I can be serious!

Seriously, dude, I have a really deep well of seriousness in me and sometimes it escapes. I try hard to keep it in but....well you know it can just come blasting out with both barrells firing away. Seriously, this can and does happen as it did this past Monday. Our challenge for the week at Jessica's playground was to create a page with the theme, "I want to remember this". We had to take a picture that day in natural light. I had hubby take a picture of me on our deck. When I started doing the page journaling all this seriousness just came seeping out of every pore and here is the result.

The journaling reads:

I want to always remember how beautiful this day was as I stood on the deck with the sunlight falling gently on my face and the breeze whispering in the trees. My husband smiled as he took this photo today and our eyes met. The light in his eyes shown through and years of memories swept over me. I rocked my babies here. I saw my mother for the last time here. I've held my husband's hand here on a soft summer night and watched my grandsons play here. The sunrises and the sunsets have been witnessed by me at this very spot. The snow has been shoveled and the icicles have fallen here. God has touched my heart and this place. May I always remember the moments of the past, the delight of the present and the promise of the future. Will you help me remember if I should start to forget?

Here is an interesting fact: A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside. There is a neighbor boy I should take on safari!

I guess all that seriousness just crawled back inside.

Have a good one!

Lions, Tigers and House Cats OH MY!

This blog is dedicated to my Digi friend Veevs the Peruvian (htp://veevstheperuvian.blogspot.com), friend of cats.

Gary Smith said,"Everthing I know I learned from my cat. When you're hungry, eat. When you're tired, nap in a sunbeam. When you go to the vet's, pee on your owner." But, really nobody ever owned a cat. My house and I are here solely for the convenience of my cat. Her name is Pepper and she is 18 years old. Trust me, she knows exactly what time I want to get up and starts loudly meowing 30 minutes prior.

I used to have a dog and I learned this about cats from that experience. Dogs come when they are called. Cats take a message and get back to you. Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God. Cats are smarter than dogs too. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through the snow. It's possible to herd dogs but have you ever tried to herd cats. YIKES!

I like to watch my cat around people. The ones she doesn't care for she totally ignores. There are times I try to emulate that behavior. She has also been known to hiss at and scratch people whom she especially hates. Now I think there is something to be said for that.

Cats are truly beautiful creatures. The ancient Egyptians used to revere them as gods and trust me cats have never gotten over this.

Gotta go my cat wants to sit in my lap but not here ofcourse; over there in her favorite chair in the sunshine. How do I know this? She told me. Cats can produce over 100 vocal sounds to tell you exactly how they really feel.

To quote Dan Greenberg, " There is, incidentally, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a same person."

Oh by the way I learned this from personal experience. Never hold a dust-buster and a cat at the same time.

Have a good one!

This and That the Sequel

I've had a cold this week and I hate that. Was hoping to get through the winter without the "mother of all colds" this year but no such luck. We have had some really nice days this week up into the 60s but now it is snowing again. Flagstaff gets more snow in March than any other month but we forget that every year as we are so ready for spring. We get snow in April too and as memory serves me there is usually snow on the ground at Easter whenever it is.

I have added two bloggy friends to my list over there---------->. I am sure you will like their blogs they are very interesting. Scrappy Guy saw a book on the bookstore shelf called, "Before Anne of Green Gables" and is appalled to think that they have messed with a classic. If you've read it let him know how it was. Veevs is so funny. You will love her and she does amazing scrappages (actually, they both do). So go and visit them and tell them that Piney sent you and I will win a prize. (No, not really my fingers just got away from me).

I am making a digi wedding album from the snap shots taken at the rehersal and reception for my nail tech. I have known her since she was a high school student and I am having much fun with it. Here are the first two pages. Think I'll try to get twenty outta it, although that might be optimistic.

The top is Heidi and her Dad and the bottom is Melissa. Heidi and Melissa are business partners and have known each other like just forever.

I answered a call for CTs (CT=Creative Team) from Scrap Shanty. Not holding my breath but will see. They will announce on April 4th. We had to send 5 layouts. Was hard to choose. I will put more in my gallery there just incase they do take a peek at it.

I read that today is National Feral Cat Day. Who knew? So I leave you with these two astonishing facts.

1. Cats' urine glows under a black light.
2. Cats can produce over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs can only produce about ten.

Have a good one!

Finally Entered a Contest

I saw information in a newsletter from http://www.designerdigitals.com/ about a contest and it intrigued me. From now until the end of March you make pages using only DD products and enter them in the March Guest CT gallery for a chance to win free new product for 6 weeks. The word free might as well have been 10 feet high and in capital letters the way it grabbed my attention. Here are two of my entries:
This is my middle grandson, Conner. The photo was taken down in the valley at the "place" last Father's Day. I have been wanting to scrap it and finally found the right venue.This is a take off on a layout I made awhile back for a 30 minutes challenge at the Spraground(http://www.jessicasprague.com/) This uses all DD products which is the requirement. This is the one made for my Now We're Rocking class and I like it better I think. Actually the wish quote is from DD, but most of the other products are from http://www.jenwilson.com/ which is neck and neck with DD as my favorite digi design site.

I was excited to hear last night from my friend Marilyn Wallace that she is taking the first Jessica Sprague class, "Up and Running", on my recommendation and loving it. That made me feel so good. I love to share my passion with folks.

I leave you today with these words from Maya Angelou, "I've learned that people forget what you said, people forget what you did, but people never will forget how you made them feel."

Have a good one.

Just a shout out!

I am at my son's house taking care of the two youngest grandkids while he and his wife go away for their anniversary. I have just found out that daylight time started today. Seems early this year. We in Arizona never go on it so I get pretty confused. All I know is that now I am 3 hours behind eastern instead of 2 and I am on the same time as California and not Colorado.

I heard an interview on NPR this morning with a dairy farmer that said how hard this changing time is on the cows and so they just do it at 30 minutes for the first week and then add the other 30 next week. I am wondering why they just don't milk the cows at the same "time"? If they were milking them at 6:00am why not just milk them at 7:00am. I say let the people change...not the cows. But, maybe that makes too much sense.

Grant Wood said, "All the really good ideas came to me while I was milking a cow." Guess now he'll have to wait an hour.

Here is just some good advice that my grandpappy told me, "Remember never kick a cow pattie on a hot day."

Have a good one.

REMISS

I have been remiss and busy and sick. It has been 11 days since I lasted blogged which does indeed make me remiss.

Webster's second definition of remiss is: 2: showing neglect or inattention. So, please pardon my remissness...ummm trying saying that 10 times or even once! I would say that remiss means to miss again from the prefix re and I have indeed missed again for 11 days. Now, you might ask yourself why? or you just might not care. The why is that we went to the Valley for another sprint car race (The World of Outlaws), I've had that gunk that is going around that makes sitting and staring at the wall a very pleasant passtime and I have been planning our June vacation.

We are going to spend a week with dear friends in Sitka, Alaska and go salmon fishing from their boat and do the symphony concerts in the totem park series and generally just have a good time with our dear friends. We will drive to Bellingham, Washington and take the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry. We sail on June 6, spend a week with our friends and then get back to Bellingham on June 20. We also have rented a beach cottage in Yachats, Oregon where we will stay for a few nights on our way back to Flagstaff. We will leave home on June 2 and return on the 26. Whew!! Should be a great, good time.

Here are a few treatments of a photo I took during our last big storm in February. I used my 18mm-200mm lens on my Nikon D40 camera in auto mode.

This is looking out my back arcadia door (yes, that is our fire wood). The photo has an action on it called vivid color. The action is from http://www.ezactions.com/ This is a great place to get actions and they work like a charm.

This is same photo converted to black and white. I used a filter on it from my PSE5. The filter is texture-> grain-> stipple. I think it looks like a pen and ink drawing.

Here is the photo without any treatments. I made this scrapbook page for a challenge at our Spraground(http://www.jessicasprague.com/) I used her PSF tutorial for the Brrr! title (PSF 06 #7). The torn paper is from my friend Liv. This kit is called: LivEdesigns_Perfect Moment_perfect tear. Check out her blog. Click on the link over there--------------->

Here is some food for thought.

"I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights." _Maya Angelou

Have a good one.