Super Cool Other News!

My dad has these dudes that he's been friends with since his football days at SVSU. They used to babysit me when my dad was at class. I've always thought of them as family - I guess Uncles of sort. They are all pretty incredible guys - teachers, coaches, FBI dudes, safety equiptment, rocket scientists. Yeah! A rocket scientist. Well, not really. A mechanical engineer.......he has had some pretty impressive career success as of late - he's one the lead flight director for the Space Shuttle Launch scheduled to take off on Saturday. Yeah, thats like Ed Harris in Apollo 13. Pretty cool, eh?

Here's a few more details, if you'd care to endulge.....The front page of the Saginaw News (lower right hand corner - Anthony (Tony) Ceccacci), or the full story on MLive.com - Shuttle Job 'A Dream'. It makes me pretty proud to know him!

And, if you'd like, here's a link to watch the launch live at NASA.gov (2:49PM Saturday July 1, weather permitting)

Good Things....

After I gave some peeps a good talkin' to, I finally got things straightened out for the planning of my projects :) That makes me not crabby.

Other good things - I really like falling asleep with my kitties....it makes me happy to have them all cuddling up and purring next to me.

I also had a great success today - I leg pressed my body weight (160 lbs) with my bad knee. Why is this significant, you might ask? Its significant because the doctors told me once I was able to do that (10 repititions) I would be pretty much clear to do whatever I want. Clear for dancing, tenis, whatever :) It pretty much means I'm healed, rehabilitated, good as new. I actually almost cried right there at the leg press.

It feels good to have a good day.

More Bitching (warning...due to colorful language may not be suitable for Children under 17)

I am just in the shittiest mood ever. They say “Estoy de malas”……I suppose that fits right now. I wasn’t in the greatest mood to begin with this morning, but there’s nothing to tank your mood than a crazy stupid ass bus driver. I was in my lane, driving like any other normal person would, when this big ass bus driver (not the normal buses, mind you, but the large passenger long trip buses, which are supposed to be less nuts) started creeping over into my lane – while I was half way past him! Look asshole, just because your huge doesn’t give you the flippin’ right of way to change lanes whenever you damn well please without looking for other vehicles that MIGHT already be there!!! So, as he was almost crashing into my passenger side door I slammed on the horn so he would know I was there. THEN THE GUY BEEPS HIS GIANGANTIC HORN ANGRILY AT ME!!! WTF???? You were going to hit ME asswipe – I was there first, I had a right to be there, I don’t HAVE to move out of the way just because you get the whim to change lanes!

But that’s not all. No our friendly bus driver decides to be the king of dick-dom and charge ahead full speed behind me and RIDE my ass. He was so close I couldn’t even see the emblem on the front of his bus. Then he cuts over, almost taking out the rear quarter of my car, and sped ahead. OOhhh, that just pissed me off. I had half a mind to slam on my breaks while he was changing lanes, and if it was a normal size car, I probably would have. But that would have been retarded because obviously it wouldn’t have even dented the buses bumper to ram into me.

*ugh* that just made me angry.

So I get into work and I find out a meeting I have tomorrow goes until 6:30, so I can’t go to another meeting I wanted to attend (ACI México City Chapter) which starts at 5:00. This just sucks because students are going to give a presentation on their university’s first concrete canoe, which I helped them with. And I really want to be involved in this chapter……because I want to improve my chances of receiving an ACI Young Member award at the national convention in the spring….because it would validate my existence in this industry if I got something like that.

THE Other thing (yes, there is more) that miffs me off is that I haven’t been able to work on any of my projects because there are other projects ahead of me that apparently are more important. People, I DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT! If I don’t complete the mix portion of these projects by the middle of next month, I am not going to be able to complete my mission here, and then this whole assignment will be for naught. What do I have to do??? Get pissed off and yell and scream at people to get them to think my projects are important? Guess what peeps – YOU were the ones who assigned them to me…..YOU were the ones who told me they were incredibly important and URGENT……so why in Gods green earth will you NOT give me the resources to COMPLETE THEM!!!?????!?!?!?

*sigh* I don’t think I really feel any better by getting this out – but hey, I can’t hold it all in, right? Or else I might explode. And that would just be too messy.

Stuff that bothers me....

Ugh. the flies are starting to drive me crazy! They are everywhere! I hate especially when they are buzzing around my ear at night, or when I'm at the computer and they land on my hands. In the past, they haven't bothered me much. But when its an infestation, I get kind of grossed out. I keep on thinking "every time a fly lands it poops". I don't know where I heard that, but I really feel gross and dirty. AND, I don't really have many means of irradicating them either, aside from the trusty fly swatter. I really wanted those sticky roll things to hang up, but I couldn't find them. I've also tried a bottle with sugar water in the bottom - that attracted and killed about 5, but I need something more effective. I bought this plug in thing that is supposed to keep flies out, but it really only works for the smaller rooms and only for 6 hours at a time (then you have to change the dinky little pad thingy).

I spent half the night saturday night killing them. Like, standing beside the wall and stalking them until they landed, then killing them in cold blood. If they even have blood. I think I took down like, 26 in total. And I didn't feel like picking them all up so now there is a billion little fly carcasses laying around. The root problem is that we do not have screens on any of the windows. Its not so bad to keep the patio downstairs closed, because its nice and cool, but upstairs gets lots of sunlight so we have to keep some open. i went to Home Depot to look at getting some screen material of some sort - hell, I'll duck tape it if I have too - but like a big idiot i forgot the measurements.....DOH!

Other things that bother me - when people try to make it through the almost red light, and end up stuck in the middle of the intersection blocking your GREEN LIGHT!!!! COME ON people - I understand if there is plenty of room past the intersection - go ahead, speed up and make the light - but if its practically red, and there are already people IN the intersection - THAT DOESN'T MEAN ITS OK FOR YOU TO PARK YOUR ASS THERE TOO!!!!!!!!!!! Then, people behind me start honking thier horns incessantly, like its going to help the other dickweeds in the intersection move. It happens on an almost daily basis, and it makes me want to shoot myself. UGH!

Guess thats all the bitchin for me, for right now anyway. Today was weigh in day - down 1.5 pounds....I need to break this stupid 160 barrier - I've been loosing and gaining the same 5 pounds for the past two months it feels like. But, overall, I've lost 13.5 pounds in 12 weeks, so i guess thats exactly how your supposed to do it, right?

More Scrappin

I don't think I have ever completed so many layouts in one weekend. I decided I'm becoming a little too obsessed, so I actually took the morning off and went shopping and layed out in the sunshine for a while. It was nice!

Here are the layouts I did create - first, a traditional layout, using real scissors, paper, glue and stuff!)

Brothers & Sisters
Credits: Basic Grey papers, Making Memories stamps and paint


And now for the digi-layouts:
Red Wings
Credits: paper- arti-bytes NSD (altered), inked edge - gina cabrera, frame - carrie stephens express yourself, Foam Stamp Action - Atomic Cupcake, font - Eras Bold ITC and my handwriting, created by September Myles, Various blending modes on the photos


Mexican BBQ
Credits: alpha - carrie stevens suprise inside, font - eras bold ITC, everything else - carrie stephens express yourself

Beer
Credits: Papers - Jen Wilson Rain Shower, Staples & Frame - Lori Barnhurst Grungy Games, Create - Gina Cabrera Bookbag Essentials, swirl - Rhonna Farrer 2Peas Brush Set, Alpha - Jen Wilson Soho Sass 

More Scrapalicious-ness :o)

Here's some recent layouts I completed....I think I am becoming slightly obsessed, but it occupies my time!

COSMOVITRAL
Credits: Ribbon - Jen Wilson Country Carnivale, Gel Action - Atomic Cupcake, Papers - Kim Christensen Summery Nights, Fonts - Vivaldi and Occidente



ENERGY
Credits: Paper - Helen O'Daniels wildflowers (altered), font - stone serifmonogram - stone serif covered with wildflower stripe paper



TIA KARIN
Credits: Brand spankin' new collaberative kit at A Cherry On Top - Celebrate Life 

  

México no ganó

Dammit all anyway. They lost 2-1 to Portugal. We didn't have to work this morning, since they had the auditorium set up again to watch the game. Then we ate barbacoa at half time. It was pretty cool to be around all these people crazy passionate for Mexico, but it was sad to see thier disappointment when they lost.

So, I'm not sure what this means for México.....I guess we'll have to wait and see who moves on to the next round. I think, we need Iran to beat Angola. Dunno. I'll keep you posted.

Throwing myself into scrapping.....

Since Pat O'Brien is now gone, and Keith is working a ton, I have lots of free time to throw myself into scrapping. I spent a lot of time over the past few days re-organizing my digital elements...Like a big giant dork I moved some folders around and of course lost all of my tags and groups in Picassa. DOH! So, now thats done I should be able to do many much more pages. Here's a couple done Monday and Tuesday.

JUNGLE CAT
Credits: Ribbon - Gina Miller, Rubon Alpha - Amy Teets

All other elements and papers - Jen Wilson

NEW YEARS EVE 2005
Credits: Country Carnivale Kit - Jen Wilson

Good Weekend

This weekend flew by! It seemed like just yesterday Pat O'Brien and Heidi arrived, and now they are gone. I think Keith and Heidi are on thier way to the airport right now, actually.

We had a good time - we watched some world cup action, drank some brewskis, ate lots of good food, went to a cool kick ass water park, and had some other fun experiences in between. On Saturday, after visiting Cosmovitral and picking up Keith from work, we....or rather I....decided I really wanted to try to go horseback riding. I've been dying to do it ever since we got here. In the area of La Marquesa, which is halfway between Toluca and DF, they have lots of outdoorsy picnic type stuff to do, and there is always a ton of horses just waiting to be ridden.

Well, it was a good idea - the clouds looked a little forboding in the east, but we decided to head that way anyway. If it rained we could always turn around. The weather held basically until two minutes into the ride. Little drops of rain weren't a big deal, and we were headed into the forest anyway so the foliage would give us some cover - right? Wrong. Not only did the temperature drop about 20 degrees and started torrential down pouring, but we also got pelted with hail not once, but TWICE! Now, this sucked, don't get me wrong, but it sucked the worst for Keith. All of us had on hats and jackets - but not Keith. Just a short sleeved rugby shirt and his own hair.

At one point after we turned around to head back and it started hailing again, the horses were SO not into it. We were pretty much walking right into it. So, the horses (Viento del Oro for Pat O'Brien, Indio for me) decided to turn the other way and chill a bit. I didn't blame them - it was horrid. We eventually got them to turn back around and follow the crowd...all the way to the car.

Oh yeah, and my horse stepped in something it didn't like (or was spooked by the thunder), and decided to buck about three times. Enough to almost throw me off and hit me in the head with its neck. I was kind of scared, but managed to hold on and calm it back down, so it turned out OK.

When we got to the car we peeled off our outer layers and threw them in the back, and headed home. I actually took off my jeans too, because in my opinion there is nothing in this world worse than cold, wet jeans. We didn't get many pics on the ride, but there is a couple of us soaked in the car....

*sigh*

Pat's gone, I'm sad, but not dying. Which is a good thing.

I've got to run to my class now, just wanted to say:

Bummer Dude

Just found out that tomorrow at 2pm we're having a huge party at work for the Mexico game. Complete with beverages and food. Lots of Mexicans. And a big TV. I won't be around because I'm taking a 1/2 day off......so I guess we'll have to find a group of Crazy Mexicans in a bar somewhere else to party with.

ACK

Remember that Disney Commercial where the kid and his sister are laying down in thier bedroom - and he says in the cutest voice ever "I'M TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP!!!"? Thats how I felt last night. Now, I just feel restless....

Pat O'Brien is actually being pretty adventurous and taking the bus from the airport to Toluca. Since Keith is actually working now, he couldn't pick him up from the airport or the bus terminal. So I'll be leaving work a bit early to get him :) Ick. My belly just gets so sick with anticipation!!!!!!

Keith's friend Heidi got here last night.....she's a pretty cool chick - and cute too :) She even looked good in Gauchos. And I hate gauchos. I hate gauchos even when the gauchos at the Brazzilian steak houses wear them.......so anyway, it was a big feat.

SCRAPBOOK
Decided to do a challenge from A Cherry On Top since they had a really fun chat last night and it got me all motivated. The challenge was to create a layout with "white" or "dead" space, since it is a growing trend. Some people do it really well - I just feel like it looks naked. But hey, naked isn't always a bad thing, is it?



Credits: Paper - Jen Wilson - Signature 01,Potting Shed; Word Art - Jen Wilson - Potting Shed; Taped Layer, Flower, beads - Jen Wilson - Country Carnivale; Line of staples - Jen Wilson - soho sass; Fonts - Karin by September Myles; Paper Tear - Steph Krush

HOUSE SUCCESS
Yes ladies and germs, Pat O'Brien and I are officially homeowners :) The closing went smoothly yesterday morning, and there is even some cash left over so we don't have to eat ramen noodles for the next few months. We just have to get one more key, and we're in like flynn! It feels pretty good to have this taken care of - now I have a home to come home to!!!! And, I know Pat O'Brien feels lots better because he had to do all the hard stuff. Now, its just time to relax!

Isla Couture

Isla Couture was the name that I submitted in one of my favorite designers "Name My Kit" contest. It wasn't picked as the winner, but I did get the runner up prize....which is actually the kit - free! WhoooOOOOoo HooOOOOoooo! Plus, its just kind of cool to see my name up on someone else's blog :o)

You can see it here at Jen Wilson Designs

Productivity and weekend plans

well, i had a very productive day today at work. I finished updating my development plan and adding all the attached files to it. I also managed to clear off ALL the stray papers on my desk. Granted, they were in nice little piles, all over my desk, but they were papers without a home nonetheless. I organized them, 3 hole punched them and stuck them into appropriate binders. I filled two 3 inch binders and one 2 inch binder. My desk looks so naked and clean now! i wonder how long it will last......hopefully for a while, i don't want to take another 3 hours 6 months from now and do it again.

So, after getting a project like that done I am filled with a new sense of efficiency - i feel so productive and motivated to do lots of different things now. i hope this feeling lasts until tomorrow, because I am about to head home.

Keith's friend Heidi is flying in tomorrow, so I'm kind of excited for that. It will be cool having one of Keith's friends around instead of making him entertain my friends. Then, Pat O'Brien comes in TWO MORE SLEEPS!!!!! I can't wait! I get off work early on Thursday, so I will get home just about the same time his bus comes in. Oh yeah, he's taking the bus in from the airport to Toluca. I hope all goes smoothly - I'm not very good about giving directions. I think I might have Keith make a map when he goes to pick up Heidi so I can scan it and send it to Pat. I'll feel better about it that way. Really, El Caminante (the bus line) is a really great way to go. It takes about 15 - 30 longer, but they show a movie and give you snacks and have really comfy chairs. And you can sleep :) And its only $100 pesos - which is only $50 pesos more than the toll to get to the airport. Then on Friday I get a half day, which means we'll probably go to a bar or something for lunch and to watch La Selección play. Should be a good time!

Lets see, what fun do we have schedueled for this weekend...I'm pretty sure we're going to a water park on Saturday - it is a traditional water park with all the fun stuffs, but it also is the site of hot springs, so they have a few natural thermal pools and such that are supposed to have magical secret healing powers. The best part is that its relatively cheap - we get a whole day of non-stop fun for $15 each. That sure beats Soak City's $40 admission! Sunday - which by the way is Keith's 26th birthday - I think we're going to go to La Marquesa, which is a national park between here and DF. They have horseback riding, go cart racing, food, nature and all that jazz. Thats all I have planned. Oh, and there are a few new restaurants I want to try out, but thats not that big of a deal and doesn't require us to leave Toluca. You know, I have a tendancy to over plan things and try to squeeze too much into a short time, so I'm trying to take it easy. Its a new feeling for me, but I have a feeling it will work out well.

OOOOOhhhHHHhhHHH! Tomorrow is supposed to be the big day where we close on our new home! In actuality though, I'm not 100% sure its going to happen. There were a few things from the inspection that the sellers didn't want to take care of, and then there was some confusion with some stuff, and as of last night Pat hadn't heard for certain what the deal was. Its stressful being in limbo. Its even more stressful having Pat take care of all the stuff, and watching him be a stressball. He's at the walk through right now though, so I assume that means everything is a go.

OK, time to go get a hair cut. Maybe I'll get my eyebrows done too. I don't know though - I'm afraid they'll give me cholo painted on eyebrows. That is a scary thought.

Rugby players....

Rugby players make great friends, and even better drinking buddies.

But Rugby players as parents? God save thier children :o)



Seriosuly, I don't know wether to laugh my ass off or be appalled. Don't worry though - really, its OK. it was just water! And as someone who never learned how to bong, I can say that its probably better for her to learn now - it will save her much embarrasment and beer soaked shirts 14 years from now....

Viva Mexico!

I just finished watching my first ever complete soccer game - Mexico vs. Iran. Mexico won 3 - 1. It was kind of hard to get into, but it was fun to hear my whole neighborhood erupt when they scored a goal.

I watched the game from home because I am nursing myself back to form. Keith went over Fernando's house, but my poor poor headache wouldn't allow me to leave my home. I feel better now, I ate a bit and such, but I am still kind of icky.

My shoulders are sunburned from watching the Wallabies lose 15 - 13 on the last play of the semi-final yesterday. It was a good game, but sad to see them lose. Keith didn't get to play, but he did look super cool rockin' his faux-hawk. He just woke up that way, and thought it looked cool, so he put some product in it and it stayed that way all day. I also got to dog sit on the sidelines a cute little chihuahua named Fia. She was just so tiny and adorable!


After the game, we went to one of the players home - Bruno from Spain and his fiance Karin (she's my Tokaya...thats what they call people who share your name). Their house was beautiful - muy mexicana! And we had about 30 kilos of meat to grill and eat. It was totally yummy. The rest of the evening was spent drinking vodka and tonics and general carrying on. It was a good time. it was my first iPod party - the music was completely provided by an ipod stereo. I don't know why I thought it was so cool, probably because we interchanged iPods and I got to play some from my own collection. It was just fun.

OK, I'm heading to hang my laundry now. Even though I'm not feelig well,it doesn't excuse me from doing house work.

Coke Commercial

You know how I said I had a favorite Mundial commercial? Well, I finally found it! It totally rocks and makes me all excited to be a part of it....because, you know, I drink Coke. So I am totally playing with the Mexico Seleccion!



I can't get the other one (really, my favorite one) to embed here, so here's the link instead. Super Cool Other Coke Commercial But, the first one is my favorite too. Its OK that I just got the first one to embed because they're both favorites. In the first one I especially dig the dude in the Sombrero rolling the Giant Aztec Calender. That is too cool.

New Look

I guess for summer time I deserve a new look. I have 15 pounds off, and continuing to go lower :) I got my hair chopped a few weeks ago, and I'm about to go shorter, because its not quite short enough :) So, I figured the blog deserves a new look too. Not too bad for my first try - it will settle my urge for change for a little while, anyway!

If the font in the title picture looks familiar, its because its my handwriting! Its from from the font September Myles made for me a week or so ago. I think I said before, it really does look like my handwriting, just much much neater!

What a day

I thought this day was going to go well, since I had a massage scheduled for first thing in the morning before my Doctor's appt. My massage went well, I found the Doctors office OK, but thats about as good as the day went.

The doc is a ENT, i finally made an appointment for him to review the CT scans i had a while back. I'm not sure what I was hoping for - I guess maybe a magic fix to the years of pain and suffering at the hands of my allergies. But, i got the standard "swelling due to allergic rhinitis, siniusitis and deviated septum". He perscribed me another plethora of meds, including another shot in the ass for the swelling and sent me on my way.

He did mention that he thought it would be worth my while to have the deviated septum corrected. He said if it is corrected, it reduces my predisposition to getting sinius infections and will help me breathe better. I really thought he was going to tell me something else about roto-rooting my plugged up and clogged nose, but since all that is due to inflamation, they can't do anything about that.

I have had multiple doctors mention the deviated septum thing in the past, but the two times I've gone to another doctor to find out more about it (granted, its never been an ear nose and throad guy), I've been told not to worry about it - that its not significantly deviated enough to cause serious issue.

So the question becomes do I have surgery here with the hopes that MAYBE I will be able to breathe better? do I get another second opinion? do I just wait until I get back to the US and do it there? I mean, I've gone this far in my life without breathing right, whats a few more months? or do I just leave it and continue treating it with loads and hoards of ineffective medicines in the hopes that maybe someday my allergies will simply go away?

Oh, did I mention that i was so super relaxed until he checked out my ears and decided to pull a wax chunk out of each the size of golf balls? Yeah, gross, I know, and I understand he was helping me, but I had just spent $50 on a 90 minute massage, and now I'm all tense and cringing in pain because he decides to poke at my brain. I swear, the first chunk had grey matter attached.

Then, I am trying to fill out the paperwork to get reimbursed for my doctors appointments and meds and such, and they are so hard to understand. I just have this feeling that I am going to fill them out, turn them in, and they will send them back to me saying that I'm retarded and can't fill things out right, and that they are going to keep my money just based on principal.

Ugh. I just want to feel better. I just want to be able to live without a box of tissue attached to my hip. I just want to be able to smell. Why can't someone just fix me??!?!?

El Mundial

Everyone knows that America, as a country, doesn't have the torrid love affair with futból the rest of the world does. Yes, its growing in popularity and there are plenty of soccer moms,and many people like to play. But, there isn't the crazy fanatisism and passion that captivates the rest of the world (that is, unless things have changed in the past 7 months).

The reason I decided to talk about this is because we got a corporate announcment today that said all employees were entitled to either A) have a TV installed at work with the games playing or B) stay home and watch the game, of course with thier bosses approval. I'm not sure how many bosses would approve it, but the fact that they sent out a corporate announcement stating the possibility is beyond me.

Keith and I are going to our first Mundial watching party on Sunday, when Mexico faces off agains Iran. Our friend Fernando and family invited us. They are going to miss church this week so they can watch it. I think there will be a lot of empty pews at the 11:00 AM masses this weekend. I think when Pat O'Brien and Heidi are here next weekend there will be a Mexico game, so hopefully we can go to a bar so they can experience the insanity too.

Even knowing Mexico's passion for soccer, I really am astonished at the amount of hulabaloo and marketing that is surrounding the World Cup, or El Mundial as its known here. Geez, the marketing. They have been advertising since we signed up for our satelitte "Sign up with us and you'll get coverage of ALL the Mundial games - included!!". That was 7 months ago. Its like marketing for the Super Bowl, on steroids.

Gradually it has become more and more pronounced.....Coke has billboards touting that if you buy these cans, you are supporting La Selección (the Mexican Selection, or the Mexico Team) - and all of Mexico. Commercials galore - its nuts! My favorite is the commercials that say "When La Selección plays, all of Mexico plays with them". Soccer shaped Bimbo Cakes, baby bottles and cups. Pizza Hut has a special Mundial Soccer ball, bag and water bottle signed by the Pepsi endorsed players. At the fair we got Bud Light cups, which is the official beer of the World Cup. Wal Mart has practically changed thier colors from blue and grey to red white and green - there is so much parafanalia decorating the inside and not to mention, for sale. Every single thing that is for sale, has some kind of Mundial reference, more often than not a reference to the Mexican Selección. It took me two years to find my bread this week because they changed the damn packaging, in order to support Mexcio.

A couple of weeks ago, when i went to my first Mexico ACI meeting, a few of the chemical and cement companies were giving out Mundial Horarios - or schedules - conveniently sized for your pocket with times and dates of each game, also emblazoned with the company logo. One company that made Machines to test compressive strength of concrete cylinders had a picture of one of thier machines, with a soccer ball positioned where the cylinder should be. The raffle for the evening featured a plethora of prizes, but the grand prize was an official World Cup ball, straight from Germany. People were going nuts over it! i was pretty excited to win a $40 bottle of wine for my $1 ticket.....I could have cared less about the soccer ball. I probably could have sold it on eBay for a profit though.

I have to admit I'm a product of marketing and I have given into the hype. i bought T-Shirts, Polo shirts and cups. I even gave in and bought Mexico Jersey bottle/can coozies at OXXO (7-11 for Mexico). Its hard not to, you know? The buzz generated could get annoying, but at the same time its kind of exciting. Its nice to be able to experience this from a different perspective.....I definitely wouldn't have the heigtend level of interest if I was still in the states. But I draw the line at red, white and green potato chips. Thats just gross.

Here's a little treat for you. This video combines Mexico's two favorite things - futbol and scantily clad women.

The Moon ate it

I found out a funny thing yesterday at my spanish class. Often, when people and animals are born with something missing they say that the moon ate it. The subject came up because my teacher said he had a cat with three legs, and I asked what happened........and he said the moon ate it. I must have looked at him funny, because he sensed my confusion and explained it. Just thought it was interesting......

If you are looking for a beautiful song, check out Abrazame - by Camila (yes, strikingly similar to my mother's name). Its so amazing. Every time I hear it I want to cry, even though I don't know what its saying half the time.

Finished a couple more layouts. Not prize winners, but very close to my heart anyway. They are both regular hand made scrapbook pages and were made for My Heritage Album.

Grandparents



Childhood Friend

Good news and bad news

so, which do you want first? Bad news - OK. I found out yesterday that a friend from the Dundee Plant died unexpectedly. Its not like we were best friends, but we talked quite a bit while I was working in Ann Arbor, and I always appreciated his kindness and willingness to help me when I was in a jam. He had a plethora of health issues for many years, but I still was shocked to hear he died.

The news of his death really has shook me - for a couple reasons.

1. I thought I had more time to drop him an email or give him a call to say hi. I actually thought last week about giving him a call, but of course life gets in the way and you push it aside......and then, its too late. Thats always the way, isn't it? It takes a death to make you realize who you need to tell you care about.....

2. I can't go to the funeral. If there is a funeral - I'm not even sure. I think the issue is that basically I feel alienated, just so so so far away. God forbid anything happened to my family - I can't just jump in a car and drive home. It just bothers me.

OK, good news. I didn't win the ultimate scrapbook challenge, but I did win "The women of our lives" challenge at ACOT. Take a look see here....ACOT Challenge Winners. I won a $25 gift certificate with which I bought all sorts of cool stuff. I actually was pretty darn excited about it! But, in perspective in the big scheme of things, its not that big of a deal, is it?

Yes, I realize, I am a nutjob

BUT I AM SO EXCITED!

I don't know what it is - I should scrap just for myself but I love to be validated by others.

Which is why I am so excited. In the June 1st A Cherry On Top email Newsletter, I checked out the link for the CT Spotlight, which features layouts that have caught thier eyeballs - or as they say, they feature Superior Layouts. Much to my suprise, one of mine was in there! Whooooo HOOOO! Check out the article here!