National Day of Prayer

Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. This event was all started back in 1952, signed into effect by President Truman. It's purpose is to invite all Christian churches to host a day of prayer and/or fasting and invite Christians to pray for the nation, it's leaders and our communities.

Tonight our church is observing the National day of Prayer by holding a special prayer service followed by a balloon release. I am speaking on the topic of personal requests for prayer. My main points will be that we are told to pray for one another, and share each other's burdens. I am recounting the cool story in Acts Chapter 12 where Peter is met by an angel of God and released from prison while the church prayed for him. Also in Malachai 3:16 and Hebrews 10:24, we are told to seek God together, and spur one another on. Yup. Sounds like we better get to praying for one another to me!

Many people are facing a difficult decision in this upcoming election. I myself and not entirely sure who I will vote for. Please join with me in prayer, asking for guidance when it comes to casting your vote. Voting is a privilege, and we should not do it lightly or flippantly. We all need to come together and pray for the right candidate to be elected, and that he will be a good leader for us all.

Packing stuff............

Ok, as the trip draws near.... JUST 4 MORE DAYS LADIES!!!!!!!!........I am beginning to pack. I have decided that all tools need to fit in my black bag. All of my embellishment cases will fit in the big bag I bought at the Trash to Treasure sale in Jacksonville. I am planning on making a BUTT LOAD of page kits, coordinating my pics with papers, to take along. If I don't get them all scrapped, then I will at least have a head start the next time I set out to scrap. I have printed out my pics from all recent events, and I am trying some new ideas with using wallet size photos to support the one 4x6 photo so I can get more pics on a single page. Has anyone tried this? How did it work out for you? I say all recent events....I hope someone will bring some of the pics from my birthday!!!! All those cameras in my face...and I have not seen a single picture yet!

I bought these 2 13x13" cases from Michaels, they are plastic with a hinged lid, about 4 inches deep. I am planning to lay pics and papers in them, separated by thin chipboard. I thought of using the big ziploc bags, but funds are limited and they are pretty pricey so I am going with what I have. I also have two of those 10 compartment according file thingies that hold 12x12 papers, so I will load those as well. Now...let's see....I have my folding table, my desk lamp, an extension cord, camera, gifts for the girls, snacks, food for the one meal I am preparing, chocolate, clothes, toiletries, DVDs, MP3 player, first aid kit (have you ever traveled with me????) idea books, cell phone....am I forgetting anything? I am so glad our church is letting us use the big trailer to haul all of our stuff in because we will be LOADED to say the least!!!! LOVE IT!

What a mess!!!!!!!

I am soooooo excited about our scrapbook retreat next weekend! April, Amanda, Sandra and I are leaving Friday to go on a GIRLS ONLY scrap retreat in a cabin in the woods. It is sort of a graduation thing for our cell group and we have been planning since January. The countdown has been loooooong, but look....only 5 stinkin' days left ladies!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!

So, I have been shopping. I have been to stores all over Atlanta and in Jacksonville too. I have ordered stuff online. I have been adding all of this to the top of my scrap desk, in precarious heaps to say the least. The most recent addition of stuff from Amanda's house nearly collapsed my super sturdy desk. It is my plan to pack Monday, making page kits to take with me. But until then....YIKES!

I think I need an intervention.....a Cheeto intervention.......

Project time

Marissa had a great project for Social Studies. She had to do a small scale model of "The Candy Bomber" from World War II. Anyone who knows much about me knows that I only passed history by cheating off of my best pal's paper. She was one of those aggravating people who could come into class and I would ask "Are you ready for the test?" and she would look at me all blinky eyed and say "Test??? What test?" Then we would take the test, she would get 100 and I would pass by the skin of my teeth. Ok, I didn't cheat on every test, just the really big ones. :) Now you all know what a wonderful example I am for my child. I am sure I won some pretty big points in your eyes for this startling revelation.

Anyway, while helping her with research, I learned that after the building of the Berlin Wall, Army peeps were airlifting in food and medical supplies to the people there. Well, this guy (who had to be a cool dude) decided that he would use his place to drop packages of candy to the children in Berlin. (I personally would have LOVED him......I like how he thinks. Food, medicine, and CANDY!!!!!!!!!!) Wonder if he could airlift me in some scrapbook supplies, seeing how I am on a personal boycott of the new scrapbook store in Savannah??? Nah....it's more fun to drive to Jax!!!!!

So, since her Dad was home this week, we had his help with this. Actually, since I end up doing most of the back up work on projects for the past 6 years, I practically turned this one over in it's entirety to Daddy. :)

So, here they are, making the project. Keep in mind that NO MODEL KITS could be used. Everything had to be handmade. I think it turned out great!!!!

A Very Pleasant Surprise!

A few months ago, I went online to the website www.pagemaps.com, which I go to frequently when I get stumped for a layout idea on a scrapbook page. I have a problem adapting the snazzy color layout pages I see in magazines to fit my photos, so the black and white sketches on page maps work really well for me! I even get each month's new sketches emailed to me so I can print them out and put them in a binder for easy reference. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw that the creator of Page Maps, Becky Fleck, had produced a book of sketches that was available at www.amazon.com. I scampered over to Amazon as fast as my chubby fingers would type it in and hit enter. I located the book, and found that there was even a two-fer being offered. My precious and much desired book was being sold in a two pack with a book about organizing your scrapbook materials. By ordering both, you got a discount plus free shipping so I figured why not??? I happily ordered, thinking how wonderful these would be to have at my upcoming retreat (just 9 days away now.....) and waited for my printed out receipt. The I noticed something. The book was not set for release until MAY 5?????? SO, add shipping to that, and I wouldn't get it until a week AFTER I was home from the retreat???? WHAT?????? I was distressed. I really was. I was terribly disappointed. But I accepted my fate to go on the retreat book-less. :(

Then, a little ray of sun shone through last week. I got an email saying that my shipment from Amazon would be ready to ship in just a few days. With an estimated delivery date of April 23, I was excited that my book may indeed be going on my trip with me! Then a sinking feeling hit deep in my tummy.......what if they only sent the organizing book and not the Page Maps book? What good would a book for organizing do me while I scrap away in a cabin???? Sigh....

Then.....more sunshine. Yesterday I came home and found a box on my porch. It was from Amazon. Dare I hope???? I rip into the box and I was so excited to find BOTH books had come! And they were delivered on my birthday even! Oh happy day!!!!

The really cool thing about this book is that in the back is a set of laminated punch out cards that show the sketch on one side, and an example of a completed layout on the other. My heart is skipping with joy!!!!!!! It's a good day Tater.....

My birthday and other crazy happenings.......

WOW it has been a crazy few days! Let's see......ok, Thursday night April's kid broke her collarbone. Much drama there. Friday Jamie came home and Marissa had a half day at school so we went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate the GREAT report card! Yes, my child brought that math grade up to a 91 so she is back on HIGH HONOR ROLL!!!!!!!! WOO HOO! She worked so hard and we are very proud of her! We piddled in Savannah all afternoon, and ate at Piccadilly in Ogelthorpe Mall for dinner. They have completely remodeled. It is very nice and clean inside. I just love their carrot souffle and mac and cheese. YUM!

Saturday morning we had Angel Food at Church, and sadly, it is our last month to serve for a while. We are taking a little break from that ministry. That was hard for me because it was my BABY, you know. But, everything has a season. It was decided through much prayer and discussion that it was time to step back. Not saying we will not do it again in the future, but for now, it is time to step back. And we also learned something....the new CHEETO record for April is 15. Yep. 15 puffed cheetos in her mouth at one time. WHO KNEW????? Saturday evening we had my birthday party at Lovezzolla's with our friends. I had a yummy calzone and salad. Jamie had a stromboli and salad, and Riss had spaghetti and salad. I also munched a slice of pizza from Pastor Leonard's pie. TASTY stuff indeed! And the loot! Oh my goodness! I was overwhelmed! Gift certificates to restaurants, clothes, shoes, jewelry, makeup, scrapbook supplies, a new Bible from my hunny, a beautiful plaque for my garden, inspirational books, and chocolate. What more could a girl want? I was also rewarded for being such a good little girl all year (no wait, that is Christmas time....)with a cake from CAKE CORNER!!!!! It was soooo yummy! Simply the best cake ever! It was so cool to spend time with my pals and laugh so hard!

Sunday we had a powerful worship service at Church and then went to El Potro's to eat. Are you noticing a trend here?????? We eat A LOT! About half the church went with us, and thankfully NO ONE mentioned my birthday so there was no singing man in a sombrero and no mariachi band. Just good food and lots more laughs. Sunday night April and her family came over to eat. We grilled steak and chicken, and had veggies and salad. The kids all played so good together.

Yesterday was my actual birthday, and Brenda took me to brunch at Cracker Barrel. It was really good! (See? More eating....) Last night we had dinner with my parents and my brother in law, who happened to be in town visiting his kids, at Red Lobster. More good food, more presents, and this time, there was singing and chocolate cake. WHEW! I don't know when I can eat again! It was wonderful!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special!!!!!!!!

Ok, It is official.

I thought I became an official scrapper the day April picked sticker bits out of my hair in Church. Or the day I found a glue dot stuck on the top of my foot. Or the day I announced I was totally rearranging the rooms in the house so I could have a bigger scrap space. Or the day I drove all the way to Duluth looking for a scrap shop in Decatur! Sigh........it's bad, very bad.

I have decided though that I was not an official scrapper until last night. Last night, during my deep slumber, happy that Jamie was coming home this morning and happy I had found my phone and thrilled that my retarded cat Julio was not sleeping ON MY HEAD as usual, I had a dream. A most delicious dream.

I dreamed about the new Basic Grey like, Cupcake. Now, that was truly strange because I pre-ordered most of Boxer and purchased Archaic in Atlanta for Fernbank Museum of Natural History pages, and when Manda and I went to Jax I snared some of the Sugared line (Which I did not like online but I liked select patterns in person.....the cardstock stickers were what sold me on it actually)But I have not been attracted to the Cupcake line at all. Too kiddish. Too freaky babyish. Not Basic Grey enough. But last night....in my dream........it was beautiful. It was cute and the cupcakes were dancing. Yep. Dancing. And it was beautiful.

So am I an official scrapper? Or officially bonkers??????

It's home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally found my baby! I mean my phone.......
Ok, it went like this. I left out a few important details last night. One detail was that I knew the phone slid as I rounded the corner turning onto my street, but I was balancing driving, talking to my very excited child, and painstakingly attempting to prevent wearing two very cold frosty's because my car has no cup holders. (They fell off..long story) I also neglected to tell you that we had swept the car, yard and house, even the trash can, like 4 times before I blogged. Even found and used a flashlight. See? I could find the flashlight. That should count for something!!!!!
I am also sure you will be delighted to know that since I was already in my pj's before the search began, I am almost certain that my lovely neighbors saw a shocking sight as I spent quite a bit of time upside down with the flashlight searching every crook and cranny of my car. (Full moon over Pooler????)
Anyway, in desperation, after Riss went to bed, I searched one more time. I turned everything upside down in my car. which, if you have seen it, was a LOT. The good news is I found the phonebook and I threw out a whole bunch of trash. Finally, in one last moment of desperation.....I looked in Marissa's bookbag. It wasn't there. I was just about ready to give up when I said.....wait a minute....and I searched the bookbag again. THERE IT WAS!!!!!!!!! Buried deep amongst the umbrella, crayons, water bottle labels, Box Tops, soda can tabs, pencils, books, papers, a leftover juice box....shall I go on?
Anyway, my little silver baby Motorola is home. I am so happy! I feel liberated, although I suspect my phone may feel a bit violated!

It's for you.......

Ok this is so strange. I have misplaced my phone. I had it tonight, when we went to the PTA meeting. I turned it to silent so I wouldn't disturb the meeting. After leaving the school, I saw I had a missed call from Jamie so I called him back while we drove to Wendy's. I hung up to place our order (kids meal with chicken nuggets, fries and diet coke, mandarin chicken salad, one small chocolate frosty and one small vanilla frosty please) and picked up our food at window number 2. I got home, unloaded the car and settled down to watch the Martha Stewart show on DVR with Marissa. I reached for my phone, it wasn't there. We searched the car, we searched the house, just can't find it anywhere! How strange! So, for now, I have taken over Marissa's phone while we search. I hope I find it soon! I will keep you posted! Meanwhile, if you need me, just call Marissa's phone! :)

SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh, you just won't believe what I did Monday. I had the best idea over the weekend and I called up my buddy and partner in crime Amanda and we made plans to hop on down to Jacksonville to do a little scrapbook shopping. Since our scrapbook store in Savannah closed, my dear, dear, Savannah Scrapbooking....sniff sniff....how I miss you...and we have no store open here anymore.....I was in serious need of some fresh materials to play with. Especially since I have a retreat coming up for National Scrapbook Weekend. (Don't you love how I just made National Scrapbook Day into a whole weekend?????) I needed new toys!!!! SO.we made a little jaunt. Here is how our day went:
8:30am-made Marissa tuck n roll in the carpool line at school.
sped down 1-95 to the outlet mall
8:45am-squealed into parking lot of outlet mall on 2 wheels in the grannymobile, spied Amanda next to large black powerful manly truck
8:451/2am~climb into drivers seat of said manly truck....ahhhhh....feel the power baby. (Manda did not want to drive so what could I do but oblige????) hee hee
8:46am~squeal out of parking lot, southbound to Jax baby!
approx 10:00am~nearly laugh ourselves silly as Manda has to potty so bad and the next exit with decent facilities is MILES ahead. I had a thing about stopping at exits with only ONE place you know, just don't feel safe. Manda made a comment about this and I explained my reasoning. She said "Yeah, better avoid those exits. Might better take one that doesn't have one toothed derelicts hanging out". I reminded her this WAS south Georgia by the way, so we better hope for an exit with MINIMAL one tooth derelicts. She agrees, we stop. She pees. We grab drinks....GASP! No Coke Zero! I settle for a vitamin water and we scurry on.
10:45~approach 295 :)
11:15ish~arrive at MEGA SCRAPBOOK STORE...holy canoli this place is over 7,000 square feet!!!! WHEEEEEEEE!
11:16 blast through doors into scrap mega world.....find they are having a great yard sale thing like we did at Savannah Scrapbooking (I teared up a lil) and we learn that because this is the last day of the garage sale everything left is HALF PRICE!!!! Let the shopping begin....
Ok, so I had my list of things I wanted. I got the Basic Grey Archaic line for my Fernback pages, and found myself decidedly disappointed in the new Tinkering Ink Provincial fare line. Search for new girlie Moxxie, they don't have it. Don't have K and Co Wild Saffron. Don't have Passover paper, but I did grab some cool Hannukah paper for April. Also found her some adoption embellies. Grabbed Basic Grey Boxer line for Sandra, snatched up some goodies for me, including but not limited to, the Basic Grey rub on tool. I tell ya, that thing makes rub ons go on like buttah!
I wait patiently as Amanda buys out the store. I pull the truck up so we can load her purchases in. We load, and discover it is nearly 1:00 and we are hungry!
We pile into the KFC and munch down chicken and biscuits. Note: the new grilled KFC is NASTY! Now, being a self respecting big ole Southern girl, I of course ordered the extra crispy KFC but Manda got the healthy grilled version. (She woulda got some salad and steamed asparagus too if they had it. That's why she is so doggone skinny!)
1:30~leave KFC and go to Hobby Lobby, where Amanda finds wedding goodies all at half price and we are both disappointed in the clearance section. I buy 4 sheets of paper and the Faithbooking book I have wanted with the 40% off coupon and after she buys a buggy full we leave.
3:00~squeal into the parking lot of second store, called Pictures In Time in Orange Park. OOO la la! Now this is my kind of store. Very updated products, but small enough that you can find yourself. Not overwhelming like the previous store, which, did I mention, was very snooty???? Anyway, we find great deals there. Manda purchases and fills a frequent shopper card (LOL) and I find some goodies including some Disney paper I have never seen.
5:00~we head to third scrap shop, called Scrap N Stuff.. It is medium sized, lots of cool stuff, including the Wild Saffron line. I buy it. I love it. Manda shops on...
6:15~hunger sets in, and we leave. The store owner is smiling. :) She has offered to set up a class and promises a whopping discount if we bring back the scrapbook cell group to shop. LOVE THIS PLACE!
We follow store owner Pam's advice and head to the Italian place next door for eats. We get the Early Bird dinner menu. It is Florida right? LOL We happily much salad, tasty garlic puffy rolls, and I had manicotti. Manda got chicken parmesan. We split the BEST CREME BRULEE IN THE FREE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!! We leave, all swole up.
7:15~head back up 95...happy, giggling and nearly giddy with all the goodness we experienced that day. It was DA BOMB DIGGITY! Gotta do it again. I love ya Manda....Tearing up here......

Fernbank Museum of Natural History

One of the sites included on our City Pass was the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. They had various areas displaying GA history, cultural and religious history, dinosaur exhibits, and a featured exhibit of animals that can see in the dark. We learned about owls, moles, bats, cats, and other amazing animals. We even learned what makes their eyes glow in the dark! Of course, this was about two miles from my favorite scrapbook store, so we caught a cab and scurried on over for me to get some cool supplies. I even got some of the new Basic Grey Archaic line to use on the dinosaur pages! When my pals and I placed our pre-order for the new Basic Grey collections, I didn't even look too close at this line because ti looked so boyish, However, the dinosaurs and dirt stuff will be perfect for our Fernbank pages!

Underground Atlanta

We went to Underground Atlanta and enjoyed walking through the shops. We stopped in a candy kitchen and got some fudge and pralines.....yum yum yum! A little farther down and found a restaurant called Johnny Rockets, which was a 60's style diner with fabulous food! They had the cutest little jukeboxes on the tables and at each seat at the counter (where we sat) and you could play a song for a nickel. Marissa enjoyed that part! The food was excellent...I had a good old BLT and Jamie and Marissa had burgers. Nice hand patted thick burgers, in fact. We shared an order of cheese fries and onion rings, and we were very happy campers!

Atlanta Zoo

Although we had visited Zoo Atlanta about a year and half ago, we couldn't miss going back to see the Baby Panda, Mei Lan. She was so cute! Marissa and I are big fans of the pandas, so we were excited to see the baby for the first time. She started out at just 5 ounces but in her brief year and a half of life is already up to 100 lbs!

Being chauffered!

Well, ok, not actually in a limo or anything, but the MARTA system was pretty close! What a rockin' way to zip around! No traffic or parking concerns, and NO GETTING LOST! These pics are (top to bottom) us on the city bus, Rissa and me on the city train, and Jamie and Rissa getting into Rissa's first ever cab to ride a few blocks to the scrapbook store. (We couldn't find the bus, but found the train for getting back) Since Marissa has always wanted to ride a city bus, she was happy to be indoctrinated into all 3 forms of city transportation in one week!

GA Aquarium

The whole time we were there, I just kept thinking how amazed I was that GEORGIA had something this nice! It was beautiful!

The *NEW* World Of Coke

We are home! :)

How was vacation? Glad you asked! It was an ADVENTURE to say the least! We left Savannah at 6:00am Monday morning and flew into Atlanta. The connecting flight was full. So was the next one. And the next one. And the next one. So....we consulted with a friendly helpful Delta agent who told us that there were people in the airport that had been trying to get out of Atlanta since FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe that???? So what does our family do when we are handed a bunch of lemons??????

We made lemonade!!!!

That's right! We spent our spring break vacation right in the middle of downtown Atlanta! We got a hotel at the airport, bought passes for unlimited rides on the MARTA transportation service, and settled in. We got the City Pass to go to some great places. If you have never gotten a City Pass, go to www.citypass.com and check it out! For one great low price you get admission to six area attractions, and in some cases, such as when we went to San Fransisco, city transportation is included. The great bonus is that you get head-of-the-line priveledges, which was FAB in cases like the San Fran Museum of Modern Art, where the admission line was over 2 BLOCKS long. We zipped right by like some VIPs and went right on in! SO, we went to......

Zoo Atlanta, GA Aquarium, The NEW World of Coca Cola, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Underground Atlanta, Hard Rock Cafe, Lenox square (some ooo la la shopping!!!) and of course, my fave scrapbook shop, Scrap Chic Boutique, in Decatur.

It was so wonderful! Although unplanned, it turned out to be a great vacation. Marissa really enjoyed the trip, and we did too. It's good to be home, but we had a BLAST!

IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited! We are hopping on a jet tomorrow morning at 6:00 and heading for St Louis! See ya when we get back!!!!

Busy busy busy me

OOOOOO I am excited! This Sunday night is the Passover dinner at our Church. April's parents are coming in from Flowery Branch (swear!) to do the dinner. April's dad is a Christian Jew and he travels around teaching people about Jewish traditions, customs and rituals at celebrations and how they all point to Jesus Christ as the one true Messiah. I had the honor of attending last year, and I have really looked forward to this years dinner!

The shopping is done, just still gotta find bowls for the matzo ball soup, and pick up the fruit. Decorating and cooking begin tomorrow. It is going to be so much fun!

Tonight I am hosting an elegant 3 course dinner party for April and her family. It will be very fancy. I have the table linens pressed, the china and crystal set, and the silver polished. I am serving a nice rack of lamb with rosemary and new potatoes with fresh steamed asparagus on the side. I sure hope they like it.

HA! Ok that was a late April Fool's joke....sorry, I couldn't help it. Actually they are all coming for dinner, but we are grilling hotdogs and hamburgers. I just couldn't resist the lamb thing. I almost said ham, but I figured you would catch on quicker to that.

Have a great weekend!

Grey skies are gonna clear up...

PUT ON A HAPPY FACE!!!!!
Looks like the weather has improved for Spring Break in St Louis. We are sticking with our original plan and heading out there for our vacation. We were almost set for San Fransisco, until we realized all the flights were very crowded and some are even overbooked, so we didn't have much of a chance of getting on since we fly standby. So...it's off to Missouri we go! It's as official as anything we do...almost a done deal...I hope it works out.
If any of you know of any more INSIDE activities for St Louis, please let me know...just in case!

GRRRRRR!

Growl....snort....grr!!!!!! There's a problem with our spring break trip. We have a room booked in St Louis and plane tickets. We even have a detailed list of things to see and coupons printed for area attractions. The problem you ask?????? The rain. That's right, it is supposed to rain ALL 4 DAYS we are there. One or maybe 2 days we could handle, we could find things inside to do. But the Arch? The Zoo? Botanical Gardens? The Paddleboat ride? Grant's Farm? Not so much fun in the pouring rain. So what to do?

Well, I started searching at www.weather.com to check the weather in other places we had discussed. Guess what? Just about every place except California is covered in rain ALL WEEK LONG. I was not thinking of a West Coast trip right now, but it looks like we may be headed out that way anyway. Most of you know I LOVE the West Coast...got pretty spoiled living there 6 years....so this is just KILLING me to have to consider going back LOL! Yeah right...I would LIVE THERE if it was practical right now. Maybe one day. But anyway, now our plans are up in the air. Please pray for us. We need to figure out what to do.....and quickly! :)