They Just Keep Getting Less and Less Comfortable...

When I was pregnant with Rhiannon it was truly a breeze! I never experienced morning sickness, I never missed a beat at work... in fact I was in the office the day before she was born, and in the hospital later that evening to be induced. I only gained 35 pounds and was back wearing my size 6 wardrobe by the time she was 7 months old. My weight always fluctuates a little between a 6 and an 8. I decided in 2006 that maybe I should give my body a break from the birth control. My doctor told me that the birth control pills of today were not like the days of old, and that there were many benefits to the Yasmine I was taking. One of them being that it actually helps keep your weight down.... snort. Well, he was right! I stopped taking the Yasmine and quickly gained extra weight... not to mention ending up pregnant with Adrian! So everyone that knows me knows that pregnancy number 3 here was a surprise ( a pleasant one albeit). I weaned Adrian from breastfeeding at 8 months and was pregnant and didn't even know it. I thought I was going to lose my extra 40 pounds (to get back to my 6 and my HUGE closet full of figure flattering clothes), and enjoy some margaritas and appletinis throughout the summer! Snort again! Well I just have to say that this pregnancy is really uncomfortable... and I am not a wimp. Maybe I just didn't have enough time to heal completely between the two preganancies. That is what I keep getting told by the ladies of the older generations anyway. Have you ever noticed that when you buy a new car, all of the sudden you realize all of the other people driving around in the same make and model? I am now like that with mothers of children that are close in age. I feel compelled to ask them "how far apart in age are they?" You know what they say... misery loves company, and I guess I am finding comfort in the fact that there are so many people out there with children that are less than a year and a half apart in age like my two boys will be. 16 months apart to be exact. Yikes!!

Well as far as the goings on with the fam.... Adrian turned 1 year old on the 25th of August, and we had a little pary for him on september 7th. Here he is eating his cake:

Rhiannon started the second grade and just loves it. She is also in the midst of her midget football league cheerleading, and her first Brownie meeting of the new year is tonight. Here she is on her first day of school, and cheering at her first game of the season:

Corey is busy as ever at work! He wants a four wheeler so that he and Rhiannon can go trail riding together, so he has decided to sell one of our Mustangs. Here she is all pretty and waiting for a new owner...

And without further ado... here is everybody's first look at Rush Jacob...

He looks like he has a full head of hair already!! Hence this awful heartburn!!

My Problem is I Just Love Stuff!

It's been a long time since Corey and I have had an opportunity to go to an auction. Grandma watched the girls on Saturday night, and he, Adrian, and I did just that. It was so much fun! For those of you that know me already, you know that I like to go to the auctions to find stuff to re-sell.... whether it be on e-bay or in my booth at The Craft & Antique Co-Op. I picked up an old rocking chair for my booth, but mostly stuff for e-bay at this auction. There was a small collection of Wedgwood Jasperware and I pretty much bought all of it. The real find though was a gorgeous antique Gone With the Wind style lamp. It was originally kerosene but it has been converted to electric. Similar lamps sold on e-bay fetch anywhere from $200-$400. I'm pretty excited about this one, I just dread shipping it. It's rather large and very fragile. Corey is always such a good sport about the auctions... because you know what his job is... to load all of the crap I buy into the car or box truck (if we buy furniture). It happened to be pouring rain in sheets on Saturday too. He never complains though. Those of you that know me also know that I still have that basement full of stuff that I've inherited from three generations before me. Yes, yes I am still going through all of those boxes etc. Slowly but surely. That is actually what started my whole love affair with e-bay. My first item sold was a Kodak Polaroid camera from the 1940's (found in my basement of course) that was still in it's original box and included all of the accessories. Someone bought it for $40. I thought that was just awesome! Then I found my grandpa's old marble collection. A whole cigar box full of Peltier and Akro Agates from the 1920's. I was getting $40-$50 a piece for some of those little guys. I have to admit though, I have more but I just haven't parted with them yet. I don't know why since I certainly do not collect marbles. Sometimes it is hard to part with even the most trivial of items when all you have left of a person is their stuff. The problem is that I have so much of other people's stuff. My mom, grandma, and grandpa were all artists. I have paintings, woodcarvings, pottery, drawings, and on and on and on. I haven't parted with any of that... I'm sure I won't either. I think the part I enjoy most about the whole treasure hunt is the research. I know more about antique and vintage marbles now than I need to.

Anyway, here are a couple of layouts I did recently using som of Rachel's new kits. It is time to get back into the swing of scrapping and my creative team for Steel City Scraps.

I just fell in love with the photos I took of Rhiannon on her last day of 1st grade this past June. I have made three layouts with them. This layout was for Rachel's ingredient challenge at Divine Digital. The kit is called Weekend Getaway.

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This layout was done for a challenge at Stone Accent Studios. I used The Artisan's Garden by Booland Designs.

I'm a Blog Neglector!

I know, I know. I have been terrible about posting any blogs this summer. It has just been so hectic around here. I agreed to watch my stepdaughter, Sophia, this summer. It has actually turned out to be a lot of extra work. I am exhausted trying to entertain two seven year olds, chase around an 11 month old, and being pregnant to boot. Sophia was finally diagnosed with Asperger's at the beginning of this year. I don't even need to elaborate on the fact that Corey and I have known something was wrong with her since she was a baby... those of you who know me have heard at least six years worth of it. Anyway, it just adds to the difficulty of the whole situation. Enough about that or I will start to elaborate.

Some exciting news about Rhiannon. We had the National American Miss pageant in Columbus this past weekend. Now I just want to reiterate (for those of you that might not have read the earlier post explaining all about the pageant), that this pageant is NOT one of those freak shows where the moms dress their 5 year olds, etc. to look 25. I don't mean the children are freaks.... just any mother that would do that to their child. The girls in National American Miss are not allowed to wear any makeup until they are teenagers competing in the older divisions. I was really impressed with the whole shindig. It was a wonderfully organized, classy affair. It was apparent early on that we were mingling with little girls that have extensive coaching. Some of them show up with their coaches and their own personal hairdressers. But even given our lack of pageantry knowledge, Rhiannon made it to the semi-finals, and was in the top 25 out of 123 girls! I am so proud!! It was really exciting. We have been invited back next year, and she had a great time, so we will probably do it again. This time we will know what to practice. Here's a picture of Rhiannon after she was called back on stage as a semi-finalist.

So the weekend befor the pageant, I had a slumber party for the girls' birthday. I've decided that the person that created the whole "slumber party" concept should spend some time hanging from their toenails. The girls had a great time though. They played on the water slide and trampoline, threw water balloons, watched movies, and stayed up until 12:30 in the morning... which means so did I. Sophia didn't make it the whole night. She had a meltdown and Corey had to take her home at about 10:00pm. The really unfortunate thing about her disorder is that we never know what to expect. Here are a few pics from the party.

A week or so before the party, I finally got to meet Rachel, Mike, and the girls. I took the girls to the cottage, and they got to play on the beach a little. Then a few nights later, the four of us even got to go out without the kids!

So I will try not to be so neglectful of the blog from here on out. I have a lot of scrapping to get busy doing for the creative team too. I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Rhiannon's Last Day of First Grade!

Today was Rhiannon't last day of first grade! They had a carnival, and she came home with red stripes in her hair and "Go Perry" painted in red across her face. Haha. Here is a layout I did with the pics I took this morning...

I used Adventurous Ty by Steel City Scraps for this layout.

Here is a layout I did of her first day of first grade...

I created this layout with a Pocketful of Posies by Leslie Emery Designs, and a template by RoseMcDigital Designs.

What fun I had yesterday. Vickie and I went to see Sex and the City. It made me realize just how much I miss that show! Samantha is still my favorite... she is such a hoot!

Memorial Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Rhiannon was with her dad this weekend, so it was just Corey, Adrian, and me. On Sunday we went to Russ and Vickie's for a cookout. It was a great time... complete with a mean game of Catch Phrase. Yesterday Corey's folks came here for a cookout. The weather was amazing after the early morning rain.

Here is a layout that I created in honor of Memorial Day. The journaling reads: My grandfather served with the US Navy during World War II. He was a gunner aboard a destroyer escort named The USS Foss. He is the handsome fella in the middle!

I created this layout as part of a Memorial Day Challenge hosted by Steel City Scraps. You can check out the details on our creative team blog.

I used a kit by Steel City Scraps called Sentimental, and a template by Sweet Scraps.

Steel City Scraps Creative Team!

Here is some more exciting news! I have been chosen to be a creative team member for Steel City Scraps. Check out Rachel's boutiques at Divine Digital and Color Line Designs. Her kits are awesome and very user friendly. Keep an eye out for links to my galleries and updates and challenges! I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity!

What a Weekend!

What a busy busy weekend! I guess I should start off with the surprising news that I found out last week. I began to have my suspicions when I started getting that all too familiar morning back pain. The suspicions got even stronger when I started to have daily bouts of nausea. Then the suspicions were confirmed with two little tests. That's right! Pregnant again... for those of you reading this regularly, you know that I just weaned Adrian from breastfeeding. I should have stuck it out the last 3 months until cows milk! Ha! I'm excited, but I'm not looking forward to the whole "pregnancy" thing again. You moms know what I mean. Cute story.... I sent Corey to CVS to buy a pregnancy test. He came home all excite that he found a deal.. seven tests for only $11! Sounded a little fishy to me. Sure enough , he brught me home an ovulation kit instead of a pregnancy test. Gotta give him credit for trying though.

On Friday I chaperoned Rhiannon's class trip to the Museum of Natural History. All 6 of the 1st grade classes went. It was very fun, but very hectic. I'm sure you can imagine a 45 minute bus ride with 2 of the 1st grade classes. That makes for about 42 1st graders on our bus. Whew! I was responsible for 5 of the children. It was crazy! That night Rhiannon went on her 2nd Girl Scout camping trip. On Saturday; Corey, Adrian, Sophia, and I went to the camp for the fly up ceremony. Very cute. She stayed another night and Corey picked her up on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon we had to head back out to Independence for a workshop for her pageant. We stopped on the way home to measure one of Corey's up and coming jobs, and finally back home. It was a busy busy weekend!!

Rhiannon's softball home opener May 10, 2008

My little group at the museum

Rhiannon and her fellow Girl Scout campers

Back On the Wagon and Some Exciting News!

I received some exciting news today! A couple weeks ago I received a letter from National American Miss announcing an open call, in our area, for their annual pageant. Rhiannon is extremely outgoing (sometimes too much so) so I thought.. what the heck. Last Sunday the four of us set out for Independence to attend a 2 hour screening (if you will). After we arrived, Rhiannon got her photograph taken. I didn't think to take any pics, but I purchased the photos and the digital rights to the photos she had taken at the shoot. After that was done we all filed into the ballroom for the presentation. It was an explanation of the pageant. Don't worry... it is not one of those freak shows where the moms make their 5 year old children look 25... (shudder). These girls are broken into 5 age groups ranging from 4 to 18, and judged based on; Personal Introduction (30%), Interview (30%), Formal Wear Modeling (30%), and Community Involvement. The children under 12 are not allowed to wear any makeup! During the presentation, the girls were taken out one by one and interviewed. It was explained to us that not every girl is selected, and that we would receive a phone call this week to let us know if our daughter was chosen as a state finalist. I received my phone call today! Yeah! It looks to be a very enjoyable and rewarding experience for Rhiannon. The Queen of each age division is invited to compete at the national competition at Disneyland. The Queen's Court, which is comprised of the four runner's up to the queen, are also invited to compete at the national pageant for a separate title. I am just excited she is competing in the state pageant!

It has been a week since I breastfed, so I am officially back on the bottle-feeding wagon. I used up all my free samples and had to purchase my first $25 can of formula today. Maybe I should have just hung in for the last four months until cow's milk.

I Fell Off the Bottle Feeding Wagon

I finally weaned Adrian from breastfeeding... for two days. I thought I was doing it fairly gradual, but I woke up yesterday morning in such pain (you moms know what I mean.... even if you didn't breastfeed...) that I gave in. He was doing so well, getting bottles all day long and nursing in the evening. It's me that is struggling with it. When I weaned Rhiannon, at 6 months, I was working full time, taking care of her, and taking care of my 85 year old grandfather. I am home with Adrian all day so I feel like I am being selfish. I know I'm probably being silly anyway.. he will be 8 months old tomorrow. I would never go past a year for sure, but I felt like I was ready to quit now. Those teeth are a little intimidating too! Well... maybe I'll try again tonight.

"Awww Mom! What do you mean I get no more boob?!!"

Frogs and Pools and Bubbles Oh My!

The stressful weekend is coming to an end. Sorry, but I don't feel like elaborating right now. Anyway, here is a layout I created using Steel City Scrap's (aka Rachel) Spring Bliss kit. I am slowly but surely chunking away at a mountain of photos from past years. Here is another one from 2003.

Don't Do the Crime if You Can't Do the Time!

Back in January my husband had an 18 year old fella work for him for about a week. I'll call him Nimrod. Nimrod had worked for us for a few months back in the summer of '07 , and seemed to be a pretty good kid. This time he only worked with us for a total of eight days... five of which he was late for, and one that he called off completely. Corey kept telling him not to be late, but the final straw was Friday morning when he called at 9:30 am claiming car troubles. Corey informed him that he wasn't born yesterday. If your car doesn't start you are aware of this before you are supposed to be on the job site, not an hour and a half after you are supposed to be on the job site. He told him not to bother showing up on Monday... he wouldn't need him anymore. Nimrod came to our house that evening to pick up his check. Monday morning Corey arrived at the job site to find that all of his tools had been stolen. Hmmm. Who the hell do you suppose took them? Luckily they had not begun the tile installation process so he only got away with the floor prep and subfloor tools. Still worth $2500, it could have been a lot worse if his tile saws had been on the job. First thing I did was put a stop on the check. All of his other checks had been cashed at a local podunk beer joint, so chances were good that I still had a chance to keep the money from coming out of the account. The stop check took 24 hours to complete, but my attempt was a success. He either cashed it there or at a check cashing joint like Checksmart. My second call was to the police department of the very small and very affluent community where he committed the crime. We are talking 8 square miles of homes that are in the millions. Keep in mind we live in Northeast Ohio... a $200k house here would cost a million and a half in California. After giving them all of his information they began their investigation. He ended up confessing to the crime and returning two of the stolen tools. He sold the rest of them. They didn't arrest him on the spot, which Corey just could not comprehend, instead they filed the paperwork with the courts and served him with a direct indictment about 10 days ago. Of course he didn't bother to appear for his arraignment so they issued a warrant for his arrest. Being the busy body that I am, I had noticed that he was scheduled to appear at a court in our county for some other business. I called his probation officer to let him know of the warrant in the other county. The probation officer was not aware of the warrant and told me to call him back this afternoon for an update. I just got off the phone with him, and he has been arrested! So, he is facing two fifth degree felonies, whoever cashed his check is going to want to get paid eventually, and our insurance company is seeking restitution to the tune of $2500. Nimrod is facing a max of $5000 dollars in fines and up to 2 years in prison. I'm sure he won't get the max... but still. If he is ordered to pay restitution to the insurance company and fails to pay, they will suspend his driver's license. Last but not least is the "bad" check that he cashed that will probably haunt him until he pays it back. Tsk tsk. Pretty stupid act of vengeance on his part. He should have just dragged his ass out of bed and made it to work on time. Instead he thought it would be cool to steal from someone who truly does work his ass off to earn every cent we have. What a nimrod!

Rhiannon's First Girl Scout Campout!

Rhiannon went to her first outting for Girl Scouts this morning... an overnight stay at Camp Lejnar in Leroy, Ohio. I shouldn't say it's the first outting, they did a dry run at the troop leaders house last month, but that is still just a tad different. She was so excited she could barely contain herself. My little Rhiannon will be seven on June 30th, but she is somewhat of a peanut. She tips the scales at a whopping 40 pounds. She has been petite since she was a baby... never making it out of the 10th percentile for height and weight. It was pretty amusing to see her with her backpack and camping gear. Her bag is bigger than she is... check it out..

On Thursday we took Torino to see his new girlfriend. In case you didn't read the older posts, we are trying to breed him with a female bullmastiff... well.. not much happened. Their vet told them to try again today, so they brought Vegas over this morning. A little more action but still not quite right. They ended up taking him home with them for a sleepover. Keep your fingers crossed.

Drum Roll Please...

Adrian's first little tooth has busted out! It was like pulling teeth (pun intended) to get a peek, but there it was... his bottom left tooth! I felt it after he grabbed my finger and bit down. We are doin' the tooth dance! In other news... Rhiannon comes home today after an eight day stay at her dad's house in Maryland. She is pretty excited to see what the Easter Bunny brought her.

We had a pretty calm weekend here. Saturday was our third wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner with Vickie and Russ. It was a good time but unfortunately my taste buds were on the fritz because of my head cold. Bummer. After dinner we went to Babies R Us to get Tewk (as Corey has been calling him since he was born.... Corey has a nickname for everybody he knows..) some new Jammies. He is seven months old wearing 12 month clothing. We also got him a Bumbo seat, a new Baby Einstein DVD, and another Fisher Price crib aquarium thingy since the one I had stopped moving. All in all it was a good outting!

Here are some layouts that I did over the weekend. They were for a challenge at StoneAccentsStudios.com, but unfortunately I have been experiencing some technical difficulty uploading them to their site so I will have to show them off here. The first one was for their Sas-Y Self challenge. You had to scrap a photo of yourself as a teenager. Please don't laugh at our huge hair... we were very chic for the time. lol. This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom and me. It was taken, in our front yard, six months before we fond out she had cancer. I was a junior in high school.


Designer credits: Those Irish Eyes by BooLand Designs

My next layout is my first two pager. There is nothing more amazing than watching your children grow. Too bad it happens so fast!

Designer credits: Cheeky Charlie Monkey (Animals of the Zoo Collection) by Scrappin' Happens Digital Designs... Journaling tag from Sweet Honey by Verena Karolyi and Doreen Stoltz

Teething

Well it has finally arrived. Adrian's pearly whites are trying to force their way out, and the poor little guy can't get any sleep. That of course means that mommy and daddy can't sleep either. A couple days ago I pulled a box of Rhiannon's baby stuff out of storage. I found the Fisher Price aquarium that attaches to the crib. I tell you what.... here's to you Mr. Fisher Price aquarium thingy inventor... your contraption, with it's wiggly fishys and lifelike (smirk) wave sounds, has made my baby forget his pain... even if momentarily. We salute you!

Our Easter was so uneventful it was wonderful. The most exciting thing we did all day was rent Superbad from Pay-Per-View. I laughed the whole time! Truly not a movie to watch if you don't have a sense of humor. You know who those people are too. They're the ones that after you have asked them... "hey did you see insert funny movie of your choice here?"... they purse their lips and retort back with something about how stupid that movie was. Well no shit. It was intended to be stupid and slap stick. They weren't looking to win an oscar or be known as intellectually stimulating. Give me a break. Life is too short not to have a sense of humor. Add that to my pet peeve list: people with no sense of humor! I am fortunate to have some great friends with great senses of humor. Love you guys!!

Here are a couple of layouts I did. The first one is to commemorate Rhiannon's first lost tooth! My friend and digital scrapbook mentor if you will, Rachel, created this coordinated kit just for me to use with these photos. I absolutely love it. The link to download this kit is on her blog at http://www.simplyracheluncensored.blogspot.com/. There are plenty of other elements so it can be used to scrap photos that are non tooth related. The next layout is another years' past layout. Rhiannon was 3 years old and sitting amongst the fallen leaves, in our front yard, picking dandelions. I shot so many photos that day and I had a tough time choosing my favorites for the layout. I just might have to make this one a two pager. I love how children see beauty in the simplest of things. When we see our lawn full of dandelions my husband runs to get the lawn mower to get rid of the nasty things... you know before the neighbors start to think we don't "maintain our lawn". Rhiannon on the other hand sees a yard full of pretty little yellow wild flowers. The world would be a better place if we all thought like children once in a while. I did create an Easter layout, but I'm not happy with it. I spent all morning downloading a huge Easter kit, just to find that I don't like it at all. See... size doesn't always matter. ha ha. I will find a better kit and rescrap those photos.


Designer credits: Under My Pillow by Steel City Scraps

Designer credits: Autumn Splendor by Christy Lyle

Rhiannon's Easter Masterpiece...

Just wanted to share a few things real quick while the baby's taking a siesta. Rhiannon just left for a week long stay at her dad's house in Maryland. She drew him this picture, which I just thought was too cute:

Yesterday my friend Vickie stopped by and brought us this awesome Easter Bunny cake. All that's left are his ears and half his bow tie!! If only he wasn't so yummy! Thanks Vick!


This morning we had a visit from some really nice folks that have a female bullmastiff. They want to breed their Vegas with our Torino. They are going to be some gorgeous pups. I just hope my hubby and I can keep our willpower up and take the money instead of a pup! If not I'll have to come up with a cute destination name somewhere midway between Torino, Italy and Las Vegas, Nevada. Our pug's name is Sicily and I often wonder how many people "get" the names.........

Scrapbook Page

Completed another scrapbook page from years' past. This is Rhiannon opening her presents from my dad and step-mom in Las Vegas. It is a package she looks forward to every year. I take a bunch of photos to send them since they can't be here in person to watch her open them. This was Christmas 2003, and she was 2 and a half years old.



Designer Credits: background paper from Sweet Honey by Verena Karolyi and Doreen Stoltz and elements from Sleigh Bells Ring GDS collab. kit

What to do....

I rent space at The Craft & Antique Co-Op in Painesville Township. I have two 100 square foot spaces. I pay just about $200 per month, 20% of my sales, and have to volunteer to work three days per month. My dilemma is.... what to do with my children. The Co-Op is open Thursday thru Sunday from 10:00-5:00. My husband's mom was laid off from work and she had been watching the babe for me, on Fridays, so that I could put in my time. Rhiannon gets on the bus at 8:20 am and off at 4:00 so I would work at the wop (as my husband and I call it) until 3:30. Well... they called her back to work yesterday and to top things off, Rhiannon doesn't have school. Situations like this are just a huge reminder of my lack of family. I'll fgure it out, I've asked my friend Vickie if she'll watch them. She's one of the few people I trust with my babe. Here's the link to the Co-Op... it's a pretty neat place. http://www.craftandantique.com/. Alas I just might have to pack it in here soon. It's not making me money, since the baby came along, because I just don't have the time to devote to it. It's too bad though because I have so many things that I need to get rid of!!

A Quick Post

Just a quick post with my latest creation. Hopefully I will have time for more later!

Designer credits: Cool Boy kit by Designs by Coralie

Adrian's First Auto-Rama

I know it is Tuesday already, but I am still feeling relief that this past weekend is over!! Two childrens' birthday parties, a trip to the West side of Cleveland for the Auto-Rama, dinner at Red Robin, and a mini shopping spree at Lowe's... I am pooped! The Auto-Rama was fun, but it is always a challenge to get a good look at things when you have two children in tote. The WCW wrestler, Scott Steiner, was in the lobby of the IX Center when we arrived, and was nice enough to pose for a photo with the family. Rhiannon was happy as a peach that she got her first autograph..... even if it was just from a gal with legs up to her neck in black hot pants. So now she has a car poster signed by the girl posing with the car. Wonder where we'll hang that. All in all it was a fun time.

I joined a forum at Makeitscrappy.com, and decided to partake in their template challenge. Here is my first submission:

Designer Credits: Template by Rose McDigital Designs - Kit: Pocketful of Posies by Leslie Emery

My Jasmine Scented Kitchen

Add homemade soap making to my extensive list of hobbies. Or at least the list of things that I get myself involved with thinking I will have enough time to make it a hobby *snort*. Well I got frisky yesterday and I recruited Rhiannon to help me make some soap. It's been awhile and my husband keeps reminding me that my soap making paraphernalia takes up an entire cabinet in our kitchen. I simply retort back with something about his basket full of Hot Rod magazines dating back to the late '90s. He shuts up. So anyway... we finished our first batch of soap and, in my infinite clumsiness, I dumped the entire container of Jasmine scented oil on the kitchen floor. Scrub as I may I cannot get the smell out of the air. I'm sure it was absorbed into the grout. Today the smell has wafted down (down two steps that is) into my office. Completely fine for the first half of the day, but now I think I may vomit. This has probably ruined the smell of Jasmine for me.... kinda like the shea butter scented Huggie's wipes... they're fine for a tinkle diaper, but... well.. you get the idea. Now that is two ingredients I will no longer be putting in my soaps.

I never should have dabbled with templates. I made another page from Anastasia's wedding. I can bang out a page in 15 minutes using a template. About an hour when I don't. Talk about feeling like you've accomplished something. I told Rachel that I feel like I am cheating my creativity, so I will try not to get addicted to these template thingys. Suppose I should scrap a page or two from my own wedding. I was heartbroken to find that the second disk of my wedding photos is empty. Where the hell did they go? How could they have disappeared? Luckily I have a physical album with all of the photos. I guess I will have to scan them in my free time.... all 2 seconds of it.

Template by Andrea Gold, papers from The Promise Collection by shabbyprincess and Be Mine by Retrodiva Designs, element from Elevation by A. Teets.

Anastasia

Did a quick page tonight using a template. I see them on the freebie sites all of the time and needed to know what they were. It never occured to me to use shadows... now I know. This is one of my dearest friends, Anastasia, on her wedding day. She and her hubby, Carlos, got married in Maui, and we were fortunate enough to attend. Lots more pics to scrap!!

Template by Amy W. Designs, and papers and elements from The Promise Collection by shabbyprincessdesigns.

Michele....

Allright. I'm finally ready to put it all out there... or begin to anyway. For some reason I have been hearing about a lot of people finding out that they, or a loved one, have cancer lately. I am no stranger to cancer. My mother, Michele... or Miki as her friends called her, passed away from cancer in 1993. She was only 42, and I was only 18. My grandmother passed away from ovarian cancer 3 years later, but she deserves her own thunder in a later blog.

Before I begin the story of her journey down cancer's wicked path, I want to tell you a little bit about my mom. She was truly a wonderful person. I don't just say that in the way that everyone who dies young is a "wonderful" person.... I watch the news... I notice that whenever someone dies, they were just the best person around. (Don't assholes ever die?) Don't get me started on that topic... maybe another time. She would give you anything she had if you needed it. I am sitting here trying to come up with the best adjectives to describe her, I think some of them would be beautiful, charismatic, loving, caring, respectful, intelligent, talented, artisitc, fun loving, outgoing, classy, sexy, funny, magnetic, it goes on and on. I realize I can't paint the picture of who she truly was unless you were one of the people to have been blessed by knowing her. You will just have to take me for my word. My grandmother told me once that she would always set an extra place or two at the holiday dinner table because my mom was sure to bring someone, less fortunate, home for a holiday meal. That was her.

I am an only child and my mom divorced my father when I was only 2. She worked two jobs to support us for a few years. We lived right next door to my grandparents in Thompson, Ohio until 1985 when we moved a whopping 6 miles away. They had a big hand in raising me. In about 1980 she met my stepfather; Paul. She was the love of his life and everything was good until she got really sick and eventually passed away. He was a very good father to me.... considering I didn't see my real one from the time I was 4 until I was 26. Oh so many stories to tell. Anyway I will blog about him someday too, but I can only bare one heartbreak at a time.

Well I guess I will start with the "story". I might not finish it all in this one sitting, but I will finish it. It was November of 1992. I was a senior at Geneva High School and was very involved with my high school sweetheart; Billy. My mom was the administrative assistant to the vice president in charge of quality assurance at Allen Bradley (which is now Rockwell Corporation). She had a very heavy workload and a stressful job. She was also in the midst of rehearsals for Steel Magnolias at Lakeland Community College. One of her passions was acting and she was very involved with local and community theaters. She started having severe headaches and went to see our family doctor.... who also knew her personally. He attributed the headaches to stress and sent her home with some pain medication. About a week later they were still very bad so she scheduled another appointment. Dr. Soandso was out of town so she ended up seeing a different one. He took one look in her eyes with the light thingy....you know what I mean, and ordered an MRI. The MRI found a brain tumor. I remember that evening well. I came home from being somewhere with Billy and she asked me to sit down in the living room. I remember the numbness that washed over me when she told me the news. She reassured me that it was going to be allright. They were going to remove the tumor, get her going on radiation therapy, and it was all going to be allright. Numbness... nothing but numbness.

I can't go on anymore with this right now. I need a break. This is my favorite picture of her. It was taken about a year or two before she was diagnosed with cancer. Below her is a picture of one of her paintings. Did I mention she was an artist. She studied at the Dayton Art Institute after high school. Yes... I am extremely proud of her.

Thought I would share a little of our winter wonderland. These were taken today!

I know he's thinking that he can't move his limbs or get his fingers in his mouth.

March is truly in like a lion for those of us in Northeast Ohio! On Wednesday we had a severe ice storm, and beginning Friday we had nearly a foot and a half of snow dumped on us. I wonder why I don't move sometimes! I finally hooked up the old pc and transfered my older photos that were stored there. My goal is to create a scrapbook for every year since the kids were born. Here is a page I created with a photo from Rhiannon's 1st trick-or-treat in 2003. She was 2 years old.


This was created using Harvest Spice paper from Shabbyprincess, and elements from Trick-or-Treat by Andrea Gold.

Just Another Manic Monday

Actually this is a very nice relaxed Monday... even if school is closed! The weekend was nice too. Seeing as how we decided to postpone the once every blue moon night out, we decided to go for a fishfry on Friday evening. The Friday fishfry was a tradition that began for me as a little girl. Every Friday my grandparents would take me to a fishfry. My earliest memories of them were at VFW halls and places of that sort. Then around the mid "80s we started going to the restaurant located in Carlisle's department store. When that closed we went to a little restaurant in Madison, Ohio called Potbellys. Alas, Potbellys has now closed for business. I decided to try the fishfry at Sammy's in Grand River (on a recommendation). It was very good, and I think we now have a new Friday fishfry haunt! Rhiannon stayed the night at Grandma's Friday evening so it was just Corey, the baby, and I.

On Saturday we picked Rhiannon up and went to my girlfriend Tammy's house. She does our hair for us. I decided to go back to blonde and cut bangs again. It has been a few years since I have had my hair cut this way. It turned out really nice! We have a pretty sweet deal worked out with Tammy. Corey laid all new stone tile in the lower level of their split level a year and a half ago. In trade, she cuts and colors our hair for us. I personally think the barter system is awesome!

Yesterday we had a 4th birthday party for Rhiannon's cousin Rileigh. Rileigh is Rhiannon's dad's nephew Shaun's daughter. Can you follow that? So I suppose technically she is Rhiannon's second cousin. I am very good friends with Shaun's wife Yvonne. Just an FYI for those of you reading this that don't know me; Rhiannon's dad and I broke things off when Rhiannon was 6 months old. I met my husband Corey 5 minutes later...... just kidding more like 10 :) So many stories for another time....

Anyway, here is my weekend creation

This was created using Douce Fraicheur by Nanine.

Here are some pictures from the birthday party:

Rileigh and Rhiannon

Rhiannon taking pinata inventory.

This was Adrian's two hour long party expression!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Unfortunately, I have a very nasty head cold this Valentine's Day! I am usually prepared with gifts for everyone, but not this year. I purchased my cards ahead of time, but I am making my husband stop after work to pick up gifts for the kids. This should be good! He probably won't be able to find the Valentine gift bags (which will be right in front of him of course), and bring home gift bags that say Happy Birthday! Just kidding... he is a vary good gift giver, but he is still a man.

We have postponed our night out that was scheduled for this Saturday. We were going to go to my favorite seafood restaurant, Pickle Bill's, for all-you-can-eat crab legs. A celebratory night out for my birthday and Valentine's Day. Pickle Bill's is an awesome place, on Lake Erie, right at the mouth of the Grand River. Grandma was going to watch the kids and I was looking oh so forward, but what good is it when your taste buds are on the fritz from being sick. Oh well. A real quick story about Pickle Bill's.... They have a floating bar out in the river. Once every couple years the bar disconnects from it's dock and floats out into Lake Erie. This usually happens when the ice starts to thaw or when there has been an uncommon amount of rain and the river gets too high. So, they have to head out there and tow it back in. Kind of funny!

Anyway, here are my Valentine pages. The first one is one of my favorite photos of my mom and I. I lost my mom to cancer when she was only 42. I was 18. I will write about that sometime, but not now. The second one is a page I made at my husband's request. He wanted me to make a page using the photos that I have of him and I as children with our pooches. I keep them in frames on my desk. I thought the Valentine layout would be nice.

Iused Lie Fhung's Amorette kit to create the page above, and Retrodiva's Be Mine kit below.

My First Blog

Well.. here it is, my first post! Unfortunately I don't have anything extremely exciting to post except that the weather is really really lousy in Northeast Ohio today! I am organizing my newly moved office. It used to be in the third bedroom, but now we need that third room for the baby. Shortly before Christmas we installed hardwood floors (real wood NOT laminate) into the living room and dining room. Originally we were going to leave the big screen and current furniture in the family room, and make the living room more formal... to be used when the company was here etc. Those plans changed with the addition of our newest family member; Adrian Michael. The family room is now my new office / play room, and we will be watching TV in the living room. Pretty cool except that the brick fireplace will be wasted in a room that serves as the office. Oh well. We didn't use it much when we hung out in that room anyway.



Moving things has been a real chore! You don't realize how many hiding places you have for your "stuff" until you dismantle a room. Stuff is something Ihave a lot of, and I will explain in another post.



I have to get to work now. Here are a couple of new scrapbook pages I did. I am new to that scene too, thanks to my friend Rachel. You can check out some of her awesome pages at http://www.simplyracheluncensored.blogspot.com/.











These were made using Sophia Sarducci's Swim With the Fishies.