Scrappy Weekend

Well, I did promise yesterday that I’d show off some of the fruits of my weekend!

The first project of the weekend was Thanksgiving 2008. That’s slightly out of order currently. My scrapping goal this year was to catch up 2007 and keep up 2010, I want to have 2010 done by the end of January, 2011. Well, I needed appropriate photos and those were in 2008.

Darlene Haughin has a new mini kit, Bountiful Harvest. Right now that kit is a limited time freebie available at Scrap Bird. It just screamed Thanksgiving to me. So, my first layouts of the weekend were Thanksgiving layouts.

Credits: Bountiful; Harvest by Darlene Haughin,

Word art by Caribbean Mom,

turkey shape from the Thanksgiving shapes -

\freebie from the Adobe Photoshop Exchange

Credits: Bountiful Harvest by Darlene Haughin

You can get this kit for free for a limited time at Scrap Bird. That would be a great next stop after The Chronicles of Nani!

Moving up to the current year again, continuing my work towards that finished by the end of January goal, I opened up the next file in my 2010 “to be scrapped” folder. I just finished up 14 pages from our Florida trip and the next April folder was “cat mom-cad dad!”

I bought a bundle of mini kits by Ellie Lash when she was interviewed on Veelana’s blog and offered a coupon. I love mini kits because they let you focus on the photos and the page instead of going through 40-50 elements and papers or more before you even get started! I do like larger kits for larger sets of photos, because that variety is essential to do many pages with the continuity of one kit, but for solo pages, the right mini kit is the perfect answer to getting a great page without an hour of choosing the papers and elements. One of the kits in that bundle was Cats Meow, purrfect cat pages!

Credits: Cats Meow by Ellie Lash

I thought putting the cat cutouts in the foreground was a nice “walk all over us” effect too!

Now one more really cool kit and layout I did today. I swear this kit was made for me, it just feels like it! I don’t even have ell of it yet, but I LOVE it!!

All Aboard is a freebie collab by Edna B and Suruah-Freespirit . Trains!!

What an awesome kit for all my train layouts. They offered the first parts last Monday, the day I don’t get too much time for blog-reading, so I was delayed in getting back to the Monday blogs! Parts 3 and 4 will be available tomorrow and if I don’t get time for reading tomorrow, I’ll be sure to check back when I read blogs on Tuesday. Tuesday and Thursday are big reading days because I need rest time for a while after aquatic therapy.

My layout was inspired by a photo. I’m not going to say I took the photo, because we got in trouble because I aimed my camera at the subject. It seems the security guards at refineries think a woman with a party camera and a cane is suspicious. I get that there is a heightened sense of fear in today’s world and I don’t think safety is a bad thing at all, but come on, seriously, I look dangerous?

Anyway, the photo, that I DID NOT TAKE, was one of the refinery, the storage tanks to be precise. There were several sizes of storage tanks and they were on a hill, so there was some amazing texture to the lay of the land. I envisioned varying sizes of paper blocks in front of and behind the main photo. Of course, scrapping early May in November, I couldn’t possibly remember the inspiration for the layout, because I didn’t have the photo. I didn’t take the photo. Just like I told the nice security guard.

I don’t defiantly break the law, but I’m not such a stickler for the company policy of a company for whom I don’t work. I don’t observe the technicalities often, because I seldom have to, but when I’m standing on public property, taking a photo is not breaking a law. I’m really not exposing anyone’s secrets in a scrapbook page. I didn’t even post or scrap the photo. I mean, I can’t because the photo, of course, does not exist!

Anyway, void of that wonderful inspiration, here is the layout I did with the parts of All Aboard I have so far:

Credits: All Aboard by Edna B and Suruah-Freespirit

I still maintain that one of the wonderful things about digital, photography is that you can shoot like there’s no film in the camera, because there’s not! That also includes getting shots of buildings and industry that inspire layouts!

Okay, now off to finish dinner and do another layout before bed!

Links:

Darlene Haughin

Scrap Bird

Bountiful Harvest

Ellie Lash

Miss Edna’s Place

Suruah-Freespirit

Designs In Digital

Santa’s Digi Express

Nani Updateables

Mug Shot Inventory

Greetings morning to all! Life in general is keeping me pretty busy right now and I’m trying to get myself organized! Part of that organization is that The Monday Mug Shot will be “Best ofs” for a few weeks. I’ve been writing the Mug Shot most Mondays since mid 2007, that’s a lot of mugs! Oh, I have tons more I haven’t written about, but right now I have limited display space at home too, so they aren’t all unpacked, or unrepacked. The point is, I need to make a list of all the mugs I’ve done so I know what ones are stories yet to be told! 2008-2009 ones on BlogSpot are easy. I just hit the mugshot tag in the right column and I’m good to go. The earlier ones on Yahoo are a bit more of a challenge because they have no tags in the archives and you have to go through the whole history to find them. I may use the full chronicles archive on my EDH and run a search. That will still take time. Since I have school and other duties I have to keep up too, the mug shot inventory won’t be a one day and done thing. I hope you don’t mind the oldies!


Journal Camp

I have the rough drafts of the “lessons” for all 5 weeks of journal camp complete! Now I have to edit, prepare any other necessary example layouts and freebies! The layout prizes will be from the Digitalegacies Catalogue that used to be at Scrap Bird. Remember that I will not turn things from my store into freebies, because it’s not fair to others who have paid for them or won them in some other way, but offering them as the random gifts at Journal Camp is okay. I’m going to offer them in sets of two or three items from the store at a time. The freebies will all be new items and I am busy creating them right now. I’m also planning to create a logo and blinkie for Journal Camp and I’ll offer a thank you gift for anyone that wears it on their blog or in forums!


LOTW at the Studio

My page, Maybury, created with At The Park by Nibbles Skribbles was selected as the Layout of the Week at the studio!

Credit: At The Park by Nibbles Skribbles

Imagine my reaction as I was reading the newsletter and I see my layout! Double cool because it was the first Nibbles Skribbles kit I’ve officially worked with as a CT! There is a gift certificate prize that goes with the selection. I don’t know if CT members are eligible for the prize, but it’s so cool to be selected!

The journaling style I used on this one is “letter-style,” talking to the person in the pictures, in this case, Rina when she was 10. That is a style we’ll talk about at Journal Camp too! :)

While I’m showing off my LOTW done with a Nibbles Skribbles kit, I’ll mention that I have two new kits by NS that I’m working with right now (busy, busy, busy) and The Studio is dedicating a week to celebrating spring! That is SO my kind of party! There is a progressive scrap, which I’m going to try to eke out a few minutes a morning to keep up with to work on my clustering, chats every night and some other fun challenges, including the avatar challenge, hosted by Manda, Nibbles Skribbles! The challenge is to renew your avatar by dusting off an old pic of yourself. The picture has to be half your current age or younger! This is me in 1972:

Credit: Butterflies and Blossoms by Nibbles Skribbles

Need More Coffee…

Credits: I Love You A Latte by Double Dutch Designs,
P365 template by Heavenly Scraps

They stopped doing the photos Project 52 at My Life and Scrap, but they are doing it at The Studio, which is home since Digital Freebies pretty much dried up, after being in the SASy Lady contest in 2008, I know and love the girls there anyway! It is a lot easier to keep up with a single-layout weekly challenge than going it on my own, as I’m still plugging away at the layouts for Patch 365 last year. I have the photos and the journaling in folders. I just need to assemble the layouts!

Oh, and I DID get another cup of coffee too, but it was a fun heading for the layout! It’s gray and gloomy and there’s just a tiny chill in the air in Toledo today. That is a weather mood setter for coffee. I brewed a pot with a regular amount of Columbian for a strong brew, a half-teaspoon of caramel popcorn seasoning and a half-teaspoon of fresh ground cinnamon. It made a wonderful pot of coffee with a robust body mellowed by a hint of sweetness and spicy flavor. I poured a cup with Coffeemate and Splenda, good stuff! Yeah, I love my coffee.


Little milestones
Every Monday, I program my exercise goal into my recumbent bike. The higher the level, the more resistance which stretches my back better, but it’s harder on my knee, so I set a time goal for the week and a resistance level that will work my back well. Then I try to reach that cumulative time goal for the week, allowing myself to stop when my knee starts hurting. Now remember I mentioned having added the arm work to the routine too. I think that in some aspects makes the workout a little more intense, but it also creates a diversion form concentrating on my knee. Yesterday, while I was on the bike, the computer stopped. For the first time since I’ve started doing the weekly goals, back in September when my back got bad after therapy sessions, I reached ZERO! The computer stopped and said “check my stats” because I was done! YAY NANI!

I did 30 minutes at level 6 and went 5.3 miles. That may not sound like a lot, but remember, my knee is usually begging for a break after grocery shopping and level 6 is pretty intense. The routine I chose changes from lighter to heavier resistance, so some days are a little tougher than others. I figure I won’t change the goal for a couple of weeks and let myself be level there for a while and then add another ten minutes.



Okay, back to school!

The Bragging CT

This is from last year - need to get a new one with the shorter hair!

I create for and have created for in the past some wonderful designers. A bug part of my philosophy in life is that surrounding yourself with quality creates quality in you. I still remember the warm smiles last year when I gave the family history books to my brother and cousins. Everyone was sitting down with their books and sharing them with their spouses and kids. That’s where I believe that giving is not completely self-less. I couldn’t pay someone enough to buy the way I felt inside. They were great gifts and the quality from Darlene Haughin, RC Mama Designs, Beckie Wallace, Tirza’s Treasures, Veelana Designs and the host of other designers whose purchased and free kits with kits designed by me, Digitalegacies Designs, all made that great gift and wonderful feeling possible.

Yeah, I tend to get warm and fuzzy in general at this time of year. Well, okay, there are those who say I’m warm and fuzzy at ANY time of the year!

I wanted to do some CT cheerleading, something for which I am also known! First off, Scrap Bird is celebrating its first birthday this month! They have some great games and freebies and the whole store is 45% off! They have great designers; of course, Darlene and Veelana both sell there! But in addition to my bias, there are other talented ladies with whom I worked before I retired from professional designing. Believe me, a 45% off sale is an EXCELLENT opportunity to try out a new designer!


At Stone Accents Studio, also where both of “my” designers sell, there is much holiday bustle! Darlene is busy working on the upcoming bog train. The Christmas Carol Blog Hop starts December 11. I was so busy last year that I didn’t get to take advantage of too many of the sweet mini kits when they were free, but I’m going to try to have some time this year. We’ll see how bogged down I get with baking! While Darlene is busy with the blog hop details, be sure to check out the sales in her SAS store! Christmas favorites like Dear Santa and Frosty are on sale as well as some of her other kits!

Veelana has a wonderful new kit at SAS!


Jultid is classic Christmas shades with silver, which gives a very classy touch! She is doing an advent calendar freebie on her blog right now with a new freebie created with Jultid every day until Christmas! Definitely visit Vee’s blog if you haven’t yet. The brag book pages are just stunning!

While I was working on some pages with the new kit, I couldn’t help but play a little. I came up with a Jultid freebie to share too!

Click the preview to go to the download
Password is holiday-stories

You all now how much I like to talk, well, talk in the written sense, so my freebie is a few places to journal a little to go with the spectacular pages you’ll create with Jultid!

Jultid is on sale at SAS for 25% off its already low price!

Well, now I’m off to have breakfast and continue work on getting the house spruced up for decorating and entertaining and getting my shopping lists ready for Monday. I’ll still find scrap-time too. I’m sticking with my page-a-day commitment. This time next year, I hope to be scrapping 2010, not 2007!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking Day!

(*** please remember that scrapbook posts that contain links in the post are the exception to the rule that links in the post mean a compensated post. My only compensation in this post was the free CT kits from designers whose kits I’d buy anyway!)

I was thinking last night that it seems like there was a lot more hoopla in the last two years about this day than there is now. I’ve had things that kept me away from home, but I thought there had been forums games and challenges with cool posting bonuses. This year there are just sales, really good sales, but no community stuff.

I guess we blame the economy? Too bad, because in tough economical times that sense of community and enjoying our “cyber crops” is more important than ever! So, shop the sales today and then stop at the gallery in each store you buy a wonderfully discounted product and comment on three layouts, more if you wish. Let’s remember this as a day to celebrate our hobby and our fellow digiscrappers as well as the great sales!

There haven’t been as many comments in the galleries where I post. I blame that on points. So many forums have quit offering posing bonuses and challenges are all worth points to eventually get an, often nominal, coupon for the store. That’s great if you have the funds to complete the purchase at each store, but if not, it’s not really inspiring to go “out of the box” to create for a challenge when all you’re doing is advertising for the site for free when you upload. I miss the real posting bonuses for challenges. I find I personally do fewer challenges when it’s just a points system. Maybe that’s just me, but I’m a lot less enthusiastic about what the new challenges are.

Ah, but I’m fortunate! I CT for a couple of great designers whose work I’d use those coupons to help afford anyway! And there are great sales at the stores they sell at today! Both Veelana and Darlene sell at Scrap Bird and Stone Accents Studio. (How easy is that for me?)

At Scrap Bird, everything is 45% off for DSD! You’ll also find that Darlene has a number of mini kits, former posting bonuses, in the retiring section. Those ones are an additional 45% off of the already reduced clearance prices! There are mini kits of hers for less than a dollar! In addition to the products from the fabulous designers I’m privileged to create for, there are other great designers that are certainly worth checking out at Scrap Bird and this month, if you purchase $10 or more, you earn the collab mega kit, Cozy November, free with the purchase! That was the last kit I contributed to, but I don’t know if the Digitalegacies papers and elements are in it. If someone spends the $10 to earn it, you’ll have to let me know! With or without my contributions, the previews are so wonderful, it’s definitely worth a visit to Scrap Bird!

I did this layout for my 40th birthday with Darlene’s Shelle Belle kit and All The Way Across template from Listgirl’s Blog.



At Stone Accents Studio, the whole store is 50% off for DSD. They have old mega kits in their clearance bin for 60% off too! There is also an SAS blog train this weekend! Some of the SAS designers did mini kits in a series called Friendship Around The World! I’ll send you to start at Darlene’s blog! She chose Italy and used the swatch from her Ciao Italia kit to make her freebie a possible add-on to her great kit!

I’ll also mention that the super Halloween sale was extended at SAS! They were having some technical issues in the store and to make sure everyone had a fair chance to get in on the sale, they extended it until November 9! Everything Halloween is on sale right now for 60% off including Veelana Designs’ A Tale of Magic and Monsters!

Here are a couple of layouts I did for Halloween this year using that kit

Credits: A Tale of Magic and Monsters by Veelana's Designs

Before I get back to my homework for a few more hours, I want to share a quick page I made with Vee’s Halloween kit. While there are plenty of spiders in the kit, those would be the monsters, not the cute Frankenstein doodle, there’s plenty to make sweet non-arachnid pages like I did, or like today’s freebie!

Click preview to download. Password is: batty

Scrap News and Stuff

I’m going to try to get back to my regular features next week. This over a week between blog entries is SO not me! I think things are getting to some semblance of normal in my world again. It’s a new normal, but it’s okay. I just have to adjust.

I keep updated in between visits to Grandma via phone and I make the 2-hour trek north to visit her twice a week. The Nurse Practitioner advised against putting her back on the medications that made her so cloudy in the hospital (YAY!) and she has plateaued with not exactly clarity of mind, but memory of all of her people. That was Grandma’s greatest worry, that she’d hurt the people she loves by not remembering them. So, Grandma wins this round! She’s even doing her word searches again, though she’s not as fast as she’s always been, but I’m so glad to see her doing them again! I think I’ll bring her another copy of our wedding program so she can do the word search again!

The toughest thing to get used to is the phone and the driving. I don’t like either and I’m finding them taking a lot of my time now! The best thing I do for myself with the driving is make a point of at least one of those trips every week is also a stop on the way home for dinner of coffee with one of my friends. I get to see my family of friends in Michigan so seldom since becoming an Ohiogander and the long drives to the Motherland are a great way to get some quality time with them! Now, I just have to get my “happy head” working again. The driving makes me grouchy, well grouchy for me anyway, and I don’t like that! The nicest thing the phone does for me is the battery dies. Then I get an hour off while it recharges!

I lost a few days on my project 365 when Grandma was sick and in the hospital. When one is fearing the worst about her last grandparent, taking pictures is not really in the foreground of my mind! Also, this project is our first married year and many of those days I wasn’t with David. So for the scrapbook layouts for those weeks, I have some journaling in place of the photos for some days. I’m okay with that and I don’t feel like I failed the project. If a picture’s wroth a thousand words, then journaling CAN replace a missing picture! That’s how I scrap events I want to tell about but didn’t photograph too.


Going Out Of Business Sale!


I told you there’d be a sale in connection with my leaving the design business! When my resignation was accepted at Scrap Bird, I was also told that I could come back if I wanted to get back into it. Very cool. But I am there until the end of the month and all the Digitalegacies Designs products, I mean everything in my store, is half off until the 31st! If there’s anything that I’ve created for the store that you might want, now is the time to get it! Some items, like the add-on for Homemade Love or my brag book pages for My Blue Heaven and Laura are only 50 cents! There is no I Wanna Talk About Me challenge this month, but I did do one last contribution to the store collab kit for November, so there will still be a little Digitalegacies in that!


Creative Team stuff!

This new scrapping direction, well return to my old scraping direction, gives me more quality time to spend on my own layouts. It also gives me more time to work with Darlene’s kits again. Her newest kit, Happy Camper, is free with a $5 purchase at SAS right now.


Now, as I was explaining to Darlene, as one who walks with a cane, I really don’t have many camping photos in my current “to be scrapped file.” But the kit is very versatile! I created a nice layout for week 21 of Patch 365 with it. I just LOVE that butterfly and it HAD to be used on one of my layouts!



Also with some extra time, part of my congratulations to Veelana for becoming a new SASy Lady was an offer to create for her! Her “yes,” was enthusiastic and I’m helping her brag about her first kit in her new store!


My first layout with this kit is the second page I did for our trip to Sand Patch in October 2006. I did this for Darlene’s quote challenge at Scrap Bird. Vee’s kit is just perfect for the fall train pictures!



In celebration of my new passport, David and I are going to spend some time in Canada tomorrow checking out their fall colors and trains! Now, I need to finish up some laundry and get ready to go see Grandma. I see a pumpkin spice coffee stop in my near future!

Long Time No Blog!

It’s been, for me, a long time since I posted a blog! Life has been busy and hectic. That’s a drag because one of the reasons I blog is to relax and not blogging means less relaxing too!

Grandma is actually doing fairly well. I’m really uneasy about putting her back on all those m medications, but I’ll be talking to the nurse practitioner that has been seeing her tomorrow to discuss what the next steps might be. I visited her on Tuesday, what an awesome day for me! I don’t even know if anyone else got in to see her Tuesday, but we had a couple hours of talking. She had incredible clarity that day. It was almost like talking to her before she went into the hospital or on our regular Monday night calls, which were often hour-long phone calls. I told her the minutes on my phone were for her and Kelly because I don’t really talk on the phone for any more than I absolutely have to with anyone who is less than an hour away! I don’t like talking on the phone and I’d rather say, “meet me half way for coffee.” But Tuesday was a special day. She had almost full control and memory. I considered our time together that day a treasured gift! Dad said when he visited her Wednesday she was in good spirits, but without that same clarity and she didn’t remember me being there the day before. So it really was a special gift from Grandma, just for me.


Pumpkin Spice Season is Here!


I stopped at a gas station on the way to see Grandma, because I can’t get all the way there without a potty-stop, no matter how little I drink. I usually eat something salty before I go anywhere so I can cut down on the stops when I’m driving, but Grandma is just far enough away that I can’t avoid it. That was a good thing Tuesday, because the gas station I stopped at had PUMPKIN SPICE CHEAT-A-CCINO!! It was my second Pumpkin coffee treat this fall. Last weekend, David and I stopped to put gas in the car at our local Speedway. I told him that I’d pump if he’d go in and see if they had pumpkin spice yet. He came back out, empty handed and said that they had pumpkin spice creamers, was that okay? Hehe...creamers are even better! The wonderful man who complains about how much coffee I drink brought me 7 creamers and a 24-ounce coffee! I was set on coffee for the rest of the day (and then some) but oh it was GOOD coffee!

We also have a pumpkin spice pudding cake that I’ve been having little nibbles of the past few days. That was on sale at Kroger. The Pudding cake is great because it’s so moist that a half-ring can be nibbled for a week without getting dried out if you keep the cover on the package.



Dr. Frank’s

My bottle of Dr. Franks joint and muscle pain relief spray came in yesterday. I haven’t been happy with the results of therapy and if I can avoid drugs, I’ll do that. I ended up with an even weaker hip and pain in the hip and knee joints that was chronic! I’m taking glucosamine and condroitin every day and icing my hip do while I’m doing homework. I’m just now starting to have periods of time without pain and can comfortably shower standing up without fear of falling! The doctor said I could take as many as 4 Advil if the pain was really bad or he could prescribe something stronger.

Something stronger?? Than FOUR Advil???

Okay, I have to remember it’s a new doctor. I’ve been in to see him twice and apparently he doesn’t believe me when I tell him drugs are an absolute last resort. Yeah, I totally get that doctor and patient have to work together for things to work. I’ve done the month of therapy the insurance company requires for an MRI, I just have to have the doctor’s okay to get one. In the mean time, I’ll continue with the ice and glucosamine and try the Dr. Franks and we’ll see if things get any better.

All I’m going to say about healthcare reform is that making everyone have insurance is basically saying it’s even if we’re all tortured the same. Fixing a failing system by increasing the problem is not really a great solution, even in theory.


CONGRATULATIONS VEELANA!!


Veelana's Designs is one of the three new SAS-y Ladies! Vee is a pal of mine, so I’m VERY happy for her. In fact, look to see a few more layouts from me using her kits soon!


Retiring


What opens me up to do more layouts is that I am retiring from designing. Keeping up with the requirements is just a big commitment when I add it to school, and what I’m working towards in school will supply a much bigger paycheck!

Last month I was the assigned Designer of the Month for the store CT. Where there had been multiple pages of links to the layouts in previous months, the CT did the minimum required with my store and most of the layouts were with my templates but someone else’s kits. That kinda was a good indicator for me about why I don’t have much in the way of sales! I don’t think my stuff is awful. The pages I’ve done with my own kits have looked great, but my scrapbooks are digitally done but paper-style. The focus is still the photos and journaling. A page I create is not the work of art; the life my pages tell about is the work of art! Still, I make things for the pages I do in a style I can use. In a saturated market, simple is not really going to sell!

So now, I'm going to concentrate on doing pages for my scrapbooks and get caught up. I’ll still have the occasional freebie here and I suspect I’ll do templates more often. I seem to do those well!

I’ll find out soon what my last day at Scrap Bird will be and I expect there will be a “going out of business” sale. Then the items from the store will retire, I’ll enjoy less stress in getting my homework done and my scrapbooks might even think we’ve finally reached 2007 by Christmas!

The Power of Prayer and Good Thoughts

First off, Happy Labor Day to my American readers. Today is day that marks the end of summer. Any kids who aren’t already back in school will go back tomorrow and those of us who care about the fashion “rules” will put away our white shoes and purses for another year. I’ve been looking at a some ads from my favorite clothes stores and I think that when I get off my butt to go get a couple new pairs of jeans, I might bring a couple tops home too. I think that’s why I’m being lazy about the jeans. I love new clothes, but I hate spending money! LOL

I waned to say a special “thanks” to everyone who left a comment or emailed about Grandma. I visited her Saturday. After the angioplasty Friday, they decided she should stay in the hospital until the doctors determine the next step. She has the beginnings of dementia and it was a safer course than sending her home. I said, half joking, that David would be dealing with that in 40 years with me. That bugged my Dad and he asked me to not say that. I really wasn’t so much joking though. We went through this with my Great-Grandmother and while my Mom died young, my Great-Grandmother and Great-Great-Grandmother lived into their 90s. Grammy passed when I was still young, so while I did know her, I wasn’t involved in the end of her life, so I don’t know if dementia played a part with her, but genetically, that loss of clarity and confusion is part of old age that is in the early to mid 80s in the women in my family. I am very much as far as physical and chemical stuff like Mom and Grandma, so the research done on dementia and what is known about it really is of interest to me now. Heck, in 40 years, they may know more about it and maybe preventative things! And, while Tori is physically more like her Mom, Rina is the next generation of the traits of the line I’m in. I’d like to think it’ll be reversible in 70 years. So, whether or not Dad likes to hear bout it, it’s important to me.

When I visited Saturday, Grandma was in a pressure mask to help encourage breathing. I had to bring in some paperwork for the hospital, then I sat with Grandma a while. It was a rough hour and a half, but I really felt I needed to be with her. The pressure mask made talking hard, but she had enough clarity to remember a bit better than she has at times. She asked a few questions, calling me by name. She asked if David was with me and I asked her if she meant my husband, David or my brother, Dave. She opened her eyes a little wider and said, “DAVID” with a “well, duh,” tone in her voice. She remembered I was married and the difference between the man who uses his full name and the one who uses his nickname. So, although she was physically weak that day, she was a little sharper mentally. Yesterday they took the pressure mask off. Her blood and oxygen levels were up and she was breathing better. But, she told my Dad that she didn’t remember me being there the day before!

I’ll be going to see her again tomorrow afternoon. My car is just about to the point of the hour+ drive being one I can just put on auto pilot and sleep! (okay, that’s just wishful thinking!) At some time this week, I need to take a FOUR hour drive with my marriage license. I forgot to change my name on my joint accounts with Grandma and the bank won‘t let me pay her bills! I’m on those accounts so that in just this situation I can make sure her household bills get paid. I was a bit of a slacker there! Dad and I went up there last week to get the mail, make sure I had all the bills, then I couldn’t do anything about them and I didn’t bring my marriage cert with me. I’ve been a little distracted since I got home!


Today, David and I had planned to find the Disney painted special Amtrak engine, but it’s raining, so ‘m not sure we’re going. I am down to one chapter left to catch up for school. I was happy that the last chapter’s questions and case projects were pretty easy for me. I really do “get” this stuff. I don’t want to have to drop the class and take it over in January, so today will be a late night if I must to get the last chapter’s work done. I think David may be sleeping alone tonight. Maybe Kaline and Baggle will keep him company. I’ll have my book and my coffee pot!


One last note! There is an end of summer sale at Scrap Bird! 35% off everything from participating designers. Of course, Im telling you this because Digitalegacies Designs is a participating designer. So, if you have thought about any of my kits but wanted to spend a lower total, now is the time to revisit my store and check it out!

Click the sale add to go to the Digitalegacies Designs store at Scrap Bird!

That’s the state of things in this coffee shop. Your continued prayers and good thoughts for Grandma and my family are appreciated. Hey, so far, they’re working!

Bless you all!

Crunch Time!

The birthday-girl with her Happy Sock

I’m just stopping in to say a quick hello today. Busy, busy week!

Yesterday was Kaline’s 4th birthday! Hard to believe our baby is FOUR! She wrote about it in her blog last night before bed. Something about Meow Mix Surf and Turf that made her very purry all night! Make sure you stop by Behind Orange Eyes to read the couple of new entries there!

Also, for recipe fans, there is a new recipe for low-cal crispy crackers at Simply Davlicious Recipes!

I just finished my contribution to the September Mega it at Scrap Bird, my “rent.” Also, the I Wanna Talk About Me challenge is up. This month is an easy one since I started late, all you have to do is have yourself in a photo on your layout. It can be a group photo, family picture, you just have to be in there somewhere. Pretty easy, huh? The posting bonus is a new mini kit called stones.


Now I need to get our laundry finished for the honeymoon packing. David has everything set with our cat-sitter. It’s their usual sitter, who refers to them as her “grandcats,” so they’ll be happy with that. They really like her. I still don’t expect them to be helping us pack. I think they’d be happier if we ALL stayed with them for 2 weeks!

This afternoon I have to go out to get my passport photos done and I need to pick up the thank you cards from the reception. Being at Grandma;s last week ut us a bit behind in that, but we’re bringing everything with us so we can do the thank you cards while we’re waiting n trains! The passport photos are for our trip in October. We’re going to ride behind a steam engine in Michigan. Our first steam trip riding together! Then, David says we might go to Canada for a bit. With a grumble, I’ll get a passport so I can go to Canada. I was born a half hour away from Canada and have never needed a passport to go there. Grrr...

Then I have baseball stadium directions to print and the schedule of the teams we;ll be near. David was thinking 3 or 4 games, I was thinking 4 or 5, so we’re pretty sure we’ll see 4...but I’ll hope for more too! ;)

Keep your fingerers crossed for me! My text book is on backorder! I ordered it from Amazon and canceled the school bookstore order to get it faster, and I will get it faster, but I just pray it comes in Friday! The confirmation I got said between Friday and the 20th. We leave on Saturday and the semester starts on the 17th! Cross your fingers for me!

Okay, have to get on with a shower then laundry! I’ll check back in later!

Home For A Little While Now

I’d declared today my lazy day! Well, I mean I‘d put “be lazy” on my Monday to-do list. It was a fun weekend with David in Cincinnati, but now, after all of the running around up north with Grandma last week and a weekend of train chasing, I’m just really in need of a break!

So, now it’s August 10. By the end of today, I need to FINALLY have my challenge posted at Scrap Bird and the bonuses sent out from last month. I’m still working on that. I had dinner, Nani’s special roasted veggies, read my to-do list and realizing I forgot to lay round and watch TV while I ice down my back.

Hmmm. That was an important one too.

I still have an hour of toady left.

I did sleep in until 9:30 this morning and I’ve taken it kinda easy today. I ordered my text book for my fall class and gathered baseball schedules for our honeymoon. That was actually on my Tuesday list, but David went in to work at 2 this afternoon, so I totally blame him because we started talking about where we’ll go next week. We want to gather schedules and directions so we have a rough itinerary of what we might do on our honeymoon. That’s important too! I’ll take a couple hours with the ice packs tomorrow

Grandma is doing better. She’s had some follow-up tests done today. Dad is with her right now and he was her escort today. They are working on getting her medications at the right levels. It’s kinda like that scale my doctor has me step on all the time to monitor the progress of wife 1500. You move the counterweights to the current target and hen rock them back and forth until they’re level. Only this is levels and consistency of blood and you cut or increase medication until it levels where you want it to be. Grandma’s hoping to leave to spend a little while at Dad’s place this week. They’ll make sure that’s okay with her doctor tomorrow.

We are, as a family, checking out senior apartments near where she is and near where Dad is. She’s concerned with the costs and wants to explore he different choices. I think that’s a good idea, but I doubt she’ll be happier with the cost of living down state from where she’s at. I’m sure I’ll hear the details as they get them this week. Grandma sent me home at the end of the week to be with David. It’s a sweet notion from back in her day – I’m a newlywed and should not have to be away from my husband. So yeah, while I was there worrying about Grandma, she was worrying about me. I come by my tendency to put my own issues in the background honestly, uh? So, when Grandma put her foot down to me and told me to go home after Dad got there, I didn’t have much choice!

I’ll send some more update tomorrow!

Defying Murphy and Stuff

I have a little time to catch up, to breathe, but just a little, so I’ll get right to updating The Chronicles of Nani readers on what’s going on!

2 days until the reception and things are going okay. Well, they’re going okay except a few people that had to cancel on us and my back. I got a nasty knot in the lower back on the side with my bad knee Tuesday night. The pain was awful! I ended up not going to school yesterday because I just couldn't move well enough to get dressed and to the car, let alone get from the parking lot to class. Besides, sitting in a chair hurt. David brought my laptop and books up to me and I worked on the bed. I had a heating pad that when i spoke with my physical therapist later, I was told to switch to ice because heat was bad. It was good advice! Where my pain was, on a scale of 1-10, a 20 yesterday, today it's a manageable 7 or 8. I’ll spend some more time with the ice today and I figure I’ll be back to my normal self by tomorrow. My disposition is much brighter today. Yesterday, I was predicting rain for Saturday. Tori looked at me and said, “Now that’s not the Nana I know, the Nana I know is not negative.”

David says a few people canceling at the last is normal. This is my first marriage, I don't know! Even my Dad told me he might be late. Can you imagine if it had been a regular wedding? I’d be at the church looking at my watch and wondering if I was going to be walking down the aisle by myself!

Okay, truth is that when we were talking about the wedding thing, I figured I would walk down the aisle alone unless it was a big deal to Dad to do it. I have long thought that weddings and the reception events that went with them are for the guests, not the bride and groom. The marriage is for the bride and groom. That being said, my back can hurt, everyone can bail on the weekend and it can rain cats and dogs. I STILL have the dream I wanted out of the deal. It’s just that now that we’re doing the summer reception for our winter wedding, I want to enjoy it.


My First AG!

Tori and Rina have been here for a couple of weeks, We usually take them for a long weekend trip in the summer. Last year Rina went to the Railfan weekend in Altoona with us and Tori came for a yummy weekend in Hershey. This year they decided they wanted to share their weekend and both went to the Mensa AG in Pittsburgh with us. There are more teenagers at the big annual event than there are at the smaller regional gatherings and they even have a track of events especially for the “TeenSIG.” We had lots of time spent with the girls and they also had plenty of things they did on their own, so it was a great combination of aunt and uncle time with independent time too.

Rina's first Mensa event

It was my first AG, David’s too. We’d been to smaller Mensa events, but this was the first time for the big one for all of American Mensa. Yes, ALL of the eggheads in ONE omelet! After so many years of knowing each other by instant messages and email, I finally got to meet Ben, my “smart little brother,” in Pittsburgh! I also got to meet Joan Marie, a fellow member of GenX, several other groups and the M&Ms yahoo list. We talked for a while after David’s presentation of his train slides Friday Night. The presentation had a decent attendance, including two nieces and several members of TeenSIG. Just before David’s trains, Tori and I discovered “The Werewolves of the Pittsburgh Mensa AG.” Werewolves is SUCH a COOL game! The game we played was The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow. Were were newbies, but you learn and become addicted to it quickly! There’s a link to the basic directions at the bottom of this post! Tori actually left the dance on Friday night to play more werewolves and we used our peer pressure to bring David and Rina into the addiction Saturday.

Tori making Happy Socks

On Saturday, the girls and I went to the Operation Happy Sock workshop at the AG. Operation Happy Sock makes cat toys for shelter cats. The toys are made with donated socks, fiberfill and cat nip. I’d guess the small room of Mensans talking abut their cats made over a thousand collectively in our hour together. Everyone was encouraged to take one of the toys home for their own cats and take some to donate to their local shelter.

Kaline and Baggle loved their Happy Socks! I’d done their “sock puppets” with legs from tights bundled up with just cat nip in them, but the squishy filled ones are even nicer. As much as they liked theirs, I think the shelter cats were even happier!

Our kids LOVED the Happy Socks

Tuesday afternoon, Rina, Tori and I took half of the large box of Happy Socks we brought home to Paws and Whiskers in Toledo, Ohio. Half of the Happy Socks we brought home were for a Toledo shelter and half are going with them to an Indianapolis shelter. Paws and Whiskers is a no-kill nonprofit cat shelter. In many ways, it broke my heart ot see all of those homeless cats in cages.

Paws and Whiskers is a nonprofit, No-kill cat shelter in Toledo

They had so many kittens too! David and I have been reading about pets that have been given up or even abandoned in this economy when families have lost their homes and had to move to apartments that didn’t allow pets or even the ones who just could no longer afford to feed or care for pets. We’ve been thinking that it might be time to look for a new brother of sister for our kids. We’d want to adopt an adult cat from a shelter. Cute little kittens have a much easier time finding a home than adult cats do. When we walked in to Paws and Whiskers, the woman who greeted us took a phone call where she had to say that they had no room for more cats right now. They even have adult cats that were adopted there and ended up back there a few years later because of circumstances beyond the kitty’s control.

We got to put the Happy Socks in the cages ourselves. The “house v=cat” there, who lays on a shelf near to the entrance as the shelter’s greeter, became very interested in the bags we brought! We gave her one and brought the bags to the walls of cages. They must have smelled the cat nip, because as soon as we opened the first bag, they were all meowing and poking paws out to say, “Don’t forget me!”

These kittens at Paws and Whiskers were
adopted and waiting to go to their new home

Most of the cats and kittens there were so friendly and affectionate. They did a really good job of “selling themselves.” I’d have taken them all home if I could! I had suggested foster-parenting cats, but David doesn’t like that idea. He figures he’d get too attached to the foster cats. He’s probably right. We are planning to look into some volunteer opportunities. Hey, they even have a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament with proceeds going to the shelter. David is planning on that one!

Digitalegacies Designs Reception Sale

35% OFF July 11 & 12

One last note for all the scrappers! In honor of our wedding reception weekend, I’m having a sale! If you head over to Scrap Bird on Saturday or Sunday, all and I mean ALL the products in the Digitalegacies Designs store will be 35% off!

Be sure to stop by this weekend! After Sunday when the party mood settles and I realize that exam 2 has been posted for my class, it’s back to business as usual!

How to play Werewolf
Paws and Whiskers
Operation Happy Sock

School Dazed

I’ve decided that what I need to do is put the Chronicles of Nani regular features on a “not guaranteed” status until my current class is through. I have three regular features: Monday Mug Shot, Photoblog Wednesday and Friday By Request. Now, Friday By Request is only when I have requests and I’ll still honor those when they come in, but my class is Monday and Wednesday with plenty of homework between those days too, so I’m just not in a position where I can guarantee that my focus and refocus will be working! So, the regular features will be on a “as time allows” basis for now. Hopefully my fall class, which will be a full 16 weeks instead of 16 weeks in 8, like summer semester, will give me a little sanity to keep up! I will keep up blogging a few times a week and even the features when I can.

That being said, school uis actually going okay. I feel like I‘m starting to get it now. I’ll be a networking machine in no time! For me, the key to learning is the metaphor. I need to be able to create my own metaphor to make it stick. The book uses traffic comparisons, that the path of information in wires is like traffic, so I work on finding other tangible comparisons or at the very least, visualize my own car as a packet of data.

Well, it’s working for me!

I finished up a new scrapbook kit yesterday! See? SOME semblance of organization and time is coming back! It’s going to be released as July starts so I can maximize the time it gets to be in the “new kits” front page at Scrap Bird. I’ve made the mistake of putting a new kit up on the last day of the month before and lost a lot of visual exposure in the store! I’ll have more about the new kit next week, but here is a little tease:


There’s still time for the challenges this month at Scrap Bird! I’m going to be doing my Template Challenge layout this weekend and I’m still hoping to give away some more copies of Stardust!


You can have Stardust for free when you do a layout in the I Wanna Talk About Me challenge! This month, I’m asking for a layout that includes a photo of you with someone special to you.

This weekend is a big cleaning weekend. We’ll be in Pittsburgh next weekend and then it’s the reception. EEKS! There isn’t a TON to be done, but there is a lot. We still have to do the proofreading on our programs and get the house at least clean enough for guests to stop by. The party isn’t here, but I’d rather have everything clean and no one stops by than have anyone pop in and it’s a mess of prep for the party and marathon studying!

So, after my 8:30AM physical therapy session, I’ll come home and do the part of sorting things that I can do while I’m sitting with the ice pack for a while. Then I can do the things for which I need to be ore mobile. David will do the vacuuming, but I’m in charge of making the grout shine!

And for now, I need to get ready for physio! I’ll try to write a bit more this afternoon!

Rounding Out The Week

Nani and Popsie through the years

I missed Photoblog Wednesday this week, but I really am trying to get myself organized! The good news is that I think it’s finally working! as of yesterday afternoon, my homework for Monday is completed and I’m working on reading ahead the chapters for next week! YAY, NANI!!

We woke up to TONS of rain this morning, complete with thunder and lighting. I had therapy at 8:30 and the barometric effects on everything we’ve been working on in therapy made my shoes feel like 50-pound weights! That was BEFORE I went! I’m actually doing better, more reps than Wednesday and better at keeping my foot straight. That knee is what we’re working on. My right foot tends to fall sideways to the right when it’s relaxed and the normal muscles became weak as a result. Part of strengthening the knee is retraining the right muscles to work. The therapist says he can see by the way I walk that I’ve been using the wrong muscles for a long time! So, while I’m really not doing much, it kinda knocks me out. This afternoon I’ve been especially lethargic. I’m going to grab a B12 after I finish this. The extra oxygen in my blood will perk me up and will help the muscles heal up so I can attack them again Monday afternoon!

David and I will be making a trip to Indianapolis to have Father’s Day barbecue with Dad at my brother’s. Dave called me last night to find out when we’d be there and to let me know what Pop’s plans are. My Dad will get to Indy around noon-thirty and he’s going to barbecue dinner. That’s his thing for Fathers Day. Let him cook for both his kids, their spouses and granddaughters and he is the king of the wold. Bonus for us that Pop is an incredible artisan at the grill!

Since we’re celebrating Fathers Day tomorrow and David is working on Sunday, AND that y homework is done, I’m hoping to get some things done in designing. I have three kits in different stages of done on my Apple’s hard drive and my plan uis to have at least one of them done and in the store next week! In the mean time, there is a great Fathers Day weekend sale going on at Scrap Bird right now! As part of that sale, ALL of Digitalegacies Designs’ products are 30% off all weekend long! Make sure you check it out!

A special wish to Seamhead Gypsy, South Shore Billy and the Dads reading for a
VERY HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!

Digitalegacies Designs Sale Paper

Oh, it’s a good time to shop the Digitalegacies Designs sales!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!! That’ right, my hubby is 43 today an in honor for his 43rd birthday, I’ve put all the Talkin Baseball stuff on sale for 43% off for one week! That’s right, in honor of the wonderful man who makes my world even better who took me to a baseball game for our first TWO dates, Talkin Baseball, The Talkin Baseball Word Art or the combo pack are all 43% off until June 17!

Talkin Baseball, 43% off for David's Birthday!

While we’re talking sale, today is Crazy Price Thursday at Scrap Bird! I put making it quick and simple half off this week, with my quick page sets for half off! You can get Crimson and Clover Quick Pages, Eight Days a Week Quick Pages, Laura Favors and The Look of Love Quick Page Set any or all of them for half off, Thursday, June 11 only!

Crimson and Clover Quick Pages, Half-off Today!

While you’re checking out the baseball kit to celebrate David's birthday or any of the quick pages sets for half off, check out my Wedding Party!

The Look of Love Quick Page Set, $2.40 until July 13

Our reception is just over a half year after we eloped and I’m swimming in the final preparation! In honor of the fun and romantic, to us anyway, weekend we have planned, I’m putting all of the Digitalegacies Romance on sale for 20% off until after the reception! You can have your choices of any or all of the Digitalegacies Designs Love kits: Your Own Special Way, Because of You, Laura and My Blue Heaven, the kit I did to celebrate our marriage plus The Look of Love Quick Pages after today will stay on sale for 20% off until July 13!

Come check out all of the great designers at Scrap Bird - Crazy Prices Thursday is a great opportunity to try out a designer you haven’t tried before!

Nani's Musings

It’s been such a busy week this week! My head is just swimming in newness!

As of Monday, I’m a student again. My intro to networking class is a TON of information that is a need to know course for everything else I’ll take. It’s not easy, but it is fun. I really do enjoy pulling my hair out for hours and not understanding, to finally trip on that one thing that brings clarity to it all. It’s a nice feeling, let me tell ya! Add that new experience to my stress about RSVPs for the reception. It’s a small reception with a limited number of people we could invite, so we have a list that we cal our “A-” list. The people who would have unquestionably been invited if we had unlimited space and/or funds. I also have a number due to catering next week, so I’m stressing a bit about the reply cards, because every “no,” is one more person we can ask. I also have a pending three day a week schedule in therapy starting , likely net week, to juggle in everything else on my plate. Whew!


A Bull Durham Moment

I’m rating this clip PG13 for two f-bombs, but minus the f-bombs, the heads paying attention part to “I’ve been to the show” was like “I have a bachelors in broadcast communications...”



At the start of the first day of class the instructor asked us to all introduce ourselves and tell what year they’re in and why we’re taking this class, as part of their degree or general interest, etc... Keep in mind that I’m getting my certificate in Networking at the local community college. It’s less expensive and employers won’t care where I learned about networking, just if I know it well enough to become CompTIA certified. There were several people who were studying various computer or business associates degrees Some who were coming back after just finishing and even one taking the class at the freshman level while he finished high school. By the way, he’s the one I’M impressed with!

Everyone was kinda listening, but there was a dull murmur of other comments and conversation. Then it came to me in the last row. I started my introduction with “Hi,” rather than the standard “My name is,” and continued, “I have a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Broadcast Communications...”

The dull murmurs ceased and all heads turned towards me. “I have a bachelors degree” in community college is the same as “I've been to the show” on an A-league bus! When I can make a baseball movie analogy on the first day, I know I’ll do well in the class!


Digitalegacies Designs May Sales Report


All I can say is, “thank you NSD!” May was the best sales month ever for me at Scrap Bird. Talkin’ Baseball sold very well, both the individual kit and the Cobo pack with the word art. It really makes me feel good because it shows Scrap Bird is growing.

In all of the hustle and bustle this week, I didn’t post the sale paper yesterday, so, I’ll probably repeat this week’s Crazy Thursday sale at some point this month. I do have a new kit to show you, though!


Stardust is inspired by the tone and mystique of the classic standard as sung, to me anyway, best by Frank Sinatra. Stardust is the posting bonus for the I Wanna Talk About Me Challenge at Scrap Bird this month!

In our monthly book-of-me-style challenge, I’m asking to see a layout with at least one photo of you with someone special. Here is the layout I did:

credits: One Step at a Time by Digitalegacies Designs

This is me and my best friend, Kelly at the baseball game after my 40th birthday, still during Nanifest, when I only thought it was going to be David and me. I was surprised with a party that followed us down to Cincinnati from Michigan and another group with Kelly from Missouri!

So the only challenge requirements this month are a picture of you and someone special and at least one item from a Scrap Bird designer. For that, you get Stardust!


Old friend from 360!

I was so happy to get a comment from Noelle, Chalicat, an old friend from Yahoo 360! Part of what I love about getting comments is the community it fosters. Yahoo 360 was all about being social network with a blog. While I love my Blogger blog, I do miss my Yahoo friends! I’m so glad you hung you coffee mug up here, Noelle!!


The New Doc

I love my new doctor, he’s great! I went in to have my knee looked at. Hobbling around in Boston and then just Wednesday when will call was on the other side of the stadium from where we parked, my knee was sore, really sore, almost can’t walk sore. I saw my new doctor for the first time this morning.

After we talked about the history of my klutziness and the fact that I don’t see a doctor until I know I’m hopelessly sick and I take as few pills as possible for anything, he sayts it’s likely the beginning of nasty arthritis, but before he confirms that he’s sending me for x-rays. So I have the paperwork for that. I also have a referral slip to be evaluated by a therapist and start three days a week therapy. I also have to wear my knee brace all the time if I’m walking more than ten feet!

Now, I need to lose weight. I know that. That’s what I’ve been working on. I also know that it would help my knee if I did. But of course, today was the benchmark day with the new doctor. Anyone who’s ever struggled with weight will know this is just awesome - The doctor asked me what I wanted to do. Do I have an idea that I want to try for losing the weight, because it’s going to work better for me if it’s my plan. But he’d offer any help I wanted. Pinch my inches, I'm dreaming!

I had an awesome doctor up until about 2000, when he retired. The doctor who took his place was nothing like him and if I was sick, I had to be desperately sick before I’d even start thinking about seeing him. My new doctor today was kind, he smiled, took his time and listened to me! It was important to me before that my doctor talked baseball with me for a minute or two when he came into the exam room and that he knew to tell me when I needed to take all the pills in a prescription because he knew and understood how much I hate pills. The doctor today, in talking about managing the pain while my knee is undergoing therapy, suggested a natural supplement and while he offered that he could prescribe a pain killer, also said I could continue with Advil, making sure that I understood that it’s not addictive, even in doses of more than the three or four pills a day I take when the pain is really bad. I think I may have finally found a doctor who is worthy of replacing the doctor I had and loved for 24 years in Michigan!

Oh, right now the knee still hurts, but I feel better about the future of it feeling better. He says I may be looking at surgery, but he thinks if it can be put off a few years, that’s the better course. Of course, depending on what the X-rays show, it might be different, but I totally love that he was honest and explained things completely to me. Old fashioned people skills and modern knowledge. My textbook says you should have that in the computer networking profession too. I think you should have that in ALL professions. Wouldn’t the world work better that way?