Home again

Matt and I got home safely Monday night. My camera was accidentally left in the car at the Springfield airport, so I don't have any pictures to share yet. When my mom sends me the ones off her camera I will share.

Bob's memorial was really nice. The chapel was full, there was some very pretty music, and the eulogies were not only personal but very funny. His friend Ashley talked about how Bob used to go act out the Rocky Horror Picure Show, and the pastor came back up and laughingly said he had never heard the RHPS preached from the pulpit before. Lots of laughs, and Bob would have loved it.

Matt was also able to spend some time with his friends. Zack spent the whole weekend with us, and the two of them went to the DeMolay Sweetheart dance. I really liked having some one on one time with him.

The rest of our time was spent visiting family and friends. It was wonderful catching up with the ones I haven't seen in a while, and in some ways heartbreaking. Time goes by too fast. Saturday night my brother and Sam took me out to play Bingo, which I had never done before. I didn't win anything, but it was fun!

I am having some serious computer problems between the screen on my laptop dying and Photoshop freezing every time I try to use it. I managed to upload this photo that shows you the garden bed Jack laid out for me while we were gone. It is simply huge! We have to rototill the soil still, and then get everything planted. I have a ton of work in the next couple of days to get done. I am using decorative rocks to lay out a strawberry bed where my daffodils are coming up, and I have to clear out and frame out a mulch area. I never thought I would end up saving coffee grounds, potato peels, and other decomp stuff, but the time has come to embrace the farmgirl I never knew I was...LOL.

I need to get to work. I will post updates as we get things growing as long as my electronics start cooperating!

Feeling Spring-y

I have daffodils blooming in my back yard...

and my trees are full of singing birds. The skies are blue and the temps are crisp. It is a beautiful day today. The weather report says there may be thunderstorms and some tornado-type weather tonight, so I am soaking in the pretty stuff while I can. Jack is going to work on building my garden beds while I am gone this weekend, so maybe next week I can start seeing what I need to do to get it to start growing. I am really looking forward to seeing how the Ozarks bloom when spring really kicks in!

I am packed and ready to go. I probably won't be back on until Monday. Have a nice weekend!

Thank you

Thank you for the condolences. Matt and I are flying back to Vegas on Friday to go to Bob's memorial and are returning home on Monday. Mom and my aunt and great uncle went ahead with their plans to come see us over the weekend, and I think it helped her to get to see the kids.

I have a new cell number, but I haven't had time to get ahold of anyone and update. I am going to try to send an email out before I leave, but if you don't get it and you want the new number please send me an email and I will get it to you.

I have a lot of things I am working on for the digital products I have been creating. Afer I get home next week and am back on track, I will be putting together a notification yahoo list, making a call for a digital team, and releasing several new kits that I have been working on in between other major things that have been happening lately. I have several sets that I am excited about, but with everything that has needed my attention in the last couple of weeks I decided to hold off so I could promote them properly.

The weather has been wonderful the last couple of days. It was a cold weekend, but suddenly it feels like spring with temps in the high 60s. I have loved having the doors and windows open, and I am eager to get our garden planted, as well as figure out how to get some chickens and keep them alive. This is the first time I have ever really known what it meant to have Spring Fever, and it has bitten me hard! I have loved the winter here, but these balmy temps and clear skies are calling me outside!

Jessica is in a play this weekend. The youth group is raising money for their mission trip to Mexico. If you are in the area and would like to attend, holler and I will let you know where it is.

Take care, everyone. I will be back soon!

Sad news

If you don't already know, Mom's husband Bob passed away last night. The funeral will be next Saturday. If you would, please keep my mom in your prayers. ((hugs, Mom))... I love you.

New kits and a freebie!!

Miss Skittles.... a source of inspiration.

Here are the three previews of the new sets available at Scrap Village. Click here to go directly to the digital section. The first set was inspired by the colors in Miss Skittles' fur and crystal blue eyes...she is such a pretty cat! City Planner Tracey made the Irish Daydream papers, and I made the coordinating set of painted metal elements. But first, you will want to click here to download a free Miss Skittles set that has a coordinating patterned paper and decorative rolodex card, as well as a coupon for 25% off the entire set at Scrap Village! Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a nice Valentine's Day! We spent last night getting valentines and boxes made for Chet, Faith and Kyle to take to school today. Then the boys went this morning and left those boxes at home, so I ran them over to the schools for them. We had a bunch of snow flurries this morning, with big huge flakes floating through the sky... very pretty! Beth loved her big valentine, but she was too interested in watching the snow out the window to pay much attention to getting her picture taken.



Here are just a couple of shots of the puppies coming to say hi when I was outside getting stuff out of the freezer. They wouldn't look at the camera either... must be a theme today... LOL

I have a new set ready to go up at ScrapVillage, so I will post it here tonight or tomorrow as soon as it is ready to go. Happy Valentine's Day!

Lotsa pictures

Today is mostly a photographic post. I still want to do some touch ups to these, but here are a bunch of pictures from my dad's wedding. They aren't in order.... just some of my favorite shots from the ceremony, the reception, and the photo session. The weekend was over way too fast. I just wanted to pack everyone up in my suitcase and bring them home with me. I miss my family so much.
















I looooved finally getting to meet Sam in person, and it was so good to see my brother again. Hurry up and get out here to visit, guys... we miss you!





These are some snow shots from last week I just haven't had the energy to post. I am hoping my voice returns sometime today, but other than that we don't have a lot of plans. There is supposed to be an ice storm today, but so far we just have a lot of grey skies and rain. The kids start their new soccer season today, and they are participating in the Too Good for Drugs program that starts today. I will be back with photos. Mom got the girls a bunch of dresses while I was there, so I need to take some pictures of them in those and get them posted. Talk to ya soon!

Made it to Vegas

I made it to Vegas tonight, and am having a great time talking with my brother and his girlfriend. Tomorrow is the wedding, and I should have some good pics to share afterwards. I have my cell phone with me if any of my Vegas buddies want to give me a call. I will be be back on Sunday. Have a nice weekend!~

Not a good time to be sick

I had so much I wanted to do over the weekend, but I have been really sick. Whatever this crud is, it is going through the whole house. Half the kids are home from school today, and all of us are just laying on the couch trying to summon enough energy to breathe. This is not fun. I keep telling myself it is better to be sick now, and hopefully better by this weekend. I leave for Vegas on Friday, so I need to get better fast to finish getting ready. I still have to find a dress to wear to the wedding.

These are the two pages I did manage to get put together over the weekend. The credits for everything are in my gallery at Scrap Village. Jennifer Sizemore also put together some pretty pages with these sets, so be sure to stop by her blog and check them out!

One of the challenges over the weekend was to post an 80's picture of ourselves. Here is mine, taken in 89. Funny, huh? The really sad thing is that I bought Jessica a Cinderella t-shirt this summer, and it was labeled as "vintage." sigh.


Thank you all for the comments you have left here and at the download section about the new kits! I am glad you like them! I have some more in the works, and I plan on releasing new things every week, so please don't forget to check back! TTYS!

It's Live!

The digi section of Scrap Village just went live! Click here to check it out! And don't forget to click here and here for your freebies!

A free sampler!

I finished my first five sets in their entirety, and they should all be uploaded to ScrapVillage for purchase sometime today. Tomorrow night I will be issuing a challenge in our Virtual Crop to use the sampler set. I am going to be putting everybody who uploads a page to the Virtual Crop gallery using any of the samples in the sampler set into a drawing, and the winner will win the entire First Love kit. Of course, getting the pages done will also earn you extra VC points, and a chance to win the crop prizes as well. We have a blast at our Virtual Crops, so I hope you will all stop by and play along as much as you can! The crop is already going, and we will keep going until late Sunday night. Here is the First Love preview again. I will post the links when Tana gets them up in the store.



I created a sampler offering a little bit of all four sets. You can download it here. Let me know if you have any problems downloading it! This is the last preview that I didn't have done yesterday.The post below this has the stitches and trims previews.



I also created two alphabet sets that I am offering for free by downloading here. These were the first two projects I made just to play around. They are both chipboard tag alpha sets.


I am off to start scrapping now. I hope you'll join us! I don't know if the groundhog saw his shadow or not, but it is snowing again outside, so I know winter will last at least another day for us... LOL.