17 Again

Welcome to the 17 Again train...If you came from Sara's blog I hope your enjoying the journey in time. If this is year first stop on the train, then let me give you some background. This train is a time travel journey. Each member of the train is going back to the time they were 17. We have a set list of questions to answer and we will be using photos or layouts to show off our style! Should be very interesting! This leg of your journey will take you to 1987-88. The time of big hair, skin tight pants, and new wave music!!

This was my senior year in high school and my first year of college. A time of huge changes in my life. I picked 17 of the questions to share with you today...

• My hair style is...big bangs - or what we now like to call poodle hair.
• My "fashionable" item is...just like now I'm was not that into clothing so I normal wore my skinny jeans and a polo shirt.
• I drive a...Chevy Chevette. I recieve this car as a graduation present from my parents.
• On a Saturday I go...no where special. I hung out at my house, my boyfriends house or went to practice.
• Monday-Friday I go...I went to school early for Pom-Pom team practice, then to school. After school it was either Track, drill team or marching band practice.
• My best friends is...Diane, Lisa, Renee, Becky, Nancy (I'm still good friends with this ladies today).
• My favorite subject...Math
• My favorite place to hang out...my bedroom
• When I grow up I want to...work for Disney
• My favorite drink...Pepsi
• My favorite food...Junk
• My favorite band...B-52s
• My favorite TV show...Family Ties
• I recently saw...Dirty Dancing - just loved this movie, watched it almost every day
• I wish I could visit...Europe
• I am reading...Nine Princes of Amber by Roger Zelancy
• One thing I want to do but can't...go away to school

Back to today....my hair is not so big and my jeans are not so tight. I hope you enjoyed a pick of 1987/88 as I viewed my life. The next leg of the journey will take you back to 1994, so head on over to Gen's blog "brought to you by the letter B". Enjoy the blast from the past and stop by again soon.

Muppets on YouTube

Something funny to brighten your weekend.... If you loved the muppet show growing up you will enjoy this...

Thanksgiving Memories

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. I've made my menu, shopped, started cleaning...so now all I have to do is cook, bake and roast.

I was on a message board the other day and the discussion was about Thanksgiving crafts. Normally, I don't do much in the line of crafts for Thanksgiving but one of the idea really stuck with me. (I'm sorry, but I don't remember who's idea or what board I was on to give credit). The idea was cards to write what you are thankful for - the twist was that they were ABC cards.

In the past I've cut out leaves or handed out little pieces of paper for people to write what they are thankful for and I would get the typical responses...family, friends, health. Don't get me wrong I'm thankful for those things too, but they are a given. Don't you think? With the ABC cards you have to think outside the box. You have to write something that starts with the letter on the card. So here is what the cards look like:
I used the free kit eloquent autumn from 2 Peas for everything but the thankful for... font, which is CK Elegant. The journaling lines were just drawn by hand.

I made the cards the size of playing cards. That way I can put them in a card holder page and just put them in my album behind my thanksgiving layout and use some for embellishments. It will be interesting to see what people come up with...especially for X, Y and Z.

Blog Around The World

Greetings all the blog around the world travelers and other visitors too!! Welcome to the lovely state of Michigan, USA. Alright lovely is pushing it this time of year - but to have the four seasons sometime you need not so sunny days. It's starting to get cold, damp and dreary - as the photo from my kitchen window shows.



That just means the freezing cold, ice and snow are right around the corner. And that is perfect weather to enjoy the warmth and peacefulness in my craft room.


I've been cleaning and organizing to get ready for some serious work. So be ready to see some craftiness coming soon.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the great state of Michigan. On your next leg of your journey you will be heading to another lovely part of Michigan. So fastened you seat-beats and stop on by at the bright and energetic blog of Margi's and say hi for me!

Blog Around The World

Join me and 39 other bloggers from Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class on Saturday, November 21, starting at 4 p.m. EST for a trip around the world. We will be taking you on a blog train of what we see outside our window this time of year. Some might even surprise us with a photo of their crafting area. So come travel around the world without the expense or jet lag!! Mark your calendars for this Saturday....and have a safe trip!

Learning from Life

Yesterday my youngest son's teacher pulled me aside because she wanted to tell me something funny that my son has been doing. She told me that if the other kids are whining about something he will look at them and say "I'm tired of listening to that, please stop." Or if they are saying they can not do something like turn on the light he will say "Yes you can, you just have to try."

I had to laugh, not because of what he was saying, but because that was me talking. I say things like this quite often. It's amazing the little things our children pick up from us...both good and bad. This got me thinking – what have I learned from my past?

I know I have certain saying or ways of doing things that I learned from my parents, but what have I learned from myself. We learn from our mistakes and we learn from past experiences, so what have I learned in the last year.

I looked back at some of my post from a year ago and it was very eye opening. Here are the things I noticed and what I've learned

• I didn't blog much. Looking back I realize how amazing the old blog post are in documenting the little things that get lost in the day to day. I learned that even a small post is worth alot.

• I wrote down some goals I had as a child. Looking back I realized I started working towards two of those goals this past year - I'm working on getting fit (on going) and I went back to school. I learned that it's important to write down your goals so you don't forget what you want from life and it's okay to change those goals.

• I took classes, both on-line and at local stores, to help with my creativity. Looking back I realized how motivating these classes are. I learned that I need to take the time to learn new techniques or take challenges to keep my creativity moving forward. (Thanks Shimelle for the Blogging for Scrapbooking Class and Jessica for the Holiday in Hand class to help get me going again.)

What have you learned from your past mistakes? What funny things have your kids learned from you?

Got Crafty Today

It's been a busy last few days but I made some time to get some cards done. The first card is based on the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch this week:





This card was based on the bonus sketch at 2 sketches 4 you:






This card was based on the A Year in Cards class at 2Peas:


Have a wonderful day!

Holiday in Hand

MCCALL HOMEMAKING COVER, XMAS TREE
Originally uploaded by George Eastman House

The holidays are right around the corner. What's the first word that pops in your head after reading that?

fear, panic, stress or something like joy, peace and fun.

I have to admit, depending on the day I can feel any of these words and usually more than one at a time. This year I'm taking a wonderful new class over at Jessica Sprauge's playground called Holidays in Hand to help me record both the past and present memories of our holidays. I'm hoping this will help me focus more on the positive aspects of my holidays, rather then the negative.

One goal I have is to help my family focus more on the "non-tangible" things of the holidays. I'm tired of the "give-me's" and the "I-want's". The pile of gifts that are opened and discarded without a care. It was sad watching this every year.

To help ease into this new way of thinking, I decided last year to make a change in our gift giving. The boys were told to expect only three gifts under the tree from mom and dad. Why three? That was the amount given at the first Christmas. We brake the gifts down into three groups:

Gold - the item most desired (within reason)
Frankincense - an item we can share as a family (i.e. movie or game)
Mirth - an item that is practical (usually clothing)

At first the boys were upset because they "would not get anything" for Christmas, but those items had so much more meaning to them, that they forgot to complain on Christmas morning.

I still get the long wish list and I hear "I want that" after every commercial, but the boys know to be wise on what they ask for because they will not get everything on their lists. I know over time the boys will learn to enjoy the non-tangible things that the holidays bring to us.

What do you do to help with the "give-me's" in your home? I'd love to know.

Weekend Recap

We had a full and fun weekend.

Friday:

We went to a free movie at a local Golf Club Banquet Hall. They were showing Ice Age 3. We won the raffle they were having and won a copy of UP! The boys were so excited; they really like that movie. Also, suddenly during the movie Kyle got very excited - he lose a tooth. This tooth had been hanging on for weeks, so it was a big deal that it finally came out.

Saturday:

I didn't go to school today because Ken was still out of town. We took a drive to a local High School were they were having the Lego Robotics Competition. We stopped by our schools table to say hi and then spent some time watching the competition. The boys are really looking forward to when they are old enough to be a part of the team. When we got home the boys helped me clean the inside of the car and it was such a beautiful day, so we spent some time outside playing. Of course, we watched UP! after dinner.

Sunday:

It's our day to do homework. We did our typically to do items - change bed sheets, vacuum, put away toys. Today I always moved around my desk in the office/craft room. I've been meaning to do this and I'm so glad I did. It just seems to open the room up more.

The big news today.......I made the FAB 5 at 2 sketches 4 you. I'm so geeked. This is the first time one of my cards has made it to that level. Thanks 2 sketches for the honor!!

I hope everyone else had a FAB weekend too!

Got Crafty...

Happy Saturday!

Just a quick post to share a few cards that I did yesterday...Enjoy!

Play Time...

Have you ever had one of those days were your kid will not leave your side for a second? Okay, I know that's a stupid questions...of course you have had more then one day like that. But, I figured they would out grow that to a certain extent. Yesterday, was one of those days for me. My little guy just could not be away from me and just kept begging me to play with him in the basement. Now don't get me wrong I play with my children, but I'm also very task driven and today I had a long list of things I needed to get done. That list went out the window as soon as those big blue eyes looked up at me and said "Please play shop with me." Who needs clean underwear anyways?

First, we had to separate all the food into the food groups.

Then, he brought me the ice cream bowl --- no bread basket here!

Next, he made my order. I have no idea were he got some of his combination's - (egg juice, tomato and bread smoothie anyone!)


His big smile says it all. The laundry can wait another day, this was all worth it.

Holiday Spirit

The holidays are upon us, whether we like it or not. To most people the holidays mean stress, unless list of what to buy, make and cook, more stress, more list and stress. This is how the holidays can get when the meaning gets lost in all the craziness that the commercial world tries to thrush on all of us, especially our children. Believe me I'm so guilty of this problem. When things get out of hand I pull out this layout:


I made this layout a few years back when I went to CKU-Detroit. I'm happy to say it won for best journaling - a huge shock for someone that is not considered a good writer. But I think that what I wrote really helps me keep the holidays into perspective and I try to think about it when I start to feel the stress monster trying to take over. Here's what I wrote:

My first memory of this photo was when I was about 7 years old. I could tell by the tree in the background that it was Christmas time, but I couldn't understand why everyone looked so sad. When I asked my mom about this she explained that it was during the war. It was a scary time. The didn't have much, and they lived with daily air raids and Nazi's in town. They always had to cover all the windows with heavy, dark blankets so no light would be seen from the outside. Their lives consisted of things like air raids, out houses, one-room schoolhouses, Nazi's, and war. I could not relate.

Then her eyes lit up as she pointed to the doll. "You see that doll. It was my favorite. I got her every year for Christmas with a new outfit." To a 7 year old, that was a very strange comment. To get the same small doll every year, and be happy with it, was she crazy? At Christmas, I expected a tree surrounded by presents, and not the same ones as last year.

Now that I'm older and have my own children, I look very differently at this picture. I wish I could teach my children the sory the picture tells. Christmas is not measured by the amount of presents you get, or if you received the latest gizmo or the coolest techno toy. It's about family. About being safe. It's knowing that someone loves you enough to make a new outfit for your favorite doll. I don't see sadness in the picture now. I see the love and pride it took a family to get through the hard times of war, and the joy that Christmas time brought to them.

I see the true meaning of Christmas.

The grey text says die zutreffende Bedeutung von Weihnachten; which is the true meaning of Christmas in German.


The picture was taken in 1944 in German.


Well, I'm in tears now from re-typing the journaling. My kids thing I'm crazy, but this really makes me grateful for what I have and everything my parents and grandparents had to live through.

What helps you keep your sanity during the busy holiday season? I would love to know.

Where's the comments???

I was starting to feel pretty down about my blog. I had not received a single comment since I started it up. Not that I'm looking for comments, but it's just nice to know someone is reading it besides me. Then I received an email from a member at shimelle class that said she couldn't add a comment to my last posting. That made me feel so much better....someone actually read my blog!!! I fixed the problem and now you should be able to comment on future posts.

Revisting Goals

I believe in setting goals, even if I break them later. At least I tried. Sometimes I start the same goal over at a later date hoping that this time it will become a habit. Recently I restarted two goals. The first has been going on for a week now...my blog. The second has been off and on for along time...putting aside time to create. This goal has been more off than on over the past year and I really miss it. My biggest problem is that I feel I have to complete everything in one sitting. Well, I revised the goal to work on my creative projects in smaller steps.

Last night I had some time after the boys went to bed so I decided to work on the latest 2 Sketches 4 You challenge.


Here's my take on the sketch:

Got Crafty Today

I finally had some time to play....

Hey Mom were on TV...

Ken and the boys were on TV last night. Check out the clip below.

Macomb County Announces New H1N1 Clinics || WXYZ.com | WXYZ-TV / Detroit | Detroit News, Weather, Sports and More

Posted using ShareThis

Coffee Club

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting "the coffee club." It was the first time I had this special group of friends over to my house for our lunch date. I'm the type of person that feels the need to use my china as often as I can, so I got out the good stuff for my table setting.


On the menu:

Homemade French Onion Soup
Sourdough Rolls from Panera
Pear Cream Cheese Tort

The food was great, but the conversion and time spend with friends was wonderful. Looking forward to the next club meeting!

Help Smoke!!!

All I was trying to do was make a nice tort for my friends that were coming over for lunch tomorrow. Easy. Right. I bake all the time. The first part went well. I had all the ingredients, everything looked great, time to put it in the oven. That's when the problem started...

I noticed that my glasses seemed dirt. Everything seemed misty. Then my heart sank as I realized that there was smoke in the kitchen and living room. I ran to the oven to check on the tort. Luckily, the tort was fine, but what ever was on the bottom of the oven (something dripped) was smoking. I decided to let the tort finish and opened up some doors and windows to air the house out.

No big deal. Right. Nope. After the tort was finished I had the brilliant idea to do a self-clean of the oven. It obviously needed cleaning and that's what the clean button is for. Bad Idea. Billows of smoke started to come out of the oven. Then to make matters worse, all our smoke alarms started to go off. I had three boys covering their ears and yelling for mommy to stop the loud noise. I ran to the oven to cancel the cleaning cycle, then I ran upstairs to turn on the fans to try to get the smoke to come back down. I felt like I Love Lucy running around.

It felt like the alarms were going off forever, but I'm sure it was just a few minutes. The boys were happy that the noise stopped...so was I. So in the end I have a nice tort and an oven that needs to be cleaned in the worst way - by hand what the point of the clean button? At least I know my smoke alarms work. : )

2 Sketches 4 You Card

It's been a long time since I worked on something for a challenge. I decided to dust of my desk and get to work on the latest 2 Sketches 4 You challenge. Here's what I came up with:



The next installment of the Twilight movie is only a few weeks away. Check out the new New Moon clip at youtube. It's a behind the scene clip but it introduces alot of the new characters.

Life Right Now...

what I'm reading...

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This books been sitting on my pile of books to be read for a few years now. I'm so glad I finally picked it up to read. It's fabulous. I still have a few hundred pages to read and so many questions to be answers:

Will the Kingsbridge Cathedral ever be finished?
Will the evil William get what's coming to him?
Will Jack get his dreams fulfilled?
What was the reason Jack's father was hung?
What will happen to Aliena and her children?

my latest purchase...

Eat Clean Cookbook by Tosca Reno

Tosca really inspires me. At the age of 40 she decided she had enough with her tired, frumpy mom body. Boy, can I relate! She transformed her body and spirit by eating clean. She's won many fitness titles and now at the age of 50 she still looks amazing.

funny thing said...

At lunch today I was talking about my parents to my youngest son. He said he didn't remember who my father was...when I explained that Opa died he asked the following:

Did Opa die because he forgot to wear his spacesuit in outer space?

I just had to laugh. I have no idea where this thought came from but it was so cute.

amazing discovery...

One of my sons is on a preteam for gymnastics. He's been on it for about 2 months now and it's amazing how it's changing his body. Check out the muscles on this little guy.


interesting craft on the net...

I love Ali Edwards and she is starting her December Daily 2009 project. I did one of these books last year and really enjoyed it. I just love looking at her work. It really gets me in the mood to work on this years book.

Lessons from Halloween

It’s such a joy to be able to live the excitement of the little things in live. This is one of the greatest pleasures I have with being a parent. I get to watch my boys get excited over the things that most adults and some kids take for granite.

Halloween is one of those special times. You might think what’s so special. To most kids it’s all about the candy, but not to my Kyle. You see, Kyle cannot eat anything that he collects on Halloween. He has multiple food allergies and there is nothing in the “normal” candy world that is safe for him.

Dispute this issue he is so excited to go up to each door and yell Trick or Treat as loud as he can. He is always laughing and giggling as he runs back and forth from the porches back to the sidewalk.

This year his brothers only went around the block and called it quits. Not Kyle. Him and me spend the whole 2 hours hitting every house in our subdivision.

Through out the night he would keep telling me this is the best night ever. I just had to smile and agree with him. He made me see the fun in just walking around and pretending.

As a special treat when we arrived home I traded some of his candy for safe candy and the rest we weighed in. He had 5 lbs of candy and chips! Amazing!

The night reminded me to enjoy the process and not to worry so much about the out come. I’ll have to remember that lesson more often.

Starting something new

Hello fellow blog readers! Today I'm starting a new journey. Or I should say started an old journey over again. I started this blog back in 2007 with the intention of keeping in touch with family and friends and to help keep my memories. If you look at my archives I didn't always do a fantastic job at that. So.....as of today I'm staring anew. I signed up for an exciting class called Blogging for Scrapbookers. Now I'm not promising to post daily, but I'm going to try to write more meaningful post and share more pictures of our live. I'm excited to start this journey again....so wish me luck!

Also, I wanted to share this card I made. The sentiment - I think - works well for a blogger. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

We had a fantastic Halloween. I took the boys out to get the treats and Ken stayed home to give out the tricks. We had a mini haunted house at our door. We had some sheets up and the strobe light, fog machine and scary music. Ken was in costume (see picture below). He didn't say anything or jump out. He just stood by the candy bucket and pointed to it when kids were brave enough to come thru the door.

The boys had fun, but Logan and William decided to go in just after going around the block. William had fun helping Ken scare people. Kyle and I were out the whole night. We went to almost every house in our sub. When Kyle counted his candy (homework assignment) he had 176 items in his bag!
Today we spent the day putting everything away and getting out the Thanksgiving decorations. I hope everyone else had a wonderful night. Happy November 1st!