I went, I saw, I had a blast!

   Hello there!  So, I mentioned earlier this week that I went to Utah for the Stampin' Up! Convention!   I go every year, but was not sure if  I'd be able to go this year since I am taking care of my gma.  Well, my wonderful, sweet, amazing husband volunteered to come up and grandma-sit so I  could attend this year. There are not enough words to describe how much that meant to me and how truly amazing he really is!  I have been here over 10 months now and really needed a little break.  I went and he did an awesome job holding down the fort here!  Then when I got back he insisted I take a few extra days off to recover from my trip and he continued to care for her!!  See, total keeper!!!

   Traditionally, when you attend Convention you make roomie gifts for your roommates!  This year was no exception!  I had 5 wonderful roommates and these were the gifts I made:

I made books with hide-y holes on the inside!  Each title had my roomies name in it!

Here is one without the cover decorations.

This is what it looks like open.  I filled it with gum, candy and drink packets for snacking during convention.

I also made each of my roomies a pocket letter with lots of goodies to make Convention easier tucked into the back!

Here they are all stacked together!  I used the new In Colors Tip Top Taupe and Watermelon Wonder along with Whisper White and touches of Basic Black.

**************************************************************

I only made about 70 swaps this year.  I normally make between 150-200 general swaps, but time just didn't permit this year.  No big deal!

Swap card #1

Swap card #2

                                        

          Swap card #3

This was my swap card for one of my two organized swaps.  This was the "Swap in your Jammies!" at the Marriott swap!  It was like a giant slumber party! LOL 

This card was for my second organized swap.  This one was for the SUDSOL swap!

Swapping is such a fun part of Convention!  You get to meet new people and discuss techniques and learn about where they are from!

I have tons more photos to share so I will be back tomorrow with the rest!  I hope that you have a wonderful day!

Look who is having a birthday!!

Well hello there!  Hope you are doing well today!  Yesterday my sweet, tiny little gma had a birthday!  She turned 98!!!  She just amazes me! She kept telling everyone she was 39 and insisted that we sing to her after she finished her cake and then she wanted to sing to us!  LOL She is a real hoot some days!   Thought I would share a few pictures from the big day with you!

Here is the birthday girl in all of her "39" years of glory! 

Here she was singing to us after we sang to her! LOL

Here she is with Jim.  He is her buddy! (mine too---> he brought ice cream cake!)

Hannah is reading her birthday cards to her.

She and Jim are discussing important things (the cake!).

Opening presents!

Here I am with my gma! 

Happy 98th birthday to one heck of a lady!  

I will be back soonest with more to share!  Have a wonderful day!

A walk will do wonders!

Hello!  How are you today?  Be warned...today's post is a non-crafty one, so I will understand completely if you would like to duck out now and pop back in tomorrow for something covered in glue and sparkle! LOL I have been busy up to the eyeballs caring for my gma lately.  Away from home, away from my hubby and kids (although they visit when they can!) away from my friends, and away from my normal day to day life.  I came here not knowing how long I would be here.  I accepted that when I packed up and headed this way.  It has been 7 months now.  I have watched my grandmother winding down slowly.  She has become such a different person than the one I knew growing up.  She is even completely different than she was when I got here.  It is quite a challenge some days being her only care provider.  Seems that every day there is a new little something that we are figuring out how to deal with.  Some days her mind is very sharp and she is on top of every little thing, but other days she struggles to remember details.  Those days are becoming more the norm for us.  We even had a day last week when she asked me who I was.  The mind works in such crazy, bizarre ways and it is tough to watch her fading slowly away from the person that she once was. I am from a very small family and I feel strongly that family is the most important thing.  I cannot tell you how many people keep telling me how "good" I am to be here doing this for her, but to me it just feels like the right thing to do.  It's been the most challenging, frustrating, exhausting, demanding, amazing, wonderful, important thing ever, but it's the right thing to do.   I know that I am fortunate to have this time with her and I try not to take any of it for granted, but I must confess that I am really missing home!  Since I have been here there have been 3 very special people up here that have helped me out.  Two of them were friends of my Uncle's (my gma's son) and adopted my gma after he passed away and one is a friend of her's from church.  All three of them stop by at least once a week and visit her and check in on me!  They are all three amazing people and I am unbelievably grateful for them all!  Today one of them stopped by unannounced and threw me out!!  She told me she was here to sit with my gma so I could get out for a while. She offered me her car, but I declined settling for a nice long walk instead!!  What a wonderful mental health break it was too!  I snapped a few pics while I was out and thought I would share those with you!

I have one more picture to share today!  This one shows a glimpse of my gma's true personality!  

If you made it this far, I thank you for hanging in til the end!  I will be back soonest with something of a more craft-y nature to share! Happy Saturday and I hope you enjoy the weekend!

Say what?! A card?!

Hi there!  A card!!  I made a card! Can you believe it?!  It has been so long since I've made one that I was beginning to think I might have forgotten how! Funny, how it comes right back to you! LOL

Since I have been away from home my stamping buddies have been wonderful about keeping my spirits up! They e mail and text and send me fun little goodies in the mail! They have gone out of their way to keep me included in the going's on of our stamp group!  I have met and made some really amazing friends because of stamping!!  I feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful group of ladies in my life!  Big, big hug guys!! My most recent goody package came from one of those good buddies (Hiya Kavi!).  I needed a card this morning, so I raided her fun package and put this one together:

So bright and cheery!  I just love this paper and the new Stampin Up! Butterfly framelits are just gorgeous!!  Sadly, they are on back order right now because of the dock issues in California.  It's a big mess!

Close up of that beautiful butterfly! :)

Any fun plans for the weekend?  I think I'll do some crafting! ;)

Eating is such a fun thing!

   Hello! So I have always enjoyed eating!  I mean just really, really loved it!  I love food.  I love the social aspect wrapped around it. I love dessert (I really love dessert!).  Being here with my gma I have discovered exactly where that love of food comes from!  That tiny little woman can put away some food!!  She loves to eat and she thinks that no meal is complete without dessert to finish it off!  She has chocolate peanut butter on her waffle at breakfast, cookies with her lunch every day, a cup of m&m's after her 4:30 potato chip snack and then dessert after dinner every night!  My initial response upon getting here and seeing that was to fuss, but then after thinking about it and deciding that the sugar is what has actually preserved her so well (she is 97!!) that maybe, just maybe there was something to that whole dessert thing!  So, what did I do?!  I joined her for dessert, of course! LOL  I have some more pictures to share with you today!

Here she is enjoying her breakfast!

Lunch is one of her three favorite meals a day!

Funny story!!  She LOVES these funny giant goldfish crackers, but only the bacon flavored kind!  Well the stores here stopped carrying them, so my amazing hubby went online and ordered her a lifetime supply of the gargantuan sized bags!! 14 of them! LOL  He is such a keeper! :)

Here she is enjoying a brownie which started out  practically as big as her head!  The chocolate-y-er the better! :)

Every good brownie needs a milk chaser!

One happy gma!

I really like this picture!  I think hands tell such important stories!  What do your hands say about you?

A gma funny for you! She loves Johnny Cash and so I You Tubed the JC song I Walk the Line for her one day. She loved it!  She tapped her foot and snapped her fingers! Sang along and she must have asked me to play that thing over 20 times!  Later that day she started walking circles around the dinning room table and singing "I walk the circle!" She's so funny!

Ok, I am off!  I will be back tomorrow with something more craft related to share!   Have a great day!

Family fills my heart!

     Hello there!  Nice to see you again!  Ever feel like the luckiest person in the world?   I feel that way on a pretty regular basis.  Just so happens I have the most wonderful hubby and kids ever!!  Since I have been a bazillion miles away from home my husband has been an honest to goodness saint!  He has driven back and fourth countless numbers of times (9 hour trip one way).  He has grocery shopped for me when I couldn't leave my gma alone. He has helped out with my gma whenever I needed it (which has been quite often...have I mentioned that she is a very busy little thing?!)!  He sends me little goodies in the mail to keep my spirits up!  The list just goes on and on and on...he has definitely taken that "For better or for worse" clause and shown it who is boss!   My kids have also been wonderful about keeping in touch, sending me photos, visiting with me when they can and just understanding that this is something I have to do!  I miss them all so much when we are apart.  Thought I would share some more photos with you today!  They are pretty random, but that kind of describes my life over the last 6 months!

 My very handsome hubby and I! 25 years later and he still makes me swoon and my heart pitter-patter!

This one was taken on one of my girl's visits up here. It was sooooo cold out that day!

My youngest daughter and my hubby!

My beautiful girls!

I tried to get out of the house for a walk every day when I first arrived and took the next several shots on some of my walks.  My gma requires much more attention now though so I haven't been able to adventure out.

She lives across the street from this!

It is very pretty here!

Marina just down the road!

Fall in New England is pretty darn beautiful!

This was taken on Thanksgiving of my Gma and long time friend Jim.

Thanksgiving goodies!

I took this picture early one morning when the season's first snow fell. I was excited to see snow!

This is a picture of the sixth or seventh snow!  It became much less fun as time went on! LOL  

Another snowy day!  There has been a lot of shoveling in my winter this year!

This is my goofball gma in her Christmas hat!  

Here we are in March and she has slowed down quite a bit.  She still manages to sneak in a few funnies here and there though!  Tonight she took out her hearing aids and told me, "I'll take these out now, but then you can't hear me!" LOL  She also really enjoys flirting with my hubby!  She likes to give him a hard time and he picks right back at her!  He is such a wonderful guy!  Did I happen to mention how lucky I am?!

Have a wonderful day!  I will be back tomorrow with a few more pictures and then I will start sharing something a little craftier with you again!