Going Girly

It has been a while since I have scrapbooked some girly pages and it's been fun. I love the colors and the flower.

This weekend I am going to a crop on National Scrapbook Day (May 1) in High River. Looking so forward to hanging out with the girls.

Giddy

Today I am feeling a wee bit giddy. I have really enjoyed fueling my passion of scrapbooking lately and yesterday I posted a layout on my daughter Shannon. Leah Fung is a wonderful, kind, smart, talented lady who I have always admired in the magazine "Scrapbooks, Etc." She also does some great scrapbooking videos with Johanna Peterson and Donna Salazar. I must say she really is an icon in the scrapbooking world. She is also my Facebook friend and we play Facebook games together such as Cafe World, Country Life and Family Feud. We have never talked about scrapbooking until yesterday when she commented on my layout. I was so flattered. She thinks I should submit my work to Scrapbooks, Etc. as they are always looking for new people. It has always been a little intimidating to me, but one of these days I will get the confidence to submit. I have my gallery of layouts on Two Peas In A Bucket and she said that is how she got started and then she started submitting. Wow!

Laine is my 8 year old niece. She is spunky and energetic and reminds me so much of her daddy, who is my late brother who passed away 3 years ago. She looks like him and has a lot of his personality traits. It is so much fun doing girly pages for a change.










Here is another layout. I wanted to try mixing a dimensional adhesive such as Diamond Glaze with glitter to paint on chipboard. It was fun! I also wanted to add more bling by using Stickles, which I absolutely LOVE. The paper was by Karen Foster and it was the scraps from a scrapbook convention class I went to last year.

Got Shannon On My Mind

Usually when I have someone on my mind, I like to spontaneously scrapbook a page on them. My one and only daughter Shannon, is getting married next month and I had the perfect My Mind's Eye Paper to scrapbook these photos of her. I absolutely love the purples and mauves and turquoise and green together. The paper is all coordinated so it went together quite nicely.

Having Fun Playing

Who says moms can't have some fun? This has been such a great week. I took some scrapbooking classes at Camp Croppin last weekend and was just doing the finishing touches on them. I took four classes and the instructors were so much fun.




In the scrapbooking world, Basic Grey and Bo Bunny are some of the best companies. It was such a fun time and a real girl's weekend. If you've never been to a scrapbook convention, they are just such an inspirational event. It gets me out of the house and out of a scrapbooking rut.

Back From Camp Croppin

For the last three years I have attended Camp Croppin at the Carriage House in Calgary. It was nice to see Corinne, Melody, Ania, Debbie, Jill and Cheryl. It was nice to have some women time and scrapbooking time. On Friday night, we went to Kefi, which is a greek restaurant that was formerly known as the Santa Fe Bar and Grill. It was delicious and I highly recommend it.

This year at Camp Croppin, I only packed my tools and took four different classes and a few make and takes. I think my favorite was the BoBunny class. The ladies were so much fun. Some of the projects had wonderful papers. Basic Grey is one company that never ceases to amaze me. Kioshi and Green at Heart were the paper collections for this year's event. I even won a door prize of MME paper and a prize of a Basic Grey Card Kit. Some of the seventh inning stretch prizes were amazing. Some ladies won Cricuts and scrapbooking retreat packages. It is a good cause that I like to support and that is the therapeutic program at the Alberta Children's Hospital.

My parents had Clayton stay for the weekend so I could go to this event. Rick is still working a shutdown and won't be home for at least a week.

Today is Sunday and Clayton and I were tired when we got home from my parent's house. It was great that it was a day of rest and I had a wonderful afternoon nap and then we went to church.

Life Is For Living

It has been a jam packed week for sure. It has been fun to get out of the house every day this week and do some shopping. I was stuck for 6 months in the house this winter studying. It is all for a good cause. Shannon my daughter is getting married May 22 and it is creeping up fast. This week I found some silver shoes, an evening purse and a dress to wear to the wedding. It has been a huge challenge finding a dress that fits me properly as I am top heavy. I must have ordered five different dresses from the Sears Catalogue and nothing fit. I was getting desperate and my last resort was to get a dress sewn, but I finally was able to find a dress at Laura Plus.






My stove broke down the day before Easter Sunday when I was supposed to cook a turkey for my parents. We got a new one this week. It has convection and a ceramic cooktop. I love it.




Tomorrow is Camp Croppin. This will be my third year at Camp Croppin. I will be taking 4 classes so not much time to scrap, but I really don't mind as I don't find I get much done at crops. To me, it's all about learning and socializing with people who enjoy the same fabulous hobby.

I am missing my husband a lot. He has been gone for over a week now and will be home in another two weeks. I try to keep busy, which I have. He is an awesome husband, provider and he is my best friend. He sacrifices so much for Clayton and I.

Still Hunting...

I went into Calgary today and shopped at Penningtons. I came home with three nice dresses, three tops and two pairs of earrings all for the incredible price of $142.00. That's how I shop. The good news is that the merchandise was over $300 but I had 5 coupons.

Coupons is how I shop these days. This week we used coupons for many different things. The movies, 5 times the airmiles at Safeway, A&W, The Cheesecake Cafe, The Calgary Zoo, and now Penningtons. It feels really good to save money. In these tighter times, it is great to get a bargain.

I was going to wear one of the dresses to Shannon's wedding, but I went to my parents house to model them and Mom thinks I can get something dressier. If it doesn't happen this week, I will have to look into getting a dress made. Mauve is the color I would really like.

It is purge time at my house as I plan on having a garage sale this spring. Two large orange bags full of my clothes just went to Goodwill and I really hope that someone less fortunate can make use of them.

I know I have to count my blessings, even though I miss Rick so much and sometimes want to move back to Fort Mac. I am thankful that he has a job. I know the unemployment rate in Alberta is at a 14 year high. That is disturbing, but the oil industry has really taken a beating this year.

Yes we have to pay a mortgage and rent for his place, but I am still thankful he has work. I know that unemployment is very stressful. My first marriage wasn't easy. My former husband was without work for almost a year and it was the worst year of our lives. Hopelessness and losing a home is not a fun thing.

I have realized that there are problems and then there are problems and when I get discouraged, I think about my many blessings. It could be a lot worse.

On The Hunt

I really didn't think that finding a dress for Shannon's wedding would be such an ordeal. It seems that most plus size ladies clothing stores think that everyone wants to wear black. I like black, but I don't want to wear black to Shannon's wedding. I would like to wear a pastel color. So far I have ordered five dresses from the Sears Catalogue and still don't either like them when I try them on, or they are too tight in the bust. Ughhh! I have a dress on hold at Penningtons that just arrived and am going to drive into Calgary and try it on. I am keeping my fingers crossed. If this doesn't work out, I think I will look for a dressmaker.

http://www.1-plus.com/penningtons-New-Arrivals-Kimono-sleeve-dress_stcVVproductId97222858VVcatId491314VVviewprod.htm

Back To The Grind

Rick had to leave yesterday and go back to work on shutdown as it is delayed a few days. It was great that he was able to come home for 4 days. We took advantage of his time home and went to see the movie "How to Train A Dragon" in 3D. It was a great movie for all ages. It had some laughs and some romance and some just plain fun.

Our range had broke on Easter, so we bought a new range at Sears in Okotoks. It has a ceramic cooktop and also features convection. I can't wait to have it next Tuesday when it will be delivered.

On Wednesday, April 7, we went to the Calgary Zoo. Rick has never seen the zoo, which I can't believe, and he loved it. Sure, he's seen it at Zoolights, but it was dark and there were no animals. We took the camera gear and he had fun shooting all the animals. We went later in the day at around 3:00 p.m. so it was starting to thin out with people and it was perfect for viewing and taking photos. We practically had the place to ourselves. The "Dinosaurs Alive" was a new feature and it was amazing how the dinosaurs were mechanical. Clayton was a bit apprehensive at first, but enjoyed it once he realized they don't bite.


After the zoo, we went for supper to "The Cheesecake Cafe" and had a burger and our favorite dessert, Cheesequake. That will be the last splurge on dessert for a while.

Rick's Dad's 85th birthday was April 8 and we went to see him after our dinner to visit.

Thursday, Rick headed back to the Mac and there was a storm warning and the wind really started to howl. Luckily he was north of Edmonton when I heard on TV that there was a 50 car pileup near the Olds overpass on QEII.

Today the Mac had 30 cm of snow and Rick is so glad he didn't take the winter tires off the vehicles!

Clayton and I are spending the day at home. He is playing his games and I am doing laundry and purging stuff to get ready for the garage sale.

I made a recipe named "Zesty Penne, Sausage and Peppers" from Taste of Home that was really good. I will post the recipe:


http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Zesty-Penne--Sausage-and-Peppers


It was discussed yesterday with Rick that we would go on a summer vacation to Osoyoos again this year. We had such a great time last year and the weather was hot and sunny most of the time. I had decided to cancel "Crop and Cruise" in November as Rick didn't think he could get that much time off in November. I am a bit disappointed, but we had an awesome trip to Punta Cana in February and we are still going to have a week at the condo we stayed in at Osoyoos so life is still very good. I think it is a bit soon to take the scrapbooking cruise unless Rick and Clayton come with me.

Well that's all for the last few days. The weekend is among us and Clayton goes back to school on Monday after a restful spring break.

A Nice Surprise

Rick was able to come home for two days as they pushed the shutdown back a few days. It is great to see him. I really miss him when he's gone.

Last night we went to see the 3D movie "How To Train A Dragon". It was a really good show. It had a bit of everything and the 3D effects really were cool.

Not much else is new, Shannon phoned me to tell me she is an auntie as Rob's brother and his wife had their first baby...A boy!

Easter

It was a quiet Easter this year. I was supposed to have the Easter dinner and my oven broke the day before Easter so on Easter morning Clay and I headed over to my parents with a turkey ready to be cooked. We went to church at 11 and had a good day. I took a few photos of my parents and we played some Yahtzee. It was nice.

Good Friday

Today is a very special day in the Christian faith. It is the day Jesus Christ died on the cross for us to save us from our sins so we can have eternal life in heaven.

I was watching CMT while I was cooking breakfast and saw this video from Carrie Underwood named "Temporary Home" it touched me deeply. I first thought of Rick when he was in and out of foster homes until age five and then I thought of how this life is so temporary and we will be in heaven seeing God's face someday.

I know this is very deep, but I am a very deep person at times. Have a great day!

Last Day Before Spring Break

Clayton is back at school today and then he doesn't have to be back until April 12. He is happy about that. He is also feeling quite a bit better.

Today I went into Calgary and went to Scrapbooker's Paradise as they had 45% off one item over $10 today. I bought a few things to keep me interested. I love the new Mama-razzi paper by Bo Bunny. It is so cute and perfect for showcasing my camera. Linda was there today and I just love that girl. She always makes me laugh and puts a smile on my face. I then checked out Michael's and then the Scrap Yard. I bought some lacy ribbon there.

After I got home a package from Sears came and it was a dress I ordered for Shannon's wedding. I loved the peach color, but it was too small so I returned it. Sears has a bit of a selection for plus sizes so I went online and ordered 4 dresses and hopefully something will work.

Next I made an appointment to get my hair cut and maybe colored. It is time!

Well Easter weekend is among us and tomorrow we will not eat meat for Good Friday and honor Jesus Christ for dying on the cross to save us from our sins. The suffering he did for us! He truly loves us!

Sunday will be church and I am making a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and my parents will be coming over. Rick is working in Fort Mac then. I can't wait to have turkey. Sometimes a person just has to have it.

Clayton loves looking for the cute foil eggs that the bunny hides around the house. Hopefully the cat won't be finding them and rolling them around with her nose on the floor. Enjoy your weekend!