Ten on Tuesday

1. What a difference a week can make. – The view from my office walk-way:


2. I had a moment [[MOMENT]] of missing soccer practice this week – and the excuse to sit outside in this gorgeous weather with a good book for an hour or so –


3. So instead, I sat outside on the patio with my new little toy while my boys finished up an outside project – soaking up the sun [or vitamin D, as a friend would say -]


4. Took those daffodils to work and Could. Not. Breathe. After ten minutes of having them in my office. Fun.


5. Welcome spring. And pollen. And increased allergy meds.


6. Got a [much-needed] manicure this week – so nice.


7. Got the winter [yard] clean-up done too – and we enjoyed a little fire pit time afterwards.


8. CrAzY rainy weather this week – and I’m so thankful for my little carport and covered [garage] parking at work…


9. Out-of-date graham crackers have an unbelievable stench – and since our pantry has a pretty regular rotation, I’m wondering: did we buy them out/date or have they really been in there THAT long?


10. And finally – the winter garden is GROWING – all the seeds are up and looking good [fresh spinach is in our near future!], but I still couldn’t resist putting in some additional ‘winter’ bedding plants to boost things up a bit. [And I AM looking for new clothes for the rabbit. His name is Rusty - he's made to be like that.]

Once a Month [old stuff] Giveaway

I've subscribed to two monthly kits now and try as I might to use it all,
I [still] have a bunch of stuff to give away
-and I'm really tired of seeing the OMG abbreviation everywhere

[I try hard to make my mind read 'oh my goodness!]

So am hoping that we might also come to think of it as

'Once a Month [old stuff] Giveaway!

I plan to randomly draw a name from the comments on this post and send that person a little bag of goodies that hopefully they can use [new to them and all, you know...]
- Just browse through the blog and leave a comment about your favorite post from MARCH.

Comments will close on Thursday night April 8th midnight [central.]

And the Winner for February is:

Shannon Marie said...

I like the one with Michael J your yard fox! hehe my parents had a fox curl up on their front stoop once and then it peed on their welcome mat and my mom wasn't very happy about it lol

Shannon Marie - so glad Michael J minds his manners so to speak!
- send your mailing address to me

Judy@faithbasedpages.com

and I'll get a little box of goodies out to you soon!

Everyday Goodness

This month we had a designated ‘work day’ at my Mom’s, as mentioned before, involving tearing down the old metal building. The building housed some treasures to share: a cherry table [that was once Aunt Christine’s] that Kelly hopes to refinish or antique for a sewing table, a pair of bicycles Mama and Joe rode years ago that Trey and Joey planned a competition to see who can re-furbish the best,

and other goodies that, well, none of us wanted, but that others sure picked up off the street before we’d had dinner that day.

While there, we also did a little “look-through” the garage as well with the understanding that Joey gets the bulk of stuff in there since it’s full of tools and memories of him and Joe piddling on projects together through the years. Lorna took Joe’s safari helmet – we all have fond [crazy] memories of his goofiness while wearing it. [We have some photos for proof, if needed – ] We found some [two quart-?] mason jars [perfect and supreme] that we divied up – must have come from one of the houses he tore down when he owned the dump truck. We found one of the old glass insulators that Lorna used to collect – I was so glad there was one still around that she could take home. [Did we have some brown ceramic ones at one time too?]

And I found a couple of treasures for myself

– Joe’s camera that he bought in the early 50s in Japan [the one that took all the slides I’ve been scanning these last months and that I was allowed to use, if I was very – very careful, when I first started feeding my photography obsession.] And this:

The radio that was a fixture on our kitchen table growing up. Mama said Joe gave it to her for Christmas the year before they were married [something I never knew.] I love how it looks on the hoosier cabinet in my kitchen. It still works and in this age of instant gratification those few seconds it takes for the transistors to warm-up and get going are a sweet reminder of slower days gone by.

What treasures do you have in your life?

Do they have stories that need to be told?

Ten on Tuesday

1. Hearing cheery voices in the park below my office makes me happy.


2. Wearing green on Tuesday – my favorite color, always – was fun and I found a little green purse for summer too.


3. Modern Family – Wednesday nights – if you haven’t seen it, look for it on hulu NOW. It just may be my favorite show. Ever.


4. Not having enough time with our youngest sweetie sent me into a tail-spin of anxiety and grief when he left us to go back to school with a hiking trip on the way - [oooohhh the give and take of the empty-nest.]


5. The new roof took a little longer than we’d anticipated – and it’s so-so wonderful! And you can’t hear even a raindrop fall on it – we were thinking we might hear a soft patter, at least…


6. My hair is so long that it’s beginning to really bother me. I have secret aspirations of never cutting it again and becoming that hippie grandma with a braid down her back.


7. One of our grandmothers had a long braid that she rolled up into a bun each morning... I don’t think she was a hippie though –


8. Another scrappy weekend with friends – and Craig’s been having some fishing fun – which he sooo deserves after all the time he put into overseeing the recent upgrades here at the house.


9. Time change + too much sugar [chocolate] + anxiety + extra caffeine have left me grouchy due to unrestful sleep.


10. And finally, we did see the sun a day or two this week – and it was very – very nice indeedy. Of course the SNOW we had yesterday was no fun. At all.

"Happiness isn't something
that depends on our surroundings
...It's something we make inside ourselves.""

YAy!

Another layout published in the soon to be released summer addition of Stamping-Stationery-and Scrapbooking [the Hobby Lobby magazine.]
Fun! This is it [on page 24]: I had a willing subject for my photos and a great celebration for Drew's graduation. So happy we caught up with Aubie out on the front lawn! And, in case you can't read the arch above the doorway to the engineering building, it says, "The best electrical engineers in the world pass under this arch." I thought there might be another one of my layouts in the magazine as well, but it was a two-page layout and they take up so much room, I'm sure it's hard to fit those in.
When I look through [scrapbook] magazines these days it seems that most of the layouts being published are one page and have only one of two photos on them, and I usually tend to put several photos on a page...

Like I've done the last couple of days having a little scrappy fun with my buddies -
and I need to tally up how many pages I completed -
looks like fifteen completed and two almost done -
My neck and back are achy now though... of course that could be because of the way I load myself down like a pack horse with my self-imposed rule of 'one trip in' with my supplies.

On a side note - it's been a beautiful spring day here and I SOOOO want to put out some garden plants, but my friends in Texas tell me the cold weather's coming....
Happy First Day of Spring y'all!

March - Monthly Challenge

Over on the FBP-Classes Yahoo group we’ve been spending these last few weeks talking about gratitude and how if we want true happiness in our lives we should have a grateful heart – and conversely, if we are truly happy we will have a grateful attitude. After we finished our book study and the scrapbook projects that went with it we started working through the “30 Days of Gratitude” together, taking turns being responsible for a day here and there.

One of my days talked about how we should really look at all the things ‘unseen’ in our lives that we have to be grateful for – “What no eye has seen , what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived – these things God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2: 9 [TNIV] God blesses us in incredible – every day – kind of ways!

So, when I opened up my March / April issue of CK Magazine and saw Mandie Peirce’s layout, ‘grateful,’ about two toothbrushes on the counter [page 43], I loved her story of how she is grateful her husband now has a job where he’s not out of town all the time. And I decided to use it for our challenge this month.

A ‘scrap-lift’ if you will, but please – put your own spin on it.

March 2010 FBP Challenge Must include:

Title – ‘grateful’

Photo – one or more, matted on white paper / cardstock

Colors - your choice

Papers – at least two different patterned papers

Embellishments – two flowers, two buttons, at least one journal block, an arrow, ribbon, and other trim

Technique – painted or inked title: grateful

Scripture – above, “What no eye has seen , what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived – these things God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2: 9 [TNIV]

Projects are due by the last day of the month. Please post your layout in our Flickr Group or post a comment here or on the FBP Yahoo Group to let me know where to see your completed layout. A winner will be randomly chosen from those who compete the challenge.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Happy Spring Break! We have no trip planned, which is so very rare for us -
2. But! We’re getting a new roof [and you have NO IDEA how happy this makes me.]
3. The daffodils are blooming.
4. Our youngest is home from college. And that makes us [very] happy.
5. We had an overnight guest this weekend -
6. So we got new electricity too. [Seriously they worked all. night. long. The meter was pulled at noon and put back on the next morning around 8:30. The whole -box- replaced.]
7. I have windows7 on my new toy and I’ve discovered that I can tag photos and rate them with stars the way I’ve heard my mac friends doing it for years.
8. Small things make me happy.
9. Big things too [like the roof and electricity upgrade.]
10. And family things too - like just sitting around and visiting together. Even if it's putting together a puzzle in the candle light.

The Top Ten Lessons I Learned From Charlie Brown #3

3. It's what you think of yourself that matters most.

Linus carried a security blanket for years and his friends laughed at him. They also laughed at him because he believed in the 'Great Pumpkin.' Pigpen was a walking cloud of dust and dirt and was often regarded unkindly. Both characters, however, were always proud of themselves and believed they were as good as anybody else -- and they were right.

Submitted by Jim Allen, a personal & business success coach, who can be reached at Jim@CoachJim.com, or visited on the web at http://www.CoachJim.com.Jim Allen wants you to know: Charles Schulz taught me much through his daily work. Now, I hope to return the favor in some small way.

Re-freshing

I hope to use these posts to highlight some creative ventures from areas in my life other than scrapbooking. We shall see how well that works.[photo above taken by MK's Mom]

Creativity can come in many different forms - building things up or taking things down, enjoying the old or replacing with new. Really just doing something that brings a little joy or happiness into your life. Recently we gathered together to take down the old metal building [we know it's been there 30+ years, maybe longer.]The creative process of disassembling was interesting to see as different ones had different 'takes' on how to best do it - but I love seeing how my family works together in the give and take of life to get the job done.In the end there was victory as the job was done and they stood on the roof of the building. Hauling it out to the street was the final step -And then, the old was replaced with new. Maybe some little planters or flower beds around the edges is a good idea afterall... I vote for climbing rose bush dropped behind Max's fence -- anyone?

Ten on Tuesday

1. Missing this boy – it’s been far too long since we’ve had time to just be with him.
2. God is good. All the time.
3. Submitting [scrapbook layouts] to other magazines – but it’s just so much work to keep track of the names of products used, then photograph, crop and format, not to mention the TIME it takes to actually send them in [and some must be sent one-at-a-time.]
4. And in the end I’ve realized it’s just more frustrating than fun to me -
5. I’m enjoying my new toy [thanks to the techno guys and savvy shoppers in my life.]!
6. Knitting a bright green cap [it’s the yarn I have on hand…]
7. Those who know me well know I live and breathe by my calendar and being organized sure is nice.
8. Very busy work days [and travel] helps the time to fly by.
9. Spring is on it’s way.
10. And finally Happy – happy birthday to my little brother!

No One Likes to be Disapointed...

From the Creativity Blog:
Thought: “No one likes to be disappointed. It hurts. Disappointment chips away at our self-esteem. Disappointment sometimes makes us fearful. I always hated it as a child when someone told me they were disappointed in me. I still hate it. Being disappointed in yourself is probably the worst. Failing at something can drag you into self-disappointment.
Let’s say you tried something and failed. You tried a new art technique on an oil painting and completely botched it. Okay, you are disappointed. But, look at it another way. What did you learn from the experience? Trying something new gives you added insight even when you make mistakes. I personally have learned more from making mistakes than any other way.
What if you don’t want to make mistakes or face disappointment? Then do nothing. Don’t try anything new. Live a life of boring sameness. Don’t think outside the box. Don’t experiment.
I doubt anyone reading this article wants a life like that. The alternative is to try, to learn from your mistakes and move on. So, today get out there and try something fresh and new. You might be disappointed, but you might not. You might succeed in ways you never imagined. Either way you will be better off for trying!
Prayer:
Lord, Please continue to bless me with new ideas, inspiration, and creativity. Bless my efforts. I know that at times I may fail. When that happens help me to learn from my mistakes. Give me the strength to move on through my disappointment. Give me the ability to recover, to regroup, and to do better the next time. I ask all in Christ’s name. Amen”
From Beth Moore,
[Stepping Up, A Journey Through the Psalms if Ascent, page79]:
“You and I will never move to the next level with God if we’re scared half to death of what awaits us. On this mysterious pilgrimage we will find that when we do meet difficulties and sorrows they were not meant to stop us, but to form the character required for our great harvest in the coming season. Step into your future, Precious One. Something wonderful awaits you.”

Ten on Tuesday

1. We love The Gulf - after we moved from Mobile we'd go back as many as five times a year; we missed it so.
2. Now, if we can make time in our schedule to get down even once yearly it's a treat!
3. The sugar-white beaches are beautiful to us.
4. God's presence seems so much closer when we see the constancy of His creation.
   
5. Fresh Gulf shrimp is delicious! But we only ate it twice this trip.
6. Our favorite seagull greets us each time we're on the beach; what? You don't believe me? [Okay, I'll admit he changes a bit from year to year.]
7. I ask myself - why do I continue to take photos of these seagulls [every. single. trip.] as if I've never seen one in my life?
8. Using coupons from Restaurant.com helped us branch out and try new eateries.
9. Tacky Jacks will definitely get a return visit.
10. And finally, Golden Hour on The Gulf is my favorite time and place. Absolute.

February's Monthly Challenge

The weeks went by FAST! As a reminder, here's the February Challenge:

[Loosely based on layout in February Creating Keepsakes, p. 23 and a previous challenge from Cindy Lee over on the Faith Based Pages Yahoo Group]

Size: one or two page layout – any sizeColors: brown, pink, maroon

Photos: 2-3

Embellishments: three hearts, journaling in strips of paper

Technique: Hand / machine stitching

Scripture:"Kiss me again and again, for your love is sweeter than wine." Song of Songs 1:2

Here's my interpretation of this challenge:

Put your project in our Flicker Group or post a comment and link to show us your page[s] before March 1^st and you could be chosen to receive a little giftie from me.
April's challenge will be posted the third week in March. I look forward to seeing what you do!