November was a sad month

So many things have happened over the last month that I don't know where to begin. I'll start with the sad. My father-in-law passed away on Saturday, November 21, 2009. He was 87 years old, but he was in great health, at least according to his doctor whom he saw a week before he died. Who's to know when your time is up. He was standing out on the street corner in St. Louis doing charity work (old newsboys day) which he had done for 50+ years and was doing great when a woman saw him fall down. She thought he missed a step on the curb and went over and administered CPR because she could not find a pulse, a doctor also stopped to help and administer CPR. They did resuscitate him and an ambulance took him to the hospital. Originally, they thought it was a heart attack. We immediate left for St. Louis, a 5 hour drive (after taking the kids out of school) and found him all hooked up to a ventilator and monitors at Barnes Hospital. The doctors were pretty grim and after running tests determined it was not a heart attack but that his heart just stopped-anyway it turned out that he never woke up and the ventilator was keeping him alive, barely. As soon as the whole family arrived (some coming from LA, PA, NH, TX) we abided by his wishes and removed the ventilator. He died peacefully. He was a great man and a gentleman. He loved animals and they loved him. He would never kill a living thing. He would capture a bee or moth that had gotten in the house and take it outside. He loved nature and spent hours on his lawn and he was generous to a fault! It was so amazing at the funeral. People came from all over, even his former postman. Neighbors we had never met brought food and air mattresses. No one had a bad word for my father-in-law...Like I said he was a great man and I will miss him so much!!!

Where does the time go!

OK, I keep saying I will get better at posting and then two months goes by. I keep asking myself where does the time go. First, we did go on vacation to Minnesota although it wasn't the same this year as my in-laws were in a car accident on the way up and their car was totalled. Luckily, no one was hurt including their dog, Barkley and we were not far behind them so they could stay overnight at our motel and we could rent a car for them. As soon as we got back on July 26, Steven had to pack for camp, he is in a Counselor-in-Training Program and I had to take him to Wisconsin the next morning for the start of his first week of camp. He had a week session with 8 year old boys then came home for the weekend and then I took him back to camp for another one week session with 8 year old boys and then he came back and once more up to Wisconsin or a two week session. This time his cabin included 11 12-year old boys (and he is only 15) but from his postcard he seems to be having a great time and I'll pick him up on Saturday at the end of this session. During the first week he was at camp, I had to get Brynn ready for her foreign-exchange trip to Spain. She was flying to Madrid (her first time overseas) by herself and then the group would take a bus to Granada where she would stay with a host family for 4 weeks. Based on her facebook page and calls, she is having a great time. She goes to the University in the morning for Spanish language, home for lunch with her host mom, siesta time and then they go do things as a group. Yesterday they took her to a ranch outside of Granada where they went horseback riding. Then on August 14th our foreign exchange student from Germany, Fabian came in to O'Hare and we picked him up at noon, then I took him to the HS to register and pay his fees, then shopping for soccer cleats and shin guards and then we let him rest. He had soccer try-outs the next morning and he made the JV Team. So he has been going to soccer practice everyday. We also took him to my husband's company picnic--very American, hotdogs, hamburgers, potato salad and coleslaw and of course watermelon. He is staying with us for the school year. So I will have a Senior, Junior and Sophomore. Should keep me busy! Oh and during this whole time I was in the Survivor Contest over at Ginger Scraps. I made it to the second to final round and then missed the final round by 4 votes. So I am off the island. In my next post, I'll show you some of the LO's. Just wanted to catch you up on things.

So much has happened

So much has happened that I couldn't possibly put it in one blog. I did spend three weeks in California. It was originally supposed to be 2 but with everything that needed to get done, I spent an additonal week. I have to tell you that US Airways was a pain in the butt. I wanted to change my ticket to one week later, the same flight, etc... thought I would only have to pay the $150 change fee, but no they said it was the change fee plus the difference in price which would have made the one way ticket over $275 more than I paid for the roundtrip. So after hassling over the internet with their Customer Relations department which has no phone number-you can only e-mail them I just booked on another airline. Got a $159 fare on American, flew from San Jose to Orange County then directly to Chicago and it was a far better flight. They had a movie, two beverage services on the flight an audio system (which was was disabled on US Airways now). All in all it was a great decision and probably the last time I will fly US Airways. In fact, I was booking my daughter's flight to Madrid using United Miles and they wanted to put her on US Airways coming back and I said no. So now she is going and coming on Lufthansa which is known for its service. (Can you tell I'm still pissed off and its been over a month).

The good news is I did participate in the design contest, but with the demands in California (I never realized how time consuming designing is) I only was able to make the deadline on two rounds. The plus is, I have decided to give away the two kits as freebies in the next few days. Would love to have your feedback on kits and it you want to link me to any LO's you do with the kits, I would love to show them off to everyone.

Anyway, more to come tomorrow. School gets out on Wednesday, so no more teaching and then summer vacation. YEAH!

To be or not to be

Hi Everyone, again it's been too long. I really don't know where the time goes. I've been having a great time on Silly Bean Scraps Creative Team. I have a great group of people to work with and it forces me to scrap out of the box. I just wish there was more time in the day. Between working, volunteering at the animal shelter, the kids activities and my sister giving birth to her first child, I just can't seem to keep up with my blog or my life for that matter. My husband says I spend too much time on the computer scrapping, I think I don't spend enough time. So that's where my question comes in, To be a designer or not to be a designer. I have signed up at at Designs in Digital for the 2nd annual NDIDDS. It is a design contest and the winner gets a designer position. This contest is special in that they give you challenges and tutories and even some CU products to use in creating. I probably don't have a chance to win, but hopefully this will be a great learning experience. I would love to design as well as some of my favs. The contest starts on May 1st and there should be lots of freebies from everyone entering. I promise to keep you posted. In the meanwhile, I will be traveling to California to help my sister with my new niece. So more to come!

Ravelle

Wow I did it!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I blogged, but I have good reason. Shannon Harris accepted me on to her team Team Bean at Silly Bean Scraps and I have been in a learning curve. I love being a CT, I just hope I won't let her and the team down with my slow start because everyone is just great. I have learned how to enable and customize my signature with blinkies. May seem simple to some of you, but it has definitely been a learning experience for me and I just love her awesome kits. The first kit I worked with was "PLUM MUDDLED", it truly is gorgeous and there is an add-on and an alpha. The kit is available at both GDS and GDWI. Here is the preview of the kit.







And here is the first LO I made with it. It is of my dd Brynn at one year old. Hard to believe she is now 16.



and my second LO with the kit, which was taken when I was one year old. I had a lot more hair.



I'll talk to you tomorrow (I do mean tomorrow). Have a great night.

Under the Weather

Well as you know I am a substitute teacher and you would think by now that I am immune to germs. But teaching the little one's especially Kindergarten through 2nd is a joy and yet it is a germaphobes nightmare. Anyway, I've been a bit under the weather, but have now rebounded. Although today, I was teaching 2nd graders this morning and seven of the kids were out sick, I guess that's better than yesterday when I am told nine of the students were out. And guess what, those that were in were sniffling and sneezing and coughing. Oh well, that's why they make hand sanitizer. I'm posting up Silly Beans Scraps blinkie, hoping that all will be approved for me to become a CT on their team.

More tomorrow, after I try and get some rest.

Final Post for Today-Wish me luck

Final post for today, I promise. I just wanted you to know how excited I am. I have asked Shannon Harris of Silly Beans Scraps to be on her official CT Team. I just love her stuff expecially the rich jewel tones. So wish me luck. You can find her designs at GoDigitalScrapbooking.com. In fact, yesterday she had a beautiful alpha as a freebie on the daily download.

Bye for today.