Okay, so I think it has taken me so long to blog this time because I knew when I posted that Layla girl's adorable picture was gonna get pushed down under cards, I have so enjoyed turning on my blog in the morning and seeing that pretty little face and it's close to mine......where it will be next week!! I can hardly wait, Jenna and Layla arrive on March 5th.....yippee, yahhooo!! So anyway- the time has come to post, it's kind of like once they are here, I do not intend to need to fill my time with blogging, so I better get one in before they get here.......thankfully I am just getting OVER the flu, I so would have hated to feel the way I have felt when they are HERE.....so God is good,,,,if you have to have the flu at least He timed it right for me!! :):):) I hate the flu. I don't think I have had it in like 5 years, I kid you not. I never get sick,,,,although after these past two weeks I said I would never say that again so I guess I should say I never used to get sick, cuz man, I have been like a noodle for two weeks now. I even took off 2 days from work, and guess what? They got along fine without me!! Bekah worked on Presidents day for me which was so sweet of her.....she would have had a day off but she worked for me......thanks Bekah!! Anyway- in the last week since I have felt somewhat better I have been stamping up a storm cuz I still don't feel like doing anything else.......Isn't that card I just passed by cute? That I think is my new favorite current in the regular catalog set and it's called Blooming with Love.....it's just so cute that it brings out the kid in you when you stamp with it. You know, they said there's a little girl inside all of us, I'm just making lots of cards with that set getting ready for LAYLA!! My other most favoritist set in the whole entire history of Stampin'
Up! is this other set here called Bloomin' Beautiful that has a poppy and a most beautiful vase of hydrangea's in it.....I am a hydrangea FREAK.....I remember when SU discontinued like the third hydrangea in a row a few years back and I was like ready to jump ship to some other stamp company who realized the importance of having at LEAST one hydrangea set at all times......so anyway- I have gone kind of crazy with this set, trying to stamp so many different arrangements of hydrangeas that I get SICK of them before the mini catalog is done for....but so far I am not sick of it.......I just LOVE that hydrangea stamp and I love the poppy too! So far I have stamped seven, that's S-E-V-E-N different cards using the hydrangea and making it all different colors - you will have to go check out my SCS gallery to see most of them......cuz I can't possibly blab through all seven......you know right now I feel like I have the flu all over again, but I think it's cuz first of all I stayed up last night, or this morning, however you want to look at it, until 3:17 in the morning..... STAMPING......so I woke up sort of feeling sick.....and then I have been on a diet and I have lost about 20 pounds, and I am just about almost not quite but nearly just where I want to be, so today at a weak moment I ate about 42 skittles and then took a nap cuz I am so exhausted...and I think that's why I feel like I have the flu.....the skittles, the lack of sleep, the nap, I do not recommend 42 skittles before a nap, actually, 42 is a lot to eat all at once no matter WHEN you eat them......but anyway, I think
I had actually forgotten what it feels like to have the flu, if I had sick days, like in the good old days at AIM I am sure I would have been out the whole week, but I HAD to go back to work cuz I am training a new girl, (that's the story of my life, I am ALWAYS training a new girl) and I could not leave her alone!! Here's the first hydrangea card - is that not beautiful? I don't usually brag about my own cards but that is my fav that I made with the hydrangea......the others you will have to see in the gallery - this is my fav and I am just going to post the one of the hydrangea here.....aren't hydranga's like proof that there is a GOD? They are the most beautiful flower in the entire world, and poppies are no slouches either.......SU really got it with this set!! I already know I will never get rid of this set......there is a bee in it however that is sort of the stuff NIGHTMARES are made of - just a wee bit TOO realistic for me, but hey- I love all the other stamps in this set - it's an awesome set!!Back to the flu, you know this flu does not quit. I went to the doctor, and was on two different antibiotics and I thought I was like almost better and was just left with a little cough and I went to bed one night and woke up in the middle of the night and I was like, WHOA, it's like FREEZING in this house.....well, I checked and it wasn't and I was like tossing and turning and aching and freezing and this was after I was better!!!!! And then, miraculously and little by little I started to feel better, until now and like I said, I think it's the 42 skittles that did it.......my poor diet. Why did I DO that? It's like my body was just getting used to healthy eating too and then kabam, you go and eat 42 skittles,,,,,and skittles are not even my favorite......like if I think about it there are a lot of things I would much rather eat 42 of then skittles.......it's kind of hard to think of anything but skittles right now and I don't think I will be buying those puppies for a very long time........skittles are one of those candies that make you sick every time you eat them, have you ever noticed that? Maybe I always just eat too many,,,,sort of like jelly beans, Buttered Popcorn jelly beans, now THOSE are some candies WORTH eating 42 of.....and I am sure I have done that many times in my life and the belly ache that follows is well.....sort of.....worth it, know what I mean? Like when you eat 42 skittles you are like what the heck was I thinking, I am ready to
launch, and when you eat 42 Buttered Popcorn jelly beans you are like, man I am about ready to launch, now what did I do with the REST of those jelly beans....and you make it 43.......they are just about as wonderful as hydrangeas!! But skittles are sort of like dandelions in comparison....they just are not worth it......this belly ache would feel so much better if only I had eaten Buttered Popcorn jelly beans instead.....I'm gonna remember that next time.....gee I honestly wondered what I had to blab about this time but magically I always think of something.....and here we are to the next cute little bring the kid out in you card.......and yes, I hope your day IS blooming with love.....mine is like blooming with skittle regrets....but I hope YOURS is blooming with love.....next week after Wednesday ALL of my days will be blooming with love......that baby girl is gonna make my day every day that she is here, I just know it. I cannot wait to bring her to work and show her off, Jenna too mind you, I LOVE my daughter in law too, but she will look the same and talk the same as the last time I saw her, but my Layla girl, she's changed so much since the last time I saw her that I just cannot wait to get my hands on her!! Jenna will probably let me read to her at bedtime and put her down, and sing to her, and all that good stuff I did with Tovah before they left for Africa. I hope I don't cry too long and hard the day they go home. That's the hard thing about those visits is they all must come to an end. I am so grateful to my son for sending them. I was on the phone with him and telling him how I play Laylas msgs over
and over and over again till I run my battery dead and he said gee ma, you need a visit, huh? and then the next thing I knew they were calling me up giving me dates......I am so grateful to him for sharing his precious two girls with me for 2 whole weeks when he himself can not get off from work to come but he's sending them anyway- thanks Mike!! Love you man!!! Thinking about greeting our girls on Wednesday is almost enough to make me forget how many skittles I ate....oh happy Wednesday, and Dr. Sato said I can bring them right to work, and show them off the very first day.... I want to do so many things with them when they are here, Layla keeps saying we are gonna stamp gramma......and we are.....I will have to take some pictures and post them after they leave thru my tears......and I am gonna lay off the skittles while they are here, cuz I wanna feel good.....isnt' that a pretty poppy over there? Poppies are awesome..... flowers in general make me think all is well, God is in HIS heaven, Layla and Jenna are coming, and all is right with the world.......think of me over the next two weeks, and say a prayer that they last a long, long time!! Happy two weeks everyone!!
Here is my happy little Layla girl, in two weeks time we went from blizzard to spring..... It was a wonderful visit, and I am so thankful to Mike for sending them and to Jenna and Layla for coming! They had long days alone in my house while I worked, but Jenna was sweet to keep Layla up late at night for me, and then they could sleep in a bit in the morning......We just had a great time! Jenna shares my love of stamping, (even Layla does!) so she was happy to have a room to scrap book in while I was gone, and Luca was so happy for the company!! Jenna and I only got in one stamping session, because most of the time we ended up doing puzzles, reading books, coloring etc, in the stamp room. What a gift to walk through the door at night after a long day of work and hear G-R-A-M-M-A!!!! And get a huge hug......thanks for coming.......come again soon!! :) You can see we had some interesting March weather, when I moved here everyone said they get more "mud" then snow here, but so far, I would have to disagree, both winters have had more snow then the average NY winter! In NY, I never did any shoveling either, but here, I have done plenty with Keith on the road!! :) It's actually kind of fun, but it's okay with me if we don't
get anymore now till next year!! One of the things I loved best about their visit was getting quality time with Jenna as well as Layla. I came away knowing even more then before that the old adage is true, "You marry your mother" - haha - Jenna and I have more then scrapbooking and stamping in common. A lot of our thought processes are the same, we worry about the same stuff, we are alike in many ways. I love my daughter in law. She feels more like another daughter. :) God is good. And Layla, she is almost 3, going on almost 30. Honestly, she keeps you in stitches with the stuff she says. Her vocabulary is amazing, (I guess I'm beginning to sound like a gramma here, sorry, but it's all so true!!) I miss you girls!!! I actually get to see them in the next couple of weeks here as our last voyage, (SU cruise which I do not have energy to keep on earning due to my work at the dentist's office) goes out of NY next week- (YIPPEE!!) and when
I made the return flight, I made it so we are in NY overnight and we will stay with Mike and Jenna and Layla......and get to see Jenna's family, and then on Sunday we'll go to church with Mike and Jenna to Risen King where they are going, and then we'll get together with all our forever friends in NY for lunch after church.....I am SOOOOO excited!! A little bonus visit with Layla.....to plant ourselves even firmer in her little memory........it will make the end of the cruise not sad!! :) Here is a card I made (the red hydrangeas) that I just love, but then I could just stamp that image in black and plop it on black cardstock and I would love it cuz it's hydrangeas!! I bought 2 of them yesterday, one for me and one for my OHIO friend Mary Ann who is having us over for Easter dinner. Aren't hydrangeas just the BEST? Anyway - I don't know if they really come this bright of a red, but if not, maybe I just gave God a good idea. :)
This other blue and green card here - it's the crayon resist technique, and I just thought that image WAS a blueberry bush, and Julie, my SCS friend commented on the card that she never would have thought of it as a blueberry bush but it works.....so I am now wondering if it's not a blueberry what IS it? Anyway- here it's a blueberry bush.....or bough,,,,, or whatever....... These cards are very random here but as I said, I did precious little stamping while my girls were here.....not to go right back to Layla, but just to give you a glimpse of how adorable, hysterical and brilliant she is all rolled into one petite package of blond curls, one day that she was here Jenna was on the phone with Mike, and asked Layla to say hi to daddy....and Layla was busy playing with me and didn't want to stop so I tried to lay a little guilt on her and say, Poor daddy, he really wants to say hi to his girl, (meanwhile, Mike is in the background saying "Leave her alone, she's playing with her gramma") so after about four attempts to lay guilt on her, (I'm good at that after raising four of my own, mothers are the travel agents on all your guilt trips.....)she finally turned to me and said, and I quote and I don't exaggerate....she really and truly said it exactly this way and Jenna can comment and correct me if I am wrong.....because it's just so cute you won't believe it........okay- here it goes, she said.......are you ready for this???? drum roll.....she said, "GRAMMA, daddy will eat his dinner and take a rest and later I will talk to him, does that sound like a good deal to you Gramma, Trust me gramma........." What two year old SAYS that????? I know you all think your grand children are cute too, but hey- can you TOP that??????? Just kidding, I know yours are special too. :) Can I just say I LOVE being a grand
mother???? I have FOUR MORE AS CUTE AS THIS ONE! Can you believe it? Wait till Tovah and Lami are living here for 3 months, you'll see!! :) Here's my last and final card of the blog here, and this is the technique where you color right on the back of a solid image using watercolor crayons and then mist it before you stamp it on watercolor paper, pretty, huh? Very quick and easy too! Quick and easy is not usually my style, I try but I usually don't make it but his card was really quick and easy so I'm kinda proud of it for that reason alone!! :) Well, it's Easter tomorrow, go to church and don't eat too many jelly beans, (unless of course they are buttered popcorn jellybeans.....).....Don't forget to thank God for sending his Son to die on a cross for our sins ~ as a gramma and 4 time mother, that's a hard thing to grasp, isnt' it? That God could love ME and YOU so much, that He gave HIS only begotten son to hang on a cross and die so that whosoever believeth in HIM could have everlasting life.....and I am a whosoever......YOU are a whosoever......REMEMBER, HE IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED!!
