Tunes on Tuesday( way late) and much more...

First, let me apologize for being a bad blogger over the last several days.  We have had a lot going on around our house, had internet issues...(which we are still having...and are seriously considering switching internet providers...since Shane works a lot in the evenings from home...it is really a pain to have the internet stop working everytime we get a strong wind around here!) and to be honest I have been getting scrappy with it for the last several days... (thanks to some much needed motivation, encouragement, and some challenges...thanks to my good friends Leah and Telah...for the push!) so I have been avoiding posting on my blog because I wanted to work while I was on a roll.  I decided that I needed to be creating and posting my layouts on my blog.  I mean, I work hard on them, and really enjoy creating, so why not share?  Seeing other people's work is where I get a jump for a lot of my ideas.  Until now I have always been a little hesitant to post pictures, but that is just silly.  And like I said earlier...a lot of encouragement from my friends has helped!  I need to come out of my shell and get over it!  :0 

To be honest, I have been a bad scrapper for some time now.  Don't misunderstand...I love to browse all the magazines out there and feel my brain with ideas, love all the inspiration from great websites out there...but for the last several months I just have been unmotivated and really had almost given up on my scrapping!  Well, I am happy to say...I have pushed that thought out of my mind and am ready to get on a roll...Telah, Leah, and I are planning on doing two weekly challenges...one from Scrapjacked and one from Pencil Lines...I did mine for this week and decided to tie this post all together with my weekly tune and some of the things I have been creating this week...so sit back and enjoy!

Ok, now let's get down to the nitty gritty!  My Tune for Tuesday this week is I Believe by Brooks and Dunn.  I have put up the video clip in the side bar so you can view and hear this great song...if you are not familiar with it already.  I chose this song for this week, because several of us are starting a new round of circle journals and I have chosen Music of the Heart as my theme.  So I went ahead and did my title page and the first entry in my journal.  I have wanted to devote an album to layouts about songs that I love and so this seemed like the perfect opportunity! 

Here are my first two pages of the circle journal.

I used Autumn Leaves paper and embellishments, stamps and ribbon, some copper brads, and printed my lyrics and journaling on transparencies.  I struggled a littl with these pages, because I had so much I wanted to fit on the page and the format is 8 1/2 x 11.  This is the first time I have ever done layout in this size and I think it turned out pretty good.

The second page was the hardest for me to do.  It includes the lyrics to the song I chose, journaling and three very precious photos.  This layout is also the layout I am submitting to the Scrapjacked Challenge #1 (if my internet ever gets to running again).  The focus for this layout was I Believe, the song I mentioned before, and how it has become so meaningful to me over the last year.  The pictures are of a dear friend and really just a member of our family...as far as I am concerned.  She was honorary grandmother in our wedding and so special to us.  She passed away last January and it has been a difficult thing for our family.  Just to give you a little idea about how significant and special she was to us....we named Parker after her...Parker was her maiden name and we just couldn't think of a better way to honor her!   My thoughts are starting to wander now and I am typing too much here...I guess because there is so much I want to tell you about her...however, I will just include the layout and let you read for yourself. (I am not posting the lyrics this week, but if you would like a copy, I will email them to you)  They are on this layout, and hopefully pretty visable....

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know this post is already long...so I will close for now.  I will post more pictures and projects I have made later this afternoon...hopefully!

BTW, just a quick survey...we are considering changing to Bellsouth DSL service...but I don't know much about their internet service...if you use Bellsouth or know someone who does...give me a comment about how you like it...or don't like it!  Thanks!

More later...

Bad, bad blogger! Shame, Shame on Me!

Here are the top 5 reasons I have been a bad blogger:

1. I have been getting scrappy with it, and decided I needed to be creative worse than I needed to blog...plus it gave more blogging material  :)
2. Our internet has been down for 3 nights in a row!
3. I have been playing Mama and just haven't had a lot of time...except in the evening...when our INTERNET has been down!!!!
4. Our internet has been down for 3 nights and still as am typing this to post as soon as the guys come and fix our lame INTERNET!
5. Our internet has been down for 3 nights in a row!  LOL

Resume Regular Speed...Construction over!

Thanks to everyone... if my redo this afternoon made it hard to view...I apologize.   I didn't change anything all that big...in fact, my loving husband, didn't even really notice any difference!  LOL  There were just several things I wanted to add and change to make the blog look better and be more user friendly.   Oh well, at least I tried!

Next - Two Tags and now your it!  Ok, so I wasn't officially tagged, but I saw two today that I thought were really good and thought I might play along.  Jolene had a great one on her post for today and I want to answer it too, but I am gonna have to sit down and think hard about hers. Cheryl  had a great one too!  Here we go!

Now for

Cheryl's:

1) What's under your bed right now?
a lot of junk!  Mainly big picture frames that are empty, some shelves that we took out of the entertainment center
2) What size shoe do you wear?  size 9
3) What's the last restaurant you ate at?  Macaroni Grill
4) How many siblings do you have? One brother, four sisters...all younger
5) What side of the bed do you sleep on?  left side
6) Who taught you to drive, and in what kind of car? took Driver's education in high school and the rest I just learned by always offering to drive anyone who would let me  :)
7) If you could have a different career, what would it be?         A Professional Blogger???  :)
8) What color looks best on you?  Not sure what looks best, but I wear red a lot and black.
9) What's your favorite board game? I like trivia games(I didn't say I was good at them, just that I like to play them!)...Scene It, Trivial Pursuit, umm can't think of anything else!
10) How tall are you?  5'6

So there you go...Now TAG yourself and go post your answers!  LOL

More later...

Under Construction!

Hey everyone!  I am working on redoing a few things on my blog.  Thanks for visiting and please be patient...if things look a little wacky right now. 

More later...

Tunes on Tuesday...

 

My Wish - Rascal Flatts -  "Me & My Gang"

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,
But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.
I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.
But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

(I couldn't find a video clip of this song...so I attached the music to my blog...so you could hear it...if you know of a place where I might find a video clip...let me know please.)

The first time I heard this song  was last fall.  I love Rascal Flatts anyway, so when I heard this song and found it they were the artists performing it...well, that just made it sweeter!  The first time I really listened to the words was while I was watching a DVD that my dad had made of my sister...who just graduated this year.  He made us all copies and sent it out to grandparents and family.  BTW, he did a great job on it!  I wish I had the knowledge to do things like that...working on it...but haven't turned that techno yet.

Anyway, the words to this song are awesome and as I listened to it I cried...it made me think of my children and in just the few short years I have been blessed with their presence...the memories flashed in my head like the slide show that was up on the screen in front of me.  After a few days, I emailed my dad and told him about the song and how it made me feel and how much I loved the song.  And he wrote me back this...

I want you to know these words have always been for you.
Love,

 Dad

And then he attached the lyrics to this song...WOW!  Talk about a tear jerker!  Since then, I have played this song very frequently around the house and in the car and when I do play it here...Mallory and Kennedy like to crank it up and they..."Sing it to us, Mama!"  I have been singing it to them and telling them that this is my song to them.  They love that!  And it truly is...My Wish...for all three of my kids!  Hope you all enjoy it too!  :)

You Who?...Single parenting...100 days...one sweet little boy...and a spark in creativity???

Now that I have your attention!!!  Are you wondering what all this has in common or how is it linked?  Well, I am not sure that it all is...but it hopefully got your attention...and I am going to do my best to explain how this all links together...so stick with me and keep on reading!

First, let me just say that I have really enjoyed this new venture into blogging and all the new friends I have made and for the super sweet comments that some of you have sent my way! THANKS FOR VISITING SO FAITHFULLY!!!  However, I am going to make a plea to all you blog lurkers out there...thank you for visiting...but please DE-LURK(in other words...don't just be lurking around) and leave some comments.  I know there are many people out there that are visiting and silently leaving...with no input or comments.  Come on .... show some love!!!  :)  I want to hear from all my visitors! So my plea to you is...break the lurking habit....branch out...be brave and bold and leave me some comments!   So there you go...that is the answer to the first question in the title of this post...You Who?  Let me know WHO YOU are????  :)

Single parenting - No, I am not a single parent...and let me just say that those of you who are...YOU DESERVE A MEDAL!!! Occasionally, I get a small taste of what it might be like to be a single mom of three...and it just makes me sooooooooo thankful for my husband and all the help he gives me with the kiddos.  I know that one, two, three days or short snippets of time aren't true representations of single parenthood...but they allow you to get an idea of how it is to have to go from wake up till sleepy time with no help and all on your own...and boy it is tough sometimes!

100 Days of School - Today Mallory celebrated 100 days of First grade...Where does the time go?  I mean seriously, I can't believe my baby is already half-way through first grade!!! So we started last week with some projects for homework to prepare for her 100th Day Celebration!  She started off by making a poster of 100 things...so we brainstormed and came up with the idea to use some of my scrapping supplies and make a poster with 100 flower stamps on it.  Mallory's assignment was to make her poster counting to 100 by 5's...so I found 20 different flower stamps and she did 5 of each all over her poster and titled it 100 Flowers in My Garden.  It was too cute!  But, guess what?  I didn't get a picture before I sent her off to school with it...I will get one though when she brings it home and show you all later.  However, I did get another picture of one of our projects to share with you all!  Mallory also had to count out 100 edible something's to take to school today.  Every child was supposed to bring 100 edible items and then they were going to combine them all and make a snack mix!  Mallory took white chocolate chips...of course Kennedy had to help her count them out and then of course after counting 100...they had to cash in on the opportunity to eat few.  Also, I had volunteered a couple of weeks ago to make a cake to help with the snacks for today's celebration! (For those of you who don't know...before I started being a SAHM...I taught kindergarten and first grade for six years...so any chance I get, I try to help a little...mainly because I know how tough those teachers work on a daily basis and I know how much they appreciate any help parents can give!)  So, Mallory's teacher asked for a simple cake for today and I decided to try and connect it to 100 somehow...so this is what I came up with...

We baked a simple yellow cake, topped it with chocolate frosting and then exactly 100 M&M's on top...Mallory loved it!  She and Kennedy helped with it a little and it was a lot of fun!

She came home today and had done a lot of fun things at school and said the cake was a hit! But, my finicky child....she didn't even try one bite of the cake!!!  WHAT?  Weird!  Come on...it is cake with choc. frosting???  Yummo!

One sweet little boy - My little Parker is soooo sweet!  He is such a good baby and even with all the crud he has been going through lately...he still is the best little baby!

I mean come on...to have two older sisters and to let them play with you like you are a doll...and never even whimper...now that is just plain GOOD!

Mallory and Kennedy decided to wrap up their brother and play with him like he was their baby...oh how funny!  Poor little guy...he has no idea what he is in for over the next few years!!!  :)

Oh and by the way...for all of you  readers who posted such sweet comments about Parker's surgery....THANK YOU! He is still struggling some...with low grade fever and the doctor switched him today to antibiotic ear drops...which are absolutely NO FUN when you have just had tubes put in your ears...and he took him off the oral antibiotic.  Hopefully, within the next week or so all this will be better and he will be well on the road to recovery.  He is such a trooper!   

And finally...a spark in creativity!  Yes, I am a scrapbooker and crafter...as many of you may be...however, until now I have never posted any photos of my work on my blog.  Mainly this is because I can't ever seem to get a good picture.  But, I am putting that excuse away for now.  I don't have a great scanner(...although, I would LOVE to have a great scanner to use with my scrapping projects...HINT, HINT) so I will just try to get the best pictures that I can up here and it will just have to do.  I have just recently got out of my funk and really back into scrapping and using my creativity...and I want to share it.  I have gotten so many good ideas from others and so I thought I should share and maybe something I post will give you a creative spark too!  Here are just a few pictures...I am planning on doing some re-organizing on my blog over the next few days and updating...so I am planning on putting up a album of some of my layouts and finished projects.  So you can be looking for that by the end of the week...if you are interested.

Happiness Paper Bag Album...that I finally finished!

Some cards that I have made...

Ok...I guess I better stop for now...before someone starts falling asleep reading this long post.  I promise tomorrow won't be this long!  LOL

Tomorrow is Tunes on Tuesday and I got a good one picked out!  Have a great night!  See ya tomorrow....and don't forget....stop being a "Blog Moocher"...as Telah likes to call it...and let me know you stopped by!!!!

More later... 

Five on Friday

Five Things That I Have Learned This Week:

1. I have learned that the mountains we face in life, sometimes are bigger than we think we can climb and we get down and discouraged.  But we have a help in those times of stress and worry and trouble...God is always with us and will help us if we just ask.



2. I learned that sometimes, even when you think you don't need it, having help from friends can really make the difference...thanks to Kim, Tandy, and Melissa for all their help and concern this week.  We couldn't have done it without you all! 



3. I learned that (or maybe I should say it has been brought to my attention more) my husband is wonderful!  Everyday I find new reasons to love him and I couldn't ask for a better man to be my mate for life.  Thank you Shane for all the sacrifices you make and all you do for me and our children!  We love you very much!



4. I learned that no matter how much you plan and prepare, that when you have three children...always have an alternate plan!



5. Finally, I have learned that you don't have to know someone up close and personal to consider them your friend and that I keep adding to my list of friends almost daily.  Thank you to all my friends out there in the blog world...Jolene, Cheryl, Telah, Leah, Bethany, and Amy, and I am sure there are others that I am gonna miss listing...but you know who you are....I am thankful for all of you!

Links to other Five On Friday participants: