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A great email to read at lunchtime

I went back to work today after being off for 5 days. It was almost like a mini vacation except that I was on call Sunday and Monday for 12 hours and got called by 7 AM both days. Luckily it was only 1 case each day and we were out the door by 12:30 both days. Today was a semi busy and heavy day. Urology had full schedules and my room ran till who knows when because I got relieved at the end of my shift at 7:30 and they said they had an hour + to go before closing. So, back to the topic at hand.....

I happened to have some time at lunch-which I didn't get till 2 o'clock, but that's a whole other topic-so I decided to check my email. I got a really great email fromSharyn Tormanen. I read her blog daily. She's a great writer, a talented designer and has the sweetest, cutest kids. I love to see pictures of them(she is an awesome photographer, but would say "bah" if she read this) and read about their antics-like the "lion-dandys" the boys pick in the back yard. How cute is that?!

Her daughter Wendy has developed a passion for reading. I think I see a lot of myself in Wendy when I was her age. The same blonde hair and blue eyes and slim build, and a happy outlook on life as a kid. I happened to be in Barnes and Noble a week or so ago (what a surprise!) and came across some books that I knew she'd enjoy reading. I honestly believe that the ability to read is truly a gift and should be nurtured by parents and teachers and cherished by all who are given the gift ofreading. I performed a little "RAK" and sent Wendy a surprise package of 3 Judy Moody books.

I received this email today:

Thank you!!  Wendy is working on her own thank you, but I wanted to let you know they arrived! 

 

"She got these for me?  Does she know me?"

"How did she know that these are my favorite books?"  (beats me - even I didn't know)

"Is she your friend??"  Why yes - yes she is

 

thank you!!!!!

 

 

 

Sharyn Tormanen

 

It really made my day. You're so welcome Wendy (and Sharyn). It was my pleasure!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Check it out!

Did you ever go back through your scrapbooks, read the journaling and wonder "why did I write that", or " I really wish I could have worded this another way." Jill has a great tutorial on her blog about writing meaningful journaling. It's a good read for sure and you should jot down a few notes for yourself to refer to the next time you do a LO that you want to add journaling to. I think that Jill's blog is one of the best I could have ever saved in my favorites. I love writing and who better to be encouraged and mentored by than an english teacher who loves to scrapbook? Thanks for having such a great blog Jill!

Debbie Hodge's site "Get it Scrapped" now has a free sketch offered every Friday. How cool and generous is that?! Thanks Deb for also having a great blog!

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun Memorial Day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Catching up on the Wordplay Challenges

Sometimes I wonder why there isn't enough time in the day, and then I remember that 3 days out of the week I work a 12 hr shift, so there goes a half of a day for each day already. Then factor in errands, laundry, exercising/walking, dinner, dishes and American Idol on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and I'm not left much time for anything else. Bummer.....

I was hoping to catch up on my Wordplay journal this weekend, but it didn't happen. I will be accumulating more free time next week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because the Idol Finale is on Wednesday. It's kind of bittersweet for me as it's pretty much the only tv program that Bob and I watch together...in the same room....on the same couch. Well, we do watch Dirty Jobs too, but I watch it because I'm hot for Mike Rowe, and Bob, well, he likes all the gross man stuff that goes on. But right now it conflicts with Idol so we haven't seen it in several weeks.

Jill has put up 2 new wordplay challenges on her blog. Here they are for you to see. You can also check her archives for past challenges if you haven't been playing along.

                              Wordplay Challenge # 15  A Personal  Mission Statement

                            " Every day at school we recite a mission statement.
                              It's all about what we strive to do and be as as school.
                             This week's challenge is to write a personal mission statement."

                            Wordplay Challenge # 16  The Mother Lode

                          

                       "Today is Mother's Day -- which means that it is the perfect opportunity to create a     page about your mother, your identity as a mother (if you are one), your views on motherhood and parenting, or a "mother" that you admire. As you compose your journaling, try to get to the heart of the matter. It can be difficult to write about motherhood, since so many intense emotions are involved. Try freewriting if you feel overwhelmed by words, and then work on eliminating words that distract from the heart of your message. You may find the use of repetition helpful, in that it will ground you in a kind of rhythm, a pattern, that will make your journaling more cohesive and meaningful. On the first page, I repeated words ("so") and syntax ("you are here, you are home, you are mine"). On the second page, I repeated the word "or" and used a listing approach."

Have fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

100% Random

Not much going on this week....except for the announcement that Memory Makers Magazine is going to shut down. What a disappointment. It was for sure my favorite magazine.

I found these on the table when I got home on Friday from work

 

A very pretty little bouquet from my daughter for Mother's Day. The lilies started to open this morning.

I got an enabler email from Allison at SEI that said I was missing out on some great $1 bargains. No one can ever resist taking a look. So I looked and these came in the mail on Thursday

 

I missed the Kentucky Derby last week because I was headed to the movies to see the X Men movie. Missing the Derby is a big deal to me, but seeing Hugh Jackman nakey was almost worth missing the race. This came in the mail on Monday so I got to read all about the horse, the jockey and the trainer.

 

For those of you wondering, no, I did not subscribe to this magazine. It just started showing up in our mailbox randomly last year. I still get it although I thought I made myself perfectly clear that I don't want it. So apparently it's free....lucky me.

Product Pizzaz 102 with Doris Sander is starting soon on Get It Scrapped! It's a continuation of PP 101, but you don't need to have taken 101 before 102...no prerequisites here or permission from the department  head needed either. Just go sign up and have a blast!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! I hope you have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Scraproom or Creative Space Inspiration

 

I got a copy of this fabulous book last week. I learned of it from Lisa Tutman-Oglesby when she mentioned it on her blog a short while back. It is so inspiring to see the studios of some well known artists. It took me almost a week to get through it. The reason it took me so long is because I spent so much time looking at all of the photos of the different creative spaces and then read about each artist and their descriptions of their space. This is a great coffee table book for sure. I found myself kind of wishing I could have seen this book before I began to plan out my space. Not that I'm unhappy with my space, but I think I would have done a couple of things differently-like storage and work areas. No big deal. My son and my husband worked really hard on my room for me and I am ever so grateful for their hard work. I love the colors, my big closet and the fact that I was able to acquire an entire room for myself with no questions or debates. If you are looking for a copy for yourself you can click the widget on the right side of my blog and it will take you to where you can buy it.

I also found this beauty while browsing through the magazine section at Barnes and Noble on Saturday. I was actually looking for an issue of Cooking Light Magazine when I came across this magazine

 

It's a special issue of "Cloth, paper, scissors" magazine that has 25 artists' studios in it. Awesome to look at! In fact, Tim Holtz's studio is featured in it. He has an awesome studio! It's very manly and well organized. If you are interested in this magazine, there was several copies at my local B & N so I'm sure you can probably find it in yours too! It's a keeper for sure. There's so many good ideas and inspiration in it.

Debbie Hodge's site "Get it Scrapped" has just celebrated its first birthday! She is offering some new classes, especially Product Pizzaz 102 with Doris Sander that begins on May 12th. Doris gives you unique and innovative ways to make fabulous layouts with the use of your stash-imagine that-no shopping for supplies for a class!  I took the Product Pizzaz 101 class and had a great time using up my stuff. Part of the fun came from digging through and finding stuff I had forgotten all about! Stop over and check out the sample class! The classes offered on Debbie's site are fun and affordable. You'll be pleased you took one and you'll go back for more!

Thanks for stopping by!