Challenge for 10/31 at Memorable Seasons

This week's prompt provided by myself is "Thankful for Family." Here is my example.

Grandma's dishes

My grandmother died 32 years ago in 1977. I thought about her this month as Karen was getting married and thought to myself how ironic it was that Karen had my mother at her wedding but not my dad. (he died 5 years ago) At my wedding in Dec 1977, I had my grandfather in attendance but not my grandmother.

I wrote the journaling for this page a long time ago and have saved it to use on this layout that I have finally gotten around to doing. This is about my memories of my grandparents.

My grandma Johnston died on October 1, 1977 before seeing any of her grandchildren marry. My wedding on December 10 that year was the first of my generation of cousins. Grandpa died on December 12 just two days later. Because we married with practically nothing of our own, my dad and my uncles offered to let Curtis and me take anything we wanted from the house. We took the living room furniture, the kitchen table, some knick knacks and these dishes. Over the past thirty years, all of the furniture has been replaced but I still have these dishes. They have moved with me from our apartment to our first house to this one we are in now. I never use the dishes although I occasionally use the serving bowl. I like to take them out and look at them, now and then. The memories I associate with them make me happy. We would eat Thanksgiving dinner there and Grandma’s dressing was the best. There was always a wash cloth next to Grandpa’s plate because a stroke had left him weak on one side and he sometimes had to wipe his mouth while eating. There were always Fig Newtons in the pantry and we had fresh eggs from their chickens for breakfast when we spent the night. We would go for what seemed like such long walks around the edge of their property and the goats in the pasture would run if we got close. I remember Grandpa asking me if I was married yet every time we visited. When I was a small child, it was hilarious and now I wish they were still around so I could answer “yes.” I could tell them how happy I am. I could show them how beautiful all of their great grandchildren are and I could show off my grandson. I hope when he grows up, he will have fond memories of going to Grandma’s house, too.

Engaged layout

I actually did this page a while back for a call at CK calling for fast and easy pages. They said they were really looking for muli-photo layouts. I really wanted to focus on the photos so this is what I did. I'm sure enough time has gone that I can share it with you before the wedding layouts begin. LOL The paper is Basic Grey Euphoria.

Quote (and smile) for the day

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
-- Herm Albright

thankful for

This month, the challenge posted each week at Memorable Seasons has been to scrap about something you are thankful for. Each design team member has provided a different subject with mine to be revealed on the 31st. As my early October was pretty busy, I did not begin working on any of mine until this week and I got all 4 done in the last couple of days. I decided to do a mini book with no photos. I am hand journaling and decorating the pages using only scraps I have on hand. Each page is 4x6 and I've punched holes in them with my Bind It All.

This is my family

We get together often but rarely can I get these brothers of mine to agree to a picture so this is wonderful! I am the oldest of these seven people. Well, not older than my mom but you know what I mean. This picture was taken at the reception by my BIL, Dave. In the rest, you see my mother busting a move on the dance floor, Karen dancing with Seth and Seth resting. He was so tired after the ceremony. It was quite a day for him. Thanks to my sister, Mary for sharing these with me.

Win a Score it mini

Place an order at Memorable Seasons before midnight on Sunday and you could win!

http://www.memorableseasons.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1496&p=16024#p16024

someone finally shared!

My sister-in-law finally sent me this pic from the reception and I will now share it with you! I will share more as I get them. We are still not sure how long it will be before we get any pro shots.

And now I am a mother-in-law

It was a beautiful day and everything turned out perfectly. I was a basket of nerves before the ceremony and was so worried about how long it was taking for the girls to have their hair and make up done but it all worked out. Karen and Joe decided to see each other before the ceremony and had a private moment outside together for a few minutes before the photographer went out and took pictures of them together. In fact, we took the vast majority of the pictures outdoors before the ceremony. It was such a good idea. Every one was fresh and excited and the joyous expectations were on their faces. Seth was absolutely adorable in his little tux and Curtis never looked more handsome. The ceremony was beautiful, too. We had two men sing the Ave Maria. One of them is the youth choir director from our church and the other man who was also the accompanist played the piano at my wedding almost 31 years ago when he was only 14 years old. He is the younger brother of one of my best friends back then. Karen had several of her cousins in the ceremony as ushers, groomsmen, readers and hostesses. They are all such wonderful young men and women. Of course, her sister was the maid of honor.

At the reception, Karen had a surprise for Joe. She sang "When you say nothing at all" to him. It was just beautiful. For those who don't know, she has a beautiful soprano voice which won her a scholarship to Texas Woman's University but she hasn't sung much at all since Seth has been born. She chose to dance with her daddy to "Landslide." It was so touching to see them talking to each other and smiling and laughing together as they danced. I absolutely had a wonderful time. I danced and I laughed a lot. I invited several of my employees who say they now have videos of me on the cell phones they plan to blackmail me with later. LOL

When it was time for the best man and maid of honor to make their speeches, my sweet Allison told us about a "texted" conversation she and Karen had a couple of weeks ago. She asked Karen if she was getting excited and Karen said, "yes, but it is so weird." Allison asked what was weird and her reply was, "my relationships have always ended and this one hasn't." So, Allison turned to Joe and and with tears in her eyes and a breaking voice, thanked him for giving Karen back her smile and bringing happiness into her and Seth's life and welcomed him into our family. Let me tell you, there wasn't a dry eye in the place. Every man and woman was crying after that touching speech. It is making me cry again just to remember it. I have some pretty great kids.

Much to the surprise of my husband and family, I left my camera at home. I chose to enjoy myself and let everyone else take the pictures. We had a young woman who spent the entire day with Karen from about 10:30 yesterday morning until they drove away from the reception at 7 pm. She was the college room mate of Joe's sister and has been shooting weddings for several years now. I trust she got some great shots. I'm also hoping that my brothers and sisters will start sharing their pictures with me sometime today, too.

Finally, my really cute shoes got kicked off as soon as I reached the reception and I spent the night barefoot. I don't know how long I'll have these blisters but I sure enjoyed getting them.

1 day till wedding

Today:

• I had my nails done and my very first pedicure. Karen and I went together and since she is an old pro at it, she told them what I wanted. LOL In both pictures, Karen is on the left and I am on the right.
  
• I bought tissues for my purse
• I mopped the kitchen floor
• Both Seth and Karen remarked how "clean" my house is. What does that tell you about how my house looks on a regular basis when a 5 year old notices?!
• Allison texted her sister while we were at the nail salon and said she was at the campus bookstore and found a garter with longhorns on it. She thought she should buy it now and save it for her wedding someday.
• Rehearsal went well. Seth wants to stand by his mommy during the ceremony. I sure hope he does okay tomorrow.

2 days till wedding

Today:

• I bought a purse that matches my dress perfectly.
  
• My mom called and said the dead trees will be gone by Saturday. What does that mean, you ask? Our church has a person whose job is to take care of the church "environment." She decorates for holidays, makes arrangements for the altar, etc. The last several weeks, there have been these very tasteful ferns on the altar which are very nice. Two weeks ago, however, there appeared behind the altar these hideous dead branches with fall leaves scattered about and an arrangement of what looked like wheat sheaves with orange and yellow ribbons. My sister called me and asked if I had been to church, yet. I replied, "no" because I was leaving for Austin and was planning to attend mass with Allison at her church. Kathy told me I was going to "die" when I saw it. One of the rules at our church is that you are not allowed to touch the altar decorations even for weddings. Kathy told me if they were still there for Karen's wedding, she would have no problem removing them even if she got kicked out of our church. LOL She was right. When I did see them, I was mortified at the ugliness. I called my mother, who works at our church and pleaded my case. She told me that she couldn't do anything about it. However, the environment lady (her name is Jo) asked for the wedding colors this morning and told my mom she was going to make some arrangements to match the wedding since it was her granddaughter getting married. So, Mom asked her about the dead trees and Jo's reply was, "oh my goodness, no! I was not planning to leave those up during the wedding!" I sent my sister an email telling her "hooray, the dead trees are gone!" Her reply was "Praise Jesus!" Yes, I know we probably were all upset for nothing and I never told Karen about it until today, either. She just laughed and said thanks for not telling me. I didn't need any more stress. I wish I had pictures of the dead trees for you to see but alas, I do not.
• Curtis and I went to pick up his tux. He looks adorable.
  

3 days till wedding

Today:

• I did not have my morning coffee cause I had to go have blood drawn for a follow up cholesterol screening.
• I hung new blinds in the back bedrooms that I bought with my stimulus check back in July and have never got around to hanging.
  
• I hung my big "D" I bought recently and my $1.99 heart clock from the thrift store in my scrap room.
  
• I continued working on my scrap room organization. I even vacuumed in there! It is looking pretty good in there. I will post pictures when my uppercase living vinyl words come in and get hung.
• I ran all of the cricut hearts through the xyron machine and stuck them onto the programs
• I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I vacuumed out the fireplace. I moved furniture and vacuumed underneath them. I even vacuumed the ceiling beams in my living room. When Curtis got home and I pointed it out, he asked if I had ever done it in the whole 15 years we've lived here. I don't think I have. I probably will not be able to move tomorrow.
• Karen called and her office threw her a surprise luncheon/ bridal shower today. She was really touched.
  
• She is taking me with her to her nail appointment on Friday so she can tell them what to do to my nails. You know, I have never had my nails done in my almost 49 years of life.

I interrupt the countdown for this important news release

Jill is having a huge fall clearance sale at Memorable Seasons. Go check it out.

http://www.memorableseasons.com/press_release_october_15th.htm

Jude write our newsletters. She is hilarious.

4 days till wedding

Today:

• It rained
  
• I watched Seth again. He is feeling much better today.
  
• I went to the movie theater and bought gift cards for the ushers.
• I fashioned a bouquet using the bows and ribbons from shower gifts for Karen to use at the rehearsal. Seth modeled it for me.
• I used my cricut and cut out 150 silhouetted hearts to put on the plain jane white wedding programs.
  
• I worked on my scrap room some more. I can see the floor!
  

5 days till wedding

Today:

• I picked up the programs from the printer.
• I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some disposable cameras for the tables and a couple of photo frames. Hooray for 50% off sales.
• I made 5 gift bags to hold the gifts for the readers and hostesses at the wedding
• I picked up a very sick little Seth from the sitter. Poor guy. Has a stomach bug and couldn't keep anything down. He was also running a fever. He just lay on the couch until his mommy came and got him and took him to the doctor. I felt so bad for him. He was really upset that he didn't get lunch, too.
• The kids got their license. Only had to pay $11 instead of $60 plus they would have paid without premarital counseling.
  
• I put together six ITSO storage units from Target in my scrap room. I think I'll get one more a week until I have three more. Lots of organizing to do, now.
  

6 days till wedding

Today:

• Allison went back to Austin. Ryan came in and met Curtis.
  
• I bought groceries
• I read a book
• I went to church
• Curtis and I went to dinner at Mi Pueblo
  

7 days till wedding

Today:

• fixed Allison breakfast before she headed out to the Texas-OU game. Hook em horns! Was that not an awesome game?!
  
• I got my hair cut and colored just to "blend" the grey, she said. LOL
• I took the program to the printers. Was really surprised at how inexpensive it was.
• I picked up my dry cleaning
• I took a nap. I never do that.
• Allison and I got new phones.
  

And an altered item

I bought some things at a thrift store a couple of weeks ago with the intention of altering them. This was a napkin holder with apples painted on it. I sanded it down and spray painted it white. I added the Luxe calendar paper and some chipboard letters from my stash and I have a cute little bill holder to put on my desk.

layouts from my first design team kit

Several patterned papers and calendar themed paper from Luxe Designs, Maya Road Calendar sheers, Little Shoebox softie alphas, Scenic Route rubons, Luxe jotters and labels.

8 days till wedding

Today:

• I left work early and declared myself officially on wedding prep leave. (they call it vacation)
  
• I picked up Karen's dress from being cleaned and pressed. She got a little pollen on it at the Arboretum. Looks good.
• I got money from the credit union to pay the caterer.
• I went by the church to pick up a new premarital counseling certificate for Karen and Joe. The courthouse wouldn't accept the first one cause it didn't have a date on it. The state of Texas waives the license fee if you have counseling before your wedding.
• I picked up Seth from the sitter.
  
• Scrambled eggs for dinner
  
• I created the wedding program.
  
• Allison came home so she can go to the Texas-OU football game at the state fair tomorrow.
• Worked on some more design team stuff.
  

9 days till wedding

Today:

• I took Allison's and my dress to be pressed.

• I watched Seth.

• We went to Garden Ridge and bought a basket to hold the bubbles at the reception.

• We ate lunch at McDonalds

• Seth took a nap in a tent I made out of a card table and a comforter.

• A pillowcase and a safety pin makes a little boy a superhero.

• I did two Design team layouts.

Wow, what a week

Last weekend, I attended a crop benefitting the Susan G Komen foundation and endorsed by Scrapbooks, Etc called Scrap Pink. It was fun. I got a lot of layouts done and I laughed and giggled all through both days. The organizers took lots of pictures that they plan to submit to the magazine.
I left on Sunday to spend the week working in Austin. Because our Houston team, who usually takes care of the Austin stores, were still busy putting our heavily Ike damaged Houston stores back in order, we were asked to travel. All in all, it was a productive trip and we managed to get done in 4 days thanks to the great team work the Austin vendor community gave me and my team. I also got to see college girl since that is where she is going to school. I met her new boyfriend, Ryan, who is very cute and very tall. I also met Oliver the mouse. I politely declined to hold him, though. :)

Yesterday, Karen had her bridal portraits done at the Dallas Arboretum which is a gorgeous place. I can hardly wait to see the shots. I chose to not even bring my camera and let the photographer do her magic. However, having been appointed the pack mule, I managed to lose her make up bag somewhere in the park. Thankfully, I got a call this morning that it had been turned in and I will go get it sometime this week.

Last night was the infamous bachelorette party. My girls got a kick out of their mommy going out to party with them. It was held at a sing-a-long piano bar which was a pretty fun place. My sister says she got some fun pictures of me. I will have to withhold judgment on those until I see them!

I think I'm going to need a week off to recover BUT we are now in full wedding mode with the ceremony in less than two weeks. Can you believe it is almost here? I can hardly wait for it to be over.

I also got my first design team kit from Memorable Seasons. Check out the cool calendar themed October/November kit put together by fellow DT, Chrissy Amport. See it here.