Fun and Mental Changes

So... how to begin this???  Welp, I guess with being blunt.  I was a child who grew up in an abusive home being kicked out of the house around the age of 16.  I have spent MANY years of my life working on forgiveness and getting to a point where I can say that I've overcome the "consequences" of living with an abuser.  It is something that I willingly admit still rears its ugly head, not because of unforgiveness, but because of unrepentance (well this is what I thought anyway).  The relationship remained toxic well into my adulthood to the point where I finally separated from the abuser.  Well, you might guess from how I started this blog post that my abuser was a family member. Recently, I had another family member share with me that I have issues (that she will be praying for) and that my separation was wrong.  I was told that I was rigid and that I needed to look past the abuse even if the abuser did not repent.  That, me being a Christian,...

I hadn't realized until just recently what a blessing my "mostly stocked" craft room is.... honestly, that little space of heaven might really be saving my life!!!  Not a bad way to start off my new year!!! My husband and I recently met my sister and her husband for one of those "paint nights" where you meet at a bar, recreate a masterpiece and have a bit of fun.  When my husband asked my sister why she decided to plan this outing she explained that as part of her breast cancer recovery, her holistic doctor recommended she take up something artistic to help relieve stress.  She was quick to point out that I've always had paper crafting for stress relief and artistic expression and I realized that she was right!!!  When I sit down to work on a project, I can COMPLETELY lose myself... truly not a care in the world.  HUGE chunks of time can fly by unnoticed when I'm in the throes of creative inspiration, even if it is only recreating a masterpiece.... ...

I discovered a special freedom yesterday like I've never known!!!  Due to work schedules I just didn't know how we were going to pull the Thanksgiving holiday off.... it was suggested that I have it catered!   So slightly begrudgingly, my husband agreed that having it catered would be something worth looking into.  After pricing the different store's holiday offerings, I decided on Fry Marketplace to cater my Thanksgiving meal. BRILLANT!!!  So two things: I chose Fry's solely on price and locale. There was going to be no way of knowing how brilliant the idea was until yesterday's Thanksgiving meal. So three express meals and one gluten free meal at Fry's cost me $149.  With my $5 off digital coupon that brought my meal to $144 that was then quickly back up to $149 with the cans of black olives I had to buy.  Then the hubs brought home 2 Village Inn pies (something we do EVERY year) for $19, the whipped cream for $4.72 and rolls for anot...

Just a quick one today.  A quick rant I should say.... Just because you forgave, that SHOULD NOT give the one that hurt you free reign to hurt you over and over.  THAT is a matter of self respect.  And quite frankly, it is a matter of respect for the offending person and anyone else they may hurt as well.  NO ONE should walk through life thinking it is ok to hurt someone else.  Forgiveness IS NOT acceptance... it is compassion for the human condition and a recognition of God's love for you and for them.  Release offense (absolutely), but take responsibility for your own happiness!  Being a martyr is every bit as bad as being an abuser! "Hurt me once shame on you, hurt me twice shame on me." It is a totally different scenario when someone hurts you unintentionally... but repeated offense?  There are consequences for our actions and our inaction .  Find the strength to be happy.  You could be saving someone ...

  This year is a special year for me and the mister.... 17 YEARS OF MARRIAGE!!!  That is definitely something to be excited about!  And to celebrate, he and I went RING SHOPPING TODAY!!!!  YAYAYAYAYAY!  We won't actually be celebrating our anniversary for a while, but why wait!?!  Every day is the perfect day for new jewelry, right?!? When he and I first discussed the idea of upgrading, I was concerned that our finances just wouldn't allow for a new ring purchase.... let alone an UPGRADE.  Then we discovered it CAN be done and within budget if you're willing to "trade in" or "recycle" what you currently have, so I wanted to share what we learned.  I also thought I'd show you some of my favorite styles of rings, so I'll sprinkle those along the way throughout this post.  Clicking on the pics will open links that will take you to the sites where I found these rings.  You'll just have to wait (like me) to see what I actua...

This, my friends, is the view from my room in Oceanside, California over this past weekend!!!  The hubs and I took a little winter holiday to go play in the ocean.  Our room was A-MAZING and we had SOOOO much fun.  Unfortunately, I STILL don't have a cord for my camera (I swear I'm rectifying that tomorrow) so my pics are all taken with my phone.  The biggest problem I had there was I was having so much fun that I kept forgetting to plug in my phone to charge.  So there were a ton of shots I missed simply because my phone was dead. One of the shots I'm glad I didn't miss was the pier.  The pier in Oceanside is sort of the focal point for the city.  It is an ENORMOUS pier that takes you quite a ways out into the ocean and at the end of the pier....... a restaurant!!!  We had lunch at the end of a pier our first day in Oceanside.  What a way to start a vacation!!! And of course there was SOOOOO much that went on in between.... a vi...

  A friend of mine just posted the wildest thing I've ever seen on Facebook.... it is an excerpt from The Good Wife's Guide of 1955 (click on the pic to enlarge... really, do it)!  Now while most would get a pretty good laugh since women have gained much ground on the road to equality, it is THIS woman's opinion that we could stand to take at least one step back. Don't get me wrong.... treating your spouse like a possession or a maid is NEVER ok.  I mean, some of the items on this Good Wife's list are SOOOOO far out there, but some of them could stand a little rehash.  I have a little story of a couple at the top of their game financially, both with thriving careers but a struggling relationship when the housing market crashed and one of their careers came to a screeching halt. Yes, that would be mine.  So suddenly I was at home with not much to do but try to find ways to save money (we did just lose half of our household income) and m...

So this post is inspired by the pic above.  It was posted by one of my facebook friends and my response was, "um.... good point!"  And that led to me thinking about WHAT is marriage?  Well, I am a Christian and my Christian friends would say that marriage is a holy and divinely established covenant.  That the "holy" and "divinely" would exclude gay people from marriage based on the whole "and when a man lies down with a male the same as one lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination...Lev. 20:13" keeping the union from being classified as :"divinely ordered".  But then, couldn't the same be held true for divorce?  Why are Christians allowed to divorce?  Doesn't the Bible also say, “So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate . . . And I say to you:  whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery” (Matt...

Too often we say "I love you" with food.  For some time I've been trying to break that nasty habit in my household, but this way of expressing "I love you" is something that has been done to me, and I've done to other people, for my entire life.  And is it just me, or does EVERY celebration have to revolve around food???  Tonight I am committing to ending this behavior once and for all.  The trick is figuring out how to quit associating food gifting with love giving.  Here's a great example: Once, my husband brought me home a banana split... smiling from ear to ear.  I PANICKED!  For a split (pardon the pun) second I FREAKED OUT in my head thinking, "I've eaten a perfectly clean diet all week.  I'm in the home stretch.  WHY would he do this to me?  Can I REALLY turn down a banana split?  Will I hurt his feelings by turning it down?"  I honestly went through a pretty manic minute and half before asking him, "why did you...

I think this is what drowning feels like.  I lost a friend yesterday.  And I'm afraid that I am just having a very hard time finding the words to express what the world lost.  I'm having a hard time KNOWING she's gone.  I just can't believe that Trisha Giallella died yesterday. I've known Trish for a large chunk of my life; she was the sister of my sister's ex husband. But for all the years that I knew her, I never REALLY knew her until very recently.  Oh sure, over the years I would listen in awe at all her stories.... stories of making movies in Hollywood, the wild parties and dating Rick James.  To a young girl of 15, those stories seemed like something from TV itself and far removed from my own piddly little life.  The fact that she even shared her stories with me sent me into a stuper.  I always had stars in my eyes when I listened to Trish talk, she was so glamorous and very, very tough... very passionate and good at "living".  I...

Ok, so I rented it and I loved it!!!  I hate that I loved it!  And I hate myself even more that I'm running out to buy it!  But watching this HILARIOUS movie remake reminds me of all the broken dreams and unanswered questions I was left with as a teenage girl while I manipulated and maneuvered my black and white TV antennae unavailingly to give me a clear picture of the hit Fox TV show. Back in 1987, Fox was a new station and did not come through very clearly on that trusty black and white and most nights it was as if my beloved Penhall was communicating to me from the other side through all that white noise.  Yes, I was in love with Officer Doug James Penhall and that teenage ritual would literally foreshadow the pain and heartbreak I would endure watching the end of 21 Jump Street the movie... and I'm STILL compelled to buy it.  If you haven't seen the movie yet, this post might come as a shock and should definitely be considered a spoiler for anyone readin...

You see this AWESOME layout?!?  Well, it only exists because of ME!!!  Now I'm allowing my friend Julie of Life With The Tucker and Wolek Clan to take full credit for it, but this gorgeous creation is because of MY creative genius. You see, Julie is a cropping buddy who creates A-MA-ZING creations for BlueMoonScrapbooking.com (among others) and was hard at work on a cuter than cute kindergarten layout during one of my recent crop nights with the Paste Eaters.  She worked and worked while I quietly contrived an integral artistic expression* for the exact moment when I said in my perfectly tonal pitched and melodious voice, "Throw on some bling... bling, bling, bling!!!"  To which she added, "I can't!  It's a design team project."  "COME OOOOOONNNNNN", I said in a voice that could only be described as a harmonic, soothing soprano.  Julie smiled and said that she didn't have any bling.  Luckily, Terre , another one of my croppin...

There are moments in life that God allows you, for no real reason that you are aware of at the time, to be a part of something MONUMENTAL.  A moment that changes you, inspires you, blesses you and truly humbles you to the core maybe just to remind you that He cares.  I had that moment last night and am having a little trouble putting the experience into words today. But, I really do want to share the experience with all of you, so I'll start with the obvious and see where that takes me.  I was invited to attend Mildred's 100th birthday party last night. I don't know Mildred very well, but I've gotten to work out with her a couple of times at my Curves.  Yes gang, Mildred is 100 and works out at Curves!  To see this woman working out in the circuit at 100 blows my mind and fills me with inspiration beyond measure.  If you ask Mildred what the secret to living so long is, she'll tell you, "You gotta move Honey!" I don't know what I expected exactl...

Well, yesterday I shared some of my inspiration with you, today I want to share satisfaction.  I've been given the pleasure of sharing my journey of gaining health and losing weight with the incredible ladies that I work out with at Curves and today I got a clear view at how much more I really get and why it is all worth it. A lady talked to me today about feeling alone in her own weight loss journey with no where to turn for motivation to reach her goals... she was even thinking of quitting altogether.  Boy, did I relate!!!  All I could tell her is about the satisfaction that I receive from my own journey with the wonderful Curves ladies. Reality check:  you HAVE to find your own motivation.  This is nothing someone can give to you.  But the miracle that I have found on the Curves Complete program is that once I tapped into that motivation (just to get myself there), Curves has the support and programs in place that is getti...

I have a little babble this morning: You know... this new adventure to fit into the perfect wedding dress has me perusing my Facebook page daily for bits of motivation, inspiration and laughter.  But I'm BLOWN AWAY by how great Facebook really is!!!  In a span of about an hour I'm fed in every one of the above listed areas.... it's INCREDIBLE!!!!  But that hour brings me even MORE from my news feed.  From it, in the same amount of time, I also get world news, trending topics, educational articles and connections with my friends, family and business contacts.  Honestly, I've discovered a certain Feng Shui beauty to Facebook that, until recently, I took for granted.  What does Facebook do for you?

It's been awhile since I've done a blog post, but I just HAD to share today....... So today I got the privilege of teaching the most WONDERFUL group of ladies.  I mean this was one of those classes where the group who gathered made my time teaching feel like a party, so I wanted to take a moment on my blog to thank everyone who attended Glitter Monster today featuring Creative Imaginations H2O, Glitter Ritz glitter and the American Tag HomePro (lovingly known as The Purple Monster) at Paper Vineyard.  Folks, we were so loud with the laughter and fun that another class going on in the store had to completely stop and tell us to tone it down.... they couldn't hear!  hehehe... it was JUST THAT GOOD!!!  Although, I did have to apologize as we did not intend to be rude in any way, we were just having fun.  You all know how it is, I hope.  LOL!   Thank you Kim, Liz, Martha, Dee, Jean, Margie and Nancie!  You ladies are...

So today, I am pondering the word "mistake".   I've personally experienced MANY apologies in my life where the person asking for forgiveness states they made a mistake.  Like many (and I would even venture to say all at one time or another), I've searched myself, relying on my own heart for guidance.  I think for the most part, swift forgiveness is key to dealing with any transgression.  However, where you go beyond that is a completely different thing.  Just because you've forgiven someone doesn't mean things should stay the same.  Sometimes real forgiveness is the direct result of hard resolutions.  So I wanna start here with the word "mistake". First off.... A mistake is an action that you thought was right but it turned out to be wrong.  When someone knowingly hurts another (doing something they already know is wrong or SHOULD have known was wrong because it's soooooo blatantly obvious), they should not be allowed to...

So... it has been a TERRIBLE month!!!  With the passing of our lab and now my husband having a stroke, I gotta say, I'm exhausted.  After all, this IS about ME, right?!?  HAHAHAHAHAHA!  I'm really only making a joke here because I'm on overload with every other emotion.  The reality is, my husband had a real scare and it left me with real feelings of guilt because I've allowed (and in most cases, led the coup) us to fall off our path of healthy living that we worked so hard on over the past two years.  We backslid into unhealthy eating and missing workouts.  Welp, we just had a wake-up call in one of the biggest ways imaginable.  There are only two things more important than our health, God and the health of our spouse.  And it's a funny thing that happens when we put our priorities in check, we actually DO take care of ourselves in the process.  Enter the 17 Day Diet.... and we are now on day 6. Health and diet books were at the ...

I have received a couple of wonderful blog award tags that went UNRECOGNIZED!!! I am so sorry! This month has been a hectic month and I managed to allow the award notifications to get buried in the comments! I'm such a dork! So my sincere "thank you's" to Pam over at TheBugBytes.com and DanussasNails.blogspot.com for honoring me with these wonderful blog awards. Both sites have WONDERFUL content. Pam has the most incredible crafts (you know how I love those crafts) and I happen to know Pam and she's every bit as wonderful as the crafts she creates! And I'm new to DanussasNails, but the site is incredible and I'm thrilled that someone like her is giving ME an award! I'm thrilled to say the least. Now for the fun.... Here are the award rules: 1. Post the prize on my blog. 2. Mention the blogger who tagged me. 3. Give the prize to 5 friends. 4. Post on my blog the link to their blogs. 5. Announce everyone on their blog. 6. Make a list with 10 things tha...

MY KRAFTIN KIMMIE STAMPS ARRIVED!!!! These are the greatest stamps EVER made!!! Can you tell that I adore these stamps? These stamps are what started the WHOLE Copic marker adventure from a week ago (they are the ones I told you about featured on Summerthyme Studio ). Now, my Copics won't be here until Tuesday (fingers crossed), so I didn't even try to work on Charlotte (one of the two stamps I received; she's going to be my first Copic project), but pictured here is my Drucilla done with Stampin Up markers as I ATTEMPTED to blend. It didn't turn out exactly like I wanted it to, but the struggle with blending these markers unsuccessfully will only lend to help me once my Copics arrive. And besides, I wanted this one to show off! After all, there is a story behind me needing this stamp... this card was destined to be made over 15 years ago! :) Over the years, every time my husband would accidentally hurt me and hear me say, "OUCH", he'd always respond wi...