God's Message

A friend sent this to me and I just wanted to share it.

7 Things

Found this on Michelles's blog Fluttering Butterflies.

7 things I want to do before I die:

* Move home to PA
* Travel to all of the states in the US.
* Figure out what I want to be when I grow up...
* Go to school for whatever it is I want to be when I grow up so I can do it when I move home to PA
* Watch my blessing Ian grow up and graduate high school/college
* Learn to get along with my mother
* Get completely caught up on my scrapbooking and stay there

7 Things I can't do:

* Eat properly (every time I try there's just something else tempting me)
* Exercise regulary (every time I start there's another excuse)
* Get regular sleep
* Get along with my mother (may seem mean but she's a very controlling person and several other things which would be a long blog post)
* Walk with my head up
* Have a clear mind (I'm normally scatterbrained)
* Stop apologizing for anything and everything, it's ingrained in my brain to do it...

7 things that attracted me to my spouse:

* The fact that he laughed with me as soon as we met
* His family and how important they are to him
* His sense of humour (although this can also be a downfall)
* His clear blue eyes
* He's an awesome dad!
* His outlook on life
* His ability to know when to let me alone

7 Things I say often:

* Anyhow...
* Awesome!
* I'm sorry.
* I don't feel good.
* Baby (to Ian who is now 6 this is awful)
* Um...
* Alrighty then...

7 Books I love:

* Left Behind series By Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins
* Left Behind: Prequel series By Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins
* Flutterby by Stephen Cosgrove (Actually any of the Serendipity books)
* Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
* Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews (any of the series really)
* The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (the series is awesome)
* In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner

7 Movies I could watch over and over again:

* Pretty Woman
* The Princess Bride
* Beaches
* Sixteen Candles
* Breakfast Club
* Pretty in Pink
* Any of the Star Wars movies (but this is mostly because Ian is in love with them)

7 People who I'm going to tag!
Anyone who would like to play along...

Had to edit to fix the books... sorry...

Also, Susan has played along.

Bad Blogger

OK, so I know I've been a bad blogger... and I'm sorry, my life has just been so crazy this last weekend and several days... I'll try to get better at at least checking in...

Wanted to share the news of my going away luncheon... my coworker and friend made this sign up for it... life this morning and yesterday since the news has gone out has been really spinning... a never ending reply to emails about why/where/when and people stopping by to see if all was OK... It's nice to know I'm loved...



TTFN
Pamela Lynn

Thirteen Weird Blogging Habits

I got this from Susan who got it from Jeana who had made up her very own meme to list 13 weird blogging things I do. Like Susan, I'm not sure I can list 13 things but I will sure try.

1. I like to try to be the first to welcome new Blogging Chicks.
2. To make sure I Welcome all the new chicks, I copy the list and paste it into MS Word.
3. I love comments, so I like to leave them for others in hopes of getting some of my own.
4. I love to play along in meme/games.
5. I have all the blogthings I've put in my random section of the side bar commented out, just in case... (I'm not sure of what the just in case is).
6. I've been working little bits at a time to get my own design done for the blog and I'm not even half done cause I can't dedicate enough time to it.
7. I read the blogs of people who have commented first.
8. After comments I read in random order of friends.
9. I consider those that write blogs I go to often to be friends.
10. I get worried if someone who posts regularly hasn't posted.
11. I will put things off to work on a post, especially if it's a meme/game.
12. I like to link-back to posts whenever I can and it doesn't worry me if that person doesn't do the same.
13. I talk about my *friends* in real life as if I've met them.

Play along if you can!

It's Official

I have a new job! Yahoo! This new job is actually my old job prior to become a USAF civilian employee, so I know the environment, the people and the job. And from my interview I apparently had done the job well, very well. The interviewer couldn't quite put a face with my name, so he asked around to try to jog his memory... and everyone he asked told him that if he had the chance to hire me back because I was very good at being detail oriented and a hard worker. Besides taking my breath away and then saying thank you, I didn't know what else to say. The interview today, really wasn't your typical interview, it was more of this is what you will be doing and do you feel comfortable because I really want to get you on this team. Also, it was a little strange because I will be working as a subcontractor to the person I interviewed with so it was a little bit about how he expected business regarding time cards/leave etc to work. Then I got to say hello to all the people who I'd worked with before and they were extremely glad to see me. :-)
As luck would have it, the program manager who would actually be hiring me for the subcontract was down today from Northern VA for a visit, so I got to meet him and the HR rep that I'd been working with. That was a nice chat, during our talks he needed to know where I was born for my clearance paperwork so of course I told him and he says I didn't grow up far from there and named the town... small world because the town he was born and raised in is where my parent also lived, I just happened to be born in a hospital a few towns away. Then the HR rep mentioned that she was born and raised in the town my husband was in when he and I met... Who knew three NJ people would meet in VA like this, years after we'd left the state?
For those that may have read about Jeffrey and my Five Year Plan, this is one of the first steps. If you are wondering why, it's because I'm going to be getting a very decent pay raise. This will allow us to pay off some debt from when I was furloughed a couple years back because a contract I was working on ended and also to save a good bit of money. Yahoo, the plan is already starting to move... I can't wait!
TTFN
Pamela Lynn

Which Pirates of the Caribbean character are you?

Which Pirates of the Caribbean character are you?

Busy Week

Why is it that anytime I volunteer for something, that week tends to get
busy with other things as well, even if my calendar was clear for that
week?

A month ago, I volunteered to coordinate the luncheon and going away
gifts for a co-worker. I did it for many reasons but mostly because of
the people that work with or near her I've known her the longest, she
was even my supervisor for four of my years in this building.
A week and a half ago, we ordered new furniture for the bedroom (pics
another time, because I haven't uploaded them yet) and it was to be
delivered yesterday.
A week ago, I arranged to have a job phone interview on Monday.
Then Sunday I got the start of an awful head cold.

The interview got timing got confused - the interviewer thought I still
worked for the main contractor so I couldn't apply legally without
permission to a sub-contractor and the HR person didn't get a hold of
him in time to clarify the situation.
The furniture was delivered fine yesterday with one exception, the knobs
are missing from the night table but this will be remedied (actually
they are ordering a complete new set to ensure the night table matches
both dressers). But the rest of the day was busy playing catch up.
Mostly it was for the luncheon, which right now I'm praying goes well,
because I had to run around yesterday and get menu selections from those
that had RSVP'd and hadn't sent menu selections. Which was awful 'cause
they treated me like their waitress.
At some point after 2 in the afternoon, the interview was rescheduled
for 4:30 that afternoon, more on this another time, like maybe after my
in person interview tomorrow.

So here I am at Wednesday already, the frame for one of the gifts did
not come with hardware, so I'm going to have to run it back up to the
hobby shop to get it fixed, the luncheon is at 11:30 and I'll be glad
when this day is done.

Almost Glad It's Monday

Well after this weekend I'm almost glad it's Monday and that I'm back to work.

Friday night after getting out of work, we went to dinner and then went to Sam's club to get our shopping done from there. Fortunately that only took a little while. Once we got home, I we had to unload the car and separate all the meats. Then I made cupcakes for Ian's soccer party the next day. Since I knew Saturday would be busy, I went to bed early.

Saturday was extremely busy. We got up early to go to Ian's soccer game at 9:30. Before we could leave, I had to run to Walgreens because I had forgotten to get the coach a card for the kids to sign. While there I picked up some blue hairspray (the Cougar's team color) because I thought the kids would love it. While the kids were warming up, I had them ask their parents if it was OK to use it and all but one little boy got their hair sprayed, I felt bad cause his dad wasn't there to ask but I didn't want him to get in trouble for having it. Finally that dad showed up at half time and said it was fine. That extra little morale booster did an awesome job for the cougar's confidence during the game and man did they need it. The other team was rough, their coach was even rougher, and o-man I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley... The first quarter was good, no one scored on either team, it was like a tennis match - our defense would kick it out and their defense would kick it back. The second quarter was rough... the kid who played goalie for us really prefers to play forward so two times when he was out of the goal the other team scored. Jeffrey had to leave to pick up pizzas before the third quarter and missed Ian in goal. He did an awesome job! The one mom knew I was nervous because Ian will sometimes freeze when he's nervous, and it was just that type of game. So she went out and encouraged Ian and told him he could do it (even bribed him with some lollipops). Well that must have worked because Ian did the best job at goalie that he's ever done before - he didn't care who was after the ball, he would just dive in and grab it! He stopped 3 goal attempts! I was so excited I didn't even take pictures 'cause I forgot the camera was in my hand. He even did an awesome job throwing the ball out to our forwards down the sideline. We scored three times in that quarter, so it was 3-2. The final quarter was kind of scary and got ugly, thankfully Ian was out. The other team had been pushing/pulling/tripping/elbowing the whole game, the ref won't call it unless it is blatant and the kid is hurt. Well the fourth quarter, one of our kids got hurt and ran off the field, so another guy went in. He'd been in all of two minutes and got elbowed really hard, so they let him come off to get a drink quick and his mom told him (loudly enough for the other coach to hear) if they're going to play ugly and push, just push them back. So the game resumed and that's exactly what happened. Then the scary other coach said to us, you best tell your kids (meaning the whole team) to stop pulling on shirts. And that mom said to her, just as soon as you tell your team to stop pushing/pulling/tripping/elbowing. Man it was scary and these are the 6-8 year olds... At any rate, it was like the ref's watch knew it was getting ugly because the quarter seemed to be over in no time after that (I really wonder if he forgot to pause it for the two time outs). So all the Cougar parents yelled way to go Cougars! Then the scary coach turned around and was like it's not like you won. Almost unanimously we reminded her that indeed we had 3-2. The look on her face was horrific when she realized they'd lost. I think she and the other team deserved to loose, like they'd needed that lesson. After the game was said and done we went to one of the picnic shelters for the party, coach couldn't even talk he was so proud of them.
Once we got home, I started cleaning the guest room and our bedroom because we are getting new furniture tomorrow and our old bed stuff was going to a family in need (the dressers are going to my nieces). So I needed to make room in the guest room for two extra dressers (until my sister can get here to pick them up) and I needed to get the bed taken apart. While I did that, Jeffrey mowed and took care of the gardens. Once my friend from work picked up the stuff that was going with him to the family in need, we went to do the Target and Farm Fresh shopping. After we were home for the night some friends came over to play board games (Elfenland and Settlers of Catan).

On Sunday, I woke up so congested I couldn't breathe (silly allergies). Then after I took a shower, the toilet overflowed and made a general mess. I was supposed to go to a birthday party and a candle home party but I had to cancel on both. So I could clean. Well using the bleach did nothing to help my sinuses. Also not helping the sinuses was the fact that Jeffrey decided to do a coat of paint in the bedroom since all the furniture was out and all the pictures were off the wall. Amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for a room. I ended up trying several different medicines to try and help the sinus pressure (throughout the day not all at once ;-) but they really weren't helping and as the day went on I lost my voice. I went to bed early because I had medicine head in the worst way. Jeffrey let me sleep in the bed with Ian (since we don't have any furniture in our room) and he took the couch.

This morning I got up and the shower helped a bit but I don't really have a voice. This will be interesting this afternoon because I have a phone interview at 4. Yikes. Any how, I'm glad the busy weekend is over, and so in that respect I'm glad it's Monday.

Saturday Photo Hunt - Flowers

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This photo was taken about a month ago when I went on a scrap booking beach retreat. It's the welcome sign to Sandbridge in Virginia Beach.

Layout: My Pumpkin

It's hard to say whether this title is because Ian is My Pumpkin or because Ian found his pumpkin and that's all he would say. Maybe the title should be My Pumpkin's Pumpkin???
Needed something to do to un-wind yesterday and I was able to finish this layout in 20 minutes to relax.

Layout: Rainy Day Play

Our house has a water run off ditch between it and the next house, also the slants in our driveway creat quite a nice lake whenever it rains. Ian was soaked head to toe but he was having fun so it didn't matter.

Layout: Spiky Hair Dude

For this hair cut, Ian told and showed the stylist exactly what he wanted done to his hair. He knew what he wanted and found it in the book all by himself.

Layout: Celebrate Birthdays

October is a busy month for birthdays in our family especially with all the cousins. This layout is actually for a couple of the parties we went to.
Left Hand Side:

Right Hand Side:

Layout: Soccer

This layout uses one of the Mystery Page ideas from ScrapShare to make the Pinwheel shape.
Left Hand Side:

Right Hand Side:

Blogging Chicks

The Blogging Chicks blogroll is getting very close to it's 100th blog.
The 100th blog will get a place of honor at the Blogging Chicks!
Go here to see how to join.

BloggerChicks

I've added a new blogroll to my sidebar.
Click here to join BloggerChicks!
TTFN~Pamela Lynn

Steal This Post Thursday Meme

Got this from Michele, who got it from Ethel who got it from someone else...

Go to Wikipedia and do a search for your birthday (day and month only, exclude the year).
Post three facts, two births and one death on your blog including the years.

So here are my results...

June 24

Events (decided to pick years that were important to me)
1974 - The UPC label is used for the first time to ring up purchases at a supermarket.
1995- The New Jersey Devils sweep the Detroit Red Wings in four games in the 1995 NHL Stanley Cup finals.
1999 - The guitar with which Eric Clapton recorded Layla is sold at auction for $497,500.

Births (kind of hard because I don't recognize any of the names)
1907 - Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet (d. 1989)
1927 - Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

Death (used the most recent)
2005 - Paul Winchell, American voice actor and ventriloquist (b. 1922)

ETA:
Melissa has now played along

Playing Along

Tag! I'm it! Susan tagged me for this so I'm playing along. ;)

What is your favorite word? Awesome. My 6yo has even picked up on it...

What is your least favorite word? Poop (had to leave this one Susan as Ian is at the stage where he things it's hilarious to make up songs only using that word or portions of it... Po-Poo-Poop... Plo-Plo... I guess it's cause he's a boy, who knows?

What turns you on spiritually, creatively, emotionally? Sprirtually - attending church on a regular basis (which we aren't good at doing because we haven't found a church where Jeffrey is happpy - funny since he's a pastor's son - which by the way also has a lot to do with wanting to move home). Creatively - Working on my scrapbooks especially when I get behind, it's odd but it's like that motivates me to get more done. Emotionally - I'd have to agree with Susan... especially lately I've been on a roller coaster ride lots of ups and downs... though most recently the whole five year plan thing has me feeling a little bit better.

What turns you off? Back stabbers

What's your favorite curse word? Um, extremely rarely curse if at all... my worst word is turkey butt and it's a term reserved for bad drivers.

What sound or noise do you love to hear? I love to here Ian's laughter or even his talking (as long as it isn't whining).

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? A masseuse.

What profession would you NOT like to do? Clean up poop (seeing a trend here - not at all... another one I had to leave from Susan's)

If Heaven exists (HELLO! What do you mean "IF"?), what would you like to hear God say at the pearly gates? Well done and Welcome. Then telling me where to find my Grandma. (I know that probably seems silly but I miss her.)

I tag - anyone who who would like to join in!

Useless Knowledge

Last night, after adding a shout out to welcome new chicks to the Blogging Chicks blogroll, I went downstairs to check on Jeffrey. He'd been downstairs in the den working on his discussion post for the week.
This weeks topic for the discussion question was to explain stocks and beta (didn't know what this was so Jeffrey had to explain it) to a Martian. So Jeffrey was trying to figure out how to add a picture of Marvin the Martian to his post. He understood that he couldn't just paste it in but wasn't sure how to link to one. He was also having problems finding one so I introduced him to Google's image search, where he actually found this image of Marvin from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and liked it better. So I told him to save it to the computer, upload it to my image event site so that he could put the image in his post... Now to do this I had him open three windows, to make it easier on myself in the explanation of what he had to do, one for Google, one for image event and one for the school post. Jeffrey couldn't believe I would go through that much trouble or had enough useless knowledge to do it... I don't think it's useless though or even troublesome, I mean it takes all of two minutes and only had three windows. So a little disappointed that he wasn't happy I could help, I went up to bed, I mean I've been wanting to help in any way I could this entire year that he's been working on his master's degree on-line. Oh well...
About half an hour later though when he was finished posting his discussion question answer he came up to say thanks, it worked and so-and-so thought it was funny. Maybe the knowledge wasn't so useless after all. ;-)

Five Year Plan

I didn't really blog about my mother's day but it was awesome! I woke up
late (9:30) and had breakfast with Ian while Jeffrey napped because he
had a sinus headache. Ian gave me my gift, two beautiful Precious
Moments figures (I love you this much and I picked you to love). Then
after we were ready we ran a couple errands, no rush no where to be.
Around 2 we came home and Jeffrey asked if I would call our neighbor to
watch Ian while we went mattress shopping. You see, we've had ours for
11 years and it wasn't all that great to begin with, so we need
something new. After checking a "discount" place and getting a quote of
1450, we decided to drive out to check Value City Furniture... We ended
up spending 750 on the mattress but we also bought a whole bedroom suite
for 700... So it was a good deal.
On our way to the various stores, Jeffrey and I had a wonderful talk. We
both knew the other wanted to move home to PA but never really discussed
when or how or specifically where. Well he started out by asking me when
do I think it could happen. And I told him when Ian is done at Gloria
Dei, which ends at fifth grade. And he said "Perfect, it fits into my
five year plan!" At first I was a little taken aback that he had a five
year plan and I knew nothing about it. But then I though awesome we have
a goal that we can work on together. Then we discussed little bits about
what I would do when we move home and other little details about how to
get there from here. We were really communicating, which is a really big
step for us. Yes we've been married for almost 11 years and we do talk
but this was different and definitely better.
We have a plan, things are looking awesome!
TTFN
Pamela Lynn

Mother's Day

This was passed on to me by a friend and I thought I would share for mother's day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a truly BEAUTIFUL piece please read this at a slow pace, digesting every word and in leisure...do not hurry...this is a treasure...

For those lucky to still be blessed with your Mom, this is beautiful.

For those of us who aren't, this is even more beautiful.

For those who are moms, you'll love this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long way?" she asked. And the guide said: "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."

But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle,
and the children said, "Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come."

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children,"A little patience and we are there."

So the children climbed, and when they reached the top they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you." And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars and said,"This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today, I 've given them strength."

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said: "Look up. Lift your eyes to the light." And the children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said, "This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And mother said, "I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."

And the children said, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates." And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot see her but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence......."

Your Mother is always with you.... She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well. Your Mother lives inside your laughter.
And she's crystallized in every tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you both apart. Not time, not space... not even death!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PASS THIS ON TO ALL THE MOTHERS & CHILDREN YOU KNOW.

MAY WE NEVER TAKE OUR MOTHERS FOR GRANTED...

Pass it on to the men too because they have mothers too....

Saturday Photo Hunt - Celebrate

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

After each soccer game the parents from both teams form a tunnel in the middle of the field to celebrate the kids good job during the game. Ian was pretty happy today because his team won 5 to nothing and he had blocked 3 goal attempts while he was goalie.

A, B, Cs Meme

Susan tagged anyone who had not done this yet and I thought it was cute so I'm playing along.

Accent: I'm originally from northern NJ and sound like I've lived there all my life when I'm visiting but I've now lived in VA for 12 years so I definetly have a bit of a southern twang.

Bible Book that I like: Don't really have a favorite yet, still learning.

Chore I don't care for: Cleaning the bathrooms... and it's the only thing my dh won't help with...

Dog or Cat: Cats

Essential Electronics: Cell phone, Laptop, Camera, Battery Charger...

Favorite Cologne: JLo Live

Gold or Silver: Silver, except that my dh didn't take that into consideration when he bought the engagement ring and wedding rings 12 years ago...

Handbag I Carry Most Often: Target handbag that is square and mainly beige with Olive, Burnt Orange and Eggplant colored fleur-di-lis...

Insomnia: Starting to wonder if it needs to fall under my next visit to discuss how to control my pain from the endometriosis...

Job Title: IT Specialist (APPSW) (that stands for applications software)...

Kids: Just my blessing Ian! :)

Living Arrangements: With husband, son and two cats.

Most Admirable Trait: I've been told I'm a good listener/sounding board.

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: Smoking at the age of 13... so glad I quit now.

Overnight Hospital Stays: When I had Ian 6 and a half years ago. Others have just been day surgeries.

Phobias: "S"s... s.n.a.k.e.s and s.p.i.d.e.r.s I spell them that way because I don't say them IRL either... usually I just say aaaaahhhh there's an S!

Quote: "But you know happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light."Albus Dumbledore - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Religion: I'm a Christian; have found over the years that I don't like denominations per se because so many I've seen become judging of those that aren't that particular one...

Siblings: 1 brother and 1 sister; both younger

Time I Wake Up: 5:15 I dislike being in others way of getting into the bathroom for showers etc so I make sure I'm up first.

Unusual Talent or Skill: None that I can think of.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Mushrooms (allergic), squash, eggplant, zuccini... um this could get long...

Worst Habit: Apologizing when it isn't even remotely my fault.

X-rays: Oh at least a couple dozen... let's just say I'm accident prone.

Yummy Stuff I Cook: I make good spaghetti sauce and real mac-n-cheese. Although my dh would say I'm good at the fake stuff too, he says it tastes better when I make the stuff in the box. Other than those few things, I'm not good at other things in the kitchen, I tend to burn things..

Zoo Animal I Like Most: The big cats.

I tag anyone who who would like to join in!

Random Things

I'm so glad it's Friday! It's been a long week here.

I'm also thankful because this is one of my three day weekends. (On the schedule I work I get every other Monday off, which is quite often a very good thing.)

Today is busy, several phone calls to make and a couple meetings. Then this evening, Ian has a soccer game, we are eating dinner with our neighbors and then I'm going scrapbooking for the rest of the evening.

I don't know how much I'll get done scrapping tonight as I won't get there until at least 7:30 and it ends at 11. Thankfully it is only at my neighbors house across the street. I may only bring pictures and pages and just use her tools for tonight, we'll see, it'll be easier that way though. I usually like to have my own things with me.

Not much news on my Mother in law, she's still in the hospital, they still aren't sure what caused it, she was able to eat some clear broth yesterday, they might start jello tomorrow, which means at the earliest she might come home on Monday.

Last night's Survivor episode was awesome, can't wait for the finale on Sunday. But also I'm going to have to figure out what to do because West Wings final episode is on at the same time. Why oh why?

Spoke Too Soon

Well yesterday's praise was a bit soon. Although another way to look at it is yes the surgery went but now my Mother in law is not doing well.

They, the surgeon and her gastroenterologist, aren't sure what is causing the problems this time. She's sick, can't hold anything down and has a fever. They aren't sure when she will be going home either. They have her on IV nutrition and pain medicine.

An odd thing also occured yesterday with Ian. While his Grandma was getting sick and not doing well at the hospital, he was acting out by talking and not paying attention at school. I feel bad for the teacher but I'm sure these two things are connected. Those two are like two peas in a pod. It's like his love for her told him she was not doing well. It's happened before. The last time she was in the hospital a few months ago, I had to take him to visit because he was so out of sorts about how she was doing. I don't know how else to explain it... she's sick/he acts out without even having been told that she wasn't doing well.

All I can do is pray that she gets better.

Praise

Thankfully my Mother-in-laws surgery went well. The damage was actually worse than they expected but they were able to remove a lot of scar tissue build up and put in a new shunt. She's recovering and hoping that she will be able to go home today.

Busy Weekend Away

Spent most of yesterday getting caught up from being away. It was a busy weekend but a lot of fun. We got to my in-laws house around 9:30 PM on Friday night, we made good time despite the fact that it was pouring rain for most of the drive up.
On Saturday morning, Jeffrey let me sleep in a bit while he went to breakfast with his dad and Ian was playing with Grandma. After I got up we went over to the church yard sale. Found some great things: a CM accessory bag ($2), several Serendipity books (Flutterby was unfortunately not one of them but I picked up 4 others for $1), a scooter ($5), a baseball and bat ($2), strike zone net(don't know the right term... you throw the ball at it and it bounces back, it has a strike zone laid out on it too for $10 it was a steal cause they are normally about $50) and several baby girl outfits for my neighbors granddaughter.
While Ian took a rest, mom and I went to Gettysburg Village Factory Stores, so I could find some shorts or Capri's for this summer. We had a good trip, some laughs while trying to find my size though because most of the stores with my size are for old ladies... the one even smelled like my nana does, it was hilarious because we both just turned around to walk out. I love that I get along with my mother-in-law so well. Saturday afternoon Ian, Grandma and I went to the community park in Thurmont, MD. They just replaced most of the equipment there. Ian had a lot of fun on the rock climb (pretending he was King of the world) and the merry-go-round. After dinner we went back to the outlets because Dad and Ian needed shoes and Jeffrey decided he needed some shorts too. Dad drove this time so I was able to get a picture that I've been wanting of the sign for the stores, it's very pretty and sits right on the highway, I was impressed that I caught this picture pretty well through the back window while we were going 70 miles an hour.
Sunday morning we went to church. During the children's sermon Ian would not get a cross painted on his face until after Dad did, it was sweet. Then we went to Mountain Gate (a favorite family style buffet restaurant) for lunch. After lunch Dad went to a bowling fund raiser for the Boys and Girls club. So while we waited for him to get back, Jeffrey rested for the drive home and Mom, Ian and I went to two other parks. The first park is at a new Welcome to MD rest area that just opened up about 10 minutes north of my in-laws on route 15. Ian had fun on this ladder and the view of the mountains was great. After about an hour there, we went over the covered bridge to Loys Station Park. The bridge was restored in 1994 and it's a one lane bridge over the creek. Ian likes to go down under the bridge to watch the cars cross, Mom took this picture of us from the other side of the creek.
Ian likes the monkey bars at Loys Station better than the other parks because if he falls he isn't too high off the ground. So he does a lot better on them because he isn't worried about that.
When we went to leave Ian left one of his favorite "geeks" (blankets) for Grandma to bring to the hospital with her. It brought tears to her eyes and was very sweet. That was about the only mention the entire weekend of Mom's upcoming trip to the hospital, thankfully the weekend was stress free and relaxing.

Saturday Photo Hunt - Open

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code. Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

This week I signed up to be part of a new (new to me) blogroll for this photo hunt. I thought it was a cool idea and it would help me to remember to post on Saturdays. Well unfortunately, the same week I sign up, I have to go out of town for the weekend and won't have web access, so I'm posting this as late as I can on Friday evening before we leave.
Here is my photo... the same day I signed up to be a part of this the Iris on the shady side, of the flower bed around the oak tree in my front yard, finally opened up. How perfect for the "Open" theme.

Prayer Request for My Mother In Law

My MIL has pancreatitus from a birth defect. They can do surgery to help but have to repeat it every few years because scar tissue grows back over what they've done to correct the problem. Well recently her numbers have gotten extremely worse than they've been before and they are going to modify the surgery a bit to see if they can make a drastic difference. One of the things requires that she be completely under with the anesthesia, previously she's only had a local anesthetic.
She was supposed to come this weekend to watch Ian for us before her surgery on Tuesday but is not feeling up to it. Also, she's a bit nervous and would like to see her only grandchild before she goes into the hospital. I think part of it has to do with the fact that the last time she went in, Ian got upset and had to see that Grandma was OK and some is fear of being completely under and some is fear of this unknown part of the surgery.
So we canceled our plans that we could go be with her instead. Hopefully it will be a fun weekend not too heavy/sad. I'm afraid it will be stressful, like you can feel the tention around you.
If you are so inclined, could you pray that she has peace of mind for this situation and that the surgery would go well? Thank you so much in advance.

Layout: Birthday Party

This layout was hard for me. I wasn't thrilled with it at first but now it's growing on me. The problem was I had way to many pictures at first... 16 of them... wasn't quite enough for a 4 page spread but way too many for a two page spread. I weeded out a couple pictures and narrowed it down to 14 pictures and was amazingly able to fit them all on these two pages.

Layout: Good-bye Fudge

Ian has always been afraid of dogs. But he started saying he wanted to get one last summer. We weren't sure though how it would go. So when one of Jeffrey's friends needed to place a Chocolate Lab, we thought we'd give it a go. Unfortunately Fudge was just a bit too hyper for us. The friend understood and thankfully was able to find another family for Fudge.

Layout: Birthday Blessing

Ian goes to a Lutheran private school. Each week they have chapel and in each childs birthday week they get a birthday blessing fromm the pastor.

Ian's birthday blessing week, he also got to be chapel helper and carried in the flag.

Layout: Happy 6th Birthday

I've always wanted to do paper tearing layouts but I was no good at it because I was too concerned with how straight or even looking the tear would be.... yes I know it's supposed to be random, I just don't do random well.
One of the ladies on SS recommended that I get a paper tearing ruler. This thing is awesome. I just lay it on the desk and tear the paper and it keeps it even and makes it easier. Love it!

Here is a double page spread I did with the paper tearing for Ian's 6th birthday, his Grandma made him the cake, I'm not that talented...

Layout: October

Well, I learned this technique at the retreat I went to last month. I thought it would make a great year's worth of borders. I made the twelve sets already, super easy only took me about an hour, they are all the same color this year for a change.

Test

Test

Ian and My Car

I'm not sure what started this but Ian likes to climb or sit on my car. Maybe it is that I let him do it at soccer practice while waiting for the coach or maybe it is that he can't believe I let him do it, since I'm always so afraid he will get hurt. Once when Jeffrey saw it he couldn't believe I was letting him... thinking I'd be afraid he might fall off... Well quite honestly, I am afraid of that but I'm usually within a few feet and watching that Ian doesn't get too near the edge... so I kind of let it go. Plus I'm starting to realize more and more that he's going to get hurt, not to say I'd let him run down the middle of the street or anything close but I do realize I need to give him a little freedom to be a boy...
At any rate, any time we are outside just relaxing, he's on my car... Well the other night, he climbed up there and I *happened* to have my camera outside, actually not a rare occasion, lol... and he was being a ham.

Gardens

Finally got around to uploading the pictures of our gardens around the house, so that I could share... been meaning to do it for a week at least, just kept forgetting.

Here are the front gardens, there are 3 flower beds in the front yard. Last year we added a rock garden and swing to the one side after tearing out a bunch of old holly bushes that were blocking the front window. Also, we found out last year that gerber daisies thrive in the garden to the left of the porch, so we planted them again this year. The iris around the front tree used to be in the middle of the back yard, which didn't make much sense, so we split them up and moved them out front. It's funny because each corner of that bed blooms in turn... the front corner blooms first because it gets the most/earliest sun.


Along the side of the house is a dogwood which I love. Aparently, according to our neighbor, the previous owner had given it to his wife for their 50 wedding anniversary. Beside the shed is a beautiful Japanese red maple tree. Ian made a birdhouse for that tree with his Grandma. It's been hanging there for about 3 years now and each year it's full of birds.

Finally on the other side of the house, is a small bed that runs the length of the house along the side walk. We are never quite sure what will survive there and what won't. The iris didn't make it there, neither did tulips, roses, hostas or lavendar... the problem is that the bricks get very hot in the noon sun and roast anything that is in that garden. It also makes the soil very dry... eventually we'll find something that will work... any ideas???

Layout: Soccer Practice

Another gift from SS from the RAK section. NowImScrappin cut me two titles, this is one of them, haven't used the other yet but I'm hoping to in the next few days.

Layouts from Swaps

One fun thing I've recently discovered at Scrapshare has been swaps. I've only participated in a couple, but they've been fun and the borders received back have been great and make it easy to get back into scrapbooking.
Didn't add anything for this one but put pictures on the page with it. Didn't she do a great job?

For this one I very simply added ribbon to a tag. I have to say it's the first ribbon I've ever used in a layout.

I added an extra side border for this one to make the two page spread, but that was easy, I mean the whole layout only took about five minute? Cool, huh?

Layout: Happy Birthday

This used one of the Mystery Pages ideas from Scrapshare.

Layout: Boys Toys

This layout has simple corners: a large triangle, a 1x6 inch strip and a small triangle. I love simple pages. I figure it's the only way I'll get caught up.

Ian's grandpa is a minister. The church "rents" (very inexpensively) one of the two houses to one of the church families who is in need. The family last year had many children, several are younger than Ian. So when grandma and grandpa bought him a larger big wheel and a new scooter, they brought the old over to the other family to share. Great way to teach him about giving things.

Layout: Months

Each month of a year gets it's own layout in Ian's albums. I use them for miscellaneous pictures that don't really fit anywhere else and for memorabelia. Each "year" gets a new layout style and they start in October with Ian's birthday because they are his years.
For his fifth year it was a page topper with a month sticker and squares with sprinkled stickers.