My Weblog

We have survived!

I admit, it's been doubtful here and there, but we've made it through Christmas, more or less.  I spent yesterday finishing up some Christmas projects I hadn't been able to finish on time.  So, Jason will get his calendar, and I printed out about 6 pictures for Jen to frame, if she chooses.  They're 5 x 7 and there's one of Jason, a beauty of Jen, one of Will acting goofy (just right for a 6 year old boy), one of the baby alone, one of Jen and both boys together, and one taken at Thanksgiving of Will giving the baby a hug inside Mom's tummy.  In my mind's eye, I see them matted in off white and framed in wide black wooden frames on her wall, and I think they'd make a gorgeous collection.  I still have to do the coupon book and finish at least one of Atticus's blankets!  Also, there was one more gift that Joe was supposed to pick up before Christmas, for Jennifer, but he couldn't tear himself away from the football game.  So, when he got to the store, it was closed.  He picked that up Tuesday.  I feel awful that I didn't get everything done on time, but I just ran out of time and then I got sick on top of everything.

So, speaking of sick, I still haven't figured it out.  Maybe it's just God's way of helping me lose weight.  Long about the evening of the 23rd, I started having some pain in my right side, along the edge of the rib cage.  I figured I'd munched on a few too many cookies (very rich, you know) and my gall bladder was giving me a lesson in moderation.  I was amazed when I realized on the 24th that I'd barely eaten anything all day and wasn't hungry.  Later that evening, the pain came back with a vengeance.  By Christmas Day, I just felt yuck.  I was about half nauseated, belching though there was nothing in my stomach (which is still going on).  I kind of cooked and slept alternately after the great gift opening ceremony at Jen's house.  Thank God, Joe took up the slack, peeling potatoes and slicing them, getting rid of the reedy stems on the asparagas, etc.  The Hollandaise sauce went by the wayside.  I figured that was beyond his cooking skills and I didn't feel well enough to really care.  I barely ate anything at dinner, just enough to taste most of what I'd cooked.  I'm still not eating much.  And the pain is still with me though it is not as bad.  Both my mom and my daughter have had gall bladder surgeries.  I've always hoped that gall bladder problems were a "generation skipping" disease, but I'm starting to wonder.  Well, I'll keep an eye on it and see how it goes from here.......

Well, the Christmas gift-opening celebration would probably have been much more fun if I hadn't felt so bad.  As it was, being sick, it just kind of felt interminable.  That's probably a rotten thing to say, but what can I do but tell the truth?   There were scazillion presents for Will and Baby Atticus.  Will kept opening things and opening things and opening things.   The whole illusion that Will had received a WHOLE LOTTA STUFF was exacerbated by the fact that he was largely in charge of opening the Baby's gifts too.  Anyway, Jen and Jason actually only got him 4 things and we got him two.  The rest of the packages were from Jen's Aunt JoAnne, a friend of Jen's that Will refers to as Uncle John, his great grandma, his other grandma, and various other benefactors.  I was pleased that most were either clothes which he can definitely use, or educational stuff.   If this boy doesn't turn out to be a nuclear physicist or something that requires equal brain power, it won't be because he didn't have the opportunity to learn.  We gave Jen and Jason household stuff and personal stuff.  (Hold on, Jennifer, the personal gift is the one that's coming...).  Jen had mentioned she tried to make homemade donuts and had a real tough time with them.  We got her a deep fryer.  I really liked the fact that it was a) cool touch; and b) closed.  Those features should prevent burns and spills.  We also got them a new duvet for their bed.  She had recommended a specific website and said they wanted one that was solid and fairly neutral in color.  Well, I looked there, but found nothing that answered that description.  That started an internet search extraordinaire.  I finally found one I thought they might like on the website for Linens 'n Things.  I was shocked, though, when we picked it up--it was several shades darker in person than it was on the internet.  But, they've tried it on the bed and seem to think it looks good.  Phew!  I was worried about that one!  We also got Jason a Bible.  He was using a Gideon Bible he'd picked up somewhere along the way.  The truth is, and Joe's a Gideon, so I know, the Gideon's hope people WILL take the Bibles they leave in hotel and hospital rooms.  But, Jason felt bad about it so now he has a new slimline New King James Version with his name imprinted in gold on the front.  He also collects large coffee cups.  Most of what he had were those huge cups from Starbucks with the names of the cities where they'd been purchased on them.  However, we got him one from Air Force One when we toured the Reagan Library.  For Will, we got an inflatable solar system and some magnetix.  The magnetix were a set he didn't have so that was good.  According to Jennifer, both Jason and Will are excited about the solar system.  It's meant to be hung from the ceiling after being inflated.  The sun alone is 3 feet in diameter, with the planets scaled down to size to hang around it.  We actually didn't buy a gift for Atticus.  As far as money goes, we kind of shot our wad of cash when we purchased several little outfits for him and bought his convertible crib and a baby swing.  I do have fabric to make three blankets for him--I just need to get my act together and feel better.

We gave away a good sized plate of cookies to one of the neighbors and gave Jen and Jason at least half of the Peanut Blossoms as well as plenty of the other cookies.  But we still have dozens and dozens left.  I would really like it if I could find a few friends who wanted to participate in a cookie exchange.  It's always nice to have a big variety of cookies, but it's a PITA when you have to bake them all yourself! Please remind me next year I do NOT want to make cookies which require a rolling pin.  I swear, I was COVERED in flour.  The only good thing is that Joe is not a camera bug or a scrapbooker, so there no photos of me in that state. 

It looks as though we may lose a member of the family very soon.  I am sad and I know Jennifer is heartbroken.  Little Bubbles, the three pound teacup poodle, who has been with us for 14 years is sick.  Jennifer took her to the emergency vet last night and they wanted $1300 just for diagnostic tests.......  That's way too much money to spend when you don't know if you'll have a dog after you've spent it.  Jen had them keep her comfortable overnight and then picked her up and took her to their regular vet this morning.  He seems to think her problem might be liver related, but he also began talking to her about "the final gift of love".........  We are all trying to prepare our hearts to say good-bye to Bubbles.  She's a miracle dog, but I don't know about this time.......

"Miracle dog?"  Yes, indeed.  About 8 or 9 years ago, Jen and I were sitting in the living room, late one Saturday night.  Jen was petting her other dog, Samantha, a shepherd/collie mix who was truly a beautiful dog but who had been abused as a puppy and had issues.  Bubbles seemed to think Samantha was her best friend.  She jumped up into the chair where Jen was sitting.  Samantha grabbed her in her mouth and laid her down, not breathing on the foot rest.  While Jennifer put Samantha in another room, I did mouth to nose breathing and then we called the vet, jumped in the car and took off.  The following afternoon, we were urged to put Bubbles down.  We were told she would never walk again.  Or, IF she did walk again, she would drag her hind legs forever, paralyzed.  Samantha had inadvertently damaged Bubs's spinal cord........Jennifer and I were heartbroken.  I will never ever forget the sight of Bubbles's little body, twisted into the most unnatural position and trying to decide what was best to do.  I couldn't do it; I couldn't put her down.  We went home and prayed most desperately for God to intervene.  Two days later, the vet's office called me to come and get her, stating there was nothing more they could do for her.  She couldn't walk and had to be bathed several times a day to clean her up.  I carried her home laying in the lid of a box on a makeshift "bed" of towels.  To make a long story short, Bubbles, showing more heart than most human beings can muster, taught herself to walk.  At first, she couldn't even tell whether her front feet were placed correctly on the floor or turned under......  She fell more often than she walked.  The only saving grace was that she didn't have far to fall.  But, day by day, she did her best to follow the other dogs around.  And eventually, she walked.  She walked a little stiff-legged, but her new, somewhat odd gait served her well all these years.  If anyone ever doubts the love and mercy of God, there's a story for you.......God's healing mercy in answer to the desperate prayers of a mother and her little girl.......

And, my daughter, ever the hero, was out running around the city last night, newborn baby and sick dog in tow.  Jason stayed home, in bed, because "someone" had to stay with Will.  And I will shut up now........

Well, I re-read what I'd written and decided that it looks like Joe and I didn't have Christmas.  Well we did, so I guess I'd better at least mention it!  Several weeks ago, we got Joe a big screen TV.  Unfortunately, probably due to damage in shipping, when we got it, we found that it didn't work.  We had to return it and we're still waiting for its replacement to arrive.  I'm hoping now that the holiday rush is over, it will arrive shortly.  What I wanted was money.  It's not that I'm trying to do my own bank.  I want to buy the "final" upgrade camera.  I've got my eye on either a Nikon, Canon, or Sony DSLR.  I've had one personal glowing endorsement on the Sony which seems to be the only DSLR that has image stabilization which is a pretty big plus.  I've been saving toward this purchase (again) and with the money I got for Christmas and careful shopping, I just might be able to achieve my goal. I also got some smaller gifts, a wallet from my mother, a new travel mug for coffee from Starbucks, a Kinkade calendar, and tickets to a showing of Ansel Adams photos at the Bellagio.  I knew Jason was a fan of Ansel Adams so I sent Joe to the Bellagio to pick up tickets for them to go to the show; my sneaky husband bought extra tickets for the two of us! 

Well, enough of all this.  I need to get some things done around here.  Here are some pages for you.

Jason's grandma was in Vegas to celebrate her 96th birthday. I loved this shot of her talking with her great grandson with her birthday cake in the foreground. Will helped decorate the cake. I used The Kitchy kit by Bad Candy for this. LOVE her doodles. Marci
























Will lost his first tooth. He was very happy about the whole thing, having predicted a while back that it would fall out when he was seven. (He turned seven on 9/16 and the tooth fell out within the week.) He was even happier when the tooth fairy came to visit! I used the DST September free template from Jen Caputo. The kit is called Play All Day, on which there's a special deal for the next day or two at Natural Designs in Scrapbooking. (I changed the color of the green to match his shirt.)
























Joe describes the hotel where we stayed in CA as "a bit edgy". He's right--it's older and in need of a refurbishment which is about to start. But, this is the view from the lobby and the view from our room was even better. Who cares about the hotel? This was done with Saskia Bokkers' kit named Lori























During our trip to CA in September, our hotel was only about 30 minutes away from the Reagan Presidential Library. The grounds are absolutely gorgeous, green, flowers everywhere, a treat for the eye. Both the front and the back of the building have a covered walkway to shade one from the sun. But there is a small area where instead of the covered walkway, there is an arbor. I couldn't resist it. I did this page with the Gina Miller/Holly McCaig Collaborative kit.























The drive up to the Reagan Presidential Library is long and winding and an event in itself. Near the entrance to the grounds is this beautiful area. Loved the red flowers against the desert-y landscape. For the price of $12, we spent as many hours as our feet could stand, steeping ourselves in history and learning much. I did this with Ancient Foliage by Marina Brendstrup. The flower is from Sara Carling's Amelie. I used a template by Alma Townsend.























Most of Joe's extended family lives in Ohio. We were surprised to learn his cousin Peggy would be in Vegas. I was amazed at the family resemblance--you could have put her in a room with 20 other people and I could have picked her out! I did this with Julie Howard's Summer Dreams Page Kit.

A very special Christmas

We are always so thrilled to be able to spend holidays with Jennifer, Jason and Will, but this year, there's a special addition to the family.  My new Grandson, Atticus, has finally joined us, 8 days after his due date.  He's a beautiful baby and I love him a lot already......of course, I think I was probably in love with him before he was born.  He gave his momma a lot of trouble.  First, coming late.  Then back labor.....a lot of it.  Jen started having intermittent contractions the night of dec 14-15.  By 9AM December 15, she was in full labor.  About noon, she called us and told us today was the day and to get ready to head to the hospital when she next called.  About 4, we got the call to head on out.  We went to the house and she was trying to get the crew rounded up and headed out.  Funny tidbit:  Even before the accident, Jennifer had problems getting Jason to FOCUS on the problem at hand.  When he came to open the door, he left an open can of soda right in the walkway.  Joe didn't see it and accidentally kicked it over.  Jason had to stop and blot up the soda from the carpet and then use a cleaner on it before he could leave.  I would have ignored it and left, knowing Jen was in pain, but then I would have come home to the need to hire a carpet cleaner too.  Jen was in enough pain that she had difficulty getting into the car.  They drive an Escort, and she kind of had to "fold" herself into it and she was not very "foldable" at that moment.  I was so glad when we finally got her to the hospital.  It was quite an entourage--Jennifer, Jason, Will, Joe, me, and a lady named Kim--a doula they hired to help with the labor since Jennifer wanted to do things 100% naturally.  She was very helpful, but along about 7 centimeters, being physically tired from lack of sleep, emotionally worn from lots of stress for lots of years, and just mentally tired from being in pain for so long, Jen began to feel she could not continue--she wanted an epidural.  I would have said yes in an instant, but the doula talked her into continuing on with the "natural" approach.  I have to admit it, I was angry.  I had to leave the room, partly because I couldn't stand hearing Jennifer beg for some relief, and partly because I was about to become an interfering mother and try to override the doula.  I really just didn't feel Jen had the wherewithal to continue and, of course, it is so hard to see your own child in pain.  We continued with the "natural" stuff for a while, but eventually, she got the epidural.  I think it was a wise move; I really didn't feel she had the mental, physical and emotional resources to continue the other route at that point.  Of course, labor slowed down, so Pitocin was called for.  December 15th faded and she was still in labor.  She pushed for over an hour, and it was a mighty effort on her part.  In SO MANY ways, my daughter amazes me with her strength.  Her emotional strength is phenomenal--has to be for her to have made it through the last 7 months with her marriage in tact.  But, from this small woman, the physical strength I saw while she pushed was amazing.  I sure didn't know she had it in her!  Finally, it was decided that the baby was hung up on the pelvic bones and, despite all the mighty pushing she was doing, just wasn't budging.  So, a c-section was called for. 

Her description of the c-section was pretty amazing.  First, we learned the problem was not the size of the baby's head, but that he had somehow started down the birth canal with his head crooked.  Weird, I would have thought that would straighten automatically, but, apparently, not so.  According to her, she had pushed so hard the baby was literally "stuck" in there and a significant amount of "tugging" was called for to get him out.  When they finally retrieved him, they handed him to Jason with instructions to show him to his Mom.  Well, according to Jen, Jason just sort of stood there, staring at the baby.  She finally had to say "Hey, you're supposed to show him to me!" before she got her chance.  They came back to the room with a beautiful baby boy who was awake and checking out the world.  His head was actually a little misshapen from Jennifer's pushing, and his face a little swollen from the strength of the contractions, but a beautiful baby boy, nonetheless.  Of course, all other scrapping has ended as I scrap the photos from that night.  I'll post the baby pages here instead of the usual fare, later.

So, Jen has had a fair amount of pain since the surgery.  And, she stayed quite swollen for days.  I haven't seen her for two days, but she says the swelling is going down, so that is a good thing.  When she was only 7 or 8, I had a hysterectomy.  My stepson, at the time, who was just incision-high, was running in the house, which was supposed to be a violation of the "rules".  I was only home from the hospital a day or so and he ran headfirst into the incision at full speed.  The pain was so awful, I literally crumpled to the floor, my knees buckling under me.  It was so intense, I couldn't make a sound, though tears poured from my eyes.  I have a feeling, at this point, my daughter's ability to understand how that must have felt has increased substantially since the c-section.  With her, I think that at least part of it was that she just tried to do too much the first day she was home from the hospital.  But, she's learned her lesson and is resting more and feeling better.

Last year, Joe and I packed up and went to her house early in the morning for the opening of the Christmas presents and we're planning on doing that again.  Last year, when the packages were all open, she made us all pancakes for breakfast.  I asked her if she wanted me to bring breakfast.  She said something to the effect of "you can if you want.  I'M not cooking breakfast!"  So, I think I'll make some monkey bread and take it with us and we'll all just have some of that for breakfast. 

I've been baking for two days.  I've made my paternal grandmother's "Texas Butter Cookies", about 4+dozen.  I've also made some date bars.  My mother always used to make "Date Pinwheels".  Gosh, I hated those things.  I'd get stuck chopping the dates (by hand, of course) and that is the WORST job.  They are SO sticky and the knife is only good for a maximum of about two dates before it just won't cut any more.  I chopped the dates in the food processor and even that was tough.  The recipe called for nuts and adding the nuts to the food processor, I'm convinced, was the only thing that actually helped the blades to chop the dates.  Anyway, the date bars are yummy.  I also made some raisin cookies, peanut blossoms, and a recipe my ex-sister-in-law used to make--jam filled cream cheese cookies.  Anyway, I plan to send a plate over to the neighbor and split with Jen and Jason.  I wanted to make these cookies that are kind of like rice krispie bars, but that's doubtful at this point.  They are made with cornflakes and you are supposed to add those tiny little cinnamon flavored red hots and the marshmallow coating is tinted green.  They're supposed to look like holly with berries when you're done and they sure do look beautiful on a cookie plate, but Joe can't find the red candies.  So, I may have to skip those.

Christmas dinner is all worked out.  We're having apricot-basted Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, a re-run of the luscious yam casserole I made for Thanksgiving, asparagas with hollandaise sauce, cole slaw, rolls, red velvet cake and an apple tart.  I'm hoping to do the cake and the tart and the cole slaw today.  This will be easier than Thanksgiving because i won't have to do all the prep work that goes into making stuffing.  And, at the last minute, I won't be mashing potatoes and making gravy.  I just hate the last minute stuff that hits all at once.

Well, one final announcement and then it's picture time.  We have a "new car".  Well, actually, it's only "new" to us, has about 20,000 miles on it.  And, actually, it's not a "car".  We bought a Toyota van.  For two people who have driven clunkers for many years, it is a wonderful thing.  We're really happy.  In fact, we'd more or less promised each other that it would spend almost all it's time in the garage.  But, so far, Joe seems to feel like it needs to be driven wherever he goes....LOL.  It is essentially the same vehicle (different color) as the one we looked at two weeks ago.  Two weeks with one vehicle was about all we could handle.  The faithful Toyota Tercel was donated and they just sent us documentation for a $750 tax deduction.  To tell you the truth, that's more than we figured it was worth, but we're happy with it.  We got a great deal on it, but it still cost us way more than we wanted to pay.  But, with the Lord's help, we'll make the payments, just like we're supposed to.  We spent two weeks kicking around other ideas, but none of them really made that much sense to us.  So, we did what we felt we had to and we're just trusting the Lord to help us with it. 

Well, one of my internet friends from Germany would refer to all of the above as "blah blah".  So, enough of the "blah blah".  Here are pages of Atticus's birthnight.                               

It was a long night. I spent about 12 hours on my feet on a concrete floor during Jennifer's labor. But the prize at the end made it all worthwhile. I used Lynn Grieveson's new kit, Night Magic, available at Designer Digitals, for this page. It certainly was a night of "magic".

























We had to wake Will when Atticus was finally born. He just couldn't hold out til 2:29AM (no surprise there, after all he's only 7). So he was very tired but also very happy to be ale to hold his little brother. He waited a very long time for a little brother........ I used Zen Calm by Bella Gypsy Designs (Tabatha Reed) available at ACOT.

























I loved this picture of Jennifer, Will, and the new baby, Atticus. I made a very simple page using paper and photo corners from Theresa Hernandez's "Christmas Opulence" kit, available at NDISB. Sorry about the super big picture--you don't think I'm proud of these three or anything, do you?

























Once again the superiority of women comes through as the "boys" all sleep while Jennifer is in labor. I did this page using Kim Hill's Vaio paper pack. The flower is by Lena Brandenburg in the Pajamas 4 Love Charity kit, available at Elemental Scraps.

























More photos from Baby Atticus's first night. Thought DSIL looked pretty cool, all suited up to go into the operating room for the delivery of DGS. I used Lisa Whitney's Beautiful Mess kit for this page.

























More photos from Baby's first night. For a while, I worried about having baby Atticus's privates exposed in this layout. Then I looked a little closer and realized that's his navel/umbilical cord! Gee, by now, you'd think I could easily tell the difference....I'm certainly old enough! Everything here is from the Ethan Charles Charity kit.

























When we handed Jason the baby, his reaction was "odd" in that we couldn't see a reaction. He kept his head down, face hidden by his hat, and just stared at this beautiful baby boy. I'd have given a lot just to know what was going on in his mind at that moment, or, for that matter just to watch his face..... Jen told us later that when the baby was delivered, he was handed to Dad who was supposed to show him to Mom. Jason just couldn't take his eyes off of him and Jen was left to say "Hey, you're supposed to show him to ME!" I did this page with Marcie Reckinger's "Casual Friday" kit, available at ACOT, and a great kit in my book!

























Atticus was only minutes old, but he was already sucking his thumb.  Funny, Jen said in the last ultra-sound, he was sucking his thumb then too.  I used Deb Pearson's Lazy Day kit for this page.

























Atticus, hanging onto Mom in the hospital.  I used Deb Fisher's Classic Baby Boy kit for this, available at Pickleberry Pop.

Stop the world, I want to get off!

Busy, busy, busy.  While Joe's business has lessened, mine has broken records for November/December.  I have worked and worked and strained my brain and spent far too many hours sitting in this chair.  It's a hard way to make a buck, and stressful too.

Haven't seen much of Jen.  Technically, today was supposed to be Baby Day.  But, haven't heard a word so I assume the baby has decided he's very comfortable where he is and plans on staying there. 
Well, one of the consequences of being poor for a long time is that everything you have deteriorates while you're just trying to keep food on the table.  Even with the downturn in business, we are still making enough to pay the bills.  But, we cannot seem to get ahead.  I finally thought about it for a while.  We spent a lot this year on catchup stuff.  We redid the roof.....That probably should have been done at least 8 years ago.  We replaced our 23 year old air conditioner.  Gee, how long ago do we think THAT should have been replaced?  We replaced the 23 year old stove and microwave.  Truthfully, the microwave hasn't worked for about 5 years.  And, you can't go for long with a non-functional oven.  We fixed a broken pipe at an astronomical-plumbers rate.  But, again, the pipe was 23 years old.....  We need to fix this and we need to fix that.  There's so many places to put every available dollar, and right now, there just are not many available dollars.  The latest in our series of fixing is Joe's car.  He drove that thing for years in CA, a 65 mile one way commute.  At 319,000, he had a "new" engine put in.  (I am sure it was NOT a new engine, but rather a rebuilt one).  But we got the news this week that the "new" engine needs a valve job.  That would cost way more than the car is worth.  And, of course, my car needs the clutch worked on which would also cost more than the car is worth.

We scared ourselves to death Wednesday.  We called two friends who have a lot of powerful connections in the car business.  As it turned out, they both have connections with the same dealership which is a Toyota dealership.  Obviously, since Joe's Toyota ran for SO MANY miles, we have an affinity for Toyotas, so this was good.  We had a list of US made cars we were interested in, used, of course.  But, we had the opportunity to purchase a Toyota van at a discount.  However, even with a decent discount, we were floored at the cost.  We've been so grateful for so many years that our little clunkers kept running.  We've been so grateful for so many years not to have to make car payments.  And we've been so grateful for so many years to be driving clunkers where liability insurance was enough........  The very idea of paying out that much money for a set of wheels, even though we were looking at a used vehicle, well, it just boggled our minds.  They kept us there for more than 4 hours and we walked away with nothing.......Now, tomorrow, one of the local charities is coming to pick up Joe's car and we will be down to one needs-repairs car.  We've got to do something, but moving Joe to make a decision is a whole nother ball game.

On the scrapping side, I've got 4 sets of quickpages ready to go up for sale.  But, I'm dependent on my designer friend to get that set up for me.  With a passel of kids and the demands of a home and a self-employed business, she probably is very short on time, but I would like to get this moving.  Oh, well, I guess it will happen when it's supposed to happen. 

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Matt presented his dad with a box.  It seems this box has been in Joe's ex-in-laws garage for more than 30 years.  When we opened it, we found it was full of photos from Joe's grand parents, his birth mother, his father, and his childhood.  (Joe's mom died when he was 2.)  We were thrilled with all this great stuff--photos, all marked with names and dates, and all sorts of other memorabilia.  Well, Joe was talking to George, his brother, only to have George volunteer to send us another box.  It seems that when their grandmother died, Joe got a box and George got a box.  George apparently could care less.  So, he sent all the stuff he had to us.  We offered to scan it and return it, but he doesn't want it.  So, I now have a lot of photos from Joe's childhood, up to and including Matt's childhood that need scrapped.   

Well, with that news, I think I'll post some pages and go see if dinner is ready to be finished off and eaten. 

This is a photo of the exterior of The Venetian on the exterior second floor. Love the light I caught. I used Vicki Stegall's Mid Summer Night's Dream Page Kit and a template by Alma Townsend.                                                                        

Johnny Carson used to make jokes about Ventura County. People in Ventura County used to sell souvenir postcards that were all black labelled "Ventura County at Night". Oxnard is a small town in Ventura County, no night life to speak of. When friends heard we had gone there on vacation, they didn't get it. Maybe this photo, taken a block from our hotel, will explain it. I used the blues from Tracy Ann Robinson's new Colorplay set.
                                                                                                      

Another photo from our trip to Yuma and our tour of the Yuma Territorial Prison. Just one more reason NOT to be a bad guy in the old West--The Paddy Wagon. Today we take prisoners to jail in air conditioned buses. Then, they got to eat dust, bounce around, and "enjoy" the heat. Gold papers are from Lynn Grieveson's Little Captain kit at DD. Doodle is by Bannerwoman.
                                                                                                    
























While we were "on vacation" (for a long weekend) in southern California, we stopped by Joe's old office to see his co-workers. This beautiful lady, Debbie, posed for a picture with him. I used a new kit from NDISB, a collaborative effort by TaniaJPS and Keely Simpson, called Gazebo. If you're into "texture" in your layouts, this is the kit for you. Look for it soon. I also used a template by Scrap Girls.
                                                                                                    
























Had to document this funny conversation I had with DH as we toured The Venetian a couple of weeks ago. Only credit is to thank ACOT for the flowers which I recolored to match this layout. TFL, Marci
                                                                                                    

























Grandpa and Will love to tickle and play. When Will was younger, he was afraid, but now he just goes with the flow. I think he knows Grandpa is going to take special care of him. I adapted a 8.5 x 11 template by Webchyck to 12 x 12. The kit is Marcus by Amanda Rockwell available at SBB. Kraft paper is by Theresa Hernandez, her Rachel's Rhapsody kit, and the green is by me, drawn from the colors of the kit.