The world will never be the same...

...without this lovely soul.

My grandmother left our world this morning to take her place next to our Lord. We were all so very lucky to have her in our lives for as long as we did. How many people my age are blessed to have 2 grandparents in their lives for so long? I am so happy that Ryan knew my grandmother, his great grandmother. She adored him. He was her boy. He knew that and loved her just the same. She will be missed. Her stories will be missed. Her smile will be missed. Her wisdom will be missed. She took care of us until the end...if only in her prayers for us. That was what she did. Her prayers could work wonders in even the darkest hour.

In your daily comings and goings, please take a moment to say a prayer for my grandfather, who will continue on without her by his side. I cannot even imagine how it would be to lose the person who you spent over 70 years of your life with.

God bless you Gram! I will miss you with all of my heart.

Stick a fork in me....

...I'm done! Have you ever felt this way? I'm just done. I want to do nothing. No more school work, no more ironing, no more making lunches, cleaning litter boxes, scrapping, vacuuming, washing dishes, paying bills, talking on the phone, shopping, sitting at this computer! Any of it...I don't want to do any of it.

Nothing happened. I'm not miserable. No bad mood. Nothing. I just want to do nothing. Does that sound odd? Has anyone ever felt his way before or am I all alone in this world?

Hello There!

Just digging myself out from underneath a huge pile of homework papers. Let's see 167 kids times 3 homework assignments a week = one tired me! On top of that, it is hard to believe that it is mid-quarter already...which means sending out 167 progress reports by tomorrow! I hope this all gets easier as I go...or I get faster!

Blogging has taken a back seat, and I am going to try to update more. I actually had a chance to scrap today. It was for an assignment, so I can't share it right now. I do have a layout that I can share. I did this one a little while back for a call of some sort. It never got picked up which made me sad because I like it a lot. I need to do more 2 pagers!

Seeing these pictures from 2 years ago made me see how much Ryan has grown. I sometimes don't see it because I am with him every day. These pics are proof...he's a big kid now!

I'm also really excited about getting some goodies from Quickuts. They were super generous with the HOF girls this year, and I had a chance to pick some goodies from their website. I decided that I want to try out some wall art. I got myself some of this cool vinyl

I got several different colors, and I am so excited to get them! Since I did some home improvement over the summer, I have lots of empty wall space to get decorated...this will be perfect and fun!

Speaking of HOF, the 2008 HOF gals will have another HOF Product Challenge up at the CK website for October. Stop by after the 1st to check it out and play along! It will be a good one!

Well, off to bed as tomorrow is the start of another school week! Hope you all have a super Monday!

Checking In!

Swimming in school work and totally neglecting my blog. I never thought there would be so much work in teaching. Lots of papers to grade and lessons to plan. I know the first year with a subject is the hardest, and I know it will get easier. Believe me, I am not complaining. I do love my job...really. Like with any other job, I have good days and not-so-good days. The key is to let it go at the end of each day and start fresh. That keeps me sane. They are only kids, and kids will be kids. I know some teachers who have held grudges against kids for years because they acted up or gave them problems. I can't be that way. It's better for everyone.

So, not to much scrapping going on at all. I do have a few layouts and projects partially done, but that has been all I have been able to manage. My camera is getting lonely this month. I have barely touched it. I am patiently waiting for my goodies for the Fancy Pants DT...can't wait to get started! Hope everyone is doing well. I miss blog surfing and hope to have some free time tomorrow to see what you are all up to! Keep smiling and enjoying your week!

SBE Final Challenge is Up!

I am so excited to share this mini album with everyone! It felt so good to scrap something about myself. I spend so much time scrapping Ryan and everyone else. Of course, there are pictures of others on my pages, but it was hard to leave them out because they are such a big part of my life. So, without further ado, here is my submission for the BHG Scrapbooks, Etc. Ulitmate Summer Final Challenge!

I used Tinkering Ink's triangular shaped garland for the book itself. Love that stuff. I just thought it would make a darling mini book. I used BasicGrey Offbeat papers...my favorite BG line! I used embroidery floss to sew a bead border on one side of each page, alternating the side from page to page. That was fun...told you I loved beads! Lots of buttons, brads, and plastic rings to dress it up! The pages are held together with binder rings tied with some ribbon to spruce them up a bit. This surely was a fun project!

So, I would love if any of you guys voted for me. You can register here and vote every day up until the 20th. You have no idea how thrilled I would be to win....cloud 9, baybee! I am off to get some chores done....the weekend is here! Yippee! Hope you are all enjoying your Friday!

Getting ready for the Final Challenge!!

This past week was crazy! I had to take a short vacation away from the computer to try to catch myself up on things in life. I worked on my lesson plans all weekend, and then my final challenge for the BHG Scrapbooks, Etc. Ultimate Summer Challenge all this week so far. I finished my project yesterday and e-mailed the pictures today with less than 24 hours to spare. I am very excited about the mini-book that I created. I think it turned out kind of neat. I originally planned on using some Tinkering Ink Becoming Green papers for it, but I somehow ended up working the BasicGrey. It just happened. For whatever reason, the BG just spoke to me. And since I was on such a tight deadline, I had to go with it. I did start another project with the TI, so I hope to share that this weekend sometime.

Anyway, this was the challenge that the ten finalists received:

"About Me" Mini-Album
Showcase your scrapbooking skills with an "all about me" 8-page (4 pages front and back), mini-album. It's that simple! Just tell us about yourself and use everything in your repertoire to dazzle your peers on your way to becoming $2,500 richer!

I am really excited and nervous about this final challenge. I know the competition will be tough, and the stakes are high! Who wouldn't want to win $2,500?????? I believe that voting opens at 10:00 am E.T on September 12 and ends at 12:59 am on September 20. What a nerve-racking 8 days that will be! It is really tough to watch the votes go up (or not go up). I really try to stay away from the computer as much as possible, but it really is hard not to check.

I thank all of you who voted daily for me last time....you all helped me win and become a finalist! I hope that you will take the time to vote this time around. Remember that you can vote one time each day. And if you have not voted in any of the other rounds in the contest, you can register to vote here. I appreciate all of the help that everyone gives me!

I plan on sharing my mini-book here on the blog as soon as I get the okay. I am sure they do not want us sharing before the final round actually starts. I will, however, share this page with you.

It appeared in the Memory Makers Idea Gallery a few months back. I received a message the other day from a girl who wanted to let me know that she lifted my design. I was thrilled that I could give someone some inspiration. I really liked this layout and was happy that it got picked up. I think I might add "2007" to this layout and then do one every year to document Ryan's world each year. This was such a fun layout to do. I managed to get the important pics AND the journaling in!

Well, thanks for stopping by (if anyone is still around)! Hope your week is going great!

Franklin Whittaker Zielinski dies at home

It was a sad day for us. Ryan's favorite hamster died after we arrived home from school. He seemed fine last night. I heard him in his cage chewing his wood stick. When I went to clean his cage out, I picked him up. He was not as warm as he usually is, and he was sluggish. I just knew he was dying. I told Ryan, who took it pretty well. He is sad, of course, but understands that death is a natural part of life. I placed him in a small container with some bedding, covered him with a paper towel, and sat him next to Ryan as he was doing his homework. He was breathing heavy, opening his mouth, and making an odd noise. I knew it was only a matter of time. He died about 10 minutes later. I watched him take his last breath. I am glad that we were there when he died. It would have been much worse to find him dead in his cage. Ryan was not afraid to pick him up after he died, and that made me happy. It showed that he is not afraid of death. He passed away surrounded by those who loved him. Some may say that he was only a hamster, but he was our pet...and we loved him. He will be sadly missed.

HOF Challenge: BasicGrey

I spent most of my "Creative Sunday" doing work for school, so I was feeling a bit stressed about not being able to scrap. Don't get me wrong, when I do my lesson plans, I am being creative...just in a different way. I do enjoy it, but it is just not the same as scrapbooking. So, I put the books aside and took some time out to let the scrapping mojo flow.

This month's HOF Challenge at the CK website was to use BasicGrey. I have to say that BG is one of my all time favorite companies. So much that I often find myself hoarding it a bit too much. The problem is that I hoard it for so long that I rarely get to use it. So, I was thrilled to pull some of my HOF goodies out and go to town. I had some birthday pictures that I wanted to scrap, so I chose the Cupcake collection, which turned out to be the perfect choice! Because it was an adult birthday, I chose some of the darker colored patterns. The swirly cardstock sticker down the middle was yellow, so I inked it up with a red stamp pad. I also cut the "happy" off of the "happy birthday" cardstock sticker and made my own "happy" with the BG letter stickers. Lastly, I cut some of the candles shorter to fit around my title better. Mostly everything on my page is BG with the exception of the small phrase stickers in the upper left hand corner which are Scenic Route and the "celebrate" rub on which is Creative Imaginations. I even used BG fibers to thread my buttons! I can't remember the last time I used fiber! Oh my!

If you have a chance, stop on over the CK website to see what the other HOF gals created, and if you create your own BasicGrey layout...you might be able to win a CK book of your choice! You can check out Erin's post here. Sounds good to me! I hope everyone has a super wonderful day!

Happy Labor Day!

And happy September! It's hard to believe that August is over already. Boy, time does fly! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mine was busy, but good. I want to shout out a big "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart to all of you who left comments and sent e-mails about my new Fancy Pants DT gig! I appreciate every one's congrats and support! I am eager to get started and am excited that you are all excited to see what I create with their awesome products! It will be fun!

I was downloading some pictures from my camera, and I decided to share this one of Ryan on his first day of school this year. 3rd Grade!

Oh my, when I first saw this picture, I about fell over. He is just getting so big so fast. For those of you who have known me for a while...do you remember when my buddy looked like this?

This face was just looking at me last night! Or it seems like that, at least! Mom always said that time goes by faster the older you get...she was right. But, shhhh...don't tell her that I admitted that she was right...LOL!

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day here in the U.S. Take a break...you deserve it. For those of you not in the U.S....enjoy your Monday! Stay tuned tomorrow for a layout share...yippee!