A New Year...... A Renewed Me

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to the first day of 2012.

I realize that this is really just another "tomorrow" that has become "today", but it really does kind of feel like a new start, doesn't it?

With that in mind, I have chosen One Little Word to guide me and my thinking through the remainder of the year: RENEW.

My hope is for this year to be one of renewal: renewed energy, renewed enthusiasm for life and my career, renewed creativity, and renewed romance within my marriage. I will endeavor to devote more time to the things and people that truly make my life better. I will renew my focus on things that count; things that truly make a difference.

In the past I have, too often, allowed work, stress, and the woes of the daily grind to weigh me down. I have focused on the negative and forgotten to take the time to be grateful for what I have. It is my hope that I can renew my focus on myself, my family, and the positive things about each day.

Keep watching this blog because, if things go as planned, I hope to have many more positive things to share with you.

Oh My Goodness!!!

I knew it had been a while since I had posted, but I didn't ealize it had been THAT long! Life has been keeping me VERY busy. A new school year with new common core standards and new literature has kept me hopping. I'm still working and reworking things to try to get a classroom routine that I really like. (Maybe I will get it all figured out before next year.)

I've also been busy crafting. About a month ago I decided that I wanted to try to make one of those cute winter caps that looks like an animal. (You know.... you see them EVERYWHERE in the stores.) I got online and searched for several patterns then tweaked them to create my own. The result was a maroon owl cap that I thought was kind of cute.



Kari wore the cap to school, several of the kids saw it, and the rest is history. As of today I have crocheted and sold at least 50 of these lovely hoot owls. I have also adapted the pattern and created puppy dogs, a Hello Kitty, and even a teenage mutant ninja turtle. I joke the kids that one day they will look back and remember the year that Mommy "made" their Christmas. It is really only a small bit of a joke. The money is really coming in handy to purchase things from the kids' wish lists!

All of that crocheting has kept me kind of busy though, so I haven't gotten to scrapbook in a VERY LONG time! It has been so long, as a matter of fact, that I can't even tell Glenn what type of scrap stuff I might enjoy getting for Christmas. That is saying a LOT! I've always been able to give him a very specific "what I would buy for myself" list and he usually gets whatever I've asked for.

Ths year I just can't seem to think of anything that I really NEED or even really WANT. Bless his heart, he keeps asking, but I just can't seem to come up with anything. Any ideas?

I Bet You Thought I was GONE!

Well, I'm not......

I've just been really busy, with the start of school. I'm teaching reading this year and I'm working on all new units. That has kept me busy a lot!

Today I finally took some "me" time and sat down to create. I scrapped a simple little page of my daughter crocheting. I combined some really old papers that have been lieing around for a long time with a new tool that I recently purchased, the Sew Easy.

For those of you who have wondered about this tool, it really is pretty easy. I just picked the style of stitches I wanted and then rolled the head along the side of a ruler, creating the holes. Then I stitched in the holes.



I'm sure hoping that I get more "me" time really soon. I've missed scrapbooking!

My Boy is Back in Town.....

Can you hear me singing???

Can you tell that I am HAPPY!!!!!

We went to Danville yesterday and picked Keenan up from Governor's Scholars, where he had been for 5 full weeks. It seems like FOREVER for me......

He had a GREAT time and has matured a lot.

While he was gone we did a bit of shopping.....

Right before he left, Keenan took his driver's test and got his license. Of course we started talking "car". We weren't really sure when we would be able to purchase one for him, but we knew that he would need one to get back and forth to evening college classes during his senior year.

Glenn got what he considered a good deal and we were able to purchase Keenan's dream car: red Nissan Altima 2 door coupe. It was hard, but we kept the purchase a secret from Keenan for almost a full month. When we left home yesterday we decorated the car with beautiful bow.



As we neared home, Glenn handed Keenan 3 cards. He opened the first one to discover a birthday card, to which Keenan said, "Why are you giving me birthday stuff already?" He opened the second one to discover a Christmas card. After a few seconds it kind of sank in that he had a BIG gift waiting and he kind of knew what that meant. After the 3rd card which was a graduation card, Glenn presented the small gift box with the key inside. The look on Keenan's face was simply priceless, but his face when he finally made it home and sat in his car for the first time was even better.

My Girl....

My girl turned 14 this week. It almost seems impossible that it has been 14 years since I gave birth to her and brought her home from the hospital. Those 14 years have been very lively ones! Everyone kept telling me how different boys and girls were, but I wouldn't have dreamed how different until Kari came along. After a couple of years with Keenan, I really thought I had this kid thing figured out, but I have to admit that it has been really different raising a daughter.



Kari is our free spirit, fun loving child. She would rather be out running or playing a game with a friend than sitting at home reading a book. She is much more independent than her brother too, and sometimes that independence creates conflicts with us.

Even with the problems, arguments, and conflicts, I really wouldn't change a thing. I am so happy to have her in our lives. Happy birthday Baby Girl!

Daddy's Girl

You ever have that photo that you just HAVE to scrap? You know.... the one that touches your heart and brings a smile to your face....?

When I saw these pics of Kari with her dad, I knew that I had a scrapbook page in the making.



Can't you tell just by looking at these photos that this girl has Dad wrapped around her little finger? Whether it be a new shirt that she might love, a cd by her favorite artist, or a new nail polish that is just a shade different from one she already owns, Dad always seems to come through.

As for the layout, I can thank Scrappin Mojo yet again. I used this month's "Mojo Master" to provide the directions for the layout. If you haven't tried joining in on this yet, you really should. Every month there is a new set of instructions. You get one instruction at a time, every few days, until you finally have a finished page. At the end of the month it is so much fun to see the original inspirational layout and compare that to your finished one.

A New Love

I haven't been scrapping much for the past few weeks, but I have been keeping an eye on the scrapping goings-on online, particularly on Two Peas in a Bucket. I have gotten hooked on the videos that are posted there by the design team, especially those by Nichol Magouirk. I LOVE her simple, linear style! I also love the AE stamps that she has been using. (For those of you who haven't discovered them yet, I'm talking about the Technique Tuesday stamps by Ali Edwards.)

They are SO versatile and Nichol's videos are opening my eyes to LOTS of possibilities, so much so that I have subscribed to the monthly automatic delivery orders. I received the June set this morning and wasted no time using it on a layout.


I used the words "adventure" and "explore" from one set and the word "our" from another stamp set. I am LOVING these stamps! (They also inspired me to dig into my stash of die cut tags....LOL!) I'm fairly sure that you can expect to see more stamping on my future pages, especially with these word stamps!