I'm Back

I have been back from Tucson since Saturday and have been trying real hard to get back to "normal life" Its amazing to me how much a death in the family upsets the "swing of things." Between being gone for a week away from home and no longer needing to care from my grandma my routine is messed up a bit.

The funeral was smooth. It was nice to see family members that I have not seen in a real long time, some since I was a kid myself! The reality hit me when they closed the casket for burial. Even though Grandma was lying there at peace, something about closing the casket made it all the more real to me. At least when I could see her it was if she was still there in some way. I pray that she is at peace now and grateful that her suffering is over.

That's it for now. I just wanted to check in since it had been awhile. I will have photos and art to share soon. Until next blog...

Goodbye Grandma

June 14th 2009 sometime between 4am and 6am My grandma, Doris went peacefully home. She had been stricken with dementia and Alzheimer and more recently with Parkinsons. I am so thankful that her struggle is over. And extremely thankful that she went peacefully and in no pain.

She was born in 1927 on a farm in Nebraska. She worked hard most of her life, first as a waitress in her families restaurant and then as a health care administrator for the Tucson Unified School District. She married a military man, Howard and they had two sons, Robert and Richard. They moved to Utah where Howard worked on the Enola Gay Mission during World War 2. Sadly Howard was killed in a motorcycle accident after getting an honorable discharge from the military.

My Grandma moved to Tucson where she met and married "Norm". He was the only grandpa I even knew.

My memories of grandma are of Sundays at her house. She would cook dinner and we would watch Wild Kingdom and the Lawrence Welk Show. She was a very out spoken and intelligent woman and not one to be messed with. She had a fire and passion about all that she believe in.

We moved her to Las Vegas a few years after "Norm" passed a way because it was becoming clearer that she had dementia. In those early years she still had that fire about her and would get so frustrated with not being able to say the words she wanted. I remember she would call me a couple of times a day to let me know she just moved here and would appreciate a visit. Not remembering that I was just there. Anytime I would ask her how she was doing she would say "Cant Complain nobody will listen" but would also be just thrilled that she didn't have to cook or clean anymore. It was hard to watch such a strong, independent and passionate women become so dependent and frustrated. As the years went by it became more and more evident that the women I knew as my grandma had "passed away".

In the last months before her death, she had good days and bad days. When I would go see her, her face would brighten up as she knew she "knew" me but could never remember my name. I would always tell her it was ok.. as long as I knew who I was.. it didnt matter if she did. Amazingly she still had many memories of her days gone by it was just the present she couldn't keep track of.

For me, I am glad her frustration is over. Alzheimer's is an awful disease. It robs you of your loved one right before your eyes. Like a slow death with no pain. I will definitely miss my weekly visits to her. I will miss Her soft hands in mine and quirky sentences that at times made no sense at all. It was a lot of work taking care of her.. managing her doctor appts and making sure she was getting the care that I could never give her but so worth it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It allowed me to grow close to her and get to know her and her past.

Goodbye Grandma. Heaven doesn't know what its in for now that you are there. I Love you and will miss you very much. And I will make more of an effort to get "in the picture" as I wish now I had a more recent picture with you and me together.

I actually scrapped today

Well sort of. I created a whole 4 pages ( two 2 page spreads) I find that I am easily distracted and I really need to have some one come over and create with me to keep me focused. Between the Laundry, the youngest child and the computer I do not get a lot done..

Anywhoo, I have this crate of "stuff" older CTMH paper kits, misc papers and other items that I get at crops and I have been meaning to go through it and do something with it. I want to get through it since we redid my scrap room I had to downsize somethings and all this extra paper, page kits, stamp camp stuff, make n takes etc are in crates and bins waiting for me to do something with them. Can you tell the hubby "designed" the room? Gave me less storage and minimal workspace. He obviously doesn't understand the mind of a scrapper or my "job". So now I am in search of something a little bigger then the kitchen island I currently work on. In my previous space I had that plus additional work space. I have convinced him at least to put a table top on the pool table so I can use it for work space when we aren't playing pool. So I guess you can say this my before "after" photo since I still have some tweaking to do.


So here is my art share for today.. the cardstock is Bazzill and Close To My Heart, The deco elements are from My Mind's Eye, and the pattern paper is some old school Close To My Heart paper. Yes, I know its a Valentines layout.. totally off season but it was the first thing I grabbed out of my crate of "stuff" I was just feeling it.. know what I mean. So I am off to do a little cleaning before the DH and I head out for date night tonight. ;)

Acrylic Album

I had a lot of fun putting this together. I kept it simple but I am looking forward to getting more of these and challenging myself to create a more interactive album. All supplies are Close To My Heart

Sunsets in Vegas

One thing you cannot deny.. Vegas is a beautiful city. Sometimes I may not always like it here but at night it sure is pretty with all the lights just twinkling a way. It looks so peaceful from the distance..which is where I would rather be. We have been enjoying unseasonably cool temps for June and I am loving it! Mornings are just so awesome and I am really enjoying taking in the cool air with a good book..even if it is just for a moment. Tonight as I stepped out to enjoy the brisk breeze I captured this Sunset. Not one of the most spectacular I have seen here but worth the camera shot none the less.

I also did get a little creating done today. I have this box of "things" old kits, make n takes, stamp camp projects and the like that I have been trying to get through and finish. Today I finished up this card. I ended up changing the front since I didn't have the stamp set to complete it as originally designed. Still came out pretty cute though I have to say. The stars on the bottom were sanded into the cardstock. One thing I LOVE about Close To My Heart Cardstock is the white core. It allows you to create some great distressing effects. I also worked with the Moon Doggie paper kit tonight and WOW I think that will be moved to the top of my list of favortie papers. I will post here once I get some pictures on it. So anyway, that is it for now. I have got a littel energy so I might try and get another page or two done before I go to bed. So until next time.

It only took two days....

Ok so it only took me two days to finish this layout but at least its done now. I swear between, cleaning house, keeping up with laundry and the kids I hardly have 5 minutes to spend in my new studio. So I havent been able to give it the appropriate test run. After this weekend though I know I need just a tad more work space. So I will have to see what I can come up with for that. Possibly a slightly bigger kitchen island?? Who knows. Anyway this layout uses CTMH's Blue Ribbon paper pack and the "sketch" is from the "Notebook" Workshop on the go. Its in response to an older challenge on the CTMH BB's I would like to think I can do a challenge or two a week.. more if possible. At least after this week since this week I have to finish getting my stuff together for my get a way this weekend.

The photo's are of the kids enjoying sparklers on 4th of July last year. We spent the day at the Falline's house swimming and BBQing and then came home long enough for the kids to enjoy some fireworks before they had to go to bed since it was a school night. (This is one time I do not like year round school)

Anyway, I am going to offer this as a scrapbook class so be sure to check my website for details.

A quickie Share

Ok, so I am not doing so good on the sharing of the art daily thing.. its just been a real busy week, as most of my weeks are. I do not work this weekend so my plan is to hopefully get some crafting done. I do have to get ready for my get a way in Primm next weekend but that will involve some creating so that is a good thing. So hopefully come Monday, I will have some art to share. In the mean time I thought I would share with you a little bit of my shopping savings today.. it was huge!

Its no secret I live, breath and swear by grocerysmarts.com. It IS the best thing since sliced bread... really. For those of you no familiar its a free service that pairs up sales ads from the local grocery stores to the coupons currently valid. The idea is to buy items with coupons when the item is on sale thus maximizing your savings. You also want to stock up when you do this as you will find some weeks you are buying cereal, other weeks it might be frozen pizza. It just depends on what's on sale. I have been doing this since Feb. and I can tell you the difference in my grocery bill is HUGE! Not only that I am so stocked up on items that I can now actually skip weeks (other then perishables, milk etc)

And just so I can actually "see" what I am saving I started taking my coupons savings and transferring that money into a checking account. Hopefully down the road I can use the money to take the family on a vacation or pay off the Van or something..

So today in between the running between the house and the school for our market place I stopped at Walgreens. I only picked up a couple of things.. but wait until you see..

The list was small but I bought 6 packages of Ecotrin Aspirin and 6 packages of the Chinet Dinner plates: Total Value of items purchased-21.00
Total out of pocket for items purchased 3.00
Total Savings 18.00


Yep I paid 3.00 bucks for it all. In addition I got 3.00 in "bounce backs", coupons you can use on your next purchase, so technically it was all FREE. Normally I would use them right a way but since I didn't need anything else I will just save them for next time. That has probably been my biggest savings yet.. well maybe not but I was impressed.. The cashier was impressed, everyone in line was very impressed that I had to share the website and the pass code with everyone that was interested. Kind of made my day. Now granted I don't know if I will go through 6 boxes of Aspirin before they will expire.. but when they are FREE you might as well get them. You never know when they could come in handy for care boxes, a supply in our RV, upstairs, downstairs.. whatever.

Hopefully I will remember to share more of my shopping excursions, tips I have learned etc. Its the least I can do to help all of us save big money on our grocerys.

Getting Burned

I have to ask myself sometimes why I am so nice to some people?? I wont divulge details here because the situation is messy enough and I want to respect the parties involved but it always seems like when I go out of my way to help someone it always bites me in the butt in the end. These people who I have gone out of my way to help turn around and blame me when certain things don't go there way. I almost feel taken advantage of in a way. It really sours me to being helpful but it never fails down the road after time passes I help someone in need again.

On a lighter note, Close To My Heart is offering a Deal a Day in June! ( should of been May since it rhymes..LOL) Anyway, if you click on my website, link is on the right, you can see what the deal is for the day. And its only good for the day so if you love it you will want to buy it! And not only are you getting great deals you are getting savings on shipping as well!! And its HUGE!! I already checked it out.

And get this, I am going to attempt to post a piece of artwork every day. Yep, crazy I know as I don't always get a chance to do any creating some days but I am going to try anyway. And of course there will be a couple of days at the end of the month that there wont be any art since we are going camping again so maybe I will try to do make ups. => So I better get busy since this day is just about over and I haven't made anything yet.