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.

How do you like my new look? I finally did something about the horrible, boring template I started with!! It's about time!! LOL!!

Here is today's blog prompt for Tuesday May 29, 2007

Which color do you think of when you hear the word “soothing”?

I never really thought about it but the first color that comes to mind is baby blue. I don't know why but that's what came first into my head.


Ack! My text had gotten messed up and I didn't notice it. It should read better now. I'm wondering if the woodpeckers that have been coming to eat the suet I put up had babies. I have noticed a male and a female that have been coming right along...now I'm getting a couple of females at once. The cardinals had babies so I guess it's possible. Here's one I got a picture of this evening.

Here is today's blog prompt for Wednesday May 23, 2007

Name a car you’d love to have.

That's easy...a Mini Cooper!!



Wow, I'm managing to post 2 days in a row!!

Today is the last day of school for Michael. Yippee!! That means I get to sleep an hour later in the morning and I don't have to worry about clean school clothes or what to buy for school lunches (he brown bags it). So it also feels like a vacation to me even though I still have to work every day. Of course about a month from now I'll be wishing school would hurry up and start.


No, that's not Johnny Depp. LOL!! It's the Pirates show at Magic Kingdom. Tomorrow we get to see the real thing. We already have our tickets and can't wait.

I've fallen behind again with my poor blog! We had a great time on vacation but it takes a while to catch up. We were really lucky with our Disney trip. We had left Friday night and drove to Tifton, GA (about halfway) to stay for the night. The smoke from the wildfires was pretty bad. My sinuses were killing me after just a short time. The next morning the dh had us up and on the road by 6AM. Yuck!! But it was a good thing because when we arrived in Florida we turned the tv on at the hotel and found out I75 had been closed due to the smoke. CNN said it was a mess with lots of accidents and people pulled off to the side because the visibility was so bad. The conditions must have really deteriorated after we went through. It had been smoky but not bad enough to have to stop. Luckily the smoke wasn't bad at all in Orlando. One day we could see a bit of smoke and smell the burning but only faintly.

And we were lucky again on the way home...the smoke had pretty much cleared out and I75 was open.

I've been scrapping some of my pictures. Here's a few layouts. Credits can be found here.

Here is today's blog prompt for Thursday May 10, 2007

What is your favorite font?

This is difficult. I don't think I've ever met a font I didn't like. For scrapping I like handwriting fonts. A favorite would be kgd kimmy.

Now is this the life or what?

Something really cool happened. I used to have a pen pal in Australia. This was way before the internet explosion and emails. Yup, I had a snail mail pen pal. We wrote lots of letters, sent packages at Christmas and she called once on Mother's Day (well, it was Saturday night in the U.S. but Mother's Day in Aus). Then, she moved, I moved and we lost track of one another. I thought about her over the years and especially when email and instant messaging became popular. Then, I went to Walmart to get an oil change and was browsing in the books while waiting for my car. I spotted a book by Maxine Sullivan--my old pen pal's name. Now, you're probably thinking this is a long shot but my pen pal was an aspiring writer. So I picked up the book and found a bio. The author lived in Australia, had 2 sons and lots of previously abandoned animals. That also described my old pen pal. I found her web page and emailed her. It was my pen pal!!! She was surprised and very pleased to hear from me. This is so cool!! We're pen pals again!! Only we don't have to wait weeks for our letters to arrive. I am so excited! Above is a picture of her first book. I'm so glad I'm able to congratulate her after all the years of encouraging her and then losing touch. Her first book was published in Feb of this year so she really stuck with it and I was "almost" there when it finally became reality! So cool!

Here is today's blog prompt for Wednesday May 9, 2007

Name one movie which is coming out soon that you would like to see.

The one movie I am definitely going to see on opening day is Pirates of the Carribbean.

I had to do a layout about myself as part of Kathryn Balint's CT. I feel funny doing pages about myself but I am pleased with this one. I started with a template by Sabine Etienne (sabdesbois) and used Mountain Meadow by Betty Jo Martin. An absolutely fabulous kit!

Lots of things going on lately. Long story short:

Alex didn't understand that parenthesis around your checking account balance is bad. Very, very bad. He kept on spending so I had to quickly transfer enough into his account to cover everything.
DH went and picked him up on Friday and brought him and a car load of stuff. Alex and I went back on Saturday and brought the rest of his stuff. We had just loaded the car and left campus when I got pulled over. The cop said I was doing 40 in a 30 zone. Gave me a ticket for $116. I have been driving for 36 years and have never even gotten a written warning! I was only pulled over 1 other time and that was because the cop said I pulled into the turning lane too soon. I was looking for my registration and he said all he wanted was proof of insurance. After I showed it to him he said okay...never even went back to his car so I know he didn't write me up or anything.

And my wonderful spring decluttering project was really going great. Clean closets, drawers and everything. Then Alex came home with tons of junk and it's like I took 2 steps back. The nice clean rooms were so calming and now everything feels chaotic again.

Some good things. Alex got all A's. A 4.0 GPA for spring semester and a 3.70 overall for his freshman year.

Another new bird in my yard. Does anyone know what this is? Looks like some sort of woodpecker but I'm not sure what kind.