Happy 4th of July!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. A cookout tomorrow at my in-laws' and then my uncle's annual 4th of July shindig on Saturday. I made a Red, White & Blueberry Pinterest-inspired trifle dessert earlier this evening for tomorrow....

And I'll be making some food to take up to my uncle's in the morning. Then next weekend we have another family reunion to go to up at my mom's since my cousins from Berlin, Germany with be here on July 10th and will be staying for 2-1/2 weeks. They come to America to visit us every three years. I'm looking forward to seeing them again. 

We went to see some local fireworks last Saturday...

My little aspiring photographer took some beautiful pictures of the sunset with her iPod on the way to see the fireworks last Saturday. The sun looked like this huge orange ball in the sky that evening. She was trying to get a picture of it since it looked pretty cool....

We started getting some tomatoes within the past few days (yea!)

I found this picnic tablecloth at JoAnn's yesterday on clearance for a little over $3 (reg. $12.99). It has a zipper so that you can put it on a table with an umbrella. This is absolutely genius and I don't know why someone didn't think of this sooner! Love this....

My mother-in-law gave us a porch swing that she bought but never used. This has resulted in a project for my husband. He knew he would have to build a frame for it and was planning on putting it out in the side/back yard. But I said no one is going to want to sit way out there in the blazing sun. So he is putting it next to the patio in an area where the sun won't be anyone's face. It's also hard to grow much of anything there. We went to get the composite decking this afternoon from Lowe's and he's gotten the frame for the swing built and cemented in the ground so far. This will be so nice when it's all done and it takes care of where to put the swing and we'll be finally doing something with that corner by the patio.....

Here is my layout for the week which I finished up earlier today...

I used patterned papers, brads and a chipboard border from the My Mind's Eye My Girl collection, my Curvy Cutter & various circle punches, enamel dots, word stickers from K&Co, black soot distress ink, Thickers, and a Allison Davis sketch.

Well I hope you all have a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend ahead! I am keeping those in the path of Hurricane Arthur down in the Carolinas in my thoughts and prayers tomorrow. They're saying 100 mph winds and calling it a Category 2 Hurricane.

Til next time....

Happy Father's Day!

Tony's funeral was this past Tuesday. There was a very nice service and his nephew, Donny, who he was close to, did the eugoly which was absolutely beautiful. My brother, BJ, who's a musician, and his wife, Kerri, and their friend, Erik, who's some type of minister did the music. Tony was honored by the military at the cemetery. It was all very nicely done. We all miss him so much. :(

Tony's sister, Pat, also made a memory board including older, vintage photos, and newspaper articles that Tony was featured in back when he was in the Air Force. He was a recruiter for the Air Force for a number of years and he was featured in Airmen magazine one time for being a "tell it like it really is" recruiter. He was always honest and never lied to the young men that he recruited. He had gotten quite a few thank you letters from lots of those young men for being honest and upfront with them. He was so proud to have been featured in that magazine. It meant a lot to him. And it was one of the things he was buried with. 

I have been helping my mom as much as I can. She's a little out of touch with reality when it comes to certain things. And she's been very irritable. She's snapped at me a couple times this past week. It's so unlike her. It's like once Tony passed away, a switch went off.  Once she gets her mind set on something, that's it. She's probably one of the most stubborn, bull-headed people I know. She's always been hard to talk to and without saying too much here, I just don't understand her way of thinking sometimes. I never have. *sigh*  Hopefully, as time goes on, things will get better. We shall see....

I have also been seeking employment. It is depressing that there is nothing around here. I had one interview two weeks ago tomorrow and never heard back from them. :(   I had another job I spent the better part of the morning filling out an application for online, printing it out, getting my resume together, and getting my hopes up. I walked in and the first thing I was told was "oh that position has already been filled."  all the while the job opening was still being advertised on their big flashing billboard outside of the store (furniture store). I was quite upset that day to say the least.  It is all so discouraging. Then there was the job that I had to have the application notarized for. Never heard back from that one either. I need a job. I want to work. But there is nothing here. Seventy (70) other people applied for the same job that I had the interview for. It's crazy. And whoever it was that said that job hunting can wreck havoc on your self-esteem was right. I am really trying to not let it depress me, but it's hard.

Anyway.... on to happier things.....

Today has been a gorgeous, beautiful, sunny day. It's 80 degrees out now. B. went swimming for about an hour earlier this afternoon and I have a roast in the oven for dinner. We've been doing a lot of grilling lately, so today we're having something different. I haven't made a roast in a while and my husband took it out of the freezer the other day to thaw.  Our tomatoes that we planted back on June 1st have grown taller and the Mr. Stripey one has even started growing some buds this past week. Mr. Stripey tomatoes are supposed to be large yellow and red striped tomatoes. I wanted to try growing something different this year and so that was one of the varieties that I got. The Stella Dora daylilies are blooming, and I noticed yesterday that the delphiniums that I planted a couple of summers ago are starting to bloom....

and these yellow daisy-like ones too....

I think those are some type of mini sunflower. I can't remember. You can see how big the hydrangea is getting back there in the corner of the photo. We cut it back every fall. 

Cute little squirrel in our backyard yesterday that my husband took a picture of...

With everything else that's been going on lately, I never posted a couple of the scrapbook layouts that I made last month and so I figure now is a good a time as any....

I did end up using at least one of the sketches from the Big Picture Classes sketch class by Donna Jannuzzi I've been taking for this layout I did on May 27th.....

I glimmer-misted this layout with Tattered Angels sugar plum fairy (purple). I also used a wee bit of garden fairy (green) but it's not as noticeable. I usually only use my glimmer mists for coloring flowers and lace. So this was a little out of my comfort zone.

Patterned paper in the background and the purple paper lace strip down the middle is from a MAMBI paper pad, Fiskars and Martha Stewart punches, Avery Elle chevron bits die, brushed corduroy distress ink, blue and yellow butterflies were punched out with DCWV pp.

And a couple close-ups:

I also made this one....

The journaling talks about how Hoover became a part of our family...

"Hoover used to be one of Matt's friends' dog. Aunt MiMi and Uncle R. agreed to take Hoover in "temporarily". After a while, the friend stopped showing any kind of interest in Hoover at all which upset Aunt MiMi a lot. And after quite some time she finally decided that Hoover was their dog now and he's been a part of the family ever since. He truly is a wonderful dog and you love going up to Aunt MiMi's to play with Hoover and say that he's your favorite dog in the whole family (besides our dogs of course) "because he actually plays with me and doesn't just lay there on the floor." lol!"

I used an old Stemma collection pack of papers I got from Office Max awhile ago. I think the brads were Stemma too. The photo mat paper comes from a MAMBI paper pad. The big heart was done with a Sizzix die, pawprints are a punch and then punched again with a circle punch. Heart garland was done with a MS heart punch and the hearts were punched out of a MME 6x6 paper pad.  This was my first dog layout ever. I need to do more of these and get our family pets in the scrapbooks.....

Well I hope you all have a pleasant week ahead....

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

We couldn't ask for more gorgeous weather this weekend... beautiful, sunny and in the mid to high 70's. It's supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow.

 Our rhododendrons are in full-bloom now and our Stella Dora daylilies have started getting buds this week.

My husband took the week off to get our new pool set up. He's been out there making sure the ground is still level from our last pool. He is going to have to dig (in the woods) and backfill to make up the difference in size since this new one is just slightly bigger. The gray pipes are actually the top part of the pool.

I just wanted to post real quick here to show you all my layout-of-the-week...

 Ok, so I am taking the Donna Jannuzzi Sketch Solutions class over at Big Picture Classes. It goes for the next four weeks (every other day May 22nd thru June 18th). This is the first Big Picture Class that I have taken. I couldn’t pass it up with an $8 off coupon code that I got. Anyway… I went through envelope after envelope until I found  just two photos that were in different orientations. Which is really really hard because I rarely ever just take TWO photos of anything. Sometimes I do. But rarely.  However, I did find these pictures of my husband and daughter when she was a baby that my mother-in-law took many years ago. Then I spent a couple of days this past week trying to make them work with the first sketch of the class from BPC. I just wasn’t feelin’ it though. *sigh*. So I gave up trying to get the sketch to work with the photos (because I don’t work that way anyway – I always start with the photos and then find a sketch). And so I went through all of my Scrapbook Generation sketch binders and books – nada. Nothing with two pictures – one horizontal and one vertical. But then it was Pinterest to the rescue and I found this sketch instead.

Perfect! This is the first layout I’ve scrapbooked with any of my daughter’s baby photos….

I used papers from the DCWV Nana's Nursery Girl stack and the banners were from a Making Memories banner kit I got at Big Lots earlier this year before they quit selling scrapbook stuff. Anyway, I'm sure I'll find a use for the boatload of sketches I got from the online sketch class I am taking. I just can't force myself to use a certain sketch if I don't have the right photos for it first. I know, I'm the one student that has to be difficult. lol! But that's how I roll.....

Well that's all for now. B. has a swimming/sleepover/birthday party to go to this evening. This is the second sleepover this weekend (different friend). We're supposed to have a cookout over at my husband's parents' tomorrow. Only one week of school left. Yea! And Ashley called yesterday to say that her and Sean will be in town for her sister's high school graduation next weekend. So we have a very busy week ahead...

Hope you all have a safe, Happy Memorial Day weekend!

This Week's Scrapbook Layout, Our Nephew Got Married, etc. etc.

We celebrated Mother's Day last Sunday with my husband's family out at a restaurant called The Mill Creek Inn. It's an old farmhouse that someone remodeled years ago and that you have to make reservations for. My in-laws had been there more than several times in the past. But this was my husband, B.'s and my first time going there. The home-cooked food was fantastic and very reasonably priced. I wish it were the type of restaurant where you could go more often. But they only have room for so many people and it's something you have to plan ahead for....

I had already celebrated Mother's Day with my own mom the Sunday before when we went up that weekend....

Anyway.... after we came home later that afternoon from the restaurant on Mother's Day, I went to work out in the flower beds here at home and started planting the flowers I had bought. I ended up going back out to Lowe's at least one or two more times, plus Kroger's temporary outdoor garden center and planted more flowers throughout the week. I planted six wave petunias (pinks, white, purple), plus a bunch of single ones, the zinnias my sister-in-law gave me from Amish Country, geraniums, caletunias, a couple gerbera daisies, plus got five hanging baskets (four for under the deck where the patio is out back). And a nice planter for the front porch.

I think I am done.... for now.  I still have the deck to do, but it really needs cleaned or painted or something first. But at least the flowers for the front yard are done and the beds have been re-mulched.

Our rhododendrons started blooming the other day too. We planted this bush from a cutting that my mother-in-law gave us about ten years ago....

Our nephew, Matt, told his parents that he and Steph were going to get married on Thursday (May 15th) out in California. We all knew that they were planning on getting married because they've been engaged for over a year and a half, but they hadn't set a date yet. Then they decided not to have a big wedding and said they were going to have a small private ceremony in CA. But then they decided to get married this past week and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law just found out about it the day before Mother's Day. My sister-in-law was able to fly out last minute ($$$), but our brother-in-law couldn't. They are going to have a reception here for them this summer in late August. Matt is the head baseball coach for one of the colleges out there in California, and Steph is the head women's lacrosse coach at a nearby college to where his is.

They both look so very happy and we are so thrilled and happy for them! May they have a long, beautiful life together....

B. had her Spring Band Concert this past Wednesday, May 14th. She played the bells, bass drum, snare drum and cymbals. This was her (and everyone else's) first year of band. Next year, they'll start practicing every day during the school week and her band director said she may not have to bring home that very heavy bell kit to practice on anymore. She can just leave it at home to practice with and use the equipment at the school. He said that once she gets to high school, they don't use the bell kit as much anymore and are more focused on the drums. The concert was very nice. These kids have come a long way since the beginning of the year! I love the band. It's my favorite part of any high school football game....

A new self-serve frozen yogurt place just opened here last Saturday and B. and I discovered it on Thursday. It was really good! B. wants me to take her again today. So I will try and get this blog post done quickly. lol! So I leave you with some pictures of the layout that I made yesterday for the layout-a-week challenge I'm doing....

These pics were from spring picture day last year....

I used patterned papers from several collections - MAMBI, K&Co. and Colorbok, embellishments are K&Co., American Girl (which I found over at Gabe's fairly recently), and Making Memories (flower pins), die cut behind title is from Spellbinders Labels 8. I just got the Darice butterfly swirl border embossing folder on Friday at JoAnn's on clearance for $1.97.  Monarch butterfly border punch is Martha Stewart. I inked the edges of everything with Peacock Feathers distress ink. Sketch inspiration is from Scrapbook Generation.

Well, school is winding down and there's only about two weeks left. My husband is taking the week of Memorial Day off to do some things around here including getting our new pool set up. I am so looking forward to summer.

til next time...