Mid March

And, no matter what is happening in your life, time still keeps on moving forward, as well as the time did on Saturday night.  Really?  Why is it that Arizona doesn't have to change?  Just doesn't seem fair.  Just say'n. Thankfully I was off Sunday so I didn't have to worry about losing an hour of sleep.  Long are the days when I had babies that needed adjusting. Boy, was that ever fun. not.
Friday night, I was home all alone and, IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!  Friday afternoon I started on Google Plus with a fellow friend way out in Colorado.  We were joined by other scrappy friends and it lasted until 2 a.m.!  My time!!!!!  We laughed. We managed a load or 2 of laundry. We ate dinner.  All in the comforts of our own homes!  Gotta love technology.  We challenged one another on projects.  We dug DEEP into our stash and created. We created memories.  We created fun.  We created Masterpieces. Okay, maybe not, but we bonded together and had fun.  Again, later Saturday afternoon we joined again. Colorado left us early.  She couldn't "hang." LOL  But then, I dropped out about 6:30.  Turns out, I couldn't "hang" either. LOL  We were just exhausted from the "whipping" Friday night!  I did manage 5 pages.  I am now 2/3rds to my goal of 75!!  Still have the rest of the month to accomplish that.  Here is what I did:

And the one and only I completed on Saturday:

I did also manage to put all 48 layouts into their respective albums along with page protectors.  I had a very productive day.
I hope to get to Colorado in a couple of weeks.  It'll only be for one night, but I'll take it!!!  Just hoping the weather remains good.  I'll be watching.

Well, that is about it for now.  Ready to start the week.  Have a wonderful one.

3 months in!

WoW!  Here we are. March 3rd already.  Tomorrow my baby will be 17! Where. Does. The. Time. Go???

I've been quite busy lately and since my father's passing, I've had some rough days.  When someone has been such a CONSTANT in your life and they are no longer, there are bound to be some rough patches.  I'm doing my best to move on.

I have been able to do some scrapping.  Hubby and I even managed to get a "Day Trip" in to Minneapolis!  Yep.  We went to the Mall of America.  I was to meet up with some friends.  He came along as my "photographer!" LOL  Here we are towards the end of the day:

Adele (left) was heading out that night to Heathrow, London.  She will be gone a few weeks.  Her grandmother will meet up with her.  I hope to meet up with her again on her return!  Such a short visit, but grateful to meet another MB'r!

There have been some "Challenges" taking place during this "Dash from Stash" this year.  I've been able to do most.  I am plugging away at my personal challenge of doing 75 Layouts.  I am about half way there.  Here are a few of what I've been doing.

A few weeks ago, I took a trip up to NYC!  It just happened to have coincided with "Blizzard Nemo!" ha ha ha!  I arrived the day before it did.  They received about 20 inches and it was quite pretty!  I was able to make a snow angel!!  Tough to get up for the snow was so light and airy!  Here is my layout:

It felt great to get away and it was MUCH needed!!  Great to be with friends.  We had a wonderful opportunity to scrap together, the MAIN reason I was going!!

Okay, enough for now.  Will try to get back to you in a couple of days with some more!!
May you have a Blessed Week!!

Rollercoaster Ride!

That is about all I can say about last week.  Only this rollercoaster, kept rising, rising, rising. Up, up, up.  Kept waiting for the drop.  Well, Friday, it did. BIG time.  Friday was the Memorial Service for my Dad.  The anxiety that had built up for over a week was nauseating!  I managed to go to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, just to help get my mind off of things.  Wednesday, I only stayed til 9 a.m.  It was tough. 
There were more retirees at the service than at the reunion party last month!  My dad was LOVED and will be missed by all who got the pleasure of knowing him and working with him.  The sad part about funerals is, seeing people you haven't seen in years!  It's like a reunion of sorts in itself.  Sad occasion to re-connect, but it IS good to see them.  My children held up okay.  My son did 2 readings and I couldn't have been prouder of him.  He is the ONLY grandson and it is something he wanted to do.  Now, it is time for healing to begin.  Last night I prepared a meal that was wonderful and the first thing I wanted to do was call my dad and tell him!  It was something we did.  Whenever we tried something new, we shared.  We always use to cook together.  Sometimes it meant eating at 10 p.m., but, we had fun!  I will miss that.  I will miss making him my Gumbo.  My Oyster dressing.  My Black-eyed Peas.  Just sharing really.  I will miss calling him after an interesting work day to share stories.  Working for the same company afforded us the many opportunities to laugh at the stories!  I will miss that terribly.  I am proud to say that, "I AM my Father's Daughter!"  We have never met a stranger.

Okay, now it is time to move forward.  Superbowl Sunday is 6 days away!  Monday will be EXTREMELY BUSY!!!!  I am going in at Midnight Sunday and will be working to approximately noon on Monday.  We WILL get all these people out of here without worry and trouble!  Downtown festivities have already begun, not too mention, the Mardi Gras parades!  It will be an interesting 2 weeks here!

All right, off I go.  It's my day off and I have some "household chores" that have been neglected.  I will be back in a few days to update you AND to show you what I've been working on.  Have a GREAT week!

Gone but NEVER Forgotten!

Since my last post, my life has turned upside down.
On Wednesday, my father, my best friend, passed.  It was such a shock and I am still numb.  It doesn't seem real and I really haven't accepted the loss. Yet.  It will take some time.  I still have to go thru the grieving process.  My children are lost.  My son, his only grandson, is being strong but I can tell he is upset.  We cried together.  And now, he wants to do a reading at the service coming up on Friday.  He is such a strong young man and I am very proud.  He was also a pall bearer at my mother in law's service a few years ago.  Took over his dad's place.  It was something he wanted to do.

Anyway, I am sad and have not been feeling like doing much of anything.  Please be patient and I will return with some projects I have been working on.  I also have another I need to start and that will be a digital scrapbook for me and my 2 sisters of my dad.  It will take me some time to complete, but I will complete it.  My dad led a very FULL and FUN life.  Everyone enjoyed his company and he was loved by ALL!  He will be missed, but we we never forget and we will live on and rejoice!  It was what he wanted.  Live. Have fun. Celebrate! 

Daddy, I will always love you and you will always be with me. xoxoxoxo

New Year. New Me?

Well, how about a "Better" version of me?  All I can say is that LIFE has been quite busy and rough the last few months.  College Girl, High School Boy.  You get the gist.  Between balancing work, family, holidays, dances, school functions, etc., I've barely had time for myself!!!  Believe it or not, my house STILL has my Christmas Tree and decs up!!  Yep.  Today is to be the day.  My son was supposed to grab boxes from the attic yesterday and we were to get everything up and out.  Nope.  Again, TODAY WILL BE THE DAY!
I started in January, a "Scrap Dash" on the message board.  I still do not have an entire room dedicated for my hobby, but I do have a desk and small space located in my bedroom.  Problem is, I still have my armoire in my daughter's room and I have a bookshelf that houses my albums and some supplies in the living room.  I've realized, I have MORE paper than I thought!!!!  So, aside from purchasing adhesive, which I did prior to this dash, I should be good!  Now, I did run into a problem yesterday.  You are NOT going to believe this but, I'VE SERIOUSLY RUN OUT OF PHOTOS!!!!  Basically, I've caught up with all the current photos of my children and their activities and life!!!  REALLY?!  SERIOUSLY!  Now, I do have some random photos from MANY years ago that I can and will do, but for the most part, I'm caught up!  My daughter has a girl scout "book" that her Leader made many years ago that is on construction paper that I NEED to put on to acid free paper, so that is one project I can do.
Let me show you what I've done:

I've done a total of 22 layouts and completed a December Daily.  Since I have 4 days off, it is a little easier to schedule some "scrap time" for myself.  It is always easier when there is no one home! :)

I've also been pinning on Pinterest.  And not just pinning, but actually DOING some of the items I've pinned!  Mostly some cooking.  So far, things have turned out BETTER than expected!  That is always a good thing.  I've used some cleaning ideas and I've been happy with that also.  I will start sharing what I've been doing with Pinterest items here.  Kinda give you my perspective on it.

Well, guess that is about it for now.  Gonna get the house picked up and head over to my dad's for the football games.  Superbowl is just a couple of weeks away!  We're all set and ready as we'll ever be at work.  joy.  right in the middle of Mardi Gras this year.  again, joy.  Should have some interesting stories to share.

Have a Blessed week!!