Pickle Juice

The fable of the donkey

Every year our family celebrates Passion Week with some fun activities but one tradition remains the same. The family devotion that my husband leads every night.

Conversation from 2 years ago between my husband and our son who was 9 at the time–

D: why don’t you read this passage

N: Dad, I can’t there’s a cuss word in my Bible.

D: There isn’t a cuss word in your Bible, but bring it over here to me so that I can take a look.

dad overlooks passage and discovers the word in question (“ass”)

D: That word isn’t a bad word, but the world has made it bad. When ever you see it, just remember to always use the word donkey instead.

N: Yeah, I agree. I guess it would be bad it you asked someone for a ride on their ass.

mom and dad exchanged stunned glances

Fast forward to this year - -

We seem to be improving a little.

This year my 6 year old yelled at the dinner table “Oh oh I know this part! It is when Jesus rides into town on a big honky”

so there you go.

My own ISB# :)

I have my own ISB# - who knew!

Find Your Groove

Here’s the info:

Along with Wendy & I, the main contributors are:

Audrey Neal, Karen Burniston, Cheryl Manz, Helen McCain, Kathleen Summers, Kelly Goree, Mindy Bush, Shannon Landen, Stephanie Vetne, Deena Wuest, Alexis Hardy, Kathe Cunningham, Janet Ohlsen, Alecia Grimm, Kathleen Paneitz, Sharyn Tormanen, Vicki Harvey and Kimber McGray.

There is also a large gallery featuring many other artists!

The book is available for preorder at many sites and it will release June 4. I'm sure I will have some of them with me when I'm teaching at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington in June. (I'm teaching a class sponsored by Creative Imaginations).

I'm looking forward to that trip. Reconnecting with a few old friends and of course, seeing my family.

Have a great day!

See, I had this argument with my friend Karen last year.

It was ugly.

It was nasty.

It was about American Idol.

She had this devotion for “her Elliott” and it was so easy to mock.

I mean  one   easy   target.

I had a devotion for my boy Daughtry. He was so cool.

It all got ugly,

when I sent her this innocent comparison:

then -

she

fired

this

back

at

me:

It was on.

Now a season later, this can still be a discussion. But hey, don’t take my word for it. I think album sales alone will speak for themselves.

Chris’ album has already sold a mere 304,000 this week alone. Daughtry will have true holding power and we will all sadly watch while Karen’s Elliott will soon be “Aiken-ed”.

See, today marks a special day for Karen. Today, Elliott’s album went on sale. I’m surprised that she is even aware of this because of her car episode, but thanks to her new best friend (& kiss up) Mary, she now knows. Thanks Mary.

I think there should be some sort of a truce. I mean, after all - we are in another season. Time to move on.

I suggest that Karen and I both attend Idol Camp and go head to head. That should settle it. I can't sing, but I can ding one mean triangle.

 

Like totally - fer sure - fer sure

I was a teen in the 80s and I loved it. I was thrilled when Mallory Keeton got engaged, heard rumors how Mikey died from eating Pop Rocks, knew that I didn’t want to be gagged with a spoon and I longed to be a Square Peg. If I ever found myself in trouble I knew I could count on Magnum, MacGyver, Simon and Simon or the A-team. I learned to just say no from Nancy, knew that Joanie really loved Chachi, longed for a ride with Bo in the General Lee and was informed how to RELAX like Frankie. I was intensely sad when Mr. Rogers and Gordon on Sesame Street died, practiced my gymnastics routine because I wanted to be like Nadia and I knew in order to really dance, I had to kick off my Sunday shoes.

Speaking of shoes - I used to think that these shoes were the coolest things ever. I had them in every color.

Jellies

Reminiscing can make you either feel really young or prehistoric.

What makes me feel old –

-my kids saw a picture of me as a teen holding up a record. They asked why I had the big CD.

-if I search for 80s music, it is now under the section “Oldies”

-I hear an 80s song and think “that was my prom theme!”

-Fonz, Richie, Potsie, Ralph, Bo, Luke, and Daisy Duke can now become AARP members

-at the grocery store I saw a sign at the register that said “you must have been born before such-and-such date to purchase alcohol"...and the date was 1986! The year I graduated high school. Ouch.

but what made me feel old this morning? Another wrinkle?

No – it was this picture of the man I pledged my love to in 1984.

and to think I used to think he was hot.

UPDATE:

(I see from some posts that some of you don't know who this is - it is Eddie Van Halen!)

What is tomorrow---really?

I know that I said I would post a message here "tomorrow" - but what is tomorrow really? A day - a week?

What a busy but fun couple of weeks this has been -

-my 6 year old lost his second tooth and swears he looks at least 7.

-got three layouts picked up from Memory Makers

-went on a date with husband to the best b-b-q place that I've eaten at since moving to GA.

**cough cough Memory Makers accepted another book proposal from me & Wendy. :)**

-got hired to photograph a large fund raiser/sport event

-both of the older boys lost their (basketball) playoff games. :(

-had lunch with a new friend (Hi Renee'!)

-gained 2 pounds :(

-got flowers from a friend

-dog ran away (yippee!)

-dog came back (dang!)

-was hired to take pics of a mother/daughter event at my church. :)

you see nothing here.

Tune in tomorrow for a cryptic message.

How Sweet the Sound

How sweet the sound

Do you know what tomorrow is? It is Amazing Grace Sunday. This day will be celebrated at many churches including my own. My pastor will be interviewing Zack Hunter (who is only 15), the author of the book Be the Change. There will also be some others at the church as well – like CNN and Good Morning America. I better get there early for a seat! J

The upcoming movie Amazing Grace is about how slavery was fought over and ended. Speaking for those who can not speak for themselves. Amazing Grace Sunday will also be drawing attention to slavery that still exists today. According to Amnesty Intl., there are approximately 27 million enslaved people around the world.

What can you do: be a part of the amazing change

Be the voice for those who can not speak for themselves.

It might be 2007 - - but His grace is still amazing.

Absentee

Ahhhhh - I am such a slacker! I have not posted in what seems forever! Please forgive :) 

CHA trip - The trip started out odd. I flew to California with my friend Shannan and I must have had on a shirt that said "If you are a freak, please speak to ME" because it seemed that every odd bird on that flight had something to say to ME. The flight attendants felt sorry for me and Shannan dealing with these quacks so they gave us a free movie and drinks. Pitiful. Memory Makers sent me a thumbnail of my book and Shannan and I spent some time editting that on the flight. I call Shannan my "word nerd" - she has saved my tail.

The book - Wendy and I got to meet with the editor at CHA for about 1 hour and talked and talked. We just love her! We had to turn in all of our edits and corrections (thanks again Shannan). It is in the last push now and will go to print in 1 week! Woohoo! It will be available in May and for those coming to CHA summer in Chicago, we would love to give it to you there. :)

CHA was a lot of fun! Having been in the industry a few years, I have met some wonderful people.  In some ways, CHA is like a family reunion...except, there isn't that weird uncle. heh

A few pics:

My CHA date :)

CHA sneak peaks

Just a few sneak peaks from me this time.....

These two projects are for the Creative Imaginations upcoming catalog. I made these blocks (Bare Elements) using Samantha Walker's line Zoom Zoom that came out at Memory Trends. This was a fun project to make!

This frame (Bare Elements) was done using the Romantic Getaway line from Teri Martin which also came out at Memory Trends.

These two layouts were done using the Renea's House line.

Aww so fun! In this layout

                         (pic is of my friend's twins :) ) I used the Sami collection.

This paper is my favorite - so fun! I bet if I decorated my kitchen like this, I might actually cook something good! I used the Miss Elle collection that is also a part of the Renea's House line.

It's gone - it's outta here!

Wendy and I received an early Christmas present - a thumbnail copy of our book! We just finished all of the tweaks and edits and Wendy sent it Fed Ex yesterday. RIght before it goes to print, they will send us a copy to look over for a day and then it hits the presses. :)  It will release close to Summer CHA.

Here is the link of it on Amazon, but we believe there will be cover changes. :)

Find Your Groove

This has been such a fun and unique experience. One that I never dreamed of. Well, ok I have dreamed of it, but I never thought it would happen. Maybe I should start dreaming that I am skinny again?