Happy Thanksgiving and a pile of leaves

This will be a difficult Thanksgiving without Jud at the head of our family table. It will be also be different in a good way with a new member of our family (my daughters future MIL and husband) will be joining us. He's been joining us for a couple of years but this year since there will be a wedding next year and his mother has lost her husband and mother in the past few years, we asked her to join us. Why not just have one big dinner for both families. My daughter has no idea how lucky she will be to have just one dinner to go to on Thanksgiving and not drag out to several different places and all in one day. EXHAUSTING! We're having Thanksgiving at my in-laws the day after Thanksgiving because several of them have to work on Thursday. To spruce up the table at my mom's tomorrow I made these. WITH.MY.SLICE. I just love it and grateful that I had a few minutes to create them in this crazy busy week. Grateful really for so many things. Happy Thanksgiving. Oh and should I go shopping or decorate the tree on Black Friday. Typically I stay in and decorate but since we're having the dinner at the in-laws on Friday I will not be able to get it all done in one day. So I thought perhaps I should go shopping and catch some really good deals for a change. Yep! I think it's a plan :)

I wonder what happened to Mabel?

...that sweet little old lady we overhear in pre-op two days ago. While waiting for my DS to have surgery. We thought she was sleeping but when a nurse walked over to talk to her she loudly said "good afternoon" in the sweetest little old voice you've ever heard. She told the nurse she needed to use the restroom before surgery but the nurse had a few questions first. She asked her for her birthdate. Mabel responded with Febuary 6, 10. That is 1910...I know I looked shocked as I did the math in my head. Yep, that is right dear Mabel was 98 years old almost 99 and having surgery. I was also thinking why on earth you would bother with surgery when you've firming got at least one foot planted in the ground but evidently not Mabel. Who promptly told the nurse "you sure are ugly without make-up". To which the nurse responded "well thanks a lot". Mabel quickly corrected herself and said "no dear, I meant me". Mabel sure did have her wits about her and I laughed so hard as she quickly got out of bed to go to the potty. I can only dream of being so spry or heck even alive at her age. So I wonder what happened to Mabel?

Not the plan

Well that was not the plan. I figured I'd update my blog two nights ago to let everyone know that the surgery went well and I'd blog about some new creation I was working on....wrong answer! We arrived at the hospital at 11:00 am. Where a friendly nurse told us that surgery would be at 2:00. I have no idea why we had to be there so early. We just sat and waited. The first friendly nurse told us the surgery should last about 1/2 hour. Okay, I'll still be out of here and home in time for dinner and Meg's baton lesson. 2:00 pm they take us to the pre-operating room. Which is just a large room/assembly line of operation candidates. They tell us the surgeon will be with us in 5 to 10 minutes because we have questions about the surgery but ask us if we want chairs to sit in. No, we reply if it's only going to be 5 to 10 minutes we'll just stand. An hour later the surgeon shows up. We talk to him and he tells us surgery will be about an hour. I'm revamping my schedule in my head. Perhaps I'll just pick something quick up on my way home at 6:00 or 7:00 PM. Surgery lasts 2-1/2 hours and he comes out and tells us that my son will be spending the night for observation and major doses of antibiotics. So much for my schedule we were spending the night. They screwed him together and sawed part of his heel off to help stabilize the bone and screw, re-attached tendons and ligaments. The going was slow because they were afraid the screw would shatter the bone because of where the break was located. I must say here that my son walked into the surgery...there was no walking out and I did not prepare him well enough for the pain. When asked in recovery if he wanted his mom or dad he told the nurse that he wanted his mommy. Funny because he hasn't called me mommy for several years. I knew it must hurt a lot! Needless to say I wasn't prepared for this. I made arrangements from the hospital for my family to take over. They are so good that whipping things into action that dinner and Meg's baton lesson where handled, as well as cloths and baths. They all even remembered hats and gloves the next morning and managed to get to the bus on time. My well oiled home machine ran so well I'm wondering now if I'm really needed at all. So I spent the evening nursing my oldest boy back to health and worrying which is something I do best. Then I spent the night in a hospital bed with my oldest daughter who thought it was funny spoonin' her mom like she did years ago. I forgot that she breaths funny I told her in the morning. I was beyond exhausted yesterday but still managed dinner, took my middle son to tutoring and then a trip to Walmart was in order...my bed never felt so good last night! Here's a little something I made before my daily blog post got knocked off track. Made with my new slice that I haven't gotten to play with nearly enough. Next week has to be better right? I'm thinkin' so but if not at least I'm prepared and have put a toothbrush in my purse.

Poor kid/His words "bad ass"

My oldest son is having surgery today. He broke his foot seven weeks ago playing football. Of course he didn't want to miss any game so he didn't tell anyone, not his dad, not the trainers or coaches. He just kept playing. Then in the last game of the season my sister and I are watching the game and she asks...why is he limping. He had mentioned to me about 4 weeks ago that he thought his foot was broken. I said your foot is not broken...you wouldn't be able to walk on it. I should have known better than to say that. See he broke his foot when he was 5 jumping out of the barn loft onto a sawdust pile...he missed and I made him walk to the car. All the while he insisted it was broken. Insisted in the car, insisted in the emergency room, insisted at the specialist's office where we confirmed yes indeed it was broken. Then when he was 15 he jumped from one hay wagon to another and missed. I could tell it was broken. But still when he walked in the house holding his bent forearm I said "what? no you didn't". He broke his wrist at the growth plate and had to have surgery and so many x-rays to make sure he was healing and growing correctly that he glows a little now. He walked off the field smiling a little after that last game and said yep I'm officially a bad ass. I know my foot is broken. It's broken so bad that we are looking at pins to reattach the tendons and ligaments and a possible bone graft this morning....more like dumb ass. Don't complain to me how bad your foot hurts and the pins make you cold when you are 40 or when you try to get through airport security! I'm such a compassionate mother. I did promise that I wouldn't let them stick him 100 times like the last time trying to get an IV site.

A little freedom

Who is that lady in the photo... it's a rare site to see indeed. Poor kids aren't going to have many photos of me some day. but I'm trying. I did this for Classy Coordinates a couple of months ago before I decided to quit the design team. Things have just been too much this year. And you get to a point where something has to give. I hate to give up my design team positions. I feel like I worked very hard to get where I'm at scrapbooking wise but then you get past it. Oh I still love to scrapbook but on my terms, when I have time and when I want to. No more assignments, no more posting unless I want to. It's a new freedom for me. One I haven't had for several years. It just gets to be less important. Sure the free stuff is nice and the teams I've worked with have been over the top wonderful. I may have made a mistake stepping away for a while but I felt the time was right. Plus there are other things I want to do. Perhaps there will be more time now for me to be included in photos :).

Etsy Excitement

Last week I finally jumped on the bandwagon and started selling on Etsy. I'm so thrilled that I had my first sale on Saturday. Some wonderful gentleman bought one of my hand painted umbrellas on Etsy for his wife who didn't want a black and boring umbrella. What a guy! She's a lucky girl. I've got several orders for umbrellas locally and hope to sell bunches on Etsy through the winter. I've also got some of the cards I've made lately listed there. Those kinds of things tend to pile up around here and I'm working through a huge pile to add to my store. So if you are interested in an umbrella or special card let me know. I'm taking orders through December 15th for the umbrellas. A fun and practical gift at the same time makes me happy! If you feel like a little shopping check out my little store and let me know what you think. The linky is over there on the left :)

Please....................

says it all for me in this photo. Please can I keep him? Don't you want him? Please get allergy shots so I can keep him? Please mom, PLEASE. So I said yes and WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING. 4 kittens and their momma are now hanging out on my front porch and a few more lovely little strays have joined the party since then...good thing its a farm and I have no neighbors. Now when I go outside I sneeze and wheeze and my eyes are watering daily just because I'm such a sucker for the word please. UGH! But so worth making my kiddos happy right? Normally we tell people to drop cats off at the barn. Where they earn their keep keeping the rodents under control. We sweeten the deal with daily treats and occasional milk. It's a pretty even trade. Until all of a sudden the cats have decided they no longer like the barn and would much rather live on my porch. The kids walk from the barn each day and it never fails there is a cat following them. We take them back to the barn and then repeat the process the next day but not before I hear please can we keep him one more time. I guess I should just be happy that we haven't had one single mouse in the house yet this winter. But if we do you can be the whole lot of them even snuffles is going back to the barn. This month look for a layout featuring this photo at scrapbooks.com.

S.

Party!!!

I've got to take my daughter to a roller skating party today. I think I'll take my camera just because she has never gone roller skating before. That should be funny to watch and yes that is all I'm doing is watching. I haven't skated for years and it so wouldn't be funny to watch me. My husband has just recovered from a broken leg. My oldest son broke his foot playing football 6 weeks ago and only told us after the last game. He's having surgery next week pins, bone graft and then a cast the whole nine yards. So while it would be fun, I think I'll ere on the safe side and stay off the skates. Yeah, I'm practical like that. Ohhhh and I'm picking up the save the date cards I created for my daughters wedding. I can't wait to see them. They are getting married at The Shores Resort in Datona Beach Florida. On one of their trips down there to make arrangements she took her camera and I had her grab someone to take photos of them on the beach and told her how I wanted the photo to look. So she handed her camera over to a stranger and snapped away. This is how they turned out. Now we just need to get them mailed and I can move on to the 75 "message in a bottle" invitations she wants for the wedding down there and then the 250 invitations for the reception at the country club when we get back. Somewhere in there I'm going to have to make my Christmas cards. I'm looking at these photos remembering it wasn't so long ago that I was driving my oldest daughter to skating parties. Where did the time go?

Some engagement photos

I posted one earlier but decided I'd also post some of my favorites from my daughters engagement shoot. I wanted a friend to do them for me but just couldn't afford it right now. The wedding alone is going to cost me an arm and a leg and my first born for that matter LOL! So I'm doing as much as I can myself...so yeah I took these and while I wasn't thrilled with them the happy couple is very happy. I'm waiting for prints and memory book to arrive so that I can see the results. Trust me I won't be quitting my day job over these.

Where the heck have you been

It's been a really rough year at the Boyd house and that's all I'm going to say about that. No need to dwell on what is past. Bring on 2009 is what I've been saying over and over again for the past 6 months. That said, I've got a lot I'm working on. My daughter is getting married next year. That alone is keeping me busy times 100. Engagement photos, invitations, water bottle lables...yes don't ask. I've opened a little etsy shop (you can find the link in the side bar). So many of the things I've created over the years are just sitting here gathering dust so I thought why not pass them along. Hee Hee. Perhaps someone else will love them. I want to try and start something new on this blog. I'm going to feature a random favorite photo each day. No rhyme or reason to them. Just a way to prompt my creativity and perhaps prompt yours as well.