Christmas is around the corner.

Where did the year go? I can't believe that my grandfather has lived with us for a whole year. Time has really flown by.

Christmas is around the corner. Here's few places to visit to help get you in the holiday spirit.

Visit Tim Holtz's blog. He's doing a great "12 Tags of Christmas" series. I'm learning a lot and wanting to take some time to create.

Yesterday, Donna Salazar made my day. I left a comment on her blog and she sent me an email. Just a small unexpected note. Something that really brightened my day. I really love seeing the things she creates. So full of art and it looks like she has so much fun creating it.

And I love the small things Rebecca Sower is posting on her blog.

I have to admit the commercialism of Christmas has put a small damper on my Christmas. But I took a few steps yesterday to get things back on the right track. I took 2 names off on of the Christmas trees at the local mall. You know... the ones that charities and churches put up, to get less fortunate people a few gifts for Christmas. I picked a teen-aged girl and a man in hospice care. Both had really simple wishes, and that touched my heart. I almost started crying at the mall when I read the things they wanted. So, I got both of them some stuff. I really wanted to get the rest of those names off the that tree. Maybe next year, I can do more.

I have already turned in a toy, an outfit and some socks for another name I got off a different tree at my friend's beauty shop. That child is developmental challenged, so I hope that the blocks I got will be ok.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Wondering

Really had a lot of trouble today. Don't really know what's going to happen with my grandfather. He looked pretty bad today. (Yesterday he told me the hospital wouldn't have released him if he wasn't well. I think he may have another opinion today. I don't think he's feeling good.)

Feeling a little guilty, because I said some really harsh things to him. Things that are the truth, but I don't think he wanted to hear them. Mainly about his kids and how sorry they really are. But that's me. I'm very blunt and to the point. No point in beating around a bush.

Also worried about other bigger news. Something that I hope is true, but I'm scared to let myself believe that it's really happening. We'll have to see how that pans out.

Also trying to figure out a shopping list for Christmas. And trying to plan out activities to do this month. I really want to make it special by doing all the small things that come with Christmas. Driving around looking at Christmas lights is a big one on my list.

Now I'm off to bed, hopefully I can get rid of this headache that I've had all day. It's really been a pain.

Yuck!!!

Things not going well. My grandfather was back in the hospital this week. I'm really getting worried that he'll lose some more pieces off his foot.

Just had a huge fight with him. He's old and yes I understand he's taken care of himself for this long. But he's not doing a great job at it. And then gets mad at DH and I when we step in.

Then called his son, the man that donated sperm that created me. And I have to say that's the only thing that piece of sh!t has ever done good for me. He denied that my grandfather was his father, and hung up on me. I understand that he doesn't want to deal with the man. But the sperm donor will call my grandfather if he needs something. Makes me so mad. Not that I need the man's help. But it is his father, for goodness sake. My grandfather could use the help.

So the hospital released my grandfather. And I knew it was strange. When I talked to the Dr today, she told me she would only let him go if his regular Dr could see him in the next 2 days. Well, he came home with no appointment. So in the middle of the fight, he informs me, that he did talk to his regular Dr and she offered him an appointment for tomorrow, but he didn't take it. Talk about being angry again. I just don't understand why he can't get it through his head that these infections are very serious.

I take that back, I do understand why he can't understand. He's 81 and a man. Not to offend anyone, but he is acting more and more like a child. And for some reason it has fallen on me to be caretaker. I guess that's because his daughter is so busy with her family. And his son is a piece of sh!t. Really I don't what my grandparents were thinking when they raised those 2.

I hate to admit this, but I'm not going to fight with him every month. We have had the same fight the last 2 months. He says he can take care of himself, and I say he needs help. Next month, if this same fight comes up, I'll let him take care of himself and he'll have to go back to live with his daughter. I can only do so much. And I have had it up to here. I can't help someone that isn't willing to have help. I can't let this situation affect my marriage. I'm taking my frustrations out on my husband who is a wonderful man. He's taken my grandfather to appointments, checked on him at the hospital and just generally been there to help me. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have him.

I think it used to bother my husband that I didn't have a lot of contact with my family. But I think he's starting to see why I don't. My family isn't anything like his big loving family. Lucky for us we spent Thanksgiving with them. Those happy memories have helped me lot in the past few days.

I hope that I can get through this week. I need another vacation. Maybe I can talk DH into a trip at Christmas to see his family. I think that would be nice. (I don't think that will happen, but I can dream.)

Ali thinks I have good ideas.

Took a little time to check out some of my favorite blogs the other day. And stumbled across a post about Advent calendar boxes on Ali Edward's blog (click her name to go to her blog). Here's a link to the post Ali's Christmas Project #3 . Go read about the project. It sound really cool. And if you have kids, I'm sure they'll love it. I left a comment about the project on her blog, which I rarely do.

Here's what I said. "I think it would be cool to find a big (and ornate) frame from a estate sale, junk store, or yard sale and back it with plywood. You could use paint or decorative paper to decorate the plywood. Then you have a framed piece to hang. And it's reusable."

So fast forward to today, when I'm checking a few blogs again. Friday, Ali posted a few replies and comments about the comments left by visitors on that post.

And I saw this comment by Ali, "3. loved the idea of a big old frame to go around the outside of the grouped boxes - may try that one next year"

So I go and check, I think I was the only one to mention the frame. So even if my family doesn't think I have good ideas...Ali does.

I lost more than a month.

Man,
I knew October was going to busy. But then the surprise trip to the emergency room with my grandfather who is 81 and lives with my husband and I. And his week long stay in the hospital after one of his toes was amputated... I really got so far behind. I'm slowly digging myself out. It's hard to keep up with his appointments. Someone has to go with him, when he visits a doctor. And since his children won't take the responsibility, it fall on my shoulders. And he's blessed that I'm married to such a wonderful man, since my DH has gone with him about half the time.

I had to take time to do a few things that I wanted to do. Like joining the Digital Scrapbooking Day fun at www.scrapbookgraphics.com It was fun day. And I needed to have a day just to myself.

I'm also behind in my class at www.jessicasprague.com I can tell you the techniques we're learning this round are really cool, but I haven't had time to do my layouts.

And one more thing, if you do scrap digitally, please go check out www.songbirdavenue.com It's a great site that has a charity scrapbook kit each month. All proceeds go to a different charity each month. This month "Toys for Tots" benefits from the kit. Check out this great kit.


Click the photo to see it bigger.
Hope you check out Songbird Avenue. And maybe it won't be so long until my next post.

MIA

Sorry, I've been trying to get some things done around the house. So I haven't turned on the computer in a few days. I've been trying to help my husband get some stuff done that had to go out ASAP. But I'm winding that down and should have more "me" time soon.

I have a bunch of stuff to post about. I also have a lot of creative stuff to post. Don't think I'll have a chance to post much this weekend. But will try to get back on track next week.

Catching Up - Part 1

Had a great time at the beach. Wish I could stay for a month or two.
Getting caught up with everything. I can't believe how far behind I got in just 3 days.
I'll have to make another "catch up" post tomorrow or Saturday to show you some of the great goodies that arrived while I was gone.

To tide you over until I have more time to post, here's 4 days of my Shimelle class. I still have to finish today's. I just have to print the picture.

Day 9 - "It's easy to relax on the beach"
All supplies Making Memories

Day 10 - "You can Adapt"

All supplies from Making Memories except pink paper under "you" from Hambly Studios

Day 11 - "Never leave the camera in the room. You'll miss dolphins."

Supplies - Pink letter stickers - MAMBI, Small letter stickers - Making Memories
Pattern Paper - Fontwerks

Day 12 - "I don't recover from quick trips like I use to."

Supplies - Pattern paper - Hambly Studios, All stickers - Making Memories

To the Beach

Going to Hilton Head Island, SC in the morning for a few days. Can't wait to get to the beach.

Here's my Shimelle page for today. Helping my husband with an event for disabled people gave me my lesson learned today. It's so easy to take for granted what you have. When you see people missing limbs and in wheelchairs, it does make you realize all the small things that a person can complain about are so trivial.


I am glad to have a few days off from real life. I'll take my computer, but I doubt the condo has internet service. I usually need it to clear off my memory cards for the camera. It's nothing for me to take a thousand or more photos on a trip like this. I always take more than I need, so that I am sure to have exactly what I want.

Hope the rest of the weekend is fun for you.

Quick Post

Here's my page for today.
PP and transparency are from Hambly Studios
Letter stickers, ribbon and sticker label are from Making Memories.


I have a long day tomorrow (well really later this morning.), so I'm off to bed.

Stuff

Here's my pages for Day 5 & 6 for my Learn Something New Class with shimelle, with a little background info.

Day 5 - "Some days you have to force yourself to do things". All supplies from Making Memories

And I had to get out and take some photos for another online class. This water tower was one of the photos. I took 3 different towers at old mills near my home.

I am behind in the photo class. I signed up for it at www.feelgoodphotos.co.uk. Click on the camera lens to get to the workshops. It is a 10 week course with Cheryl Johnson. Her photos are wonderful. But the weather has been so hot that I haven't wanted to get out and take any pictures. So I really had to force myself to get out.

(Why I signed up for 3 in the same time period, I don't know, but I am having fun. I am staying caught up in the Shimelle and Jessica Sprague classes. Of course I can stay in the air-conditioning for those. And the weather seems to be cooling down, so I should be able to get out more.)

Day 6 - "Even adults need playtime"
Supplies: pattern paper from Tinkering Ink; Bazzill cardstock; letter stickers from Making Memories & MAMBI; paint from MM and Heidi Swapp; transparency from Hambly Studios and 2 sizes of bubble wrap


This one was just about getting out paint and bubble wrap and playing. Seeing the technique so many times in the past 2 days, made me think about doing a page on it. And I have to say, it wasn't as messy as I thought. And I can't wait to play with this technique some more.

In other notes:
I've bought 2 glass pendants from Allison Kreft ( Her Etsy Store )
I'm waiting on a package from Anodyne Design
I'll post about both when they get here.

And I'm off to Hilton Head Island, SC on Sunday for a small trip. I can't wait for that. I get to see my sister-in-law and her husband. And that will be fun. And it will be the third time this year I've gone to the beach. That's highly unusual, since my husband isn't crazy about the beach. But I like it, so I'm happy.

Hopefully, I'll get 2 more posts in before the beach.

Digital Scrapbooking

I really love scrapbooking with paper. And I'll never give it up, but I have to admit that digital scrapbooking has really gotten my interest lately.

I'm currently in an online class at www.jessicasprague.com. It's her "Up & Running" class. And I think it's the best online class I've ever taken. I've taken a lot that I like, but the knowledge I'm gaining in this one is worth every penny I paid. And for $40, I really think it's a steal.

You get almost all the materials you need to complete weekly layouts. You do have to supply a computer, photos, and some sort of editing software. I already had Photoshop Elements 5. But you can download a free trial, if you want to try it out. Or you can use another brand if you have it. The videos are showing the screen in PSE5, but there have been hints for Mac users.

Today's mid-week lesson in the class, helped me do a layout that I struggled with all weekend. My favorite online digi store, scrapbookgraphics.com has added a new designing team. It's a brother and sister team from Germany called ONdesigns. Here's a link to their store, ONdesigns. They have some cool "textured" items in their store I can't wait to get my hands on.

And on the ONdesign Blog, they are running a contest using one of their templates. So I thought I would try to do a page. Let me say that I took half the afternoon Sunday trying to figure out how to do the page. I finally had to save the layout at the point I had it at, and close it. I really thought I wouldn't get to do the layout. So I'm glad to say that Jessica, came to my rescue today. She did a lesson on Clipping Masks. So I can now proudly post my layout using ONdesigns' template.

And here it is. All I had to do was add paper, and I colored the title and swirls. And it's the first layout I've ever done with a template. Now that I know what I'm doing, it really is easier to start with a template. And next time, I'll be able to add more embellishments.


Supplies:
Template - Ondesigns ( ONdesigns blog and store )
All Papers - "Out There" mini kit, Meredith Fenwick Designs ( Studio Meredith also at scrapbookgraphics.com )


I do have most of my Shimelle page done for the day, but I still need to add the photo. Really I have to take and add the photo. So it may be the morning before I can post it.

Today's Page

Here's today's page. Glad that I'm keeping up.


Hopefully, I will get some time to add a few other things I'm doing sometime this week.

Learn Something New pages

Here's the other pages for the Shimelle class.
Check out www.shimelle.com for more info.

Click the photos to get a bigger view, so you can read the journaling.
Here's day one -


Here's day 2 -



Here is today's -


I spent the whole day in my PJs, cutting and gathering all the supplies for this album. It was a nice and relaxing day. Just what Labor Day is supposed to be.

I'm a little late posting this. I just got caught up. I'll post the other pages tomorrow.



This September, I'm going back to school. In my own little world.
I've got a book and a pen and I'm going to record what I learn from life.
I believe I really can learn something new every day.
I'll share what I'm learning in the form of pages from my book, posted right here on my blog.

I'm not alone: lots of crafty ladies are learning and recording right along with me.

See their work
here
and
here.

Learn more about our project
here.

Hope everyone in the US had a great Labor Day. I stayed in my PJs. And it was great!

The beginning

Let's drink to the beginning of a new blog. Does the world really need another blog? Probably not, but I think I may need a place to share, vent and record my thoughts.

Let's hope that it lives up to my expectations.