Dear Mr. President....Here I am!

Here is my page I did for an online challenge over at mlpa message board. It was great and I just let myself play with rub ons and words. I am here to live out loud. I had a bummer sticker on my little ford ranger pickup truck in the 80's that read, " Your Silence will not Protect you" .
I loved that bummer sticker. I love living that way more. I learned along time ago, bottling your fears up inside hurt no one but myself. Now it is not to say I don't keep somethings to myself, because I am not sure most could handle what I have to say to them. In some instances it would hurt them and I don't want to do that. So I do make choices as to what part I live out loud and what part I just live, and some parts I am just loud about. ( ok if you followed that you are truly my friend!)
So again I have the words to one of my favorite songs by Pink. It plays on my IPOD regularly and I sing along every time. Not to be negative on this day we honor our Presidents, but to remind me that I am not alone in my thinking that I am important in this world , no matter what one man says. I am here to Live Out Loud!!
Dear Mr. President
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why
Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pay the road to hell
What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you

She is back!!

Ha! Ha!
Didn't think they would keep me down for long did ya?
No worries fans, I have escaped the evil clutches of the nasty world and have risen above again!

Seriously, thanks so much for all your kind emails and wishes here.

Kate is doing fine, on the way to recovery, altho she is not having fun on the crutches. It can tend to wear you out. I have not been on crutches since Jr. High school so don't remember much about them.

Josh is also on the mends, after almost 3 weeks of this nasty cold. The rest is what works the best, altho telling a 7 year old that he needs rest is not the easiest of task. They seem to think they are getting punished .

Today is a scrapbooking day. I have a couple friends coming over and I am going to do some layouts. Ok so maybe only one layout...but I will be posting something here by tomorrow. A promise I have made to myself. The room is clean and just waiting to get all messy and have things created in it.
Have a wonderful day, create something, watch a great movie...build something with legos!
Here is a little challenge...if you create something today, post a link in your comment so I can see it!

The not so UP day...

• Take Kate to the hospital for surgery
• Go to the store
• pick Kate up from the hospital ( surgery went well)
• Take Kate home, get her settled
• Go pick up perscriptions
• run errands for the store
• go back to the store
• go home to get perscriptions to Kate for pain
• Find out I didn't get all the perscriptions that she needs.
• Eat something
• Go back to get more perscriptions
• Go back to the store
• Go get some dinner
• Go back to the store
• Go home
• Check messages
• Blog
• Go to bed.

One of those days, nothing went all that right, well not true....Kate's home safe after surgery.

Josh , well lets just say, he is 7! and has a handle on every button he can push today.

The Store....so much to do, lots coming in, it is all good. It will all balance out at some point.

Me, tired....stuffy, head cold.

Night.

Feel the love...it is here everyday. (Picture blog today)

My Roses from Kate and Josh

My Valentine to Kate, (inspired by Julie ,Thanks Julie)
One of my fav beach pictures
Gotta love them in Ears!
Another great Beach shot!
How did I get so lucky to have both of them in my life!!
Who is that little baby??
OMG the Mullet!!! ( Josh asked if that was me)
Damn those blue eyes , they melt me!

Now I want to show you the cutest little valentine, besides Josh! Here is a little story behind the little present. I have a love for animated furry things. I love to go to the store and push all the buttons and have them all singing and shaking. Well I have passed this love onto my son, he is just as wild about these too. Yes it probably is more age appropriate for him then me, but I didn't see anything saying I couldn't be a big kid at 44! So Josh jumps into bed this morning, cuddles with me for a minute. I wish him Happy Valentines day, he then says "Can I wake up Mom?" I said sure . He whispers in her ear and then runs out of the room. Comes back with a bag and says here Momma, Happy Valentines day. Well in the bag is THIS......

Adorable Black Ape with a big red heart.....SINGING......
JUMP FOR YOUR LOVE!!! Wahooooooooooo I love it!

Josh also made a valentine for Kate ...........out of LEGOS:) I just love this picture!
So there you have it, our valentines. One last share I have is this.

Josh asked at one point....Do I get a valentine? Tears started dripping down his face. Kate and I did have a valentine for him but we were waiting to give it to him. He had been grounded from using the Wii for a couple weeks, because of some anger issues. Kate and I had just talked and decided that we would give the privilege back to him today as his valentine. Well he was very happy with that and the tears soon stopped. I also told him today that he is OUR true valentine, because every time we look at him , we see the LOVE that we have for each other. He was pretty happy with that too, and we had a big family hug. Hope everyone has love in their heart and no matter if you are alone today or with someone, Love yourself ....because that is the best valentine you will ever have!

Ok.....so everyone, lets go!! This is going to be a Great Valentine

Now that I know more then 3 people read my blog...( I was only kidding by the way!)

Let's all do something together. If you have a blog I challenge you to post this as well.

Ali Edwards, who I consider a friend and one of the most beautiful people on this planet, has a wonderful , amazing little guy named Simon. I have not got to meet Simon yet, but thru Ali's stories and her writings on her blog, I can see and imagine just how special this little guy is. Simon is the 1 , the 1 in 150 children that has Autism. Simon is so much more then a number, a number that is growing all the time. There is no cure for Autism, but without awareness there never will be. So it is time for Awareness!! The time is now.
Ali came to S.A.V.E. in January to teach classes and hang out with us. She didn't know what we had planned until she got here. We had planned for over a year to raise money in honor of Simon's 5th Birthday for Autism Awareness. We had seen that Ali had donated 2500.00 dollars in 2006 through everyone's kindness at events she had taught at. So we set that as our goal. It sounded great if we could raise that amount of money in one event.
Well , we raised over 5000.00 at that event, because of all the wonderful woman we had there, who gave their time and money through raffles and auctions. I didn't know how much this affected Ali , or me at the time. I knew we had done a great thing....but I did not know the impact it would have on the rest of 2007 and beyond.
Ali had a new sense of awareness herself, and I also did for that manner. She has been Simon's warrior each and everyday since his diagnosis...now she was going to be a warrior for all those other children, that perhaps don't have one. She was going to get the word out even more each time she had the opportunity. This she has done, and continues to do everyday, I applaud her for that!
Ok so the point of my post....lets all keep this going, lets hit this head on and march with Ali, and it is so simple to do. Right now you can go to Ali's Blog and click on the BADGE on the right hand side of her blog. Click DONATE...this is a great opportunity to do something great for as little as $10.00 , yes $10.00 is all I ask you to do. The key to this is to get as many donations as possible, it is not the size of the donations , but the number of donations that will win the prize of a $10,000.00 grant to Autism Speaks. How awesome would that be!! The money would get the awareness out there and make such a difference for so many children. So I am asking you , anyone here reading this, to please click over and donate. This would be a great valentine's present for each of you. Give from your heart!
Thank you
Peace

What's a day off?

Monday's is the day , I jokingly call my day off. It is the day that mlpa is closed. But that doesn't mean a true day off. Just means I don't have to go to the store. Altho that isn't always true either, sometimes it is a good day to get paperwork done. But in the winter months I try and not go. So I get a day to stay in my sweats and get things done here.

My list was a little long today. I got all but two things done, so that wasn't bad. I love crossing off that list!

Then Josh came home and we did homework, we read and then we played with legos. At dinner he says.."Mom, I do need valentines.....tomorrow" I couldn't believe he was telling me this at 5:38 pm. So I got up went to my studio , got out the cricut and paper. We had a blast...and got it done!

I have to admit, I wasn't happy about being told that late, and Josh and I had a discussion as we were making these that next time it would be a good idea to start this earlier. Of course he just melted my heart as he was putting on the stickles and said," look mom ...this is perfect, just like you. " Now I know he was talking about the perfection of the stickles placement, but it still melted my heart.

So tomorrow he will have 24 wonderful cards to give his classmates, and no one will know it was done last minute. Except me! ( and the other 3 people that read this blog.)

So other then a busy day , I am excited we might have snow tomorrow, I am looking forward to a few good snow pictures for this year. Maybe a snow day too.

Didn't get to scrap today, well not in the form I wanted to at least. But I know it is coming. We actually don't have anything to go to this coming Sunday so maybe then! I need to invite a few girlfriends over and maybe it will get me going. Anyone want to come and play at my house?

Questions.....

Just a few things ...

If something "goes without saying," why do people still say it?

Why did Yankee Doodle name the feather in his hat Macaroni?

Why is most lunchmeat bigger than the bread?

Just leave all answers in comments please .

Thanks, Rollie

I know it is a bit early by the calendar....

Click to Play Now

but , everyday is valentines day when I look at my son. This has always been one of my favorite songs and I think is one of the all time greatest songs. The one that moves me to tears no matter how many times I hear it. Enjoy and kiss your little one, right there on the forehead while they sleep.

Random Acts of Crafting....

I just loved that pin when I saw it on Cathy's blog. Then yesterday I was a recipient of one of those random acts. Look at this wonderful tag book. Made just for me! How wonderful is that when someone does something for you when it isn't your birthday, or another holiday when we exchange things. Just because this person wanted to do something for me.
I want to say a whole lot about this person, but for today I am going to just enjoy this wonderful gift I received from her. I just want to say thank you so much....you really made me very happy giving this to me, and your kindness has touched me beyond words. You are a great person, and you are doing wonderful things....keep being you!

This was a good one for me to stumble across today....

Don't listen to those who say, "It's not done that way." Maybe it's not, but maybe you will. Don't listen to those who say, "You're taking too big a chance." Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor, and it would surely be rubbed out by today. Most importantly, don't listen when the little voice of fear inside of you rears its ugly head and says, "They're all smarter than you out there. They're more talented, they're taller, blonder, prettier, luckier and have connections…" I firmly believe that if you follow a path that interests you, not to the exclusion of love, sensitivity, and cooperation with others, but with the strength of conviction that you can move others by your own efforts, and do not make success or failure the criteria by which you live, the chances are you'll be a person worthy of your own respect.--Neil Simon

pure random happy thoughts...

So how cute is that little pooh bear. That is Ella, my friend and business partner's daughter. I have missed Ella lately, it was about a month since I had seen her. She was sick, then I was busy and it was just a whirlwind of a month in January. BUT it is Feb now and I am going to see her more! She is so friggin cute...I couldn't love her more if she was blood family. I hope to be a part of her life and watch her grow into the beautiful woman she is destined to be.

Declan her brother has been a big part of our life already. I love how when he comes over to play with Josh he is so comfortable and he just makes himself at home. And there is nothing better then hearing "aunt Rollie" out of his mouth. Since I won't have nephews or nieces thru any family means, I love these two so much. Josh and Declan are very much like Cousins, almost brothers at times.

For those that read my blog, here is the picture of the VERY VERY tall pirate from the pirate dinner. I told you he was tall.

I also have been very inspired lately with all the talk about not using flash on pictures. I was very excited to get that candle picture with Josh. I am trying more natural lighting as much as I can. I also am trying to take pictures with different settings on my camera to see the differences, it is very fun. Try it today!

Ok, glad to be home....going to the store soon. Lots of exciting things going on. Check out the mlpa blog . We got the Bug Club....now we just need t shirts and little antennas! Lots of new product coming in soon, can't wait to start getting those boxes. Have a great day, and take time for the little things...they are the biggest rewards. Peace

a few pictures of a wonderful boy turning 7 ....

So friggin cute!!
I got the picture I wanted!
My bestest Buddy Alex!
New Lacrosse Gear!!

It was pretty much a week long celebration....it was fun to celebrate Josh turning 7 for 7 days! We did something each day to celebrate his birthday. So tonight ended the 7 days and we went out with a bang! Today was his birthday party with his friends at a Karate place. He had won this last year at Race for Education by doing the most laps in his class. He was so proud of doing this and it was nice to have a birthday party all done for him. Especially being out of town the week before, nice not to have to plan a whole lot. So here are some highlight photos of the day.

Here's to being 7 and I hope all your wishes and dreams come true....I know mine do each day I get to be your Mom!!

CHA....my review on the people.

Ok tomorrow I will probably give you a review on the different things that we bought and all

the new lines, but today I want to talk a little about the people I met. I have to say I had so much fun in the Maya Road booth. They have become one of those companies that you want all their stuff! I remember Sarah and I walking into their booth a year ago at our first CHA and it was Debbie and Caroline manning the booth. A small booth probably 10x10 and they were new to the whole scrapbook scene. Now you walk into their booth...after I found it! WOW WOW WOW. They just keep coming up with more and more we have to have. Chipboard all over the place and better and better shapes. Ok but they have something even more special ... Jessica!

She is so frigin sweet and fun! I have been talking to Jessica on the phone for a long time , placing orders and giving her a hard time when things didn't ship. She was always friendly and worked hard to make sure we got things as fast as they could get to PA. It was fun finally meeting her and to find out she was stalking....I mean reading my blog was even more fun. It is so strange to find out people across the country are reading what you write here. I know I know it is a public forum and anyone can read it....still strange to meet someone that actually does.
A big Hi to Jessica....and hope she comes to PA and visits our store!! Miss ya!! And who can forget Lisa...

Lisa is zany , crazy and the most fun you can have and keep your clothes on!! She really brightens up the place when she is around and comes up with FUN make n takes!! There is this MEGA bottle cap make n take that ...oh wait, we didn't do that one, forget it! But the other make n takes were fun too!! Seriously tho...had to give a shout out to my new Texas friend! Love ya Lisa.

I also got to meet Stacey Julian....now some of you know this story....I wanted to meet this lady last year at CHA , it was our first CHA and I had just finished reading The Big Picture, a book that changed the way I thought about scrapbooking ....being a chronological scrapper before this book...it freed me! Anyway , no matter how many times we checked the CK booth , Stacey wasn't there. So I went home not meeting this lady. A little disappointed but ok. I had actually emailed her to tell her how much I loved the book and told her how I felt. Well this year I got to meet her. I even got to celebrate her 5th Year of Simple Scrapbook with her! Fun Fun!
Got some other pics with some other great pics, and got to see some people from last year that were just so inviting, and really look forward to seeing them again. It is a great place to network and the wonderful woman and men that make up this great industry is what it is all about!

7 Years Old....Young.....Beautiful!!

Kim and Stephanie give Josh his birthday kisses!! So I never really understood when my Mom would say...."You will always be my baby, no matter how old you are" I thought it was one of the dumbest statements you could say. I just didn't get it....until NOW! I now know how you can have that line when you are a mom. I think they give it to you with the birth certificate.
This is only 1 year ago at his 6th birthday party...looks so different

9 AM this morning as I lay in bed sobbing holding my "baby boy" He turned 7 today, that is alot of years from his birth. From the day that I got the first glimpse of my son.

7 years....in 7 years most of us have turned in a car and buy a new one.

in 7 years some of us buy our 2nd house.

in 7 years some of us change jobs.

It is amazing the amount of changes that go on in our lifes in 7 years. But until today, I hadn't reflected on what 7 years can mean.

Every year has brought such amazement, from those sleepless nights , and we had those for 2 years. To the first words he spoke, the first steps he took.

He was with me 24 hours a day for the first 5 years of his life and now we are separated for at least 8 hours a day. He is making his own friends, instead of me scheduling his playdates. He quotes football statistics to me, instead of just tossing a football to each other.

He pours his own milk into his cereal bowl, he gets his own cup of water.

He does so much for himself now and he is just getting more independent every day.

I could go on an on, and can sit here and see the 7 years in his scrapbooks and my mind. I reflect alot on so many great things that Josh has brought to my life, it certainly out weighs any of the little battles we have in learning right from wrong, or the little fights we have about things you have to do as you are growing up. The times I think of are the cuddling times , the times he just comes up to me and says "I love you Mom!" .
The times he will show me his compassion for his friends, or want to see his friends. When he will want to call his friends just because he was thinking of him. Not always at a great time to call but he won't forget and call the next day. That belly laugh that will forever be in my heart.

I am not sure what this year will hold for us. We have another full year of sports going on and new adventures. I see my little boy developing into a great little guy. One that is independent, always trying to achieve to be the best he can be. Questioning everything. Reading more and more each day. ( Today the sports section!) He is truly amazing, amazing in every way. I love him with all my heart and soul...because he is my heart and soul. I am so thankful that he chose me as his parent, there is no greater blessing then to be a mom!
Happy Birthday Pumpkin!! Love, Mom

Yesterday .....in no order...just happening!

Ok so yesterday was the big day ..."LEGOLAND" I have been planning this day since we found out that CHA would be there. I thought wahoooooooooo this will be so cool and Josh will enjoy it so much. Well not all visions come out the way you think....or do they!? Legoland when you first walk in you are wowed by all the things made by legos....at least I was. Josh liked looking at them, but as he is turning 7 everything is questioned and fantasy and wonder and just plain relaxing seems to not be allowed in at that age. There is something in the 1st grader creed that says, "You must take your Mom's hardest effort to make you smile and turn that into a frown" And oh they do try. So Josh and I had a little talk right about then. I told him it was ok to be a kid, it was ok to enjoy this and have fun. Yes some of the rides were very slow , some of the things were geared to 5 year olds more then 6 year olds ( in 2 days , 7) Just relax and have some fun at whatever you are doing.
Oh I miss my little guy!! He only comes out once in a while now...and I know from my friends that are Moms of older boys it gets less and less. I am not ready for that. I do love every stage, but this 7 year old year is going to be a rough one to adjust to. I just realized that he is 1/2 way ( well over 1/2 ) to becoming a teenager. Now that has just got to stop!!
Ok, ok now that I ranted about this, cause I can. I must say at the end of the day and after some very cool rides. Josh looked up at me and said " Mom , thanks for a great birthday present..it was a great day!"
See little glimpses ....that is all I need every once in a while. So on with the pictures...here are some fun ones!

Ok so no we didn't go to NYC , but OMG this was so amazing, they built this minitown out of legos...the details are just amazing. They are now building Las Vegas too, the ground is being done and they have all these guys working on it. It was very cool to see. I will post a link to the other mini Town shots soon.
We stopped on the way down the coast to get a few shots of the Pacific Ocean, My first time on this coast. I snapped this shot of Kate and Josh...I love it!



Yeah, Josh climbed the wall all the way up! He wanted to quit about 1/2 way up and I just said, you sure you don't want to ring the bell at the top? Well that was all it took and he scaled this whole wall like Spiderman in action! It was hard, I am so proud of him for going the distance.

I took this one for my racing fan friends. I have alot of shots of this Daytona Racing mini town. The cars actually race. It was a site to see. I got a great shots of the fans in the stands.
Ok so this just cracked me up, Hope you like it SIS!! This was in FairyTale Land!
This is on the Safari ride.....where else would you keep Zebras!
I loved this shot. I also love how little boys can make friends Instantly! They had to pull on the rope together as a team to get to the top. Josh had been hanging with the guys in line for the ride, and the other Mom said , how bout if you go with this little boy(meaning Josh) and I will sit this one out. It was a great suggestion. The smiles were priceless.

We were here!
This is that new sporting smile!

SO we are outta here in a few hours...and I am clicking my heels ..."there is no place like home"

Stillings are still here in CA!

Anyone that has been around Josh since about 2 years old might remember the stories of him not liking anything that flew by his head , crawled on the ground or just lived outside in general. He would come in the house screaming and crying uncontrollable. We actually used to sing "shu fly shu...don't bother me, with every step as we ventured outside until he was at least 5 years old. I remember having a playdate with a Mom and when she came over I was sobbing because Josh was in his room and refused to go outside ever again. Now he was only 2 and "ever" was about 5 mins in his world. But I honestly thought I was going to have a boy that didn't like to be outside. Fast forward 5 years and here he is petting a lizard. It just means so much to me. It is truly the little things. Now you can't get him to come inside and he loves playing outside. Now the occasional wasp will have him running ( me too!) , but for the most part he actually takes an interest in insects and the great outdoors. Now he wouldn't hold the little guy but he will touch them at least now!

Here he is the other day ( pre sick days) getting ready to be plunged into the air. He just loves this ride. I remember the little frog ride for kids and he would just giggle and giggle, now he is going 60 feet in the air ( probably more) and still loving it. He is my little thrill seeker. I am just not sure 6 times on California Screamin was the best thing to do!!

Can't leave Disneyland without the classic Mickey Picture!

This is Josh and I just having some fun in bed at the hotel a couple mornings ago. He loves to hold the camera out and get pics of us. I just which I had turned off the flash...it was bright! It makes him giggle so much tho and you can get some great fun pics. Take time to take the silly shots, first thing in the morning while you are looking your worse...it is great memories!

So today we are venturing to LEGOLAND! I know Dot and Patti are jealous...we might have to find them a little sump tn to bring back. Josh is very excited and I am so glad he is feeling better.

Josh got a bit of a bug while out here, they didn't even go to Disneyland the past couple of days and they have just been hanging out. Downtown Disney for an hour or so at ESPN but not much else. Lots of playing cards with Grandma and Mom in the room, but lucky for us Josh loves that and he played for hours. Thankful for the portable DVD and disney movies also.

Last night we went to the Rainforest Cafe and had a great meal. Josh had a cheeseburger and Fries and ate for the first time in 2 nights. It was good to see his appetite back and he is on the mend.

So we are renting a PT Cruiser and Cruising down the cost. Oh and Trish ....you will be happy know we have a GPS system with us....cousin to Betty!

I probably won't blog until I get home as we fly out in the morning...but you never know!

Have a great day and enjoy a little PEACE!