everything...

a long break from scrapping....

Where have I been??

I have been on a self imposed exile from scrapping. It was of my own doing. And it was not a thought out or planned exile. It just happened. And I'll try to explain why........

I think I was just nearing the end of two years on the Chatterbox Design Team. They were great years with a great company. Not only did the team evolve and change but so did the company. They were generous almost to a fault and I had the pleasure of working with some of the most genuine and talented women in the scrapbooking industry. Great times. But like everything that is fun, it must come to an end. Chatterbox resized and restructured their DT and I was let go. Definitely no hard feelings here at all. I have always felt grateful for the faith that they had in my work and spoiled by the sheer amount and quality of product that they sent me regularly. It was only sad when I couldn't go to the boards to say hi! LOL.

Well, at the same time it was a pretty crazy time in my life too. LOTS of stuff going on at work and I was struggling with trying to juggle work and DT requirements and family life. So being able to take a break was just plain nice.

My last published work appears in Chatterbox's Coming Home Volume II.

And so it stayed like that. I was on a break.

After months of no scrapping, my friend Jennie asked me to come to the LSS with her for a crop. I said sure, why not! I also asked a girl from work to join us who was a newbie but interested. I printed off my beautiful photos and readied myself with ideas. I also brough lots of product to share with my friends - they still love me for that! That crop was a bust. I pushed the paper and the pictures around. I felt closed. It was the first time in a long time that I didn't have a page call or a project to work on for someone else. The photos were pretty, but did they really matter to me?

It was nice to see so many people that night at the crop. To overhear a few conversations about Chatterbox here and there, to have a few women get the courage to come and speak to me about layouts or scrapping. People actually knew who I was! LOL! Funny. Strange. Flattering. Weird. Where were they a year and a half ago when I was actually still appearing in mags??!! Where were they when I need to talk to someone about 2peas and new products??

I bought some stuff but completed no pages. I went out for a beer afterwards with my friend from work. I told her all about my view of scrapping and how I kinda lost it and the meaning along they way....how I needed to get it back and try to get my love of creating back.

I returned to another crop with Jennie. I was able to produce a few pages. I have only taken pics of these since I don't have my scanner connected to the computer yet.....

I created this page to celebrate G's first day of Junior Kindergarten at D.M. Sutherland.

It's pretty much a work in progress still. LOL. I have to add a few more things to the pocket page. :)

Then I created This page about G decorating herself like a cheeta/leopard.

She actually stamped her feet. Mikey had to pick me up at work that day with her looking like that in the car. Katie, my co-worker had to come and check her out. She called her beautiful and G was smiling her head off the whole way home. lol. Kinda hard to match papers with those colors....

Then there was this layout about Valentines Day and all the Valentines she got from her classmates....

It was also interested in using her class photo in a different way.....and a big heart pocket just worked.

Okay, so as you can see, it wasn't that exciting. I didn't create even a fraction of what I did the previous years.

And then we finally bought a house.

Guess where my energy went there?? lol

So I made it back to another crop. I bought way too much stuff. Luckily I had purchased subscriptions to both CK and BHG So I was able to keep up with my old DT and CJ members. But each issue brought new faces, new products, new product lines. I felt lost. I felt like I missed an old friend.......and old group of friends. I began to imagine the day when the basement was finished.....when I could have a scrap space again. Coincidentally, I recieved three CJ's in the mail and started working on two of them.....I felt like I had to re-connect again And Christmas was coming.

I vowed that over the holidays I would re-connect with my CJ group. I truly did miss them. The talking over Yahoo groups daily...the support, the jokes, the families. I visited the blogs and I try to make it to their bookmarked sites at least once a week. :) I made my first steps. I also put my foot down at home.

The scrap stuff was coming upstairs into the unfinished computer room. At least until the basement is finished, which won't be until the kitchen is finished so I am NOT GOING ANOTHER YEAR WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO CREATE!!!!!!!! I won my little discussion and spent a day moving everything upstairs. I also had a little contest among my scrapping friends and whoever responded first got a 4 inch stack of papers. :)

I went through my scrapbooks to see where I left off. Hard to do when you crop out of season by page calls. lol. I resized and ordered prints to catch me up to the day we moved into the house. A good place to start. Then, I  went to another crop..... and I made this

This was a medieval day at G's first school. She was of course a princess. It went along with the book fair theme.

Then I came up with an idea. For my local friends. I will host a crop to make an all about me album from scratch- in my own little room. And we wil lget together once a week to try out new techniques and ideas. They loved it and the first one was a success. Here are four of the all about me albums that we made. We are all scrappers that are friends and we are all at different scrapping levels and commitments so it just works.

  The blue one is for my husband "king mikey."

Since I started back at attending the crops, I've had a chance to talk with a few of the regulars and they are lots of fun. Theyhave asked me questions about some of the famous scrappers I have known ;) and I ask them what that fabulous new product is that they are using and where did they get it??!!! lol. It is going good.

At my last crop right before CHA, my friend Sarah was leaving the next day for CHA to try to get more sponsors for the Canada's Crop for Kids in October. She has asked me to teach two classes of my choice at the London, Ontario crop. I am honoured. I checked out their website and there are some amazing teachers across Canada that are going to be at this thing, and I am so grateful to be asked to be part of it. And an incredible cause too. They were featured in CK's top 10 issue too. Bazzil paper people!! We NEED YOU!!! :)

I am nervous as I have no clue what to teach!!!! At least not what to teach for $25 a head, with all money going to the hospitals.Any ideas would be MUCH appreciated. LOL.

So my last crop....... I made this one (this post is for MC, cuz I think we have both been on the same kinda hiatus)

This one is G riding the James street bus to school before we moved to the house. She loved it....and that pic was one heck of a candid I got of her! VERY lucky. I think this is bohemia papers with MME die cuts. SEE!! I am trying to get back at the naming of products thing...lol. At this moment I don't think I can submit to the mags again. I can't even find the page calls anywhere anymore...but I am just enjoying creating again.

This last one was G's 4th b-day party, and it's hard to see in the pic...but it's totally Ali Edwards inspired. I love her blogs and have always been a minimalist at heart with my scrapping...and its' nice to just bring it all together and play again.....

it's hard to see, but I drew a rough line border all around the picture block. I also used stickers that for some reason I have been "saving" forever. WHY??!! I have no idea!!! most were ART WAREHOUSE ones from years ago....The transparency of them works so great over photos... and notice, once again??? I have the WORST color scheme to work with!! That MickyD logo is an acutal birthday invite on the page...interactive again and using real memorabilia which is something I can never give up!! LOVE IT!

So, that has been my scrapbooking adventures for the last two years. Sad isn't it??!! But it certainly was a freeing experience. No, I never won any contests...or submitted any work...or was asked to join a design team. I never tried a digital page in my life (though if I knew how, I would!)...and my designs are certainly not cutting edge. But they are mine.

I am glad that I am scrapbooking again. I missed it.

And for old time sakes.... Thanks for LOOKING!!!! :) Hey, at this rate I may post on 2peas again!~!!!!!

Peace!

updating number two.......

So for the past season.... we have had little to no snow. It was bad. And we finally had this wicked ice storm a few weeks ago. Everything was cancelled around here, so I stayed home with G and we took the camera outside. I wish it had been sunny so you could see the beauty of the ice.

I really need to weed out this "deadly nightshade" vine from my fences. It grows like wildfire though.

It's funny being a homeowner in the winter - you realize that Oh, Yeah, I have to shovel the walk myself...and I have to make sure no one slips on the ice on my property. lol. You'd think that I was a crazy person by the way G was laughing at me for putting kitty litter on the front steps. She though mommy was losing it!!

G is growing up too fast for me.

I have to remember to stop and enjoy her, rather than try to focus her into a direction that I need her to go (to the front door, boots on, to bed, eat dinner, etc). I'm going to miss these years. I know it.

We plan on going tobogganing this weekend for the first time as a family. Michael bought some wooden sleds at an auction this week for $2 . That was a bargain. So I intend to get the snow pants out and do some playing with her!

This is all the posting I have time for today. G is up and I have to get us school ready. I walk her to school every moring - rain or shine. So far the weather has been kind to us this year.

I'll leave you with a few more pics that I took of the big ice storm that happened Monday January 15, 2007.

the prerequisite ice-covered branches shot.

The hedges that flank the sides of our yard. The whippy trees that follow the back property line of our yard. They loose branches like made. A neighbour said that it used to be hedges but they were just let go and they grew into trees! YIKES! Ice covered, of course.

Peace.

Happy New Year

Hello all!

I know that I have neglected this blog pretty  much all year.  But here is the post of all posts.

The new house:

It looks smaller outside, but we have a nice sized lot. This was right after we moved in this spring and Michael was breaking up the concrete sidewalk that was ruined from the sewer line being replaced before we moved in.

Basically, the back yard is huge. We took the old concrete chunks and made garden edging with it, like in the pic. We had enough to do the side area and all along the edge of the back yard, from the shed to the hedges. Mike did a great job. I planted my budget out this year! lol! Lots of perennials, and trials. I knew that there might be lighting issues with the number of huge trees we have. We have a beautiful Maple tree in the front yard (that probably caused the sewer line issues before!).  A HUGE pine tree to the back  corner of the house, that shades the little deck and part of the house. The downfall is the tree sap on patio furniture and the sound of pinecones thudding on the roof in the fall. LOL.

This is the back yard in May, we have done so much since then. Much planting, pruning and about 10 trailer trips to the brush depot to get rid of twigs and stuff. Awful. Most of those overgrown hedges are thinned right out now and the garden is trying to bloom.

Gracie did really well switching schools during  Junior Kindergarten. Now that she is in Senior Kindergarten, she just loves it. Kids in her own neighbourhood. The school is at the top of the hill, less than 4 blocks away, within walking distance. She has a few kids from her class on her very own street. The neighbourhood is super quiet, you can hear silence at night on the back deck. We paid for the neighbourhood alright. G can play down the street in the neighbour's yard without fear and they can ride their bikes up and down the sidewalks with VERY little traffic. Nice.

  Here is the back of the house n deck. This is before we had a few trips to the depot and dump to rid ourselves of the crap that the previous owners left us. Lots of crap. Luckily they do a "white elephant" pick up each spring and you can put out doors, fencing, wood, shrub, broken furniture, etc. It makes for an ugly month of street crap but it looks gorgeous when they pick it up! lol!

Here is my crappy kitchen!!! It totally doesn't look like that right now either... we took down a lot of wallpaper and masonite or whatever it is...and it's covered in plaster right now, waiting for the last sanding an priming. My FIL is currently making the custom cabinets for the kitchen. The upper ones are being made first, since the lower ones will cost us the most, since we plan on moving the plumbing, installing the new dishwasher properly and puting the sink in the corner. Add countertop custom too. LOL. Yeah, so the cabinets are being made shaker style from rare chestnut that his father found in an old barn and re-lathed. Looks gorgeous. We just picked a stain this weekend. It's exciting.....

My computer room/dining room/scrap room. I just reclaimed a scrap space, cuz the basement may be a while...and I MISS IT! Do you see Jessie's CJ on the shelf there??  This room needs lots of work...it was painted badly by previous owners in sand paint, but not finished, then there was a closet, that we knocked out that has reminents of an original closet patched in there, so we have to re-drywall. And cuz of the sand paint and the PARTIAL popcorn ceiling, I am hoping to drywall ALL OF IT! But not until the basement is finished and we have another living space. But that is AFTER the kitchen.

LOL!!

Here's the living room this xmas. it's done for now. WE have hardwood floors throught the place and it's nice.

The fireplace was an auction find, and Gracie loved the snowman tree this year. It took me a while to warm up to it..lol.

Okay, so that's enough of the house! Let's get on to G!!

The most recent pic of her....let's see..........

here's a pic of G on the right and her cousin Taylor on the left. She had a sleepover at her cousins and then we came for T's b-day celebration afterward. G is tall. Skinny, but likes to pull all her pant waists to under her belly, thus making all of her shirts seem NOT long enough, EVER. So if she doesn't have a super long undershirt on, then you see skin, like this. She is into the computer, playing her leapster, the littlest pet shop pets, my little pony, barbie, BRATZ (ugh), hot wheels, music of any kind and dancing. She's a good kid, but can be a handfull.

Okay, I hope that we have updated you with some stuff!! Ask me anything and I'll let you know. Or post more pics in the next post.

Take care friends, and Happy New Year!

:)

Ruth

cat dying in autumn

Saturday morning, I took Isis outside to lay in the sun in the backyard. She loved going outside and since she was sick we had so many rainy days that I couldn't afford her this luxury.

She was deteriorating fast and I hated to see her so helpless. The vet told me when I called for an appointment to put her down that they charged $75 for a drop off and then pick her up. An extra $53 if I wanted to be in the room with her when they did it. I cancelled the appt. It really took alot to come to that decision, but I knew her time was short.

Instead, I opted for keeping her pain free with baby asprins and just spending time with her.

This morning around 3:30 am I got up to use the bathroom and she was sleeping, I petted her talked with her and told her it was okay to go with God.

We woke up and lay in bed for around an hour and Michael remembers hearing her little meow around then. When I got up again, she has passed on. It was a relief but still quite sad. Gracie was great and told me not to cry because Isis was in Heaven playing with other cats and lying in the sun and grass. Oh, and that we could get another kitten to replace her. She had to throw that in. We put her in a box with some soft t-shirts and lined the top of it with pictures that G drew of Isis. She is now resting in my perennial garden in the back yard. Thank you to Mikey for digging through those awful tree roots and nearly throwing his back out doing it.

When I took this picture of Isis on Saturday, I was reminded of a very moving poem that I read years ago. I pulled it from the book shelf and read it again. It doesn't completely apply to Isis' situation, but it's still a lovely poem. There is something truthful in the last few lines. It's by Canadian Poet Irving Layton and I took it from his "Selected Poems 1945-89 A Wild Peculiar Joy.

CAT DYING IN AUTUMN

I put the cat outside to die,
Laying her down
Into a rut of leaves,
Cold and bloodsoaked,
Her moan
Comin now more quiet
And brief in October's economy
Till the jaws
Opened and shut on no sound.

Behind the wide pane
I watched the dying cat
Whose fur like a veil of air
The autumn wind stirred
Indifferently with the leaves:
Her form (or was it the wind?)
Still breathing-
A suprise of white.

And I was thinking
Of melting snow in spring
Or a strip of guaze
When a sparrow
Dropped down beside it
Leaning his clean beak
Into the hollow;
Then whirred away, his wings,
You may suppose, shuddering.

Letting me see
From my house
The twisted petal
That fell
Between the ruined paws
To hold or play with,
And the tight smile
Cats have for meeting death.

-Irving Layton

Goodbye Isis. You were the best cat. I'll see you again one day.

This one's for Jessi ;)

So my daughter is an Animal Planet fan. She will watch the World's funniest animals show, animal precinct, animal cops, countdown shows and pretty much everything. Just now she came in all excited to tell me that the man on the tv said that if we sent in a video of (incoherent kidspeak, then laugh) we get a free World's Funniest Animals T-shirt!!!

Her favorite show so far is the Little Zoo that could....... G watches it with every inch of her being. She was so upset when they found out that it might get another hurricane, she cried.

So, she was bugging us to visit the Little Zoo -- which is the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo btw....lol. And since travelling south isn't in the cards right now, we decide to visit a local little Zoo called the Lickety Split Ranch...... this was just a few weeks ago. The staff let her feed some of the babies.....and her favorite part was the guinea pigs.... not the tigers or  lions or cougars or monkeys.......lol. But a pen of guinea pigs.

She's an animal freak. Last night we found out what was eating my shasta daisy's in the backyard. A little rabbit. Now G really loves the back yard! lol!!

Now I have to upload and resize the photos of the place...... but I will post a LONG one soon!!

Glad to be back guys, glad to be back!

:)

I'm coming back here soon!!!

I have been neglecting this blog the past few months.....

I promise that I will be posting semi-regularly again!

A few updates in my life include:

Buying a HOUSE!! :)

  here is the listing photo......

we have done LOTS of stuff to this place already. Like a flower bed up front there, two in back.... doing the living room and hallway......

we are framing the basement next month and extending the back deck  out. It will be super cheap for us to do this since my father in law has come upon lots of free wood that he has been planing for us in sections..... we have a stack downstairs as we speak.

Of course nothing is truely free..... there will be lots of labour involved but that is something that we will do ourselves. Michael has three weeks of holidays next month and we have some great family help. :)

Okay.... I gotta run to work.

But just know that I will be posting up to date pics soon!!

(I promise Shelby!! :)

i've been tagged.......

Thanks  Shelby! :)

2 names you go by: 

Ruth

Mommy

2 parts of your heritage

English

Irish

2 things that scare you

cuelty

pedophiles

2 of your everyday essentials

my glasses

my coffee

2 of your favorite musical artists or bands

Alanis Morissette

INXS

2 Favorite Songs

Grace- U2

Landslide-Fleetwood Mac

2 things you want in a relationship(other than real love)

to have fun together

same life goals

2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex)

eyes

powerful mannerisms

2 of your favorite hobbies

Photography

scrapbooking

2 things you want really badly

a house

to win the lottery :)

2 places that you want to go on vacation

Bristish Isles

Egypt

2 things you want to do before you die

see my daughter have a family

swim in the ocean

2 ways that you are stereotypically a chick (or male)

I buy ALL mosturizers

I love purses of all kinds

2 things that you are thinking about now

I need to get another drink

what's on TV next

2 stores you shop at

Winners

Ebay!

3 people I would like to see take this quiz

Christy

Susan

Carin

happy halloween!!!!!!

boo............................................................

so it's halloween.....

yeay!

I'm still sick...but I'm going into work. I had some time to rest, but not much. This weekend we went to a costume party and since we brought G with us, we did a family costume....it totally was last minute..... I put her hair up in a high pony tail, and mike said she looked like Fergie from the black eyed peas.....hmmmmmm we should do that!! yes, I know there are 4 peas, and only three of us, but big deal. It was funny. we did our best to come up with something...but G made it. lol!

She had the gold mike and the peas t-shirt cut off to the side. weird pants and high heels. lol. Oh, and somewhere between the Rogues couch (where G fell asleep) and our house, we lost that beanie baby kitty (blue and purple ugly thing.). G cried off and on all day yesterday about it. let's not mention it again. lol. She gets quite attached to the cuddlies. if you see it, there could be a huge hug and kiss for you in it... ;)

Anyway.... we totally had a great time. even with my cold.... I found that fireball whiskey shots actually HELP. HMMMMM>>>> okay, they don't but it seemed the thing to do at the time.

yeah, so we stayed up way too late, got up too early (Daylight savings time Gracie!! what part of that don't you understand??!!...yeah, okay....all of it, I know...). Then we had to do the crap we didn't do on sat....and cuz I was sick. so 5 loads of laundry, grocery shopping, my sis Mary coming over for help with her homework, munchies all day long, and Carl Edwards winning during the race!!!! all in all, an okay day! ;)  We then carved our pumpking, made oatmeal cookies, then made dinner, then made sugar cookies in halloween shapes for G's school class party... then G went in the bathtub, then mommy went in the tub. did more dishes and I crashed in bed at 9:00. I needed that sleep. it felt tooooo good.

So yeah, I'm exhausted, and I have to work until 7 tonight, so G will be trick or treating with her daddy :(  I'll miss that. then we have to try to clear out our dinning room area and kitchen area of stuff cuz they are coming to tile our dining/kitchen/entryway and bathroom floors. It'll be worth it, but I'm so not into the headache today.... not at all. I alread warned Nancy that I won't have a lot of it moved, since there just isn't time with Halloween and all.... I'll do what I can. But that craft cupboard is going to be a bitch.

Okay.... off to get ready for work but here's some pics to make you laugh:

Jesus!! Anna!!

had to get the wide angle out for this last one....

Jenny as Anna Nicole (before trimspa baby!) I think that halter top held for the whole night, too!!

Happy Halloween!

:)

i'm sick.....

and not just in a pervy way either....

day three of illness unwanted. flu like symptoms..... now turned int flu like symptoms WITH a hacking cough. every scent irritates me. I left work early on day one. was in all day yesterday...had to even though they wanted to send me back home..... cuz my bathtub was being re-glazed. then I called in sick today. when G found out, she refused to go to daycare. soooooo she's home with me.

we went to Walmart for some meds.....then to food basics.

had lunch and now I'm read to keel over. i'm so hot that my glasses steam up every time i cough.

any ideas on what the best medicine is??

for now, I'm going back to the couch.

ciao

okay.. I'm back......

so it's been a month or so......

sorry.

I've been busy I guess. Right now I'm sick.... hheekkk!! flu. sucks.

Other than that what have I been up to??? hmmmmm

hanging with Shelby on msn and exchanging songs.... so cool to do! got some fun HIM songs...she got some nice Matthew Good and Tragically Hip and Tom Waits and Bare Naked Ladies.... it's so cool to share across the boarders.

Went to an awesome dinner and concert with some friends. Matthew Good at the Drink. He was totally staring at me the whole time... waiting for me to sing along with the songs. I think it's cuz we had the same glasses on. He took his off cuz he didn't want to look like a poser. Sorry Carin.... he wants me. ;) Thanks to the Rogues for an awesome dinner... it was nice not to go someplace where the wait staff didn't wear "flair." ps... Michael learned a lot about what ice wine ISN'T.

On friday we had our POW Laboratories 75th Anniversary open house for friends and family. It was a long day for me.... but fun. We make some cool stuff there. I'm now the Crown & Bridge dept.'s ERC rep (employee relations committee) which means I'm a keener who gets bigger trashcans in the lunch room for us....fun.

here are some pics from that day:

articulating dentures with a wax bite. chomp!

waxing up a coping (tooth) this is level 2/3 work that I want to do. You use the model to create a wax version of the finished metal coping. this then gets invested and burnt out to form a mold (I do that) and then you melt gold and it gets spun into the molds (I do that too- girls with blow torches rock!)

this is the polishing bench. I have to polish with a handpeice all the metal parts on the bridges and crowns. fun until you lose a margin! :)

these are some of the funky appliances and retainers that we make. I think amanda made this one free hand. It's a skyline of toronto. pretty funky...

Sooo that was the fun friday showcase at Pow Labs. I still like my job...I just wish I wasn't flu ridden right now. ugh.

in other news.....................................................

I got G's invitations out for her first friends birthday party! it's a McDonald's one since we have no room for that many people in this apt. She is so excited! All her "best friends" are coming and she is "lovin' it!" First Halloween then her birthday. She soooooo lucked out being born on the 5th. 4 years old! man she's getting too old for me! I made the invites for her (of course) here's the outside:

I stole the jpeg off google and just put some type on it. Like she'll care when she's 30! lol!

Grace has been loving going to school. She is talking up a storm... her hearing is fine thanks to some drops. All is well. I forgot to get some first day at the bus stop photos so I took some the other day. She is going to hate me one day, I'm sure! lol!

isn't she the cutest thing ever??? Oh yeah... a few weeks ago we had a lice infestation. luckily we got rid of it right away, but I'm waiting for her to come home again. Let me just say this: get ALL the eggs out!! ALL of them comb constantly.... creme rinse. do tea tree oil shampoo treatments in between two of the big ones... the add some tea tree oil to her detangler. so far so good.

waiting in line.

leaving me behind...

okay, so I'm a bit dramatic about it. But it just freaks me out seeing my still three year old go to school with her back pack on the bus. Weird.

Anyway, Lost is coming on soon.... G is out of the bath and they are resurfacing our tub tomorrow... so I should get going.

Ciao!