quote of the day

If you judge people you have no time to love them

~ Mother Theresa

Queen of the Crop

I participated in an on line crop over at Scrapbook Playground this weekend. Got lots and lots of layouts done. Every layout done got your name in a drawing for a gift certificate to the store. There were 20 challenges plus a couple of bonuses. I did ten plus one bonus. And... tada! my name was drawn so I am queen of the crop. Woohoo! It was fun. I challenge myself to just scrap. I didn't worry about the perfect design or whether it was publishable. I just had fun. Here are a few. Lovely Girl was a challenge to use the colors red, pink, purple, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, black and white. Sisters was to use 3 different pp from 3 different manufacturers. Pedro was to scrap an animal. Pool Fun was to use blue and green. Living on Sunshine was to use bright summer colors, bling and ribbon.

Sunday Sandwiches

Yesterday was our monthly Lunch at Mom's. My sibs and I take turns fixing the main course and everyone else brings something to share. This month was Lex's turn. The email he sent out this week said that after much deliberation, he had decided we were having Sunday Sandwiches. I laughed out loud. Soon all of us were emailing back and forth with our childhood memories of Sunday lunches. Kathy joked that the only fresh vegetables we ever got were lettuce and tomato on our sandwiches. Lex said they were not truly Sunday Sandwiches unless they were on thin white Mrs. Bairds bread that had been taken out of the freezer the night before. Someone else mentioned the Miracle Whip and Fritos. Of course, we then had to explain to our spouses and our children just what Sunday Sandwiches were. As soon as I got my sandwich made yesterday, I snapped a picture. My nephew, Trey asked me if it was a particularly pretty sandwich since I was taking its picture. It was definitely a stellar example of a Sunday Sandwich. It had roast beef, lettuce, tomato, and horse radish sauce on wheat bread. We never had roast beef or horse radish sauce or wheat bread when we were kids but some concessions have to be made for our healthier lifestyle, don't they. So, who is curious about what a Sunday Sandwich is? Here is a layout I made today to explain it. I hope I haven't made you hungry.

I get up at 4 am

This page is about my job. I was inspired by Kelz' article in CK magazine. I took my camera to work and took pictures during the day. Click on the picture to read the journaling. I really am glad that I have this job. It pays well so that we are comfortable. It gave me the freedom to do things with my kids when they were in school. I got to go on field trips and see school plays and pick them up from school occasionally. I have every weekend and holiday off. When I worked in the stores, I was there every weekend and every holiday. Those jobs are very important and I totally respect those who do them but I am really happy where I'm at.

I still have one more MMM page to share but will save it for another day.

We Share

This was my favorite of my MMM layouts. It just felt fun to me. This picture was taken on my Mom's 70th birthday.

Mad, another MMM layout

This is my darling Seth, the drama king, in another layout I did for MMM. The stars are chipboard cut with a cuttlebug by my friend Marcella. Everything else is Heidi Swapp tape.

I am not a Master and 10 reasons i love u.

Memory Maker Masters were announced today. Congratulations to all of those ladies. A couple of them are from North Texas. That is pretty cool. Since I didn't win, I thought I'd share my four layouts with you. I'll share the first one today.

This is my darling Curtis, the sometimes grumpy, sometimes annoying, sometimes hilarious love of my life. We will be married 30 years in December. He still makes me laugh everyday. Sometimes, he makes me laugh even when I don't want to. (See the previous sentence that includes the words grumpy and annoying.) I still love to see him come through the door each night. I love the gray in his beard and in what little hair he has left. I even love that middle age spread. This is my simple tribute to him. Click on the picture to read the list.

For unpubbed

Last night, Curtis went to bed even earlier than we normally do. I was too pumped up to go to bed that early and there was nothing on TV. I whipped this one up in about an hour. The journaling is not original. I "lifted" it from a Hallmark Easter card that I found on line. The flowers are on dimensional glue dots so they are a little above the page. Looks pretty cool in real life. Karen took this picture of herself cause her boyfriend wanted one with a serious look on her face.

Incredible Excitement in our family

Allison has been awarded a full scholarship for her last 4 semesters at the University of Texas. It is from the Hartman Foundation, an organization that encourages future teachers of math and science. She is a biology major planning to teach high school. I cannot tell you what an incredible blessing this is to our family. I am so proud of her, too. Not only did she have to write an essay, meet an minimum GPA and get several letters of recommendation from current professors as well as others in the community, she went to a personal interview this past Friday. She is such a good kid and is going to be such a good teacher. All through high school, she was a leader in our church youth group and for the last three summers, she has worked as a day camp counselor with the YMCA. During this past school year, she worked with a group called the River City Youth Foundation in Austin which is an after school program for low income children where she got to use her Spanish skills. This will be such a load lightener for her so she doesn't have to work so many hours while going to school.

And then there were two

We got Allison moved back to Austin yesterday. Since Karen and Seth moved out in May, there are just two people living in our house. It feels real this time. Allison’s first two years of college were spent in either the dorm or in a fully furnished college apartment. This year, she and a friend signed a 1 year lease on a 2 bedroom, one bath apartment close to campus. She took all of her furniture, all of her books, all of her clothes. There are two bedrooms in my house that are completely empty except for several former prom and banquet dresses hanging in one closet. I’m thinking about making one a grandchild friendly room with books and toys but I’m not rushing into anything right now. The first purchase needs to be a bed so that Seth can spend the night occasionally. I look around my house and all I can see is the aftermath mess of moving someone out. I need to reorganize and clean. It will be strange to not be asking someone to get their 27 pairs of shoes out of the entry way. I’m not sad, though. I'm proud of my two grown up babies. This is how it is supposed to work. You raise them. You love them. You teach them independence and then they are supposed to become independent.

I did get a kick out of Allison’s parting words as Curtis and I left, though. She hugged us both and then as we walked to the truck yelled after us “love you guys!”

I've been tagged

by my friend Liz.

"The rulz:"Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog,"

1. I have a degree in Management from Dallas Baptist University. They have the most awesome adult education department geared toward helping people with real jobs and families get their degree in the shortest time possible. I was actually able to get college credit hours for things I've learned from my job and from volunteer work.
   
2. My first job was at Baskin-Robbins. I wore the most adorable pink and brown dress. (not!)I could get one dip of ice cream free per day. Oh, what a fattening summer that was.
   
3. My drink of choice is diet Dr. Pepper. I can't believe it when I ask if they have it at different places and they say, "we have diet coke." It is not even near the same thing, folks!
4. I am the oldest of seven siblings. I am so blessed that we are all good friends and that we all live within an hour of each other.
   
5. I am a Catholic Christian and active in the lector ministry. I am often asked to read at funerals or weddings.
6. My eyes are hazel. They are green with a little circle of brown around the iris. I am always getting asked if I am wearing colored contacts. Nope, these are the eyes that God gave me.
7. I am half Polish. My mother is Polish American and speaks Polish. I am afraid that my siblings and I sometimes tease her about her mispronunciation of words, especially anything with a "th" in it. Of course, we tease about lots of stuff!
   
8. I have never cooked a Thanksgiving turkey. My darling husband is the holiday cook in our family. Gotta love it, huh?

I am tagging Katie, Erika, Betty, Jeanne, Kim, Laura, Mel, and Stephanie

You will love this.

This is totally worth the 5 minutes it takes to watch. I loved it. I smiled all the way through and then the end got an awww.

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA

One Little Word

The word for this round is "seek." I have had this picture of Seth for a while with a plan in the back of my mind to record his attachment to his "night night." We watched him on Friday night while his mom was out to dinner with her boyfriend. When Seth started getting tired and wanted to lay down in the chair, I asked him where his night night was. It was then that my almost 4 year old little man told me that he is big now and doesn't need it anymore. So proud I am but sad.

Bobbi Jean, Cheryl and mamatwoboys will be getting surprises from me in the mail. Please email me with your full name and address.

dettaowens@texasearch.com

Be sure to pay it forward in some way...

Time to pay it forward

My friend, Kelz over at Butterscotch Palace is sending me a surprise in the mail. I have a link to her blog over to the right of this page. I have agreed to pay it forward. The first three people to leave a comment on this post will get a surprise in the mail from me. It may be scrapbook related, it may not be. I've got a couple of things in mind. You just have to agree to keep this going and pay it forward. I've been blessed and live a comfortable life. I want to share with you.

My new favorite layout

This is my daughter, Karen and her boyfriend, Joe. I really think this is the guy for her. Look at how he is looking at her. This picture was taken by Joe's uncle at Joe's sister's wedding. They've been dating for over a year now and he is so good to her. He loves her and he loves Seth. The guy sends her flowers about once a week. She's probably gotten more flowers in the last year than I've gotten in the last 30! She is really happy which makes me happy, too.

I'm really loving my new Tim Holtz foam stamps. This is the second layout in a row that I've used them on. The little letters are Quickutz Britannia.

new layout for unpubbed

I just did something I've never done before. I posted this layout and then deleted it after I looked at it on the screen. It was missing something so I added some stuff. I'm still not sure I like it but here is is. I was drawn to the title and the angles on Corey's layout and those are the elements I was trying to bring out.

Another Brian Andreas quote

It's hardest to love the ordinary things, she said, but you get lots of opportunities to practice.


'nuff said...

A letter to myself

The blog challenge at SBP this week is to write a letter. I did this layout a while back and thought I'd share it since it is in letter form.

Dear 1o year old Detta,

I wanted to tell you that eyeglass fashions will improve. You will also develop ways to control that cowlick so that you won't have to wear that awful hair band. I especially wanted to let you know that in just 6 more years you will meet a cute boy who also wears glasses. He will fall in love with you despite the horrible acne will have at the time. He will appreciate your intelligence and will listen to what you have to say. He will make you laugh almost every day for the rest of your life.

Cross your fingers for me

I just confirmed that my entry for Memory Makers Masters was received yesterday in Cincinnati, Ohio at 9 am! The layouts I did were fun, simple pages. If I don't win, (very likely LOL) I will share them with you after Aug 15 when they announce.