I was one of us

Just another great story from Brian Andreas and his StoryPeople.


Someday, the light will shine like
a sun through my skin & they will say,
What have you done with your life? & though
there are many moments I think I will remember,
in the end, I will be proud to say, I was one of us.

I feel a scrapbook page coming on.....

Go for the Smile

I read about a site called "One Little Word" http://onelittleword.blogspot.com/ over on Ali Edwards blog. I like the idea of designing a page around one word. The first word they threw out in their challenge is GO. Here is my page. I found this quote by googling "go quotes." When I saw this one that also included the word smile, I knew it was the one to use. I designed my page as advice to my youngest daughter who is currently boyfriendless for the first time in several years. My husband makes me smile every day so I know this is great advice.

Don't go for the looks,

it can be deceiving.

Don't go for the wealth,

even that fades away.

Go for the one who makes you smile

because only a smile

makes a dark day bright.

A Daddy's job

Being a big picture dork, I took pictures of Curtis and Allison while they loaded up the truck with her stuff to bring back home last week. Allison is really good at rolling her eyes when she sees the camera but loves the pages I do, so I ignore her and tell her to smile. I knew exactly how I was going to journal on this page when she gave her Daddy his birthday card last week. She said she chose it not only because it was the only card on the rack that said "Daddy" rather than Father but because it had pictures of monsters on it. The monsters reminded her of when he used to check for monsters in the closet before she went to bed at night when she was small. I just love it when my girls share random memories like that with us. Gives me warm fuzzies.

The journaling says, "When you were little, Daddy's job was to check for monsters in the closet and kiss boo-boos well. Now that you are grown, he helps you move and reminds you to change your oil. A Daddy's job is never done."

Summer is officially here for me

We had one week of quiet in our house between Karen and Seth moving out and Allison coming home from college. We used it to just enjoy ourselves. We didn't do any housework or yardwork or any of the projects I had planned. I didn't even scrapbook much and I took a bit of a break from the message boards. We read books, watched TV and just laughed. It was a good week.

Allison ( and all her stuff) are back until mid August. She has actually been hanging around with us in the evenings. Most of her friends stayed away at school this summer. She plans to work at the Y again and take a couple of classes at TCC. I'm sure it will still be quiet since she will be so busy.

I am going to a crop tonight with my DFW scrapping friends. I have actually got several pages planned and organized. I'm ready to get at it.

I am Beautiful

On National Scrapbooking day, Ali Edwards issued several challenges over at the CKMB. One of them was to scrap 3 to 5 reasons why I am beautiful. To help that along, Liz Ness started a thread about words of beauty. See that thread here.
http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/mb/viewtopic.php?t=53192
I wrote my journaling for this layout that night but didn’t actually do a layout until today. I had a great time just using up lots of buttons and brads that I’ve been hoarding and not finding a use for. I took that idea from Noell’s blog http://www.paperclipping.com/ about making older products fresh again. While the products I used aren’t really “outdated,“ I’ve had them quite a while. It was fun pulling ideas from so many different places. It says:
Beautiful because
1. My age and experiences have mellowed and softened me. They’ve made me appreciative of the many blessings I enjoy and I am content and satisfied with my life.
2. I choose to be happy and look on the bright side of life. There is not much that life can throw at me that can’t be worked through if I have a smile on my face and laughter in my heart.
3. My husband tells me I am. He makes me confident in my beauty. He tells me every day how beautiful I am, how sexy I am and how much he loves me. His belief in me makes me beautiful.

Silence

I was reading Ali Edwards blog this morning and she had a quote from Karen Beacon about silence. I love silence. I am not one of those people who needs the TV or a radio for background noise. I can putter around the house all by myself, all day long, and never speak a single word out loud. I find it relaxing and calming.

Sunday mornings are my favorite time of the week. I like to get up early, make coffee, sit in my place on the loveseat and read the paper. If someone else gets up before I’m done, I feel cheated. I especially don’t like it when Curtis gets up and turns the TV on. He ALWAYS has it on when he is awake and home.

Right now, I am home alone. I can hear the birds outside and an occasional car drive by. The house sounds are comforting to me. There is the gentle whir of the computer fan, the creaks of the house as it settles, and the noise of the air conditioner when it kicks on every once in a while.

Love it.

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls."

Mother Theresa

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

I have been reading lots of blogs today and catching up on lots of things. I have had a really crazy couple of weeks at work and have not been on the computer but a few minutes each day. Curtis and I am on vacation this week. I am going to attempt to strip the wallpaper in the hall bathroom. Notice that I said "attempt." We will also be moving most of Allison's stuff back home at the end of the week for the summer. She still has one more final on Monday of next week so she won't be home on Mother's day. Karen and Seth have moved out, so we have one whole week of quiet between kids living here.

Theresa has tagged anyone reading her blog to post seven things about themselves. Here are mine.

1. My favorite candy in the whole world is not chocolate. It is Panda stick licorice. I can only find it in Natural food stores or health food stores. It's kind of funny that I go into those kind of stores to get my sugar fix.

2. I would rather be barefoot. Even in the winter, I kick off my shoes and socks as soon as I get into the house. (hubby hates my cold feet, though.)

3. I am currently on the fence about coloring my hair. I have always said I never would but the grayer it gets, the more I think about it.

4. My favorite sound in the world is giggling girls. I loved volunteering to chauffeur my daughters and their friends so I could listen to them giggle in the back seat of my car. It was a mixed blessing the days they began driving themselves to their destinations.

5. I met my husband when we worked together at Jim Dandy Fried Chicken when we were 16years old in 1976. He gets cuter every year. Just love that balding gray headed look.

6. Traffic and driving long distances do not bother me. It is a great time to meditate and reflect. It keeps me sane.

7. I have worked for the same company for over 30 years. I work for Tom Thumb which is part of the Safeway organization. I worked my way up through the ranks in the stores and now I am in charge of resets in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area.

Still trying to give away my RAK!

I still have not heard from Sonia. I have drawn a new name and she is Miranda. Email me at dettao@prodigy.net or pm dettao on the CKMB with your address so I can send your gift.

Sonia, if you are still out there, I will find something for you, too if you will notify me.