Friday, July 31, 2009

Unfinished Work

I suppose you wonder why in the world I would put these on the blog. Pretty boring, right?
Well four ORU members were able to drive to Amish country yesterday for lunch and a little shopping. That was a busy day and today has not been much better. I'm leaving soon for more this evening. Anyway, no time for scrapbooking. However, I've chosen two pictures from our trip for a layout. Hope the next time you see this page, it will be more interesting.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

God and the Weather

We thoroughly enjoyed Saturday evening with friends at Blossom. We are thankful for our good friends. After being concerned all day and praying that it wouldn't rain on our 'picnic' we arrived at Blossom under dark clouds...and watched those clouds roll away to show blue skies during the evening. It didn't rain until we got in our cars and headed home. Thank you, God.

We give thanks also that our maker, who is the God in heaven, created the weather patterns...so thankful we don't need to depend on humans to 'fix' the weather and protect us from temperature extremes. God created and controls His system according to His will. We really don't have to worry about it.

That said, we are conservatives in the true sense of the word...we are not extravagant nor wasteful. How in the world did Liberals steal this issue from us. I say it is in word only and not in practice.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Life is Short

Celebrating birthdays with Life Group is a risky business. We all know our time is coming...and much too soon. Life is short and birthdays get closer and closer together. Here are Kay, Ron & Lou Ann , Diann & Vince enjoying a successful 'jab' session.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Still Smiling

They have read their birthday cards and are still smiling. It is a good day.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

A Boat and A Birthday

Last week we celebrated the birthdays of three of our good friends. No, they were not all the same day... but they are in July. We rushed Robin a little. Hers is not until July 30. The boat ride was a treat. However the cards we all gave them could not be classified that way. We have to grow 'tough hides' because some greetings are a little stingy. But we all have a good time and take our shots when it's our time to buy cards. I know a few girls who shop for just the right cards all year long. Yes, we get some 'doosies'. And we laugh...a good way to live, joy in misery. LOL

This page is of Robin and Mark. I'm working on two more pages. One for the other two birthday girls and one of the rest of our life group. They should be coming up shortly.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Footprints

In an artsy mood. First and probably last time I'll ever quote Eleanor Roosevelt.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Life is not...

C.S. Lewis said it well, "Life is not all fricassied frog and eel pie."
It's a lot of things to me... God, family,freedom, computers, digital scrapbooking and ORU.

Friends keep me going. They keep me laughing when things are good and they comfort me when troubles come. My friends are TOADILY COOL.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Lake Forest / July Birthdays

Today was a very special day. Teresa has been gone to Switzerland and France for much of the summer and is now home. She treated ORU to lunch at Lake Forest Country Club to celebrate birthdays. Our little group has four birthdays this month. Perhaps if you were born in July, you have a better chance of being inducted.

Kalai now lives in Texas and couldn't make it for the party. Her birthday is July 15. Robin is working. Perhaps we'll honor her's later this month. The two we are celebrating today are Jane's and Paulette's...both on the 14th.

After a great chat and a scrumptious lunch overlooking the pool and many cornflowers with dancing butterflies, we headed to Teresa's newly redone backyard, with a lovely waterfall, pond, waterlilies and frogs. A garden party with friends. Ahhh. We were elegantly served a delectable dessert with fancy decorated sugar cookies. I'm hoping to show some of them later.

Thank you Teresa! It was wonderful. And Happy Birthday to our special July ladies.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Imagine Being on the Beach in April

All you hot babes on Watercolor beach today don't really know how 'cool' it was there the last week of April. This day the wind was in our hair and stirring up artwork in the water. Wonderful time to be on the beach if you are fair skinned and/or have adapted to weather in the north. Another plus to April is the lack of bodies covering much of the sand. We could do what we wanted. Yep. And I'm not making up crap.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Easy Life

This is the life, sunshine, beach, girlfriends and nothing pressing to do. It would be nice if this were what life was about. But then, would we gain anything? God put us here on Earth to learn to love Him and depend on Him. If there were never any problems, we might never learn either.
So when we have troubles, we can thank God and lean on Him for guidance and deliverance in the end. Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow...and trials as well.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Compass

It is unseasonably cool here today and I LOVE IT...70 degrees. It's beautiful. Not sure tomorrow will be a good day for the boat ride we planned months ago for our life group. But in any case, we are covered with plenty to do if it isn't fair weather.

Now why I've decided to do a Florida layout. Who knows. I just do what I want and it seemed good to me. (I'm retired, you know. LOL) I love the caption here. It surely is true.

By the way, the compass just caught my eye. North should be at the top of a map, but on the picture, we were facing north. The ocean was north of us. But then heaven is in the north...otherwise it would be way too hot, so the compass is pointing up toward the sky.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Scrapbook Layouts


I guess it is pretty obvious by now that my main aim in this blog is to display my scrapbook layouts. My opinions may sometimes get boring to a few. But my layouts are always fresh and interesting... well at least that is my hope. Today, we are back in Florida, remembering a refreshing trip with the girlfriends. I'm not good at painting pictures with words, but I try to convey feelings though pictures. Here are three of us (Sali, Jane and I) on the beach with the wind in our hair...loving every minute of it. Everyone knows it is windy. Are you not glad you couldn't hear me sing it while I worked? By the way, if you can't tell, I'm the short one.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Garden of Paradise (on Earth)


How many times can one celebrate his/her own birthday in the same year? I couldn't tell you.
I don't feel any older, but we celebrated mine at least three times this June. The last time was
here in Mary Sue's gorgeous and comfy back yard with our life group. We are celebrating three birthdays, Jeff's, Ron's and mine. Would post some of the cards I got. But there would be too many really good and funny ones and tears might start running down your faces and ruin your keyboards. We may be losing all our assets to the run-a-muck government, but they haven't
taken our sense of humor.

Monday, July 13, 2009

The Mood

What fun it is to photograph triplets and get them all looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. Chelle has her work cut out for her. In spite of the odds, both she and I have managed to get many good ones over the years. Some, while not so 'perfect', are very good.
Here is an example. Chelle took this, one of three tries, in May of this year. She really captured 'the mood'.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Birthday Coming Up

Don't know if I like this layout or not. It's quite different from my usual, but I sure do like the triplets. I called today to see what they would like for their birthday. After all, I need to shop and get a package on it's way. Chelle told me a few things and happened to mention that Ashley wants a 'tiger room'. I guess her love for their cat is spilling over to much bigger felines.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Celebrate on the Water

Independence Day is my favorite day of the year. Yep, even more so than Christmas. It is because of the fireworks over the lake. We always leave not long after dinner to give ourselves plenty of time to grab a perfect spot for watching the spectacular show which gets better every year. We anchor our boat loaded with friends/family right next to the point at Turkeyfoot Lake Park where the pyrotechnics are shot. We can see them as they shoot out from the beach, up over the treetops and over our heads. Why do I like fireworks so well? I guess it is the kid in me. For years before they were ever displayed over our lakes (or before we knew about them) we would take our four children to Lake Anna in a nearby town for every Labor Day celebration to watch the fireworks. It was always the night before they went back to school in the fall. No use in putting them to bed...they wouldn't have slept anyway with the anticipation of a new school year. I guess part of the reason I like them so well is because our friends/family enjoy them so much as well. It is a bonding experience.

Our daughter who lives about 500 miles away likes to time her family trips so that they can be here July 4. It is special to her as well.

We have traveled to see other fireworks displays, but none can measure up to ours here. Someday, however, I would like to go to one of the fireworks competitions held in Canada. I guess we will need to haul along family and or friends in order to really get the bang out of them.

Little Miss Sunshine

Oh, the sweet innocence of childhood. Remember the days when you could play all day in the summer and never get tired, without a worry and seldom feel fear? That was our life while children.

Today, as adults, that time has gone. We now have the world weighing us down by day and often by night as well. Without God, this would be a sorry place to live now, with our whole lifestyles being swept from under us so quickly. Be sure that you not only vote in the next election, but campaign for those with godly hearts and minds...those who honor freedom.
And stand up now for what is right! We can't just sit back and say there is nothing we can do. If we ignore it, it will not go away, just speed up...if that is possible. If necessary, run for office yourself. Yes, we can do it!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Independence Day

As Conservatives, we cherish our liberty that was won with blood...first of our Lord Jesus Christ and then in this country, by red blooded patriots who fought against tyranny to free us all. We celebrate Independence Day in the middle of the turmoil our country is now facing with a government that is becoming more and more intrusive every day.

There were Tea Parties across our land on the 4th. Again, TEA... Taxed Enough Already. Watch out for the most freedom restricting moves of all, that of government controlled health care, by which they can control almost every facet of your life.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Computer Dependent

This evening I had a meltdown. My laptop was giving me so much trouble that I just grabbed my purse and left the house. If there weren't so many wires tying that thing to my station, it would be deep in the lake by now.

I would have asked my sweet hubby to help, but he is stuck with a lot already. A man's business is depending on him to get them back up and running.

I can't believe a computer illiterate like me is so computer dependent! Nothing was working right on my laptop. Remember I'm stuck with it until we can get a new desktop. There are/were shortcuts to programs, files...all sorts of things on my desktop that are not on my 'pretend' computer. It is maddening. I can't get ACDSEE to work on this one...well, it does sometimes...but that just isn't enough for picky little me. I want it to work ALL THE TIME. I couldn't figure out how to upload my 257 fireworks pictures to the computer, let alone Flickr. I couldn't even see how to search my computer. Yahoo had sneaked in on me and put their tool bar up in place of my google page that I like so well. And worst of all was my email . Even though I received all my mail, everything went into my in box and nothing into my junk mail. So I had to wade through almost endless trash to read my mail. And I couldn't send any mail for days.

Anyway, after I was gone a couple of hours, I got a call on my cell phone, with the almost depleted battery, from my husband. He wondered where I was. I had already left Dairy Queen, so I didn't have to tell him I had been eating ice cream to drown my troubles. I'm sure he could tell. I probably put on 5 pounds. Anyway, he did feel sorry for me after being mad at me for 'running away'. He fixed all the problems and is back to work for his client. Now, should I actually use Photoshop and risk running into more messes? Or should I go back to the typewriter and 'cut and paste' scrapbooking?

How could we ever go back? Where would we get our information? Would we have to relearn how to wait for the morning newspaper, or a year for the new edition of the encyclopedia? What about live radar on Wunderground? I guess we will find out if we don't get another president and if our congressmen don't start reading bills before they vote on them. Encourage your representative to READ BEFORE VOTING.

Computer

Friday, July 3, 2009

Happy Independence Day

I'm pretty much on only to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July. Haven't been here since June 30th because my desktop crashed the next day. At least I had it backed up 4 times. My latest toy is a little 3x5 external hard drive. Ron had just put everything on it a few days before the computer went down.

But, I still don't have the computer. Ron is thinking about changing me to Apple, but I'm not interested in relearning so much. There is too much to learn already and at 66, I don't feel like I have a lot of extra time for stuff like that. Anyway in the meantime, I'm packing my laptop. Actually it isn't so bad now that hubby has hooked it up to the big monitor and now I have two screens with which to work.

But now that I'm set up, I'm not ready to go because of the holiday coming up tomorrow. We'll be pretty busy this weekend. I'll have to make sure I have a layout on Monday. I have one almost completed now.