Iola and PJ were generous and took us to Dinner- we all had a great meal and fun time. I loved this large table, unfortunately I don't have room at home for one this big!  

We went to the Spagettii Factory In Denver for J's birthday- Hard to believe he is 14 today! He loved it and had a great dinner of noodles with Mizthrah cheese that he really enjoyed.  

loving in your life

Angie Petersen says it well right here

Thanks for reminding me to be gracious and loving and accepting of love given the best it can.

meme Chic Chat

from Chic Chat

Fruits And Veggies!

1. What's Your Favorite Veggie?: Love avacados

2. Do You Have A Favorite Salad Dressing?: really like blue cheese

3. Strawberries /or/ Cherries?: Cherries please - allergy to strawberry

4. Brown Pears /or/ Green Pears?: hmmm like pears don't have a preference

5. Celery With Cream Cheese /or/ Peanut Butter : Peanut butter is just fine thanks

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chic chat, boys, scrapping

A little Cheerleading

Sometimes you know that what you say and do makes a little bit of difference in a life. Today I think I cheered D on. He wasn't going to go out for the Football team- but he listened to me and saw that what I had to say was genuinely for him- I wanted him to do it only if he really could see it for himself.

He did it too !! he was tired and didn't do as long as he needed to do but... I think there will be more tomorrow and Friday .

I knew I needed to help him " see " all the success that last year's football did for him - he lost weight got in shape and the " guys" were so good to him, it bouyed his spirit and he needed to be reminded of the great fun and good stuff that made it worthwhile. It's not to say there weren't trials like losing games! He just needed to get the bigger picture and remember the feeling.

Go for it D- I know you are ready for some football.

D- Go for it - Are you ready for some football?  

positive and rewarding feedback

We would like to remind you of this upcoming event.

TIP OF THE DAY

Date: Saturday, May 21, 2005
Time: 10:00AM EDT (GMT-04:00)

Love getting positive feedback? Experiment with writing yourself a great message each day. (WOW! I loved your use of color! How DID you do that? I'm inspired by your layout.) You could send yourself a daily email of acknowledgment, useful for those days when you're sure everyone's more artistic than you are!!
-- Have a creative day!

Thanks for writing me a positive and rewarding comment. I love getting comments I bet you do too

Happy Birthday Kate!!

from the blog of me- meme

twenty-one.

By Angie Pedersen on General Resources & Fun Stuff

A neat meme I stumbled upon tonight, courtesy of a link via The Daily Meme... "twenty-one was designed to show a different sort of weblog snapshot of the wonder that is you." The 21 Questions Share your favorite digital photograph. (This should be one that you, yourself have taken.) What is your motto? If you don't have one, use your favorite quote.) If you could meet any two people (living or dead), who would they be, and why? (Let me clarify, aside from Jesus and Einstein, who would they be?) Creative Writing 101: For the next 5 minutes, type whatever comes into your mind. The idea is to type without stopping, without editing, with complete abandon. What you want to be most remembered for? What do you want people to say about you; how do you want to be remembered? If you wrote a book, what would the first (or last) line be? If you were King (and/or) Queen for a day, describe your first proclamation. If you could change one thing about yourself, or your situation, what would it be? Money is no object. There's no genie, but you've been granted three wishes. What would they be? Last trip "out of town" you took, and when... Photos for this one would be a plus. Find a word in the dictionary that you never knew before and post the definition to it. What is the most daring thing you've ever done? (daring, not dangerous). Name something positively amazing (besides your birth) that happened the year you were born. Name your favorite Beatle. In 250 words (or less), answer me this: "If money were not an object, and you were to leave tomorrow to travel around the world in 100 days, name your preferred method of travel and at least a dozen destinations you'd visit." (Examples: hot air balloon, lear jet, yacht...destinations include countries, wonders of the world, people, places, things...) Name of the last book you read, and list your favorite passage from said book. Last funny thing a child said to you. (A child means under age 18). Put down one stanza from your favorite song lyric, one that has particular meaning to you, one that, had you thought of it first, would have written yourself. Include the songwriter's name and the name of the song. Put down your favorite movie line. (I know it's hard to choose just one, so minimum 1, maximum 3.) Name the actor or actress you'd want to portray you in a movie based on your life. (For some, it might take two. . .) Professionally speaking, if you could do anything at all, what would you do? (And again, money and education are not objects or factors here whatsoever).

Back from the movies

we went right after work to see " the Movie" it was good, but not that good!! the animated and computer assisted yoda was too high tech for the whole movie and his close up and then the real people shots only made you long for the real Henson verson of days gone by.

but it was nice to go to the theater and have popcorn and my honey right by me.

It will be interesting to see all these movies together in a marathon. There will be a lot of comparisons - my Dh pointed out serveral inconsitancies with r2d2 and form the first ( #4) movie. My daughter HH who is 9 is not interested in them at all , but the boys think they are pretty cool, so we will get a few of them together and watch the movies in a miniseries!

Technorati Tags:
movies, boys, scrapping

1st weekend in a while with no children

Yehaw- I can't wait- does this make me a bad Mom? I think not. gives me time with my sweet a great man... yeah I can't wait.

my son

My wonderful husband suggested that I post here about my son,.,.,.,.,,.,. I have other entries in this blog about him; I am not sure what kind of things I need to do to help him. He is young and on the turn that will take him in a direction I am not sure he wants to go. He is bright, independent and all boy with feelings and fears and needs - I am struggling with him. He could so easily be persuaded to go the wrong way by peers or so called friends. This past week he was convinced to leave school and go to a near by wallgreens spend about two hours doing??? I don't really know what??? And do I really want to know what?

I worry about him - because it seems to me he has struggled this year more than any other time. He is not in charge or the oldest in the house since last year, June when the oldest child of my husband's previous marriage D came to live here with us, We - DH and I made the decision for D to come, we gave my son his own room and space hoping that would be a good compromise- it hasn't been. he gets plenty of love and kindness and attention- though he claims that is not the case - DH really was happy for his son to come and live with us and that has been _GREAT_ for D and for all of us really even D's mom and D's brother D2 - the only one rebelling against this is my son J. he wants some how to be loved like DH loves his own son and desired him to be here with us. I assure my J that this is the case, I wouldn't want him anywhere else, but he wants his Dad to desire him and need him with the same fierceness that DH wants D. I can't make this happen for him. Sadly his dad doesn't really want him. Not in the way we want all the children to be here. DH is a great dad to all the kids and fair and loving with them all.

J and Hh's dad has not been very interested in full time parenting ever, and even if he pays the lip service of “oh yeah I want them both or not at all” it really isn’t true and it would be too much of a hassle to parent on his own full time or 90 % of the time. I have done this since 1997 when the divorce was final and I am very happy to have both of the kids, and fought fiercely for sole custody. I have it too- for the very reason above, J & Hh’s dad didn’t want to help or make decisions where they are concerned. I have always been the one to make it easy for him to participate in their lives. I am the one who goes out of my way to take the high road and help them keep and develop a relationship with him. It is hard to help J see this reality that Dad just wants to parent when he wants too, he is frustrated too by J’s bad behavior but again none of us have the right solution for J.

I want him to know how much we love him, but it is hard right now, I don’t trust him. His behavior has been so bad, and he keeps pushing and doing bad things. He is just so needy and I am not sure what will help him get back on track.

Technorati Tags:
son, scrapbook, tough love

a busy weekend

well I actually went to a scrap mania again at the local Archivers store near by and I had a blast, I am happy to have my friend Karen going there with me too. I got a few pages done and I had a nice evening, I did thier " make and take page" and actually put a picture on it for Hh's album that I am starting.

I had a busy friday at field day - it took care of the " jump ropes" and it was fun, got some great photos in the afternoon of the kids doing relay stuff too. Hh had a blast, see her great photo's below of the standing broad jump where she was the winning girl Jumper and only one boy beat her distance. yeah you go girl !!

Saturday was filled helping at the rummage sale at the Church, St. James Wheat Ridge, we had a nice turnout and I helped mostly in the kitchen and with the food items.

Sunday we went to Lowes and picked up a few flowers to plant in the front beds. I got mostly purple and deep maroons with a few orange items like gerbar daisys and rock roses to pop some colors. Then we came home and the boys helped us plant outside and dig holes. Hh helped too.

So I need to go back to work today just to have and break from my weekend.

and landed it!! great job hh way to go girl.  

Field Day Sucess 4'7" longest girl jump! hh in mid jump 

a good link to a cool blog

This is an artists blog, but the story of Vicki who died of cancer really touched me today here is the Link

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” -Leo Buscaglia

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.” Mister (Fred) Roger

these are directly off his web site too, thanks for touching me today Trevor

Indian Peaks range as seen from lower meadow Tahosa BSA camp  

This is Jimmy holding up his patrol flag for his group at Tahosa in June. It came out pretty cute.

Working

I worked from home today, I do this once or twice a month now, I love it because it gives me a chance to not be answering the phone. A chance to focus and get TONS done.

It is very hard to answer the phone and then go back to a task that demands that I pay attention to the details. So I am very lucky to be able to use the techknowledgy that we have today to do what I need to do. I think my boss gets a great deal with this set up too. A really full work day. I worked from 8:00 to 11:30 without interuption or break and from 2:00 until 5:30 again with little interuption. so he got a great job done in great time today.

The kids are getting to be so good too they repect that I am here and working and they don't really come and interupt me to badly! So overall I would say it was a good day.

Mother's day

Yeah, my Mom got her card, and had a great day, my friend got her card and told me how nice I was to remember her, and I got cards and gifts- what a nice day.

I received a beautiful Tropicana Hybrid Tea Rose from my children and a candle " burner" hot pot thing, I love it for the wax and the candle tarts smell so good in it. I burned one that is fresh roses a smell that reminded me today of a long ago memory, it smells like the " rose water purfume and lotion" they used to pack it in a little thing that looked like a goblet or a " rose" may be more discriptive. My great aunt gave me one of those roses with the lotion in it and the smell of fresh roses alaways makes me think of that little container filled with glyserine rose lotion.

Proud to be an American.

Picture taken today at Tahosa Boy Scout Camp

to the kids of the 30's,40's,50's,60's,& 70's

first, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.

After that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were No lawsuits from these accidents. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it

Thanks to DAWN for posting this in her BLOG.

Scrapbook- Rusty Pickle album

back of the inside cover, decopage tissues and the information sheet on Samoa from the jasons map and brochure , thanks for looking at my little project.

Technorati Tags:
scrapbook, fun, samoa, rusty pickle

page proctector sewn down to form a pocket for the samoa guide book  

next to last inside pages, great waterfall, so pretty you can't believe it is real!  

Same more Jolies from same package and additional palm trees also Jolies, and the little gecko sticker too, the netting is a little peice of johnson & johnson gauze unfoulded and stuck behind the stiker and the picture to keep the ends down.  

Inside leaves - far left the Jolies destination stickers are from the Bahamas package, I cut and reworded the little sign to say Samoa!! the shells and the sail boat from same package. middle picture framed with pen work in gold pen.  

2nd 3rd pages and right fly leaf, GIN-X patterned paper, oatmeal paper card stock from RP 

Inside with double gates open and inside two fly leaves cut from one RP page in dark brown. Stickers MAMBI travel shabby chic.  

back of the book - Tissue MAMBI, other assorted papers decopaged to the Rusty pickle journal.  

double gated journal style from Rusty Pickle size is about 8 x 10 landscape stickers from MAMBI travel-pkg - tapes from hand held office labler. PP? faux board look - book plate holder Lil'Davis, 7 gypsies rubber band says collections from the journey , small jewlery tag, tissue decopaged with a torn up travel brochure , 7 gypsy paper and other PP  

Better Late Than Never

I finished some mother's day cards last night and a few lucky mothers out there are going to get them, they posted today.

I got JAW ( my boss) 's album to the point of almost done and will post photos later tonight or tomorrow - I chose a rusty pickle double gate album and had a blast doing the scrapping for someone else, now to get him to write a bit about the trip would be great and he will have the best keepsake. I left plenty of places to journal if he wants to do it on his own or even if he wants to write it out and let me do it on the computer... It is a masculine looking book with some great photos of his trip to Samoa.