in previous years. But it was still really nice. Normally, I go on Fridays...and now I know why. There are so many people there on Saturdays. HOWEVER...you can get some good deals on Saturdays. Those vendors are really marking stuff down! I know all my readers don't scrapbook, and I'm sorry to bore you. But I have GOT to share this one thing with those of you who do. I'm sure you've seen the line of albums by Heidi Swapp, right? They were selling the HS spiral bound albums for $6.99 each OR 4 albums for $20! I about passed out. They're normally $20 for ONE! My friend, Mandy bought 2 and I got 2. We racked up on the HS stuff!

Oh well, that's all I've got for now. I could go on...but again, I know everyone doesn't scrapbook and I don't want to lose any readers, hee hee. I'll just end telling you that I had a wonderful time and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Take a look at my loot: (click on the picture to get more detail)

I got some GOOD stuff! And I only spent $40!!! Now that's what I call shopping!! Ya'll enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Tribute to MOM's

I'd like to start today by wishing all my friends/readers who either are mothers...or have mothers :-)...a Happy Mother's Day!!! I hope you were all treated like queens today and actually got the day off (kinda).

I thought today, I'd do one big post to cover several things. First, I'd like to share with you the beautiful cards I received from the kids. There are times, when you think your kids don't pay you much attention and they just kinda wander aimlessly through the day. And then there are the days, like this day of celebrating mothers, where you see that they HAVE been paying attention and that they DO really love you.

That brings me to my first card. Markell made this card for me today in his Sunday School class. And I must tell you, it made me cry.

The reason this card made me cry is because, like I said, he's obviously paying more attention than I thought. When he plays soccer, more specifically goalie, he gets so embarassed when he hears me on the sideline shouting, "YOU ROCK KEEPER!!!" But he DOES!!! And not only when he's playing the goalie/keeper position. But of all the things he could've said about me as his "mother"...he chose to say that I ROCK! That means so much to me. Simply because I know how I mean it when I say it to him. And now I see that he too knows...he knows that it's a huge compliment. Markell, you DO ROCK!!! Thank you sweetie, I love you!

This next card is one that Jayla made in Pre-K. The cover is so cute to me. She says that that's me and her holding hands. But the inside just cracks me up. I love that she doesn't know how much I REALLY weigh...LOL. And what a compliment to be as pretty as a strawberry. I will say though, that I was surprised that she said that my favorite drink is tea. I mean, I DO...but by far, Dr. Pepper is my favorite. She told me that after she said, "tea", she remembered the D.P...but the teacher had gone on to the next question :-).

This last card is the one Jayla made in Sunday School class today. This one is really sweet to me because she's always wanting to plant flowers with me. So the teacher gaave all the kids a packet of flower seeds to plant with their mommies. Thank you, sweet girl...mommy loves you!!

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And now, it's time to Be INSPIRED! And of course, its a tribute to moms.

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take."

""There is only one way to lead a child down the right path...that is to go that way yourself."

"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness."

"A mothers arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them."

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This is the gift I made for my mother for Mother's Day. She's not into scrapbooking, but does have an appreciation for the craft. I took a risk by making this LO for her, as she is sometimes embarassed by this picture. Not sure how many of you have heard of or see an issue of Jet Magazine. Well, in every issue, they have what's called a "Jet Beauty". Which is a woman in a swimsuit and a little snippit of info about her. My mom was featured as a Jet Beauty in a June 1964 issue of the magazine. Like I said, today, she's a little embarassed by this picture. But I LOVE it!!! I think she looks awesome!! Not to mention, it's something she should be very proud of.

Anyway, here's the LO/gift that I gave her. I framed it for her hopefully, she won't be too ashamed to hang it in her home somewhere :-).

Well, alrighty then, that's all I've got for today. Again, I hope all you mother's have had a wonderful day and that you enjoy the rest of it.