good morning,
i returned home just in time to run out to dinner with the family and collapse in bed exhausted from my weekend away.

i had a very nice cropping weekend. i was productive, got to see some long time scrappy friends, make new ones and learned and saw so many new techniques. there were some fabulously talented women in that room. OMG. there were also some very generous ones, donating items to my ms crop 4 hope and asking to make donations in the future. BRING it on :)

amanda and i also did some store hopping and i went to a truly amazing scrap store that i have never been to before. wow. my car is still full and it needs to be unpacked, but i really had a great time and i am thrilled that i decided to go.

now i need to unpack, do laundry and begin packing for our road trip up to the mountains in north carolina for a week.

before i do that, i would like to ask any and all of you who do, to please pray for my teaching partner charlotte and her family. her father was perfectly well on friday, less a scratchy throat and by fri night had a fever of 107 degrees in a coma. the outcome is scary for this man of 56 years old and all prayers will be greatly appreciated.

preparing

I have been trying to perpare for my TWO upcoming trips for the last couple of days. The crappy weather continues, which gives me inside time to do so.

I compiled most of my scrapping stuff and put it back in one locationa & then attempted to pack some page kits etc. I always over pack for crops. I bring way more than I can actually complete, but I am always afraid that if I bring only one or two projects that I will be bored with them or complete them and then what will i do? so, I over pack page kits and 'stuff'. In the middle of doing all of the page kit planning, I got a bright idea, or so I think. I will let you know when the weekend is over and see if I got any of it accomplished.

I have been reading a new book about organizing my photos and to let go of scrapping chronologically. I LUV it and it has been very freeing to work on what I WANT to work on. I used to be so very date oriented, most esp. because I used CM albums which required that. It is nicer for me to have the freedom. I did still feel like I had to scrap last year's pumpkin patch photos before the following Oct when we went back to the Pumpkin Festival (right Dawn and Amanda??) LOL.
I can happily say that I do not care if I ever scrap another Pumpkin Festival and that is okay. (said while repeating it over and over again-ha). So, back to my original thought. I packed up several storage containers and most if not all of my unscrapped photos from the last couple of years.

My hope is that perhaps I can actually get them organized at least by year and/or theme and feel much relaxed about it all. In between, i can scrap a page kit or so.

That is my plan and we shall see. I have the inflatable bed and pump in the car already. I paid some bills and now I just need to finish up some laundry so that i can pack a bag of my clothing and toiletries(after a take a shower).

So, I am off to have a birthday crop weekend and I can really use the time away. Joshy and I are driving each other up a wall literally as we have pretty much been indoors and that isn't any fun at all.

Have a great weekend,
Scrappin' Jax

tired

i woke up at 6am to dh's alarm clock going off for seven minutes. for some unknown reason, it was not quite loud enough for HIM to hear it and turn it off, so I got up, walked over there and hit snooze. being one who is a self defined NON morning person, this was not a good way to start the day. it proceeded to get even worse when snooze was up and it began ringing again. this time, i did NOT hit snooze but hit HIM to turn the blasted thing off. URG.

so now, joshy and i have returned from a $200 shopping trip to super wal-mart(hate that place esp. with a 3 year old that manages to load my cart with stuff i would not even consider purchasing ever) and now i am listening to MORE thunder and rain.

i swear, i am OVER the gloomy rain. actually, i am exhausted and if said 3 year old would cooperate, i would def. take a nap, but hmmm, that isn't likely. so, here i type and gripe about being tired of the gloomy weather. it is seriously beginning to make me down and out and i do NOT like feeling that way.

of course, i have not ONE thing packed for the weekend, although I am in the middle of laundry load number 3, so at least I will have clean clothes. I just can't figure out what I wanna scrap or work on, so I am putting it off. I swear that if the sun is brightly shining the entire weekend, i will be scrappin outside just to see it.

i guess i better go and search for the air matress and wash some sheets/pillow cases and a lite blanket to pack too. i would much rather go take a snap, but, oh well.

rain rain go away, come again some other day PUHLEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

twice in one day

can u believe it? lol.

i have gotta tell ya that iam way sick and tired of this gloomy, rainy weather. i am not complaining cause there are areas in the country that are being much harder hit than we are, but my raincoat and umbrella are working overtime the last couple of weeks. jeez.

okay on to better things. i returned from my neuro appt with better than xpected news. i had been dreading going for my MRI follow up cause I really had a bad feeling about it ........like I said before, it started while waiting nearly two hours for the procedure and I have anxiety for the last ten days.

I am very happy to report that there are NO changes on my current MRI. that was such a HUGE relief. I guess my rebif is doing the job that it is supposed to do. Thank goodness for the chinese hamsters!! If I could say thank you in chinese, i would.

My blood results were not as bad as I expected which was a nice surprise. Now mind you, my cholsesterol and triglycerides are almost double and triple what they should be respectively, but hell, I have been off my meds for like 6 months. So, I have an appt with my PCP on Monday to review my neuro's rec. of going back on something for the cholesterol. Genes are powerful and I apparently am a TINSKY(not that there was any debating that). However there are studies that say statins and interfeurons don't mix well and neuro wants me on something else.

So, she is sending her rec. to my primary care doc and hopefully by this time next week I will be on Zetia or something............who knows.

I FEEL good and I am guessing that should be what I go by and not my nerves or anxiety about unknowns.

All is well, Yes, I have MS, but so what are a few white spots on my brain. Apparently, i can live with em just fine.

Off to make something for dinner. Woo hoo. LIFE IS GOOD.

Mid week already

This week seems to be flying by already. WOW. Hard to believe that it is already Weds. Which means that in exactly two days I will be scrapping and I have not one thing compiled to bring with me......yikes.

I literally have scrappy stuff on the kitchen table, the dining room table, the dining room chairs, and all over the scrap room. I am guessing that I have my work cut out for me to get organized and packed up. Then I also have to pack clothing and air matress/bedding.

I am guessing I will pretty busy the next couple of days doing so. It won't be done this afternoon though, as I have an appt with my neuro. I had my yearly MRI done last week and my appt today is to go over the results.

I am a bit apprehensive, but I am not "going to worry til I really have something to worry about" as my dad always said. Now, I DO have MS, that could be something to worry about, but I don't. I will be sitting on the edge of the examination room table/bed awaiting the possible changes that could/would typically occur from year to year. The meds that I take are only used to slow down the progression of the disease. So fingers, toes and everything else crossed that there are no new lesions and little if any progression please.

One has got to be hopeful that shots that hurt as much as mine do(very painful) surely stop something, right?

I will report in later for anyone who is interested. I also DID get my bloodwork done yesterday-FINALLY. I have walked out of that lab 4 times prior due to the wait. Yesterday, no wait. And although she wont' have my results by my appt. today, I am sure I will get a phonecall telling me when they do arrive to neuro and primary doc.

Ugh too much medical jargon. I need more coffee.

Back from Sebring

just returned from a day trip over to Sebring and a long visit at the Kenilworth.
BIG thanks to Amanda for driving over there with me and to Tenille for helping answer my gazillion questions.

I am so glad that I spent the time and did this as I have a MUCH clearer picture in my mind of the "plan" and the layout. Being an extremely visual person, I NEEDED to do this.

Amanda and I mapped out the whole room and did wonders with the tape measure that I brought.
I now know xactly how I am going to lay out the room with tables, where the vendors will be etc.

So, all in all, despite the NUMEROUS turn arounds for fast food for Miss Amanda, it was a VERY productive day.I am getting so very xcited about this. It is going to be phenominal.

Another year

Well, another year older. I am not certain how xactly I managed to arrive at the ripe old age of 41?! Although I am quite fond of having the opportunity to be another year older(it sure beats the alternative), I just don't know how I got here.

I remember when I was a little girl(okay, I am still "little") , a YOUNG girl, attending the 30th birthday party of my birthmother and as a 6 year old, she was OLD. So how did I manage to hit 41?! and for the most part, not feel old???????????? If anyone has a valid answer, please feel free to jump in here.

My birthday was of the gloomy sorts. My mood tends to be inspired by the weather outside and as much as i know that we NEED rain, it truly does NOT have to rain NON stop for two entier days straight, esp. on the weekend and esp. on my birthday.
So, yesterday was quite uneventful. Despite Johnnie's efforts to do something fun, it really just wasn't a fun day whatsoever.

So, dinner was truly the only highlight for my special day. We went to Kado. I luv that place and dinner was delicious, although not quick. Joshy did well for the first hour and a half, but into the second hour, he was BORED and doing a bit of running around. Now being potty trained completely, he must have visited both bathrooms a dozen times and Stacey will appreciate this, came running out of the men's room at one point naked from the waist down. LOL. I swear that kid will be a nudist someday...........ROTFLMAO. Thank goodness I had given in when getting dressed for dinner and allowed him to wear a shirt(size 5T) that truly was wayyyyy too big on him. However, for these purposes, it worked just fine.
what a trip.

So, all in all, I am now another year older, a bit more tired, but still STUFFED from my amazing dinner. Thanks for all of the warm birthday wishes from everyone. They made me smile on an otherwise gloomy day.

This morning I am off to go have my bloodwork done for my neuro appt on Weds.-trying NOT to think about the MRI report and then off to Sebring for the day.
I am meeting up with Amanda in Brandon and then we are heading over to the Kenilworth to measure out the room and vendor space. Being a very visual person, I NEEEEEED to do this so that I can map it all out both in my head and on paper.

So, the sun is shining. DH has reported for Jury duty as summoned and I am going to drink another cup of coffee, even though my bloodwork is supposed to be "fasting". Fasting to me included coffee and my neuro knows that unless someone will do the blood draw from my bedroom, there is NO way I am going anywhere without some caffeine in my veins. I figure if I always have coffee, then the results should be comparable each time I have it done-every 3 months.

Have a great Monday. Sad to hear of the passing of George Carlin, comedic icon. Gosh, I had NO idea he was 71, but boy has he left his mark on the world.