My fun eggs~

Just got this Easter on the Farm kit from Raspberry Road and just had to do this page. The word art is from Miss Boots herself. Hope all you good eggs have a marvelous and much blessed Easter. Luv y'all~Mat

May all of you have a Blessed Easter!

I wish all of you reading this a most blessed day of rejoicing our savior and enjoying your families and loved ones.
I hope this finds Carol & Charlie warm and able to get some much deserved rest; Gerri is free of her cold and not irritating Al; Miss Judy is having a blast with all those grandkids, Mike and Bob; Miss Linda is also free of her cold and not sharing it with Farmer McBrown and that her mom is speeding toward recovery from her surgery; and lastly, that Miss Scarlett & Rhett are resting and praising for the success of the surgery on their Kevin and that they enjoy the grandkids and great grandkids this Easter weekend. Love to all my blog "sisters".
We have had a week of freaky weather, severe storms with damaging strong winds, large hailstones, loss of electricity, devastating wildfires and little to none of much needed rain. I think here at my place, we registered about 1/4 inch of the wet stuff. Got hailstones here about quarter sized and smaller. No damage to my roof, windows or vehicles, but there are plenty around that are filing all kinds of insurance claims. The excessive heat (95+) and the high vicious winds have taken its toll on the wildfires just 70 miles west of us. They desperately need some relief. Last I heard was over 60k acres of burnt land, 116 homes gone and numerous homes (some the whole town) have been evacuated and not yet allowed back in them. I decided to make a few pages for my family to let them know how much I love them. I made this page from some photos of the magnolias in bloom last year when I went to Georgia, the photo of me was taken last month. This is my sister Kathy and her hubby of 41 years, Jim. The kit is a older freebie from Angelscrapper called Gerri's kit.This is their oldest son Jason and his wife Christina. Their page is a freebie from SC-hg.Here's their daughters Jade and Ruby in a freebie by Cuddlebeez called Easter surprise.Kathy & Jim's youngest, Jeff & his wife Tiff in a pretty freebie kit by CJS called Victorian Beauty.Next is the widow of my brother and the mother of his daughter~Myrl in a page created using Cuddlebeez's lullaby symphony kit.And here is my lovely niece Sebrina in a page created using the kit Natural Breeze from DigiDesignResort.And last but not least, my baby sister, Penny & hubby Weymond in a page created with Rose background (freebie with no TOU) some elements from Miss Carol's Ivory & Lace and some from SBF.Here's twin Lance and his Maggie in a page created with the freebie kit Easter Surprise by Cuddlebeez as is the page of their daughter Hayden.The other twin Lamar is in a kit freebie from Janniscrap designs called It's a Man Thing.And here is the baby with her hubby~Amy & Michael in a page created using kits from SBF and a Rose background and lace ribbon from Angelscrapper.
Again, I wish all of y'all a blessed Easter weekend and that you make many, many memories to share. Love to all and chat more with you later~Mat & "the girls"

Middle of April already?

Boy, the time sure seems to be flying past here lately! Tax deadline is already here and Easter is next Sunday....1/3 of this year is already history!
Surely glad all those severe spring storms have moved out of here, we had 5 tornados (1 EF-0 and 4 EF-1) lots of LARGE hail damage and lots and lots of wind damage. Not too much of the much needed moisture though and what rain did fall, the wind has already taken it away and has caused lots of wildfires 90 miles west of us. More than 25k acres have burned, 30+houses gone and over 200 homes evacuated. The smoke was almost choking here, cannot imagine what it was like there. Lots of power outages from lines being blown down in the area too! Those roofers and dent removers are working overtime.
Yesterday was the most perfect day ever...the wind finally stopped blowing the new leaves and blooms off, it was not hot, not humid, no fires burning to smell the smoke, just gorgeous. I weeded out some crabgrass, cleaned up other's trash from the yard preparing to mow the grass....NOPE...darn lawnmower will not start. O well, I played with my potted flowers, you know...watering, food and cleaning out the dead stuff from them. Felt good about all being cleaner looking except the grass being mowed and edged.
This morning I thought I would scrap a few pages and chat a little before the races start. So here are my pages. Still trying to learn all the tricks for Gimp. I used a freebie from Miss Linda and a couple from Raspberry Road. Of course all the photos I snagged from facebook accts....LOL! Hope y'all all are safe from this wicked weather and that you are very busy making memories to share with all of us later. Chat more later~Luv, MatGorgeous Maggie
The Hills at Crystal Lake
My little farmer Hayden

Happy Birthday Sebrina

Using new Gimp program as it seems to work with Windows7 where my version of Photoshop does not and cannot afford to buy the newest one just yet....so here is my attempt using it to wish my niece Sebrina a very happy birthday. Hope your day is as beautiful as you are. Love ya~Aunt Maryanne

Some photos of the dogwoods/azaleas/moss etc

These are some photos I took while visiting in South Georgia at the end of March. The woods were full of dogwood trees, the yards were full of azaleas and wisteria and the canopied roads were awesome with the moss hanging from them. The Flint River in Bainbridge was totally cool too~hope you enjoy the photos. Luv, Mat

Whew....what a week!

Hello y'all! Surely been a busy week for me. I tried planting a few pots of flowers, got the weed killer down in the back yard, sun helped most of them die, but now I have a few to dig up instead of a whole yard full of them! Got all the trash up and front and sides have been mowed, just not edged yet, but looking pretty good. The storm that came through with the hail and high winds dropped about an inch of water causing things to really "green" up, but those high winds every day since has already begun to dry out everything again, so got the watering hoses back out and watering my plants too! Got all caught up with work once again (after a week off) and I even got in a massive cleaning job on my living room, moved everything out and cleaned the floor and corners really good, then rearranged the furniture yet AGAIN! Poor "girls" just stumped as to why I have to mess with their comfortable spots....LOL! Here are a few of their faces I snapped, depicting their confusion! MzKitty is always the inquisitive one, Oreo just gets bored when she can't be in my lap and NOTHING bothers Pumpkin....But all 3 of them just love looking out the back door, wishing they were out there.....LOL! I have a new outdoor feral kitty that I have been feeding and it loves to drive my "girls" to distraction. I will try taking a photo of it, but will have to be through my screened window as it is still wild and will run when I try to go out when it is eating, but it knows when feeding times are and I can try sneaking in a couple...LOL!



We hope all of y'all are having a great week and weekend and beginning to enjoy some better weather that is more spring like. Have a great time making lots of memories and share them with all of us. Y'all all have a good one. I will also be GLUED to the TV on Saturday night as the NASCAR races are here this weekend. GO MARK!! Chat with y'all a little later. Luv, Mat

Happy~Happy~Happy!! LET'S TRAVEL SOME!

First to Louisiana to wish a Happy Birthday to Miss Chris today!

Now up to the colder climate in Ohio to wish a Happy Anniversary to Judy & Bob tomorrow!
I wish that you are all blessed with many more years ahead! Luv, Mat

I'm Baaaack from a little vacation~

Did ya miss me? I took a few days and visited my sister and her family in south Georgia. I so needed the break from here and was so happy to help her with some remodeling she has been procrastinating about. Too late to do that now, she has to move forward or never use her kitchen again...LOL! We tore down cabinets, Kilzed the ceiling and all the wall papered walls. We then put 2 coats of lovely neutral beige paint on them bringing her home into this century. I returned home on Monday and her new custom cabinets went in on Wednesday....sure hate that they did not get finished and installed before I left, but I surely am happy she has a new kitchen. They are hooking up the plumbing tonight on the new sink and faucet. She has a new 8 ft. bar with lots of STORAGE bins and cabinets now. They will be replacing the flooring next in the kitchen and dining area. Her hubby has used the Kilz on the ceiling and walls of the dining room and hallway. Painting that ceiling with a roller is a real PAIN in the neck and shoulders.
I somehow contracted a cold or virus (probably from the airplane) on my return and have been laid low for a few days with a very stuffy head and achy body and a deep hacking cough. The antibiotics have finally begun to kick in, the inhalers have helped a bit as well as the cough syrup and the rest, lots of liquid intake and homemade chicken noodle soup, too, to make me feel halfway human again....LOL!My "girls" were surely happy I came home....they will not leave my side or stay out of my lap for very long....nice to be missed. There's just no place like home is there? All those hugs and love left on the doorstep sure made my return so worth it. I did not correspond with anyone while I was there, so I really had a lot of e-mails and messages when I got back.
I took quite a few photos of Hayden while there, so I have made a few pages of her while resting....that laptop sure is handier when you are flat in bed...LOL! Anyhow, here are a couple of them. Isn't she growing like a weed? She is so very smart too, she can say her ABC's, count to 20, carry on a conversation with you and you can actually understand her....AND she can use a computer better than I can at 2 years old. Strong willed to boot, too! So like her daddy and mama....LOL! Not sure where all the kits came from as they are all older kits, but a couple of them are from CJS kits, thanx to all who contributed to my fun pages.
We had 52 for a high here on Tue and Wed and today it hit 90....crazy spring weather, no wonder we all have the sniffles....and no rain as of yet. For the month of March a grand total of .07 on the rain gauge. Those of you still experiencing old man winter, I really feel for you and the invitation to come to sunny Texas still stands. Hope y'all have a terrific weekend making many memories to share. Chat with ya more later, luv Mat