grace?

Set all things in their own peculiar place, and know that order is the greatest grace.

-John Dryden

Well the closet still is not done, will I have to do it myself? God give me grace, i love things in their place and today we all worked to that end so I am a happy girl for the most part...even though the linens need TLC . we worked instead on the wash room and actaully made some progress there and got most of the laundry done- a feat of great proprtion for my family of 6.

the VBT of book of US

Well I have spent most of my afternoon today reading on this blog site of Scrapabilty about the Virtual book tour ( VBT) ot the Book of US by Angie Petersen.

What a nice way to get to know her better and Michele too, thanks for sharing your Scrapablity with all of us who are inspired by the real people in scrapping.


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scrapping, VBT, blogs

snow,kids,work

Well it is the "end of month" at work and today it is snowing, and the kids are off of school. In this automated world, I just got an IM from my two at home today. Asking to play on the x-box -well there is a work task I want to have done in trade for the privilage of playing the game box. Of course these two at home don't want to do it. So we are at a stand off at the moment. maybe thigs will change later.... will keep you posted LOL

A little MEME

this was on a couple of other scrappers BLOGS and it was fun thanks, A little ART from artpad.com why do you try it too and then link your to your own BLOG!! that is what a MEME is all about.

a little different angle - wow I look like my little cartoon -LOL too funny - just need a tea cup.
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self portrait, scrapping, fun

my entry for the Ali Challenge -self portrait

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self portrait, scrapping, fun

You Are 29 Years Old

29 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Archiver's

Well my Friend And I went to Archiver's scrap mania tonight. I had a blast!.... Sometimes I don't really realize how much I crave some " play time".

I worked on an album for my boss of a a trip he took to Samoa , it was satisfing and I made 14 pages, with about as many yet to go. I actually want to keep on going.

I will post it in a few days when it is ready to go.

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archiver's, scrapping, fun, friends

6 things I'd like to do before I die...
-See the Eiffel tower at night
-Visit the Louvre
- Drive a race car
-Swim with the dolphins
-go on more Cruises
-travel to Hawaii again

If I could BE a Color - I'd be Purple
Word I most like to be described as -kind
Best meal I cook - breakfast
Best Dessert – Ice Cream the good kind, with hot fudge and a banana
Favorite Book – Women on Top
Outfit – a great Denim dress
Bedtime – Midnight
Sound - the laughter from my children
Wish – To have enough money not to work and to be able to travel and fix the things that we struggle today to make the ends meet.
Style – Casual – a little country

Word – Steven, I love him so much
What I crave - knowledge. I love learning.

Surround me with – Scrapbook Supplies , I love scrapbooking so much.

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Great escape:: St. Maartin
2. Cluster::peanut
3. Wrong place, wrong time:: Damn
4. Guided:: Spirit
5. Forensics:: argument
6. Pros:: Cons
7. Safety deposit box:: Papers and money
8. Quadrant:: vector
9. Precisely:: exactly
10. Who are you?: you Know who I am!

encourage other women

Someone will always be prettier.
They will always be smarter.
Their house will be bigger.
They will drive a better car.
Their children will do better in school.
And their husband will fix more things around the house.
So let it go, and love you and your circumstances.

Think about it.

The prettiest woman in the world can have anguish in her heart.
And the most highly favored woman on your job may be unable to have children.
And the richest woman you know, she's got the car, the house, the clothes but might be lonely. So, love you. Love who you are right now. Tell yourself "I am too blessed to be stressed."

Be blessed ladies and pass this on to encourage another woman.

"To the world you might be one person, but to one person you just might be the world".

Send this to all of the wonderful strong women you know. I did

a picturebook

HP' s Tv commercial
(if you can't pull it up by that link then go to HP or www.hp.com and click on TV Ads)

Picture book
Pictures of your momma
taken by your pappa
a long time ago.
Picture Book
of people with each other
to prove they love each other
a long time ago

This little tidbit came from this web site

and here is my own little photo lab at home with the Picturemate
this is the epson product S bought me for christmas I love it .

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photos, scrapping, love

A cool new magazine is coming

Scrabook Answers press release

"Maximum Scrapper" will this be an in your face publication? I hope if it is anything like Maximum PC it will be great.

The need for a little different bent on the publications will be a welcome breath of fresh air from the Diva Dots! Don't get me too wrong here, I love my CK and am obsessed with reading about others lives but I will be happy to see some other points of veiw and even better a digital track could be a great way for all of us who take digital photos exclusivly to really do a better job getting these into layouts and albums.

picking your battles

this is a fight in the never ending war, she says" but everybody is doing it" you say "well what if everyone threw themselves off the cliff?? " " she then whines..... " momMMMMM"

should the flip flops be worn to school?? I say no, she pouts, I can't stand this fight and I give in with the abomonation that I will say something to S. who will say some thing to her.... but in the end I just don't know if this is one of those " pick your fight carefully" or if this is the " don't sweat the small stuff" so I say to her " fine, but just don't tell me about your toes or what is hurting on your feet! unless it is an emergency!" and I let her go, this little girl of mine, growing up too fast for me , and I think about all the battles in the War ahead and wonder about the choices I will have to make in the future.
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kids, fight, scrapping

more on this subject- diva's

Real people scrapping real events and people in their lives is less and less seen in the Magazines like CK - When do we see a realness? only in our own little albums and books, where the focus is on the photos and the people in our lives we care about and want to keep memories for.

I will never be one of the chosen scrappers, I can't even imagine putting up my original work on a scrap book call, part of me longs to do it but part of me says mine are not the " celebrity Look" that the magizine is going for. I am behind the trends never in the forfront and I love to create orignal layouts with elements of style that are all mine. I scrap lift the idea and make it my own with a unique execution that is me- my kids and family will know I cared about them and wanted to help them remember where they came from and where they me be going. This is the satisfaction I will take away from the hobby I often discribe to others as the one that allows me to do all the other crafts I always loved, paint, art, draw, create, sew and use type and fonts all in one place in mini works of the heart.

Michelle at scrapbility says I quote her here

"This is a similar backlash to that experienced worldwide at the moment. A trend towards realness. Take a look at the real photographs in many scrapbooking magazines - particularly of ones showing a group of scrapbooker’s in a crop or similar. Heck, take a look at the regular feature in CK magazine itself - where they show one of the diva dot’s in a photograph with some local cropping group or a group at CKU or similar. Spot the celebrity - she’ll be the slim blonde one in the middle, surrounded by several slightly more rotund real women wearing hand-designed t-shirts. She’s the one with the hollywood smile - created after numerous photo-shoot sessions.

Most scrapbookers I know (and meet) aren’t slim. Sorry, we just aren’t. The vast majority are tackling cellulite, kids, jelly-bellies, droopy-arm syndromes - and you won’t find a photo of me in a bikini on a scrapbook layout coming your way soon. We are as diverse as any other group of primarily woman in this world, and we possibly feel the same frustrations as any others when faced with unreal looking “models” to inspire us.

Why does Angie get away with it, then? How come I haven’t witnessed any bitchiness anywhere towards her status, or herself? She’s brunette, and I have no idea about her weight - but primarily she’s dishing out real inspiration with real content. She’s telling us to scrapbook “us” - the real us. Geddit? Although Angie Pedersen may be considered a celebrity scrapper (and on the A-List, given the amount of other celebrities who have chosen to link into her blog), she also wins it with the common average garden-variety scrapper like you and me - because she’s helping you and me deal with the fact we are you and me. It’s so real, it couldn’t be any more realer - unless she tells us to scrapbook our laundry.

Yes, they’re not all blonde. Dare we be racial here, but Faye Morrow-Belle would never fit into that slight stereotype. And sorry, Faye - but you’re not that slim, either. But then, Becky used to be brunette, too - right?"

I will never be blonde or swelt and I for one am glad to be real.

diva dots

Wow I hadn't noticed these, but here is an article on them.

funny little pictures of the queens of scrapbooking right on the front of Ck magazines! I am with you mistress ming they need to get back to scrapping for the love of it and not the fame and DIVA of it.

well I am in need of a scrapping fix, so I will be doing that here soon. I made the cutest little accorian foldout mailer to send to Hh's friend about our fun at the zoo in March.
Technorati Tags:
book of me, tags, scrapbooks. zoo

LOVE

My love in my life remembered to send me flowers for our aniversary!! and to work to boot, score some points for him!!

beautiful 6 red roses- for 6 wonderful years.
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I love this music

IZ a hawiian musician- hallmark and 50 first dates

this is a great story of a big man and a great songster , about the song

Nothing but strings

Cool brothers who play the violin and RAP! yup RAP - pretty neat

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violin, rap, brothers

virtual book tour

the book of me virtual tour


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technorati, scrapbooks, blogs

Death and Taxes2

Well after a large miss- happs on my part, I had to re-file my 1040 with the IRS I made a BIG mistake and it has cost me a lot of money, therefore I haven't been in the mood to scrap or talk or anything like that!

Sometimes life is so unfair when you want to do the right thing.....

wow one of several runs J did standing up 

the bench in the front yard is a fluffy seat.  

What a girl she is making the snow fly and she says it was very heavy  

weather alert, time off, and kids

Well here we sit at 8:30 in the evening, we have had snow all day long, they cancelled church services all over Denver this morning - though we had ten of us at St. James- and for the first time in 8 years that my oldest son has been in Jefferson county they Cancelled school for tommorrow !!! the kids are super excited, a " real snow day" though it is nothing like the storm we had in march two years ago, this one is heavy and wet and cold.

the news came via an e-mail alert! from the Denver Channel and the cool thing is we didn't even have to wait until the morning. So I called my boss and I am goingt to stay home tommorrow. YEAH I feel like a kid too.

layout on the rightside of this page- the vacation we spent in menton, outside of monaco in the late 70's loved it.  

death and taxes

There are some things you just can't escape! I finished my taxes off this morning and sent my check to the state. then reading the news I see Prince Rainier of Monaco is Dead today !

my best girlfriend, scrapping buddy , cutie and K8  

right side HH and JR the cutest girls in the world, they had a blast posing for all us scrappers, mom and gram' s 

layout together= friends for life 

little reminders of happy time spent with my kids 

time changes-daylight savings

I really dislike this time of the year, I am so tired all day and can't force myself to sleep at night. It is hard on the kids too, Jimmy is suffering tonight and went to bed with no dinner-- we are all exausted I am not motivated to be creative in anyway-- I am looking forward to more daylight hours--but this is not good for me at the moment.

I miss moving my body in a certain way

today we went to a birthday party for a young man we know, the parents held it at the local community recreation center " apex center". Hh and I swam and had a grand time even going down a tube of water slide ride. I got in the water with all the kids and moved around, I loved it and I found that my body missed it if that is possible. I have always loved swimming since my dad took us to our first swim lessons when I was about 4 years old.

I took many lessons and learned lots of things about swimming, finally culmanating in being a life guard for two years.

well maybe someday my dream of having my own lap lane pool will come true- till then I want to find more ways to get to the pool and move my body.

100 things about me

100 Things about ME

The 100 Things About Me meme has already circulating the blogosphere since before 2002. Though the source is unknown, you can still find it on many blogs. (It also makes journaling for a great Book of ME layout!) Here's my contribution.

1. My name is Tamara, my friends and family call me Tam for short- in High School was the last time people called my Tammy
2. I'm 41.
3. I'm an Aquarius.
4. I was born in Wurtzburg Germany.
5. I've lived in the west Denver metro area for 20+ years.
6. I have salt and pepper hair.
7. I've been married 6 years to my wonderful husband Steven and before for 12+ years
8. Steven is the best friend I have ever had ;)
9. I started College as a Pre-Med major.
10. I majored in Distributed studies- mostly political science and sociology with a French minor.
11. I finished my Bachelor's Degree in 1985. .
12. my Dad is Jewish and my mom converted a long time ago from catholic but we were always influenced by it.
13. I still remember a few of the prayers in Hebrew that I learned in Jewish Sunday school.
14. I started scrapbooking in 1997
15. I hardly ever scrapbook family stuff but I am working to do better. I mostly do albums for my children.
16. I love to scrap because it includes all the things I find I love, paper craft, art and sewing, painting and just cool stuff.
17. My first website was theCrandalls.org (1998).
18. it needs a fresh face – I had to take it down about 2 years ago
19. I have pierced ears. One on the left and two on the right after a dare that I wouldn’t do the third one.
20. I am not very tall
21. I got my Jewish nose from my father
22. I got my large hips from my mom.
23. I love to watch movies and videos with my husband.
24. My husband and I lived together for 2 years before we got engaged.
25. I love all things chocolate and ice cream.
26. I Love seafood
27. I'm allergic to strawberries but love most other fruits and veggies.
28. I have two wonderful children and two wonderful step sons too.
    
29. My older brother gave me a scar under my nose by throwing scissors at me when I was about 8 years old
30. Many of my childhood family vacations were spent all over France and Europe. My favorite was to the Riviera by Monaco.
31. I've been online since 1995. I started with learning Unix
32. I taught myself all the word processing programs starting with WordStar
33. I can’t touch type, but still can type 40 words a minute.
34. I like Chai Tea, I liked it before it became a popular drink, I had it in an Indian restaurant.
35. My parents were older when they had kids 30, me too, I was 27 with my first and 32 with my second.
36. My older brother flew on Air force Two ( special air missions) as a flight engineer
37. I got to go aboard several planes that had been presidential planes.
38. I've tried smoking once.
39. I was raised with some Jewish and some catholic traditions.
40. I was confirmed Episcopalian in 2000 by the bishop of Colorado.
41. I participated at local, district (state), and jurisdictional (regional) levels of the Episcopal conferences.
42. My husband truly is a great dad, I am always so pleased at the way he handles kids.
43. In grade school, my favorite color was red. It changed to purple when I was in college (LINFIELD Red and purples! GO Wildcats)
44. My eyes are Brown. My husband’s are blue. I have one blue eyed child and one brown eyed.
45. I saw Star Wars Return of the Jedi in a movie theatre in Salt Lake city during severe flooding.
46. I lived in Germany for almost 6 years with my family in a two bedroom apartment where my brother had to sleep on a rollaway bed in the hallway. We had only one bathroom for 5 of us.
47. I would like to visit Ireland, England, Paris France , Australia and new Zealand
48. I'm dying to go to Paris with my husband.
49. I want to be a famous scrapper
50. I've never been to Paris, though I have been to many other cities in France and Germany .
51. I love reading.
52. I love listening to Country music and Watching videos.
53. I used to listen to John Denver in my dorm room.
54. I lived in an all girls' dorm for two years.
55. The dorm was in the oldest building on campus with 16 foot ceilings and huge windows that rattled in the wind
56. We have a 3 dogs, two cats and a fish.
57. I'm a people person.
58. I'm a night owl but I also like early morning
59. My favorite perfume is Channel #5
60. I love Chinese food -- I almost always order combination Lo Main I like all the flavors together.
61. My French grandmother was a great cook and I learned a lot from my mother too.
62. I regularly feed 100 people at church functions, mostly breakfasts.
63. I wish I knew how to knit or crochet.
64. My dad is retired from the army and the civilian service with a 43 year career.
65. Now my husband is in IT -- professional "geek".
66. I don’t make birthday cakes anymore after making one that was hard as a rock
67. I worry about my kids and want them to have a good life
68. I worry about paying for kids college.
69. I hate to dust.
70. I don't mind cooking or doing the dishes.
71. Laundry sucks but we have to do it
72. I second guess my decisions often.
73. I often assume what my husband is thinking (and am frequently wrong).
74. I try to avoid confrontation.
75. My favorite candle scents are cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and sugar cookie.
76. My favorite scent from Bath & Body Works is Warm Vanilla Sugar and vanilla bean noel .
77. I'm afraid of fire
78. I wrote poetry through high school and college.
79. My 9th grade Art teacher was the first to notice my Artistic skills. She gave me the confidence to LOVE art.
80. My parents are still married -- 43+ years later.
81. I am a mixture of French-English-polish and 2^nd generation American .
82. I was a life guard for two summers I loved it!
83. I rode my bike to and from work everyday all summer 5 miles each way.
84. I love jewelry, my favorite stone is amethyst .
85. None of my grandparents are still living.
86. I've had 5 best friends in my lifetime, but only have contact with three of them right now.
87. I miss scrapping with my best friend Kate who lives in NE
88. I graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA in the top 7% of my class
89. I'm allergic to aspirin and Morphine, too bad it is the good drugs!
    
90. I took French for 7 years -- all of high school and all in college. I can still read it and understand it.
91. I adore Cruises and want to go again I have taken two
92. I like wrapping presents and making cards
93. I tend to hoard supplies and paper
94. I am a pack rat and want to save tons of stuff that should be thrown away
95. I love taking photos and am getting much better since I really started to scrapbook
96. I am very resourceful and can make things go along way
97. I have worked at a job since I was 16 years old ( I took two years off in 2001 and 2002 while my daughter was in pre-school and kindergarten)
98. I spend too much time looking at the net and not working on my scrapbooks
99. I didn’t get my first car ( of my own) until I was 21 and already married.
100. I collect V.W. model cars

idea swiped from Angie: the blog of me

sh1ft.org projects

OMG - another fabulous idea for scrapbooking: photographic interviews.

about this project: it's simple, take 20 questions and answer them by taking a photograph. tell your friends, tell strangers - it's time to get to know everyone through images instead of words.

1. Who am I?
2. Who knows me best?
3. How old am I? (or how old do I feel?)
4. The most important thing in my life is...
5. I always carry...
6. Something I always do...
7. I'm at my happiest when...
8. On Monday morning you can findme...
9. My favorite mode of transportation...
10. my eyes are
11. my favorite material posession
12. to relax, I like to...
13. the town I live in is....
14. my worst habit
15. my guilty pleasure
16. when I look at someone, the first thing I see is...
17. i think...
18. one thing I can live without
19. one thing people don't know about me
20. my life is...

Guess I better get started taking pictures! LOVE this idea! the link back to Blog of me

Pretty cool idea!! I will post some responses too I think.

Mother

My mother and I have a love/ hate relationship , probably because I have always been an independant child and adult, I haven't depended on her, though I always want her approval. This is my downfall - I wish I were a better daughter and did all the things she hoped I would do. But my reality is I don't think I have often done what she wanted me to do.

She has grown older lately and two sunday's ago she fell in the early morning and broke her arm! it could have been worse but it really is quite worrysome anyway, it may be 8 weeks for her to recover and heal, but more than that to get function back. My mom is suffering but doesn't want much help from me her independant girl. She did call today asking me to buy her a little shawl/poncho and send it to her, I did go right out and buy two that will work for what she needs. I will send them to her Monday and hope she will find a little comfort in that I did the right thing.

Tamara  

from Scrapability :

"My layouts don’t fit the design trends (and certainly aren’t award winning, for that matter). I don’t use product, I don’t scatter embellishments onto a layout to fill a space. I am not hugely creative in my approach. I have not designed a new embellishment, nor found a new trendy colour.

But my scrapbook layouts are the most purposeful achievements in my life."

WOW I feel this way too, I know my layouts are not award winning but they do tell the story of our lives and times and for that I am proud to be the Scapbooker in my family.