Good Morning!

Hello all, another hump day has arrived! It's cold here this morning 27 degrees so far and frosting over! Supposed to head back up to the low 60's for the rest of the week. Got our taxes filed and out of the way and will even get back a few dollars. That is always nice. We didn't get back home until after 9 so we went to bed without dinner. Sure woke up hungry! LOL!

Well, had a little time on my hands at work yesterday so created a page of one of our travels. I'm sure you have seen some of the photos before, but I had a lot of different freebies I wanted to play with. The photos are from our 2005 trip to Wyoming and the Grand Tetons. The freebies are from Donna's Designs, CJS Scrapbooking with Attitude, Schaarka and Happy Scrappy. You can find link blinkies to Donna and CJS here on the right! Hope you enjoy your day and the rest of the week that is on the downhill slide to the weekend! Luv, Mat

Tax Filing Day

The deadline is here for us. We file our income taxes this evening. Spent most of yesterday putting all our papers in order. What a job! We had a picnic here Sunday as it was a beautiful spring day in February. Grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob and had fresh bread. We also had a marvelous salad and dumpcake with ice cream or Angelfood cake with strawberries for dessert. Nice and fattening huh? Mary came over, and we had friends that had moved from the neighborhood and all their children over as well as some of the current neighbors. We were celebrating not only a gorgeous day with family and friends, but the fact the "drug dealer" next door was finally moving out. So glad our neighborhood is cleaning up.

Yesterday the high winds came in (25-35 mph)bringing fires and higher temps. It actually hit 90 degrees at the airport. The front came through overnight and it is 43degrees this morning with the high winds again today and only to hit mid 50's before dropping to 32 degrees tonight. And everyone wonders why our hospitals are full of flu victims.

Since I have not had time to make a new page, thought I would share this one I made of our trip canoeing down the Florida river in November. Enjoy the peaceful and serenity in it. The kit is a freebie by clynpaint (SBF member)! Have a terrific day! Luv, Mat

Fabulous Saturday

What a great day! Started out early with so little to do today. Got off early yesterday so did most of my chores before bed last night. It has been a productive day for me, I actually got to make a few pages. Here is MzKitty with her famous stare created using Belita freebie by PascaleA. Oreo was laying in the sunshine just drowsing she is in Glorious freebie by PascaleA. Pumpkin was just watching all going on, her page is Believe freebie also by PacaleA. I had fun extracting all of them. I am beginning to ache from sitting at this computer too long, so think I will cut this post short and go lounge in my new loveseat and watch the TV for awhile before I finish cleaning up the kitchen from dinner. Have a great evening all! Luv, Mat

The Weekend is in site!!!

Good Morning, just wanted to say the weekend is almost here. Can hardly wait for it. Been a long tough week with way too much excitement. Got new furniture, new drapes, had to change and rearrange, the conference, back to work to catch up, then some idiot with nothing else to do at 9:30 at night makes a FALSE call to the fire department to say our house was on fire. What a site with 4 fire trucks, ambulance, chief's squad and 2 police units all with lights and sirens in our small little cul-de-sac. What a waste of time, money and energy. Sure takes awhile to calm down the neighborhood, ourselves included, and get on to bed to get up before dawn. Wish I knew who did it.

Anyhow we reached 75 yesterday, today we have already had our high of 50, steadily dropping today with wind out of the north and rain. I see the freezing rain is going to miss us this time though and head to the east into the Ohio valley. Sorry for those over there. And those further north, hope you can shovel out and defrost before May or June. Not making fun, just feel for all of you. I just can't handle that cold. Looks like spring is just around the corner here though. Sure wished we could have seen the lunar eclipse last night, but the clouds kept it hidden from view.

Off to work, got the girls fed, litterboxes clean, fresh water, bed made, now time to get dressed and on my way. Have a great day everyone. Chat more later. Luv, Mat!

In a remembering mood, this was last photo taken of mother and her 3 daughters together. Summer of 1982 before Kathy & family headed to Germany, I lived in Texas and Penny still at home in Georgia. The kit is called True Love by Ms Jenny that you can find on her blinkie link here or at her Scrapping4you2 site.

Is it Friday yet?

I know it is only Tuesday, but...have been so busy with a conference for Anesthesia Administrators of Texas that I feel I have already worked a full week. The conference started on Sunday at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, about 15 miles northeast of me. It finished this afternoon, so back to regular work hours for me tomorrow. I did learn some new billing/collection techniques for the insurance carriers, so guess my time was not wasted.

We have had a lovely day today, hit 65 but the cold is due back on Thursday with rain and cold on Friday again, but the weekend is to be almost spring like. I think will be cooking outside again this weekend. Yea!

We went looking for a new sofa on Sunday before the Daytona, wound up buying me a new one that reclines on both ends and a rocking/reclining loveseat with a console in the center. Imagine my surprise! We have them in place now, out with the old stuff and now am having to redecorate with new drapes, etc. Fun, fun, fun!! The girls sure do love that new leather too! Now if I can just get finished putting up all my wooden blinds before my new drapes go up.

Soggy Saturday

Well, the promised and much needed rain finally got here. It has been raining off and on since mid afternoon on Friday. Turned a lot colder too. Some of the showers today have been accompanied by thunder and lightning AND power surges, so have tried to stay off this computer and do my weekly chores. I got the sweeping, mopping, dusting, bed made, bathrooms cleaned, litter boxes changed, and my last load of clothes is in the dryer (5 loads)! I even packed up 4 boxes of the LP albums to get them out of my bedroom Amazing what can be accomplished when you stay away from the computer...LOL!

Had company until late last evening so did not get on here at all. Thanx ladies for stopping by to look and leave comments and hugs. I have a huge pot of vegetable soup on, gonna make a pan of cornbread and that is about the extent of my day! Think I will sit back and relax, read or scrap (weather permitting)or may just take a nap...yeah, that sounds good.

Here is a page of my family. Last known photo of the 4 of us together before the big D in 1957. My dad, my mom, my sister Kathy and I. I used a Vintage quickpage by CJS's Carol(Doodlebug)that you can find on the CJS Scrapbooking With Attitude site. Thanx for looking! Catch ya next time. Luv, Mat

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy day to all of you. Just home from work and feeling good. I stopped and treated myself to a massage. Nice end to a busy week I suppose. The weather is great here today, pretty windy(40 mph)but warm. Supposed to steadily start dropping though so think I will make a big pot of potato soup for the weekend. Maybe a big pan of cornbread. What else do you need? My honey to snuggle with and movies to watch and hybernate. I hope to get in some scrapping time too. Hope all of you have had a terrific day/evening in store with you special love. Signing off early tonight as I have plans with my signicant other.

Before I leave I made a special page for my sisters so am putting it on here for them to see. The kit I used is by Creative Victorian Designs called Inherit Blessings. The photo was made at my office on 2/7/08. Happy 24th Anniversary to my little sis/BIL Penny/Weymond and HVD to Sis/BIL Kat/Jim.

Middle of the Week

Hello all, I sure do feel better after 8 hours of rest. I mean real rest too, no tossing and turning and cat napping for 8 hours. I took some Tylenol Arthritis before bed and it knocked me out. (I'm such a wuss with meds am allergic to pain killers!) Anyhow I feel much better.

This yo-yo weather really works a number on the old body. Yesterday we had 30-35 mph winds from the north that pushed our rain through really fast and left it cool in the mid 50's, got down to 35 last night to go back to 60 today, hit 70 tomorrow then back to freezing and not out of the 30's for the weekend with more rain for Friday and Saturday that could turn into ice. If that is true (?) will shut down lots of things around here. We are just not equipped to handle ice down here. (I know all you north of me are laughing your butts off!!! I hear it, I used to live in Detroit!!) My point is, if all is shut down....I may get to do some SCRAPPING!!!!

Well, the "girls" are ready to eat, so starts my morning. Guess I will hush and get ready to start my day. Hope all have a marvelous one no matter what you do. I am off to work, chat with all of you this evening. Thanx for viewing my site and leaving such nice comments. Luv, Mat

This is a page I did a while back of my Dad and my step mom Helen. I really like this kit by Donna. You can find a link to her blog here or at CJS Scrapbooking With Attitude and it is called Genevieve's Vintage by Designs by Donna

Monday, Monday

Remember that old song by the Mamas and Papas? Well today was definitely MONDAY all day long. A very busy Monday too! What a difference a day makes in Texas weather as well. We hit 73 today with a strong south wind, now the front is approaching from the northwest to bring us nasty weather and colder days and maybe even some rain. The rest of the week we will be lucky to hit 50. That folks is what they call a blue norther in TX where the temps drop 25 degrees plus in one day. So many people are home from work and the hospitals are full of cold, flu and pneumonia patients. Wonder why? You never know how to dress around here this time of year. Anyhow, it was an extremely busy day for me at work today so am a little late with my post. Am including a page of my paternal grandmother and my father that I made for a challenge on a scrap site using a specific freebie kit they offered for the challenge. This was made in 1961. I cannot find any information on my grandmother beyond her parents names. She gave birth to 8 children, outlived 3 husbands and died in 1974. She was very, very special to me and I still miss her today. Guess I will cut this short tonight and hit the sack early as I awoke at 2:15 this morning and tossed and turned until 5:15 before I got up. The storms are to hit between 11-4 so will probably be awakened again. This old body needs some rest and Oreo is talking to me about going to bed so think I will. Have a great night and a better day tomorrow. Luv, Mat

Restful Sunday????

Well, my aspirations for a day of just scrapping flew out the window. The day surely has been one of the prettiest we have had since last spring. We finally decided to get the TV credenza out of his step mom's storage and bring it over here (at her urging). So that means I had to make room for it and remove old cabinets I had been using. Now I have NO SPACE for my record collection, so I am scratching my head to determine if I want to keep them, put them on E-bay or just toss them (over 1k)! My girls have had a lovely time checking out all the new furniture, and the treasure trove of their goodies that we found under the old cabinets. It is like Christmas for them...LOL! Anyhow, it has been a productive if not ENTERTAINING day, just not the relaxed day I had thought I would have.

Hope all of you have had a terrific day and are looking forward to another work week. Did I actually type that? O Well, it is here whether we want it to be or not. So make it the best you can. Here is a photo of my maternal great great grandparents. I created in Photoshop using freebie kit from Creative Victorian called Refined Legacy. Luv, Mat

Meet My Girls

Meet MzKitty, she is my first feral rescue, found in our backyard in June of 2005, she weighed in at .75 pds when I took her to the vet after 3 days of feeding her by hand. She is our alpha girl and Miss Diva for sure. She is a tortishell calico with gorgeous yellow eyes. This layout was done using a freebie kit from Designs by Donna called a Touch of Spice, you can find her link on my page here or at CJS Scrapbooking With Attitude.

And this is OREO

Oreo was born August 12, 2005. She was in a litter of 4 ferals delivered at our dear friends house. They took the babies in and took care of them until they were about 6 weeks old. Since they had 5 cats of their own, they attempted to find homes for these rescues. Our neighbor took Oreo and I got the the totally black female runt, but when we got home with the kittens, Oreo took to me and would cry when my neighbor tried to take her home, so we switched. She kept Stormy and we got Oreo. MzKitty did not like her at first, but eventually warmed up to her. For the first year of their lives, MzKitty and Oreo went to work with me everyday. The other two in this litter wound up being number 6 & 7 for our friends. Oreo is a Tuxedo black and white with beautiful silky black fur and green, green eyes. This layout was created using a freebie called Fired up by Tina at Tina's Creations that you can also find a link to here or at CJS Scrapbooking With Attitude.

Ta Da the baby...Pumpkin

And this is our BABY girl. Pumpkin showed up in July of 2006, hungry, dirty and missing a lot of fur off her tail. She was about 8-10 weeks old according to the vet. It took almost a month of feeding her and talking to her in the back yard (where she lived under our barn) for her to allow capture of her. We took her to the vet to make sure she was okay to bring in with MzKitty and Oreo. She got her shots and a clean bill of health and joined our family. MzKitty still has fights with her occasionally, but Oreo took her as her baby and to this day they are always together. Pumpkin has taken the longest to become friendly and docile, just now beginning to feel comfortable around people. She is a gorgeous orange tabby with beautiful markings and eyes the color of her fur. She is so soft and has a tiny meow but has the loudest purr of all our girls. This layout was done using freebie called Mint Chocolate by Donna at Designs by Donna at link here or at CJS Scrapbooking With Attitude.

It's FRIDAY!!!

Well, Friday is finally here! Sure has been a long week. I don't have any plans for this weekend other than the normal grocery shopping, house cleaning, laundry and cooking duties. I am hoping to be able to actually do some scrapping this weekend. Will see..

During my check up yesterday, the doc put another holter monitor on for 24 hours just to see if the medications are controlling the atrial fibrillation okay. My BP was excellent and I have even lost 3 pounds (about 27 to go!) over the holidays. Heading in for this thing to be removed in about an hour. Whoopee, it does not hurt, just bothersome and with all the wires, my "girls" think I have a new play toy for them. LOL!

I am having so much fun with this blog, am sorry I did not get into it earlier. Thanx so much Carol for the help and Chris for the push. I really appreciate all my "sisters" that have checked in and left the very welcoming comments too!

Well, got to finish up here, head over to get this monitor removed, then to grocery shop and on home early. That is a nice treat too. We are supposed to have a lovely weekend with no WIND and temperatures in the low 70's so Mike will be grilling our meals and leaving me with more time to scrap....yeah right! I still have to fix it for him to grill...LOL!

Happy Weekend to all and watch for the scrapped pages. Luv, Mat

Good Morning!

Okay, made it through the middle of the week. Learned a few more things about how to customize my blog spot. I added my cat clock, the counter, and my C-box for messages last evening and found out how to make corrections and upload photos. Learning is the fun part, the hard part is trying to determine just what all I want to put on here.


Ms Carol (CJS) is still rendering assistance in getting this site up and running for me. I am pretty busy at work today as I will be leaving early for an appointment at the doctor's this afternoon. Will chat with all of you a little later...Luv, Mat

Welcome to my blog

Hello all,

This is my first attempt at a blog site. Since all my friends are doing it and having way too much fun, I thought I would ask for some help and join in the fun. Thanx Carol for all your help. I am a digital scrapping addict so you will probably see a lot of my attempts to create THE page for my numerous scrapbooks.

I have been a waitress, typesetter, data input operator, police dispatcher, secretary, and am now an anesthesia office manager. I have been with my current employer for 19 yrs next month. I am in an office by myself so I have a lot of time on my hands. I paper scrapbook and do genealogy research with a lot of that spare time. I am still on dialup here, so I cannot do a lot of uploading/downloading, or voting, etc on the digital sites, but I sure can read the blogs and look at all of them. I can create my scrap pages and take them home and upload them.

Thanx for taking a look at my site...hopefully, I will get the full swing of it all soon.

Luv, Mat