Don't Worry, I'm Still Blogging

Just took a few days off for a trip to SC and an extra-hectic week. I'll be back to daily routine tomorrow (Tuesday)!

Medical Issues

I am currently dealing with several medical issues. Hopefully none of them are serious, but the combination of them is really wearing me down! I still have three small “holes” that have not healed from my plastic surgery back in March (yes, 7 months ago)! I went back to the surgeon this week and discovered that at least one of those holes was actually a stitch abscess (an underlying stitch trying to poke through the skin). He removed the stitch, which was approximately 2 inches long, and cleaned the area. He said it should definitely close up now. The other two areas did not have visible stitches, but he did inspect and clean them thoroughly. Hopefully I will eventually have NO open areas from this surgery. What a relief that will be!
My primary care doctor is sending me to a hematologist/oncologist next month for an elevated platelet level. This is an area of some debate, as my plastic surgeon thinks my platelets are perfectly normal – especially for someone who had major surgery a few months ago and still has healing wounds. Any time you are referred to a specialist with the word “oncology” in the title, it is a scary thing. Apparently my primary care doctor is more concerned about possible blood clots and strokes than he is about leukemia or blood malignancies. Either way it’s just something else to worry about.
I am still struggling with my eye issue, the neovascularization that I posted about in a previous blog. I am now on a medication called Restasis, which is supposed to eventually heal me to a level where I can wear my contacts again.
I have somehow managed to injure my tailbone. When I visited the doctor about it, he did x-rays and an exam and did not see any fractures or bone injury. He said there are many ways you can injure a tailbone – by sitting down too hard, by sitting in one spot too long, by falling and landing on it, etc. I do not remember doing any of these things, unless it was sitting too long on a road trip. However, it is a VERY painful problem to have. Anytime I sit for more than 10-15 minutes, I have excruciating pain in my tailbone. Church and the movies are big culprits. My recliner at home is not even comfortable. I am sitting on a donut pillow under the doctor’s orders (which Logan finds hysterically funny). This is one of those things that can “take several months to heal,” according to the doctor. Yippee.
And I will be having my wisdom teeth removed in a couple of weeks because two of them are impacted. I have been having quite significant toothaches recently. My dentist recommended that these teeth come out, even though most people my age don’t bother with it if they still have them.
With all of these things going on, it is probably not surprising that I feel tired and run-down most of the time. I can’t believe how much older I feel. Please keep me in your prayers. I don’t want to be whiny or depressed; I just want to feel better!

More Scrapbook Pages

Sometimes scrapping your child's art projects or drawings is a bit challenging ... at least for me. On some of these pages, I just tried to let his art shine through and not add much to it.

I loved his picture of a treehouse. I am obsessed with treehouses anyway, but I also love the bright colors he chose.

This was a project for science class, where they were studying how flowers grow. Am I the only mom who saves all of these things?

This one is so sweet! "If I were President..." Sadly I think Logan's vision may have changed a little bit since this project in 2nd grade. I think now he would choose to give everyone an xbox and an iPad instead of food & clothes.

This is his 2nd grade class photo. I wanted to incorporate it into the scrapbook, but these posed photos are difficult to scrap. I don't feel as if I made this a very fun page, but I like the color combination.

I love this page - probably because of the red & black together. Mom took Logan to an open house at the fire department and their photo made it into the Halls Shopper. I don't know who was more thrilled, Mom or Logan!

This whole photo cracks me up. Sweatpants? Really? I think we put him in a good shirt to have his school picture made, not realizing they would show his entire body in the class photo! Who knows? First grade was a real struggle for all of us, so it's good I can look back and find something to laugh about.

This page was about the birth of my niece, Hannah, who is my sister's one and only child. We were all thrilled, now there was a boy and a girl in the family.

I still have not journaled on this page about Dad. That's why the one mat is blank. I have this hanging in my scrap room, but I still can't finish it.

I was playing with my new printer and wanted to see how big I could print - this 13 x 19 photo was too big for even a 12 x 12 scrap page. This is my niece, Bailey, playing on the swings. I need to crop it down somehow to make a full photo scrap page!

This was a little flag he made at Vacation Bible School one year. I tried to use paper that had a similar color scheme. I always prefer to use computer journaling because it's so much neater, but I'm usually too lazy to do it.

This is another page about Hannah as an infant. I used clear embossing powder on the little chick and then heat-embossed it for that shiny look. I LOVE Kraft paper, so I really like this layout.

These photos were so sweet. Logan didn't know what to think about such a tiny baby. He wanted her to talk and play already!

Little did I know how true these words would be! She IS a diva!

I'm not sure why I didn't take a picture of the other half of this layout! This was the Dunsmores 50th Anniversary celebration. We had a big concert and gave Dad a plaque. There was a write-up in the Halls Shopper. It was a very special night, one of the last times Dad was mentally well enough to sing. I love the bright, bold paper. I used the huge font to print out the "50" so it would stand out on that busy background.

Still My Inspiration

Mamaw has been gone for almost 14 years now, but she is still my inspiration. I think of her every single day and wish that she were still here with us. She would have adored Logan (and my niece, Hannah), and it breaks my heart that she never got to meet them. I was about 10 weeks pregnant with Logan when she died. I think part of her spirit lives on in him. No, I don’t believe in reincarnation or anything like that – it’s just how I like to see it – it makes me feel better.
She was so content with so little. That is probably the biggest difference between me and her. I am never content. I always want more, more, MORE! More clothes, more shoes, more purses, more money, more jewelry. She had about four or five pairs of shoes and wore them until they literally fell apart. She made her own clothes. She cooked better than anyone else I’ve ever known. That’s another big difference between me and her. I can’t cook worth a dime. And I have no interest in learning.
She tried to teach me how to garden, can, sew, cook … and I learned very little because I wasn’t paying enough attention. In hindsight, I wish I had learned all of those things from her just to carry on her traditions and be more like her. I loved being with her because she made me laugh and she always listened to me with love. But when she tried to teach me to sew I took naps instead on the twin bed next to her sewing machine. Artie learned so much more from her than I ever did.
I was always close to Mamaw, even as a child, but in my adulthood, one thing I am extremely thankful for is that I stayed close to her. I called her EVERY SINGLE DAY for years, up until her mind was too far gone to carry on a conversation. We talked on the phone constantly, and I went to her house at least every other day. Artie was close to her, as well, and I’m also very thankful for that. The three of us had some good times sitting out on her carport breaking beans or sitting in her porch swing, just talking.
She gave herself home perms and her wispy white hair would always be in these super-tight little curls afterwards. Her house would stink for a day from the permanent solution. I could not give myself a perm if I tried.
She never learned how to drive or had a driver’s license. She relied on Papaw, and then her family, to take her wherever she needed to go.
She kept orange Tang in the kitchen cabinet.
Her kitchen table was the size of a minivan.
She was a “captain” on the church’s emergency call list, which meant anytime someone went in the hospital or died, she had a list of people to call and notify. She loved knowing all the news before everyone else! (That we DO have in common).
She was a GENIUS at crossword puzzles. I prefer seek-a-word; they are much less mentally challenging.
She wrote me at least one letter a week when I lived in Virginia Beach during my first two years of marriage. I was so homesick that first year, I called her and cried so many times. Back then you still had to pay for long-distance calls, and she made Papaw pay my phone bill so I could call her when I needed her.
She still washed some of her clothes on the washboard! Can you believe that.
I often think about what she would say if she saw me now. I don’t think she would be satisfied with what I have become. I do work very hard, just like she did, but I work at all the wrong things. Again, I wish I could be more like her.
She loved her church and she loved Jesus. She sang about Him in her beautiful soprano voice, and she knew she would be seeing Him when she died. I was blessed to inherit her little black book of songs and I love to flip through it when I’m sitting in the “praying chair” and sing some of her favorites. I guess the singing is another thing we have in common.
She might not be proud of all the choices I have made since she left me, but I do know one thing – she would love me the same anyway. She was the most special person in the world to me, and now would be second only to Artie & Logan. She was one in a million, and she is still my inspiration.

Why Does Logan's Room Smell So Bad?

I swear we clean it regularly. What is it about a teen boy's room that SMELLS? Is it Logan? Does he stink? I don't smell him when he's OUT of his room. We just put new carpet in that room a couple of months ago. He has a brand new bed. We don't leave dirty laundry or dishes in his room. I cannot figure it out!! It smells like a nasty combination of sweat, old food, and well, um... poots.
We have tried candles, air fresheners, plug-ins, cologne ... ahhhhhhh! I'm sure GIRLS' rooms do not smell like this.

I need more Febreze, please!!

Family Trips

One of the blessings of having a small family, just the 3 of us, is that we can afford to take weekend trips or day trips and do a lot of fun things together. I am a firm believer that you have to spend TIME with your kid(s), not just in the house watching TV or watching them play with their friends. When you get away from the hustle & bustle of your daily lives, you actually have time and space for conversations. You can learn so much about your child on these little getaway trips, PLUS it makes great memories for them (and for you) to always cherish.

One of our favorite weekend getaways is Atlanta. We have been to several Atlanta Hawks basketball games, which we really enjoy! We have also been to the Georgia Aquarium and the Atlanta Zoo while down there, as well as the Fernbank Museum. We drive down on a Friday night after work, get up Saturday and do a fun activity, attend a ball game Saturday night, and then drive home on Sunday.

Another really fun recent trip was to Nashville. I had not been to Nashville in YEARS! We drove down on a Friday for a Toby Mac & Skillet concert that night. We spent the night and came home on Saturday. The concert itself was incredible! But walking the streets of Nashville and showing Logan some of the sights was also a great time.

Of course we go to Pigeon Forge often, since it’s just a half-hour away. We have done a lot of fun activities up there, from go-karts to the wax museum to putt-putt, and of course the Aquarium, Splash Country, and Dollywood.

We took a family trip a few years ago on a Saturday morning to the Lost Sea in Sweetwater. It was a couple of hours drive and just a one-day trip, but it was a lot of fun. More shared memories.

During the July 4th holiday in 2008, we met our nieces in Lake Lure, N.C. for a weekend. It was such a beautiful place. It was halfway between us and them, and it was a great getaway weekend. Sometimes we include other people in our little getaways, but most of the time it’s just the three of us.

When Artie's uncle passed away in the fall of 2008, the whole Davis family went down to Florida for Thanksgiving to spend time with our family down there. Artie, Logan & I took an extra day and went to Busch Gardens, just the 3 of us. Again, more family bonding time. Logan still talks about that trip! (I cannot believe how BIG I am in this photo! Thank goodness for gastric bypass surgery!)

Sometimes it's just a concert, or the circus, or a night on the town together.

Family time is so important. It seems like Logan was just a baby yesterday and now he’s 13 on his way to 30. It goes by SO FAST!!! You never get that time back, so make the most of it! Spend time with your kids doing fun things. It doesn’t have to be a whole weekend trip, just get out of the house together and drive somewhere for the day. You won’t regret it!!!

Annual Review

Warning: This is a depressing post. Sorry in advance!

It’s almost time for my annual review at the sweatshop. I dread this every year, because BB (big boss) is a master of psychology and somehow I walk out thinking I’ve really talked him into something great - when in actuality he’s talked me into a decrease in pay and longer hours (or something like that).

What I really want to tell him is that I am tired. I have lost my motivation. While others in the office are thinking of career advancement, attending seminars, and a heavier caseload, all I can think of is early retirement.

Can I just ask for shorter hours this year? Or a few Fridays off? Or time for doctor’s appointments without complaints? A raise in pay would be great, but it’s just not my #1 priority right now. I’m burned out. I’m exhausted ALL the time. I literally count down the hours until I’m home again with Artie & Logan. On the weekends, I barely want to leave the house because I crave the home time so badly.

Yes, I realize there is more going on with me than job dissatisfaction. I am going through an apparently prolonged phase in my life where I have so much regret over the choices that brought me to where I am right now, work-wise. Poor Artie has to listen to me complain, cry, and fume much more than he should have to.

Even though I work for a notoriously difficult person, it is not all his fault that I feel this way. It’s not his fault that I want to be at home. It’s not his fault that I made choices I have made. It’s not his fault that I have allowed him to usurp more and more of my time over the years. I need to set some boundaries and take some of my life back, but it’s hard at this point. I’ve worked for BB for since 1996 (except for my work-at-home experiment) and habits are established. On some days he treats me very well, I have to give him credit for that.

I have a beautiful office. I park in a covered garage attached to my building. I have great co-workers and a very interesting array of cases to work on. I am thankful to even have a job in these hard economic times.

But how do you tell your boss that even though you’re so grateful for your job, and so appreciative of your salary and benefits, what you really want is just more home time? BB is a workaholic. His kids are grown and gone. He gets bored at home without work to do. He hates to take vacations. How do I get him to see that I am desperate for my own family time and craving an afternoon to myself now and then?

(sigh) I really dread this review.

The Haunted Forest

I am very excited about the Clinton Highway Haunted Forest, which is produced by Dante Baptist Church every year. It opens this weekend, and then runs again next Wednesday through Halloween. It is always such a fun time.
Back before Logan came along, I used to be a regular fixture at the Haunted Forest, and took great pride in being in charge of the forest guides. I had special Halloween outfits and jewelry, and really enjoyed leading group after group through the scary woods every night. It was great exercise, too! And the Haunted Forest will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart because it was during the week of the forest in 1997 that Logan was conceived. Hmmm ... that suddenly makes a lot of sense to me, why he can be so SCARY. ha ha ha ha
Now that I'm old, my favorite part of the Haunted Forest is the concession stand. They always have the BEST burgers, petros, hot dogs, and homemade desserts! And I think I saw fried Twinkies there last year! The KiddieLand area is always really cute, with games for the kids and prizes. And the bonfire at the center of the forest is always filled with people, sometimes singing, sometimes just eating and enjoying the show. The scariest part of the forest is the RIDE up there and back on the back of a hay truck. Depends on the driver, I guess. I always prefer to ride with Phillip Murphy, the pastor. He's the safest!
If you live in Knoxville, you should definitely come by and support the church's annual fundraiser. It's a lot of fun, great food, and even a witnessing segment as you leave.
Here is a Facebook link for more info:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clinton-Hwy-Haunted-Forest/139615902390

Fall is in the Air

I love love love this time of year in East Tennessee! The colors on the trees are AMAZING! And the sky is a crisp blue that I don't notice any other time of year. The temperature is near-perfect. I also love the fall season because it means Thanksgiving is right around the corner, which is my favorite holiday.
Artie decorated our porch in a festive fall theme. Buying a ceramic pumpkin is SO much better than carving one every year, don't you think? Logan is not into that activity anymore, so we saved ourselves the trouble and mess.
On our trip to Pigeon Forge over the weekend, we saw the fall colors in full glory. The mountains were clear and beautiful in the background. The weather was absolutely perfect for our day at Dollywood on Saturday!

There is apparently a scarecrow trail at New Harvest Park starting this weekend, which I would love to go see. Logan wants to go to the Corn Maze before Halloween, and of course there is always the Haunted Forest.

I love the whole feeling of fall. I have my fall candles burning at home. The colors and smells of fall are so heartwarming.

I hope it's beautiful wherever you are!

Making Christmas Cards

Last year I hand-made all of the Christmas cards that I sent out. I started in July and worked on them periodically. I still had to do a few at the last minute. It was a whole lot of work, time, and expense, plus it took extra postage to mail them because they were hand-stamp only.
I wonder if anyone even noticed the handiwork that went into them? Did they throw them away as soon as they opened them? Did they notice the "handmade for you by Kim" stamp on the back?
I enjoyed making them, for the most part, and I had a little bit of help from Logan (only when he was really REALLY bored) and I played Christmas music while working on them - even in July. I just don't know if it's worth all the time and effort. Maybe I should just buy cards this year and stick a stamp on them like everyone else. Artie thinks sending Christmas cards is a waste of time and money. We sure don't receive as many as we used to, or as many as we send out. But I enjoy the process. I like hearing from people, and I like receiving actual mail for a change.
What do you think? Are Christmas cards a dying trend? Do you enjoy sending or receiving them?

And the winner is ...

Lula Ray!! Congratulations Lu. Send me your address so I can get these gift certificates out to you. :)

Fall Break

So we are off to the Wilderness Lodge for Logan's fall break, with two of his friends in tow. Hopefully they will entertain one another so that Artie & I will get to chill and relax and just "supervise from afar."
I love extra-long weekends like this. A three or four-day weekend is just enough time to be off work without the sky falling at the office. Of course, I tote my laptop everywhere I go, so it's not like I'm ever really far from work, but I almost am.
The Wilderness Lodge is a really nice place to stay. The rooms are comfortable and have a full kitchen and a nice fireplace. I don't enjoy the water park as much as I used to, or as much as the kids do, but it's a very nice water park. There is also an arcade and a few restaurants. We plan to go to Dollywood on Saturday, at least for a few hours, to let them ride the thrill rides.

I'm not sure how much "family time" we will actually get in, since Logan's friends are going. But it's all about him anyway, right? I plan to take my Kindle, some magazines, and hundreds of digital photos to organize & edit for scrapbooking. I'm sure Artie will pack his puzzle books. We're so OLD and BORING now, aren't we?!? I'm reading over this thinking how pathetic we sound.
I would love to do some shopping while we're in Pigeon Forge, but it's not like we can go off shopping and leave the kids at the lodge, so I guess I'll shop online. I hope the leaves are in full fall glory.
Looking forward to a relaxing weekend ...

Huge Prize Pack Giveaway

This is my biggest prize giveaway yet!

A $50.00 gift certificate from Pampered Chef!

A $50.00 gift certificate from Thirty-One!

A $50.00 gift certificate from Scentsy!

I just love giving things away. And I love rewarding my loyal blog readers with the chance to win fun stuff! I would tell you that it's more fun to give stuff away than to receive presents myself ... BUT ... if you ask Artie he'll tell you I'm lying. Sadly, I LOVE PRESENTS!! I love getting presents, opening presents, thinking about presents ... yes, I'm selfish. So I try to make up for it by giving things away to others, too. (Big Smile)
So post or comment something you are thankful for and you will be entered in the drawing, which will be on Saturday night.

How to Plan a Great Yard Sale

Why do people think they can just get up on Saturday morning, throw a few boxes out in the driveway and call it a yard sale? I’m here to tell you that is not the way to do it – not if you want to really get rid of stuff and make some money.

A real yard sale (garage sale, rummage sale, tag sale, whatever you want to call it), takes thorough planning and plenty of organization. It’s not a last-minute fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants deal. The last time we had a sale, we went from a garage and driveway overflowing with stuff to one box leftover for Goodwill and sales of over $2,600.00. That’s a lot of money, more than we have ever made from a yard sale, but it would not have been possible without planning!

First of all, we keep our home & garage very organized in the first place. I am married to a neat freak. He has mellowed some over the years, but he’s still fairly rigid. Christmas decorations and keepsakes are in the basement or attic. “Transitional items” (things to sell or give away later) are all kept in bins in the garage. Neatly arranged bins, stacked on the side so that we still always have room to park both cars inside the garage. I do not understand folks (Mom) who have a garage so crammed with THINGS that they can’t park their car inside. I mean, what is a garage for after all?!??! Maybe I should save my strong feelings about that for another blog post.

So when we get tired of something, or outgrow something, or redecorate, we take our old items out into the garage and place them into a bin. After a yard sale has just happened, we usually have 15 or 20 empty bins stacked in the garage. Over the next year or so, they slowly fill back up with items just waiting for a sale. Our neighborhood usually has two sales each year, a spring sale and a fall sale, and we try to participate in both. Last year we only participated in one, which is why it was such a big one for us.

We have also accumulated several folding tables over the years that we refer to as the “yard sale tables.” A couple are from my Mamaw, one from The Dunsmores’ old record table, and some we have purchased over the years. We have six or seven folding tables that we use. We also have a few large pieces of plywood and some sawhorses that Artie stores under the house and pulls out for yard sale time.

We also save our grocery bags throughout the year. We keep them in a bin in the garage, too, as they overflow our pantry-size bag-keeper. By the time a sale rolls around, we have a bin full of grocery bags ready for our customers to carry out FILLED with items!

As you can see, we are pre-organized and we have our supplies on hand. Mom and Mamaw always had yard sales when I was growing up, at least once a year. Artie’s mom always did so, as well. It was not a foreign concept to us.

At least two weeks before the sale, you need to get your ads ready. The Halls Shopper requires that an ad be placed by Wednesday in order to run in the following Monday’s edition. Ads are usually only $5.00 to $10.00 in The Shopper. You have to call the News-Sentinel ads in at least 48 hours in advance. These ads can be quite expensive, but are well worth it in the long run. I believe the News-Sentinel ads for our last sale cost around $60.00 to run two days in the paper and online. Include the date and times, your street address and some directions. List any big items you have for sale, as well as video games, movies, electronics, brand names … any popular items. I usually add “Rain or Shine” at the end because once we’ve done all the preparation, I’m proceeding with the sale one way or the other. We can always pull everything into the garage if we have to, although it would be super-crowded. Here is a sample ad from one of our past sales (with our address changed):

Garage Sale, Saturday May 7, 1234 Halls Road, Beverly Hills Subdivision off Rodeo Drive. Ladies plus-size clothes, men’s name-brand clothes, books, home décor, DVDs, Legos, 19” TV/DVD combo, blue recliner, Xbox 360 & games, Wii system & games, Nintendo DSI & games, exercise bike, portable DVD player, king comforter set, scrapbooking items, much more! Rain or shine!

The more lengthy and specific your ad, the better for your sale. It attracts more people and more people buy more stuff.

So, let’s review so far: You have several months’ worth of items stored neatly in bins. You have tables and surfaces at the ready to display your items. You have placed ads in your local newspaper(s). Now time for the hard work.

At least one week before a sale, we pull the cars out of the garage (which I HATE) and set our tables up inside the garage. Then we pull our bins out and item by item, PRICE EACH THING and place it on a table. We have tables for clothes, tables for household, tables for movies and games, tables for books and toys, etc. Everything is divided into categories and EVERY SINGLE ITEM is priced. Don’t you hate going to a yard sale where no item is priced and you have to ask every time you see something you like? Don’t you also hate going to a yard sale where everything is in boxes and you have to squat or bend down to dig through boxes? Well, your customers will prefer to have items priced and easily seen. Better for sales.

We fold items like shorts, t-shirts, pajamas, swimsuits, and all the other clothes go on hangers. On a hanging rack. They sell small ones at the Dollar Store for about $9.00. Or heavy duty ones on Amazon for about $60.00. I recently sold over 300 items of clothing after my weight loss. Every one of these items was on a hanger, which of course I kept and re-used for the next sale.

If you have small jewelry items, put them in snack-size Ziploc bags. If you have toys with a lot of pieces (i.e. Legos), put them in a giant Ziploc bag or a box. Organize everything! PRICE everything. Don’t put 20 items in a box and say all items 50 cents. How will you remember what came out of that box?

We use the round brightly colored stickers to price our items. If we are doing the sale on our own at our house, we just put a price on the sticker. If we have other people participating with us in the sale (Mom or Kristi, etc.), we put a price and initials on the sticker so we know who gets the money.

The pricing and organizing can take up to a week, so plan accordingly. Specify a “check-out” area and place a chair or two there. Keep a box of grocery bags near the chair, as well as a notepad and pen.

A day or two before the sale, go to the bank and get change. I usually get about $60.00 worth of ones, fives and tens, as well as a roll of quarters. I keep this in an old-fashioned fanny pack around my waist during the entire sale. This is where I take money and make change from all day long, and I don’t have to worry about losing a money box or sitting it down.

Last, but not least, make a few poster board signs. Plan for one at your driveway, one at the end of your street, and one at every street that leads to yours from the main road. Plan on one or two at the main road or the closest major intersection to your house. Put YOUR ADDRESS on the sign and THE DATE(s) of the sale. Otherwise, plenty of people will take advantage of your sign and possibly your newspaper ads and have sales off of your advertising! And don’t forget – when the sale is over – GO TAKE YOUR SIGNS DOWN!!!

Plan to get up early on the day of the sale. Even if your signs and your ads said open at 8:00 a.m., people will start arriving by 7:00 a.m. It will be a busy and stressful morning. Have some help. Don’t try to do it by yourself. Hire a babysitter or call Grandma if you have young kids. Our sales are usually sold out by noon, after which we fold up the tables, sweep the garage, haul any leftovers to Goodwill, and pull the cars back in the garage. Then we go inside and collapse and take a long nap (oh, after counting the money, of course).

So these are my tips for planning a successful yard sale. We have certainly had our fair share over the years. If you do all of these things, you will be prepared for a busy, productive yard sale. And by the time the sale day rolls around, all you have to do is open the garage door.

Louis Vuitton & Range Rovers

Reality television has had such a negative impact on my shopping habits! Just because the Real Housewives & the Kardashians can afford to carry Louis Vuitton and drive Range Rovers does not mean that I can. Doesn't stop me from drooling over those things, however... I mean, isn't this a beautiful vehicle?!?!?!

Although I don't have a Range Rover, I do have a tiny Louis Vuitton collection started. I LOVE this stuff. I want to start collecting the luggage pieces, but I cannot afford that. I just keep staring at it online. A girl can dream, right?

Botox, Juvederm, plastic surgery, Louis Vuitton ... what's next? I REALLY need to stop watching reality shows! I mean, REALLY!

Small Groups

So we recently attended our first Small Group meeting for our new church, The Grove. We have been going to The Grove for about a year now, although we did miss a lot of services during the summer months. We were first drawn to The Grove because of Logan. He has friends from school that go there, and he wanted to go to church with someone he knew. He also enjoys the more contemporary worship service and the music. He likes the relaxed style of the minister, as well. And all three of us love that it's right in Halls, a stone's throw from our house.

Artie & I felt like we needed to take another step and become more involved if we were going to stick with this growing young church. We have enjoyed the services there, as well, although it is quite different from what we were used to in the past. We haven't really made any friends there yet. So we told Logan if he wanted to stay at The Grove, he had to get involved with the youth program and we were going to get involved in a Small Group.

For those of you unfamiliar with Small Groups, they are similar to a Sunday School class except the group meets in someone’s home rather than at the church. There is a fellowship (food) period and then a Bible study period. It is usually a group of similar-aged adults or similar-lifestyle groups. Our group is the 40-and-over adult group. Made me feel my age just signing up.

The meeting was at someone’s house closer to the Corryton area. Artie & I first went to the wrong house (next door), but then we figured out where to go. Everyone there was very nice and welcoming, and introductions were made all around. Everyone else in the group knew one another very well and we were the only newbies.

We gathered in the kitchen, had prayer and then all delved into the wonderful spread the hostess and others had prepared. Artie & I were not told to bring any food since it was our first night. Everyone else brought a dish. The women gathered in the kitchen and the men gathered in the living room. I was comfortable with the women, and joined in their conversations fairly easily. I felt sorry for Artie, since the men mostly talked about sports. :)

When we joined together as a whole group, there were prayer requests made and praise reports given. It was overall a good first experience and we felt like we had made an important first step.

And all I could think about on the way home and over the next few days was my “home” church where we are still members (since 1994). My pastor. My friends from that church. The services, the activities, the history we have there. The altar where I prayed and begged God to give me a child. The same altar where we dedicated our son and saw him saved & baptized in later years.

Times change. People change. Logan doesn’t feel comfortable at the “old” church. He wants to stay put at The Grove. Artie is on the fence. He likes the more streamlined services at The Grove, but misses the spiritual nature of the old church. He thinks we need to keep looking. I know what I want, but at the expense of Logan? And Artie? Oh yeah, and what about GOD – what is it that HE wants? The most important question of all!!

I look at my beautiful piano in my home and how dusty it gets. I don’t write songs anymore. I don’t sing anywhere except in the car. I maybe touch the piano once every couple of months. Is this what God intends for the talents He gave me? Have I wasted them for so long that He just took away my opportunities to use them? I don’t think so. I think we are just waiting on direction. I only hope we can recognize it when it comes.

My Craft Room

I'm so blessed to have an entire room just for my crafting space. I used to call it my scrap room because I did only scrapbooking in there, but now I have added my sewing machine, so it’s the craft room.

I wanted to wait until it was cleaned up before I took photos to share with the blog, but in reality it’s never completely cleaned up. I mean, there are always works in progress, so I decided to just forge ahead with sharing my room.

Artie helped me set all of this up, but he otherwise kind of avoids the craft room. It’s way too crammed with things and too messy for his taste. He will come in there and sit in the “praying chair” and work puzzles or watch TV sometimes while I scrap or sew, just to keep from us being in different parts of the house. I think his main complaint is that I just have too much stuff. I almost agree – I could probably never use all of my scrap supplies if I scrapped every day for the rest of my life. But ask any scrapper – we are paperholics, toolaholics … half the fun is in collecting the supplies!

This is my desk area. It is quite cluttered! I have my Cricut hooked up to my computer, as well as my two printers. I love the Canon 9000 photo printer. It prints up to 13 x 19 pages, which means I can print an entire 12 x 12 scrap page on one page. This is the only Windows computer left in the house – all the rest are Macs!

This is my Cricut cartridge collection – 101 of them at last count. More than I can possibly use! But I loan them out to friends all the time.

This is my most frequently used cardstock collection. Bazzill is my favorite brand, but I do have some other brands mixed in.

My bookshelves are loaded to the brim with scrapbooking supplies, books, Jim Shore figures, sentimental what-nots …

This is the sewing corner. The sewing machine cabinet and this machine were my beloved Mamaw’s. Artie got me a new Singer machine for my birthday, but we alternate between the two. I’d rather use Mamaw’s just for sentimental reasons, but it’s a little more complicated. I still have a looooong way to go in the sewing department!

Rubber stamps galore. I love stamping on pages or cards, but I do not use my stamps very often. Such a mess to clean them off each time. And if I emboss, even more mess with the embossing powder.

These four shots are different angles of my work table. It is actually quite clean at the moment, compared to its usual status. This is where I actually sit and put pages or cards together.

I try to use all types of creative storage ideas for my many, many, maaaannny supplies. This is a jewelry display that I’m using to store die-cuts on. You can also see the baby wipes I use to clean my hands after using any stamps or inks. My small photo trimmer is here and my basket of adhesives.

These small ink pads are great for inking the edges of a page or mat. I enjoy keeping them in this jar because I can see whatever color I’m digging for at the moment.

My Stampin’ Up ink pads. I have the entire set, but as I said, I don’t stamp as much as I should.

I love these storage drawers and shelves. They used to hold ALL of my scrap supplies. That’s hard to believe. I try to stay very organized, but it’s difficult when you have this much STUFF!

This is another work surface that Artie built for me. I have a small workspace in between my tool collection. Here you can see my Tim Holtz Vagabond and my dies and templates to use with that. You can also see some of my embellishments hanging on pegs. I have so many of them that I can’t even remember what I have to use them when I need them!

More embellishments, flowers, candy dots; my Slice cutting mat and my big paper cutter; the heat embosser; the electric distresser … so many tools!

More paper storage. All of my paper shelves are filled so full they won’t hold any more paper. I have not bought any in several weeks, but there is a new October Afternoon line out …

I love getting ideas and inspiration from my scrap magazines. I keep this basket next to my “praying chair” and read or look for ideas when I want some quiet time.

These are a few of the mini-albums I’ve made. I like to display some of my work in the craft room.

Here are a couple of my scrap pages.

And the decorated dress forms. I got this idea from my favorite scrap store, Scrappin’ in the City. They have a BIG dress like this. I wish I had room for more of these. I see them at Marshall’s & Ross all the time, but as you can see, I have NOWHERE ELSE to put ANYTHING in this room!!!