Memorial day weekend shenanigans...

Second Annual (Adams Family) Lawn Mower Races in Bonham at Uncle Donnie's...
Well...another year - another Memorial Day in the country. We headed up on Saturday to relax and hang out before the Sunday "races". The pre-revelers included me & Matt, my cousins Amy & Meg, Joe's kids - Logan & Amanda, Rusty & Dee, Kala & Ray. Logan (soon-to-be-second-grader) decided he wanted to marry my cousin Amy (17) and followed her around the whole time...

Sunday added Tracy, Amy & Haley, Gary & his mom & a bunch of neighbors & friends whose names I never caught. We had a late lunch & the guys started to play around, chasing each other on mowers in the field. They ran over (and competely demolished) an outdoor upright shade umbrella (like one for a table-lawn set) - turned it into a type of lance careening into the crowd...everyone was fine - just one of those moments. Matt ran his wheels up "into" the umbrella and the wheels turned out to the sides - it completely bent/broke the axle-thingie. Even I knew this was not good. All the guys tried to give it a quck fix, but it was never quite the same. (see the "PIT" sign Amy ran over to hold up - omg - I thought it was hilarious) Since only three of them brought their mowers to race, they ended up just doing "pulls". They were fun to watch, but - I'm not really sure who won & they kicked up enough dirt in the wind that I think I ate some.

And a funny thing - at least it's funny now, it wasn't so funny yesterday...Joe (who is about to marry into the family & a policeman) handcuffed my niece Amy while out joking around with everybody. Unfortunately his handcuff key fell out of his pocket while riding one of the mowers somewhere earlier in the day...
...oops.
The keys hadn't been found yet when we left, but Joe was able to think fast & radio a local officer for a key. All things considered, Amy was a really good sport. It was amusing to see everybody trying to pick the lock while Joe was getting the key.

We're keeping Amy & Meg for the week now that they've officially started their summer vacation - which means movie festival at my house...they haven't seen any of the "classics" - Terminator movies, Alien movies, Jurassic Park, Jaws, The Shining, Blazing Saddles...the list goes on & on...

Obviously under construction...

I'm "pimping my blog" this weekend with a lot of help from Ashley...so keep checking back - things could be changing at any time!

Show me the bunnies...

I have a confession to make....sometimes I waste time on the internet (never during working hours). My friend Virginia introduced me to the Bunny Theater Library a month or two ago. I was instantly hooked. It's the funniest 30 seconds you'll ever click on. They're 30 second parodies of movies reinacted by bunnies - how great is that????

In the last two weeks they've added three new titles to their collection: Caddyshack, Rocky & Casablanca - and I also highly recommend my personal favorite - Jaws. Be sure to check out the rest of the selections from the Bunny Theater - you'll find Titanic, the Shining, Star Wars and the Rocky Horror Picture Show to name a few...

Check out the Amy's diary link if you were a little girl in the 70's - they are her best friend's diary entries from 1977, which she illustrated & got her friends to read aloud. I'm also a big fan of pigeon cam.

These are all one-woman productions by cartoonist Jennifer Shiman, with the voices (and music) read (and hummed ) by her & her friends.

T.G.I.F. - and a holiday weekend to boot! Go have a good laugh!

From students to musicians...

I went my cousins' piano recital last night...their teacher was talking about those that had made the transition from student to musician & it really clicked. At some point they ceased to "practice" and started to play. Both of them sat down in the reception hall and played after the recital...they're really good.

All the time now - I look at them and go "when did this happen?" - they're so grown up. Amy turned 17 while I was in Provo, Meg will be 15 in July...

Amy's going to be a senior in high school !?! Doesn't seem possible since she was born the last week of my senior year in 1989 - how time flies...She is fluent in Spanish, learning Japanese is looking for a voice scholarship & wants to be a math major. {oof}

We cooked up a plan...they're going with us up to Matt's uncle's for Memorial Day family lawn mower races - they can't say I'm not exposing them to culture {lol}.

Pictures from Provo...

Well, I'm home from Provo & should be doing laundry, but had to get these pictures on my blog! What a great time...I had the most wonderful students and got to see all of my fabulous friends that I haven't seen since I had the stroke. It feels so good to be back teaching again, on the road & last but not least really, totaly healthy...

If you were at CKU or in my pictures, please post...I want to hear from you. Enjoy!

Back row: Michelle (Lil' Davis), "Rox" Roxanne (Scenic Route), Becky (Junkitz), me, Teresa (Junkitz) Front row: Anita (CK), Debby (Anna Griffin), Marjie (Hot off the Press), Annette (Junkitz)

left: with my "sweet friend", Tracy White right: with my Paper Crafts hero, Stacy Croninger

left: with Kristi from Cropper Hopper right Back to Front: Kristi (Cropper Hopper), the Stephanies (Advantus), me, Ashley (Magic Scraps) & Kate

left: with "Tasha", my friend (Natasha, founder of QuicKutz) right: with Tasha & her husband Mark

left: with one of my favorite people - Teresa Collins! right: nobody told me this was the funny face photo...

left: me & Teresa with Elsie Flannigan right: having fun in my Fastener Fabulous class

left: my Tropical Paradise class right: OK - there was an incident in the bathroom across from the Tailgate Party...Patricia (pictured) really cut her finger badly in the restroom stall door lock (ouch)...I put a bandaid on her and whipped out the camera to distract her from the pain...it's amazing how a camera can inspire an instant smile from a scrapbooker, no matter what...so - yes, this is a picture from the bathrooms at CKU

left: I HAD A GUY IN MY CLASS!!! THIS IS WARREN! right: Warren's wife wanted me to get a picture of him in my pink flowers and I gave him a hug for being such a good sport...left: with Ashley & Kate right: great TA's - April & Hollyleft: with devoted students Beth & Claudia (this was Claudia's 16th CKU!) right: there were even scrappers on the plane!!!! new friends from across the aisle on my flight home

More scrapbooking & catching up on my life...

I am noticing a trend here...I'm not talking about my life, just showing what I've been working on.

Well, things have been prety predictable around here...Matt's doing much better. He built the foundation for his new lawn-mower-mecca-shed with our neighbor, Cecil this weekend. I saw my dad, stepmom & Nancy for Mother's day - brunch @ IHOP (stuffed french toast) & an afternoon showing of Poseidon. I made Sharon the necklace below for mother's day. I went out to the cemetery to visit my mom...

Getting ready to go to Provo for CKU. Hopefully on the way in we can stop at Big City Soup for lunch before we leave SLC. It's one of my favorite places...

Here's the text for the Lindbergh layout...I just love this story: As a young bride, my grandmother, Alma Louise, joined her husband in the new aviation industry by becoming a stewardess for Mid-Continental Airlines. One day early in 1941, she was running through the St. Louis airport at top speed with her head down, desperate to catch her flight. She remembered running into a man's chest {he was very tall compared to her tiny 5'1' frame}, hitting him with enough force that she was knocked backwards onto her bottom. From the ground she looked up into the face of "the most famous and handsome man I could think of", Charles Lindbergh. He leaned down and offered his hand and said, "Are you all right? May I help you?". She took his hand, too awestruck to speak. She just stared at him. He smiled, nodded and went on his way through the terminal. She couldn't speak. She couldn't move. She just literally ran into Charles Lindbergh and couldn't even muster a "Hello, sir" or "thank you" - she was mortified. She realized that her story would be "one day I ran into Charles Lindbergh, I was the clumsy girl who couldn't speak". Whenever she told me about that day she would still smile and blush slightly.

Well, here's the layout info: Blue Cardigan Shakspeare Paper: Stratford, Shakespeare Alphabet Circle Coasters; Shakespeare Photo Corner Coasters; Gin-X Oda Mae Black; Gin-X College Black; Paper House Die Cut {vintage plane}; Jolee's by You {english pound}; Image Rub-Ons: Creative Imaginations & 7 Gypsies; Vintage Jewelry Pin Replica {source unknown}; Heidi Swapp photo corners; Magic Scraps transparency; font: CK Newsprint; Ranger cut & dry foam; Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Faded Jeans, Black Soot, Vintage Photo.

In memory of my "mother"...

I created this layout to honor my "mom" for mother's day...My grandmother raised me since I was a baby and it's still hard sometimes to accept that she's gone. I remember all the memories she shared and I am dedicated to re-telling her story and preserving her memory.
Alma Louise Cordonier Hargis
May 26, 1918 - October 15, 2003

I am very lucky to be blessed with a dynamite stepmom (Sharon) who's been married to my dad for an impressive 26 (or maybe 27?) years now. And thanks to Matt I have a nifty scrapbooking, quilting mother-in-law. Oops....I haven't made their cards yet...

Well, I guess I got the "bug" today - I rushed home to create this page. I handmade the memory board border...the rest includes: Blue Cardigan Designs Bloom papers:Seed Packet, Gladys' Garden, Strawberry Trellis, Hedge Row; Bloom Coaster Buckles (trimmed); Bloom Cotton Tabs; Bloom Cotton Art Tape; Gin-X Brown Oda Mae Rub-ons; Brown zig pen; MM "Defined" Memories Mini Stickers; Junkitz Long Brads; Ribbon & corsage pin unknown; SEI Granny's Kitchen Doilies; Heidi Swapp Photo Corners; Mrs. Grossman Scalloped Lace Border Sticker; Avery shipping tag & jewelry tag; Ranger cut & dry foam; Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Tattered Rose, Old Paper, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo.

Another layout from last weekend...

Well, here's another layout from my weekend of scrapbooking. This is my cousin Meg...when I talk to both my cousins, it's easy to forget they're only teenagers - I think of them as my friends. At the same time it just seems like they were born yesterday...it's complicated. They make me feel older & younger at the same time.

This layout uses: Bazzill cardstock, Gin-X Treasure Hunt papers – Bag of Jewels, Rocky Road, Treasure Hunt Cotton Art Tape & Cotton Art Tabs, Alphabet Coasters – Molly, Flower Coasters, Gin-X Rub-ons – Natalie & Maggie, Heidi Swapp Ghost Letters – Sea Lemonade Stand, Magic Scraps Mini Fasteners, Alphabet Stamps – Ransom by Plaid, Tiny Carnival by Hero Arts (discontinued) & unknown, Dauber Duos (pigment ink) blue/lavender, Splendor Ink (pigment) orange, StazOn azure & midnight blue.

Taking the time to create...

A clean studio really encourages me to create...I finally got around to telling the story on this fabulous old photo of my grandmother.

This layout features: *Blue Cardigan Designs' Ever After Papers - Once Upon a Time, Royal Tapestry, A Royal Decree, Ever After Cotton Art Tape, Cotton Art Tabs, Coaster Circles & Coaster Photo Corners, Gin-X Oda Mae black rub-ons, Heidi Swapp Cotton Candy Schitzophrenic letters, Magic Scraps transparency, ribbon & jewels (source unknown), font - Kathleenie, Hero Arts Manuscript stamp, Ranger's Glossy Accents glue, Cut & Dry foam, Inks (all from Ranger): archival waterproof black ink, distress inks - vintage photo, old paper, black soot, & weathered wood.

My friend Martha came over Saturday & Sunday to celebrate National Scrapbook Day - it was great to scrap and just hang out, however...
We did have quite a bit of drama. Matt started complaining of chest pains & shortness of breath Saturday and spent most of the afternoon in denial. He finally agreed to go to the emergency room that evening. They ran a lot of tests (including two needle jabs & he is a huge needle-phobe) - anyway, turns out he has "muscular pain of unknown origin" - i.e. he pulled something doing something else and now the muscle attaching to the sternum (above the heart) is inflamed and painful - burning sensation, hurts to breathe, the whole nine yards. But definitely not cardiac or lung related (thank God). Bless his heart, he's absolutely miserable. He insisted Martha still come on Sunday so we could scrapbook (yes - I married an angel). He has anti-inflamatories & pain pills now, but they don't do much good. It's just going to take some time.

I'm pretty sure he pulled it moving in the new mattress we got that morning, but he doesn't think so. By the way, the mattress is heavenly ....aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh ......zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

*notice a lot of Imagination Project products on this layout? That's no coincidence, I joined their design team about two weeks ago!

Loving the blog buttons...

I recently found "blog buttons" and I've been trying to add them to my blog ever since. They are just a glorified link (they give you the code for your template) - but they sure are pretty. I am waiting to find out why the ones that I added have a square around them, but hopefully that will soon be fixed! Click on the "blog buttons" button to get your own...they have free ones or you can custom design one ($1 to $3).

My 15 minutes of being organized...

I don't know if I'm relieved or appauled...I finished organizing my home studio...had to document it because it's been such a process & because it probably won't last 'til tomorrow...

Geesh...I have a lot of fabulous junk. I could probably scrapbook through nuclear winter based on the quantity of stuff I've amassed. Now I'm ready for a weekend of cropping & working on IP projects...

For those of you who will ask...on the wall that is my hat stuffed into the face vase. It was a phase & kind of a joke (I'll probably never be able to part with my stupid horned hat)...