Have you seen that Liberty Mutual commercial with people doing little acts of kindness and others passing it on? I love the song playing in the background so I looked it up and it's Half Acre by HEM. Being a lyric fanatic, I looked up the lyrics and fell even more in love with the song. I think the lyrics are beautiful. They inspired me to do a layout. Credits for my layout can be found here.

Had some hummingbirds hanging around yesterday. They dart about so fast it's hard to get decent pictures but I kept snapping away and got a few good shots.

I had a new visitor to my bird feeder today. This is the first time I've seen this bird. Not sure what it it. If anyone knows, give a shout.

School starts tomorrow. Where did the summer go? Seems like we were just getting ready for summer vacation and now it's over.

Like the new blog header? You can find credits here.

I meant to start posting these pictures sooner but time got away from me. Here's the Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park with the Chicago skyline in the background.

Things have been busy. Youngest son (who will complain if I mention his name) got a job so I had to buy clothes and shoes for that. He's working at the theater. Things have changed since Alex worked there though. They make it much harder to see free movies. So he ended up having to pay to see Bourne Ultimatum. But he said he did see part of Rush Hour 3 on his lunch break. He will be starting back to school on Monday so we had to get ready this week. He's got AP classes and they don't provide the book so we had to buy that plus other required reading books for AP English and AP History.

Alex goes back next weekend so we'll be packing up this week. He's going into an apartment for this year so he'll need some things plus some quick cooking lessons. And I think he has a shopping trip in "mom's cupboards and pantry" planned for this week.

Here's my layouts for the Amazing Digiscrapping Race. I got behind on posting. I love vacations but hate how far behind I get with everything. Credits for the layouts are here.

Just got back from seeing The Bourne Ultimatum and boy, was it AWESOME!! I loved it! Nonstop, heart pounding action. Matt Damon is so good as Bourne.

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. We took a family vacation to Chicago for a few days and I'm still trying to catch up. A few things happened that made us realize we're country bumpkins! LOL!! I'm hoping to post some more pictures and stories soon so stay tuned.

Of Butterflies and the Louvre

This gorgeous butterfly fluttered into my yard today. It didn't stay long enough for very many pictures but I am glad it came by long enough for at least one good shot.

My first challenge layout for the Amazing Digiscrapping Race 2.

You can find the credits for my layout here. Looking forward to the next challenge.

Both of these layouts were done using the same template. I did them for Janna's Template Challenge #15 over at KBandFriends. The template is a free download so check it out here. Janna said to think outside the box so I did on the second one. The first one is more like the original template.

Credits for my layouts are here.

I looked up American Goldfinch and the one I have pictures of is a male ready to mate. They are only this bright yellow during mating season. The rest of the time they are more greenish-grayish with some yellow.

And now for something completely different.

After reading comments on the use of "Ma", I'm curious about it. I'll have to see if I can do some research on it. I can say there were times when my mother did not appreciate the name. LOL! Especially when 4 grown kids used it as a nasal whine. Even as adults, kids know what buttons to push.

Kay Eflin has another wonderful kit. This one is a beautiful 8x8 mini brag book. This one is a picture of my mom circa 1958. I called it "Ma". My siblings and I always called my mother "Ma" I think the name may be a regional thing. My nieces and nephew call my sister "ma" and my mother always called her mother "ma" and her father was always "pa" although we never called my dad that. A friend of mine, Betty Jo, said her husband is from upstate NY and call him mother "ma" too. So, I'm thinking maybe it's a regional thing. My kids don't call me that but perhaps we moved away from the NorthEast before they picked it up.

I also used the kit for a page of my father's aunt and uncle through the years of their marriage.

Here's some more pages from my Safari brag book. Credits are here.

It's official. I'm racing in the Amazing Digiscrapping Race 2!!! I can't wait. My partner, Laurie, and I have a blog and a really cute blinkie. Now we're just waiting for it to begin! Our team name is Two Chicks and a Mouse and our motto is Chicks armed with a fast right click.

Another week in between posts! Where does the time go. I have good intentions but the days slip by and no time to post to my poor blog.

I've been busy with layouts. Some July 4th ones and a new 4x6 brag book. Kay Eflin has a wonderful new vintage Safari kit and it's perfect for my Disney's Animal Kingdom pictures. I'll be posting them over the next few days.

Here's some July 4th layouts of the fireworks we had in our subdivision.


Here's the first page of my 4x6 Safari brag book:


Credits for all layouts can found here.

My Framed Layout

Hope everyone had a great 4th!! We had some great neighborhood fireworks and will post pictures later. But right now I'm very excited about my latest project. I ordered some 12x12 copies of layouts just to see what they'd look like. They are having a 99 cent sale at Scrapbooks Please. My prints came today and I was so excited since they are my first ones. All my prints are just 8x8 printed on my home printer and not the best quality. I went to Hobby Lobby and got this 12x12 frame for my favorite print. I think it looks pretty cool!! Now I have to decide where to hang it.

What a Crazy Week

This has been a hectic week...very busy but it feels like despite being busy every minute I accomplished very little. Work was busy too. On Wednesday, the SWAT team showed up and asked if they could use the church building for training. lol!! I know this sounds weird but one of the SWAT member comes to church so it's okay. The church may be small in number but it's a really big rambling building with lots of rooms. It's funny to go to the door and have the cops there asking if they can come in. I also got a new computer at work so I've been busy getting it set up and all my info and programs reloaded. It's such a rush when the new computer boots up and you look at the pie chart of the hard drive and it's almost all free space!!



At home, the boys and I went to the movies twice this week. Wednesday we saw Live Free or Die Hard. It was fun and a big hit with the boys. It's almost not stop action but a fun movie. Then today we went to see Ratatouille. Quite a difference but the boys and I loved that one too. It's a really cute movie and the animation is awesome. We went to a matinee but vowed next time we to a Pixar movie we'd go late, late at night. I don't think the really little kids appreciated the movie. It didn't hold their attention all the way through. But a great movie nonetheless. Next week they want to see Transformers. I'm not as excited about that one but I'm not opposed to going.



I finally got the correct book from Amazon. Slices of Life Scrapbooking. I also got the new issue of Digital Scrapbooking in the mail and bought the new Better Homes and Gardens The Ultimate Guide to Digital Scrapbooking. I haven't had a chance to just sit and read them. I need to make time this weekend.


One more thing. Alex and I watched the new USA Network show Burn Notice. I love it!!! A favorite new show! I got a season pass on my TiVo and moved it to #3 on my list!! Of course i have always loved Jeffrey Donovan. And he is perfect for this character!!


I have pink geraniums in a pretty pink ceramic pot on my front porch. My closeups still leave a lot to be desired but I do manage to capture a few decent ones.

Do white socks come in any other color?

We're having sock problems. I have always tried to buy different styles of socks and underwear for the boys. I did this to make my life easier. Well, somehow they've all ended up with the same style white socks. I've tried my best when sorting the laundry but it seems like someone ends up with all the socks. John was complaining he had no white socks in his drawer. He said he had just bought a new pack and now he had none. I went to Michael's drawer and he had an abundance of riches...well, white socks anyway. So I grabbed a handful and handed him some. I told him he should have bought different ones. That's when he asked, "Do white socks come in any other color?" LOL!! Well, do they?

Maybe I should dump all the socks in a basket in the hall and they can just take some as they need them!!

I did this collage layout for Laura Lou's Chatique Challenge week #1. Using lyrics or a poem as inspiration for a title. Credits for layout are here.

This was a layout I did for a template challenge. Check out Janna's Template Challenge here. My son, Michael, had taken this picture at the Chattanooga Air Show. He said the wonderful shot made up for all the others that didn't come out. LOL!! Thank goodness for digital cameras. They allow us the flexibility to take hundreds in hopes that one will be the keeper. At least that seems to be the way I take pictures. Credits for the layout are here.

Here is today's blog prompt for Monday June 24, 2007

Name 3 foods that are currently in your freezer.

ice cream, corn dogs, pizza hot pockets (can you tell I have teenage boys? lol!)


My Amazon order finally came today!! I was so excited. Then I opened the box. Argh!! I got 1,000 Place To See Before You Die and I had ordered Slices of Life Scrapbooking but they sent the wrong book. So now I have to return the wrong one and wait for the right one to come. They said the replacement should come by the end of the week. Very frustrating.

A wonderful digiscrapper and designer, Jen U, made layouts journaling the story of her children's births and inspired me to scraplift her idea. I don't know if my boys will ever be interested in this information but at least it will be there if they are. There's lots of stuff I wish I had asked my mom before she died. By the time I realized I might actually want to know some of this family stuff, the Alzheimer's had made her memories unreliable.

You can see Jen's awesome layouts in her gallery at KBandFriends and get credits for my layout here.

Here's the journaling for my layout:

After two miscarriages and ten years of tests and surgical procedures, I finally got pregnant with Alex. The surgery I had to repair my uterus made a C-section necessary so the due date was planned nearly 8 months in advance. The date was planned for 2 weeks before the due date to avoid my going into labor. Despite previous problems, the pregnancy went well up until about 3 weeks before the planned C-section. I started getting pains so we called the doctor who told us to meet him at the hospital. At the hospital they verified that I was in labor and they set about trying to get it stopped. They gave me a shot of tributilin to stop the labor. The doctor also decided to do an amniocentesis to check for lung development so they could be prepared in case they couldn’t stop the labor. The amnio was an ordeal because Alex was in a bad position which meant the doctor and nurses had to manually move him and keep him in a better position so they could insert the needle. The amnio test came back indicating the Alex’s lungs were even less developed than they would have expected. Fortunately, the labor pains stopped and they put me on tributilin in pill form. I was able to go home after several days in the hospital but was ordered to be on bed rest. I had to take my pills every 4 hours which meant setting my alarm clock to get up in the middle of the night to take the pills. I figured it was good practice for having to get up for nightly feedings. The doctor revised Alex’s due date and changed the C-Section date to July 25^th after the amnio test results. I had gone into premature labor on June 22^nd and was on bed rest until the C-Section. The trib gave me the shakes and my hands shook so badly I couldn’t read or do cross stitch. So I watched a lot of tv for a while until my body got accustomed to the medication and I didn’t shake so badly and could read and do some cross stitching. The doctor told me to stop taking the medication the day before the scheduled C-section. That evening I started having contractions and ended up having to wake John up around midnight to take me to the hospital. At the hospital they gave me a shot of trib and stopped the contractions until noontime on July 25^th when Alex was finally delivered by C-section. After so many years of disappointment and heartache we finally had our precious baby boy.

Now I need to do one for Michael. Am I the only parent who has almost daily pictures of the first child and just occasional pictures of the second one? Good thing we didn't have a third...I'd probably not have any.

Here is today's blog prompt for Friday June 22, 2007

If you could go anywhere in the world, anywhere at all, where would you go? How long would you stay? What would you do while you were there?

There are tons of places I'd love to go but I think I would pick Tuscany and I would stay all summer and just immerse myself in the culture.

If this sounds familiar, you're right! LOL!! Yes, I loved Frances Mayes' book, Under The Tuscan Sun. I would love to experience another country and culture like that. I really want to go to Tuscany someday but I know it will probably be just for a few days or a week and we'll hit the tourist spots and only scratch the surface. And at this point, I'll be happy to have gone. Sounds like it will take forever just to get a passport so we won't be going any time soon. I never should have let mine expire.

That reminds me of a movie I once saw...now I can't remember anything except this woman who secretly had a passport. She had never used it but just having it made her feel like anything was possible. Hmm, does anyone remember that movie?

On Monday when I post I always plan on posting everyday...I don't know what happens but next thing I know it's Thursday or Friday and I haven't posted again...sometimes when I'm really bad it's the following Monday. Where does the time go? I have an excuse for yesterday and here it is:


I am a big Lovejoy fan and the DVD of Series 1 was released in the US this week. I pre-ordered it on amazon as soon as I heard it was being released. And it came yesterday. Not too bad considering I always opt for the super saver free shipping. LOL!! But it usually ships from Atlanta which is a mere 2 hours down the road from me so I get it fairly quickly. Anyway, it's a 3 disc set (wish it were more!) and I watched the first one yesterday. And I really watched it...I didn't just have the television on in the background while I played on the computer.

I was talking about having watched Lovejoy and finally being able to get them on DVD and Michael asked me again to check and see if the Father Dowling shows are on DVD. He says he remembers watching the show with me and would love to see them again. I guess I'll have to keep checking for that one for him. And for myself. I used to like that show too.


Here is today's blog prompt for Thursday June 21, 2007

Post your favorite recipe of ALL time! Then tell us why you love it so much!

Boy, this is harder than I thought. Considering how much I love to cook and how much my family loves to eat this should be easy. lol!! A lot of our favorite meals don't involve recipes...I just kind of put things together a lot of times or I change recipes a lot after I've tried them. When I was a young housewife learning to cook I would ask my mom for recipes and she give me a list of ingredients on the back of an envelope. When I would ask how long to cook something she'd say "until it's done". I found it frustrating at the time but that's the way I cook now. When we go out to eat and have something we like I will often come home and recreate it in my own kitchen. I'm not saying I can copy fancy dishes or anything like that but I will copy some things at home.

I will post some favorite recipes over the next few days. I'll start with something my family thinks they can't live without since the day I first made it.

Blue Coast Burrito is our favorite fast food restaurant and I totally love their Baja Fruit Tea. I make my own version of it although it's not exact. My family actually prefers my version to the real thing which is unusual since my version is usually just a copy cat to tide us over until we get the "real thing".

Fruit Tea

1 quart of sweet tea
1 can of frozen pineapple-orange juice concentrate
3 juice cans of water

Just mix, chill and enjoy.

My family goes through this as fast as I make it. It's not much of a recipe but it's good!

A fun and simple layout I did over the weekend. I love the pop outs. Credits for this layout can be found here.




Here is today's blog prompt for Monday June 18, 2007

Copy and paste these 10 questions into your blog and answer each question for today's prompt!

GETTING TO KNOW YOU!

1. What is your favorite flower? Gerbera Daisy

2. What is your favorite food? Pasta-I love any and all kinds of pasta

3. What kind of toothpaste do you use? Plain ole Colgate flouride protection

4. Name something that you will only buy the BRAND name of. Pop Tarts because the store brands always seem to have a different texture.

5. What is your favorite television show? Ooh, that's a toss up between The Closer and House they're number 1 & 2 respectively on my TiVo Season Pass

6. Besides KB&F, name one other website that you visit daily? Designer Digitals and Jessica Sprague's new website and forum plus a whole bunch of blogs.

7. What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Blue Coast Burrito

8. Name another hobby you enjoy besides digital scrapbooking? Counted cross stitch

9. Where was the last place you went on vacation? Walt Disney World

10. Tell one thing that no one outside of your immediate family knows about you! I have been told I snore.

My Harry Potter Alter Ego is: You scored as Hermione Granger,You're one intelligent witch, but you have a hard time believing it and require constant reassurance. You are a very supportive friend who would do anything and everything to help her friends out.

Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...?
created with QuizFarm.com

Here is today's blog prompt for Friday June 15, 2007

If you had to leave your home quickly, with no notice what so ever. What one thing would you want to take with you. Why?

That would have to be my kitty cats! I would want to take my computer too. LOL!! But my kitties would definitely come first.

I got this Tami Hoag book with part of the $52 credit at the bookstore the other day. The other Tami Hoag books I already had. I got them out and stacked them because I couldn't remember which ones I was missing. I thought I was missing Ashes To Ashes but I already had a copy. I was missing Dust To Dust. I have to confess I have bought Ashes To Ashes more than once. LOL!! Has anyone else ever done that? I hope Dust To Dust is now implanted in my brain for the next trip.

Here is today's blog prompt for Thursday June 14, 2007

What is something you would like to do, but you’re afraid of the risk(s)?

Hmm...every time I was Flip This House I think I would like to do something like that. Buy a house, fix it up and sell it for a big profit. I don't know if I am exactly afraid of the risk or just being realistic. I know it's not quite as easy as it looks on tv and in this area it's a buyer's market so houses sometimes stay on the market for a long time.

I bought a brag book at Hobby Lobby for those 4x6 layouts I have been doing. I really love this brag book and the layouts look cool in it. I went and bought two more books from Hobby Lobby. I got a travel themed one and a school days one. I may have to go and get one more so I can do one for Alex like I'm doing for Michael's pictures. Here's the other two I bought.


I can't wait to start doing more 4x6 layouts and start filling these two up. I guess I'll be going rectangular for a while! LOL!


I sealed the deck today...finally. The boys pressured washed it for me and I was waiting the 3 days for it to dry before sealing. We're in the middle of the third worst drought in history. Shouldn't be a problem except we got a very small amount of rainfall every couple of days. Not enough to do any good except it would get the deck wet and I'd have to wait again. Well, I finally got 3 dry days and finished it today. It was hot out in the afternoon sun but I wanted it done. If I waited till Saturday when I could work in the morning without the hot sun, I know it would rain again. Can't wait to get the furniture back on the deck but think I'll wait until tomorrow.

Here is today's blog prompt for Wednesday June 13, 2007

Besides sleeping, what do you spend the majority of the hours of your typical day doing?


I guess it would be on the computer. I spend a lot of my time on the computer at work and then scrap on my computer when I get home.

I took some pictures in the yard this weekend and scrapped them. I guess I was going through an "orange period" when I did them. LOL!! For the coneflower one I used a cool new kit from Carol Baumann called Inside the Box. I just love all the things I can do with it. Credits for both layouts are here.

Yesterday when I got home from work both boys were waiting for me and wanting to go to McKays--a local mega used bookstore. They have all sorts of books, dvds and cds. So I dragged out the box of stuff I had cleaned off the shelves when I was spring cleaning. We brought the stuff and got $52 worth of credit! Woohoo!! Alex found a coffee table book about weapons and was so excited to be able to get it. It was $15 but with all that credit it was no problem. Michael got his summer reading books...not much excitement there. He's taking AP English and has to read Old Man and The Sea, The Crucible and Huck Finn. He got the first 2 but then we goofed on the Mark Twain. I had a hard bound copy of Tom Sawyer already but when we got to the store we forgot and thought we needed Tom Sawyer so we got a paperback copy. So now we have 2 Tom Sawyers and no Huck Finn. Oh well, that's okay because we had a really fun day. We haven't done stuff like in a long time...probably since they became teenagers. We even stopped at Sam's Club on the way home and bought smoothies. Why Sam's? Because it's the only place I can actually afford to buy 3 smoothies. LOL!! Only $1.28 a piece.


Here is today's blog prompt for Tuesday June 12, 2007

Name a hobby that you’ve tried but eventually gave up for some reason.

that's easy...knitting (and crocheting)

I took classes and learned how but eventually gave up. I don't know why but knitting or crocheting was never relaxing to me. My stitching would start off nice but the more I did the more tense I got and the stitches kept getting tighter and tighter. LOL!! I love cross stitching. I find it relaxing but knitting just got me more tense.

I got a really cool mini brag book at KB and Friends. It's called For Him Mini Album and am I having fun with it. I scanned in a bunch of pictures of Michael and calling the mini brag book The Many Faces of Michael. I'm going to get a 4x6 album to put the mini pages in.

My much loved (by me and my fine feathered friends) bird feeder is no more. I went out this evening and the metal pole was bent over at a 90 degree angle and the bird feeder was broken and laying on the ground. I know a bird did not bend the pole in half--not even those huge pileated woodpeckers that come. I'm not even sure a cat could have done that. I'm wondering if a dog jumped up and knocked it over. I know I caught a neighbors dog jumping up on it befor and I saw him running loose on the street just before seeing the destruction.

I'll have to go looking for a new one tomorrow...can't let my birdie friends down. I think I'll look for a sturdy wooden one this time.

My latest layout for Laura Lou's Chatique Challenge. Her challenge is going on now and is to use 5 or 6 pictures in a layout. Credits can be found here.

Here is today's blog prompt for Wednesday June 6, 2007

Name a board game you enjoy playing (Scrabble? Monopoly? Trivial Pursuit?) What’s fun about it? Do you change the rules or go by the book?

Scene It. We love movies and we love trivia games so this is a fave. We also love Trivial Pursuit and Don't Quote Me.

I started my album for my Albums R Us challenge at KB and Friends. Check it out here. You can also find credits for my layout there. I am hoping to get a polished, cohesive album assembled and then get it published by Shutterfly.

I started watching MI 5 tonight on BBC America. I got confused a bit in a few places but all in all I really like the show and made sure I got a season pass for it on my TiVo. I really can't wait for The Closer to start back up. Love that show!

Here is today's blog prompt for Tuesday June 5, 2007

Name something you purchased recently that you really, really like.

I guess that would be my new computer and monitor...especially my new monitor. A 19 inch widescreen that I really, really love!!

Here's a layout I did of a fun shot I took of Alex during last month's trip to Disney. We were waiting to go see Turtle Talk with Crush and Alex was clowning around. For credits go here.

Here is today's blog prompt for Monday June 4, 2007

What is your favorite kind of cheese?
I love all kinds but I guess Danish Cream Havarti is one of my favorites. I also love those little Baby Bels with the red wax covering.

Whenever I think cheese I think of Wallace of Wallace and Gromit:

"Cheese, Gromit, cheese!"

I finally finished this layout for a challenge at KBandFriends. It's for LauraLou B's Chatique Challenge #3 Week #2. Read about the challenge here and see credits for this layout here. I have really been struggling with layouts this week. It's like my creativity and inspiratioj ahve all dried up. And I've gotten some wonderful new kits and still struggling. I know from experience that this will pass but I hate like heck when it happens.

I've been tagged!!! My first time. Janna tagged me so here goes:

List 5 favorite things and then tag 5 people

(Family is a given)

1. Well my cats are part of the family so I'll go with my computer, monitor, broadband and of course my digital camera.
2. Traveling! I love to travel even if it's just armchair traveling. I've been watching the new series 1,o0o Places To Ssee Before You Die. And I'll probably buy the book too.
3. My Tivo...how did I ever live without it???
4. Sitting around the dinner table and getting into wonderful, lively discussions with my family.
5. My home! I hope to be able to afford upgrades someday like granite counter tops and more hardwood and less carpet but if that day never comes I'll still be content here and love my home as is.

My 5 to tag are Betty Jo, Laura Lou, Carol, Linda, Stephani

There's a "Favorite Movie" challenge going on right now at KBandFriends. This is my layout. I love the movie and I had a blast doing the layout. Go over to KBandFriends and take part in that and all the other challenges going on over there. It's a happening place!

You can find the credits for my layout here.

Here is today's blog prompt for Wednesday May 30, 2007

If you could make one thing in the world absolutely free for everyone, what would it be?

I'm going to have to copy my answer from Linda. I totally agree with her and can't think of a better answer.

Clean water. If you want to read why I agreed with her, check out her awesome blog.