Secret Reviled

 Tonight I gave the first volume of two scrapbooks I made for Elijah and his family of the super cool, wonderful events and acts of kindness shown to he and his family. So many wonderful people so many blessings.

 One of the of the MANY acts kindness was a photo shoot of Mr. E and his family before he began his treatments

 So many businesses in our area have held family events to help with his medical expenses

 Enjoying evenings out with other families who are part of his enormous support system has been so inspiring

 Hundreds of friends, family, and people who have never meet Elijah are wearing his Prayer Warrior tee shirts. He and his family get so much joy when total strangers send photo's from all over the country, even the world wearing their tee shirts.

 Last summer a benefit golf tournament was held in his honor. The kids had a blast riding around meeting all of the golfers who came out to play.

 We are SOOOO blessed to live in an area that have celebrities from many of our sport teams that give their all to needs of the community as well as individuals.

 Jeff Gordon car number 24 from NASCAR is one of the many folks who have taken Elijah under his wing. Jeff Gordon runs "Kick It" to cancer events throughout the country

Elijah requested to swim with Dolphins from the "Make a Wish Foundation" unfortunately they were unable to make arrangements before his surgery was scheduled.  His Pappy and GiGi treated he and his family to a surprise trip. They made sure his dream came true :)

 Little Brother Sam has always been right at his Brothers side, he was pretty excited to share in this wonderful trip

It's hard to see the line that formed around their family home to welcome him home from his first hospital visit. HUNDREDS!!!!! of neighbors, friends, classmates, team mates, you name it they were there to show there support and prayers.

 

This is a tiny sample of the cover pages from sections of Elijah's volume number one scrapbook. My goal has been to document all of the joy and blessings he and his family have experienced from this past year. I had planned on making this for his one year anniversary but with battle number two underway now seemed to be the right time.

 

I stopped counting completed pages after 150!!! Still have a few more before volume two is complete :) Hundreds, maybe closer to 1,000 photo's are between the covers. Every single photo included in his scrapbooks are a testimony of the love so many of us have for this family. There are NO photo's of this nasty illness he is fighting!!!!

 

There is just no way I can explain the emotions that have gone into these albums. Without the kind words, encouragement, and prayers of our family and friends I could not have pulled this off. THANK YOU!!!!! My emotional bank is so close to empty. Tonight watching Mr. E, Mommy, Gigi, and Aunt Julie turning the pages I felt a little bit of the dark cloud I have been in for the last few weeks lift just a bit.

 

Tomorrows goal is to complete album #2 after the grands leave for the day. Elijah has LOTS more fun plans for the summer with family, friends, and our community. No doubt there will be a volume 3 in my future :)

 

 

Broke but Happy

 How cute is this? I wanted to keep some of our kitchen windows from the dump as I have so many sweet memories of looking out those windows watching our girls grow up and now the grands running around. One of the workers ask if I had plans for the windows they were saving for me. Not really, figured I would think of something in the future. He offered to make us a mini green house for FREE!!! Wow!!!! I love how it turned out!!! I insisted he take a little something for his time, take his wife out to dinner or something :)

 She is ALL DONE, as is our bank account :) If and when we ever have time we plan on planting rose bushes in the front beds. Life is so stinkin crazy right now it's hard to plan anything.

 

 

 Before the window team left today they offered to move the HEAVY green house wherever I wanted it. My first thought was in the back yard so I could look at it every time I was washing dishes but... I got thinking the grands and glass were not a good combo :) I had them put it right smack in the middle of one of the main beds in the front yard :) It makes me HAPPY.

Here is a peek at the top secret scrapbooking project I am working on. It has been a labor of love, tears, and hope. I think I printed the last 48 photo's I want to include in what has now turned into a 2 volume scrapbook. This is one of the hardest gifts I have ever in my life made, I never ever want to do another one :(

It's been such a crazy, busy, happy, sad, emotional time around our home the past few months I feel like I don't even know who I am these days. Have you ever been overwhelmed by it all? Right now that's where I am at.

I seem to be running in circles, getting nowhere fast. It's life, real life and sometimes it's just not fun, down right heart breaking at times. So for now I am doing what I can, when I can, and spending a whole heck of a lot of time with the Bible. I know somewhere within those pages there is an answer to everything that is going on. I need the Lords strength as my own is running very low.

Bear with me as I try to pull up my boot straps and get it back together :)

New Windows OUCH!!

 Getting ready for the window installers Sunday was so much work!!!! Check out the sewing/scrap room. Every single room in the house looks like this. The exception is the Powder room that has no windows.

 Another angle of the same room. This is after the big clean out/purge over the Winter :(

 One of the spare rooms, loaded to the gills. In fairness some things are from the attic clean out that were just too expensive to pass on to goodwill. Hubby seems to think I have the time to list it all on e-bay or some such thing. I'm not feeling it :)

 While the window fellas were banging away I made yet another big mess working on my secret scrapbooking project.

 It would have taken hubby and I a week to install just one window!!!! I'm not sure the Marriage could have taken the strain of 23 windows!!!!

These men make the job look like a piece of cake!!!! Wish we could find more companies who are on time, reasonably priced, and take pride in what they do.

Today is day two of the window makeover. The team showed up at 7:30 sharp ready to rock and roll. I am rolling but not rocking it today! Seems I pulled the heck out of some important body part in my shoulder yesterday moving furniture around. Starting the day after a sleepless night in pain was not in this weeks plan.

I have managed to move the downstairs furniture and what not's back in place. Ditto for the pictures, lamps, and all that jazz. Using one arm, my legs, and well developed back end was not an easy task but it was no where near as hard as vacuuming with my left arm, talk about awkward!!!

The upstairs....Other than our bedroom I just can't think about that today :) All in good time.

I am Oh SO Close to finishing the secret scrapbook project I can taste victory!!!! I hope to finish it in the next two days if I can't get this right arm and shoulder to cooperate.

Home improvements are not for the faint of heart, writing the check is even harder. I wonder if they will let me off the hook due to my arm injury :)

I hope to share the finished window project tomorrow as well as the cutest thing ever the fella's made for me out of our old kitchen windows!!!! I am in LOVE with these men :)

Lotions and Potions

 After a long rainy day stuck in the house with the grands I wanted/needed some adult play time :) I have been collecting recipe's for Lotions and Potions that I wanted to try, last night was my chance. Love how this bottle of Lavender Bubble bath turned out. DD#1 is our bath tub Queen, she will be the bubble bath tester. The recipe along with the cute label can be found here.

 Next on my want to try was Lavender bath salts, they smell wonderful!! Still need to do some hunting for a cute label as I am too busy/lazy to make one up on my own. Here is the recipe

 The last of the lotions and potions is for a jar of Summer foot soak made with Lime and Peppermint oils. This one I will be keeping for myself!!  Here is the recipe and label

 Tater Tot was rocking the house yesterday with his musical talents

It sure was nice to have a happy baby around for the day. He was so miserable on Friday cutting more teeth!

Today will be CRAZY busy as we have window installers coming in first thing Monday morning (we hope) All of the pictures and window treatments have to be removed, furniture must be pulled away from the windows so the fellas have a clear path for the instillation, and I really and truly MUST get to finishing my secret scrapbooking project. I like to start with a plan...I have no plan in mind except to survive the next 2 to 3 days :( Once the windows are complete I hope to have a full day to get the downstairs back in order before we have the grands again.

I am hopeful that I can set up the scrapbooking on the kitchen table for the first day as the installers should be working upstairs, the second day.....maybe move the party to the upstairs hallway with a portable table. I am feeling a whole lot of crock pot meals are going to be on the meal plan this week!!!

I HATE home improvements!!! The mess, cost, and waiting around for workers that may or may not show up. I will be glad when this adventure is OVER!!!

Girl Time

 I do believe I could be a Mountain girl :)

 Sitting on the front porch each day would suit me just fine

 The kiddo's could swing

 while I rocked the day away

 One of the only things I don't like when we go to one of the cabins is how darn dark it is!! Here are two of my BFF's working away on their scrapbooks. We end up covering every counter table, sofa, and floor with our treasured supplies. That in addition to two extra tables I took along. It's amazing how much STUFF it takes to make a few cute pages :)

I miss having my coffee with our Woodpecker friend. He was the biggest Woodpecker I have ever seen in my life. Just beautiful!

I finally finished unpacking yesterday from our trip as well as getting the laundry caught back up. Had two of the grands for the day then finished the day off with Tyler's Baseball game. Hubby and I hit the bed hard last night :)

Today should be Soccer, Baseball, and T-ball games but it looks like Mother Nature might have a different plan in mind. Rain, rain, and more rain. Hubby and Kara got the garden weeded yesterday while I did my best to keep Tater Tot happy. No easy task as he just wanted to cry for most of the day. I HATE teething!!

As soon as the grands clear out this afternoon I have forewarned hubby that the Top Secret scrapbooking project will be taking over the kitchen and my time for the next few days. I need to get this gift finished and delivered. I have a hard time scrapbooking at home as all of the interruptions start messing with my Mojo :) Sewing is sew much easier and faster for me :)

Do you ever treat yourself to some "Girl Time"? When our DD's were younger my "Girl Time" consisted of being able to visit on the phone with a friend for a chat. Me time was a nice bath at the end of a day every now and then. There is something to be said for getting older, you do have a bit more freedom to do what you want sometimes :)

Back to reality

 Our girl time trip was wonderful!!! We try to go out for one adventure each year to get in some fresh air and sight seeing. This year we hit the "Wild Plum Tea House" for lunch.

 It's very early spring in the Mountain's but their little gardens tucked around the cabin were still a sight to behold.

 How cute is this Lady scarecrow :) Her head was made from an old leaf rake with yellow mums for hair, daisies for her eyes, plums for her lips. So cute an clever.

 Loved this little Fairy garden

 The food was delicious, wild plum tea....really good but too sweet for my taste

A perfectly sweet way to spend time with friends. Hubby....no way!!! The chairs and servings were Lady size. I will admit right here that I ordered two meals when I saw the size of the servings :) A girl has to keep up her energy level!!!!

Five days just flew by!!!!Seems like we had no more than arrived, unloaded the massive amount of supplies we brought along when it was time to pack it all back into the cars. The weather was perfect!! Not to hot, not to cold, and we enjoyed a huge thunderstorm one evening. The storm got a little bigger than I would have liked but there is nothing better than being in a cozy cabin with a tin roof for some good sleep.

I got home in time to unpack the car......That's it. I have junk scattered around the house, nothing is put away :( and the kiddo's will be here soon. sigh

I have not completed my top secret scrapbooking project yet, until I do I need to keep the supplies handy for some quick on the run scraping. My goal is to have it completed and delivered a week from today. Holy Cow!!!!! I have no idea how I will pull it off but it must be done ASAP.

Girl Time

Our Girl time in the Smokey's starts today!!! Looking forward to lots of good food, sleeping late (Ya right), doing what we want, when we want, and maybe even a bit of scrapbooking this year. Lord knows we have plenty of supplies!!!

Never sure if the Internet or phones will work out in the wild so I may not be posting for the next 6 days :)

This post should have hit last Sunday but as luck would have it No Internet!!

Saturday Stuff

 One of my hope to do's this summer is begin killing off the massive amount of Ivy in one of the natural beds in the back yard so the flowers have a chance to shine.

 Last weekend hubby and I began the task of cleaning up the mess after lighting struck this tree. We have lots and lots of outdoor projects :)

 These new "Free for me" scrapbooking bags are pack and ready to go. I hope to make a BIG dent in the top secret project during our girls Mt getaway.

 Love these cute charms on the bags

Newest lotion/potions I made last night. I got the free recipe and labels from here. They will be tucked into a goodie container I am giving my GF's in the Mt's.

The weatherman predicted SUNSHINE for today. So far he has failed!!! We are starting our 6th day of rain this morning :(. The grands are going to be so upset if their games are cancelled today. Kara especially needs to get on a field, any field!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon SIL#2 helped me get the last of the heavy items out of the attic!!! Ya, almost done. Hubby was able to hand the majority of everything I had sorted back up to me so we are 90% done!!!! I need to finish up after the grands leave today so we will be ready to ROCK the next big project on our list when I return home from our girl trip.

Up next on the BIG projects WINDOWS, ouch!! All of the window treatments, pictures on the walls, furniture, and such will have to be moved/taken down for the installers to do their thing. I so hate giving up the original wood frame windows but there is nothing else we can do as to try and repair them would cost twice as much as replacing them.

I have been digging around on Pintrest for ideas to recycle a few of our original windows. I hate to see all of them loaded up for the dump :(

I'm not big on changes. especially changes that cost Thousand's of dollars!!!!

Lazy Girl Layout

 One of the things I have been working on are what I have named "Lazy Girl Layouts". They are Quick easy layouts using very few supplies. Only three pieces of paper were used on this layout.

All the embellishments are from the "Christmas Village" stamp set. Sweet little Christmas houses stamped then colored, the title too came from this stamp set, finally, the cute Chevron border punch used at the top or bottom of the pages for some texture and fun.

I have so much fun making "Lazy Girl Layouts" for so many reasons. I like the challenge of making something cute and useful that cost next to nothing!! Making do with what I have forces me to dig a little deeper into my stash. Sharing quick easy layouts with others especially newbee's gives everyone the confidence that they can do this and it does not have to cost an arm and leg :)

I am happy to report the Tata's are now being well supported on sale at only 16.99@ I sprung for two .  I am sure Y'all were losing sleep over that problem.

I stocked back up on page protectors all at 50% off, love that!!! The only snag in today's plan was I made the mistake of using a buggy at Hobby Lobby. It's the sure kiss of death to my budget :) I love, love, love that store. I didn't go too overboard but I certainly didn't stick to the list.

I broke down and turned on the heat this afternoon. We are on our 4th day of cold rain, the temperature in the house was 58. I was cold! Not sure why but when it's raining it always feels colder than normal to me.

This and That

 Hubby hands me this denim shirt he needs me to mend. Your kidding right?!!! He only has eleven more in his closet. This one is now in the trash where it belongs :)

 Another large project is underway. I had a massive amount of photo's developed this week for a secret scrapbooking project I am beginning to work on. I had a 50% off coupon for the standard photo's but only 33% off for the enlargements. When the fella who was working on the order saw what I was having developed he called to inform me they were going to do the entire order for 50% off!!!! I couldn't help myself I cried. Not over the money it was saving us but over his kindness in helping with what I hope will be a fun gift for someone very special to us.

 One of these days I will be DONE with all this plastic crap!!! For everyday use around the house we have switched to all glass but I do so many "To Go" meals and snacks that this is the only way to go for now. I don't want people to have to track me down to return a dish from a meal we have shared with them.

I would love to get my hands on the plastic bandit that is always removing lids or bowls leaving me with this useless pile. The lids went to the trash, the bowls to the sandbox.

Things have been thrown so off track this week, grrrr

Hubby's back is out so he can't help with getting the last few BIG things out of the attic
He may or may not be able to repair/replace the attic fan due to his back problems.
Time to drop back and punt. SIL to the rescue? I just might have to call them in to help me finish as it MUST be done before Sunday!!!!

The company replacing some of the siding on the house was a No Show again Tuesday. This is two times!!! Their new story is I had the dates wrong HAAAA Ya right. They planned for next week, no can do I have had other plans on the calendar for 5 months that can't be changed. The week after then? Nope window installers will be coming that week.

So the lady gets mad at me because they need the work. Sorry Charlie a No Show people for two weeks is moved to the bottom of the list. Our new date is the first week in May we will see how it goes. They have one more chance!!

Rain, rain, and more rain all week long has kept me from getting in the garden to weed and mulch. Sure hope it clears up before Sunday so I can at least get the weeding done before our big adventure starting Sunday.

I have at least been able to get the majority of my packing done, errands run in the rain :( and worked on plans for a fundraiser for our little buddy Elijah. There is always some good that comes from the bad :)

On for today? I am being forced to shop today as my last white Bra's under wire gave out on me. You know its been a bad week when the Tata's have no support :) Also need to hit Hobby Lobby for 12x12 page protectors they have on sale. The secret scrapbooking project is BIG, I will need lots and lots of page protectors. Need to dig around in the freezer for supper tonight. Thursday is our big meal day so I can have enough leftovers to work with Friday and Saturday when we have DD#3's kiddo's.

Just realized I have messed up my self imposed blogging schedule, grrr today should be layout Thursday :)