To Honor Patriots Day

Today holds so much meaning for people everywhere. For me, its the first ( and hopefully only) huge historic day that I actually lived thru and remember so vividly. Living in New York then, where I had lived my whole life up to that point, made the event so much larger.
I was driving to work in the opposite direction of NYC when I heard  the local radio station describe what they thought was happening.  Almost instantly, many, many police cars, fire trucks and emergency vehicles went flying by towards the city on the Southern State Parkway. To say it was scary does not even come close.From my Parents house, the air was so thick with smoke and a heavy smell, it sometimes seemed like it would never go away. I lost several friends from childhood and high school that day, most of whom where emergency responders to the scene. Thoughts and prayers go out to all who were affected that day and in the days to come.
I am proud to say that my Brother In Law has been one of the men hard at work on the Freedom Tower, and will be there till its done.
I thought it was appropriate to share half of my Fourth of July layout today with you. We had the pleasure of having the 9/11 flag as the parade marshall this year. It was quite an honor to watch it go by, proudly held by many of our local responders. A wonderful couple who had lost their son in the tragedy were instrumental in bringing the flag to our little seaside town.

I took the idea for this layout from a Cricut idea book. I am pleased with how it came out.

As today comes to a close, prayers for peace are still in order.

Many thanks for stopping by...

I Think I'm Back...

Yea!!!! Happy Day!!! I think Im finally back on track with this blog. I still am not sure what happened to my other background and header. And what makes it more frustrating is when its something I had paid for, and when I try to get help form this woman- I instead got no response whatsoever. I will certainly never recommend anything she has to do  with.
But on to bigger and better things~ out with the bad karma.
This past week I had a birthday. We had a wonderful time. I got to go to Mrytle Beach and my sister took me to a Chris Young concert at The House Of Blues. He is so cute, sings great and we had an awesome time. Thats besides the fact that A woman screamed  " WHOOOO" at the top of her lungs for the entire show, and then proceeded to spill her beer all over me. And then apologized in her own drunken way for another 20 minutes, and last but not least- spit gum in my hair while yelling one of her "WHOOOOS".
There were about 7 or 8 pieces of green minty gum stuck in my hair. I kept feeling her touch my hair, but since we were standing so close, I kinda thought she was leaning on me. When I touched my hair, I felt something sticky- to which my sister starting laughing and trying to get the gum out at the same time. She did get out the small pieces, but it took the conceirge at the hotel we were staying at to get out her big scissor and start cutting away at my hair.
Good thing at this point we thought it was pretty funny. Yes, I watched the rest of the concert like that- yes, I drove to the hotel like that- and yes, I even got Wendys and walked into a really nice hotel like that. Full of bright green ABC gum. (already been chewed). LOL.  My pineapple rum drink must have been a bit stronger than I thought.  Only kidding- at $7.50 for a tiny paper cup, I did not get much rum.
And there was much more birthday fun to come.
More tomorrow.
Many thanks for stopping by...

A PEAK AT MY NEXT CLASS!

While I'm still trying to find out where my blog background went, I will share a sneak peak with you. As many of you may know, I, along with the Oak Island Stamp Queen teach cardmaking and scrapbooking classes locally. We typically alternate teaching, and September is my month to teach.
The women requested a Disney layout class and I was more happy to oblige. Its really colorful and cute. I love it even though its not fully done yet. Our group also likes to have layouts that can hold many photos. This layout will be able to have 10 !!! photos in it!
I think they will be happy.
For now~ here is a sneak peak.

Many thanks for stopping by...

Whats going on???

Hi!!! I visited my blog this morning- and this is what I found!!! NOTHING!!! Where is my background?? It was there yesterday!!! I am going in search of it, and will be back when I find it!

I Am Still Here...

Hello everyone, hope some of you are still there. After a very sad time of losing a second beloved dog in just a few months time, my computer also died! After trying all we could to save it, I had to get it rebuilt. I was in the process of moving my things to an external hard drive when this happened. So needless to say, I lost quite a bit of my personal stuff. I had also taken several photos of cards and layouts that I had recently made. They are all gone. So please bear with me as I start from square one again.
Many thanks for stopping by...

A SAD DAY- REVISITED

Last evening, my sweet Wheaton Terrier AJ had to be put to sleep. He was 12 1/2 and had recently developed a bone degenerative disease or a cancer, or maybe even a massive infection. He quite possibly had another type of cancer as he quickly developed many, many small bumps (tumors?) all over his body except for his belly.
He actually went to the vet for his annual checkup in mid May, and except for typical senior dog type of stuff, he got a clean bill of health. He quickly went downhill after that, limping and bearing no weight on his right rear leg, and we would seem to find new little bumps every time we pet him.
I took him back to the Dr. and they gave me the dx no one wants to hear. Since there was a possibilty that it was a bad infection, we came home with pain meds and an antibiotic. It soon became clear it was more than an infection.
I helplessly watched as my ever energetic boy limped around and then lay still as much as he could. There was no tail wagging, his voiced also silenced. My boy was never too much of a good eater, and that became a huge problem. His vet said to feed him anything that he wanted- even pizza, just to get something down him. I made a special mixture of scrambled eggs, ground beef and rice, which he liked for a few days. Then it was deli turkey, then hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and yes, for 2 days he ate Papa Johns pizza.
I was watching him fade away in front of my eyes. He was totally a Mamas boy, and I loved him that way. He slept in his bed as close to mine as he could get, until he could no longer climb the stairs.
Yesterday, after refusing all food, and having only eaten 1 chicken nugget and 2 bites of Keilbasa the day before, he could barely stand for even a few seconds, and that was with me picking him up and trying to help him. My boys time was done on this earth.
In a sad twist of fate, I have just gone thru this terrible process almost 5 months to the day with my Lab fur baby~ Madison. I have not yet gotten over losing her, and then this. At times it is too much to bear. I love my pets as my family. When I went to the beach this weekend, I no sooner put our stuff down, and I looked up to the sky. I saw this cloud that looks just a dog to me. I think it was Madison, she was calling AJ home to play.

Run and play my sweet babies, I miss you both dearly...

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!

A Happy day to all my readers and the important men in their life!
I would like to wish a happy day to my handsome husband, who is always there for me and is an all around great person!! And to my Dad. my hero, maybe the strongest person I know. A WWII veteran, a Marine, A great husband to my Mother, and the best Dad EVER!!! He is such an inspiration to all who know him!

I love you guys!!! Enjoy the day~