Untimely

Well, today Neal left with his sister, Tami, to Illinois to take care of their brother and his remains. :( We got the word late Tuesday night around 11:45pm. My mother-in-law called to tell us the bad news. I was still up and just sat down in front of the computer when the dreadful ring came in. No call late at night is good news. Thoughts in my head appeared when the first ring came thru and then my phone registered who it was on the caller ID. SIGH...it was my mother-in-law...what now?

It was hard to hear her have to go thru this...I wasn't there when her first child passed (back in '93) and I couldn't image the pain that she was feeling. I felt so bad b/c I didn't know what to say. Because let's face it...what CAN you say? Nothing really...just lend your ear...that's really all you can do...and your shoulder if you're physically near them.

So I ran to the master bedroom to wake Neal up, who had just fallen asleep and he didn't know what to think when I handed him the other cordless. I stayed on the phone just in case I needed to intervene...didn't know how Neal would take it. He took it pretty well, as to be expected. All he could do too was listen. There was so much silence in the air. Like everything stood still.

The news was hard. How can someone do that to themselves? To their loved one's? The first emotion set in...heartache. Little did we know the other emotions would come as the news settled. Denial, anger, curious, resentment, anger again, then peace.

Neal stayed up for a while with me and we just sat in the family room, quiet...you could hear everything outside. And we live pretty much in the country. Well, in a neighborhood, but most of the neighbors are in bed at 8!

The next day we went over to my mother-in-laws to spend time with her. She was doing a little better but on the phone trying to figure out what was going on up north and what we all needed to do down here.

Neal and his sister decided to go up to Illinois together to claim Bobby and do what Bobby wished...cremation, scatter in different places and then ??? Still unknown.

No note.
No will.
No money.

He is still en route since this morning at 10:30. Last I spoke with him they were doing good with time. They plan to drive straight thru. That is going to be one long 19 hour drive. Wish I could be there with him. For them. But I am...from home. The kids too.

Monthly Contest at TMS!

Over at my scrapbook site there is a BLOG HOP going on!! Here are all the details:

Who's ready for another MONTHLY CONTEST at TMS?

Well, it's going to be a FUN one, and I do mean a FUN one!
Get your scrap desks ready and get your seatbelts on for a
BLOG HOP!!!

Here are the rules:

• Start here at the TMS Blog for the first of your assignments for this BLOG HOP.
• Be registered at TMS and have at least 10 posts before entering into the hop.
• Follow the direction carefully, you will be directed to other blogs (TMS designers) in order to finish up your creation.
• Submit your "new", never before seen creation to mosyscrapper@hotmail.com by July 26th at midnight to be considered for judging.
• Please participate on the message board so that we all can get to know our participants. PROMISE WE DON'T BITE!!
• Winner will be announced no later than July 28th.
• Sponsor for this contest:

And here is your first assignment!

• Use this sketch from Valerie Salmon for the base of your creation. You will be getting other assignments (4 more to be exact) so don't start scrapping just yet!
  

• Next you will need to go to Janet's Blog to get another assignment.
• If you find you have any questions during your trip, please don't be afraid to ask. Just direct your questions to "amooretto" on the message board by sending me a private message with "question" in the subject line.
  

GOOD LUCK!

Good evening

GREAT time seeing fireworks tonite me and the kids with my nieces and their families and some friends. Got some good pix but not enough time to post about it.

I loved watching the kids faces when they looked up at the fireworks. It went by so quick. Now we're home, got the kids all bathed and getting ready for our boating/camping trip tomorrow. Trying to figure out how we are going to fit all this stuff onto the boat! Neal should be home shortly. He went to Daytona to watch the races.

Be back Monday to post pix of this long weekend!

Blog Candy Alert!!

Okay...I have gotten word of these TWO awesome opportunities to get some blog candy.

YUM!

Can you say yum?

1. Here is the link to Posh Designs Scrapbook Store blog. I see some pretty flowers, bling and rub-ons galore! (and it's mine...LOL)http://poshscrapbookstore.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-candy-time-yummy-blog-candy.html
2. HUBBA HUBBA!!! {drool} and this goodness is from Addicted to Paper. http://momofthreeaddictedtopaper.blogspot.com/2009/07/10000-hits-blog-candy.html I'm crying b/c I'm sooooo happy!!! I want it all!!! That is a lot of yumminess...I think I'm full after looking at this! LOL

Well, spread the word and wish the best scrapper a good luck! (I'll have to have a personal talk with random.org to hook me up! heehee)

Words won't hurt me

Well, I've been going to bed late every nite since Sunday trying to play catch-up with my message board, playing a little on Facebook (it can be very addictive....I WON'T GIVE IN!!!) and working on these cards for my friend's business...PARTY PERFECTIONS.

I've actually been sketching what I need to do and gathering all my supplies. I'm such a procrastinator when it comes to scrapping for others. I guess I work better that way. Gets my mojo going. So, I did some cards last night. A little discouraged b/c I was told that some looked like a kid did them, but you know...I'm not going to let that get me in the way. And if they DO look like a "kid" did them, so be it. Business will tell. HECK, my friend will tell me because she has to include them in her party packages and I represent her!

I've got TONS more to do and my list is getting longer because I keep coming up with ideas and I just jot them down. NOT ENOUGH SPACE OR TIME TO DO THEM ALL!!! Here are the one's that I did last night. They are all for either a:

• Princess Party
• Spa Party
• Fashion Show Party
  

It was fun coming up with fake names and addies and such. Had to have something in "blanks" for viewers to see. Enjoy!

This one is for a Spa Party

This is one for a Fashion Show Party

Fashion Show Party dress invite (I had fun with this one)


This one is another Fashion Show invite (I really like this one)

This is a Princess Party invite

Announcements for my site

Gotta plug my message board for July....

Check out this BLOG for all the details on a Guest Designer Call (for August) and the July Monthly Contest. So many opportunities to win!!

What's on today's agenda?

What to do today?

• go get some supplies for camping this weekend
• laundry (is this chore EVER complete?)...gotta change a load real quick...brb!
• watch the girls swim
• get girls "school" subjects ready for tomorrow
• help the girls with their "schooling"
• send out some emails for THE MOSY SCRAPPER
• read emails and respond
• play with Colton
• take Morgan to swim practice
• rush to get dinner and bedtime rituals done
• play on the computer, talk to hubby on phone, scrap some cards for work
• then I think I'll sleep!

Calgon take me away!!!

Pictures from our cruise

The girls were so excited for this day! They could not wait till the day they got to go on a big ship. Well...here are some pictures of our trip on Carnival Inspiration to Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico! Sydney was not photogenic this trip...she kept shying away from the camera. Morgan hammed it up! We went with some friends and you will see them in the photos too.

In the Cayman's we took the girls out to see stingrays and pet them in the water. I don't have any of those photos yet, waiting to use my waterproof camera for this weekend on the 4th of July out on the water. Can't wait to see if I got any good shots!

In Cozumel, we took Morgan with us while Sydney stayed at Camp Carnival on the ship. She didn't want to walk around town and she wouldn't have liked it either...she gets "tired" fast. She had fun though with her friends. We did some souvenier shopping, took a break at Fat Tuesday's because it was very hot and then made it to Carlos N Charlies for some chips and salsa and some drinks. Then back to the ship for the rest of the day in the water and down the slides.

And here are the pictures we took on board for the "dress up" night. The girls loved doing these as well as many others we did that night but we just didn't buy them all!




So sad that the trip is over. Can't wait for the next cruise...maybe in 4 years when Colton can come and enjoy it too.

Back to Reality

Glad to be back from our 5 day cruise. It was a lot of fun sitting out by the pool/slide sipping on my fruity drink and watching the girls make friends and swim their little hearts out. So sad that it had to end. I was glad to get back though to Colton.

I can't wait to download some pictures to the computer so I can post here. I also took some pictures when we went on an excursion in the Grand Cayman Islands...swimming with stingrays. So neat! Those creatures are so gentle!!! Soft and friendly...well, the one's that swam all around us. And we didn't even have food to feed them. They just swam up to us, giving them kisses and getting back rubs from them...so weird but it also felt good! heehee

Now it's back to reality.

Our little swim star!

I thought I'd add a video of Morgan's 1st swim meet. This is her doing a 25m breast stroke. She did really well at her meet and we're very proud of her. Looks like we found her sport! Enjoy!

My Playlist

Had to rearrange my playlist today and add a couple of songs to get in the "cruise" mood!

ENJOY!

What a slacker!

I am soooo bad. I said I was going to keep up with this and I haven't!

shame on me!!!

Well...let's get a quick summary...

1. school's out
2. we have our house up for sale b/c Neal got a promotion
3. Morgan is on a swim team
4. Morgan had her first swim meet and raced in 4 events and placed in all of them!!
5. I colored my hair magenta/hot pink. Well, I didn't...my stylist did. I wanted something different and funky...I sure got it! LOL
6. Colton is 16 months old now and still a cutie
7. Sydney stopped using her "nite-nite" on the last day of school (nite-nite: it's a diaper cloth that she has been carrying around chewing for a year...I do wash it, it just doesn't look like I do...and it turned out to be like 3"x3" at the time of it's burial...GROSS)
8. We are going on a cruise in 3 days to Mexico and Grand Cayman with some friends

Okay...talk about a quick summary. I just need to update with photos now!

July GDT call

Look what is going on at my scrapbook message board...

http://mosyscrapper.blogspot.com/2009/05/july-gdt-call.html

We are looking for ONE lucky scrapper to be the next guest designer for THE MOSY SCRAPPER

Sale!!

I am such a slacker. There are so many photos and so many fun things that we have done since I last posted. I will get to that another time...for now...

So come on down and get the goodies before they are gone!