My kind of day

Every once in a while you just need a day that is all about taking care of yourself. Giving yourself what you need to continue on… And unplanned Saturday became that kind of day for me. I went for my normal Saturday morning walk (I like to take my letters to the post on foot it just feels so low-tech and good for the world) and then on the way home my dad asked me to stop at the store and pick up a few things, I never mind that because I do carry the mail with a morsebag so I have the space. WELL apparently I was wanting some shop therapy because long story short I walked out carrying my bag and 4 plastic (EWWW) bags and headed home. No big deal, right? Yeah I live a little over 3 miles from the store and the bags weighed 34 pounds (yes I weighed them when I got home – I was wondering why my shoulders were so sore) but I made it and I felt great afterwards. And really it was a great walk I was listening to an audio book and just walking along.

Well after that I went to the barn and played with the horses (yes you read that right my friend got a horse and so I got to play with Alvin too – and I am slightly in love with him) including a small ride on the big man. Comette isn’t happy at all that I moved her stall hmmmm come to think of it neither is her old neighbor Sammy BUT I get a beautiful new tack room out of the deal (and she is only 2 stalls away from Sam so they can still see one another) so we will give it a couple week trial, cross your fingers for me here, please! Then I groomed Alvin and bathed him in fly spray and put all of his “clothes” on (he really doesn’t like flies) and popped on for a few minutes, I was surprised to see a horse that large has the same size head as Comette so I fitted him out with a newish bridle and worked on some bending exercises so hopefully fix his top-line. And then I took a few minutes to just sit and the house and reconnect with Joe and Donna – I certainly haven’t been to the barn enough lately so I have been missing out on their lives.

Can you believe that after all this I still had time to go to Boston and get on the Swan Boats?




This is something that I have been wanting to do for a while and Jim and I never have time or motivation to drive in just for a 15 minute boat tour… SO I made it more than that, I dropped my car in the garage (hey this was a stress-free day no parallel parking for me), headed over and got on the boats, they were just as much fun as I remember them and I saw some great sights. The amount of tranquility you can get sitting in a pedal powered boat watching the world (and actually two weddings) go by was amazing to me. It was over all too quickly, I contemplated a second ride but held off knowing that I would do it again sooner this time, Jim really needed to see this.


I spent the next hour and a half walking around the area surrounding the common and got a cute new Vera Bradley wallet and a VB belt as well with money my dad had given me to splurge on something for myself – Thanks Dad! And I got to see DeLuca’s Market and even did a little shopping there. It was such a “Tuscan Sun” kind of feeling.


On my way back to my car (pretty early because I had another place I wanted to hit in my day about me) I saw the famed “Make way for ducklings” and got my picture taken on them – I was such a Boston tourist ;-)

Lastly it was time to head to the Square One Mall where they were having “Movies under the stars” Sponsored by WKLB and the Square 1 Mall and if you got there early enough there was a sort of pre-show type thing.

I got there just in time to see a last few songs from Digger Dog (which was my goal – I like their music) and I got to be on Radio Disney – they were having a challenge with television theme show songs and can you believe it?

I got one! It was Charles in Charge and I used to love that show – so not only did I get to talk on the radio I got to pick a prize – I chose a holographic Hannah Montana poster for one of my nieces (ohhhh how they will fight over this). It was fun! Then I was done with walking around but there was still over an hour before the movie started so I walked down the street a bit and found a place that gave massages and they had availability for a walk in 30 minute chair massage – I was SO in on that! So I got a great massage and walked back to the car and parked where I could see the movie and just rested and waited for it to come on. Here I ought to tell you that it was a cute movie (The Bee Movie) and that I loved it but I can tell you that the first 30 minutes were really cute and the rest was not seen by me since I was nappying away the day. At the end of the movie (HA) I headed home and slept well…


Ahhhh what a great day, I hope your weekends were just as serene!

Friday Fill-Ins #87

1. When I'm sick I'm ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO JUST WANTS TO BE LEFT ALONE.

2. When I take a walk, I think about EVERYTHING – CONVERSATIONS I HAVE HAD OR WANT TO HAVE, SONGS, THE FLOWERS, ETC.

3. Money can't buy happiness but it can TAKE ME TO AN ISLAND.

4. Cotton makes me COMFY WHEN IT IS SHEETS OR JEANS and leather makes me – I DON’T KNOW THAT I HAVE ANYTHING THAT IS LEATHER.

5. The strangest person/character I've had lewd thoughts about was HOTT TO ME AND ONLY ME.

6. My favorite color these days is PURPLE because IT MATCHES MOST EVERYTHING AND IF IT DOESN’T MATCH, IT COMPLEMENTS.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to GOING TO SEE MY FRIEND’S NEW HORSE AGAIN (HE ARRIVES TODAY AT NOON), tomorrow my plans include I AM PLANNING ON WALKING TO THE POST OFFICE (TRICIA YOUR PRIZE WILL BE FLYING OUT ON SATURDAY), GOING TO THE BARN AGAIN AND WORKING WITH MY OWN HORSE, AND THEN A MOVIE AT THE DRIVE IN and Sunday, I want to ARE YOU ASKING WHAT I WANT TO DO OR WHAT I WILL DO? MY IN-LAWS ARE COMING OVER AND WE WILL HAVE A BBQ, AND PLAY SOME CARD GAMES, AND I WILL CLEAN THE HOUSE SOME MORE OOOOH AND I WANT TO GET IN SOME "DANCING WITH THE STARS" ON MY WII!

Have a great weekend!

Taken from:
http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/

Who says you can't go home?

home (h m)
n.
1. A place where one lives; a residence.
2. The physical structure within which one lives, such as a house or apartment.
3. A dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it; a household.
4.
a. An environment offering security and happiness.
b. A valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin.
5. The place, such as a country or town, where one was born or has lived for a long period.
6. The native habitat, as of a plant or animal.
7. The place where something is discovered, founded, developed, or promoted; a source.
8. A headquarters; a home base.
9.
a. Baseball Home plate.
b. Games Home base.
10. An institution where people are cared for: a home for the elderly.
11. Computer Science
a. The starting position of the cursor on a text-based computer display, usually in the upper left corner of the screen.
b. A starting position within a computer application, such as the beginning of a line, file, or screen or the top of a chart or list.


For the purposes of this post I mean # 4.



This weekend I went home, I spent 3 days at the Middlesex County 4-H Fair. My home…

Why is this place in Westford where people use outhouse type buildings (I don’t) and the food is cooked mass production and there aren’t any choices (and sausages play a big part in the food here), and the rain can make or break a soul my home you wonder? Easy, it was here that I met Jim (and subsequently where we got engaged), gained confidence (this had to do with horses not with Jim), learned that 1st doesn’t mean best and last doesn’t mean worst, that compassion is more than a word, and at the end of the day it is true what they say “it doesn’t matter if you win or lose it is how you play the game”.

For me there is something almost religious about walking onto the fairgrounds PRE-8 AM and seeing well over 100 people and their horses milling around. Closing my eyes and breathing deep I smell horse sweat, leather, manure, nerves, hay, coffee, dust, and lighter more gently the smell of cows and pigs and chickens in the background. I smell so much more than all of that, I smell peace, I smell love, I smell the bits of me that are long gone, for 3 days every good thing is there with me. There truly is no place like home.

Every year there are a few standout points for me – sometimes they are highs and sometimes they are lows.

This year’s moments:

10 dozen eggs for egg and spoon… 120 eggs to fall on the ground, is this a waste? Yes! Is it fun to watch and fun to be a part of? OMG YES! And really how cute were the little ones (under 9) hoping their little eggs would just stay on the spoon so that they could figure out how to “steer” this big horse?

Those who know me well know that I am pretty much not a mush – I am not a teary person I am a “It is what it is” type of person. BUT every single year the Cloverbud classes make me well up and every year I insist on announcing this class and every year I say the same thing “Could we all please rise and give a standing ovation to these children, they truly are the future – not only of 4-H but of the world” That is a moment every year that will make this list!

Listening to Stefanie sing the Star Spangled Banner, she is young, she is talented, she is kind and every bit of that comes through in her voice – she was truly breath-taking.

Abby coming and working the ring with me, it was great to have a few minutes of Abbers time while enjoying the horse show and really I loved introducing my quiet and gentle black belt niece to the other judges and having them look right past her blue hair and duct-taped sneakers and right into her eyes and soul. Joe informed me that with even a few kids like her the world wasn’t as bad off as we suspect. He, much like I, expects great things from this girl. When he asked her “If there was a magic button and you could get one wish no matter what it is what would you ask for?” she thought about it, she thought about it all day and then at the end of her day there she told him that she wouldn’t use the button, she had thought about asking for Granmaw back but thought it wasn’t fair to Granmaw since she was with her family and she should get to be with them. And she thought about asking for peace but thought better of it because if we don’t work for it will we appreciate it? He asked her about money and she said “Money is only money I can earn it and working for it makes what you get with it all the sweeter so no she doesn’t want that either” He was impressed by my little niece – I always am.

Spending a couple hours after the show with Carolyn the judge for ring two was really nice too. We got to talk about things other than rules and regulations and kids doing this or that.

Sadly, I also saw one of the scariest accidents on horse-back that I have ever seen and I am happy to report that both the horse (a young valuable quarter horse) and the rider a young man (and more valuable than any horse – all human lives are) were both okay. They both walked out of the ring much to my shock. Both were sent to be checked out by their respective doctors but it looked good to me.

Chicken BBQ – nuff said and it had to go right here!

And then before I knew it it’s Sunday afternoon and it is all over, there is such mixed emotions with that. It’s like YAY we survived and we did more than that – we fostered camaraderie, kindness and “sticktuitiveness” within the hearts of the kids. And at the same time it is SHIT another year before we get to do it again.

As I left Sunday afternoon, I stopped closed my eyes and took a deep breath – it’s a long wait before I will go home again.

“I pledge
My head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service, and
My health to better living,
For my club, my community, my country, and my world.”


If ever you get the chance on the last consecutive Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in August to go to Westford for a while it’s a cheap day and well there is no place like home – enjoy it!

We have a winner

All the tags were made and waiting for someone to pick a winner

The winner this time was Tricia.

Thanks everyone who played...


You will be getting a small gift in the mail from me early next week.

Cake cake everywhere...

So I am still catching up on posts... I actually have like 3 or 4 more that I am behind on before I can get to current life but fortunately I am doing a whole lot of nothing this weekend so I won't have anything new I wanted to share.

This first set of photos is rather lame BUT I took the whole series just to show you, so show you I will.

I present The making of my father's birthday cake



Filling up the cake pan - so far so good - yes maybe I did use too much Pam


Out of the oven - we are looking good

Awwww crap - now what do I do?

Glue and ignore you say? Okay I can do that!

We are almost done :-)

YAY finished - how bad does the destroyed flower look? Well it's just special and everybody loves special things :-)




And then we come to the corn party.
The corn party is a "block party dressed in yellow" It is really a lot of fun so this year Jim and I were happy to go AND I offered to make the dessert - remember the whole it's a block party dressed in yellow AND the it is a lot of fun? Well... those two things mean there is often a LOT of people so I felt like there needed to be a LOT of cupcakes... And there were! 76 to be exact!!

The baby corn asks his mama corn: Where do baby corns come from? Mama says "I told ya before, the stalk (stork) brought ya.


2 corn cobs were walking downtown and the first cob noticed that they were being followed by another strange cob everywhere they went. The first cob whispered to the second cob "Don't look know but I think we are being followed by a stalker"

Question: What does poisoned corn flakes have in common with Charles Manson?
Answer: They are both Cereal (Serial) Killers.

Q: What do old people and farmers have in common?
A: They’ve both got corns!

Really though I had a great time Jim loved playing rock paper scissors (I was out pretty fast) and give away checkers (apparently you have to lose to win) and then the suitcase throw (practicing to work on an airline I called it) and many many other games. What ALWAYS surprises me most is how easily Tony can get people tlaking... He gets everyone in a huge circle and poses three questions and has everyone answer them either out loud or privately and it's a great ice breaker

This year:
How did you get your name?
Where were you born?
And a job one of your grandparents had?

If you want to answer feel free - I think I will follow Tony's lead and send a prize to one person who answers the questions - On Tuesday I will put names of whoever answers in a hat and send a little token gift :-)

Cancer is scarier than ghouls…

Do you know it takes me longer to think of a title than it does to write a whole post? Well there is a fun fact for you!

So on Saturday the 2nd of August my friend Laura rode the pan mass challenge, she has done it a few times but the last two (prior to this year) I have met her at the end of the ride.

The first year it was in this really odd period in history for my family, Mom was at MGH with a “supposed” brain tumor (We freaking knew it was a brain tumor they just hadn’t told us it was malignant but they wouldn’t even call it a tumor until it was confirmed) as of Friday and then Saturday and Sunday Laura rode. I met her Sunday night with a totally new found respect for what she was doing – she really was saving lives and so much more. I am pretty sure that after biking 180 miles the LAST thing I would want to do is have to deal with a sad Joy on her way back to the hospital but Laura did it with a smile and told me that that’s why she rode, no worries at all. She rode those 180 miles with Mom’s name tattooed to her leg in sharpie and sent good thoughts all the while. I remember (I may have even blogged it) saying that it was Laura’s legs and the beginning of a survivor’s story that kept my “eyes on the prize”. Monday Mom was diagnosed – blah blah…

Last year Laura again rode and I looked forward to meeting her at the end. As we got ready in our heads (because I knew I was babysitting Danielle that night) my mom quietly asked if she could go. OF COURSE OF COURSE OF COURSE (ooops better ask Laura) and so Jim, Danielle, Mom and I met up with Kevin and followed him to the finish line to cheer our hero on. Mom met Laura with a necklace (a dragonfly) and Laura met Mom with a t-shirt, they hugged and again Laura told me THIS is why she rides.


*I need to add in here that I asked Laura for these pictures a couple weeks ago and I am just looking at them for the first time today and I must say that THIS picture (above) is the MOST alive my mom looked after brain surgery in any picture - I love it!!!



Well fast forward another year and we all know what’s up so no point in talking about it. And Laura was riding and in my head I planned on meeting her, I was going to go to Halloween at the camp and then go meet Laura at the end… And as I looked around at the spooks, and creepy crawlies, and ghouls and ghosts, AND EVEN niece’s having temper tantrums the ended with her not being able to celebrate Halloween at all I realized I couldn’t go, that the dark of night and haunted happenings here were a safer place for me. Hell, cancer is scary, but people are changing that future and I hope and pray that someday your kids will think of cancer the way we think of Chicken Pox – a quick shot and nothing to worry about.

I *HIGHLY* suggest checking out Laura’s blog for the story of the PMC
http://truestorieshonestlies.blogspot.com/2008/08/pan-mass-challenge-part-1.html
http://truestorieshonestlies.blogspot.com/2008/08/pan-mass-challenge-part-2.html
And her Goodbye to Grace Marie
http://truestorieshonestlies.blogspot.com/2008/08/pmc-addendum-because-we-still-need-to.html

So I stayed at Halloween 08 and really it was a great time – I am so glad that I did. I got to watch Tyler be a spider and Alicia won the “scariest costume award” and Jim and Christy (though this year I can take some credit for the set up) won best camp-ground.

We stayed until late and toasted Laura at the time we thought she would be crossing (no I didn’t have an alcoholic drink but Jim did – must remember it was Halloween = adult trick or treating)

Happy Halloween to all until next July (though this week it was in August which just messed me up)



Tyler loved having multiple arms - I think he wants to grow a few more now, then he could play and EAT at the same time - something he has trouble with currently

Steffy was a dead pirate and she loved this costume

And Alicia as scary as I have ever seen her

~Last note, I bought the girls their costumes (and Danielle's) mid-November and paid less than $10 for their 3 costumes and mine for this year - not bad, huh? I think Stef's was $2 Alicia's was $2 Danielle's was $4 and mine was $1.50

Happy birthday Katy

For my little niecey Katy who turns 15 TODAY.... OMG I am old! I got her this:



What do you think does this make me a good aunty? I hope so... I had a really hard time picking which one to get her. I chose this because it is fairly indistructable (hello ice shakes KATY) and little and has a qwerty pad so I better get even more text messages...

Friday Fill-Ins #84

Another one from here:

http://fridayfillins.blogspot.com/

Here we go:

1. You know you're old when you have freaking cankles – anyone who wants to dispute this with me can feel free - I have photo evidence!

2. My heart is divided between What I want and what I need.

3. RELAXATION is what I need RIGHT NOW!

4. I have felt the happiest times on horseback during a fast run and I wonder why I haven’t done more midnight rides, I have known the depths of despair on the back of a sucktabulous horse (yes I still own her).

5. Gah, won't these people THINK before they call me.

6. Hug someone you love as soon as you can!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to the wakes being over, tomorrow my plans include a funeral and the CORN PARTY!!!! and Sunday, I want to Have a safe day judging horses no kiddos on the ground please and thank you!

Have a great weekend everyone :-X

Of parties, and primping, and phone calls?

So on Monday August 4th my friend Grace-Marie Talbert (Joey’s mom for those keeping track) passed away.

I had been fortunate enough to spend the Tuesday before with her. We had talked (she was ready to go) we had laughed (Grace Marie had made it her personal goal to teach me a sense of humor) and she had taken her meds. I was happy for the chance to take care of her. I truly love taking care of people. I had chosen to spend the evening with GM rather than go see my friend Kevin (who needs a blog BTW – it would be an amazing blog because Kevin is an amazing person) tell at Blue’s. This was a hard choice for me but I felt then that I had made the right decision. And less than a week later that choice was confirmed to me.

Tuesday August 5th was Grace-Marie’s 76th birthday (actually I was planning on going to see her Monday night with 76 cards – hey go big or go home) and I wanted to give her something, and it was important to Joey that she get to celebrate one more birthday with her Mom so she asked that people sing happy birthday to her. I decided to go to Blue’s this week and tell a story for and to Grace-Marie so Monday night Jim and I went on a long walk and I wrote the following tale. And last night I told it… (randomly my phone called Joey so she heard the whole thing - Laura did you do this? Actually nevermind please don't answer that. Joey and I believe that Grace Marie called) This may not be impressive to tellers or even to non-tellers BUT let me give you a little back story

3 (soon to be 4) 3 Apples storytelling festivals ago I took a workshop (really I was just tired and needed to sit and all my friends were in that room so…) on how to tell a story last minute (I guess tellers need this?) and I had a wonderful time Tony is a great coach AND AND AND I got a good thing coin (Tony gives out coins when you have done something brave or special in his eyes – I got one for my wedding day (it’s in my album), I got one this day, I got one playing telephone on stage, and I got one at my mom’s funeral – I can tell where each is, they are MY Olympic golds) at the workshop Tony and sadly blogless Kevin said I would be a teller in no time. And I swore up and down that *I* would NEVER get up and tell a story in front of anyone, being us we put a bet on it and last night I lost the bet (What kind of beer do you guys want?) but I got to say goodbye to Grace-Marie.

Well here’s the story – it is simple and childish and just what I wanted, enjoy!

The witch was an evil woman. Candice the witch was the worst kind of witch, she had no conscience. She would make up her mind and there was no changing it… On this particular day Candice declare that there would be no parties. Simply no parties at all… Not in her village, or her town or anyplace on Earth as the case may be. No big parties, no little parties, just no parties at all! The witch’s word was law and nobody dared defy her decrees.

BUT the witch hadn’t counted on one thing, Grace Marie’s birthday was coming up. And Grace Marie wanted a party for her birthday, a party filled with friends new and old. Actually the witch hadn’t counted on two things. Grace Marie wanted a party and Grace Marie was a force to be reckoned with. There would be a party, there would be friends new and old and Grace Marie would enjoy every moment of it.

As her birthday approached Grace Marie spent hours and hours figuring out how to have a party since the witch’s curse wouldn’t let her have a party just anywhere. She thought and thought and finally realized that Candice’s powers stopped the moment you stepped off of her Earth. And so she decided that she would have the best party of them all, she would invite friends and family she hadn’t seen in a long time and was missing terribly and together they would all dance among the clouds.

The menu was planned, the invitations were sent, everything was ready, most of all Grace Marie was ready. Grace Marie jumped into her chariot (a basket lifted by balloons of many colors) and set off on her way. As she stepped out on the clouds she greeted her loved ones, fixed her beautiful hair, and prepared for a meal of all her favorite foods and a cake as tall as she was.

As the cake was pushed out to her, all her friends and family started to sing (and could you all join me in singing this one) “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Grace Marie, happy birthday to you”.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Grace Marie had friends who wanted to give her presents. One friend in particular was adamant that she would give a good gift. Laura thought of all the gifts she could give the best would be to give the present of parties back… Laura thought back to when she was a very little child in her mother’s arms and how her mother would tell her the best way to get rid of a monster (and Candice certainly was a monster) was to kiss it. So Laura went searching for Witch Candice – searching out the very evilness that most people were hiding from.

All the day Laura searched across the miles, getting weary and tired yet never stopping her quest. As the day drew to its close Laura closed in on the witch and as the clock struck 11:59 Laura’s hand clasped onto Candice’s bony shoulder and pulled her down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Candice shrieked and began to fade to nothingness and as she did Laura looked on and said “Thank you Candice for what you have taught us – even if you taught it in evil, we still learned the lesson.

Thank you and happy birthday Grace Marie!

And I really feel the need to send you all to a happy place after this so I am giving you one of my FAVORITE places on the internet... A happy place indeed
http://whoelsa.blogspot.com/

What a sweet day

So I have another post that I really want to write… But do you ever just have something nagging at you and want to “get it over with” well that is this post… I want to show off the finished cake from cake class (SO much fun and I am signing up for level 2 in October)
So this is the cake from the final week, I was really rather proud of it and so glad that it happened to be the day before Jim’s friend Roberta’s birthday – I sent him off to celebrate with her, cake in hand.

So really there isn’t much else to say about cakes

Close up of the faces I learned to make (they didn’t make it on the cake):


Close ups of the clown – I love him:




Hearts (I am shocked at how easy these are to make):


Flowers:


and then:


Almost perfect:


The finished product with 2 clowns and all the other goodies:



Shameless excitement:



Enjoy :-)

***I really wish you could see the names of these photos - I was having fun with that!

Friday Fill-in #83

Well this looked like fun... If you want to play go here
Friday Fill-Ins #83

Here we go:

1. If I could travel back in time, I'd go to Dr. Quinn, Medicine woman era.

2. Give me peace or give me rest.

3. I am listening to WROR - because I am not in the mood to change the radio station.

4. Somewhere, someone is thinking OMG I can't believe I have to go (and it's Jim because he has a Dr. appointment AND a dentist appointment today and he is afraid of needles and I have been tormenting him all week telling him there will be tons of needles at both places).

5. I'll always be me.

6. My idea of a good time includes either cuddling my cat or going for a nice walk with my horse.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to Spinners baseball, tomorrow my plans include HALLOWEEN BABY and Sunday, I want to Go see the Sox play!

And because what fun is a post without photos here are a few from this week

Wild flowers from my Saturday morning walk

My African Violets


The tomatoes continue to grow (that is those that haven't died)

Slow and steady

Pretty much every month I find myself rushing around the last three days of the month trying to get all possible billables and bonus hours in for work. I am again doing that this month! My goal for August is to follow the advice of the tortoise and go at it slow and steady ALL MONTH LONG so that maybe next month at this time I will be cruising along rather than tearing my hair out!

But forgetting about work and remembering another great day at the zoo is so much more fun, lazy days where you just walk around and see amazing sights and animals you didn't even know existed share pens with ones you have known since childhood - a great life lesson, why can't we all just get along.

Make a Smilebox free ecard

Turtle facts:
Turtles have good eyesight and an excellent sense of smell. Hearing and sense of touch are both good and even the shell contains nerve endings.

The shell of a turtle is made up of 60 different bones all connected together.

The bony portion of the shell is covered with plates (scutes) that are derivatives of skin and offer additional strength and protection.

Turtles range in size from the 4-inch Bog Turtle to the 1500-pound Leathery Turtle.

Turtles will live in almost any climate warm enough to allow them to complete their breeding cycle.

Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica.

For more information on turtles check out:
http://www.peteducation.com

6 Months

It has been a half year (to the very minute) since Mom grew her wings and went to be an angel elsewhere... It feels like 100 years and 5 minutes. The room is still off limits, the jewelry is still locked away, and the pain is still pretty fresh. BUT I have survived and THAT is more than I thought was possible...

I found out yesterday that they are having a fundraiser with 4-H to place a granite bench in her honor at the fairgrounds. In the spot where she always sat - with her name inscribed.

They miss you too Momma

The fun, the fabulous, the fourth

SO... I love scrapbooks, I think they are a thing of beauty. Each picture shown to the best of it's ability (much like a horse in fitting and show but I digress) and together the pictures create a story or a snippet of a day worth remembering. The flaw with all this is that I do NOT like to scrapbook. Sigh, what to do what to do... Well in walks our hero without his cape and he announces "Hun I bought you a year's subscription to smilebox, it says you can make gorgeous scrapbooks online and then have them printed or print them at home... I thought it would help you get some photos off your camera" WELL was he ever right, it also helped me realize I don't need to save every picture I take :-) AND AND AND it allows you to blog what you made with just a click of a button - how cool is that? So here is my first installment of "A day worth remembering"

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I do realize that my pages are nowhere near as beautiful as those of Michelle, Danielle, and Tricia but I actually made them (which is something I never would have done otherwise) and they are beautiful in my book... The only thing I "edited" was that there is that white border around pages when you print them so I cropped that and glued the whole page to some pretty cardstock. All in all the 5 pages took me about 25 minutes and are an okay substitute for someone like me who will never spend the time for real scrapbooking...

Oh and PS I printed 2 copies and gave one set to my sister so she would have pages to remember the day too...

Swapping fears

skirt
Originally uploaded by AlwaysJoy

So I have been enjoying swapping for quite a while now (I would say a year or so) and I love getting to shop for someone and hopefully sending them a package that will make them feel thought and cared about...

This time I was swapping lengths of sheets (26" and from a twin sheet so exactly that wide)

I got the pattern and joined the swap from http://www.polkadotcreations.com/blog/ a fun blog that I read...

I honestly have no idea why I would even join this swap since I DON'T SEW! But I did and I had a great time finding a sheet to cut and send and I loved seeing the pretty material that came in but I was pretty sure I was never going to "Get around to it". Well long story short my fear of sewing machines continues (Sharon this is why we need to take that class) but I really wanted a cute new skirt so I made not one but 2 (for me and 1 for my niece) by hand... I did a web search on how to sew by hand and it taught me the stitch and I bought the elastic and some thread...

And although by machine it would have taken less than an hour (and probably wouldn't have had any oopsies all over it) I was so pleased that less than 4 hours later I had a skirt I could wear. And wear it I have - to work, to the 4th of July, to walk the dog... And I have made another one which is just as nice (though I don't like the waist as much I wonder what I did wrong) and has been worn as well...

So with no more chatting here are my "masterpieces"
Okay having issues with blogger so see the post below for skirt # 2

Swapping fears skirt two

Skirt #2
Originally uploaded by AlwaysJoy

For some reason I couldn't get both pictures in the same post so here is the second skirt

Everybody's doing it

My creation
Originally uploaded by AlwaysJoy

1. joy!, 2. flickr colors fruit slushies, 3. Autumn walk, 4. The closed window, 5. Blue in the face, 6. the dead come together to drink their desires, 7. " One Hundred Years of Solitude " - Loneliness - by Janusz, 8. 送你一颗棉花糖 Cotton Candy, 9. papapapapapapaaaa..., 10. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 11. Snap. Crackle. Pop., 12. Swap-bot ornament from AlwaysJoy

1. What is your first name? Joy
2. What is your favorite food? Blue Vanilla Slushies
3. What high school did you go to? SEEM
4. What is your favorite color? Pink
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Michael J Fox
6. Favorite drink? GOOD Lemonade
7. Dream vacation? Cruise
8. Favorite dessert? Cotton candy?
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Happy
10. What do you love most in life? Walks
11. One Word to describe you. Bland
12. Your flickr name: Alwaysjoy
I think (looking at this) that it actually gives you a pretty good picture of me.

Working on goals...

So back in the spring I posted some goals for the summer.
ONE of which was to take some classes (still looking for a good writing class - may try it online) and am currently taking cake decorating at AC Moore... It is interesting to say the least and I am enjoying learning a new craft... Hopefully a few of you will get to be the recipient of a beautiful cake in the future...

Nope I am no Duff and never will be :-P



This was a "practice cake" that was teaching us lots of different techniques! Next week is an actual cake because we are celebrating Dad's birthday the next night and I asked if I could do my work on a cake so he could have something beautiful to cut into!

Make new friends

But keep the old

"One is silver and the other gold"

This weekend I was fortunate to get to meet Mr. Christian and see my good friend Tricia at the same time. We got to go for a nice walk and chat and all around have a great day.

Christian wasn't too sure he liked me in the beginning but I think by the end he had warmed up to me :-)

Thank you for a wonderful day Tricia and for letting me hold your beautiful baby boy... And I am so glad that I am not meeting him for the first time when he graduates kindergarten!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the mister because I know that he is only half in the frame because he was WAY too busy jumping for me to get a great shot and I love the absolute joy his face holds here.

And seriously look at Tricia! Her tomatoes are almost as tall as she is... She is the wonder gardener!