Do you have a favorite ornament or decoration that you display at this time of year? (dsp blog prompt)

My Christmas tree is my favorite decoration.... I didn't do a tree the first few years I was married (long story). When I decided to put on up I happened to see a snowman themed tree in a store and decided I'd do one that way myself. The first year I had lots of snowmen that were just "filler" and didn't have any significance to me. But each year I've bought snowman oranments that signify something to me or my family.... there's the baby snowmen for each of my boys with the dates of their birth; the bride and groom snowmen for my hubby and I; the computer toting snowman for my husbands job; the snowman playing the drums for my drummer son; the beach snowmen from vacatioins; the photographer snowman; the skateboarding, skiing, baseball playing, basketball dribbling, etc. snowmen and more! And there is the Snow"mommy" with her "snowdaughter".... she represents the baby we lost. And theres one lone reindeer, Rudolph, who has a place of honor and a special memory attached to him. There are still some ornaments that are just beautiful.... but each year the ornaments with meaning replace the ones that are just there.... my boys and I decorate the tree each year and sort of celebrate who we are and what we've done through the years. A few days ago my girlfriend's tree fell over and all her glass ornament shattered. I couldn't help but think how sad I'd be to lose all the little things on our tree that trigger memories for me.

Wnat is your favorite winter memory? (dsp blog prompt)

It's really hard to choose just one favorite winter memory... seems that winter is, in some ways, a season for fond memories. There's Christmas, of course, and childhood memories of rare snowfalls in Alabama... and after moving to Michigan there's a whole new world of winter fun that I've discovered and enjoyed with my kids. But one of my fondest winter memories is when I was around five and was stuck inside sick on one of those rare days when we got enough snow in Alabama to actually cover the ground. I remember sitting at the window watching my friends play and feeling so very sad. Then, the door opened and there was my dad with the hugest snowball you've ever seen. He put it in the sink for me to play with.... I happily dug and scooped and packed for what seemed like hours... it must have been magical now if it didn't melt any quicker than that! LOL! That is one of my happiest winter memores and one of my happiest "dad" memories too.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? (dsp blog prompt)

Doesn't that sound like a line from a Dr. Suess book?

Ok.... back to the prompt. After spending quite some time thinking about this I have to say, kind of sadly, that if I were a tree I'd probably be a kind of small, scraggly one. One that's been bent and twisted in the wind, suffered from drought off and on, isn't planted in the right environment either so it struggles and struggles to fulfill it's tree destiny. It would really take some looking to discover the species of tree that I am. Someday an arborist would come along who would see that I was really an oak tree struggling to make it and that all I needed was to be placed in the proper soil and given some tender loving care in order to thrive and grow and reach my full potential.

This is the most depressing blog entry. I'm sorry. I've had a hard day.

Tell about five accomplishments the past week...

hmmmm.....
1. I did all my returns. I have a terrible habit of purchasing something and then needing to return it only to have it sit in a bag on my bedroom floor for weeks... maybe months! I managed to return all the stuff that's been piling up the last month or so... and have set myself a "rule" for not purchasing anything new if I currently have an return waiting to be made.

2. I replaced my cell phone... twice. My phone has been not holding a charge for quite some time and lately a couple of the buttons wouldn't work everytime. Very annoying. Almost as annoying as a trip to the Verizon store would prove to be. My first trip wasn't too bad... I purchased a very cute little Razor with a blue tooth thingy so I can be one of those annoying people walking through Wal Mart "talking to themselves"... LOL... but the battery life was really bad needing to be charged after just a couple of hours of talk time. So.... off I go to the Verizon store again where I was one of four customers that morning. One of four. One of just four measly little customers in a store with 18 employees standing around doing nothing. I'm not kidding. I counted. After being made to wait for someone to "be available", the sales girl was as unhelpful as a person could be without being down right obnoxious. She actually told me, when I said I wanted to return the Razor because of the short battery life that "well, you should have known that". Not "they should have told you that"... uh-uh... I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT! I am sad to say I didn't maintain the best attitude although I did manage to not treat her rude... I just told the hubs that he'd have to finish the phone purchase because I was going to wait in the car. Menopausal women should probably not visit Verizon stores! I swear... if it wouldn't have meant changing my husband and sons phones I would have left and gone to Cingular even if it'd cost me twice as much! Anyway... I bought another phone and we'll see if it's any better.

3. Took my car to the shop for some warrantied repair work that needs to be done, but wasn't a HAVE TO. Things like that are hard to do for some reason.

4. Had a really wonderful lunch date with my 8 year old after their American Education Week activity. :)

5. And, lastly, my most proud accomplishment.... I cleaned the junk drawer in my kitchen out! I hate this chore because it never stays done and involves lots and lots of decisions about throwing stuff away and finding homes for stuff that shouldn't have been put there in the first place. But it sure feels good to open it up to get a stamp or a pen or something and actually be able to find it!

Want to know your future?

If you could, would you want to know your future? No, I don't think I would want to know my future, except in the most general terms... for instance I like feeling assured that God has a plan for eternity for me and regardless of how this life on earth is, there is something better ahead. But knowing the day-to-day future of every little aspect of my life would be overwhelming. Assuming you couldn't change things I think it would be a bit discouraging... why try if you can't make things better (the good things and the bad things coming), just coast on through. And if you could affect the future I think it would be such a tremendous weight on a person they'd crumble. Afterall, your future really impacts so many other futures, doesn't it? O

The Book I'm Reading Right Now is Teaching Me...

absolutely nothing! I'm currently reading The Ambler Warning which is a rather poorly written but fairly entertaing spy-political intrique novel. But it has no redeeming qualities other than that it is entertaining enough to keep me from feeling annoyed when I'm sitting in a parking lot waiting to chauffeuer my kids from this activity or that! The last book I read that "taught" me something was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards which was not only a fun read, but dealt with how a lie impacts people's lives over the years. I don't know if "taught" is what it really did as I already "knew" this but it did cause me to think.

What would you do if you rescued someone....

and discovered he was the richest man in the world and he offered to either buy you land and build a house or fix up the house your in now?

Well... lucky for me there is one empty lot left in my neighborhood!! Because my kids would hate moving away from their friends and our neighbors are much like family so.. I think I'd buy the empty lot across the street. It's huge and backs up to the woods... rumor is it needs some fancy, dancy septic system because it won't properly "perk" and that is why no one has bought it... but what do I care about the cost, I just saved the life of the richest man in the world!! I really wouldn't build a huge, huge house.... nothing overly fancy, not a lot of fru-fru either. I'd like to have four bedrooms (one for each kid, a guest bedroom and a master suite... a real master suite with a large bathroom and huge closets and an area to have a couple of cozy chairs and a fireplace... ok, now I'm getting fancy, aren't I?) And I'd have a larger kitchen with room for people to gather since that's where everyone ends up anyway... lots of wood, rich warm colors, tile backsplash, brand new appliances. I'd have a family room and a small living room/dining room (we'd never use it, but what the heck?) and I'd have a sunroom since Michigan winters are long and dreary... a heated sunroom where I could sit in my jacuzzi and watch the kids play in the snow (there I go... getting fancy again). I'd have a finished basement with seperate areas for teens and younger kids... lots of room for electronics and large screen tv. And of course, I'd have my very own computer room... no wait, I'd have computers in every room so I could sit and play where ever I desired.. yep, that's the thing!! LOL!! What happened to "nothing to fancy?" Actually.... the only thing I'd do is buy the lot across the street and turn it into a neighborhood park with a swimming pool for everyone and a baseball diamond. I like my house pretty well as it is... and I certainly don't need more space to clean! Although that sunroom would be pretty nice.....

How fun is this!!??

This week's Item Of The Week at dsp is a template to make these little snack bag holders. It's just $.99 for the template, several papers and elements (not the ones I used, these are by Rene Bross, Pretty Pumpkin page kit). Anyway... the template is very easy to use and the results are really quite good, even first try. This is one I made (my first attempt). I can see lots of uses for this (birthday parties, school parties, etc.) Boy... the fun a person can have for $1.00!!!

Do You Find It Easier to Be Yourself in Online Communities?

An interesting question... and while I'd answer "yes" to it, I still wouldn't say I am really "myself" online either. It is kind of hard to be yourself with just the written word, for me anyway. I don't write all the well I don't think so I find it hard to really express what I mean.

What would you do if you were Queen For a Day?

If I could be Queen for the Day..... hmmmm.... I don't think I'd actually want to be Queen of the World, Continent, Country, Kingdom... not even a small city. Too much responsiblity for me! But if I could live like a queen for the day around here... well... it would start off by adjusting the start time for school so my kids and I could sleep in and then leisurely get ready and they'd go off to school around, oh, 10:00. And they wouldn't go by bus... no, a limo would pick them up at the front door so I could give them a quick kiss and a wave from the warmth of my own foyer! Then I tell the maid and cook about their duties for the day and I'd go off to soak in my hot tub before getting ready for a leisurely of whatever struck my fancy... perhaps a day shopping with an unlimited pre-paid Visa, or a day of scrapbooking on my brandnew computer with my unlimited prepaid account at dsp and unlimited memory on my harddrive, or a day having lunch with friends, or a day with my husband... who has retired because he now has an unlimited prepaid Visa too! That is actually what I'd do if I were Queen.... I'd grant him a knighthood complete with an income producing estate and servants to do his bidding so he could stay home and be with me! :)

(The layout is made with products from October's Club Digital by the DSP designers and Lauren Bavin's Pretty As A Princess page kit also available from dsp.)

I'm going to play catch up today with a prompt from the week just past.... How'd you meet your closest female friend? My closest female friend is the mom of my youngest son's friend. We became friends through our boys and because she is my neighbor. At first glance we wouldn't seem to have a lot in common... she is much more liberal than I, raised in a totally different lifestyle, different values in some key areas, different styles and tastes. I have often wondered what makes us friends. It started because she is really a loving person, kind and generous with my boys... almost like an aunt. And then over time I grew to really respect her for the generosity she shows to all people and for her acceptance of all people.... she reminds me a lot of my little sister too, perhaps that is it. Anyway.. whatever the reason we are friends, I'm glad. She has helped me enjoy the last six years in ways I wouldn't have without her.

The weekend blog prompt is to watch the short film at this link... http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/ and discuss it. It's pretty cool... go see it.

I am obviously no good at blogging! I haven't remembered to come and write anything since the 5th of October... that's two weeks! Or maybe I just don't have anything worthwhile to say... LOL! This is a layout I did for the "Women In Your Life" challenge at dsp as a warm up for the Breast Cancer Awareness Crop. It is using Samara Guglar's free kit, Power to the Flower, and Lisa Carter's stitching set, Keep Em In Stitches. I made the little glass beads. That's my mom. :)

A New Layout, Learning New Things.

This was made with my kit, Magical Night, which I made for the SNL #19 challenge at dsp. Cool, huh? Everything but the Circle Chipboard "T" and the fonts was made by me in photoshop (The fonts are by Suzanne Walker, the chipboard by Lauren Bavin). And, with this post, I've learned how to upload images to blogger............. now I just need to figure out how to personalize my blog with some cool graphics, etc. :)

What Can You Hear Right Now

Right now, as I finish browsing dsp, I'm sitting in an upstairs bedroom where we keep our computer. Outside it is a sunny fall day... crisp yet bright. I can hear the sound of the lawnmower next door and the sounds of the lawn service employees getting equipment out, bangs and thuds, laughter and the mumble of voices. Then there is the sharp ding of the door bell... it is a friend coming to pick up a registration form so our boys can join a recreational bowling league. Laughter, thank yous, good bye. From the window I can hear the slight breeze in the tree, a background noise to all the other sounds in the neighborhood. Below me I hear the voice of my husband who is working at home this morning. He sounds frustrated, annoyed, a bit impatient. I wish he'd win the lottery.

Write For Five Minutes...

Ok, perhaps I cheated just a tiny bit because I sat and 'thought' about what I would write about... hasn't helped me much, though! Today I had to go to the dentist for part 2 of a root canal. I HATE the dentist... I have major dental phobia and am always on a quest to find a dentist who understands this and can help me overcome it.... anyway, I think I've found a good dentist. He is kind, patient, understands where I'm coming from. Unfortunatly they ran into a problem while doing their thing in my mouth and I have to go back at least twice more to get the whole root canal/crown thing finished. bummer. I've worked really hard not to pass my dental fears on to my kids and have been pretty successful... neither one has had a cavity (they're 8 and 15) and aren't afraid of the dentist at all. I sort of panic even when I have to take them. It is awful. I've tried valium (which helped at the time... but, yikes... drugs?). I've tried counseling. I've tried hypnosis (didn't help me at all). I had overcome this problem to a great degree before we moved from Alabma with the help of an excellent dentist there. He, sadly, was diagnosed with MS shortly after we moved away and doesn't work much anymore so I can't go back and see him. My first two dentist in Michigan were awful and I found myself

Celebrate A Relationship in Your Life

Celebrate a realtionship in your life.... I've many relationships that deserve celebrating.... my husband, my sons, my best friends... but today I'm going to write about a group of five women who have come to mean the world to me, the women in my Moms-In-Touch group. Moms-In-Touch is an international orginization made up of small groups of women who meet weekly to pray for their children and their children's schools. When my oldest son was in second grade (so many years ago), Pam asked me if I'd like to come and pray with her for our son's and their teacher. I said "I'd love to but..... " which could just have easily been translated as "no". Pam continued to ask me gently, kindly each year the boys were in elementary school and each year I had a different version of "I'd love to but... "

As our boys graduated from the elementary school and moved on to the middle school, Pam asked me once again if I wouldn't like to come to a brunch for Moms-In-Touch at her house, no commitment she said... just brunch and meet the other moms in the area who are involved in Moms-In-Touch. For some reason I said ok.... and when brunch was over and she began to talk about Moms-In-Touch I listened. Then she said they needed a "host" home and I found myself saying I'd be happy to have the group at my house. So, the next week three other moms and I met and prayed for our boys... we all had brand new middle schoolers and I'm now going on my fifth year of praying with these women... we've added a mom or two over the years and a mom or two has left. But the same core group that began praying together as mom's of sixth graders is still here. We are all from very different backgrounds, all very different type moms. Two are catholic, one is evangelical, one methodist, one church of Christ and then there's me... I no longer attend a church having been in two extremely dysfunctional ones in the past ten years yet they don't care. We have one thing in common and it's enough, faith. Faith in the power of prayer.

One of these women has become my "girlfriend". We do things together, our boys are friends. The others aren't really "friends" in that same sense. They are more like sisters. We're quite different but we are close in a way you can only be when you have prayed for, cried for, rejoiced for someone's child with them. I share the ups and downs of life with kids with these women and they with me. We have prayed for the little things in our kids life, like grades and making the sports teams. We've prayerd for the big things like a child caught smoking pot. We've had serious illnesses to pray over, a divorce, the death of a parent and friend. God's shown me with these women the power of his spirit to transcend our differences, to unite through his love.

First Day "blogging"

Well... I started this blog, sort of. Let's see if we can't start over. :)