Expecting a Grandbaby

I found this freebie on Digital Freebies. I've bought several baby collections from Scrapgirls.com, but I'm really busy now. ..anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest grand baby. Hope to be back online soon with his picture on this layout and many more. Until then...

Chipper's Christmas

This should have come before the layout from last night. It shows poor Chipper before she decided to take things into her own hands.

Speaking of taking things into your own hands, we can thank Scott Brown for standing up and dong what needed to be done. God bless him and all those who voted for him. He may play a big part in saving us from government run (in the ground) health care.

24

This is the non-TV watcher reporting in after sitting through three hours of 24.

Yes, American Idol and 24 are back . That means I have to carve out a few hours a week to immerse myself in TVdom. I can't just watch normally like a regular TV viewer, I have to plant my eyes on that screen. I can't miss a note or a word. Don't call me while I'm attending to this business! Of course, since you have no idea when I'll tear myself away from this computer and head to the TV room, perhaps you should never call. Woops. That is not good advice. I do want to hear from you; but don't be surprised if when you call, you catch me at the wrong time and I have trouble coming back to the real world. You know how some people live their lives through their children? Well Ron and I live ours through Jack Bauer. After all, if something happens to Jack, one of us may have to take over and we don't want to come up short. My hubby even looks forward to that day when he can jump in and help.

Since I haven't made a layout today, I've given you one I made in December. Poor Chipper did not get a present on Christmas day. I forgot until the last minute and when I went out on Christmas Eve, I couldn't get through the hordes of men shopping. So I gave up and went home with nothing... not even catnip, to finish Christmas preparations.

I felt sorry for the poor cat for a few minutes when we opened our presents, but she 'licked her wounds' and found a present for herself. The following Sunday night, my friend Kay gave her a fish on the end of a fishing pole. Chipper has insisted I play with her every afternoon since then. Her celebration is lasting longer than all the rest of us. Thank you Kay.


All of you in Massachusetts, get out and vote for Scott Brown early. I don't want to be unnerved all evening waiting for votes to come in for him. Send a message to Washington. We don't want your cruel version of health care.

Thanks to Chelle, who left an opinion here and gave me some constructive criticism. She taught me that unlike what I believed, the picture could be drug by mouse to any spot on the blog entry that I want it. It makes a lot more sense now than it did when she first read it. Thanks again.

Remembering Florida

On some occasions I take a zillion pictures. People are used to seeing me with a camera up to my eye. However, there are days when I don't take even one picture. Really. Today was one of them. At times like this when I want to do a layout and have no recent picture, I dig back through Picasa and pull out something that didn't get done at the time because there were too many and not enough time to scrapbook them all.

This photo was taken in a gazebo at Seaside, Florida in April of last year.

Experiment

Thought I'd see what I could do with just PSE and pictures or scans of objects here at home. the fabrics 'papers' are pictures of chairs and pillows. The rest are obvious. It was fun and made me reach a bit.

Have to keep this old mind active so that it doesn't petrify. Am looking forward to a new grandbaby very soon and don't want to be senile before he is old enough to know me.

Eating Out

It's a little cold to 'eat out' today. But it is warming up. The snow is starting to melt

Sure hope the weather in Massachusetts is conducive to a good conservative turn out at the p0les. Sure would like to see Scott Brown win. We lived in Massachusetts for about 4 years and love the people there. We would like to see them get out from under the stronghold of the Ultra Liberal Democratic party. They deserve better than that.

Birthday Celebration

Yes, we still celebrate birthdays. Age is only a number, they say. I'm not sure who 'they' are, but I like to think 'they' are right on this one. Why worry about a number? You can't ever run out of them. And there is even a chance you'll get a letter from the president if you get to 100 ...and that looks nice in print, doesn't it?

I like to tease Phyllis about being old, although I'm the oldest in our group. She believes that 'old' is 10 years older than you are, no matter what your age. Sounds plausible to me.

If you are still not convinced. If you tremble every time you even think of getting older, remember birthdays are better than the alternative.

Thank you God, for Phyllis and all my friends in ORU and the opportunity to get together and celebrate our years. And I thank God as well for safety as we drove on treacherous snow covered roads to reach O'Charley's.

Kids at the Lake

Today I learned how to make customized plaids from Jenny Binder in a tutorial in the newsletter from www.ScrappersGuide.com. It came out well and I decided to make a quick layout. The paper I used for the plaid colors was this one of the triplets on the rock at Radnor Lake last fall. I'm really pleased with the results. I also used a scallop from www.scrapgirls.com.

Learning IPhone

Learning to use an IPhone is not easy for all. Since Lauren has had her IPhone for months now and has probably sent 4 million text messages a day forEH-VER, who could have been a better person to show her mom how to use her new phone to text. April surprised Lauren when she asked where the smiley face was. "Your dad always sends me smiley faces." Where do I find that? Lauren very calmly explained to her that it was a combination on characters. :-)

Now, I'm wondering if even Lauren knows as much as this old grannie who has consulted webopedia.com and found many, many ways to make those facial expressions. :-D

In Style

Some go with the style no matter what it is. Some of us don't. Phyllis is on top of fashion. She always knows what is 'in'. This new trend just isn't going to make it with me. Yes, it is warm, but it reminds me of Siberia and the iron curtain with the Communist Party domination of the people. And besides, it would give me 'hat hair'.

Family

The only thing that could have made our celebration more enjoyable would have been to have more of the children here. (All would have been the ultimate.) It was wonderful to have our daughter April and her husband Tim home for Christmas. You've already seen their daughter Lauren here since the holiday. It's easy to tell why she is so pretty.

But she is more than just gorgeous. She is sweet and smart. You realize that I'm her grandmother and not one bit prejudiced.

Family is our biggest joy. We pray for God's peace to reign over them.

'Sno Picnic

When I look out my window here, I see the lake, but closer to the house is this picnic table.
I thought it would show the grand triplets just how much snow we have here. I really want to get outdoors and build a snowman for them, but it won't be today. I've only pulled myself away from the computer long enough to take this picture and some more snapshots for our dear friendly neighbors. We all went to lunch as well. Won't be long until I'll need to be away from the computer for another evening of fun...but it won't be in the snow. Looking forward to another day.

Natural Smile

It's hard to catch some people with a natural expression. I'm really happy to have this smaller vignette of Ron. It is the way he looks when he laughs, which is often. I took it using my new anti-shake telephoto lens.

Today I'm extra proud of him and glad I'm married. He helped me do some housework that is just too strenuous for me...and he did a good job too.

Everyone mark your calendars. You need to watch the Fox News Network at 9:00 PM. on Sunday. It is a special documentary about our president. You must not miss it. Set your TV to make a DVR if you can't watch it real time. Hey, record it even if you can watch it...you may want others to see it later.

New ORU Calendars for 2010.

Sorry, but because of the high quality and work involved, our calendars will be $50 this year. However you can be sure you will have the best calendar ever made for and by ORU.

!2 full months of cool layouts featuring, yes ORU. All in full color. Only $50!

Evening Out

Sunday evening we didn't have Life Group, but 3 of us couples couldn't stand the thought of missing each other, so we got together for dinner and a movie. It was my first time to House of Hunan. It had an interesting wall of tile. Our waiter told us to come back for Chinese New Year, for they always have a great celebration. I'm pretty wimpy when it comes to ordering Chinese; but I always like Sweet and Sour Chicken and fried rice. I wasn't disappointed. Of course one of Ron's favorite foods is sushi and he was able to get something very tasty...at least to him. I don't even like to think about it.

The movie was the big treat. I had been told be several friends to see Blind Side but knew it included football. That would be enough to turn me off big time; but they all persuaded me to go.
Am so glad they kept at it, because it will be remembered for years as one of the best films I've ever seen. And that is something when over many, many years we went to the theater at least once a week. We made a habit of it until about 5 years ago when we moved and bought a huge TV. Now hubby doesn't want to spend the money to go out when he is more comfortable at home. There are not many I can watch now that can keep me awake. I generally snooze off and on and especially through the last 20 minutes to 1/2 hour. I seldom ever know how a movie ends. But I understand they generally don't have happy endings anymore anyway. I never like to see a movie I've seen before unless it keeps me laughing because I can't laugh and sleep at the same time. Blind Side might be different. I could possibly go back and see it at least once more, even though I could probably tell you what happened scene by scene all the way through. Yes, it was that good...and if you haven't seen it, make plans now.

In Memory of Tika

This is in memory of Tika, the triplets cat. And she was very much Chelle's cat as well. She is the one who dressed her for this picture.

Tika died on the veterinarian's table, while being spayed. The doctor thinks she may have had a heart attack.

She is missed.

Christmas Stored

Today I undecorated and put Christmas away. I had spent hours getting the candle wax out of the tablecloths. This morning I folded them and set them on the piano stool to be put away.

However, Chipper was thinking differently from me. Her idea was to make herself a new bed. She had claimed a lovely red chair between the door and a register for her winter resting place. Why did she want to change? Evidently she didn't like that her 'dad' had sprayed something on HER chair.

Am sorry to say, that she did not get her way....and her new 'bed' was returned to the laundry. But meantime I was able to untrim the tree, box it and all the decorations. Before dinner, Ron and I took them downstairs for storage.

Yes we've stored away Christmas, but Christ is still with us and will be to the end. Praise God for his gift of the Holy Spirit that lives in us day by day helping us when we are weak and comforting us throughout our lives.

Bonus

My Christmas cactus bloomed late. It was full of buds at Christmas, but it wasn't until today that is really burst forth in flowers. So now you get a bonus layout. I just couldn't resist doing this one. Have to keep my mind off politics. That doesn't mean I'm oblivious. I do keep up with what is going on, but I have to stop and thank God for my blessings and today this plant lifted my heart.

Lego Man

Mason loves his legos and spend hour upon hour with them. And he surely builds some cool things. Way to go Mason! Gramma is proud of you.

Flashback

Proud of myself I stood by the table, ready for Christmas Day...well almost, the stemware had been forgotten. I had worked for days and I was in good shape ( every extra pound of me) for welcoming family. I didn't even bother Ron. Didn't tear him away from the TV...just set up the tripod and snapped away. Early on Christmas morning, with a desire for a couples shot, knowing that once everyone arrived we would neglect that and having the tripod ready, I summoned Ron into the room and set the timer. Remember, I had just taken a picture of myself the night before without any trouble. However, that was not to occur again. It took me 5 clicks to get it right. The timer was not working in the way to which I was accustomed. The camera had all of a sudden developed a faulty brain and decided to jerk us around a little bit. Anyway, the last picture is the desired result...Finally....Lou Ann & Ron...Peace, Love and Joy...in spite of a goofy timer.

New Year's Eve

Finally on the second, here is another New Year's Eve layout. We went to Teresa and Layton's for an old fashioned hymn singing. We used books from when we were kids. We hardly needed them. The songs seemed to be embedded in our heads. It was fun and as far as I am concerned it didn't last long enough. We had a great time singing, eating (of course we always eat), talking and laughing about the past. These were pleasant thoughts and not much was said about the catastrophes of the last year. We certainly hope 0 ten will be a better year. We are praying that our nation gets over its identity crisis and declares itself Christian once again, so that all will be well in our land again.

Failure at Command Site

Woops! Sorry if I kept anyone up in anticipation. I went to sleep on the job, so to speak. I gave up and went to bed at 1:19 after trying to reproduce the layout that I had failed to deliver on the first.

Work had gone well on the page (although it was very tedious) after I finally got to the computer about 10:40 PM. I was very happy with it and about to publish, when I did something wrong...still haven't ascertained what...and it disappeared. Generally I SAVE often while working, but was in a hurry and had neglected all but the two photos. It was REALLY GONE. All that work blown out from under me. What a disappointment. But then since that is the worst thing that happened to me yesterday, I think I'll live through it...or at least I have so far. I won't promise anything now... learned that lesson, but I expect to redo it and publish sometime today.

In hind sight, I should have blogged about something else instead and used one of the 25 pages that I published in my last book (December 29) that have never appeared here. Sorry troops.

New Year's Eve

Check back later tonight for more.