Up and Around Again...

Today was my first day out of bed for most of the day. I had surgery on Tuesday and have been sleeping quite a bit. I am happy to be up and about more today. I even sat at my dining room table and worked on one if my albums today.

I have been wanting to finish the album
from our youth mission trip last summer. We went to Warfield, Kentucky to make homes warmer, safer, and drier as part of A.S.P. (Appalachia Service Project)
Learn more about it here.
Also, my friend Carol Wilson stopped by and delivered a little sunshine with these bright yellow tulips. Just the thing to help me on the road to recovery.

More Scrap Challenges...

I went to a crop this past Saturday to benefit the Midland School. This was my third year going and it is one of my favorite crops. It is really well run with great table space, good food, good vendors, and lots of prizes and ticket auctions. So it is always a great day with friends and playing with pictures and paper.This year before going I had searched online for some challenges and this is what I came up with. It was a great way to get me inspired again and back into scrapbooking. I forgot how much I missed it. So I got about eight pages done for the day, but had loads of fun looking at everyone else's stuff too.Here are some of the ones I did Saturday that were for challenges (I apologize for the bad photos, I didn't have time to scan & stitch them today. Plus its snowing outside so I had to take all inside photos.):This was a four photo challenge from the S.W.A.T blog The only requirement was four photos...This was a Keep Calm layout challenge that I thought was perfect for these first pictures of my son Caleb driving on his permit. This was a blog challenge on Grand Diva's Creative Corner: Loved this idea!This one is a sketch challenge...I always love sketches.Check out her blog and awesome sketch here at Scrappin' n' Happy. These last two were for sketches from this blog, Sketch Much? You could pick any two sketches.I hope I can keep the creative mojo going. It is great to be inspired again.

Scrap Challenges

I went to a crop last month & although I made some great pages, I was feeling uninspired. So knowing that I am going to another crop in a few weeks I decided to look for some scrap challenges with deadlines at the end of the month. I haven't done anything like this in years. I used to love challenges and some of the pages they inspired me to make are among my all time favorites. So I started searching the internet and found a bunch of fum challenges on blogs and websites. I typed up a list and started getting ready. Just the process of doing this got my mojo going again and I couldn't wait to get started. So here is my first challenge inspired layout...watch for more to come soon! This is for a challenge I found on Rochelle Spears blog: It was a color challenge & I thought it worked well with these pictures of Kailey's 8th grade graduation. Thanks for the inspiration...now off to find more challenges.

Wow...It has been a long long time.

I never seem to make the time to keep up with my blog. It has been years since my last post. Recently, I have been organizing my craft room and getting back into scrapbooking again. I didn't realize how much I had missed my creative outlet. Getting back into that made me think about my blog. So here I am. Hopefully it won't be years until my next post.

Help Make A Difference...

I have had such a busy year and one thing that fell by the wayside was this blog.

It seems like this week is the week to catch up on some of the things I haven't found the time for in a long time.



Right now I am busy supporting my 12 year old daughter Rachel raise money for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) she was diagnosed this past April.
Pain in her side sent her to the ER where tests revealed cysts throughout both kidneys. So after many tests and doctors visits we are still learning about PKD and how it will impact her life.

PKD is one of the most common life-threatening genetic diseases, affecting 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million people worldwide.In fact, it affects more people than Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and sickle cell anemia --combined! Still, few people know about it. There is no treatment and no cure... YET.

We are walking to change that.

Rachel learned about the PKD foundation and decided she wanted to become involved & take an active role in raising money and awareness. At Rachel's request I set up a team & we are participating in the Walk for PKD – the Foundation’s signature fundraising event. She has set a challenging personal goal of $1500 and a $3000 team goal to raise money to fund vital patient education and research into a treatment and a cure. Let's help her get there!

You can check out her page here


We are getting a team together and walking for a cure on:
Mercer County Park
West Picnic Area
1638 Old Trenton Road
Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
Registration: 10:00 AM
Penny Kid's Dash: 10:45 AM
Walk Starts: 11:00 AM
Walk Distance: 1.5 or 3 Miles

Together, we can make a real difference.

You can make a secure donation online by simply clicking the links at the bottom of this message. Whatever you can give will make an impact - no donation is too small! I truly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on our team's progress.
If you are inerested in walking please join our team "Ray's Kidney Beans"...we would love to have a huge crowd at the event! Rachel is working on designing a team t-shirt and plans to give one to all her team members.

Thank you for helping us find a cure for PKD!

Happy New Year!!

I can hardly believe I haven't blogged in over a month. I have been very busy with my coaching business, family, the holidays, and just life in general.

2008 was a great year and I am looking forward to more adventures in 2009!

I am not much for New Year's resolutions, but I think maybe I will make one little one to blog more often...lol...but you know how most resolutions go.

I hope you all are doing well and wish you a fabulous 2009!!

My Upcoming Book Study

As most of you know I have started my own coaching business. I am enjoying my course work and busy getting my coaching hours. This is part of the Academy for Coaching Excellence certification program I am enrolled in. You can check out my coaching website here.

I have noticed that in these tough economic times many of my friends and family have expressed negative feelings or fear around money. In response to these concerns I am offering a book study on Maria Nemeth's book, The Energy of Money. In this course you will build a powerful relationship with money, blending spiritual and practical techniques. The course will be offered as a telecourse, making it easily available to most people. See the flyer below for details. Please spread the word among your friends and family. The principles covered in this book are useful to all of us. Also, a diverse group makes for an even more interesting course.

Thanks to all of you.

I hope you will join me.

Let me know if you are interested or would like more information.

I will post more later on some scrapbook projects I am working on.

Twilight Midnight Madness

I have been on a mission to find a book that would hook my 11 year old daughter who is dyslexic enough to have her want to read for pleasure. When someone has a learning difference it can sometimes be difficult to get them to develop a love for reading. So when I heard about the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer I thought I should give it a try.


I went out and bought the first book, Twilight. I decided that since it was a teen book I should read it first to be sure it was appropriate. Well, once I started I couldn't stop reading until I finished the book in under three days. It was just such a fun read. I handed it over to Rachel and it was the most amazing thing ...my little girl who has always struggled with reading got sucked in to the story and was reading every chance she got. This is no little book. It is about 500 pages. She was so thrilled to tell me what part she was on and report how many pages she had read. What a transformation!

I knew the movie was coming out soon and this gave me an idea. I would offer to take both girls to the midnight showing on the release day as a reward for finishing the book. Rachel finished in plenty of time and handed the book off to Kailey who was able to finish it just hours before the movie was released.

Last night, or technically first thing this morning we headed over to the theater. Kailey, Rachel, and I were surprised by how many people were there. We arrived at 11:15PM and we had to search for a place for us all to sit together. More than half of the people there were wearing Twilight t-shirts.

Everyone in the theater was excited and it reminded me a bit of going to see Rocky Horror Picture Show as a kid...minus the water guns and toast. People were rowdy, laughing, clapping, and generally having a good time.

The movie was a bit of a disappointment as is often the case when seeing a movie made of a book you love. The characters rarely live up to what your imagination has created.

What was so fun and fabulous about the whole experience was hearing my girls discussing the book as compared to the movie. Hearing their obvious enjoyment of reading. I loved that they thought it was so special and cool to be out late at night with their mom. I hope they remember this for a long time...I know I will.