Riding Around the Ranch

I overheard the following conversation between Dani and a baby goat while Pops and I took all four of the grandkids for a ride around the ranch...aka Gran and Grandad's house.

Dani: "Bye, goat!"
Goat: "Baaa!!"
Dani: "Don't step on a cactus!!"
No response from the goat.

Dani: "BE CAREFUL!!!"

Wanna take a guess at what I had told her and Jadon when they got out of the buggy to pet the goats? Maybe Num-O needs to chill...oh yeah, by the way, when we left for the ride it was 104 in the shade...chill indeed!

Curve Balls & Drum Beats

This post is dedicated to my middle child, my second son, my Cody. I woke up this morning and before getting out of bed, I looked at JT and said, "I wonder what mischief will befall us this day?" (We have been watching Poirot and Miss Marple...[insert appropriate accent here] a spot of British mysteries lately). Anyway, lately it seems there is quite a bit of mischief befalling us and yesterday's mischief basket was overflowing.

I pulled into the driveway after finishing my morning walk and saw Cody's car. Immediately both apprehension and happiness flowed through me. I love it when Cody drops in but at the same time it means there will be lots noogies, wedgies, hynie swats, scare-Mom-to-death yells, air boxing centimeters from my nose...I could go on but you get the picture. I love Cody visits but a part of me (the worn out part) is happy to see him go.

Within minutes of greeting him, he drops a bombshell (pun intended)...our 25 year old son has enlisted in the Air Force. We thought he had settled in to a life of graphic artistry. We thought wrong. We forgot that our Cody has always been great at throwing curve balls and marching to different drum beats.

We are proud. You will serve your country well. March well, Code, and throw hard.

Note to Self

Why is it so easy to forget lessons we have learned and vowed to never forget? I absolutely had to stop and make this layout. Click on the image below for a larger view.

Scrapbook on the Road

A couple of weeks ago I purchased Ali Edwards' Scrapbook on the Road class determined to get something ready to take with me to capture life as it happened on my cruise. Before that I had bought "Remains of the Day - a shabby journal of scraps", a self-paced class taught by Mary Ann Moss. After looking at the video, I decided it would be much more time-intensive to get it ready by May 1 (sail date...WooHoo!!) so I turned to Ali. You can always count on Ali for quick but cool things and this little class was no exception. Yesterday I finished my travel journal and thought I would post it for y'all to see. I didn't buy a single thing while putting this together! Every bit of it came out of my paper scrapping stash (which, by the way, is huge!).

The base for the album is a sheer five-ring tab book by Maya Road. 

I love this paper...the swirls and ledger lines and the words "laugh" and "savor". Great words for a life motto.

I have no idea where I got this "for you information" block but isn't it great?

Can't wait to see what will end up in this envelope.

The delight arrow started out as a little house tag.  I cut off the chimney and, voila!, an arrow. The blue page behind it is leftover packaging from some stickers I had.

 

 

Love this idea of Ali's...painting over stickers. It's a great way to use up old stickers of any color. These were hot pink and lime green. It makes a great embossed tag.

I am so looking forward to filling this with journaling on the spot and with bits and pieces of the places I visit. Have to make sure I buy a little stapler before I leave and pack my glue sticks, pens and extra paper clips.

I think the best thing about this scrapbook is that it will basically be finished by the time I get back. All I will have to do is print off some 4x6 pictures. I have been on several cruises and don't have a single finished scrapbook of any of them...just random pages here and there. So, So, SO excited about this travel journal!!!

IPad Drool

Yesterday JT (my sweet husband) and I spent some time at Best Buy looking at the new color Nooks and ended up at the IPad2 display (SERIOUS drool going on here). I would really like to have one but...

1) how much would I use it after the "new" wore off?
2) I'm really not much of a gamer...unless playing a fairly mean game of Tetris qualifies me
3) It's a lot bigger than a Nook
4) How much time will it take away from my design efforts?
5) How many true crime tv shows will I have to give up to "pay" for the time I'm spending on my IPad2?

These are all serious questions/observations and I haven't even talked about money yet!! We decided to shelve the decision for the time being and went to Dairy Queen...I also love Turtle Waffle Bowls.