For Diane and Heidi.....

My newest addition to my Christmas CD collection.....




:)

Week In Review

November 30 - December 6, 2008

Week In Review

November 23 - November 29, 2008

Week In Review

November 16 - November 22, 2008

Week In Review

November 9 - November 15, 2008

I'm not ready for this.....

Nuff said.

Week In Review

November 2 - November 8, 2008

Week In Review

October 26 - November 1, 2008

Week In Review

October 19 - October 25, 2008

The Color Red

Christy has said much of what I feel here.

I was in Berlin, Ohio with 29 SS sisters over the weekend. We paid our respect to a fellow sister's loss with a balloon release.

I had tears. I've never met Donnann or her family but I had tears as Benita led us in prayer for a sweet 5 year old boy no longer with us.

The balloons before release.


Heading outside for the release.


Towards the light in the sky.


My thoughts today have been with the family. I am wearing red.

Hugs to all of my SS Sisters and their families today.

A blog train for Danny....

Lots of my sisters are blogging about this.

http://www.yankeeinontario.blogspot.com/

http://changgang1.blogspot.com/2008/10/taking-flight.html

http://themartinchronicle.blogspot.com/2008/10/seeing-red-today.html

http://blog.havadrpepper.com/2008/10/color-red.html <---- you are here.

http://openabigolcanofcrazy.blogspot.com/2008/10/tragic-loss.html

http://mom2jwo.blogspot.com/2008/10/today-not-tomorrow.html

http://bandhasbecomemylife.blogspot.com/2008/10/in-honor-of-donann.html

http://empress4.blogspot.com/

http://cntrycathy.blogspot.com/2008/10/honoring-little-danny-tritten.html

http://themasonfamily.livejournal.com/822.html

http://calisramblings.blogspot.com/2008/10/day-to-honor-and-say-goodbye.html

Week In Review

October 12 - October 18, 2008.

Week in Review

October 5 - October 11, 2008

Wordless Wednesday

Week In Review

September 28 - October 4, 2008

Week In Review

September 21 - 27, 2008

Week In Review

September 14 - 20th, 2008

Here's your answer Heidi!

You know that I work for a textile rental company. We rent uniforms, linens, floor mats etc to various types of customers.

Many of our customers are restaurants. They rent our tablecloths and napkins. When the dirty come back to us, quite often we find that which is pictured in the Wordless Wednesday photo!

You name it, we get it....

We get that much silverware.

We get dirty dishes.

We get remote controls.

We salt and pepper shakers.

Every so often the company owner will go thru this and sort the silverware. Some customers pay a small price for it to be returned to them. But, many others don't! Once a month, this lady has a "garage sale" at our old plant where items that are not good enough to be used for rental customers are sold. Now, these items are still in decent shape. She'll sell a pair of work pants for $1.00 and shirts for $.50. Very good items for working in the garden etc. So this silverware will go in the garage sale. She makes money on it even though she sells it for cheap.

What you see on the table, that is just a portion of what we had. Before I took the pic, she took several boxes packed full over to the garage sale building.

Here are some close ups of areas on the table:







In a nutshell, this is what happens to restaurant silverware. It gets pitched in with the linens and they don't want it back! No wonder why some restaurants charge so much for the meals!?!?!?!??

Wordless Wednesday: What Happens to Restaurant Silverware.....

Week In Review

September 7 - 13, 2008.

This makes me sad....

I went to get food for the dogs today and I was very surprised when I saw the sign advertising what breeds they had for sale inside.



I know that Havanese are sold in stores elsewhere but I had not seen them in this area. In fact, Havanese are still pretty rare where I live. Other people haven't found out how lovable and cute this awesome breed is!

I asked where they got the Havanese and all they would tell me was a "local breeder". I told them that this made me sad and that I owned Havanese. Also that I have been a part of a group that was trying to keep Havanese out of the pet stores. I don't think the owner knew what to say.

I must admit that the 2 Havanese they had were absolutely adorable, white with black markings. I petted the one right up against the front of the cage but have no idea whether it was male or female. The one at the back of the cage turned over and stretched out and I could see it was a male. I don't know how long they have been there but they are 11 weeks old today, so at least they aren't too young. I got mine at the age of 9-10 weeks.

If only I was made of money, those 2 would not be in those cages anymore.

:(

The Nation Remembers....

Wordless Wednesday: Treat!

Week In Review

I read this blog last weekend and thought that it might be interesting to do. Being the scrapbooker that I am, I thought doing a layout a week could be very interesting! So I started with August 31 since it was a Sunday.

I found a template that I liked from NoReimer Reason and plan to use it every week. I can change up where the pictures are placed so even though every layout will be alike, they will be different.

Here's the layout for the week August 31-September 6, 2008.




I also made a title page for the album since I do plan to print these as 8x8 layouts.



The quote on the title page reads "Photography remembers little things, long after you've forgotten everything." - Aaron Siskind. Of course, I found this in a quote archive on SS!

Wordless Wednesday: This is September?

Better Late Than Never!

I had the privilege of attending a wedding in Hastings, MI on August 23. My good ScrapShare friend, Diane was getting married. She also invited another SS friend, Jen who lives in Dayton. I invited Jen to come stay at my house on Friday night and then we could make the drive on Saturday morning.

Here we were on Friday night....

Any guess as to website we were on?

If you said ScrapShare, you were right!

We got up very early Saturday morning, got ready except for the wedding clothes and took off for Michigan. We stopped for breakfast first since we knew we'd miss lunch. After leaving McD's, it took us just about 3 hours to get to our motel in Battle Creek. We chose to stay there since Hastings is between Battle Creek and Grand Rapids. We were able to get into our room before check-in time. We freshened up, Jen checked ScrapShare and let them know we were on our way to the wedding and then we took off.

We made it to the church in plenty of time. Diane had told us that we could come into the dressing room and hang out with them until the wedding, so we did! It was great to see Diane again as well as Tiffany, the photographer and another friend from SS. And, then there was Heidi! Another SSer only she came in from British Columbia! I've been wanting to meet her for a long time and now I have.

The wedding was very nice. Also, short and to the point! We got to hang out and watch Tiff take the pictures of the wedding party. Diane had invited us to hang out with them between the ceremony and the reception knowing that we were from out of town and there would be several hours between them. So we did.

After the pictures at the church, there was a caravan of cars that headed to a park to take the outdoor pictures. It was actually a part of the campus where both Jim and Diane work. There were several buildings on the property with this beautiful gazebo and several ponds. Very nice! It was pretty windy and it didn't take long for the veil to go bye-bye! The wind whipped it right off Diane's head! After Tiff took the pictures she and Diane wanted, we took a picture of the SSer's. Jim used Tiff's camera and I gave mine to the best man. Bill didn't do too bad....



Then it was off to the reception. When we got there we hung out for a few minutes in the parking lot. The wedding party would be entering at a specified time. During our waiting time Jen checked her cell phone and saw someone had tried to call her. The same number had tried to call me so I knew right away it was Manda..... another friend from ScrapShare. I had given her both our cell numbers. She had wanted to come to the wedding only she lives in California and had a niece getting married the same day! Diane, Heidi, Jen and I all talked to Manda. I got pics of the other 3 talking to her. I think Jen got one of me, but I'm not sure. Here's Jen holding "Manda" on a stick while talking to her.



The reception was a lot of fun and the dinner was so good. And, the wedding cake.... what can I say, Diane had my favorite...... chocolate/chocolate! Well, she had white and I think lemon too. But the chocolate was to die for! The DJ played a lot of fun songs and I don't think Heidi and Laura ever got off the dance floor! Jen and Diane were out there almost as much. I did get this old body out there for a couple songs. Of course, since they were songs from "my" era, it was easy to dance to them!

Tiffany was going to leave about 9 so we took another pic of the SS group. Laura took it with Diane's camera and it turned out pretty good. I've seen it but don't have a copy of it yet. And, we had to take our "crocs" pic. Diane gave Heidi and Laura a pair of crocs as part of their gifts for being her attendants. Jen had a pair for the reception and Tiffany had a pair on pretty much all day. Of course, Diane had on a pair, that girl lives in them! I'm not a fan of crocs but last December I bought a pair since they finally came out with one that was cute. So I had on my crocs too......



Yep, I'm the oddball in the pic.... but at least they are crocs!

The reception was winding down before 11 so Jen and I headed back to the motel. We were tired since it had been a long day. We got back to the motel a little after midnight and got ready for bed. We both got on our laptops to post pics on SS of our day. Jen posted a few and I couldn't. For some reason, photobucket was not cooperating with me. I couldn't upload any pics. Jen was able to download some of my pics to her computer and she posted one of the group to SS. When I downloaded my pics I found I took close to 200 on my 2 cameras! Now there were some duds but overall, I'm happy with most of 'em. By 1 a.m. we turned the lights out and went to bed.

Our trip home on Sunday was uneventful. It was a fun weekend overall.

Pepper Found A New Ball.....

A few days ago I had finished a workout using the exercise ball. Pepper came over and started sniffing at it.

So, I put him on it! Now, I did have my foot and knee stabilizing it and was holding on to him with one hand.

Then he laid down.

I took my hand away and only my foot was stabilizing the ball.

I can do anything to him and he takes it!

(Paige was a big baby when I tried it with her..... those pics aren't as cute!)

39 Years Ago.....

Jul 20, 1969: Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon.

I was 14 years old and on vacation in Carter Caves, Kentucky. My parents, my cousin, myself and another family we were with watched it on a black and white TV in the motel room.

Why would we take time out of our vacation to watch this on TV?

Neil was from our hometown, Wapakoneta. Actually, my parents knew both Neil and his parents. His parents lived right around the corner from us (I could see their house from my bedroom window which today is my office/scraproom). My grandparents were very good friends of Neil's parents. And, in high school, my Dad had dated his sister a few times.

It was also a pretty big accomplishment at that time and who knew where it would lead.

Now that is one childhood vacation I'll never forget.

When I started digi-scrapping, one of the first layouts I made was this.



And, yes that is a true autograph on that picture. The picture was given to my parents by Neil when he was home for the homecoming celebration in September, 1969. It still hangs proudly in our family room.

An exciting moment in history and a proud memory for my town. Wonder what the 40th anniversary will bring next year?

Friendship....

I've been doing a lot of digital scrapbooking lately and have found several websites that have daily challenges. One site, GottaPixel has a lyric challenge once a month. In May, it was for the lyrics of a song called One Friend by Dan Seals. As I read the lyrics I thought of one person and knew I had to do a layout in honor of our friendship.

We've been friends an awful long time. I don't remember a time without her in my life. We may not see each other very often since our lives are so very different.... she's got an almost teenager and I have no kids. But, I know I can count on her if needed. She and her husband were my saviors during the ice storm in January 2005.

This week is her birthday. So, my friend, hope your birthday is a happy one and know that I will always love you.

Here's the layout in your honor!

Independence Day

Besides being a national holiday and a day off work, in my small town it is also the day of the St. Joseph Festival. #58. That's more years than I've been around. The festival is held at the county fairgrounds which just happens to be south of my house by a couple of miles at the most. In fact, my driveway is in an almost direct line with the infield of the race track.

When we moved into this house in the mid-60's, the trees between our house and the fairgrounds were not that tall. We could sit on our front porch and see the fireworks that went high in the sky. Over 40 years later, I still do this. Even though the trees have gotten taller, I can see the fireworks from my driveway.

Tonight I sat at the edge of the garage with my camera on a tripod to see if I could get any decent pics. Got to love digital.... can take as many pics as I want and it doesn't matter if there are bad ones. I don't have to get them printed to know!

Here's just a few that I thought didn't turn out too bad.











Grand finale....


I wasn't alone tonight either. My neighbors to the east were in their driveway also watching the fireworks. They had the family picnic at their house this year.

Hope your July 4th was a good one!

Goodbye Uncle John....

You will be missed. The Marker clan reunions will not be the same without you. Who will go in the water in their clothes because it is too hot? Who will be the friend to all?

Rest in peace and know that you are loved.

In the Dark....

Early this morning Paige started barking, not continuous but several times. I told her to stop but she wouldn't. That's when I realized that the table fan and the fan on the central air weren't making any noise. And, my clock was not lit up.

Uh-oh.

Power outage.

Must be because of the thunderstorm we were having.

I realized what was irritating Paige. The battery backup for the computer. Now I turn my computer off every night but leave the battery backup on. So I came to the office and turned it off. Grabbed the flashlight off the desk hutch and went to the living room to look at the one clock that runs off of batteries.

5:05 a.m.


OK, I had planned on going in early today so being up this early would have worked. After all I am wide awake. But I can't see to get ready. I'm not about to take a shower in the dark. And, putting on makeup..... No thanks.

So we go back to bed. Needless to say I do not go to sleep, just toss and turn and can't get comfortable. A little while later I decided to get my cell phone and see if it has an alarm I can set. It does so at 5:30 I set it for 6:15 just in case the power doesn't come back on. Then I look out my bedroom windows and the neighbor across the street has a light in his kitchen window.... so is it just me??? Still too dark so I get back in bed.

The alarm goes off at 6:15 so I get up and look out the window again. Another house across the street has a light on. So I take the flashlight and go to the basement to check the breakers. All OK there so I know it just isn't me. Now the houses behind me that are on the same transformer.... one house I can't see any lights because the main room in the back has no window facing my house, another area is a porch they don't use and the only window in the back I've never seen a light. The other house behind me.... the couple are on vacation so no lights at all! I went onto the screened in porch and looked at the house to the east of me. It doesn't appear that they have lights either.

So it is now close to 6:30. I use the cell phone to call work and tell Vicky that I just might be late.... She laughs and says they'll see me when I get there. I'm looking out the front window at this time and the guy across the street is getting ready to leave for work. So I run to the front door and yell at him. He was nice enough to come over and open the garage door for me, let me back my vehicle out and close it again. I just can't get it to stay down when I put it down with no electricity.

It is now light enough that I can sort of see to get ready for work. Makeup was a challenge in the dim light but they said it looked OK at work. When I was getting ready to leave, I couldn't find my cell phone. Well, I finally found a phone that would work without electricity and called the cell. Found it!

And, off I went to work. Got there on time :)

One of the service directors also lives in this area and he was also without power. About 7:45 he told me that he was headed home to hook up their generator when his wife called and said it was back on. Big relief.

When I got home at 4:30, the clock in the kitchen showed it had been back on for 9 hrs 10 min. That put the power coming back on around 7:20 a.m. About 5 minutes after I left.

And, the rest of my day.....

was just "out of sorts".

Meh.

Happy Anniversary Mae and Tom!

I had the privilege of attending a celebration for a 60th wedding anniversary today. Tom is my Mom's cousin and I've known them all my life. It was a good time.... seeing family I haven't seen for awhile. Also had a chance to catch up with several acquaintances of my parents from years past.

Their daughter did something rather unique. She had guests either bring photos or memories to write about. She had the supplies there for creating scrapbook pages. Some pages had been done prior to the celebration and were already in albums. Such a nice idea. I found a picture earlier this week with the 3 of them in it so I printed it and took it along then made a page right there!

I've been doing digital scrapping for 5 months now and took the liberty of doing my layouts for today already. I'd like to share those layouts. Here's the double page spread.



A close up of the left side:


And a close up of the right side:


Here's hoping there are many more years to come!