Just Dance for the Wii

Hey yall. This afternoon the boys and I bought the Wii game Just Dance. Here are the boys playing Eye of the Tiger this evening. We had so much fun, but I'm afraid I'm barely gonna be able to move my arms tomorrow. I know this is a short post, but I hope you enjoy the video!

I miss her

Hey yall. Sorry I've been way too busy lately and haven't even turned on my laptop in 2 weeks. I don't have any new crafts to show you today, but do have something I just really need to share from my heart. I took a 3 hour nap today. I try to take naps every Saturday and Sunday, but usually they're about 2 hours. Today I kept almost waking up feeling like I couldn't breathe. I woke up more tired than I went to sleep. I was dreaming about how much I miss my Granny. She was the most wonderful woman in the world and was my best friend before I desserted the family in my stupid rebellious years. She was still there for me during that time, but we weren't as close as we should have been. She passed away in 1997 (or 1998, but I'm pretty sure it's 1997). I think about her a lot and I miss her a lot, but today was the first time in years I've sat and cried because I miss her so much. I had a meeting a church today at noon that I really didn't want to go to. On the way to the meeting, I thought about where I would really like to be at that moment if I could choose anywhere and anything. I decided I would love to be taking a nap under a handmade quilt with a box fan blowing away the summer heat. Then I decided the only thing better would be Granny in the next room cooking a special lunch for just the two of us. When I woke up I could go sit and talk with her the whole afternoon. Maybe that's why I have these strong feelings right now, because I thought of missing her before my nap. Maybe it's because I was able to hang out with my 2 favorite girls in the whole world yesterday--Aunt Pat and Ashley. We have things in common--Aunt Pat & I both love chocolate, but Ashley doesn't. Ashley & I both love swimming in the pool, but Aunt Pat doesn't. Aunt Pat & Ashley love hanging outside with goats & horses, but I don't. The biggest thing we all have in common is that our lives were shaped by this special woman. If she could see the 3 of us now, she would be so proud of what we have each overcome and accomplished since she's been gone. She never got to meet Jason or my kids. She never got to meet Ashley's husband Keith. She never got to see James grow up to be an adult. I never learned how to make biscuits like her. These days relationships are so superficial. We show our friends only what we want them to see of ourselves. Granny knew me better than I knew myself. She was there to listen to me when I was afraid to tell my parents something. She was also there to tell me when I was doing something wrong. She also was sure to let me know when I was doing something right. I'm not sure why I am so emotional over her today, but I miss her more than I've ever missed anything in my life. Even now I can barely see the computer screen through the tears. Jason and the kids are gone to the youth swimming fellowship and bible study, so I've got about an hour and a half to recover and get back to life in the present. I know Jason would hold me in his arms and listen to me empty my soul, but it's hard to think he would completely understand since he didn't meet her. He lost his grandmother last year and it hasn't been easy on him, but I still for some reason feel like this is different. I just hope I can use this experience of going through my memories with her to remind me to show those around me how important they are and to give the very best of myself in everything I do, whether it be washing the dishes, listening to one of my kids, or even making spreadsheets at work. So often I don't completely follow through with everything because I get so overwhelmed with my to do list. Instead of halfway doing everything on my list, maybe I'd be better off prioritizing and completing half the items and letting the other items take care of themselves. If you're still reading, I'm glad you stayed til the end and I appreciate this opportunity to share my struggle today. I pray that God will help you in whatever your struggle may be today and in the days ahead. Have a great evening and be sure to show someone they matter.

Happy Independence Day!

Hey everybody! I hope you are enjoying this special holiday today. I wasn't sure if I would have time to get a post on here, so I went ahead and scheduled one with some cards I made last week that I just never got the chance to show you.

Not much explanation for these--they were quick and simple cards using some images I had colored a while back. Sometimes I just want to color and not make a whole card. I was trying to use up all of those extra images I had finished so I could color some new ones. Have a happy 4th of July!

Water Projects

I'm back to share some of mine and Aunt Pat's water projects for the week. Aunt Pat is working on something else, but she went ahead and sent over a picture of her watering can. This was a pattern from Splitcoast Stampers that she cut out and decorated. Isn't it just so cute! It's hard to appreciate the 3-D aspect of it in a picture.

Next up I have a card I made this afternoon with a beach theme. Yellow and green are not your typical beach colors, but I wanted to pick up these accent colors in the background. I used my new cheapo colored pencils on this image (120 pencils for $20). They don't color as smoothly as Prismacolors, but they still have a nice look to them when finished.

The last picture is the card I made this evening. I decide I wanted to use my Copics a little bit and dug through all my images stamped with Memento ink. This one jumped out at me.

Thanks for checking out our creations! I hope you have plans for a wonderful Independence Day. I'm very excited that my in-laws are coming to visit tomorrow and staying until Monday. I'm sure the boys will be up extra early in the morning asking what time Gramma and Pops will be here. Have a good evening!

PJ's Fun Week 3 - Water

Happy Saturday yall! This week's theme for PJ's Fun is WATER! Keep in mind, these themes are open to your imagination. Water could mean ocean, beach, fishing, waterfalls, anything that water means to you. I'm gonna start out with before and after pictures of our pool, which has been out of commission for about 3 weeks now. Here's the before, as in before 8:30am this morning.

Now for the after--this is what it looked like by lunch time after the pool guys put the new liner in this morning. Of course the water level shown is about 3:30pm this afternoon.

It's looking great! I took a close picture of the side so you could see the liner design. The pool guys will be back on Monday to finish the liner. Once it's full of water, they've gotta cut the holes for the jets or aerators or whatever you call those things.

Since the boys were bouncing off the walls with excitement over the pool this morning, I didn't really have much of a chance to make anything too special. I did have a watercolor ocean sheet that I had done several years ago with my watercolor crayons, so I mounted it to a piece of cardstock just so I would have something to show you.

Not bad, but I plan on using a little more creativity at some point this week. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Final Entries in PJ's Fun Week 2

Hey yall! So I'm here to show the last 2 entries for PJ's Fun Week 2 - Patriotic/4th of July. First up we have Aunt Pat's entry--a card made with a patriotic House Mouse stamp. The colors don't show up as great in the picture, but you can get the idea.

The next entry is a stars & stripes quilt made by my mom, but I'm having trouble getting the picture to upload. Trust me, it's gorgeous. I was gonna have a winner this week, but it was a 3 way tie. Joey picked one, Anthony picked a second one, and I picked a third one. I wasn't expecting a 3 way tie with 3 entries, but I guess you never know what will happen when you have little guys helping judge! I'm still working on this next week's theme, but will hopefully have something for you in the morning!

Check out Betty's card!

Hey yall! Just a quick little post here to send you over to check out what Betty's been doing. She played along with PJ's Fun this week--look at how cute!

Be sure and check out her blog and leave some comments about this wonderful card! While you're there, you could play along with her sketch challenge. Have a great day!