Happy New Year 2010

Has it really been May since I last wrote on my blog? It looks so sad sitting here waiting for an update so I guess it's time to make it a priority for the new year. The last part of 2009 was quite busy so I guess I truly did have an excuse for the neglect. In May my son Cory got married, my daughter Hannah graduated from High School and we made a big move across country to Georgia. I finished the horrible year without Russ and we are now back together again enjoying life in the south. I spent the summer unpacking and decorating the new house we bought in Fayetteville. Russ and I did quite a bit of traveling with his job and on our own and we became empty nesters with the GA move. We had a busy holiday season too. Cory and Stephanie came to visit for Thanksgiving and I had all the kids here at one time. It's always music to my ears to hear their laughter in the house. Christmas was busy as well. I enjoyed decorating the new house with my santas and did the normal baking and shopping and newsletter/card sending. I always feel like I've put in overtime this time of year. For New Year's Eve we had some friends over to play games. I missed having my CO kids over for the night. They were always good to bang pans with me at midnight. Hannah did reluctantly go out and bang some pans with me but her heart really wasn't in it. So now here we are at another New Year. It's hard to believe we are already 10 years into the 2000's. I love this time of year because after the rush of the New Year it's nice to sit back and relax a bit, contemplate what you did in the previous year and make plans for the New Year. I'm not usually a formal resolution maker but I try to set a few goals for the year or at least think about new goals. This year my goal is to be more attentive to others. I want to write more letters, send more cards, visit more people and call more often. Sometimes in the midst of my busy life I find that I put those things on the back burner and although my thoughts are with others, I don't always let them know. For my scrapping goal, I'd like to finish all the digital classes I started, organize my pictures and produce more layouts like I used to do. I have my own little scrapping room full of every tool I'd ever need so it's time to fill up some of these empty books with meaningful layouts. Who knows, maybe I'll even submit a few if I get really brave. So there you have it. My goals for the year in writing. I guess I'll also try to make it a goal to post on my blog more often. Welcome 2010.

Type + Writer Class Pages

Last month I took the Type + Writer class at www.JessicaSprague.com . It's a class that I had been looking forward to for quite a while. I'd registered for it last November so it seemed like it took a long time to get here. I loved the class and I still have a few more layouts to finish to have completed it all but as always, I've learned a lot from the class.
Each of the layouts are done with templates so we can concentrate more on the journaling and typesetting of the elements on the pages. The first layout we learned how to apply journaling to little journal tabs and then tilt it. We also had to place all the numbers within the circles and resize them. The journaling part of the first lesson was to concentrate on "list journaling". We were to make a list or something we considered an "adventure" and then assign numbers to the list. On the title we learned how to distress it as well as some of the numbers to make them blend more.

I think this one is my favorite of the layouts. We learned to to journaling around a shape. This one was frustrating though because I had it almost totally done and I clicked on something that lost the entire layout for me and I had to start from scratch again. The second part of the lesson was learning how to set up the quote and then making a brush out of the quote that we set up so that we can use it over and over again. I'm finding that I really need to practise these techniques over and over so that I can remember how I did them. I need to go back now and make notes in my notebook on how to do each element. I think once I use it over and over again that I will get it embedded in my mind a little more.



The third layout we learned how to create the patterned paper at the bottom using words from our journaling or blog entries. That was kind of fun. We used a website called "wordle". The original layout was about a day in the life with her kids but I decided to try something different with mine. I will have to do the same with the other layouts as well since my kids are all grown and don't allow me to take pictures of them as often as I'd like. I think I have two or three more layouts to do in the class which will have to wait until I make it through the wedding, graduation and move this month. I will post those layouts as soon as I get them completed.

Valentines Day Book

For Valentines Day this year, I decided to make a mini album for Russ as a gift. Since we are spending most of the year apart, I figured it would give him something to look at on lonely nights to remember how very much I love him. I took pictures of the book before he left so I could post them on here. They were a big hit in the store. I took it in one day and everyone was buying the books and the paper and quotes to do something similar for their men. The majority of the papers are either Little Yellow Bicycle or Basic Grey (two of my favorites). The mini books we sell at Archivers in the hot spot for $1.99. They bring in new ones for each season.

A few of my Digital Layouts

I haven't finished all my digital classes online but I did make it through the first class by finishing all the projects. I thought I would post of few of the layouts I did for that on here to show that I have mastered a little bit of the "digital world" of scrapbooking. They start out pretty simple and then we learn a little bit more with each one we do. I really need to go back and finish my "Now We're Rocking" lessons and "Digi in Deep" lessons before I start the Type++ class next month. If I can only find a few minutes to get them done. The longest part is deciding on a photo that will work with the project. The valentine class was a "mid-week" assignment challenge and we were to use any papers to put it together. We learned to do a scalloped edge and do type around a circle and cut paper pieces from other papers digitally. Very fun. The "new car" one was from week two. We learned to do list journaling, brushes, Titles with alphabet sets and changing the colors of the fonts. The Cliff Dwellings layout was week three and we learned to do transparency overlays, photo collages, and I forget the rest. I think I should probably go back and review the first class videos before trying to catch up with classes two and three. Just uploading these and looking at them again inspires me to get back to the lessons. I forgot how much fun the digital layouts were. Jessica sure does have a knack for teaching. I learned so much in her classes. I can see though that I will lose the knowledge if I don't put it to use more regularly than I have so far. I started a notebook to right down all the shortcuts I learned and the steps to doing each new technique but it's nice that she keeps the videos on her site so that I can review anytime I need to.
This was week four and we learned a few more journaling tips with varying font sizes and brushes and changing a photo to sepia tones. Cutting parts from various different patterned papers. This page talks about Hannah's Rocky Mtn. High class in HS. They get to learn all about rock climbing, snow shoeing, orienteering in this class. Amber took it both years and Hannah did too. They both say it was one of their most favorite classes in the HS. Hannah entered a rock climbing competition this year and got a second place trophy.

The happiness layout was from week one of "now we're rocking". I'm thinking this is the only one I got done in that class. I've still got three more weeks of lessons from that class and four weeks of lessons from the Digi in Deep class to finish before I can start the Type class. I guess I'll be spending my evenings working on this. I enjoy the digital scrapping but I think I'll stick with my paper scrapping because I still like the feeling of working with paper and playing with all my tools. It's something I've always wanted to learn how to do and I can definitely see parts of digital scrapping that I can translate over to my regular scrapbooks. Sooooo much to learn.....sooooo little time. Maybe after I quit work I can play for awhile before the move. If the current contract goes through to closing, I will have about a month without my scrapping supplies to just work on computer classes. Well maybe I'll keep a few supplies here. I think I'm too attached to them to send everything all at once to Georgia. I'll have to think about that one. Until next time.

Online Classes

One of the ways I keep myself inspired in the wintertime is to take some online classes that I can do from my home. Face it, in Colorado you never can tell what the weather will do so I have to be prepared for many hibernation days in the winter months. Sometimes I do them right along with the class and other times, I save the materials and do them at my leisure. Some I have not finished the projects for and some I have completed everything for the class. Since I do a lot of teaching of classes, people are always looking to me for inspiration but sometimes it is nice to just sit back and learn from someone else. There are so many awesome scrappers out there that have so much to teach me so I enjoy the chance to learn from them. One of my favorite people is Shimelle Laine. I met Shim while living in England and we used to meet up at various weekend crops with our UK scrapping friends. She also used to run an online store in the UK which I would order from when I needed extra supplies. I always enjoyed sitting around looking at her books at crops and being inspired by her work. Shortly before I left the UK I gave her a ride home from one of the weekend crops and she told me she was planning to start doing online classes. I was fascinated and couldn't wait for her to get them started. I've taken quite a few of her classes and have loved every one. If you want a little inspiration for your winter, go to her blog and get involved in her next online class starting in February. Here's her blog address: http://www.shimelle.com/ She also currently has a "free" online class called "This Year" that you can participate in now to try out her classes and see what she has to offer.
My second favorite online classes come from Jessica Sprague. Her classes are well worth every penny you pay for them. She teaches Digital Scrapbooking classes that in my opionion are the best out there. With each class you will get video tutorials for every new technique and these are available to you forever. So if you can't finish the class during it's allotted time, you can go back at anytime and finish and have all the videos available for refreshers as needed as well.
I'm currently signed up to do her "Type + Writer" class that starts in April. I was able to see some of the projects done in that class through a lady that came into our store and they were amazing as always so I'm excited to start her classes this spring. You can find her classes at:
www.jessicasprague.com
My third source of inspiration are the Big Picture Scrapbooking classes. I usally try to take several of these each year. Currently I'm enrolled in the January " A Life Well-Crafted" class with Kolette Hall. I'm totally enjoying this class as well although I'm getting a little behind because of being sick this week. I also signed up for a couple of the "projects now" classes that I need to get caught up with. These you can take at anytime. You can find their classes at:
www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com.
So many projects.....so little time.....but I'm definitely inspired with a lot of new ideas. Perk up your winter and come join me in some online classes.

Trying to Finish Old Projects

When Cory turned 21 (he's now almost 23) I started this book as a gift to him. I got the core of the book finished and gave it to him but told him I had planned to write letters to him in all the many nooks and crannies so he could read them occasionally and get a little motherly advice when he needs it. I've written some of the letters but am still trying to finish the rest of them. My goal is to give it to him again on his 23rd birthday with all the letters completed. Amber is turning 21 this year and I'm hoping to get some sort of book started for her as well. Just need to get this project finished first. Several of my UK friends check this blog occasionally so I figured you'd probably like to see a few of my projects on here instead of having to read about my life all the time so this is for you. Here's one of my ongoing projects I'm working on. The book is using the song "unwritten" as a theme. I like the lyrics to that song that say only we can write our own stories. It's all a blank slate and unwritten until we write on it. I thought that was a good message for Cory who is embarking on his adult life. (a new journey of growing for him). Each page has pockets and tuck-ins for letters to go.
I've put in a variety of pictures and quotes to make it more interesting. Some pockets have tags with quotes on them as well as a letter. My goal was to have many ways to tell him what I want him to learn in life. When I start projects like this, I guess I make them based on what I always wished I had from my parents or grandparents. I hope that even if he doesn't appreciate this now that maybe somewhere along the way my distant ancestors will find this and learn a little bit from me even if Cory chooses to ignore it all (which I don't think he will). Wouldn't it be fun to find a book like this written by a great-grandma about all she'd learned in her life? I think about that a lot.
I try to make projects that will be timeless and mean something to others once I'm gone. It's my way of leaving a bit of myself behind. A way to leave a legacy for my kids and grandkids. My focus in scrapbooking has changed through the years from recording events and birthdays to now recording life for future generations. I'm really liking the trend towards scrapping the "everyday" things of life because lets face it, big events aren't really what life is all about. It's all those everyday little things that make up who we are. So this is my little "gift of love" for Cory.
He's embarking on a new chapter of his life this year. He plans to marry his "true love" in May so he will be learning a lot in the next few years. Who knows maybe my next project will be an advice book on marriage. Hope this will inspire you to record a little something more personal this month for your kids. Imagine what you'd like them to know if you were no longer here and let that inspire you to leave them with something they can hold onto...a piece of you....in case something ever takes you away from them before you are ready.
Now, I'm off to get this finished and begin plans for Amber's book. The projects never end do they? That's what I love about this hobby. You can always find something new to create. My other big project for this year is Hannah's graduation book. Some of you saw the one I did for Cory with "advice for life". Amber's was titled "keys to a good life" and Hannahs's will be the ABC's of Life. I think I'm up to H now so I've got a ways to go but at least it's started. The rush is now on to get it finished by May along with a cookbook for Stephanie (my future daughter-in-law) by May as well.

Another New Year

It's another new year....2009. I can honestly say that I was quite glad to see 2008 leave. It was not a good year for me. I think I cried more last summer than I have in a long time. One thing after another was hitting me and I was being challenged at every corner. As I look back now, though, I see that I grew a little with each new challenge. Sometimes we get to feeling sorry for ourselves when things get rough but in reality, those times are needed for us to grow. With Russ and I living in separate places for a year, it's given us both time to reflect on ourselves and our lives. We've both talked about it and we have both learned to appreciate what we have as a couple. Neither one of us is comfortable with the lonely feeling of going through life by yourself. I hope we never get comfortable with that. We've learned to appreciate all the little things that each of us do that makes life run smoothly. I've learned that I have more strength than I ever thought I had. With each new challenge I'd think, I just can't handle this alone and then I would figure out what needed to be done and conquer it. I had come to rely so much on Russ for my strength that I didn't give myself credit for my own inner-strength. I've always known it was there but I just hadn't tapped into my strength in awhile so I had to challenge myself to use it. I think I talked to more and more people who also said the same thing....that 2008 was a weird year for them. Many people were hit with hard things to deal with and somehow we made it through. So, I, for one, am looking forward to a better 2009. I'm starting out with a positive attitude that my house will sell in time for me to move to GA. That Hannah will find her way and know what she wants to do with her life, that Cory and Stephanie will start a new life together that is bound by a deep love for each other, and that Amber will find her way and learn that family is as important as all her many friends. I quit making big resolutions at the New Year many years ago. For me, I just want to grow more as a person, get more of my life recorded in my scrapbooks, and grow closer to God. May each of you, find your way this year and grow stronger in whatever you set your mind to do.

Christmas at our House

Christmas at the Barnharts tends to be a little traditional but I like it that way. I hope our children will always have fond memories of all we've done through the years to celebrate. We start with the tree sometime after Thanksgiving. Each year I've given the kids a new ornament to signify that year. Now they each have their own box of ornaments that they can take with them when they leave home. It's always fun to see them open their ornaments each year and try to remember why they got each one. This year, Cory's fiance, Stephanie helped us decorate the tree and it was rewarding for me to see him show her each one and tell her stories about some of them. It was also a little sad for me to think that this is the last year those ornaments will be on my tree. He will now carry them to their new home together and hopefully use them for many more years on his own tree.
After the tree comes all the santas. I've been a santa collector since Cory was a baby. My Dad died when he was 9 months old on December 18, 1986. The rest of the family let the fact that he died so close to Christmas ruin their celebrations for family for many years. I chose to collect santas in memory of my Dad since he was always "my favorite santa". I had originally planned to get a new santa every year but then I started finding cute ones everywhere I went and it turned out to be several santas each year. My favorites are the "old world" style santas. I now have several large boxes of santas and snowmen that come out each year. I don't mind putting them up because I think of my wonderful Dad when I do. Someday I'll add them to the kids' ornament boxes but for now, they make me happy so I keep putting them up each year. I usually send out a newsletter each year but this year I decided to forego that since I had too many other things to do. Cards and pictures go with the newsletter. In the past few years I've been making calendars for the kids with pictures of their friends on them. I had decided I wouldn't do them this year but Hannah indicated that it was one of her favorite gifts so I decided to go ahead and make them anyhow. I made four calendars this year from November to December. I always make fudge sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I made it at Thanksgiving this time so that Russ could help eat it while he was home. We also traditionally make cut-out cookies that were always left on a plate for santa. We didn't do those this year since our time was more limited. Other traditional cookies are miniature nut cups, butterballs, caramel/chocolate bars, cheesecake bars and peanut butter bars. The girls made the last two for our annual New Year's Eve party. Christmas meal is almost always a ham with mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green beans and homemade rolls. Once I've cooked the big meal, I don't cook again for several days so that everyone will come and nibble on the leftovers. Christmas morning is always a pan of cinnamon rolls. They are easy for me to pop in and the kids rely on them to be there for breakfast. A few years I've given the kids pj's for christmas and let them open them on Christmas Eve but I was never consistent with that one. The pickle ornament was given to me by my brother and sister-in-law for another tradition. We would hide the pickle on the tree and Christmas morning the kids had to see who could find it first. The finder always got an extra gift....usually candy or a game. For some reason I forgot to do that tradition this year. The stockings are a tradition that I brought from my family. I've always enjoyed finding little things to throw in each stocking. Traditionally I always throw a few practical items in there as well. They always get toothbrushes and floss, gum and chapstick. They've come to expect those. The past few years we changed a little and drew names for stockings and each person was responsible for filling someone elses stocking. I went back to being the original stocking stuffer again this year. It's a fun extra gift to find onChristmas morning. I've always enjoyed Christmas even though it is a busy holiday for me. I love to watch my kids opening gifts, to hear Russ complain that I shouldn't have spent money on him, the watch the cats excitement as they open their stockings of catnip toys and to know that we have always been soooo blessed to have all that we have each year. May God continue to bless our little family as it grows through the years.

Twenty Five Wonderful Years Together

I'm a little late posting this but it was such a crazy holiday season that I just didn't stop long enough to write. On December 24, 2008, Russ and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Yep, we were the crazy ones who got married on the coldest day of the year in the midst of a winter storm. Somehow we blinked and 25 years have passed. I don't feel any older (well maybe a few more aches than then) but when I look back, I'm in awe of all we've packed into those 25 years. We've lived in eleven different houses, three states, four different countries and have seen a lot of places I only ever dreamed of seeing. We raised three beautiful children (one boy and two girls), have said goodbye to one parent each and watched them suffer through terminal illnesses. Russ has run marathons and has logged many miles of running. I did three terms as a PTA president, one term as a VP and several secretary and chairperson seats within the PTA and the Booster Clubs. I've dabbled in a lot of different crafts within these years from quilt making, crocheting, tole painting, cake decorating, cross-stitch, ikebana, oshie, bonsai and my current all time favorite of scrapbooking. I've taught classes in scrapbooking, bible classes, and even taught nine classes in a scrapbook jamboree weekend. Russ learned to golf, landscape, tile, furniture refinishing and all around handiman in the house. He led songs at church, taught bible classes and held the office of a deacon. We've cheered our kids on through piano lessons, gymnastics, swimming lessons, soccer games, softball games, volleyball games, spelling bees, and band. We've laughed, we've cried, we've struggled and succeeded, we've wished, we've prayed, we've hoped and dreamed. It's been a great ride through 25 years with the most special man by my side. When I was searching for my prince charming, I had many things that I knew that I wanted in a man before I could agree to marry him. I dated several through the years that were wonderful men but I just knew they weren't right for one reason or another. When I met Russ, I think I knew right away he was the one. He caught my heart from the start and has never lost it since. I am truly blessed to wear the name of such a wonderful man. He's treated me well, taught me a lot, been a great Dad, and a great role model for many. I've watched many friends' marriages fall apart through the years and it always makes me thankful for the love and respect we have for each other. Marriage is a wonderful thing when you are with the right person. My prince charming is a piano-playing, marathon running, engineer with a heart of gold. Still in love after all these years.

Cherishing the Moments

We haven't carved pumpkins in years but this year I felt a little urgency to go and buy a few so we could have one last family carving before the family is separated next year. I get a little sad thinking about it but I have to face the fact that this is my last year with family at home. Cory will be getting married this year and making his own family memories and Hannah will be heading to college somewhere. Amber has already flown the coop to Bowling Green and I'm starting to feel an urgency to grab all the memories I can this year with them. I know, in reality, that we will all still be making memories but it seems like the times of having more than one kid around at a time are fleeting by quickly. When I move to Atlanta next year, I will be experiencing empty nest almost immediately. I'm hoping that Hannah will come and be there for awhile until she leaves for college but she is starting to show signs of wanting to hold onto Colorado and establishing her independence and I'm not sure I want to let go of her just yet.
I've always told myself that my job as a mother is to make my children independent of me. To teach them to fly on their own. I think I've done that but it's still scary to let them out of the nest. I feel like I've missed a little bit of teaching along the way and I want to protect them from mistakes and trials. But with growing up comes a lot of learning and that learning can only be done when they are out flying on their own. I hope I've gotten them prepared for what lies ahead but I know that I will always be there to guide them along until they have found their way. So for now, this year, I hope I can cram a few more memories in while I can. I hope they will be somewhat cooperative and humor me with their time a little. It's been a weird year, that's for sure, but I can't sit around moping about being away from Russ and miss these last few memories with my kids. The time flies by so quickly and these moments will be gone before I know it.

The Oneness of Marriage

I've made another trek to Georgia this week and as I reunite with my husband each month during this VERY WEIRD year, I'm struck by the fact that when we are together, I feel complete again. The bible talks about in Genesis how a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. The "two become one" is commonly used in marriage ceremonies but even though it was used in mine, I didn't really understand the concept of that until much later. At what point does that happen? Was it when we had kids? Was it after a year? Two years? I can't really say when it happened for me, but all I know is somewhere along the way in those 25 years, it has happened and it's become more evident to me this year as we are separated for weeks at a time. Russ is truly my "better half" and he is very much interwoven into the essence of "me" and what makes me complete. When he left in May, I felt like I was walking around in a daze. I didn't know how to function "alone". It becomes more evident to me when we are reunited and I find that I am sleeping better, I'm feeling more confident and I find myself smiling again. Several people commented to me at church Sunday that they could tell I was happier that day. I told them I was going to see Russ the next day. I always say, "I found my smile" when I'm back with him. I've avoided going to several social functions this summer/fall with the church folks because I don't like that "alone" feeling I get when I'm around the church group. We always went to everything together and so when I attend those things it just pronounces the fact that I'm not with Russ right now and so for me, it's easier to stay home and pretend that he's just out in the yard working. Silly, I know but I guess we all find our own ways of coping with changes. I've found my smile this week though and hope that time will pass quickly this year so that I can once again feel like a "complete person" beside the love of my life, Russ. What can I say....I just love the guy and life is a much happier place sharing it with him.

Colorado Autumn

It's been an especially beautiful fall this year in Colorado. The weather has stayed nice up until now and we've had blue skies and sunshine most of the month. I hope to take a drive this weekend and check out the aspens. I've heard they are exceptionally beautiful in Cripple Creek area. It will be lonely making the drive alone this year since Russ and I usually go for a few hikes to enjoy the beauty of the season. How I long to go for a long walk through the woods with him this weekend. He says that the trees in Georgia are starting to change now so I'm hoping with my next visit we will be able to enjoy the beauty of the season with a few hikes in Peachtree. It's hard to believe we've made it through almost five months apart now. I'm learning a lot with him gone. This week I winterized the house and learned how to drain the sprinkler system, caulk the windows and mulch the plants. (all things that Russ normally does). I was told when we started this that I would find that I have more strength than I ever knew I had. I guess if I have to look at the bright side of things, I'm learning a lot about myself and I've grown to appreciate Russ even more with all that he's done around here for years. Fall is Russ's favorite time of year and it's sad to not be out sharing it with him. I'm feeling a little melancholy that this could be my last fall in Colorado myself and I know that I will miss the beauty of the aspens. My first year here I was sad to not see more colors than yellow all around since my falls in northern Ohio and Indiana were always full of hues of red, yellows and oranges but I grew to love the look of the golden trees throughout the state. I will miss it here. Colorado has been one of my most favorite places to live. It's a place I've always dreamed of living and now that I've lived here, it will be hard to leave. I try to have an open mind though and I'm sure I will grow to love Georgia too once I get moved there. Just being back together with Russ makes anyplace feel like home.

The Engagement

I had them re-enact the asking part for me to take a picture. Wanted a few close-ups of the ring too. They were all smiles that night. It was nice to see Cory so happy. He's had a lot of ups and downs with girls but I've always said that he is happiest when he has a girl at his side. He's meant to be married. I guess you could say that Stephanie helped him "find his smile" and that makes me happy. She has told me before How much she loves my son and I told her that has always been my wish for him to find someone that loves him as much as I do. I think she will be a good wife for him. She has her priorities in order and places Christian, wife and motherhood as her top priorities. That has impressed me from the start. Many girls her age now are all about getting that top career and being independent so it was refreshing for him to find someone who is going to be a dedicated wife and mother and who will work with him towards achieving a goal of heaven. Here are a few more pics from the night.

Here's Cory with his "what do I do now?" pose. And then a nice one of him hugging his girl. They make such a cute couple.
I guess this will be a busy winter with wedding plans in the works. Luckily most of that will fall to her family but I'm sure I'll be involved in some way too. They haven't set a date yet but they want to try to have it sometime in May or early June.

My Little Man is All Grown Up!

Wow, two posts in one day. It's a record for me. I thought it was important to document the "Big News" on the actual day. My son, Cory, has proposed to his girlfriend, Stephanie and they are now officially engaged. I'm really excited for him. He's had the ring since early summer but has been waiting for the right moment to pop the question. He took her to an expensive restaurant tonight and got on his knees and asked her. She said yes, of course, and now the plans are in motion for a wedding. They've been dating since last Christmas and it seemed like they hit it off from the start. I'm really happy for them. It's great to see new love blooming and growing. They came by here after their dinner out and I took a bunch of pictures of them. I told them to make sure to get pictures at the restaurant and of the outside of the restaurant so that we can make a good scrapbook page out of the deal. I think I have him trained up good. He even brought me the receipt from the meal and some brochures. They were all smiles tonight and I have to say it brought a smile to my face as well. Looks like I'll be gaining another daughter come summertime. I think she will fit into the family nicely.

Missing Russ

It's hard to put into words the feelings I have for my husband, Russ. We've known each other for 27 years and been married for 25. When we decided he should take the new job in Georgia, we knew it would be a challenging year. I don't think either one of us really realized how hard it would be to experience loneliness. He is stuck in an apartment until I can sell the house and for a man that is used to working in the yard and around the house as a hobby in his spare time, he's found himself with very little to keep himself busy. I thought that since I would still have two kids here that I would have the easier time but I'm feeling the pangs of loneliness as well. The kids are both working and involved with school activities so they are rarely home. I never listened to how quiet the house can be when it's just me. Russ and I share a very wonderful relationship. He's my best friend and confidant and we enjoy spending time together walking or hiking or visiting with friends. It's been hard for me to get out for a walk with him gone but the times that I have I really get that lonely feeling and I yearn to have him walking beside me. I totally hate the quiet of the night. The first month I don't think I slept much. I was so used to hearing him snore or stir at night and when it was totally quiet, I didn't know what to do. He's always been my strong rock. When things go wrong, I can always count on his calm way of handling things and easing my worries. I totally appreciate all he's always done for the family now that I'm trying to do everything myself. He always made it look so easy but I'm finding out that it is quite a stressful thing to be the "man of the house". I thank God daily for my husband. He is a rare jewel that somehow found me. I am so very lucky to wear the name of such a special guy. May this year fly by quickly so we can be back together full-time again. Until then, I'll be content to hear his voice on the phone each night, and to pack as much togetherness as I can in each monthly visit we get this year. I pray that God will keep him safe and happy while he is away from me.

Crazy Frustrating Summer

It's been awhile since I've written on here so I thought I'd better do an update and try once again to be more regular with posting. So much has happened this year that it's been hard to sit down and do much of anything extra. I'm longing for those carefree days when I could just sit and scrap and have company over and just enjoy life. Where did they go this year?
In March, Russ and I went on a mini vacation to Mississippi where he had a training course to attend. While traveling we discussed the idea of him pursueing other jobs because he was getting frustrated with his job at Ft. Carson. I encouraged him and told him that I would be fine with leaving and I can be happy anywhere as long as we're all together. We discussed the new challenges of making a move now that our kids are much older and might not want to follow us. All in all we decided we would take it as it came. Well it came at us quickly in April when he landed a job in Peachtree City, GA. It was a promotion for him and something he's been hoping to do for a long time so we felt that he should take it. The only problem was that it was our youngest daughter, Hannah's senior year coming up. We both felt it would not be fair to her to move her on her senior year so we decided we would have to pretend like we're a military family with a deployed husband and he would go on to the job and I would stay behind with Hannah to finish up her senior year and try to sell the house. We both knew it would be hard since we've never really been apart more than two weeks at a time but we figured we could travel back and forth monthly and see each other and we would make it work. That's when my world went topsy turvy. We immediately went to work getting the house ready for selling and found a realtor. He left Colorado on Memorial Day weekend and I don't think I've cried that much in a long time. That first week was really rough. I was thrown right into house selling by the first week of June. We were having showings almost daily and I was finding it quite challenging trying to keep up with the inside and outside chores of the house. We were excited when near the end of June we got our first offer on the house. It was a preacher and family and they had cash. Their offer was good and they wanted to close within two weeks. They brought their church friends out to look at the house and they seemed to be "in love" with our house. I felt like it was going to be an easy sale and life was going along pretty smoothly with our plans. I hurriedly looked for and found a three bedroom apartment we could move into and set up the movers and moving day for the household shipments. I moved us into the apartment with the help of my church family on the weekend before I was supposed to fly out to GA to see Russ. I even had them take down curtains, pictures, shelves. I was sure that all was going along as planned and we had secure buyers. I was flying out on a Tuesday morning and we would have movers at the house a few days after my return trip. Monday evening at about 5:00 my realtor called me with the bad news that the buyers had backed out. More crying. I called all my church friends and they all came out and helped me hang pictures, curtains and shelves back up and re-stage our home for showings while I was gone. I flew out the next morning and had a relaxing 10 days with Russ checking out our new home. We had planned that we would be house shopping at the time but it didn't quite work out that way. As soon as I returned, though, the stress hit once again. I now had to decide if I should stay in the apartment and hope to sell soon or move back home and break the lease. I went and researched how much I would owe if I broke the lease and it was about $1,600 to $2000 depending on how soon in the month I decided to break the lease. Talk about sick feeling. I fretted about it for a few days and after talking to friends decided to go ahead and stick it out for the month and see how things went. In the meantime I was traveling back and forth between house and apt. and trying to upkeep both. I had four living expenses to pay for (our apt. our house, Russ's apt. and Amber's apt.) So I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all the bills to pay. Then the car problems started hitting and I had to put almost $1,500 into car repairs. My cat, Gizmo decided this was a good time to tear his ACL tendon in his leg and we had to put him in for surgery for that at another $1,200. I then get a phone call that my Mom had fallen and broken her hip and was taken to the hospital. So by this time, I was about to lose it. Poor Russ is in GA listening to my crying calls about every other day and feeling a little helpless to ease my pain. By the time the end of July hit I had to decide once again whether I should pay the next month's rent or move home. I called our realtor and she said we had another family who wanted to put an offer on the house. That was all I needed to hear so I paid the rent and then started the process all over again with the new buyers. I called and set up movers and they started the appraisal process and inspections. I kept telling myself, surely bad luck was over and this would all work out but the little voice in my head kept saying....I can't get too excited, they may back out. Sure enough the day they had to reply to the inspection report, they too decided to back out of the house sale. By this time I'm feeling like quite a "cursed woman". I was being hit from every side. I told Russ I had had enough and I wanted to move back home. I took in my 30 day notice and set up to have help with the move. I did a good part of the moving on my own taking loads on dishes and food one day, clothes and scrapping stuff the next day so that by Saturday the guys just needed to help me move the furniture. In the meantime I was told by the apt. people that if I could find someone to take my apt. in the next few weeks, I wouldn't owe the lease breaking fines. So I put the apt. on Craigslist and got a response the next day. Cory met the couple at the apt to show it to them and they seemed like they wanted it. Then they went into the office to find out what would be needed to get into the apt. and then we didn't hear from them again. The second call was from a nice girl from Fla who had just accepted a job in CS and needed a place and was very interested. Cory took pictures of it for me to send to her and she decided she wanted the apt. She told me her only problem would be that she had had identity theft and so pulling a credit report on her would not be accurate but she had documentation that showed that it had been investigated and she had been cleared. She could pass all their other criteria of job, rental history and criminal checks. The office girls were not happy about that and we began to feel like they really didn't want this to happen. They wanted my money and fees and then to be able to re rent it and collect the new person's fees. So we decided to add her mom into the picture so that she could be assured that she would be able to qualify. There should have been no reason for her not to qualify but she called me this morning to tell me that they decided not to qualify her. I told her that was just the way my summer has gone. I'm in GA as all of this is happening again so I won't be able to deal with it all until I return. I keep asking myself...."Can't something go right for me this summer" I'm beginning to wonder if there's a reason it's all going negative on me. I'm just hoping things will be looking up for fall. This is one summer I'm ready to see it go.

Happy New Year!

It seems only fitting to start out the new year with the usual resolutions for the coming year. I've never been one to commit to resolutions but I always try to find a few goals to work towards to keep me motivated to always grow in some way. For this year my goal is communication. I want to be better at letter writing, emailing, journaling and card sending. I always plan to get a card off to someone who needs encouragement but I always tend to put it on the back burner and it never gets done. I really miss the old art of letter writing. We need to do it more. So much gets lost in the email thing and I miss going to the mailbox and finding something other than bills to greet me. I've decided to make it a goal to get a few others inspired to start corresponding via letter writing again and see what happens. Russ and I celebrated our 24th anniversary last month and I decided to write him 24 letters during the 24 days of December with each letter representing a year in our marriage. That was a huge project and I came close to giving up on the idea several times. I completed it though and he is now reading a letter or two each day to get through them. He seemed to be happy with the gift. (I worried that he would laugh about it and think it was silly but he was kind.) As I was writing them though I realized how long it had been since I'd written a letter of any kind. All of that spurred on this idea that I need to be better about keeping in touch with my friends and family. We'll see how it goes. Hope all of you who read my blog will commit to doing the same thing. Let's bring letter writing and card sending back. Welcome 2008!

Just As I Suspected...

The Design Team was chosen and as expected I didn't make the cut. I told Melanie when she made me promise to do this that this particular company was looking for the big names in scrapping. Everyone on their current DT are either published or on several other DT's and I knew once I looked at their current team that my chances were slim to none to even be considered. But a promise was a promise so I did it to fulfill my promise to Mel and I'm perfectly content to just continue scrapping for myself and enjoying my hobby without all the deadlines and special projects of Design Teams. I thought I would still go ahead and post my layouts for you all to see. I tried to concentrate more on highlighting their stamps and not flowering the layouts with a lot of fluff that takes away from the stamping. When I looked at the ones that won, I saw that they were drawn more to the fluff layouts with a subtle stamp here or there. I was thinking more along the lines of marketing their stamps and they were looking for the major technique layouts. My friends keep telling me that they like my layouts and think I should submit because my style is more "everyone's style" where the majority of the average scrappers out there would prefer to see in mags so they feel it's doable. I've argued with them for years that my style is not what they want. They want showy and over the top type of layouts. Mine are just too basic and average to even be considered. Nonetheless, I submitted to show them my point and now they know.
I did three layouts for the submission and one extra one for a challenge where you had to show how you can use a continuous stamped image. Since I needed three I did one layout on each of my kids. I told Mel that I'd be done with my Christmas card and gifts by now if I hadn't spent my month working on this but she said, at least you got four layouts done. I guess that's one way to look at it. I figure if it caused me to use my ever growing stash of stamps then it was a good thing. Of course I would have mixed in other stamps along with these if I were doing it for myself so they aren't totally the way I would have done them if I were doing them myself. It gave me an excuse to buy some new stamps though so any excuse to get something extra this time of year works for me. Hope you like the layouts. If I share them here then at least I'll feel like they were seen by someone and go a little air time for the effort I put into them. I was pleased with them and they are true to my style and I told myself although I know how to scrap like the magazines, I would be true to my style and not try to be something I'm not. I've never seen a point to the one photo layouts or the layouts that are so full of embellishments that you don't see the pictures. So although these layouts are semi my style, I would have more writing on them to tell the story because that is the most important thing to me. For this project though I just had to showcase stamps and that's what I did. It was a big stretch for me to do the one picture layout of Amber but that particular picture was a stand alone picture. Since I did it on white paper, another stretch for me, it really didn't show up on the email. There is a sewn one inch margin around the outer edge and you can really only see the sew line when it is displayed on a white background. Hopefully it will show up better on my blue blog background. So here they are, the losing layouts from the DT application. I liked them so that's all that matters in the long run.