An Origami Card Challenge

The  Papertey Challenge was to use an origami in the card.  I made a ladybug and stamped and embossed the leaf from Turning a New Leaf stamp set. I stamped with Raspberry Fizz the flower from the blooming button bits

Cards, Cards, Cards!!

I love to make cards! So I am going to post a few of the latest ones I have made.  Dina and I need a couple of baby cards, so I was inspired to make some for girl friends having babies (HER girlfriends, not MINE!! lol!!)  Most of the stamps are from a company called Papertrey, Inc.  I love their stamps, inks and paper, they are all so yummy to work with!!

 

Well, that is just a few of the last set I have made  I did make a lot of valentine cards, but sent them off to Auntie's in Seattle!

A Final Good-Bye

This is one of the posts for the title of my blog...remembering the 4 w's, which is the who, what, where, when and maybe the why...

Who:    Riley, our faithful dog of 10 1/2 years.  We loved him so.
What:   He went to sleep this morning and is now in Dog heaven!
Where: At the office of Dr. Lisa Parshley, an oncologist
When:  Friday, February 5, 2010
Why:    Riley had lymphoma, but the doctor declared him in total remission after three treatments of chemo.  However, we believe he must have had some other issues because he could not keep food down.  We tried some intravenous liquid injections and while we thought they improved his health for a day or two, the not eating continued to be an issue.

Dr. Lisa and a good friend of mine told us that we would know when the time was "right".  We did indeed question it a few times, because our intent was to NOT have him suffer.  However, if we could get some wags out of him, some talking from him (happy to see us talking!) and eating and being able to get up and walk a bit, we were willing to do what we needed to extend his life so we could have more time with him.

Scott was the one who had the intuition that Thursday night would be his last night with us.  He didn't eat some roasted chicken I had given to him for an evening snack and in fact, he vomited on the plate.  Then at 4 AM Riley got up and headed to the door, Scott heard him and was quick to let him out.  He barely made it and vomited and had diarrhea.  So Scott sat on the floor with Riley's head in his lap and they talked for several hours.  Finally near 7 AM he woke me to tell me that he thought this was the day and Riley was ready.  I called both the girls and they brought their families over to see Riley and to say their final good-bye to him.

We were suppose to have a chemo treatment in the morning anyway, so we brought him over to Dr. Lisa and she agreed that Riley was ready, she could see it in his eyes and his body language.  She gave him a catheter and little valium to relax him and brought him back in the room to us.  Dina, Scott and I immediately hugged him and told him we loved him and he laid down next to us and we whispered our words to him, then the doctor gave him his final injection and it was over in a matter of seconds.  Our Riley was finally at peace.

 

 

Doesn't he just look so peaceful and happy now?  He is not nauseous and he doesn't have to struggle to get up.  His soul is in heaven and he is running and leaping in the fields and chasing those tennis balls and catching them in the air.  He loved his balls.  He played catch with himself, it would bounce and he would catch it, then drop it to bounce again and so it would go!!  And he was so fast when we threw the ball to him and oh did we praise him if he caught it in the air!!

We decided we needed to bring Riley home with us as we have a place for all our pets in the yard somewhere.  So son-in-law Jamie helped dig a deep hole and later most of the family gathered to lay him to rest.  I said a little prayer:

"All knowing God, creator of all living things, we come to you this day in grief and with thanksgiving.  We are sad by the death of our beloved pet Riley who was with our family over 10 years.  But we thank You, God, for this gift of his presence as a sign of the richness of your creation and the generosity of Your Love.  We are sad to say good-bye and that he had to leave us, but we are joyful that he is with You, God, running, chasing those tennis balls and greeting everyone he sees with a joyful voice.  Through Jesus Christ our savior who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen"

Dina and Scott gently lowered him into the ground and each of the older grandchildren and our daughters all helped to throw the dirt back into the grave.

 

Riley is laid to rest.

We will forever keep him

in our hearts.

We love you, Riley.

It's Basketball Time!!

Caleb is in 5th grade this year and he has never played basketball.  He gave wrestling a try and football; he has played several years of baseball and now he wanted to try basketball!  He is having a lot of fun especially since his best friend is on the team!  The coach is very positive with the boys and gives lots of encouragement.

And of course this is a family affair!  Addie is very good, she knows to stay only on the bleachers, not to go onto the court.  Tristan was quite engrossed with the painted cement wall behind us!

A Valentine Card Making Day

My two good friends, Becky and Liz joined me at our favorite stamping store in Milwaukie, Stamp a dee do da, and we played for almost three hours making special valentine cards!  Even I learned a few new techniques and got to play with some new material which was very fun!  Afterwards, we went to Gigi's for a bite of lunch and because we were so close and Liz wanted to go, we all went to "Simple Folks".  A delightful little store full of goodness and cheer!  Both Liz and I bought a garland that had 'white' berries' on it and we purchased a package of little lights to intertwine in the garland.  As soon as I got home, I set it out on my entry table and plugged in the lights, it looks so festive!  I can see this staying for many seasons!  I also bought a wooden sign that reads:  "This is the house that love built"  I thought that was so appropriate for our entry table, because indeed Scott has built this house for over two years now and I am sure every nail and board was done with LOVE!

And this little card I made when I came home from the class.  It is a digi stamp, which means I purchased a digital stamp online and have it in a file on my computer, so I can print out as many of these little girls as I want.  Her name is "Lily Valentine Ballerina"  I couldn't resist, because you know I, too, have a Lily!  I will need to print out several of these and let the girls color her and make a card also! 

How I send Hugs and loves to YOU

I have this fabulous room that is right off the kitchen, easy access to stir a pot or take a batch of cookies out of the oven! I can get lost in here and not be seen for hours (well, hours doesn't work, because there is someone else who lives in this house who seems to want lunches, dinners, snacks etc...you know who I am talking about!)  Not to mention a little three foot munchkin who pops over in the morning to see if Grandma wants to watch "Handy Mandy" with him!! And then around 3pm, sometimes a couple of cute neighbor girls (that would be Ellie and Lily!!) stop in to see if Grandma has any chocolate chip cookies for an afternoon snack and then maybe, go into the "Studio" and do some crafting with me!

However, when I am by myself and can get messy, I like to make cards. So I thought I would share a couple with you.  I stamp, I color...I always did like to color as a young girl!  I often use the sewing machine to stitch around some of the pieces, I experiment with lots of different medium; like chalk, water color pencils, regular colored pencils, different inks and then distressing.  Anyway, I de-stress here and I create these cards and not just cards, I love to make boxes, too.  I love to give little treats out and think putting them in a homemade box is the 'icing' on the cake!  Hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of my work.  And the sentiment says exactly what I would say if I were to see you and give you a hug!

Xanadu...place of idealic beauty

Do you remember back in 1980 Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly were in a movie titled: Xanadu? I guess it was not a very good movie, but we loved the name...so when we bought our first Papa Murphy's (Papa Aldo's back then!) franchise and needed to think of a company name, we decided on Xanadu Restaurant Management, Inc. Wow, that is a long business name, but it is DBA: Papa Murphy's.

The movie may not have a been a big hit, but  I LOVE Olivia Newton-John's songs. Of course, I LOVE her voice and how pretty she is and how thin she is...anyway, we have many of her cd's.

So a couple of nights ago on the news, they showed a clip of a Musical in town called Xanadu...and Scott got 6 "stage" tickets for all of us to go to it! It was absolutely fantastic!! And we got to sit right on the stage with the actors dancing, roller skating, singing all around us! It was so fun, our cheeks were sore from always smiling or laughing! It is a musical comedy! Oh, how I wanted to sing out....have you never been mellow...have you never triiiiied...., but I thought perhaps the people around me would not appreciate my voice! So I really held myself back, buuuuuttttt...I did NOT hold myself back with swaying and moving to the music! And the crew did get to interact a bit with some of us sitting on the stage, one of the "muses" sat next to Scott and offered him some popcorn! I think there is a little utube clip you could check out if you are interested. Anyway, it was way cool and I loved it! I am hooked and thinking we need to go see the Musical Legally Blonde!! The movie starred Reece Witherspoon..kind of a silly but good feeling kind of movie, I think the musical will be great!