Video, layout.. and how it was made.... oh my.

A friend and I say that word loosely emailed me THIS video. Yet one more reason I love living in Mobile Alabama. I haven't yet encountered said creature in video but am interested if guido would try to eat it as he does the squirrels in our back yard.


Yes I know it is not St. Patricks day but anytime anything remotely funny goes on and it is in the near vacinity of Alabama I get a flood of emails asking if these are my neighbors and or relatives. I know they are waiting for the day I say yes. It is bound to happen, The news cameras just havn't shown up yet to judge which of my neighbors driveways are the most clean, unleafed shiney white driveways on the planet. They can be seen from the space shuttle and they say "OHHHH look! That is Nancy Jones neighbors, They are out bleaching their driveway." YES people it happens.

When I had this last MS spell, and was in the hospital, after my soon arrival home and the medication that they gave me made my head just pound and eye cringe, that is not even CLOSE to an accurate description. No amount of medication could make it stop.
THIS SO HAPPENED to be the week that every neighbor wanted to try out their leaf blowers. As well as teach their animals to pee on the one tree we have in our yard verses the 769987654 kabillion that are in the rest of our neighborhood and make my
dog absolutly, loose his mind, and freak his crapp out, underneath my window, to be sure I KNEW, some foreign dog, was using MY TREE as its urinal and he was SOOOOOOOOO not in approval. It was a conspiracy with the squirrels to dominate his space and he was not having it for a minute. HE would give this speech in that tone every day underneath my window where I would beg my husband to pull his vocal cords out with a rusty spoon.
are you still with me? Well, My sweet husband, I love so much, risked embarrasment and a nasty note from The homeowners association to talk to our neighbors, and asked them to please not blow off their driveways, because he couldnt deal with my crying that it made Bella cry then Guido howl and he was running out of ibuprofen for his own headache. Our sweet neighbors agreed and I know it was the worst two weeks of their life. I have now gotten better and it doesn't bother me so much as long as it is AFTER 7 am on a Saturday.
IT is part of What we get for living in Mobile ALabama, in a Middle class neighborhood, surrounded by older men who spent time in the service and have flashbacks of kp duty and are now forced to compete for who has the cleanest concrete to drive on.

I secretly want to go out at night and write in side walk chalk HAHA YOU LOOSE MISSED A SPOT, but figure they will know it is me and come blow off my leaf strewn drive
way and totally ruin my fall decorating scheme I have going.

I actually took time off from connecting the dots of my chicken pocked body yesterday to scrap. I used the new URBAN PRAIRIE (ohhh ahhh) by Basic Grey and scrapped this photo of Bella strangling, I mean Hugging Guido in the back yard. I know yall have heard how he thinks she is HIS. We officially have given her to him a few times but she keeps showing up at meal times so we decided to share her.
She has taken over most of the care and love of Guido. She loves that dog. HE loves her. Works out pretty good. I also used some things left over from the kits provided by SCRAPBOOK OBSESSIONS , THEY ROCK by the way, on this page.
I was not in good form yesterday or mood to say the least. I felt like crapp and was enjoying the quiet, all but qvc on low on the television (definitly not Hannah Montana thank you lord) and some mind boggling, never scrapbooked before people, who were trying to convince me to buy 98654 pieces of cardstock for the low price of 19.99 BUT WAIT.... if you act now....

When my daughter whom we will call, Bella, comes bouncing in all boistrous and singing. Do any of you remember having chicken pox? no? prolly cuz you were a normal person and had them ONLY ONE TIME and you WERE A KID when you did and you blocked it out of your head entirely. Ok let me splain this best I can. NOISE.... HURTS. your
entire body. Makes you want to reach out and touch someone and not by phone!
Ok so anyway I finally got her to chill a bit then reminded hubby that consignment drop off was today and we have a crib in the garage, Bella is 5, I have 1 ovary and no uterus. Unless he had plans that I was not yet aware of.. IT NEEDED TO GO. We have so much clutter around this house which is ENTIRELY mostly my fault. I have been sick since February and totally let my ability of keeping house fall upon him and Bella. AND BY THE WAY.....
(WHomever is spamming my email account with information on quick cures off the internet. Please stop, Im not gonna forward it to 20 people for good luck, yes I read about artificial sweetners and I dont drink diet drinks and I understand your cousin Elroy on your ex sister in laws side of the family saw Binny Hin and when he smacked his forehead lightning struck and he was cured but I will take my faith in the lord and carry it with me to the dr. I think the FDA may be onto something here with these new treatments. Thank you for understanding)
so anyway, She is bouncing around my craft room, twirling in my chair, discussing the events of her day when she bumps the table and GLUE goes everywhereeeeeeeee. I ussually count to a thousand sometimes more when things happen cuz well SHE IS FIVE and I was as bad if not worse than her (still am) they dont call me GRACE cause Im graceful. BUt I felt bad and I had worked on this page alll day because I felt bad trying to convince myself I REALLY DIDNT feel bad, so what do I do when the glue goes all over my layout... I CRY.
yup like a baby the tears flew. I sat in the chair in my scrap room and bawled. Now it could be the added hormones from the steroids (ya most likely) the fever (nah) or all said above, (that would be my guess) my sweet daughter looks at me as if to say (oh crapp I finally did it, she lost her mind, her head is going to explode. yall watch this, WHEHEWW) and strokes my hair and says..
"DOes this mean your finished crapbookin today?" for some reason that hit me as HYSTERICAL and I started laughing. She is looking around for, like, where is the tv crew for You've been punked, then she runs off. IM not sure out of fear or If she got bored.
So, I look at this page I had worked on for ohhhh off and on, ALL DAY. And sigh. oh well don't they say mistakes are just places to add more embellishments? well THERE YA GO. That is how most of the objects were put on this page. TO COVER UP all the GLUE she slung all over the page.
SO you may get your embellishing tutorial guide from Bella, starting next spring, on QVC, announced by some salesperson, who knows nothing about scrapbooking, all for the low price......
BUT WAIT!
Hope you have a good day.

OH WOW GUESS WHAT!!

OMGOSH I WON! HOW EXCITING IS THIS!
The layout I did for The Design Experiment WON. How appropriate that I win Webster's pages product hahaha! I am just "VOCIFEROUS" with Joy!! hehe

I am so excited!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!

I GOT HAPPY MAIL YESTERDAY!! I am telling you my week started out awesome.
My awesome cousin Jan, Sent me the cutest pottery barn collander to hold my buttons, NOW when Bella starts sorting and playing with my buttons, I dont have to freak out that she is gonna break my glass vase I had them in! She also sent me 2 of the cutest stamps from Imaginesce and Heidi Swapp and I also got some BASIC GREY PAPER!!!! You know Im in LLLLOVEEEE with Basic Grey. THEIR PRODUCTS MAKE ME SO OVER THE TOP HAPPY EVEN WHEN I FEEL CRAPPY I SMILE. I mean HOW can you not? They are in my top 3 (with Bo Bunny and Reminisce of course) I have it on my scrap table with photos on it right now awaiting adhesive and journaling. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH JAN love ya YOU ROCK sista!! Totally made my day!!

Ill show ya a pic of my layout as soon as my battery charges,

So what else is going on today? QVC has their scrapbooking day on TV. I like to watch and see the things they make and the cool product, but I don't ever buy anything. Well I mean right now we have priorities... its called INTERFERON, as bad as I hate taking it. Its part of life and its EXPENSIVE. So scrapstuff is down the list a ways. BUT, It makes me happy and smile. I can forget about all this for a while. speaking of which Mama don't panic but,

I broke out again with the shingle/chicken pox things they are on THE OTHER side now on my face (HOW LOVELY) and neck. I think it is because of my immune system weakening from the Interferon (have I said MS SUCKS today?) BUT I am still in "I CAN" land as I say. I am putting vitamin E as the pharmacist suggested to HOPEFULLY maybe I wont get CRATER sized scars. (juuuust lovely.) Always something.
COULD BE WORSE I keep saying that. At least it doesnt hurt real bad just tired.
IM very blessed and fortunate in my life. I have so many things to look forward to.

DON'T forget my Mantra for this week "I CAN"
Keepin that up today. I am going to go rest for a bit THEN I will be back to post my layout I made with the Basic Grey Urban Prarie line (how scrumptiously good is that paper? oh man I am droooling)

OH and here is something else really cool. Just watch it. Thats all IM gonna say
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVQSZA9zSk
it should make you feel good, and maybe Inspire you. ANd kinda goes along with my I CAN mantra. SO go ahead and click on the link... I know you CAN!! ;)


See you this afternoon.

The rest of the PRIMA MINI ALBUM

Don't be so quick to judge a book by it's cover,Sometimes there's real good stuff on the inside!!
(You can use a transparency that is reversible to accent either page)
GCD Studios pp,Bazzill just the edge,prima transparency


SURF'S UP DUDE, 2008 THE BEST OF TIMES!! (I LOVE THIS PICTURE)

GCD Studios pp, moxxie sticker, Making memories tag and tiny alpha stickers, Scenic route rub ons, hobby lobby bling, prima transparency


LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE YOUR LAST, NEVER LEAVE THINGS UNSAID, ESPECIALLY AN APOLOGY OR AN I LOVE YOU!

GCD studios, Basic Grey buttons, Bazzill just the edge, zig writer


THE END
GCD studios, prima flowers, hobby lobby bling American Craft Thickers



Here is the side view of the thickness of the book.
*All edges were inked with colorbox fluid ink chalks.

Thanks for looking at my Beach REMEMBER THIS.. album.
It was fun to make TOOK me forever but I think it was intended for me to finish it now.
I changed a few of the bits of advice in there since ALeida's death. I miss her online. I learned alot from her life, but also her death. We are only here for what sometimes feels like forever but we only get one shot at this, and it is short.
We have to make the most of it regardless our situation.
Even though my life is somewhat limited, there is still alot I CAN DO. For that I am grateful and thankful. Im still learning the things I Cant. I hate that word can't but, that is reality.
I missed some goals (I didnt get to go to Birmingham.., stupid chicken pox/shingles whatever they are) and was very very dissappointed, which we really didn't need to spend the money anyway, but I so wanted to see Cheryl. It will happen. I have faith.

My next small goal is Bella's field trip. IF IT IS NOT hot that day. Heat and MS are not friends. It is like superman and kryptonite. I tried to go outside and take these photos (the mini album) Saturday and almost couldn't get back in the house.
so we are rethinking the field trip, John may have to go and just take a billion pictures. As bad AS I WANT to go, not sure how well a wheelchair will work there anyway. Would rather stay home than mess up Bella's day.

Shingles/chicken pox or whatever this is (its not just on one side) had a few pop out over the weekend so back on the meds. Its ALOT better today than last night so meds are working. I feel better than yesterday too. I slept alot this weekend.

SOOOO maybe today I will finish this layout with the new Basic Grey. I have it all laid out I just have to adhere it all down.

I hope you have a good week this week. Try to focus with me on I CAN. That is my mantra this week. I CAN!
(and I will )

MORE BEACH ALBUM

Here is some more of that Beach mini album I have been working on. IT IS ALOT of pages so bear with me. I wanted to do like a little advice book for Bella. Some cute little life lessons with photos. I think that some day she will enjoy this little book as much as I did making it. (hope so anyway)
Hope you have a beautiful Sunday.


HEre are the rest of the pages of the BEACH MINI ALBUM by Prima:
I used prima flowers,scenic route chipboard, scenic route rub ons, assorted Basic grey buttons, and BLING !




The journaling on this says:
CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY,
(GCD studios Patterned paper, creative imaginations epoxy stickers, prima angel wings)
BECAUSE THE ENVIROMENT AND FRIENDS YOU CHOOSE ULTIMATLY DEFINE YOU, AND YOU WILL BECOME LIKE THEM.
(Prima flower,doodlebug Gem, GCD STUDIOS patterned paper, hobby lobby bling)




Journaling: YOU CAN'T ALWAYS CONTROL WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, BUT YOU CAN CONTROL
HOW YOU REACT TO WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU.
(GCD Studios patternend paper, Ki memories lace paper, Basic grey buttons, Reminisce stickers, Moxxie stickers, hobby lobby bling)



Two times in life when it is most important to keep your mouth closed, when your angry and when your swimming. (Thank you Cheryl for that quote I love it!!)
GCD STUDIOS, patterned paper, Prima flowers, hobby lobby bling Basic grey buttons

IF you are happy with yourself, You will make other people happy as well.

I will do the remaining pages tomorrow. I told you it had alot of pages to it lol.

A little beach of advise,

I have been working on this mini album for what seems like for flippin EVERRRRRRRR.
I started on it back innn june? Maybe? Anyway I kept getting sick and then other projects took the forefront and it got pushed to the side. BUT, It was important to me to get this little book finished. It has little tidbits of advice in it I have learned along the way of my thirty "cough" something "cough" Years of life.



The album is from Prima. It was one of the add ons from Scrapbook Obsessions.
I took colorbox chalk inks and a paint brush (not the foam kind the brushy kind) and swept it across the front. I used several different colors. I also used some of Tim holtz distress inks. THEN I took a dark brown and swept the pad lightly across to get the raised embosseed words darkened. That way you could read them easier.

I used some ribbon that is like netting behind the photo and spelled out Beach in bead letters. I THINK that is a prima flower (honestly I have no idea where that flower came from if you recognize it gimme a yell) and the wooden number 5 came from Scrappin Friendsy. I took teeeeny tiny bling and dotted all the little i's with it on the book and center of the Ki memories lace paper flower that is on the back ground. Isnt that the cutest little star fish? I got that in one of those little bags at hobby lobby that has all the little buttony stuffs in it.(can't rem what they are called)

I hung the dog tag that I got from a friend long time ago (thank you Roberta) and the sunshine was a pull knob on this old little box that had a drawer. It was ugly on that thing but I kept it. Voila makes the perfect accent for this little album.

I will show you the first page and then tomoorow come back and I will show you some more of it.



on the left the intro page says:" This little book is filled with words of wisdom, just because I love you. Mommy"

The Journaling on second page reads: "When the going gets tough, DIG DEEPER, sometiems its not what we want to do, BUt we find our treasure in the digging instead of in the treasure chest" (meaning sometimes its the experience of doing something that makes it more meaningful, more so than the expected outcome. Say you want ice cream. Ice cream is good. But when you had to make that ice cream from scratch with your family and you had like a family reunion sitting around taking turns cranking that old timey ice cream maker.... If you have ever made ice cream that way, you KNOW the novelty of it all wears off realllly quick. ya theice cream taste good, but the memories you made while making that ice cream, visiting with family, taking turns crankin the ice cream maker will stay with you forever, and you will probably never ever forget how good that ice cream was,)make sense?

I used GCD studios patterned paper (from the Scrapbook obsessions kit)
(prima flowers, creative imaginations epoxy stickers, just the edge cardstock, colorbox inks, some more of those little buttony things from hobby lobby, Bo Bunny cardstock dotted paper, 7 gypsies epoxy stickers, and a zig writer)

I also wanted to address some questions I got about my wall of stamp shelves in my scrap room. MY sweet, Handsome, awesome, talented, handy man of a father in law made those bad boys for me. John literally took all my stamps out and measured the smallest one to the largest. That way they knew they would fit.
I NEED one more the size of Half where the wood comes down the middle of this one and my wall will be complete. BUT, My father in law is getting older and I think he cursed this, me and the wood more times than he cared to mention. He is a perfectionist. so he used the best lumbar the best everything. THESE PUPPYS ARE SOOOO HEAVY we had to use special stuff to keep em up on the wall. BUT that is just the kinda man my father in law is. HE WANTS THE BEST. I was thinkin' scrap lumbar, cheap, didnt care if it matched. I can paint it kinda thing, You can IMAGINE my SHOCK and SURPRISE when in he walks Christmas with this!!!! I cried! I was floooored! So these were my Christmas/ Birthday present from my in laws and I tell you. I value them with my life. He said THERE WILL BE NO MORE MADE LIKE THIS. He refuses. I have been offered all kinda money for them but Im sorry they mean more to me because he took the time to make these special. I told him he could make some money if he woudl make a few of these but, He said no thanks. SO... IM sorry.
BUt If you know someone that crafty with wood stuff. I will be nice enough to give you the measurements off of mine. Or just measure your stamps and make it custom to your needs. I have told him time and again he needs to make these that I have people that will pay him. He is just not as able to do it as he once was. It is a shame because he is sooo talented with this kinda stuff.

ALSO I want to wish my AUNT IRENE a very Happy Birthday today. Bella painted you a picture and it will be in the mail on Monday. (I will give you a hint what it is when she decides to tell me! ha!)

I hope you have a good day and tomorrow I will put up some more of this book. It has lots of pages so I didnt want to bore you to sleep with all of it at one time.

It is raining....

I will start off with the good news, they say whenever you have bad news.. you should start with good news. Although most everyone out there already knows the bad news.


I finished my layout for Design Experiment last night. I started a layout for Aleida's memorial and wanted to put it up on here but.. I just, am having a hard time. I will try it again today.
Here is my Design Experiment page. We had to open the dictionary and point to a word and scrap it. UGHHHH well. I am embarrassed to say I don't own a dictionary (I am sure there are shockwaves going across the world right now roflmao) SO I USED Dictionary.com and used the word of the day for day before yesterday... It was fitting for these photos of Bella. She was SOOOOOOO over me taking pictures of her. So the word of the day was Vociferous- vo·cif·er·ous /voʊˈsɪfərəs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[voh-sif-er-uhs]
1. crying out noisily; clamorous.
2. characterized by or uttered with vociferation: a vociferous manner of expression.

The journaling reads: You made it MORE THAN EVIDENT you were DONE with me taking you picture for the day.



It is raining today. Kinda seems fitting for the mood. THe mood so many in the scrapbooking/blogging world are in. Also Martin's brother's Funeral is today. They suspect, He was helping a homeless guy, which was something he did all the time. He is one of those that will go up to them and buy them a cup of coffee and witness to them. He would take them to clean em up and help them find a job. He did so much for the community. HE was a christian and an all around good guy. They suspect it was someone he was helping that killed him. SO please keep Martin and his family in your prayers today as they go through his memorial service. BIg Hugs to you Martin.

Today is also the memorial service for our sweet friend Aleida Franklin. The obituary made it real. I mean I believed them and all. I knew she had died... but when you read the words, and see the obituary, wow it isn't a dream. She is really ... I wish I could hug my friend Jessi right now. I know she is going to the memorial service. SHe was a personal IRL (in real life as in flesh and bone I see you all the time I scrap physically with you) Friend of hers. I feel so strongly and sad on this and I only talked to her on the internet and through blog land... I cant imagine what others are going through BETTER YET HER Family.

It is amazing how close we get on this boat anchor called a computer. But ya know, this computer has kept me sane (ok I know you question my insanity but stay with me here) on many days. I don't get out. I am pretty much home bound. Im not complaining. I just want you to grasp what I am saying. I DO NOT LEAVE MY HOUSE, except to go to the dr. SO yeah the friendships I have made on this thing ARE VERY REAL TO ME.

I talk to some of these people on this computer more than I talk to my family. THey are here no matter when I turn this thing on. Aleida was like that. When I got DX with MS. She sent me the sweeetest email tellin me pretty much she woudl KICK MY BUTT (ok yall know she dindt say butt) if I gave up and didn't give this a big fight. SHe said "THAT IS NOT the Nancy Jones I know, to just say screw it and give up, you have to beat the &^%$ out of this MS NancyJones!!!"
She had me laughin so hard. Because then she said.. "ya know.. maybe you givin in would be a good thing.. LEAVE ME ALL YOUR SCRAP SH*T. I could just change out the photo, I would even leave all the mushy S&%T you wrote on it just put MY Bellas picture" I laughed so hard. That was totally like her.

Ok Im rambling. I just didn't want her to end. she was so much to so many. I will close this with her obituary. BUT I WANT TO REMIND YOU. GRETA IS WORKING ON HER BOOK. IT IS BEING PRINTED AS WE SPEAK. IT IS ALLLLLLL OF HER BLOG POSTS and alot of her funny message board entrys, as well as posts where people put their memories of her. THis will be given to her husband and children. ANY MONEY THAT IS LEFT OVER WILL BE GIVEN TO THIS FAMILY. SO please. No amount is too small. A dollar even will help them. Gretas pay pal is SIGNAL47@aol.com You can read more about it HERE

You can read Aleida's Obituary and if you would like to leave condolences HERE, CLick on Lewisville and then Aleida Franklin.

That is all for today... thats it. Thats on my mind. Thats on everyone's mind.
HUGS to her family and friends, Martin we love you and are praying for you and your family, you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

NJ

OLW challenge and puppy prayers

WOAH DUDE where did the day go. I know I was ASLEEEP! YA I know I hate waking up this late I feel so scattered and can't get into my daily groove. Im so rushed trying to get stuff done before bug gets home from school. I had night before those HORRRIBLE all over muscle spasms. That just JERK your entire body from sleep. SO needless to say I had a rough night (as did John and Bella bless their hearts)
Last night was shot night so I took my muscle relaxer when I took my shot praying my body would just chill out. It worked (obviously) John said he wouldn't wake me up because I was so still and (yes breathing) but knew how bad I needed rest from just having pneumonia and the blame chicken pox/pneumonia. WE DO NOT WANT THAT AGAIN!!! (big skull cross bones stayyyy awayyy from here you hear me dont come back!!)

OK so on to the fun stuff: I DID the challenge for ONE LITTLE WORD challenge blog. SOOO MUCH FUN. I had these adorable pictures of Bella bug and Mister Guido.
And just thought ok I must scrap these. Guido just lovesss his Bella HE THINKS she is HIS and well in a way.. I guess she is. He protects her and just stalks her sometiems haha. I have photos of him stalking her is too funny. I WISH he could be an inside doggy so bad. BUT, John and Bella are soooo allergic to his furry hair (I am a little but not the degree Bella is poor thing) Her skin breaks out so bad and she itches. We kept hoping as she got older she woudl out grow it but no. SO when she goes out and plays with him she has to immediatly come in and wash up so she doesnt break out in a big ol hive. so therefore... No Guido in house. We brought him in during the hurricane an and we are still finding his hair everywhere. HE WAS WELL BEHAVED don't get me wrong he did beautifully. Its just the hair. :( Poor fella.

OK so Here is my page




The Journaling says: "You can see it in his eyes, Guido TRULY loves HIS Bella. He will sit at the door so patiently waiting for HIS GIRL to come outside and play.
2008"
Since Today Im talkin about animals. Not sure how yall feel about praying for animals. I do. They are one of Gods creatures and we get so attached to our animals just like people.
Im really worried about my "nephew dog" Taz, tazzy, THE SPAZZ as we call him. HE is the funniest dog. Ok an example. One christmas my brother and Karen and his kids were at Karen's moms opening presents. YOU KNOW the normal hustle and bustle of Christmas going on everyone into their gifts. TAZ IS STanding ON THE BACK OF THE CHAIR looking down like "is it mine".. "hurry open it I wanna eat it!"
He is just always spazzy, hyper full of energy happy dog. well he isnt quite like that. He hasnt been for quite a while now :( it is heart breaking. HE has been having seizures and its just not good. SO IF you pray. Pray for Tazzy. I wish it would just go away, BUT, I hate for him to suffer. SO just pray he doesn't. poor guy.
Here is his pic:
(this is out of a doggy mini album I made my sister in law last Christmas or christmas before I can't remmember.) but look how he smilin' he is so funny
ALSO I WANNA GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO POTTER!(Hey Potter) That is my pal LESLIE'S Doggy. He has been a SICK SICK puppy. You can follow Potter and his healing on her blog (just click her name)

OK Thats all I know for today. IM still tryin to catch up my day. Im gonna go work on a page for THE DESIGN EXPERIMENT blog. LOOKS LIKE IT WILL BE FUN!!

errr ughmm... NEW TOY??

OK THIS GIVES The phrase my boy toy.... a whole new meaning.

John had to work later today, Martin his co worker and friend that has the Florida territory, had a death in his family. So, John is covering for him. (Please keep Martin and his family in your prayers please.)
I still am not real secure driving yet. My legs give out on me at the drop of a hat and I never know when or where. My dear friend Tara Picked Bella up from school (that is Brayden the little monkey in the toybox in above photo's, AKA Bella's "boy" His mama) She brought her by the house and let her change into play clothes, then back to her house to play for a bit. Bella LOVES going to their house. She says they have the coolest toys (what she means is NO PRINCESS stuff and definitly nothing PINK) When she brought her back by, they played here for a bit and let us visit.
It was good to have her over. I don't get out literally, I go to the dr. and that is a challenge. She helped us out a great deal I hope she knows how thankful we are. She also made my day brighter.

I tell you another thing that made my day. TIM HOLTZ. GOd Bless him He saved me alot of tears! I was working on a layout for the ONE LITTLE WORD challenge blog. I reach for my handy dandy Ranger Paint dabbers and the paint had seperated. It all kinda clobbed up at the top. So I did a quick inventory. I have A LOT of different bottles of this paint. EVERY ONE OF THEM but a couple were the same way and some of them had never been opened. MY HEART SANK. That is alot of money in paint. RUINED.
I know I had not scrapped alot or used my paint in a while but, NEVER IMAGINED this would happen. I couldn't even imagine how I would tell John I would have to replace all this paint, It woudln't happen right now, not with these dr bills and medication bills adding up.
PRAYING, I went to their website, trying to find anything that said I could add water or do some special dance move that would make this paint spring back to life. I did get a phone number off their site though and called but got an answering machine. There is a time difference and you know that tragedy as a rule never strikes until 5 minutes after closing time!
I thought for a minute and asked my cousin Jan, Would it be inappropriate to email Tim Holtz and ask him if there was any way of salvaging this catastrophe. SHe said "shoot naw girl if it will save the paint email him!!" I had posted on a couple boards asking if anyone knew of anything and everyone was kinda with me at a loss.
I was scared to just start experimenting till I heard back from Ranger.

So, I emailed Tim Holtz and it was NO TIME FLAT before I got a reply. HE SAVED MY PAINT and my supper (I was so nausas thinking of throwing out all that paint) SO ANyway I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE WITH YOU WHAT HE SAID TO DO. SO IN THE EVENT (God Forbid) THIS SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU. Maybe it will save you some worry :) (I got his permission before posting his email reply on my blog)

"hi nancy-



sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the dabbers. I completely understand your frustration, so here are a few ideas:



-first, always shake your dabber before you use. paint in general will always separate (even when you buy it from the hardware store to paint your house).

-if the paints are too thick, simply add some water to them and either shake them or stir them with a popsicle stick (you will not harm the paints by adding a little water to them)

-if the top of the dabber is dry, simply wet that as well to rewet the paint to flow through the top, you don’t need to remove or rinse it, just wet it

-also store your dabbers upside down. since paint is thicker than ink, they are much easier to get going if stored upside down.



hopefully this info helps. there are so many variables to these paints (temperature, storage, etc.) but if these tips don’t’ help, just let me know and I will forward your information directly to ranger for replacement. thanks…



-tim



tim holtz

www.timholtz.com

www.timholtz.typepad.com"

I also want to show you how I store my paint.

My father in law made these stamp shelves for me, I use one of the shelves in it for my paint. He actually recommends storing it upside down instead of on it side like I have done. So.. Not sure how I am going to redo this.
I Have to have it where I can see it or it will forget what I have.


So I tried what he said, AND IT WORKED. THANK YOU AGAIN TO TIM HOLTZ for helping me through my little crisis. I also have to commend him. He was very quick on responding and as you can see was very accomidating and made sure my problem was taken care of.
I was so very happy because I REALLY NEEDED to use my paint!!


I am almost finished with my layout for the "OLW" challenge, I will post it when it I get finished. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and all your paint never dries out =)

NJ

Been creatin' away

Been tryin' to keep my mind busy and off sad things. So I have been scrappin like crazy.

Here are a few things I have done in the last several days:


This is a Christmas box to be used as a frame/mini album.
I took a little wooden box that Came from I think Hobby lobby. (prolly did Im sure)
and painted it then used Reminisce Christmas papers To alter it. I toook pieces of the die cut paper and cut the edges off to create the frame around the journaling tag sticker. I also for the front Took the stickers and stuck them to chipboard then cut them out. It is a really simple project that took about 3 hours to create. Now all I have to do is when Bella bug gets her Photo taken with Santa this year, Add the photos to the mini album. Get her to parr down her wish list so It will FIT ON THERE... And a cute little decoration we have.



This wooden frame was purchased from Hobby Lobby. I used the Reminisce Jungle papers on this one. I took the stickers and applied them to chipboard then cut them out. Added an initial after painting and voila a cute as can be Baby gift.



This last page I made for a blog challenge I found over at SiS TV.
THE STORY MATTERS challenge blog

The challenge is CURRENT EVENTS... what about the world affects you??

I chose to scrap about the Hurricane since we are way down here where they all like to stall and blow around water and hot air... hmm notice the bad ones this year have been male names? Co Ink E Dink? Im thinkin NAH!!Ok back to the page.
THis is an elsuck o photo because I had to take it in my kitchen and its night time and I have that flourescent light in there... so ya it sucks. BUT, I will retake the photo tomorrow so You can see that it looks much better. Ok so on with it:

BACK OFF GUSTAV!


I used Cosmo Cricket Patterned paper on this. The colors were just too perfect. John took these darling photos for me. (I was sick with Chicken Pox so I let him do the duty for me) I wanted to Do a page about the first hurricane of the season to make landfall Then I found this challenge and well how perfect was that?
So anyway I cut out all the circles in the patterned paper and scattered them around kinda like a ughmm well a Hurricane.
I used pop dots to pop the second photo forward to give it a more dramatic look and it to stand out in the foreground. I used the little line circles that were in the patterned paper to show direction that the sockets were turning. I thought well how cute would it be to have these as pointers to the article in the newspaper. I think it turned out cute.




The Journaling is as follows:
BACK OFF GUSTAV Hurricane Gustav- The storm that just would not LEAVE! It kept going and going for over a week dumping rain and wind in its soggy path. It was followed by 3 more systems that 2 would end up becoming major hurricanes. Man I hate hurricane season.
September, 2008

Tomorrow I am going to work on the ONE LITTLE WORD Challenge. The Word for this week is LOVE. I think I can handle that ;)

PenPals Challenge #4

Challenge #4, Document your Hopes. Whether it is for you or for someone else.
That is the topic for the next Challenge at PEN PALS.

Sounds easy enough. I was really happy that this was the topic of the challenge.
I have been doing a lot of soul searching and thinking since Aleida's death, thinking I need to be sure I have pages with thoughts for the future for Bella. I think it will be interesting to look back at them in 10 to 20 years and see what we were wishing compared to how things turn out.



I chose to do mine on My hope for Bella.
I used the World Traveler paper by Heidi Swapp. (isn't it gorgeous?) I love the deep earth tones. I made the little mini book out of cardboard with Making Memories hinges holding it in place.



The journaling is as follows:
There are so many things that I hope for your future. You are such a smart, caring and beautiful girl. You have a beautiful heart so full of love. I hope you always stay true to yourself. Pursue your passions and live your life to the fullest. I hope you apply your self and get the most from your education. We will always sacrifice to make sure you have the best education we can get you.
I hope you find a man someday as wonderful as your father to be your husband. NEVER settle for any one that does not cherish you and treat you like your father treats me. Make sure he is also your best friend. Forever is a long time when you are unhappy. I hope for you struggles that will make you strong. Unselfishness and happiness but most of all I hope that you know just how loved you are, and that I am so very proud to have you as my daughter.
Love,
Mommy
xoxox
2008




There is still time if you would like to participate in this times challenge.We have alot of fun over there so come on and join in.

I also would like to wish my mom a very happy birthday today. She doesn't read my blog because well, she has enough trouble turning on the tv and getting her cable on the right channel. We won't venture on with computers. But, I know my family reads my blog and this will remind them that today is her birthday and when they call to tell her happy birthday, Be sure and mention you saw it on my blog :)



I love this picture is that not the cutest thing ever!!


I would also like to thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers for Aleida's family. They are going through a horrible time right now as well as her friends. It has been a major shock. She was such a funny and loved person. It seems so unfair for her to be taken away the way she was.
Greta is continuing the donations for making her blog into hardbound books for her husband and children. All the money that is left over will be given to them to do as they see fit. For more information click HERE. No amount is too small to donate. This is going to be a beautiful gift that they can add to the numerous scrapbooks that she left behind for them. I sure am going to miss that lady. I know there are a flood of others that will as well.

I just received the SCRAPBOOKING.COM newsletter in my inbox. I have an article in there.
Click HERE to have a peek at it and be sure to sign up to receive the newsletter every month. It is FULL of awesome ideas!


I need to go get busy. I have a lot of scrappin to catch up on.
Hope you have a wonderful day.

MUAH
Xoxox

Heaven has a new Angel...

This photo was taken off a recent post on Aleida's blog. WE SURE ARE GONNA MISS YOU LADY!!
The world has a little less humor and brightness today. I will miss her puns on how I can just go on and send her what ever project Im workin' on since her baby girl's name is Bella also. I will mis her in the blog world as well as the scrappin world. SHe was such a funny lady.

My friend Greta has gotten some info and is getting her blog turned into a hard bound book to give to the family. She is accepting pay pal donations. PLEASE if you would like to donate anything feel free to it does not matter how much every dollar will go to her family. She hopes to have some left over to just give them the money.

you can read the information and how to do so HERE



I have thought about this all evening and can't get it out of my head. This is such a horrible tragedy. For those that don't know. She was killed Friday in Dallas in a car accident. SHe was hit by a car driven by a 22 year old that ran a red light.
The scrapbooking world is in tears. No one can believe it is true.

It has made us all hold our kids a little tighter.
I am so glad her family will have those beautiful scrapbook pages she made. They will have those memories of her to look at forever. THAT is why I scrapbook.
It is making it even more important and real tonight.

I hope if you don't scrapbook or anything of the sort, That you will at least take more photos after today. Capture memories for your family to continue on with. I know scrapbooking isnt for everyone but, anyone can take a picture.

Hug your family a little tighter and tell em you love em an extra time today.

We will miss you Aleda and I wish I had known you even better than I did.

Finally!

I think we are about to kick this. HUGE PROGRESS. I feel so much more human. Want to thank everyone for their prayers and well wishes. Im still not 100% but IM getting there quickly. Thank you again so much.

We are watching this Hurricane IKE now. My goodness he sure is causing a big mess and throwing alot of water around.
I fear for those people in Galveston Texas. One of the news reports said that the coastal areas had so much flooding expected that IMMENENT DEATH would be if they didn't evacuate.
Hmmmmm. I THINK THAT WOULD BE MY CUE TO LEAVE! It is hard for me to believe people still continue to stay when they announce 50 foot waves headed your way. Maybe they have surfboards and a really clear conscience. I dunno.
I pray for everyone in harms way though. I hope it doesnt do alot of damage. I know what all it is causing here and we are several states away so I can only imagine.

I hope to get to scrap some this weekend IM SOOOOOOOO behind on stuff.
This has really kicked my tail. Im glad it is about over with. My house is so in dissarray. I can't find NUTHIN haha. Poor John and Bella they have been doin best they can while I have been out for the count for so long.

Speaking of which I better go on and get something out of dinner... I WANT REAL FOOD!!!!
Have a great day I hope to ceom back later with scrappy stuff to share!

stilll tickin...

Yes Im still alive, No Im not well yet. Still got chicken pox on my face and neck and a few scattered here and there that are sores now (thank god they have progressed to sores from the blisters) Yes I am still running fever Yes I still feel like crapp. YES I Plan on going back to dr.
I think I covered all the questions. If you have ever had pneumonia you understand how hard it is to talk on the phone but also how hard it is to sit up for any long period of time. Makes everything hurt. SO I was just getting all the questions I am being asked out of the way.
YES I am doing the breathing treatments i got up to every 6 hours before having to go back to every 2 hours.
Im going to go back to bed now. BUT thank you so much for the prayers and well wishes Just isnt anything new to tell. I do think I am a little better... Just dunno what its gonna take to get rid of this crapp.

Almost alive....

I have no idea what day it is at this point. I tell ya, Chicken pox/shingles have to be the work of the devil. We say Chicken pox because they are all over not just in a straight line on one nerve. THEY ON ALL MY NERVES!! Hard to really be able to describe if they hurt or itch or burn. Miserable is the easiest description. THEN because they were down in my throat (and my throat kept closing... what a nightmare) I ended up with this pneumonia.
I am finally starting to feel almost alive. I know I am still not out of the woods but I can at least see the edge of the forrest.

I am so behind on things. I have a stack of projects needing to be done. Bella has things needing to be done. John has things needing to be done.. and all I wanna do is crawl back to my bed and throw the covers over my eyes. (they burn like staring into a blazing fire)
Ok enough complaining. Not alot I can do about this so I just have to buck on up and move forward... sigh.
The last few weeks have been full of all kinds of emotion from things going on in our family, to anniversarys of sad days, and hurricane watching. (yes there is another one out there spiraling towards us but hopefully is going to by pass us)

I did get a lovely email today showing the project I made "The man you never knew" for the Scrapbooking.com newsletter. That is such a fun publication and has amazing ideas in it. If you would like to look you can see it HERE
Be sure and sign up for the free newsletter so it will automatically appear in your in box.

Well not alot to say. I still feel like crapp. Was hoping mind over matter but it aint workin' So I guess I will find my way back to bed.
Hope you have a great day. SOrry for such a downer post.

Yall aint gonna believe this crapp...

This is REALLL long. so if you dont read it all I dont care. It is mainly for my family and close freiends. I am really hoarse and hard to talk on phone long. and I want my friends that have MS and Lupus that READ MY BLOG to TAKE NOTE of what happened to me. THIS COULD very EASILY happen to you!!!!
so BE CAREFUL ESPECIALLY if you are taking one of these medications we have to take that effects your immune system.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT you do not wait.


THIS is just..IT IS BEYOND crazy.
THE GOOD NEWS... I AM OK.
I am at home. THe hurricane is going away. that is good news too.

The bad news
there are 3 more tropical storms out there.
the other bad news.
I have the chicken pox/shingles
AGAIN
YES
I said again.
I KNOW I KNOW you are saying " I thought you could only get them one time"
well yeah.. MOST PEOPLEEEEEE only get them one time.


I AINT MOST PEOPLE.
I Have M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis) and Lupus and..... I wont give the whole list because it is just pointless. regardless I have alot of crapp wrong with me. Physically (sometimes we wonder about mentailly and shut up cuz I know you are going " YOU FORGOT MENTALLY TOO!!"
see I dont have to say it.. you already know that.

BUT SINCE I am on an interferon and it messes with your immune system I can get everyting.
well to tell you how viruses work on people that take interferon (which is chemotherapy just in smaller doses than what cancer peopel get) my immune system is screwed up. SO If a kid at Bellas school has chicken pox.. even though Bella doesnt have them she can carry them. same thing with other viruses too. We just have to be careful. no eating after each other, no eating ice cream and kissing mommy on the lips, (yeah i know gross but that is what i think happened) or kissing me on mouth period she has to only kiss me on my cheek. wash hands alot. I mean what can ya do?
I cant ship her to another country!!

THat is why I Dont go nowhere. I stay at home from church, from wal mart the grocery store etc. cuz my dr always says that is where you catch stuff cuz people will come there with stuff and not know they have it yet or come anyway even though they are sick.

SO ANYWAY. At 10 something I told my cousin Jan I was almost positive I had a shingle on my ear behind it that i felt weird. but I didnt want to say out loud it was a shingle and jinks myself and that be what it was. I showed it to john and said ok so maybe its just a zit he said looks like a zit to me so we kinda went in denial.He looked kinda like oh great. so I kinda dropped it thinking ok mabe its a zit I dont want him mad. The medicine is expensive and well we have spent sooooo much money lately with the hurricane and my medication is god awful expeinseive i had to ahve the mri and well you guys know how expensive it is you all take the same crapp I take. PLUS we were having bad weather and who wants to get out in that...
maybe it was a zit it will go away.

few minutes later one came up on my lip real good (i had a little one there but thought i had hurt my lip brushing my teeth.
nope SO i told john IM sorry. Dont be mad at me. I know it is gonna cost alot of money and we aitn got it but.. i think ireally need to go to the dr. This is feeling tingly and i think i am getting more of them.
so i called dr he said come in at 2. This was about 10 30 or somthing (It was after Joy and Sheri got into the political fight, and after the "new kids on the blocks" tryin to dance like the temptations but they instead looked like some just really ugh.. middle aged men tryin to dance like the temptations making us laugh our butts off) so it ws after that. whatever time that was..
well iwent and laid down. i noticed my throat felt weird and i couldnt breathe
good so I got up to go get my inhaler out of my purse and I fell. hurt my lip more and started beating on teh bedframe with the remote control.
my legs from knee down went ice cold and knumb

john FINALLLLLLLLLY came back there and got me on the bed i ponted my throat eh said need your nebuliser i siad ya he thought i was having an asthma attack. no
my throat was closing
i did the inhaler just kept on pumpin it over and over had to be 20 times total so he ran got hte nebuliser an i rem prednisone. they always give epi,(you know on ER they always say "push so and so mg of epi" but he said there as on in the cabinet and one also at her school, anytime someone is unconscious,, just I wasnt unconscious but i was headed that direction. Bella had and epi but i thought it was with her at school. so anyway he goes and gets prednisone and i swallow it it goes halfway down so I told him heat u p my water and i drank it and dissolved it (dont try that just for fun cuz it is nasty as all get out)so anyway we did ALL that stuff.

so anyway he got me to the dr ( it was an experience cuz we used my computer chair and my legs were draggin and i kept slidin down. its kinda funny now. you have to laugh so you dont cry cuz it is pretty humiliating.

They gave me a big shot steroids and a breathing treatment and i got to feelin better and could talk
throat wasnt raspy
also noticed I could feel my legs a little better and wiggle my toes
but i still cant walk exactly like before now I drag my right leg and my foot turns in and on the side.
like i walk on the outside where my pinky toe and side of my foot are all the way t touching hte floor on the side instead of flat on the sole of my foot. SO we are praying as the shingles/chicken pox (he said it was chicken pox some argue it is shingles that you cant get them again but they aint me... and ughmm he said when you run fever and they are all over it is chicken pox not shingles. shinges is just on one side in one spot on that nerve in a line (and i have had those too) and you dont run 101. something fever almost 102 after taking 2 aleeve either. (I am on that every morning when I take my shot the night before yall know the drill with that and phenegren so i dont have the shot side effects so bad)so when i was feelin crappy jus tthought it was cause i took my shot the night before. WRONG. DO NOT WAIT if you ahve a bump and feel weird CALL THEM dont ASSUME IT IS the shot!!! (like I did)



my eye is swollen, I have them in my throat on my lips and my thigh my back and my stomach my inside arms are a couple on my eyebrow and on my shoulder.
They keep popping up so who knows where all they are.

I am doing breathing treatments every 2 hours and taking big doses of prednisone and taking the antiviral med that you take for shingles/chicken pox.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IF YOU TAKE INTERFERON. IF YOU HAVE a zit that feels funny dont try to ignore it even if you think your husband will get mad cuz all your other meds cost so much and you knwo that the medicine for it is expensive so you didnt want to think it really was shingles....
DON't go there do not do that!!!

INSTEAD GO to the dr even if you suspect because when you take that it messes with your immune system and can kill you!!! IT can happen that fast.
SO LISTEN TO ME cuz it just almost happened to me

(not to mention I heard christian music and this pink hair lady singing amazing grace on the tv and it was gettin louder and i was layin on the remote but by god I thought the angels were signign and I was about to check out!!)

PS. I didnt allow comments on this post for a reason. NOT that I DONT care if you leave condolences and yes I appreciate your prayers more than anything. BUT this post was more to INFORM people to do not do what I DID. Because I wouldnt want any of you to suffer with soemthing that happened to me. PERIOD.
So it isnt to offend, or get any attention yes i appreciate your sympath, but mainly I wanted you to learn something and that is NOT TO WAIT GO TO THE DR Even if you are scared they will thing soemthng negative. YOU still need medical help it is your life in their hands.

We are still doing good!

Edited to add:
It is 2:32 pm It is still pretty windy and on and off rain. Our power is going on and off on and off. We are fortunate it keeps coming back on. I talked to my cousin Angela from Morgan City. They evacuated to a friend of her's house in Dallas. THey are ok and are safe. Was sooooooo good to hear her voice. I was worried about her but confident the lord would take care of her. I want to tell the friend of hers that took them in THANK YOU so very much for taking care of our family. If you ever need something and in Mobile... Angela will tell ya how to reach us.

Bella's school is closed tomorrow according to the tv unless they call us and tell us to bring the kids. I guess since it is in ZONE 1 they have to go in and access the situation make sure there is no damage at the school, flooding etc since it is in grand bay (closer to the gulf) our COUNTY is still under a tornado warning but not right where we are. (read previous post about Mobile county vs Mobile the town.)
Our power has stayed on straight now for a while so thats cool. I might try to scrap some later. If Im not hurtin as bad. Feel ALOT better but still achey from the weather. It sucks gettin old! (grin)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is 11:30 am The worst part of it is way over and we are still fine. Still have power. IT is windy windy. There are still tornado warnings but not that are an immediate threat to us. I am hurtin pretty bad so had to take some pain medication. JOints and stuff are swollen and achey but, will make it.

I have tried to call mama and reassure her that we are ok but I keep getting her answering machine though, ( can't talk to her on that cell phone she hurts my ears)but we are trying to keep it low key around here about the storm now that it is so windy to keep Bella oblivious to it. It is not raining real bad now just some showers off and on. NOT like we had earlier with the monsoon downfalls and the high winds. IT got a little scary earlier when it was raining really hard and windy and the alarm on the tv went off (and woke us up ok ME UP) with the tornado warnings, THANK YOU LORD she slept through it. (John looked at it a couple times and then went back to sleep)
Bella is now playing Fashion show. She is dressing up as someone, a character, with one of her costumes (or she makes up her own costume) and we have to guess who she is and what movie or tv show or whatever. (kinda her version of charades)
HEY WHATEVER WORKS!! SHE is happy and not wiggin out so we are happy. I have been in the bed so she has a long walk way lol all the way down the hall and to the other end of the hall and shows daddy. so cute!

Turned it over on the weather channel and CNN and we can't watch that long or will get you all upset and worried about the weather and upset her also.
So just letting you know we are all ok. (I promise mama.) They freak out on tv to get people to watch.. kinda like the train wreck everyone has to look at? We watch with worry and concern but end up all upset worse) We are all praying for everyone in an area that is getting this storm and pray they have power and everything they need to get through! IT didn't feel any worse here than when we went through katrina but didnt last as long as Katrina. The difference is we lost power in the first 30 min of the storm with Katrina so we had no clue what was going on.
I AM GLAD and very THANKFUL WE HAVE POWER THOUGH cuz that air conditioner is just a ginnin'!! IT SURE was HOT when Katrina came through for soooo long with no a/c!! so we are very fortunate and THANKFUL. Our prayer was answered. We are all ok and Power still on. Everything is fine mama I promise!!

I will update again this evening.
Gonna lay back down for a bit try to rest.

Hurricane Gustav, Havin' a Hissy Fit!

It is 7 30 am and so far so good. It has gotten really windy and hard rain fall on and off but we are ok. I am learning alot of the names of the little bitty communities around. I learned there is MORE THAN ONE COTTAGE HILL (like the one by us) when I woke John up goin "GET UP WE GOTTA GET IN THE HALL" and he barked at me that it was way "south east of us" and they are showing projected path going "north of us". (oh, Well thats a relief! glad he pointed that out. Saved a pair of underware for me!)
We Still have power and cable and the internet. Obviously, an boy John is happy cause I would be in there buggin him right now instead of updating my blog hehe)

They are saying it will be out of here by lunch time. ABOUT another couple hours of this stuff. OH and by the way, You know how back home, how we have tornadoes always goin' through Sandhill.
Well what do you know? There is a community called Sandhill here too! Its north of us though but, I am having a very educational Geography lesson this morning. (I would have preferred to just maybe toured these places when the Azaeleas are blooming but hey, I am sure I will remember it this way too!)

Stay safe. You all are in our prayers as well as everyone in or effected by Gustav's path of his hissy fit he is pitchin right now. Ready for Mother nature to call him off us already!

Will update again after while.

Update

It is 11 pm and as of right now we still have power and its not that bad....yet.
They say the worst will hit between 3 am and 9 am in the morning. THE GOOD NEWS they also say it will be improving significantly by noon. Bad news... its sup to be stormy the rest of the day but not like it will be from 3 to 9.
I want to clarify something, we live in Mobile. BUT, the COUNTY is also called Mobile.
ITS A BIIIGGGG county that goes all the way doowwnnn to the water. WE are more up at the top. WE are NOT in ZONE 1 where there was mandatory Evacuation. What yall are seeing on tv those mandatory evacuations,I know yall are watching the Weather Channel and they will scare you to death. I just check in on it from time to time UNLESS it is getting bad. On our LOCAL CHANNELS HERE is what we are going by. That is the stuff you guys don't see. SO I KNOW as far away as some of you are. IT LOOKS alot worse than it is right now.
That is not to say it wont get bad. SO WE DO APPRECIATE THE PRAYERS. PLEASE KEEP EVERYONE in the path in your prayers for safety.
I hope to go to bed soon and pray I can sleep through it. (PLEASE LORD) Maybe Bella wont come super man Dive us at 2 am and wake me up. :)
love and hugs
PS: JOHN FOUND MY HAND HELD BATTERY TV!! Made me smile real big. It was on top of the refrigerator. (it was wayyy to the back and well.. yall know I am short hehe)

Hurry up and Wait...

So far we are still in watch mode. Neighbors car alarm went off and scared the beejeebers out of me. so thought I would come check the weather. It is still iffy.. the way these things kick back right. Praying it will lose its strength and fizzle (One can hope and dream huh?) I spoke with my cousin Angela, They weren't sure where they were going yet. I told her to be sure and keep in touch so we knew where she was at. Still can't find my hand held battery operated tv, I KNOW its here. I had all our storm stuff together in a box (platic tote) Then I got sick. Few days ago I open the box.. there are 4 c batteries and half a flashlight and some fruitloops loose in the bottom of it... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wonder who could have been in THAT BOX?
Anyway after the search we found enough that every one will have one and we have the big one. We have a battery operated lantern also (better to scrap by if it would even be a possibility again, one can hope!)Today will be a busy day of preparation. Depending on the rain that is sup to be here before hand I dunno if Bella is gonna get to go play on the water slide with Brayden again tomorrow or not. Will have to just wait and see. It worked out good because she was creating more mess faster than I could get things cleaned up. VERY FRUSTRATING.
I tried to get her to do it as a game and help me but ughm NO.
SOOOO I finally asked her if we had to evacuate what were her 3 most very special things she had to take with her, one was her big teddy bear, her Hannah Montana guitar (god forbid we have to bring that I think it needs to stay!)The last one she said she would have to think about because she couldnt decide she kept changing it every 5 minutes. so that kinda kept her occupied so I could get some things figured out. Get my photos backed up and things..
So John has an air card and if it is possible I will try to give updates. IM PRAYING this is nothing like katrina and we keep power. We have sooo many evacuees I know they are all worried and terrified. That would be just one more inconvenience for them. Well for everyone.
I hope if you are in the path that you will make good decisions and stay safe.
ps. I copied the photo off the site HERE: but I wanted you to see what we were looking at real time and for a future scrapbook page in Bellas album http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at2+shtml/025240.shtml?5day#contents

So what Three things (not counting clothes and food or pets or family or essentials we know you have to have ya meds and stuff hehe fun stuff extra stuff?
What would you bring?

**EDITED TO LET family and friends that cares to know That my Aunt and cousin are evacuating to Dallas, Texas. (phew I was so worried about them driving in this mess!)

GO AWAY GUSTAV!!

IT is no secret. THERE IS A HURRICANE A COMIN!! OH my word everyone is freakin out already. I on the other hand am unbelievably calm. Maybe it is because IT ISNT IN THE GULF YET! so we don't really know what it is gonna do. SO far their best guess is it is going to make landfall in west Louisiana. Praying hard for those lousiana folks. THey need a break. BUT DONT SEND IT HERE PLEASE!

IF you would like to follow along with us. Here is a really cool hurricane tracker that updates itself constantly.

We are being cautious. John did fill all of our gas cans, make sure our plywood would still work,cranked the generator, we got a window unit a/c, got more batteries and replaced a couple flashlights. He got a new propane tank for the grill (yall know we do some good eatin' during a hurricane!) John and Bella paid our monthly dues at Wal mart. You know if there is going to be a storm YOU HAVE to go get water and food that is like some kinda law isn't it? We are getting all my meds filled (they are delivering a new month of these lovely injections today) Is kinda handy that they come in these neat little small coolers with re freezable ice thingys.

So I think we are ready to batten down the hatches and hunker down. We will keep a steady eye on it.

Everyone be sure you have your supplies you need ready even if this one doesn't hit.. Hurricane season is not over until November.
Everyone STAY SAFE!