Baby it's cold outside!!!

So cold that all I can do is scrap and play on the puter! Got a few more layouts done!
Cleaned the kitchen and talked on the phone with Anne which always makes me smile!

Do you know someone who can bring a smile to your face no matter how bad the day! Well that is Anne. Funny thing is I meant Anne on line on a facebook game and she has become my best friend! Unfortanelty she lives in Virginia. She and I have so much in common which is cool but the best part about her is the fact that she can always make me smile or even better laugh!

SHe really needs to give me a photo of her so I can scrap a layout about her and one of these days I really really want to meet her in person. Although I can't go to her house and stay cause she is known as the cat lady and I am allergic to cats! LOL so I guess thats one things we don't have in common!!
Also finding out that her hubby and mine have alot in common!!!

O Christmas Tree!

Sharing another layout and also wanted to tell you about a chance to win a gift certificate for some wonderful cardstock! Just head over to Cut Cardstocks blog and enter there contest!

I am down today and not sure I can even scrap tomorrow as I had quite a few trigger point injections today. Hoping maybe tomorrow will be okay but sometimes I have two days down so we shall see.

Yeah! Scrapping again and MY WORD FOR THIS YEAR IS....

So I got one layout done and going to scrap more today!

Hopefully that will give me the pick me up I need!

The boys really enjoyed Christmas and it was such a blessing that they were appreciative and there was no "is there anymore" etc.

I know it's hard on them with the situation but golly you would not know and they sure show me and grandpa and aunt Mindy and uncle Mike a lot of love!

In the photos even Jack and Nikki got into the photos! LoL (although WHY are they up on the couch MIKE!)

We did miss Beauty that morning as she always knew she would get treats in her stocking too! In fact I could not bare to hang if for the other dogs! Mike got us a special ornament that is a dog paw with a spot for her photo and ironically we had bought an ornament for Jason that is red with paw prints on it to help remember her too. We will have to hang them together! Rest in peace Beauty ( we miss you!)

Golly 2009 Was a rough year!! and 2010 has started out kinda Rocky too! SO NOW I AM READY FOR SOME GOOD TIMES and trusting God will be faithful and even if they are rough I know He will carry me through!

I am going to take the losses from 2009 turn them into some beautiful scrap book pages honoring those I lost! ( I LOVE and MISS you Mom) and I am going to make this year a year of honoring and a year of ENJOYMENT! Grieving is going to be there but not my life!

SO MY WORD FOR 2010 is ENJOYMENT!!!

Yeah! I did it!

Okay, okay not when I said and not the one I said but I finally scrapped! And it went fast and smooth! I decided to do one of Noah before doing the one of Dylan first, just because I felt the mojo for it!

Also I decided I would not scrap till I had my scrap/paint area totally organized and cleaned and that took some time getting done between my mess and all the junk we are going through right now with our grandsons living with us! Let me tell you being involved with CPS can be the pits even when you are not the one who was doing something wrong! Let me tell you I am learning that they can't be trusted! Or at least I use to believe that people in those positions were honest and now I know better! But let me tell you I would lay down my life for my grandkids as would my hubby!!

sO HERE IS THE LAYOUT THAT IS THE FIRST SINCE jAN 09.

I am back and I promise!

I painted last week and I am headed downstairs to scrap! SO soon you will meet my newest grandson! SO the next post wil be about my latest paintings and my newest grandson and his fist layout!! watch for it real soon!

Dedicating this post to my Mom!

First thanks Mica for bringing me back to my blog!

ON Jan. 30th My MOM was taken to be with the Lord! I miss her greatly! It had taken me a long time to even get any desire to move on! I talked daily with my mom and she was always there for me.

I encourage everyone to let your Mom know how much you love them! Always treat them with respect. It is a terrible feeling to be show disrespect from a child especially an adult child. It carves down into the heart. I hope and pray I never did that to my Mom!

I am posting a few photos and then I am going to go back to posting regularing and sharing about my grandchildren and scrapping which I must start doing as I know Mom would want me to go on!

Thanks for listening and for all who prayed all those months that we tried so hard to get her off the vent. She may have never came off the vent but I will always cherish that time spent with her and be grateful that my husband was willing to be without me while I stayed with her 750 miles away for 4 months. Somedays going to the hospital every single day were hard but looking back I would not trade a single solitary day and I am grateful to my God for each of those days!

Win a very easy RAK!

BUT first I must explain I did not make it to the crop in last entry myself because friday morning a special family member was taken home! Not my mom but a special cousin of my husbands who lived with my husbands father. She and him were roommates since my mother in law died and auctually although my father in law was her uncle she was older. She use to babysit my mother in law. A kind and gentle woman! Ruth will be sadly missed and never forgotten. Expect some layouts!


Now for the Rak! SCRAP CITY IS ALMOST AT 400 MEMBERS!!! only 3 left till the magic number! THE 400th member is going to win a rak! SO all you have to do is head over to THE SCRAP CITY and register and you will win a rak! and as long as you are there check out the place it is the most friendly and fun scrap book forum!!! So click on the link and take a chance to win a RAK! YOU CAN'T WIN if YOU DON'T REGISTER!!!

FOLLOW ME TO A CROP

and make me crop too!! I need to get out of a major slump!! have not scrapped in longer then I have not blogged! OH IS THAT BAD!!!

Christmas at Our house!

Christmas at our house was held on Dec. 26th so we could have it with the boys! It was a little different then other years due to our limited budget! ONe of Noah's favorite gifts was his shaving kit!

Even Jason got in on the fun! And then Aunt Mindy had to get in on the fun and do her makeup. An update on my Mom, she is still in the hospital and not doing very well so of course your prayers are welcome!

I am thankful that the Lord sent his son to be born a baby in a lowly manger to teach us about life and to give us eternal life by dying upon the cross for our sins!
I am so thankful to be home for Christmas with my husband and family and I am ready to start the new year with my family also.

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

 
I am so thankful to finally be home! I am so thankful to finally be back with my loving husband and to be able to feel his loving support and stength and to have him hold me once again!

For those of you who have been praying for my mom, she came home last thursday and it was the worse 5 days of my life. Not so much for my mom's care but because of several reasons. First the hospital she was in INTERMEDICAL that is incompetent once again, sent her home with many things incomplete and not in place. I had to keep calling them, for instance she is on insulin and one of the insulins she is on the dosage depends on her blood sugar and you have to take her blood sugar reading and then follow a sliding scale to determine the dosage, they did not send the sliding scale with us! BUT THAT WAS ONLY ONE OF THEIR MANY MANY ERRORS.



I also wanted all to know that I have a wonderful Peace that passes all understanding from my wonderful Savior that has helped me to deal with all things above! I now can focus on my health and my wonderful family I have missed so much and those wonderful grandkids that have been giving me many many kisses!!! I love my mom and I am glad that GOD is in control and HE will do what He feels is right in HIS TIME but He helped me to know where I now need to be and that I did all I could and I thank HIM for all that time I had there with MOM and that special new connection and I can't wait to see MOM again, when and where. KWIM

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! SO TIME TO DECORATE! YEAH BABY! Right after a major dr's appt. today. eek! LOL!

Christmas cookies

Christmas is upon us and if I were home I would have started my Christmas cookies already and one that freezed great are Candy bar cookies and they are the favorite in my house and OHHHH so easy!!



THESE ARE TO DIE FOR AND THEY FREEZE WONDERFULLY TOO!

Candy Bar Cookies
1 cup Packed brown Sugar
2/3 cup butter or margarine
¼ cup light corn syrup
¼ cup peanut butter
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 ½ cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces
1 cup butterscotch pieces
2/3 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 13x9x2 baking pan with foil; extend foil over edges of pan. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, cook and stir brown sugar, butter, and syrup over medium-low heat until combined. Remove from heat; stir in the ¼ cup peanut butter and vanilla until smooth.

For crust, place oats in a very large bowl. Pour brown sugar mixture over oats; stir gently until combined . Press mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared baking pan. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are light brown.

Meanwhile, in the same medium saucepan, cook and stir chocolate and butterscotch pieces together over low heat until melted. Stir in the 2/3 cup peanut butter until mixture is smooth. Slowly pour mixture over hot crust, spreading evenly.

Cool in pan on rack for several hours or until chocolate layer is firm. (If necessary, chill until chocolate is set.) When firm, use foil to lift out of pan. Cut into bars.

Sometimes we just need to smile! Raks make me smile

On a sad day or a out of sorts day a smile or laugh sure helps to brighten my day, it makes me feel so much better! I have worked at being positive and trying to keep a smile on my mom'a face. I love it when she laughs. It so great to see her spirit brightened and I feel she will soon be doing so much better as she goes home tuesday although still on the vent.

Now the person who I adore that can always make me smile and laugh. The fact is he makes many people laugh and smile and I know so many people who love him, that is my uncle Yogi!

My challenge to you is to make a layout about someone who makes you laugh and/or smile! Now I have no problem with you combining it with a challenge on another site but I would like it to be new so this is on the honor system! i AM GIVING A RAK WHICH i WILL DO A RANDOM DRAWING FOR! IT IS AN AWESOME RAK WHICH I AUCTULLY JUST WON MYSELF AND LOVE BUT I WANTED TO DO A RAK AND CANNOT AFFORD ON SO I DECIDED TO GIVE AWAY THIS ONE! BECAUSE I TRULY BELIEVE IT IS BETTER TO GIVE THEN RECIEVE!

nOW hERE IS MY EXAMPLE WHICH I ALSO DID AS A SCRAPLIFT CHALLENGE ON SO THE DESIGN IS SCRAPLIFTED!



tHANKS DREA! HERE IS HER LAYOUT ON HER BLOG! THESE ARE THE DAYS

HERE IS THE RAK! (all the papers are cut down to 4x4)


YOU MUST POST A COMMENT WITH A LINK TO THE LAYOUT, AND AN EMAIL ADDRESS OR BLOG. NEED SOMEWAY TO NOTIFY YOU IF YOU WIN. COMMENT WITH LAYOUT LINK MUST BE POSTED BY SATURDAY DECEMBER 6TH MIDNIGHT EASTERN TIME. ALSO IF YOU PASS THE WORD AND SOMEONE POST TELLING ME THAT YOU SENT THEM, FOR EACH PERSON THAT POST YOU SENT THEM I WILL ADD AN EXTRA CHANCE IN THE DRAWING!

A great sketch blog!

I stumbled on a great sketch blog several weeks back just as it first opened and added a link to my blog as part of their blog challenge and then in changing my blog around lost the link! So I readded that link today on the left side and thought I would also show you the layouts I did back then from sketch 1 and 2 on their blog!!

So check out Inspired Blueprints

AWESOME NEWS!

Today my mom went down for a swallow test to see if she can swallow well enough to not have to worry about getting food in the wrong tube due to the wrong pipe so to speak since having the trach, she had the test several weeks back and failed! She has not been able to drink or eat basically since august 8th!! she has a feeding tube!

Well she passed!!! she can have thin fluids and blended foods to start and with a speech therapist present a soft diet and then progress hopefully from there! She is so thrilled just to be able to drink water and COFFEE again!!! she has missed her coffee so much!!

I know this will improve her spirits!

It is really time for some good news!!!

Here are some new layouts I did!

I sure will be glad when I am home and have my scanner to use!! I hate having to take photos of my layouts!!!!

Hey God, I have reached my limit!

You know that the bible tells us that the Lord will not give us more than He and you can handle together! Well I am reminding Him that I have reached that limit!
Right now my brother, father, sister and I are taking shifts taking care of my mom to prove we are able so she can come home!

the Nurse practioners feel that she won't get better, she went downhill while I was home and has not been off the vent much but she also gets lousy care at intermedical! So we feel she will do better at home and feel she can improve and even some of the Respiratory techs feel that is possible!

I am discouraged that the house in Mn. has not sold yet also and money is so tight and being down with my mom is costing me also. We changed realtors also.

But I know things will Improve and that God is in control, I just needed to remind Him that I am about at the end of that rope!!!

NOW HOW ABOUT a Chance to win some great blog candy!!! SOME Cosmo Cricket! Then check out the Scrap City blog!!

And as long as I am mentioning Scrap City you should also check out the great crop going on at the forum! SCRAPCITY

One last item! I have a good friend Jen who is a real sweet heart and she has given me a blog award! Thank you Jen!

Now I want to pass it on!
Wendy
Janice
Kayla
Stephy
Denean

I am in a crop! come join me!

Come over to Scrap 4 Life and join the crop

Here is a layout I have completed for the first challenge! I know it is simple but it was not an easy challenge for me!

The reason it was not easy is that the challenge is to do a layout on 10 things you are thankful for, today right after I decided how to do it and wrote down my items I am thankful for I got a call that my mom has gone downhill and has a very bad lung infection. The #1 on my list is answered prayer and that has been the answered prayer re: her and her health these past 3 months and also weaning her off the vent so I don't know where we are at now or will be at so I shed a lot of tears during this layout but it is also why I used the paper with Faith and believe on it because I have faith and have not given up believing!!

So those of you who follow my blog know I will continue to ask you to pray for her but also please pray for me as I an struggling hard with this! Also the nurse practioner that called me today tends to be very blunt and she even told my mom that this infection my kill her and my mom really has no one right now as she won't let them see her cry and she usually only cries when I am there! My brother said she just kept looking off in space! I leave to go back on thursday and I really can't go back before that! I am going to call and try to talk to her tomorrow although she won't be able to talk back. I know that GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL Reguardless of how negative the nurse practioner was and I know that I need to convince my mom of that!

Please forgive me for being so behind!

I came home for awhile to get my needed mri and shots and unfortanetly in that time my mom has not done as well. I feel bad but what can I do. I would ask you to continue to pray for the situation.

Also my dad had it in his head that we are all plotting against him. He has been confused lately and got very mad at me when I called him to tell him what the hospital my mom is staying at said about my moms release and what needs to be done for it. They are thinking of releasing her in about 3 weeks which will be about 2 weeks after I go back.

In the meantime I am enjoying seeing my family and being home and getting some important medical things taken care of!

I got a little discouraged!

Mom's Co2 was up ( the bad air you get rid of after you breathe in oxygen and use up the good stuff then you breathe out the co2 but she is not getting rid of enough of it) So they backed her down and have only been letting her get off the vent both yesterday and today 8 hours!

she has done well, I just got discouraged, then although respiratory therapist have been real positive, a nurse practioner said she does not believe my mom will ever get off the vent 24 hours. That she will always need it for nights. I guess I still believe in miracles and God! So I have decided PHEWY! I also believe in my mom!

tonight they will retest her blood gases and if they are fine she will do 10 hours again tomorrow~ I have not stopped the contest!

PLEASE I need lots of prayers for her! sO PLEASE PASS THE WORD FOR EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN!

10 hours again and holding

Day #4 of 10 hours! They decided to keep my mom at 10 hours for a while to build up her strength and work on getting her ambulating and eating and getting her upper body strength better!

I don't really have a problem with this, it is just that they had a meeting 2 days ago about it and no one has told me about it yet, I just sorta of heard it through the grapevine! I asked the nurse practioner to speak to her today and she said she did not have time because of two admissions so if she got time maybe tomorrow!

I am so frustrated with this place! I really think that it is ridiculous! I need to tell my mom I am leaving for a while but was told by Respiratory not to tell her till she is at 16 hours off the vent, humm well if they aren't moving her along and I am planning on leaving the end of next week, I THINK WE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM HOUSTON!

Please continue to pray! AND AGAIN PASS on the word for the blog candy/rak

Spread the news for extra entries!! Bowling buddies

I have decided the prize for the blog candy drawing A kit from the scrapbook site of your choice! AND From now until friday for anyone who spreads the word and leaves me a link of the blog or site where the spread the word I will give them 5 extra chances! The only requirement to win the blog candy is posting that you are praying or thinking about my mom! ( I am not holding to those words! LOL) JUst post something acceptable LOL

Yesterday she did 10 hours~ we thought they would have her do 12 next but the nurse practioner says she is going to have her do 10 a few days extra for some reason so now we are doing 10 again today for the 3 rd day! sometimes I think they just want the money because she sure aced 10 both days!

She bowled right up till she was hospitalized on two leagues and one league sent her a signed bowling pin! HEre she is checking it out~