I am cleaning out the old scrappy files again

I am blessed to part of a wonderful design team at Memorable Seasons. (see the link on the right side of this blog) Jill is an incredibly generous owner and I find lots of wonderful treasures on my doorstep each month. I use as much as I can but I still find myself with an abundance of beautiful patterned paper scraps. Of course, I take advantage of way too many of the incredible deals she offers, too. I am trying to get down to a leaner supply stash and I find I just can't bear to throw good paper away. I also have numerous sheets of stickers and letters that only have a few pieces missing from them. There is lots of chipboard and flowers and just a few stamps, too. I have put together several "care" packages full of odds and ends that I will send to anyone who is interested. Please send an email to dettao@prodigy.net with your snail mail and I will get those out to you. Unfortunately, I need to limit this to US residents. Postage out of the country is just a little too high.

Halloween pictures and more catching up

Wow,it has been an eventful week here in the Owens home. On Monday, Karen began having contractions. At that point, she was only 33 weeks. They were consistently 4 minutes apart when she arrived at the hospital at 9:30 pm. Fortunately, she had not started to dilate and they were able to stop them after two shots and a pill. Don't ask me what they gave her. I have no clue. However, by 11, when it looked like she would be there a while, I took Seth home with me and put him to bed. I had a heck of time getting tha boy up to take him to school the next day. It has been a long time since I had to do that kind of duty. Karen is now on a prescription to keep her uterus relaxed but has contractions when she exerts herself. That is why I got to take Seth to his school carnival and trick or treating last night.

I also would love it if you would say some prayers for my extended family, too. Joe's (my son-in-law) grandfather is in the hospital with heart and kidney failure and is not expected to make it much longer. His family is keeping vigil at the hospital and I brought Seth home with me yesterday afternoon to make it a little easier on those sitting in that waiting room. 6 year olds just don't sit quietly very well. Karen came over here for a little while to get Seth ready for trick or treating but went back after he was finished.

My cousin's 26 yr old son has been diagnosed with a brain tumor in his frontal lobe which has caused him to have seizures. He is on medication to control those seizures and they are going to monitor the tumor for a while because the neurosurgeon thinks it may have been there for a while. He was recently laid off of his job and does not have insurance. Please pray that he finds a good job soon so that he has coverage if the time comes to remove the tumor.

Allison has been furniture shopping and has purchased a dinette set, a couch and chair and is all set to move out next month. She is very excited and I am for her. I know she is ready to get out of her parent's house.

I heart Brian Andreas Story People

So many of them speak to me like this one that came to my inbox this morning.

Dark Garden

I once had a garden filled with flowers that grew only on dark thoughts but they need constant attention & one day I decided I had better things to do.


See more of them here.

Pregnant women are beautiful

especially when she is my own baby girl....
















I've been eyeing this pink wall at Miguelito's Mexican Restaurant ever since I found out Karen was pregnant hoping it would be a girl so I can take a picture of a pregnant belly in front of it. There is a blue wall on the other side of the building.

My Mind's Eye

Got lots of really fun My Mind's Eye products in my design team kit from Memorable Seasons this month. There isn't a piece of paper in the whole kit that I did not like. Here is some stuff I made.

updates

I have not been as good a blogger as I used to be. You would think that having the children grown would make life less hectic and I'd have more leisure time. It seems that I am always busy. So, how is everyone? Well, I'll tell you.

Allison has begun teaching school at Colleyville Heritage High School. She teaches physics, a geology/meterology/oceanography class and a TAKS class for kids who didn't pass their science portion the first time. She is tired and busy but enjoying the kids and the work. She likes attending their sport events and making herself part of the campus life.

Karen lost her job back in January and has not found another job but enjoyed staying home with Seth all summer. She and Joe are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary this month and are expecting a little girl in December. Stella Grace is due December 10 but she is already over 4 lbs and the doctor has said he will not let her get as big as Seth did who weighed in at 10 lbs when he was born. Maybe we will have a November baby, instead. They are also house hunting.

Seth has started kindergarten. He is doing well and gets a sticker at the end of each day just about as often as he doesn't so I think that averages out to an average kid, don't you think? He is riding his bike without training wheels, is sounding out simple words and has lost two teeth in the last week. He is also playing fall tball and looking forward to meeting his baby sister.

Curtis and I are doing fine. We are just working and enjoying the kids.

Meeting Dr Amy

Amy and I have been chatting for several years since we "met" at the CKMB. I have loved watching her 4 gorgeous curly headed boys grow up through her pictures and beautiful scrapbook pages. She and I seem to have many things in common as our families grew up. We both love scrapbooking and we have both begun learning photography. We learned early in the relationship that she lived near Curtis' parents in Alabama and talked about meeting someday. Because I was unable to go with Curtis the last couple of times he made the trip, it never happened until now. On Wednesday, Curtis and I made the trip from Sylacauga to Inverness to meet Amy for lunch at Chili's near her office. Everyone seemed to think that 40 mile drive was a big deal but it wasn't any further than I drive to work most days. Besides that, we were in the middle of nowhere and there just wasn't any place except fast food between the two towns. It was just another opportunity for my ears to pop as we drove through the mountains again and watched the beautiful scenery go by. It was a delightful lunch. Amy was very sweet and I enjoyed the conversation very much.

I have met so many wonderful people through this hobby of mine. It is exciting to say that I have friends all over the world. Even though I have never actually met many of them, I have come to know them through pictures and stories on their scrapbook pages. The internet is an amazing place, isn't it?