Exciting Stuff!!!

Last summer I had submitted layouts to this book, and they picked one up. The book was supposed to come out in December. I had finally decided that it wasn't going to happen, and that maybe my layout was lost. However, much to my surprise, this book came in the mail with my layout inside! (My layout was enclosed also:) The book is full of sketches, and then there are different layouts showing how different people interpreted them. It is pretty cool. I am looking forward to using it as a tool really soon:) I used the sketches last summer for submitting, and I loved all the results I came up with. I must say it was kind of a neat feeling to see my layout in print. It came on kind of a down day too, so that made it even better! Sorry for the sideways picture of the book, but I can't get it to post the right way for some reason. The pics are blurry too, I didn't realize that until I looked at them on my computer, so sorry about that as well!

Rachel and Rich are set to arrive at around 4:00 am. I am trying to stay up for a little while, then take a short nap, wake up when they get here, then nap again while they sleep. They left at around 11 this morning. She says lots of Red Bull and Diet Coke have been the key so far. I can't imagine that long of a drive!

Just a note...

to say hello. I hope everyone is doing well! I will say it again and again...I LOVE SUMMER!!! It is so nice to have time to just be...and not be going here and there and everywhere, just time to regroup and get things done and figured out. As this is my first summer alone, I was afraid I would have a hard time adjusting and filling my time, like maybe I wouldn't have a purpose. Was I ever wrong about that!!! I have had time to reflect and think about life and choices and all kinds of stuff. Some happy, some sad, and some just kind of in between. But when I was working, I didn't have time for all of that. I was just in a pure mode of survival. I had my mom, grandma, aunt, and ten year old cousin

here this weekend. They came on Thursday and left on Sunday afternoon. We had a really nice time. But I think everyone was really worn out. We went to Silver Dollar City on Friday, we went to the Landing on Saturday, and shopped on Sunday. It was a really nice time. I have pictures, but I haven't uploaded/edited them yet. I will get to that. I am posting a picture of my huge cactus that I loved when it bloomed! Unfortunately, those blooms are gone now, and we are back to just a cactus, but it is unbelievable how huge it became, and how pretty those yellow blooms were! I just wish it would do that all summer. Anyways, have a great day, and I will post more soon. I am preparing for Rachel and Rich. They are driving from Pennsylvania Thursday, and will be here Friday through July 5 or 6. I am super excited to see them and have them here with me!

New Layout...And Other Stuff Too!

I finished this layout last week. It is my Grandma June and Shelton. The pics are kind of blurry, but they will have to do.

This is Harley at the dock-doing her thing! She just runs around and chases fish. She occasionally jumps in after one. Then she swims for a long, long time. She will not get out of the water until she has gone underneath every slip on the dock. It is funny. She loves it down there!

This is a gift from my friend, Woody Woodpecker! I am so stinking tired of that little guy. I filled the holes-again with caulk this weekend to try to keep him away. We will see how it works out. I am getting ready to repaint too, and they say that should help to keep him away.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a wonderful Father's Day. I had planned to go to Oklahoma and surprise my dad, but found out he was on a fishing trip until Saturday night, so I stuck around here. My Mom, Grandma, and Aunt are supposed to be heading down here this next weekend, so I need to start getting ready for them. Have a wonderful week!

Rain, Rain...

GO AWAY!!! I really want to go outside and play:) I am so sick of all this rain. Is it ever going to stop???

I was trying to post a picture, but blogger is just too slow today, and I have GOT to go run errands! Have a great weekend! I'll post more later, and please rain, please, GO AWAY!!!

HELP!!!

I am trying to get my scrapbooks organized. How do you store your pages? I have always done an album for each year in chronological order, but that doesn't seem practical anymore. They get too huge. I am wanting to do an album each for my nieces and nephew so that they can have them when they graduate. So as I am pulling out my layouts from scrapbooks, I am left with blanks, and I just think I need to change it up. What do you do??? I am considering a friends album, family album, holidays album, etc. Has anyone done it like this? I am overwhelmed, and I can't believe how many pages I have, hundreds, literally to sort out.

I Scrapbooked:)

Thanks to Allison, I copied your title. But I was so excited to have scrapbooked something. I haven't done that in so long. I keep telling myself I haven't printed any pictures...Ha Ha! I have enough to last a lifetime without ever printing again. I had separated some out during the winter but never did anything with them. I love these pictures of Shelton. He looks so sweet in them. They are from last summer. I will be happy if I can get through some of the stacks of pics I have separated, then I want to get my albums redone. I need to redo them and put them in more of a logical order. I really like this layout considering I haven't scrapped in soooo long. I wasn't too happy with the journaling, but I just scrapped with no plan. So considering that, I think it turned out alright.

So far summer is off to a good start. I have actually had time to BE at my house. I have been spending so much time driving and chasing after things for the past 7 or 8 months, that there just hasn't been time to BE here. I must say it feels really, really good. The first day, I kind of felt lost, like I didn't know what to do with myself. But by Tuesday, I had a little routine together. Get up, eat something, walk for an hour, and just BE here. Angie came down on Wednesday, and we spent the day at the dock. It was so nice to have her here. We went and saw the movie Sex and the City. I was so glad to see it. I miss that show so much. It was good...not as good as I had hoped, but good nonetheless. I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and has an even better weekend! Happy Friday! Amy