The retreat afterglow...

So much fun was had at CPR. Loved meeting new people. Loved taking the scenic tour of Harrisburg and Port Matilda with Patti. Loved all the little chipmunks. Thanks Misty for all of your hard work!!!


ahhhhh.

For Sharon

Here are some photos as promised...








We are getting some pages done. Sausan is working on jewelery, Christine is working on Christmas cards. Misty and Trisha just made a food run. :-) Wishblades and Cricuts are running. Diana is teaching braiding (in memory of Donna.)

We're here and having a blast...

We are having a fantastic time - the Institute is gorgeous. The building were all designed by the owner and are very large log cabins/lodges. There are some wonderful walking trails, and places to relax and reflect. Cute little chipmunks abound.

I am trying to get organized with the digital scrapping and finish watching the tutorials.

Patti is working away on her Disney album,, Trisha is working on her Tech album, and I need to make the rounds to check on the others.

No tvs in the rooms so that was a shocker last night - it was extremely quiet. Very odd from my usual M.O.

More later with pictures.

Momma's getting a break

Middle is on the mend. Hallelujah!!! She is eating and sleeping regularly; the cough is disappearing. The antibiotics are all finished. My girl's sassy tude is back - what a relief. She is looking forward to some major fun time this weekend to make up for the last two weeks.

After two full weeks of non-stop nursing to get Middle well, I am taking a short break. I am leaving in 5 hours for a weekend of fun at CPR. I cannot wait!!! Patti and I are driving up to Port Matilda to stay at the St. Joseph's Institute with a group of other fantastic ladies. (Julia ~ it isn't too late. Pack a bag!) Update with photos coming later! ;-)

a.

The best weekend was had in CNY

Oh, my gracious. Y'all are gonna be so jealous cause I just had the most wonderful time at CNY. I laughed so much. Oh, and what I learned could fill a book. WOW!! What you find out - it is absolutely jaw dropping and even a little bitter sometimes. Right, Patty and Miriam? So, what did I learn? Here's my list...

Meg cannot navigate. We took two tours of downtown Allentown inadvertently.
Sarah, Patti, and Deb taught us how to talk like a New Englander (can you say "Brender"?)
Patty is gonna rename the drop jaw emoticon on SS to the "Amy" look. I know, shut my mouth.
Mary knows more about psychology and what makes people tick than most of us.
Karen C. is a fantastic teacher for stamping and card making.
Karen M. is still the best storyteller around - her poor aunts. Do that walk again, Karen.
Gaye is an absolute hoot. I won't tell her to "Shut up, Gaye." 'cause I was too busy guarding my cookie.
Julia, Jan, Joy, Jeanne, and Miriam are going to be absolutely famous with their new scrap formula "3 Straight, 2 Askew - it's an easy thing to do." I promise to "live" the formula. I can only hope to make the design team and be worthy of their praise.
Sharon is the absolute best Secret Sister and dang if she isn't a little sneaky.
Patty V. is the best roomie. She didn't care that I came in at 2 AM with our creaky doors.
Christie and Beth know "their" types even at 1 AM.
Shirley and Michelle are the go to gurus for digi scrappin. Thanks for the advice, M. about PhotoShop. Some day I will be joining you.
Shirley has a temper when it comes to her friends.
Shari make pina coladas in a unique way without a blender top, and they were yummy.
Liz looked like a new woman after that massage.
Oh, and who could forget the firefighters? Hum? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Maybe if we had left the room, there would be a memory. But then again, Patty's laugh said it all.

I guess the best part was just dilligaf.

xoxo and love to all my CNY friends.

Saturday's Happenings....

Youngest woke up at 2 AM crying - her head hurt - but she is pointing to her jaw area under her ear. Oh, NO!!! Not her ear, please anything but an ear infection. She stayed awake until 5 AM crying in pain. Threw up from all of the drainage (and maybe from the fever?)

Took her in to see the Dr. again (between Middle and Youngest this was visit number five to the peds in three weeks and dr. visit number seven between the peds and the ENT.) Temp is 101.5. Great.

Dr. took one look in her left ear (the good ear)and said, "She's got a really bad ear infection - it is about ready to burst."

Youngest then so eloquently announced, "I gotta throw up." There she blows.

The Dr. said the vomitting was more from the fever than the drainage. He prescribed a strong antibiotic and Motrin. If she cannot keep the Motrin down, then call him.

Prescription filled and in her along with the Motrin by 12:30. By 2:00 she is like a new kid. Thank goodness. Still stiffling and draining, but no more crying. Man, we have been so lucky with the three girls - never many ear infections at all. I cannot tell you the last time any of them were even on an antibiotic. We have been blessed with that part.

So here we are. Staying home again all weekend to get these children well. Maybe if the planets align and the Gods are kind, I can, shhhhh!, not too loudly, maybe I can scrapbook. Please don't say it aloud - they will hear you and someone will be ill.

My new books from Amazon came in:

• Pieces of My Sister's Life
• Me & Emma
• Scrap Simple

Care to guess which one I dove into first? Oh, the highlight of the day? I snuck off to Paperoni when J got home from basketball to hit up their closing sale. Picked up some more foam stamps and paint since it was all 50% off. Plus some scalloped cardstock, a little paper, some ABC letters, and rub-ons. Not much inventory left - good for them, sad for me.

Catching Up - Past

OK - pinky swear aside - I did mean to catch up the other day. Life, it got in the way again.

December:
Christmas was fantastic. Oldest loved the cell phone and was blown away that she got one. So far, so good with it.

Mom and Dad were able to make the drive up to visit. They stayed for a few days - we hit up Target and both outlets (Tanger and Rockvale.) Mom did pretty well with the shopping especially since she hates to go.

January:
1st - Middle and I ran in the New Year together. Yes, my 6 year old made it to midnight and actually even later. She realized that it was AM and thought she should just stay up. Yeah, that didn't happen.

3rd - made a road trip with Youngest to Timonium, Maryland to hit up the Recollections Scrapbook store since it was closing. We had a good time, and she was a huge help with picking out new supplies. She was great for throwing Memory Makers paint in my basket - everyone had to have their own color.

5th - Middle's first basketball game, and Daddy is the coach. She did OK - a little 'tude, but it worked out overall. The I had a date with J to Panera Bread that night. Oldest watched the younger two so we could go out for an hour. It was sooooo nice to eat by ourselves and just talk. We went over to the Kirkland Outlet and the Restoration Hardward Outlet, but didn't buy a thing.

6th - the sickness came....Middle was throwing up in the bathroom @ 1 AM. Oh, my gracious - NASTY!!! I don't know what she picked up, but it was B-A-D.

7th - Youngest failed her second hearing test. We now have the referral to the ENT doctor. Make an appt. with Dr. Tom of CHoP. He is suppose to be very good.

11th - Oldest has a tooth pulled to make the braces work this time. They better for 4 freakin' thousand dollars.

12th - went to Julia's crop in Maryland for the day. Oh, how nice to have a little time for myself. J is fantastic about that.

14th - Oldest gets the rest of the braces on. She picks pink - who knew? Last year she despised pink. Teenagers.

19th - Middle scores her first basket in basketball. Way to go, girl!! She was so proud of herself.

20th - decide it might be time to move since the new house next too us is in our front yard. Yeah - that SUCKS!!!! We are so very pissed off at our builder. Talks with him are ongoing to try to rectify this situation. We went to look at a few new houses today - but we were not blown away by any.

21st - took Oldest to see 27 Dresses and out to dinner at Macaroni Grill for a Girls' Day Out. She seemed to have a great time hanging out with Mom. The movie was good - it is a total Chix Flix.

22nd - Middle to the peds because enough is enough with this mess. I am tired of her being so sick. Not much to do but let it run its course.

23rd - took Middle out to breakfast since the "issue" seems to be subsiding. Just to be safe, she sticks with the BRAT diet. We went over to see J at school. Middle took a picture to him that she had colored at breakfast. Went to look at a house tonight in a neighborhood with tons of kids, but it was a no go. The backyard was not workable since it was straight down. The basement; however, was clean enough to eat off of.

24th - Youngest sick again

25th - Youngest too sick to sing in Winterfest.

26th - Middle - peds again. HIVES. Ugh... a side effect of the virus she has been fighting for three weeks

28th - meet with the real estate agents about selling the house. We might lose 3 - 4% due to the placement of the house next door. We are PISSED OFF to say the least. Oh, and I do NOT want to pay them $20,000 as their commission to sell my house. Ridiculous. I've never paid anyone that amount to sell my house - won't start now.

29th - take Youngest to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and stuff for Oldest's BD Party - find a big ol' nail in the tire. The tire is going "SSSSSSSS" and going down. High tail it back in the car and go over to H&F to get it fixed. Of course, it is also raining and freaking cold. Figures.

31st - Youngest's first appt. with Dr. Tom. Tests with the audiologist. Nothing conclusive except that she has a conductive middle ear hearing loss. At the point the cause is unknown. CT Scan is the next step. Schedule that for February 6th in King of Prussia.

February:
1st - Oldest's BD Sleepover. She seems to have a good time, and they were asleep by 11 PM. What is up with that? They are 14!! It's OK - I'll take it.

2nd - Oldest's 14th Birthday. How the hell did that happen? I was just taking her to her first day of kindergarten the other day. Crazy, crazy, crazy how time is flying.
We went rollerskating as a family. This was a first and tons of fun!! Willow Street sponsored it. Youngest did a better job than Middle - and then Youngest promptly threw a fit when it was time to leave. I had a fantastic time - I haven't skated in years, but picked it up again easily. I even went BACKWARDS!!!

4th - started my One in 48 class with Hillary Heidelberg's NYCScraps. Great sketches to work with and color schemes.

5th - Middle's 100 Days of School Celebration. She had to dress as a 100 year old woman. Yeah, she wasn't too into it, but some of the other kids were. Very original costumes.
Oldest had High School pre-registration. OMG! Stop growing up so damn fast.

That is it for the PAST. Now onto the Present....

Black Rock Retreat

I had a blast this past weekend at the Black Rock Retreat. I actually accomplished getting all of the photos organized as well as the materials for Abbey's and Audrey's school album. Yeah, me. Here is one of the pictures from Saturday night:

What a fun group of women. I think Liz laughed forever. Sharon and Lee were definitely instigators of trouble. I think Cathy, Patti and I behaved ourselves a little better. The poor non SS women had no clue what they had gotten themselves into - all of the inside jokes and the boob pictures (which I am not posting!) Ya just had to be there to appreciate it.

It was therapeutic to get away from the kids and house for a few hours (um, 13 hours?) and connect with some wonderful friends - old and new. Now to see if we can get together again before the CNY Retreat in April - that is just too long to wait.

Alright, gotta go finish cleaning. Going to Virginia Beach on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. Dad, no heart attack this time, got it?

My new scrapbooking favorite

I am taking a class thru Big Picture Scrapbooking; it is called Doodle All Day. I am loving this class because I can be as creative as I want and there is no judgement because it is just doodling.

I love the ease of it - just let it flow. I bought new pens and a two great sketch pads - white and black. I am just having a blast with the Sakura pens - Glaze, Souffle, and the Pigma Microns. They are just the best pens. I even love my big white Pentel Hi-Polymer eraser and the Crayola colored pencils (which were stolen from the kids' school supply pile.)

Doodling is addictive, but I am finding it really calming too- totally block out the rest of the world (laundry and all.) Someone on the message board called it "the inner doodle" which I just love. So check out Maelynn: http://thescrappyone.blogspot.com/

What I am reading now

or re-reading as it is...love her work.