Where I've been

First off, I'm really sorry I've been gone for so long. There has been a lot of things going on that have really knocked me for a loop and changed the whole schedule of my day, my life.

First and foremost my stepfather fell and broke his hip (he's 85) and it was very stressful as they live in GA and he's on blood thinners so he had to lay flat on his back for 5 days before they could do surgery. To add to that, he developed a phenomenon called "hospital psychosis" which is apparently common in elderly patients. Common or not, it didn't make things easier to deal with!! He has since made it through surgery with flying colors and is now currently in rehab and doing well. It'll be a long road for him and my mother, but but they will get through it. I will be going to GA as soon as he's discharged from rehab to help my mother help him to adjust to being at home.

The other "happening" was the "death" of our laptop. Well, it's not really dead, but definitely in intensive care!! My husband is really hard on things and had dropped it a few times and after breaking the screen finally broke the port that you plug in an external monitor. I got fed up with all the problems with it and went and bought myself a new laptop with our tax return money. I think he's a little frustrated with me...I have it password protected so he can't use it without me know it and signing him in. Well, if you know him and computers, you'd understand why. We are getting the other one fixed, but until then he just has to suck it up.

So with all that being said, the next "slow me down" issue was moving my scrap area around. It's still in the living room, but I wanted to move it to facilitate room for a couch. We now have the couch, but my area is far from done. I figure a few more days though and it should be okay. It just creates such a mess to clean stuff up...know what I mean?!!

Now on to HAPPY NEWS. I have been in touch with Elena from Scrapbook Royalty and she is going to help my friend Lisa and I get our crop fundraiser for the Johnson County Autism
Support group rolling. I'm VERY excited about this. We have a teleconference with her this Tuesday night. Scrapbook Royalty helps plan fundraising events for scrapbookers and I'm SO excited to be working with them to get this moving. Our hopes are to have our fundraiser here in IN the same day they have the Autism Speaks crop in CA. I figure we can do a live web feed back and forth and have a blast with it!! So, we're looking at September for the time frame I'm hoping Elena can give me lots of good ideas to go with and how to get the ball rolling!!

Other than that, I haven't really been creating much. My desk has been a shambles as I've been moving everything AND babysitting for my friend with a 22 month old. I can't wait to get my desk back in order so I can start pumping out the Valentine goodies. Pink is my favorite color so these are some of my FAVORITE things to make. I'm also kind of stoked about reorganizing my paper into vertical storage and hoping that helps me use up more of my stash.

I DO have to tell you that I've made my first project out of Designing with the Divas and it turned out fantastic!! I emailed a few pictures to Diva Danielle and she really like it. I'm sure once they figure out how to post pictures to their blog you'll get to see it there. I would love to post a picture of it here, but the pictures I took of it are saved on the other laptop which is in ICU, so they will have to wait :) I plan to make many other projects from the book and they are all completely doable. I'm telling you people....pick up your copy today, it's an amazing book!!

OH and I had my 15 minutes of fame!! I called into the Diva Craft Lounge and can be heard talking to Diva Danielle and Rayme the Duke of Crafts. If I was really with it I would tell you what episode, but to be honest, I'm too tired to look it up right now (I have had a long day and have to be up at 3:00am for work) so I can't remember it. But it was incredible talking to them in person and they can be assured they WILL hear from me again!! They are terrific people and so genuine.

The other thing that I'm so touched by is that there are so many giving crafters out there. My stepfather has received a minimum of 10 handmade cards from around the world all wishing him well and a speedy recovery. He is tickled pink to get them and is amazed at the workmanship/creativity of each as well as the fact that these "strangers" care enough to send him a card. So if you are one of the many that have been sending him cards....thank you so much...it's meant the world to him!!

I think that's about it. I can't think of anything else "exciting" to share with you. Please feel free to comment (as always) and please don't hesitate to share this blog with others. I would love to have a lot of readers!!

I do intend to post pictures of my finished scrap area (I even found out how to hide those rough edges of the shelves when you cut them) and will be looking forward to hearing what you think. By the way, I'll tell you the secret of hiding those rough edges after I post the pictures:)

That's enough for this evening. It's only 8:30pm but I know I have to be up early tomorrow morning and I need to start winding down to so I can go to sleep. Hope all of you are crafting and having a wonderful day/evening.

God Bless,
LeighAnn