clean and simple.

These Are a Few Of My Favorite Things

2011-12-24T14:10:00.023-05:00

Hi there...remember me?
I haven't been around for a while,
because I have stopped scrapping, completely.
And to have a scrapbooking blog and not scrap?
Kind of defeats the purpose of the blog, no?
I probably will close up the blog shortly
(after I make some Blurb books)
Or maybe make it private/invite only.
Still haven't decided yet...
But I was taking a break between baking hundreds of cookies
for Christmas and I thought I would post
a few of my favorite things around my house during the holidays.

First up-
1) Cookies! The smell! The taste! The sight!
I know I may complain about baking the hundreds upon hundreds
of cookies for friends and family, but want to know a little secret?
I love doing it ;)

2) The knitted baby booties that hang on our tree that Andy bought for me the Christmas when I was pregnant with our first baby girl:

3)I love this year's early Christmas present from Andy,
my Mom had given me some antique apothecary jars
and now I am starting a collection:

4)I bought this Peanuts Musical Skating Rink a few years ago.
All the characters have magnets on their feet to simulate skating.
And all the while "Christmastime Is Here" plays.
<3

5) The Mantle. I just made my favorite photo of Erin
from last Christmas into a canvas and I love it!
Love the Santa, the pine roping and the silver balls too!:

6) The "HOPE" Ornament. Five years ago, I bought 3 silver-glittered word ornaments from Kohls. "WISH", "JOY" and "HOPE", and each one of my girls posed with a word. Ryan's word was "HOPE". Little did we know just how much that word would signify in her life.

2007:

2008:

2009:

2010:

2011:

7) Lastly, I love the magic that Christmas brings. To have my family home and healthy for the holidays is all that I could ask for, all that I'll ever need.
I hope the same for you this Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
-Jody

Really???

2011-10-29T15:03:00.002-04:00

The view from my front porch on Oct. 28th.

I've been a bad blogger,
be back soon!
-Jody

9/11

2011-09-11T12:27:00.005-04:00

I found this photo of the Twin Towers
in my mother's old photos that I have been scanning.
I believe it is from the early '80s.
I love that we have this photo.

Ten years ago, that ordinary September morning,
I put my 2 older girls on the school bus,
and put my youngest baby girl down for a morning nap,
and proceeded to take a nap myself.
I was woken up by a phone call from my husband
who was at work asking me if I was watching the news.
I turned on the TV just in time to see the 1st tower implode.
I remember feeling the blood freeze in my veins.
And then I remember crying non-stop for the next week.
I did not know anyone personally who died on that day,
but I read every article and watched the news 24/7.
One memory that will stay with me always,
is the American flags that I saw everywhere I looked
and the feeling of pride I had for my country.
We will never forget...

The number of casualties will be more than most of us can bear.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, Sept. 11, 2001

What are your memories of that day?

Just Checking in

2011-09-01T10:09:00.013-04:00

Wow, that was fast.
September is here and summer is almost already gone.
I hope if you live here on the East coast
you were not too badly hit by Hurricane Irene.
We were spared but as little as 1 mile away from me
the devastation was really bad.
Five feet of water in some houses and businesses.
Very surreal looking at photos on Facebook
as it was happening.
After the worst was over,
and for us the power went out for all of 20 seconds
(which were the longest 20 seconds of my life)
we ventured outside to look for any damage
and luckily didn't find any.
No damage at rock wall? Check.
One #2 daughter still crazy?. Check.

One husband still cute in his yellow slicker? Check.

One never used swingset now tuned into a pool? Check.

One #3 daughter ready to put that pool to good use? Check.

And lastly, one page scrapped in the entire month of August
for the September gallery over at Write.Click.Scrapbook?
Check.

Have a great day!
-Jody

Just Feels Right

2011-08-27T16:54:00.006-04:00

We did it.
We took our firstborn to college today.
I expected her to cry,
I expected her to worry,
I expected to cry myself,
but none of that happened.
Everything about today just feels right.
She is far enough away to appreciate the distance,
but close enough for us to get to her quickly, if need be.
Maybe because of all she has gone through
to get to this point makes me elated and not sad.
There were times during her illness
when I let those dark thoughts in
and thought that maybe this day will never come.
I think I have a different appreciation
than the normal parent who dropped their child
off to college on their own for the first time.
Or maybe tonight when I go to check on her
and she isn't in her bed I will sob for her.
But as of this moment,
it just feels right.
This is truly a new chapter in her life
and I just know she will soar!

"The return makes one love the farewell” -Alfred De Musset

Ry, I know you will continue to make us so very proud.

I love you,
Mom

Keep Calm & ...

2011-08-19T11:13:00.007-04:00

The other night , we had a group of Ryan's friends
here for what I called "The Last Supper" before they reunite
over Thanksgiving as college students.
It has been an honor knowing these great kids,
I will miss them all so much!
Until we see each other again...peace out!

For Ryan and Bobby, it was very sad
because they have been together for 4 1/2 years.
Through 2 bouts of cancer, through all of high school.
We shall see what the future brings
for these two incredible kids who have matured so much
earlier than other kids their age because of Ry's illness.

And finally and most importantly,
we received the word that Ryan's 6 month scans came out clean!
We are beyond estatic and this picture says it all:

That was a graduation gift from friends of hers.
I thought it was so appropriate ;)
As always, thank you for your good thoughts and prayers,
they are sometimes all that sustains me
when in reality I just need to keep calm...

Have a great day!
-Jody

You're Invited...

2011-08-17T09:19:00.059-04:00

...and here is your invitation
to Ryan's 18th Birthday/Graduation Party:

It was a partly cloudy day (great for pictures)
when I woke up Saturday morning at the crack of dawn.
I had been furiously cleaning the house,
making party food and decorations for the past 48 hours straight.
I was inspired by this photo on marthastewart.com site:

I loved how the black & white photos were in the shape of a number,
I could do this...riiiight?
What I didn't realize was how long the process would take.
I have 20 photo albums with at least 600 photos in each.
Plus add the 3000+ photos still not printed out from my computer.
600 X 20 + 3000 = 15,000 photos to sort through.
Then editing, resizing and formatting to black & white
of my favorite 100 photos and then
uploaded to my local CVS store for one hour printing.
(If you have never printed out photos from there before,
I am here to tell you that they came out GREAT!)
I then added a white cardstock border to each photo
so it stood out a little more.
Anyway, I was very happy with the end result.
The party was outdoors so I taped all the photos
to the garage door in the shape of an 18.
Here is the 1:

And the 8:

And the finished product with the birthday girl:

I wanted to do a photobooth, so on the other garage door
I purchased some gray houndstooth material as a backdrop.
I also bought a whiteboard and two chalkboards
for guests to write a message to Ryan
and I would make a collage for her to hang in her dorm room.
I got some great shots of everyone!
They ranged from sweet to sad to funny to heart-warming.
Here is just a sampling:

At the party, there were cute little boys

and there were cute big boys

as well as cute girls with their cute boys

There was a double-dutch jump rope contest

and games like Ladderball and Kan Jam (before my #3 climbed into it)

The food was delicious, to look at as well as eat,
like this beautiful watermelon basket carved by my sister Karin:

And look at this lovely cake we had ordered:

and the fixin's for the ice cream sundaes

I made simple vases for the tables

and I even made sure to get one semi-decent family photo

and thankfully the rain stayed away until nightime
just as the party was coming to an end

so hopefully all this girl's wishes will come true!

I know I have all your good thoughts and wishes
for a healthy and happy year ahead for my Ryan.
Thank you for coming to her party!
Did you have a good time? ;)
-Jody

Ocean City

2011-08-08T10:31:00.033-04:00

Hello, let's get right into where I have been the last week:

Ocean City, Maryland!
It was a much-needed 4 day vacation for us,
The first 2 days were beautiful and sunny,
but the next 2 days were...not.
No sun = No fun
And if you put 4 hormonally-charged females together
in close quarters, I believe the law of statistics say that
you will get approximately one meltdown per hour.
It was not pretty, so we drove home early. LOL
What was pretty were some photos I took.
Here is just a snippet of my favorites
of the original 500 photos I took.
Get your scroll finger ready:

The End.
;)

Mind-Boggling

2011-07-29T08:24:00.014-04:00

It boggles my mind that it is almost August already.
I used to think that summer went by
so quickly when I was a child.
Truth is, they go by even faster
when you're no longer a child :/

I've been a bad blogger once again,
but not a whole lot is going on to post.
I did visit our local fair recently with #2,

Yes, that is my girl (on the right) not utilizing the death grip
on amusement park rides like her mother usually does:

This is more my style at the fair:

So last week, it was unbelievably hot here.
It reached a high of 108 degrees!
Isn't that a convection oven temperature?
Not anything I want to actually live in!
Anyway, as Murphy's Law would have it,
our central air conditioning decided to stop working
on the hottest day of the century.
It was comical seeing my 3 girls act like sloths
in their bedrooms from the heat.
I called my husband at work to do something
and the man knew what was good for him when he drove up
with 2 window AC units taken from his office so we could find relief.
(A repairman did come and fixed it within hours, F.Y.I.)
And as Murphy's Law Part 2 would have it,
the next day when I went to work,
the AC was broken in the restaurant I work in as well.
Try waiting on unhappy, over-heated customers.
Good times, I tell you.

So if you would be so kind, it is my turn yet again
to host the blog over at http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/
Here is one of the pages I made for the post,
I love this photo of #2 and our Yule Dog, Sweetie:

I hope you are enjoying your summer,
wherever you may be!
-Jody

Post 4th of July Post

2011-07-05T10:09:00.019-04:00

I hope everyone's eardrums are intact today
after yesterdays celebration.
I was so obnoxious at work yesterday,
waving a mini American flag
and saying, "Happy Birthday America!"
to anyone who would listen.

I remember growing up
and asking my Dad what he would like for his birthday
which was on July 4th, to which he has always replied,
"Peace and quiet."
and the poor man has never gotten it ;)

Last week we celebrated the annual 5 family member's birthdays
and here was the obligatory blowing out the candles photo:

And I love the next shot where #2 realizes #3
blew out all the candles before everyone else. lol

It was nice enough day for swimming,
but only #3 and my sister indulged:

There was also jump-roping, first #2:

Then #3 joined in the fun:

And then their Dad got in the act:

My Mom who is the most talented person I know,
there is no artistic craft she cannot do well,
asked me to take a photo of her latest creations
for a shop where she is selling her wares.
She makes these lovely bowls out of rope and material.
Just look at a few of these beauties:

And the day is a definite success if I remember
to take a photo of the grandparents with all of their grandchildren:

And to throw in something scrap-related,
here is the last page I made when I hosted
the Write.Click.Scrapbook blog last week.
It is of #1 and her boyfriend
taken at their high school graduation lst week.
I could not be prouder of the both of them,
they take their studies much more serious than I sadly ever did.
And this is what I wrote on the blog last week...

Not only did this young man get into Harvard,
but both Yale and Harvard wanted him.
Yes, just like they wanted me all those years ago,
but I knew that I wanted to be a scrapbooking waitress
and no Ivy League school
was going to crush my dream of doing just that! ;)

Thanks for stopping by
and have a great day!
-Jody

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T11:21:00.002-04:00

Hope your 4th is a safe and happy one!
-Jody

The Graduates

2011-07-01T09:48:00.019-04:00

Happy July 1st!
I have always loved summer,
but I have noticed now that I am in the middle
of my life span a.k.a. peri-menopause,
the heat really is getting to me.
I find myself at work in the 108 degree kitchen
asking all my young co-workers,
"Is it hot in here or was that a hot flash?"
Pathetic, really.

So last week, we had 2 graduations to attend.
The weather did not hold up,
so we were squished into gynasiums with all the other
parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and children.
Again, cause for me to sweat uncontrollably.
But they both were wonderful ceremonies.

Here is #2 at our home before we left,
she now is officially a high schooler.
I loved her simple navy, pleated dress:

And I loved the braid in her hair:

And I love her beautiful, big brown eyes:

And I just love her:

Next up was #1's high school graduation ceremony.
She looked so lovely in her white cap and gown:

Her Daddy (who she totally looks like) was so proud of her:

Inside the school, there was a sea of green and white caps:

When she sat down after getting her diploma,
she posed...FOR SOMEONE ELSE! LOL:

At least I'll always have this photo :::sniffle:::,
her kindergarten graduation diploma photo:

And since it is a new month,
there is a new gallery over at Write.Click.Scrapbook!
The theme this month was weddings.
I dug out 3 blasts-from-our-past photos
from our big day from 24 years ago.
We celebrated our annivery on June 27th.
We have a wonderful life together,
I am a very lucky girl :)
I do love the layout I made,
even more than the embarrassing photos from the horrific 80's:

So go see the wonderful layouts over at
http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/
Have a great weekend
and Happy Birthday to my Dad,
hope you are feeling better!
-Jody

Megan Then & Now

2011-06-30T08:52:00.010-04:00

It's always nerve-wracking having to host
the Write.Click.Scrapbook blog because
the last time I did, (when I still had my crusty old computer)
it literally took me all night long to write up the post,
and as I went to hit send, it disappeared into cyberspace.
This time, I am happy to say all went well,
thank you for popping over if you did so :)

One of the major events last week
was #2's middle school graduation.
I can't believe this one will be in high school in September!
Time really does go by in the blink of an eye,
because it feels like yesterday she graduated kindergarten.
When I went to look for a photo from then,
I couldn't believe my eyes.
Megan posed the exact same way,
eight years later.
Look how cute she was!:

Thanks for stopping by!
-Jody

Father's Day

2011-06-20T09:12:00.009-04:00

Another holiday weekend has flown by
and as you know this one was Father's Day.
We had a quiet celebration at home,
the girls made their Dad homemade cards,
we had a nice BBQ and he opened some gifts
and they posed for pictures for me:

And from this photo,
I actually scrapped!
Before long, we will have 3 teenaged girls living in our house.
It will then be more be known as the Hormone Hell House,
but even as they all eventually grow up
and become lovely young women,
they will always be their Daddy's "little girls":

I didn't get to see my own father
because I am still recovering from
the Vegas "flu" I caught almost 2 full weeks ago.
That will be remedied this weekend,
when my parents will be here to see #1
graduate from High School.
:::biting inside of my cheek so I don't cry:::

Since I last updated,
I took Ryan to her college orientation.
She was accepted to a college 90 minutes from home,
which is better than her other choice which was 6 hours away!
She spent the night in the dorm,
while I came home because my coughing fits
were ridiculous and if I must be known,
I think she couldn't wait to be rid of me. lol

After dinner last night,
Andy and I were sitting on our front porch talking,
when we saw some deer on our property.
That isn't out of the ordinary,
as there is an abundance of deer in these parts,
but they brought along their little deer babies
who were so cute that I ran and got my camera.

They were jumping around adorably
that we couldn't help but be reminded
of this classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PNRPouqD_M&feature=related

Have a great day!
-Jody

Where I've Been - Part 2

2011-06-14T23:56:00.032-04:00

So where was I?
Oh yes, we are now at Sunday, June 5th
and it is the day of the concert
that Big Time Rush will be playing at!
It was held at an outdoor stadium
only 20 minutes from our house,
with 14 acts including Jordan Knight
from New Kids on the Block:

I was a Joey Mac fan myself, but whatever.
Did I ever tell you the story of when I took
my boss's 3 tween girls to the NKOTB concert
back in 1989 at a huge football stadium
and the 2 older girls went into the bathroom
and then proceded to lose me and the youngest girl
for at least one hour after the concert ended.
Talk about freaking out!!!
I called Andy hysterically crying,
"What am I gonna do...I lost my boss's kids...
I'm gonna get fiiiiiiiired!!!"
Turns out when they left the bathroom
they turned the wrong way and
had to walk the entire way around the stadium.
Remember, if you will, this was the days of no cell phones.
Whenever I see the girls I remind them of that fun day. LOL

So Erin was very excited to see Kendall again,
and had her trusty video camera to tape every second:

She was in for a very rude awakening when she realized
that not only can she not see him because he is so far away...
but he can not see her.

I did manage to get some good photos
considering just how far away we were.
Gotta love my zoom lens:

It was great seeing them in concert,
I could have easily done without the 13 other acts.
Am I showing my age?
Anyway, we got home around 8:00 that night
and I had to then proceed to pack because I was leaving
for Las Vegas at 3:00 AM!
While Andy was in Vegas two months ago,
he booked a 3 night/4 day stay for me and 3 of my girlfriends
at the same hotel he was staying at, The Wynn.
What a place it was!
The opulence of the hotel was jaw-dropping.
From the main foyer:

To the panoramic views from every room in the hotel.
I love this shot of my friends against the huge window:

I did manage to meet up with one of my best friends
from high school Roni who lives there now:

I did everything at the Wynn but...win.
We went to shows, we went to buffets, we laughed our faces off.
But the worst thing was that I got the flu on the 2nd night
and here we are 7 days later and I am still as sick as a dog :(
The day after I came home, #1 had her Senior Prom.
Instead of buying an expensive dress that she will never wear again,
she rented a stunning Badgley Mischka gown for a reasonable rate online.
And with 2 more daughters following in her Prom footsteps,
we will be visiting this website again and again.
http://www.renttherunway.com/

Here is the front of the dress:

And the back:

And the beautiful face that wore the dress:

And finally, her and Bobby,
still side by side 4 years later.

She had a great time at Prom (was voted one of the five "Princesses")
and then a group of her good friends rented rooms down at the Jersey Shore.
Her father and I also spent our prom weekend
down at the shore 31 years ago,
life certainly does come full-circle.

And tomorrow we go to her orientation for college.
Where has my little girl gone? :*)

As always, thanks for stopping by,
I appreciate everyone who visits my blog!
-Jody

Where I've Been- Part 1

2011-06-12T23:22:00.014-04:00

Hello!
Once again, I apologize for the lack of blogging
and lack of anything craft-like
but life kind of gets in the way :/
It has been a busy couple of weeks in my world.
And the only way I know exactly where I have been,
is to look in my Picasa photo files.
Let's start back at June 2nd,
which was #2's 14th birthday!

Here she is with one of her favorite gifts,
a shark "pillow pet".
Did I mention she is 14?
She is one crazy girl :)

That evening was spent at #1's high school
where they were giving out individual scholastic awards.
Ryan told her dad to stay home because
she thought she was getting one general award for chorus.
Imagine our suprise when not only did she get awards
in Music, English and French, but the N.Y.S. Comptrollers Award
given only to one student who is chosen by our school's principal.
He has been so supportive to our family during Ryan's illness
and he said he chose her because she is an exemplary student
in spite of all she has been through and an inspiration to many.
It was a moment we will all remember always.
(Except for my husband, who Ryan told to stay home! LOL)

Ryan also starred in another school play.
But this was was written by one of her best friends Matt,
who also starred in the production.
It was amazing, I look forward to the day when I can say
"I knew him when..." He is so gifted :)
All the proceeds from the show
went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation
and Ryan gave an amazing speech about how wonderful
the organization was to her and our family when she was sick.
I don't think there was a dry eye in the theater :*)

I was honored that the cast also asked me to take their headshots.
Here is Ryan's, she was perfect, playing an outspoken maid.:

So that's it until tomorrow when I am back with
Where I've Been - Part 2!
Come back and see just where I have been!
-Jody

Another Birthday!

2011-06-01T11:10:00.015-04:00

Thank you for all the birthday wishes for my Erin
right here and on my Facebook pages.
I showed them to her and they made her smile!
One of her favorite presents is that she is going to see
her favorite boy band Big Time Rush
at a concert this Sunday, again thanks to my boss Damien.
She is hoping to score another meeting with him. lol
A girl can dream, can't she?

Over at my favorite place
http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/
they are celebrating the 2 year anniversary/birthday
by revamping the site.
There is a fantastic new banner, new tagline
and some wonderful new designers joining the group.
We always miss the ones who leave us
to go on to different endeavors,
but never so much as our co-founder Elizabeth Dillow,
who thankfully is leaving only for a few months,
but will be missed none-the-same.
Marnie Flores will take over the reigns full-time
until she returns to us
and already is doing a wonderful job all by her lonesome.
Thank you ladies, once again for asking me to be a part
of such a great creative experience.
In honor of W.C.S.'s birthday,
all the newest team members
posed with a letter to create this awesome mosaic:

The gallery this month,
was to create something that inspired you
on the W.C.S. site over the past year.
We could choose something from our Tumblr site,
the monthly galleries, the daily posts, etc...
anything our scrappy hearts desired.
I chose to revisit the "Trusty 4 x 6 Page",
because so many of my pages include
the ever popular 4x6 photo.

I adore this photo of my 3 girls on Mother's Day
and was more than happy to bust out
some of my new Jillibean Soup stash purchases
from my extremely fun day at Scrapbook Expo
almost 2 weeks ago!
(Waving to Valerie and Laura who I met there,
it was so nice to meet you both!)

Have a great day!
-Jody

Happy Birthdays!

2011-05-31T08:21:00.022-04:00

Today is a very exciting day in the Wenke household.
My sweet Erin turns 11 years old today!
No one on this planet makes me smile more than her.
She is unlike any other child I have ever known.
Her heart is filled with such a pure spirit,
but it has seen so much ugliness in the past couple of years.
School for one thing has been a challenge for her.
As you all know, kids in general can be cruel.
She isn't very athletic and is shunned for it.
She has a less-than perfect smile and is teased because of it.
She has a mind of her own and because she doesn't
"follow the pack" is ostracized because of it.
I have wiped away so many tears from her
and have cried twice as many for her.

I wish for her, a year of happiness and a growing confidence in herself.
I also wish that she realize that she is not the sum
of what other children think of her.
She is my angel, full of sweetness and light.
Happy Birthday Erin!

This weekend we also quietly celebrated the 50th anniversary
of the birth of my of my husband.
He doesn't like the sound of 50.
So I bring it up as much as possible. lol
He just wanted to spend it with our little family.
We made him cards and gave him many gifts.
I tried to buy him 50 gifts,
but ran out of ideas around gift #27.
I printed out photos of him
over various years and added his age to the photo,
cut them out and taped them to each gift:

It is true that cute little boys grow up to be cute big boys ;)
I also got my craft on...
I bought a jar and filled it with 50 Hershey kisses
added some American Craft Thickers and ribbon
and typed out 50 reasons why I love you
and stuck them in each kiss.

They ranged from the bittersweet:
"...you are not sad that you don't have a son."
to the tragic
"...you love me even though I am not a size 0."
to the romantic
"...you kiss me goodbye every morning while I sleep."
to the above and beyond
"...you clean up vomit when the girls are sick."
to the truth:

He loved it and said it was his favorite gift.
Gotta love a man who likes a homemade gift!
Stop back tomorrow for the page I made for the June gallery
over at Write.Click.Scrapbook!
It's gonna be a great month :)
-Jody

Fluke

2011-05-18T09:19:00.003-04:00

Hi-
Last night I went to straighten out my scraproom,
and while pushing things around,
a layout was actually created.
In record time too!
I had found a grid of photos of #2 I printed out
that I had made in Picasa (free online editing software)
probably over a year ago.
It's not rocket science,
just a very simple page
that I seem to recreate again and again,
black cardstock, rounded corners and one line of journaling.
It may have been a fluke,
but it's still a page, right?
Maybe there is hope for me ;)

Have a great day!
-Jody

Struggling

2011-05-16T15:30:00.011-04:00

Hi-
It's been a little while
and I hate that is so long between blog posts.
But I am struggling.
I once again have this block
that comes and wipes out any creative energy I may have.
I have tried numerous times
putting photos to paper,
and absolutely nothing happens.
May is a notoriously busy month for me,
5 family birthdays (including my husband's 50th!),
trying to get back in the groove of working again,
leaving for a school trip with #2 for Boston next week
as a chaperone for Megan and 3 friends
(Do they know who I am? I am the one in need of a chaperone. lol),
and a fun trip to New Jersey for Scrapbook Expo this Friday!
Any blog readers going to be there?
I know I will be dropping major coinage
and I am hoping some new product is just what I need
to get me back in the game.

My computer issues have finally been resolved.
I did lose almost 2,000 photos
(1,500 of my two youngest's middle school play of "Seussical",
but more importantly, just the everyday shots that I took
of my dog, of my whole family on Easter, etc...)
but luckily, I had uploaded some of my favorite Easter shots
to Facebook before they were lost,
so I didn't go into a full depression.
Here is one of the girls in the Easter finery,
I remember when they used to be in Easter bonnets
and matching outfits.
Now in no time #3 will be as tall as her sisters:

Rememer the great V-Day post where Erin met her teen crush,
Kendall from Big Time Rush?
She asked permission if she could have a Twitter account
because he has one, so I let her.
(I monitor everything she writes and sees)
She tweeted him about the Vans and hat she received on Easter,
(He wears Vans all the time,
and when he met her wore the same newsboy cap)
and I took a photo of her wearing them
and he tweeted back to her.
Now that is pretty amazing because
he has over 100,000 followers
but he managed to see hers.
Again, she was on top of the world because of him :)
This was the photo:

Mother's Day was lovely,
I celebrated with my family,
my parents and my sister and her family.
I took a crazy amount of photos and here is my favorite,
it is of my nephew, the furry one:

And here are my favorites of the girls:
#1, fresh off of getting her braces removed:

#2, still smirking because of her braces:

And lastly #3, about to get braces any day now,
hence her sweet, little closed-mouth pose:

That's all folks.
Hope you are all well
and I hope to be back soon with something scrappy!
-Jody

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T11:47:00.003-04:00

Three years ago on this very day,
we learned that our then 14 year old daughter
had a malignant tumor in her knee.
Our lives have forever been changed
by that moment in time because
I have never been more terrified
and I have never cried more as a mother.
But I am happy to say at this moment in time,
she is healthy and happy
(right now laughing it up with her
2 crazy sisters in the next room as I type this)
I had hoped that I could teach many life lessons
to them, but instead these incredible girls that
I have been blessed to have given birth to
have taught me so much more.
Kindness, compassion,
patience (okay, this one still needs a little work. lol)
and unconditional love.
Thank you for loving me, faults and all.
And a huge thank you to my Mom.
On my best days, I still cannot hold a candle
to the mother you were and still are to me.
I am so very blessed. <3

Happy Mother's Day to all the
strong, invincible women out there!
Love,
Jody

Scanxiety

2011-05-05T12:11:00.008-04:00

Hello-
Just a quick post to let you all know
that we finally got word
that all of Ryan's 3 month post-cancer scans
have come back clean!
:::huge sigh:::
I am not going to lie, this was a tough one.
Usually you wait 1, maybe 2 days
for results but this dragged on for
6 of the most excruciating, drawn-out days.
Your mind starts to go off into dark places
that you can usually stay out of.
If you have never had a loved one
who has battled cancer before,
there is a word made for the anxiety
that comes with having to wait for scan result.
The word is...scanxiety.
I found this definition of the word online:
The mix of dread and hope and fear in the days leading up to a follow-up scan to see what the cancer may or may not be doing. Has it grown? Has it come back? Has it shown up somewhere else? Scanxiety is just one of the long list of ways cancer’s impact continues in the days, months, and years after a diagnosis.
But I am thrilled to say that Ryan
can now gear up for the next phases of her senior year.
Senior Prom, after prom Jersey Shore weekend,
getting a summer job and then getting ready for college!

And speaking of the "Jersey Shore",
I happened to wait on Nicole (Snooki)
at the restaurant I work at the other night.
She was very quiet, almost to the point of shy
and very kindly signed an autograph for Ryan,
as the marathons of the show got Ryan through
some of her long stays in the hospital.
And she looked great too,
I had read she was working out before the new season
about to film in Italy...I can't wait!
Thursdays just are not the same without
my favorite fist-pumpers! :)

Have a great day!
-Jody

Everyday

2011-05-02T12:01:00.006-04:00

Hi-
Just a quick post to let you know
the May gallery is up over at
http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/
The theme this month was "A Day in the Life".
I thought about doing a day in my life,
but quite honestly, a day full of
cooking, cleaning and folding laundry
is exciting as watching water boil.
So I took a bunch of photos of #3
the other day and used 8 of which
told a story about a day in her life,
which I titled, "Everyday":

Unbelievably, we are still waiting
for the news of Ryan's scans taken last Thursday.
My husband and I have discussed that
being made to wait to hear results
about the future of your child's health
is nothing short of cruel and inhuman torture.
So until we hear anything, thank you for all of your prayers.
-Jody

Not An Option

2011-04-26T11:16:00.015-04:00

Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes!
I've been a very busy girl of late,
between my 3 girls being off from school
and me finally going back to work.
I took a 5 month medical leave because of Ryan's illness
and then 2 more months for a mental health leave for me,
as you could tell, blogging/scrapping was few and far between.
These past months have been very hard,
emotionally and physically for my entire family.
But for me personally, even after Ryan
got a clean bill of health from her doctors,
I still felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.
I thought I should be happy that this chapter (once again)
was behind us, but I couldn't climb out of the funk.
It's almost as if I was going through some sort of a
post-traumatic stress disorder
People have said to me, "I don't know how you did it."
(meaning how did I get through Ryan's two cancer diagnoses)
Oh, how would I have loved to curl up in a ball
in the fetal position on my bed and just cry
until my pillow was soaked and my tears were dry.
But that is not an option.
Ryan has had a wonderful 3 months of no checkups,
no shots, no chemotherapy and no hospital stays.
She has had a fun-filled 3 months of hanging out with friends,
starring in her high school's musical, visiting colleges,
shopping for a spring wardrobe and cruising to the Carribean.
On Thursday, we again head to Mount Sinai Hospital
to have her 3 month scans to make sure this monster
once again stays away from my girl for the rest of her life
so she can live the life we have always dreamt for her.
I ask for your prayers, because I feel like you know my girl
and only want for her what you want for your own.
Please pray with us for clear scans because anything else
is not an option.

Now onto scrapping...
I made a page:
without a deadline,
without an assignment due and
without a photo.
Well, I added the photo after I conceived the page in my head.
Two weekends ago, #3 was invited to a movie/sleepover party,
and was more than excited to go.
But as luck would have it, she got sick that Saturday
and by nightfall she had a fever and that's when the title hit me.
Saturday Night Fever! :)
And as luck would have it again, she got sick again yesterday
and I snapped a photo of her while I took her temperature.
Poor little Erin :(
(So then I had to add the little mercury bead
on the exclamation point for the title to mimic a thermometer):

Hope you all have a great day and thanks in advance for the prayers,
Jody

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T09:27:00.000-04:00

From my family...to yours!
-Jody

Busy, Busy, Busy!

2011-04-21T10:43:00.002-04:00

The Best Things

2011-04-08T13:08:00.009-04:00

Happy Friday to you all!
My daughter Ryan had her play last night,
I bought 20 tickets for family and friends
to come cheer her on and that we did!
The best thing was seeing her up onstage, glowing.

She had dreamt of this night forever.
And sometimes, that dream
was the only thing that kept her going
while in treatment last year.
You could say many happy tears were shed
by many people who love her last night :*)

There is no feeling like seeing your child
loving what they are doing and knowing
that they were born to do just that
at that exact moment in time.
I could feel her adrenaline, her excitement
and her happiness from my seat in the audience.
From the depths of the sadness of last year,
she rose and sang like an angel
and I wept with joy for her.
And I screamed like a proud Mother for her:

Now onto scrapping,
I wanted to scrap the photo I had taken of #2
in her Thing costume from her play "Seussical"
and the Gladys Knight and the Pips song,
"You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"
would stick in my head everytime I saw her photo.
Over at the October Afternoon blog,
the awesome Vivian Masket posted a simple sketch,
and well...simple is my middle name:

And I leave you with a quote that I love...
"The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched -
they must be felt with the heart."
-Helen Keller

Have a great weekend!-
Jody

Im(Perfect)

2011-04-04T10:27:00.010-04:00

I am back today with a quick share
of my layout for the April gallery
over at http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/
The theme of this month was to scrap
the Im(Perfect) photos that we all have.
This photo was of Erin, taken over 10 years ago.
Back then, I had a regular digital camera,
but for my hospital stay,
I chose to bring a disposable camera (!)
I think those cameras should be outlawed.
I cringe at the glaringly bad, too much light,
not enough light or blurry moments that
were captured by those craptastic cameras.
Grrrr.
Anyhow, I took the photo and literally edited it
within an inch of its life.
I lightened it,
I darkened it,
I sharpened it
and I saturated it.
Until I got it to this state.
And there is no edit button on the planet
to magically make a 10+ year old picture uncrop.
:(

As I wrote last week,
I am still busy editing the 1,500+ rehearsal photos
from my kid's drama production "Seussical".
So what do I do, but snap 250 more photos
from the actual show nights.
What was I thinking???
It was such a great show
and now we wait for Ryan's show "Guys and Dolls"this weekend!
We are excited beyond words for this one!
There has been a dry spell in between lead roles for her.
The last time was in her 4th grade musical,
so it has been a good 8 years that she has been waiting
for her turn in the spotlight.
After all she has been through,
I just know she will shine,
because she has the voice of an angel :)
She recently was the singer, Ke$ha,
store-bought disheveled blonde wig and all,
for her schools "Senior Skit Night"
and was perfect in the part:

I'll be back soon!
-Jody

Seussical

2011-03-30T09:01:00.008-04:00

Hello-
I just wanted to say a quick "Hi!"
and let you know that I am so busy
editing 1,500 photos I took of my
2 youngest girls drama production for this weekend.
I was in charge of the photography,
head shots, group shots and candids.
I go crazy taking pictures because I want
every parent to have a photo of their child.
But it never fails the one child I happen to miss,
that parent will come up to me and complain.
Such is life.

This year they are doing "Seussical"
and #2 is "Thing 2" for lead night:

And #3 is a "Who" for the show:

And in true Jody fashion,
when I came home Saturday afternoon
to edit all the photos,
I clicked on what I thought was a safe link
in my mailbox and downloaded a virus
that shut down e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.
Can you say...freaking out???
Anyway an old friend of mine came to the rescue,
I am again up and running,
but things still need to be fine-tuned.
I want to tell my winners of the patterned papers
that this little glitch has made me
not able to send out the boxes as of yet.
I promise you after the show, they will be going out!
Thank you for your patience until then.

-Jody

Peter Piper Purged A Profusion Of Patterned Papers

2011-03-19T00:27:00.016-04:00

Hi everyone-
Today on the W.C.S. blog.
the challenge was to make a page
using up stickers you have lying around.
Lord knows I have a-plenty.
The talented Amy Sorenson posed this challenge
for us to "mix and match letters from a black sheet
of stickers, a white sheet, and one other color,
each from a different manufacturer;
find one of your oldest non-letter stickers
and use it your layout too."
So off I went into my stash,
I knew I wanted to make a page
about Ryan, her car and driving at 16.
The memory I journaled about is so crystal clear to me.
I get welled-up remembering the conversation
because I feel like it happened only yesterday...

Thank you for stopping by!
-Jody

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T08:56:00.002-04:00

Wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day,
with an oldie but goodie page
from a couple of years ago!
-Jody

Locks O' Love

2011-03-16T10:49:00.010-04:00

Happy almost Erin O' Bragh to you!
As you can see by the blog header,
I made a little St. Patty's Day banner
for my cute little lassie Erin to display.
(She always says she loves her name
because it means Ireland. lol)

My life has come full circle because
when I was in high school,
my friends and I would cut school
on St. Patrick's Day and go to
New York City to watch the parade.
Now my high school aged daughter
has asked pernission to do the same.
What goes around, comes around, huh?

I scrapped last night by challenging myself
to redesign one of the first pages I had made.
I took this page:

Re-edited the photos, found the scissor die-cut
and put it into the title, reworded the journaling
and then resized it from an 8.5x11 to a 12x12 page.
And here is the new page:

Have a great day!
-Jody

Swept Off Of Her Feet

2011-03-10T10:31:00.007-05:00

Hi there, I'm back with a quick share.

I finally scrapped my two favorite photos
from the time that Erin met Kendall
of "Big Time Rush".
He literally swept her off of her feet:

To say that meeting him was life-changing
for her, is an understatement.
I see a confidence in her that wasn't there,
prior to that wonderful day.
She even sleeps with the hat
she wore that day because "he touched it"
It warms my heart to see
just how much happiness that one brief
moment has brought to my sweet girl.
His one little act of kindness
has changed my daughter forever.

Thanks for stopping by!
-Jody

Stomped!

2011-03-04T09:26:00.006-05:00

Hello Friday!
I just got back from having a sleep study
done at my local hospital.
And now excuse me while I go to sleep! :/
If you never have had one,
they are so difficult to fall asleep at
because you are hooked up
to about 50 wires glued to your head,
on your face and all over your body.
And when you finally do fall asleep...
they wake you up for a number of different reasons.
I feel like my head has been stomped on!
:::yawn:::

Speaking of being stomped,
I have another layout today
over at Write.Click.Scrapbook
Celeste Smith is hosting today (and all week long)
and she is as sweet, as she is talented!
She asked me to create a page that was inspired
by a journaling prompt.
My prompt was:
Did you have a favorite pet as a child?
Did it have a name?
What memories are connected to it?
And here is the page
my sweet 6-toed kitty named "Stomper",
inspired me to make:

Has anyone noticed that most of my pages lately
have been of the 12x12 size?
Yeah, that's me, I like to scrap on the wild side sometimes.
Look out, I may just make a digital page soon!
(Early April Fool's! lol)

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

A Flying Pig

2011-03-02T09:58:00.018-05:00

Am I dreaming?
Am I not only blogging 2 days in a row,
but I have made a page for 2 days in a row???
Are pigs flying?

Seriously...how cute is that pig?
Anyway, I wanted to make a page,
and the easiest way I could think of
was to scraplift. Myself.
At least I gave myself credit ;)
You may remember this page:

With a little tweaking, it became this page:

Same basic design, again using fab Echo Park papers.
And I guess she did pick the perfect pumpkin.
Here it is in it's carved state:

Did you know what today is?
It's Dr. Seuss' birthday!
I remember having this book as a child
and reading it over and over.
Such colorful illustrations

"If we didn’t have birthdays,
you wouldn’t be you.
If you’d never been born,
well then what would you do?"
Thank you, Dr. Seuss!

Have a great day!
-Jody

And I Will Try To Fix You

2011-03-01T09:26:00.012-05:00

Good morning March!
I, for one, am so happy to see you!
If I never have to see any more snirt (snow/dirt)
this year, I will be a happy woman!

A new month & a new gallery over at Write.Click.Scrapbook!
The theme this month was to finally finish a page
that you had been meaning to make.
What popped into my head right away,
was the fact that throughout Ryan's many stays
in the hospital for her illness (totaling almost 2 years)
I have exactly 4 photos from those stays.
It's not something I want to remember,
but whenever I see this photo of her and her boyfriend,
it sums up exactly what their love is made of.
I remember taking it with my cellphone,
which is why it is blurry, but I just could not delete it.
I absolutely adore the song "Fix You" by Coldplay
and the lyrics are so perfect for it,
"...and I will try...to fix you."
Gives me chills and makes me weep every single time I hear it.

Have a great day!
-Jody

Together Is A Great Place To Be

2011-02-25T10:00:00.004-05:00

Well, as promised I am back!
And I made a page too!
Dare I say, my mojo has returned?
I think going through my scraproom
was just the kick in the pants I needed.
When everything is put away in drawers,
I forget what I actually have.
And I love this Cosmo Cricket
"Togetherness" line.
The colors make me happy.
I paired it with (what I believe to be)
a stunning photo of Ryan
with her 2 best friends from last Mays
Junior prom. They all looked so beautiful.
And now that they are seniors,
and looking to go in different directions
next year for college,
they need to know that even though
the miles may separate them,
when they do come together,
nothing will have changed.
I think I just made myself cry :*(

I'm looking forward tonight to a rare night out
with friends from work, should be a blast.
Tomorrow, I will be watching #2 and the husband
earn their first karate yellow belts.
Hopefully a great photo-filled weekend!
Enjoy yours!
-Jody

What's New? Knot Much.

2011-02-24T10:47:00.011-05:00

Hey there...it's been awhile.
Not much new around these parts.
Busy decluttering a little
of my house everyday.
Even got into the scraproom.
There is SO many things that I just
am never going to use.
A lot of dated things,
and I have only been scrapping for
almost 4 years, it's a such a shame.
While going through things,
I found this Making Memories
Easter die-cut paper
and knew I wanted to use it
with an older photo of #3
When I took this photo of her,
almost 2 years ago,
I knew that I would be using
the word *knot* in the title.

School is out for this week,
so we have been busy with
sleepovers, movies, etc...
I took #2 to the movies
last weekend to see the Justin Bieber flick.
It was her 3rd time,
and she's not even that big a fan.
I will admit, if I was 13 again,
I would be all about that boy.
I didn't catch the Bieber Fever,
but I guess I have a little cold. lol

Been watching a lot of TV of late,
and I am shocked that I like
American Idol more now than ever.
I knew I would like J-Lo,
but who'd a thunk I'd love Steven Tyler?:

Have a great day!
-Jody

Big Time Crush

2011-02-15T06:22:00.047-05:00

Once upon a time,
there was a sweet little girl named Erin.

She loves music and loves to watch the Nickelodeon channel.
Her favorite show is "Big Time Rush"
She loves all 4 members of the group,
but her absolute favorite is Kendall Schmidt.
She talks about him all the time,
reads all the magazines and watches the shows
over and over and over again.
She hoped that someday, she would get to meet him.

Through the eyes of my daughter,
I wistfully remembered what it was like
to be a star-struck little girl and to wish
for your dreams to someday come true.
Recently, her older sister Ryan had heard the group
was going to be at our local radio station.
So I called my boss,
who happens to know everyone and has a big heart,
to see if he knew anyone who could help.
And like magic, my boss was able to grant Erin her wish.
So last night, I whisked Erin to the studio,
where not 10 feet away from her the group performed
an intimate 2 song concert.
With only the help of a guitar,
these boys can sing, for sure!

During the songs, Erin kept whispering,
"Do you see him keep looking at me?!"

Afterward, they posed for pics taken by
the professional photog at the studio.
We were told that was it,
they wouldn't be able to pose for personal photos
with all the fans that were there.

But the group was in no big-time-rush to leave (get it?)
so we walked back to where they were standing and
snapped a couple more photos.
Here is Carlos:

And Logan:

Sadly, James was very busy, so Erin approached Kendall.
As she walked up to him, she told him,
"I am your biggest fan!"
And hearing that, Kendall swept her up in his arms
and said, "No, I'm YOUR biggest fan!" :::sigh:::

He then put her down and told her he liked her hat,
she wears them all the time because he wears them.
And then he took the hat off of his own his head
and put it on her:

And with that, he hugged her, told me she was adorable.

I thanked him profusely for making her dreams come true.
These young men were so personable
and made themselves so available for their fans.
It was such a beautiful thing to experience.
As we walked out of the studio,
Erin turned to me and said,
"I feel like I just touched God."
I hope this Valentine's Day will stay with you forever
my sweet angel.
Thank you, Kendall Schmidt.
And thank you, Big Time Rush.

-Jody

To: You, From: Me

2011-02-14T13:26:00.003-05:00

A New Page? Say It Ain't Snow!

2011-02-12T15:09:00.007-05:00

It's the weekend,
and I am in the middle
of decluttering my entire house.
I have made lists of every drawer,
cabinet and closet in every room
of the house and when I accomplish
cleaning each one, I cross out the task
and feel REALLY good about it?
Is that so wrong, how much pleasure it gives me?

I spent one day last week
taking photos of my little nephew ski racing.
Oh, did I mention my little nephew
is now 19 years old and a man?
When the heck did THAT happen?
It was so cool seeing him in his element:

Remember the Pledge public service announcement
I made a few blog entries back?
Well, I am back with another P.S.A.
for you, my dear readers...
My wrist started hurting really badly
from being on the computer for so long at a time
attached to my mouse. Who me???
Anyway, while shopping at Target (<--happy place!)
I bought an ergonomic mousepad a.k.a. w/ memory foam
and it is like my wrist is being cradled by a cloud.
Ok, I am over-embellishing a wee bit, but it feels so good!

Something really cool is happening
on Valentine's Day for my #3.
I can't go into details until after it happens,
but check back on Tuesday,
by then I should have a story and photos.
I am so excited for her!

Speaking of #3, she loves playing outside
in the snow, usually by herself
because her older sisters could care less.
So I just take a bazillion photos of her
and call it a day.
Here is the latest page:

So have a Happy Valentine's Day on Monday,
and come back Tuesday and I hope to have
a feel good story to share with you all!
-Jody

Shocking!

2011-02-04T09:15:00.011-05:00

Happy Friday to you!
Back in September,
just 1 day after Ryan was diagnosed
with cancer again,
I had a non-invasive foot surgery scheduled.
It is called shockwave treatment
and you are put in a "twilight" sleep
(sedation ala Michael Jackson,
but this time the correct dosage)
Anyway, back in Sept. when I woke from the procedure,
they gave me the bad news that
the shockwave machine was broken.
Huh???
Anyway, long story short,
it's come full circle that
I just had my foot surgery yesterday
1 day after Ryan was diagnosed cancer-free.
It will be shocking (get it?)
to walk without pain,
for it has been YEARS
since I could say that.

I have begun to dig out older photographs of mine
and am editing them because 93% of my pictures
that were taken before the year 2003
were taken with a disposable camera.
:::hanging head in shame:::
I have always loved taking photos
and have at least 12,000 photos
in chronologically ordered albums to prove it.
But now, looking back, so many wonderful memories
are dark, blurry or just pathetic :(
Case in point, this photo of baby Erin
was just plain crappy:

Loaded it up at Picnik.com
and this is what a little editing can do:

And then made it a b&w photo to scrap:

And then actually scrapped it!
Shocking, I know! ;)

Now mind you, my husband bought me Photoshop Elements
at least 18 months ago.
I installed it and it still sits untouched in my computer.
If anyone knows a website that literally walks you through
the basics (and more importantly, how to load/open actions)
This girl would be forever grateful!

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

Forevermore

2011-02-02T20:54:00.004-05:00

We celebrated tonight with a cake/cupcakes
because Ryan is once again cancer-free.
May she stay this way forevermore.

Thank you all for your
tremendous support and love.
Be back very soon!
Love,
Jody

When All The Music Dies

2011-01-26T08:56:00.010-05:00

Morning-
I have a couple of things to write about,
first and foremost, I scrapped!
I need to just listen to music
whenever I cannot find my mojo
because song lyrics always breathe life into me.
Dare I even say that
I am thinking I will never attempt to journal
ever again when there is a plethora
of wonderful inspiration out there.
I adore this song by Train
(and hope it stays that way,
"Hey, Soul Sister", I'm talkin' about you!)
Anyway, even though my wedding photos
make me absolutely cringe,
this song has meaning for us a couple.
After Ryan got ill the first time,
my husband who is the most positive person
you will ever meet (while I am the opposite)
told me that when he initially heard
of Ryan's cancer diagnosis,
he said, "It was like all the music died."
We have weathered many obstacles
and our daughter's illness has been the biggest.
And we are still here :*)

And lastly, a P.S.A that in my opinion
is looooong overdue!
I posted this as my Facebook status because
for me it was revolutionary
and I want everyone to know.
I have stainless steel appliances
that had seen better days.
I bought every.single.product
on the market for cleaning them to no avail.
Hell, I could've bought new appliances
with the money I have spent.
But I stumbled upon this baby:

Seriously? Pledge?
Is this a governmental secret?
Why is this not more wide-known?
I will be shouting it from the rooftops!
"MY APPLIANCES ARE FINALLY BEAUTIFUL
THANKS TO PLEDGE FURNITURE POLISH!"
And the kicker to all of this...
my husband is a kitchen remodeler
and even he had no clue.
Oh and you're welcome,
because you will thank me ;)

Have a great day!
-Jody

Broken

2011-01-19T10:42:00.006-05:00

Hi-
Remember a couple of posts ago,
I was hoping that being away
from scrapping so long
would be just like riding a bike?
Well, I think my bike is broken.
I finally scrapped last night,
but the same intensity and love
that normally goes into a page
just wasn't there.
And that made me very sad.
I don't know if there is
a direct correlation between
my state of mind these days
and the hobby I love,
but I just don't feel it :(
I adore this photo of Ryan
and I recently bought
these American Crafts papers & Thickers,
so you would think it would just click.
I am hoping that those sage words of advice
that my Grandma used to say
will help me along, "This too shall pass..."

Ryan is doing well,
she has been out and about,
sleepovers, a friend's Sweet 16 party,
and I am happy to say we have mastered
the at home antibiotic infusions!
I think I can become a nurse
after everything I have seen & done
for the last 3 years.

Hope you all are well!
-Jody

In An Instant

2011-01-15T12:32:00.003-05:00

Hello-
I'm sorry I haven't been updating
very much lately
but the health issues with Ryan
have been very scary of late.
Monday we headed down to the hospital
for Ryan's weekly checkup.
While in the waiting room,
I asked if she would like me to get
her something to eat or drink
and she requested a water bottle.
So off I went to buy her a bottle
from the cafeteria.
I was not gone 10 minutes when
I received a call on my cell phone
asking me to return to clinic immediately
becasue Ryan was asking for me.
When I got back,
Ryan was in a private consult room
bundled in blankets, shivering like crazy,
ghostly pale and running a fever.
In an instant she went from fine to very sick
:*(
These past 3 years, I have seen many things,
but this moment was one of the scariest for me.
It turns out that Ryan's mediport had become infected
as they had accessed the port an hour prior to this
and now her body was going into septic shock because of it.
After her oncologist and a nurse
attempted to get blood from her veins
(which had now collapsed due to the septis)
she was poked 8x unsuccessfully.
The blood-curdling screams were too much for me to take.
They immediately admitted her to a room
and antibiotics were started A.S.A.P.
Her temperature rose to 104 degrees
while her blood pressure crashed to a low of 70/30.
At that point they scheduled an emergency removal
of her port late Tuesday/early Wednesday night.
The surgery went well
and she never experienced another fever
or low blood pressure after that.
:::sigh of relief:::
This wonderful news was countered
by the sad news that she would not be able to go on
a 4-day cruise to the Bahamas
that her boyfriend's family had suprised her with
as her Christmas gift.
She was absolutely devasted.
(They have generously postponed the trip for February)
She is now home and we are giving her antibiotics
intravenously for 10 days after being taught by a home nurse.
So suffice to say, no scrapping has been done...
but I will leave you with a photo of Ryan
from last Sunday night posing with a "Hope" cake
my good friend Helene made for her,
how incredible it was (and tasted!):

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

Done.

2011-01-06T11:08:00.003-05:00

We are home.
We are happy.
The treatments are done.
Be back soon :)
Love,
Jody

The Christmas That Flu By

2010-12-31T00:54:00.010-05:00

Hi!
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
Mine was, well let me tell you what mine was like:
I spent most of the day fighting off
what started out as a nagging cough,
which quickly turned into a
bone-chilling, teeth-chattering,
103 degree fever, wring out the bedsheets,
burning eyelids, constant headache-y,
coughing-fits-to-the-point-of-wretching,
so-sick-that-even-I-didn't-care-that-
I-would-be-offline-for-4-whole-days flu.
I cannot remember the last time I was so ill.
Hopefully, I kept myself locked in my room,
that nobody else will have caught it.
:::knocking on wood!:::

Fast forward to now...
Ryan and I are at the hospital
where she is undergoing
her 6th and FINAL chemo!
It has been a hellish 4 months,
but the end is in sight.

Four years ago,
I bought a "Hope" ornament for our tree
and Ryan posed with it.
We did not know the significance
of this word back then.
Every year she has posed with the word
and here is this year's photo
I like to refer to it as Ryan's Hope:

The only thing I have scrapped recently,
was for the January gallery
over at http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/
We were asked to scrap our favorite b&w photo
and just recently Andy and I went to
his niece's wedding where this photo was taken.
We just recently celebrated 33 years
since we started dating and
I made a page about just that.:

I have missed scrapping on a regular basis
and I am hoping that it will be
just like riding a bike,
you never forget how ;)

Have a great week!
-Jody

Merry Almost Christmas!

2010-12-23T23:41:00.008-05:00

As Christmas Eve falls upon us,
I'd like to take this opportunity
to thank everyone who has visited
and/or commented on my blog this year.
Our world was sadly shaken to its core once again
by my daughter's illness,
but the outpouring of support, love and hope
from readers around the world
has truly touched my family.
We will never forget your kindness.
These two simple words will never seem like enough,
but "Thank you".
Merry Christmas from my family to yours,
and in the immortal words of Tiny Tim,
"God Bless us, every one!"
Love,
Jody

Simply Christmas #3

2010-12-21T22:50:00.011-05:00

For every normal photo
I take of my girls,
there is always a not normal photo as well.
For this page,
my husband got in the act:

So I had all 3 girls pose in front of our big tree.
I then posed our dog Sweetie.
The only one left was our sweet bunny Delilah
who lives in our basement.
Luckily, we have a tiny lit tree down there
and she was more than happy
to be my model:

I'm off today to hopefully finish
the last of my Christmas shopping.
Oh, who am I kidding?
It wouldn't be Christmas,
if I wasn't out last minute shopping
on Christmas Eve closing the stores at 5:59!

Have a great day!
-Jody

Simply Christmas #2

2010-12-20T22:53:00.005-05:00

Every year, my girls pose in front of our tree
while wearing a santa hat.
(Which reminds me they haven't yet this year):

I can't believe how fast Christmas is approaching.
I. NEED. MORE. TIME.
Every year I say I am just going to
relax and enjoy the holidays
and every year I am a frantic lunatic
trying to get too much done.
Come back and visit again :)
-Jody

Simply Christmas #1

2010-12-20T13:36:00.005-05:00

Hello!
Over at Write.Click.Scrapbook,
we were given some goodies to create with,
and here is the frist page I made:

I used a photo I loved from last Christmas
and paired it with the beautiful
rub-ons, patterned paper and floral ribbons.
It was so simple
because they coordinated so well together,
and you know how much I like simple ;)

Thanks for stopping by!
-Jody

Are You Ready?

2010-12-17T08:44:00.015-05:00

Hi again!
Hard to believe that there is only
8 days until Christmas!
Are you ready?
I am nowhere near done with
decorating, addressing, shopping,
wrapping, shipping, baking,
and any other "ing" words
that go with Christmas!
What I did finish doing
was I finally took our annual
Christmas card photo!
I sent out a photo
of my 3 girls together,
but I really liked how
their individual photos turned out.
First up #3:

This one is very excited this year,
still believes, but will not pose
with any mall Santas anymore. lol

Next up #2:

This one cannot take a bad photo
and she knows it. lol
She wants to be a model.
:::sigh:::

Next up #1:

This one got herself a new 'do!
I love the darker color on her,
makes her blue eyes just *pop* now.
The wig is really lovely,
so soft and silky, if you didn't know
it was a wig, you truly would not know.

Next up is #4,
who actually smiled for the photo:

Ryan just finished up round #5 out of 6 treatments.
I am sad to say each round has become more difficult for her.
Both mentally and physically.
She got sick more times this round
than all the others combined :(
We don't go back into the hospital
until New Year's Day!
That in itself is a Christmas miracle!

I put together a little book
to help me with all my Christmas to-do lists.
Who to sent cards to,
who I bought presents for,
cookies that will be made, etc...
It has been such a help
to have everything I need
at my disposal at all times!:

Our family is very happy to be together again,
these weeks apart are very hard on all of us.
Hope you all are doing well!
Have a great weekend!
-Jody

O' Christmas Tree

2010-12-07T09:20:00.011-05:00

We finally bought our tree!
We ended up at Kmart,
where my husband picked out
the largest tree in the store.
I think we needed the Abominable Snowman
from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to put the star
on top of the tree!
It's a nine-footer, pre-lit.
That bold little hyphenated word
brought so much joy to my life
it oughtta be illegal.
The mere thought that I would never again have to
untangle hundreds of Christmas lights
made me feel like The Grinch
when his heart grew 3 sizes!

I took a bunch of photos of #3
decorating the tree.
Sadly, she is the only one left
who still believes.

So today over at W.C.S.
there are some lovely decorations
for you to check out.
I was the lucky recipient
of some lovely scrap goodies
and today's post includes this Christmas banner
made by yours truly.:

Only 17 days, 11 hours, 9 minutes & 4 seconds
left until Christmas,
not that I'm counting or anything!

Have a great day!
-Jody

A Rainbow Kind Of Day

2010-12-02T09:10:00.007-05:00

Yay! December is here!
One month closer to January
and for Ryan to be well again.
Poor thing, we went on Monday
for her weekly checkup
and when they took her blood,
they found out she had VERY low
hemoglobin and white blood cells
so back we went on Tuesday
for another blood transfusion.
She is feeling much better now!

December also means a new gallery over at W.C.S.
This month the theme was Holiday Food & Drink
and I made a page about the hundreds of cookies
I bake for Christmas Day.
They. Are. So. Good.
Full of chocolate, sugar, chocolate, peanut butter,
chocolate, brown sugar, and more chocolate!
I make at least 8 different kinds
and when I get to my sister-in-law's house for dessert,
everyone is always so happy to see me.
Well, my cookies that is.

So funny, yesterday it rained all day long,
but late in the day a rainbow came out.
I took this photo from in front of our house
and went on Facebook and at least 8 other friends
posted the same rainbow.
Cracked me up.

Have a great day!
Jody

Questions For You

2010-11-29T09:14:00.014-05:00

Hello-
Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?
My family certainly did :)
A great time is always had by all of us.
I am so very blessed in having
the family I was "born" into
but doubly blessed to have
the family I married into.
I squeezed everyone into a photo,
(and mind you this is with 12 people
who could not make it this year!)

I have started Christmas shopping
a little early (for me) this year.
With Ryan's treatments and check-ups
and unexpected hospitalizations,
I need to be prepared.
Along with shopping,
I went dress shopping for a family wedding
coming up this weekend.
How depressing that was!
Have you ever bought a dress
as a back-up in hopes you'll
find one you really like
instead of the one you just bought
just in case you don't find another dress?
That would be me.
I have also begun the search for the perfect
online Christmas card.
So here are your questions,
if you choose to answer them ;)
In years past, I always bought store-bought cards
and taped a photo of my girls inside.
I am finally going to do it online,
but would like to know...
1) Where did you buy your favorite online photo cards?
And another thing I am doing differently this year,
is we are buying a fake tree for the 1st time.
I am sick of the live trees becoming
a gnarly mess in my living room
5 days after purchasing them.
Also finding the needles late in May
is not a happy holiday reminder for me.
2) Where have you bought your fake Christmas tree?

I made this page late last night:

Yes Virginia, that is a 12x12 page from me!
There is a Santa Claus after all!

Have a great day!
-Jody

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T17:55:00.006-05:00

Ryan is finishing up
her #4 round of chemo tomorrow morning.
That leaves 2 more rounds to go,
10 more days in total.
I just wanted to wish all of you
a very Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday.
I am very thankful this year,
for all the love and support
from our family and friends,
(online and in real life)
we could not have survived without you.
I hope much love, laughter and full bellies
are in everyone's future :)

Love,
Jody

Highs and Lows

2010-11-15T08:56:00.016-05:00

Hello again-
It has been a while since I have updated...
Last week was full of highs and lows,
starting on Sunday when Ryan complained of ear pain.
Now for a healthy person,
an earache is one of the worst pains but for Ryan,
who already has a compromised immune system,
an ear infection is nothing to ignore.
After pain pills were prescribed...the pain was still bad.
After visiting the family doctor who prescribed antibiotics,
the pain got worse and she spiked a fever.
A fever over 100.4 is immediate hospitalization.
After driving her to our local hospital's emergency room,
she was taken by ambulance to Mount Sinai hospital,
because her blood counts were extremely low :(
So during Ryan's off week from the hospital,
she spent it in the hospital.
She was so upset, not knowing if she would be able
to make her school's drama production.
This was the low point of her week.
The nurses/doctors did everything
in their power to make it happen,
and after being admitted since Tuesday afternoon,
she was released Friday afternoon,
just 6 hours before her play!
She was amazing in her part,
as were the rest of her castmates,
and after the show was over,
she walked down the school hallway,
to a rousing ovation!
And this of course, was the high of the week!
:*)

We now prepare for chemo round #4 (out of 6)
We both relish these moments at home,
they seem so far from our norm these days.

Having watched Ryan shine in her role onstage,
gave me a little spark of creativity,
and I even scrapped because of it.
As usual, not a lot of product,
just sweet photos that inspired me
of Ryan and her boyfriend, Bobby,
still together almost 4 years later,
through sickness and through health.
I can't help but love how much he loves my girl:

That's all for now,
thank you for checking in.
And as always for your good thoughts
and comments about Ryan.
I read every single one,
usually with a tear rolling down my cheek,
for I have the best blog readers.
Much thanks and love,
Jody

From The Bottom Of My Heart

2010-11-04T08:13:00.016-04:00

We are back from the hospital after another 5 day stay.
The moment we enter the hospital,
I feel like I am drowning.
I can't breathe until the moment we are discharged.
This time I did get a 24 hour reprieve on Halloween,
when my husband spent the day with Ryan,
while I went home to trick or treat with Erin.

When I woke up Sunday morning,
I was told there was a package waiting to be opened.
I could not believe my eyes:
(Thanks Jamie for these photos!)

A lovely scrapbook filled to the point of explosion
with inspiring layouts and handmade cards
There was so much thought and caring and love
on these beautiful pages and cards
that I wept while reading each and every one.
Ryan and my family thought every single one was incredible!
All thanks are to my sweet friend Jamie,
who I never would have met if not for this hobby
we both happen to adore.
Jamie, thank you so much for everything...
your emails, your support, but mostly for your friendship.
She has joked in the past that she is my #1 fan,
but she is so very mistaken,
because I am hers!
Thank you so much to all the ladies who contributed
to this amazing gift, from the bottom of my heart.

My entire family is amazed by the outpouring of support
we have received since Ryan's diagnosis.
Delicious homecooked meals have arrived for my family
on our doorstep numerous times.
Cards arrive daily, some homemade, some store bought,
but all with the same sentiment inside.
We are loved.
And we feel it :*)
My husband and myself are very proud people,
we ask for nothing, but the overwhelming kindness
of our friends, family and perfect strangers
is heartwarming to say the least.
Here is just a glimpse of the love
that I could find in a couple of minutes time
all around our home.:

From the wonderful ladies at Write.Click.Scrapbook,
Ryan and I received 2 care packages
full of things we could use while at the hospital
(lotion, toothpaste, earplugs, journals, pens, chocolate)
and things she could use out of the hospital.
(Itunes card, headscarves, a lovely necklace, a cookbook,
gorgeous decorative banner, magnetic memo pad and so much more!)
So unbelievably generous of them all,
thank you again my friends at W.C.S,
from the bottom of my heart.

We have received gas cards, assorted cookie collections,
floral baskets and yummy popcorn bins:

Friends have picked up our other 2 girls,
fed them and kept them overnight.
Things you never think that you will need help with.
I don't think we will ever experience another day
of the same magnitude as the benefit for Ryan
that was held almost 3 weeks ago.
We still talk about that day as being
the biggest joy since her diagnosis.
The only thing we live for these days
is to see this one smile.
And that day she did nothing but.

So once more. thank YOU
for reading about Ryan's battle,
for your comments to us,
for your prayers...
From the bottom of my heart,
Jody

I Got A Rock.

2010-10-29T16:16:00.011-04:00

I am writing from the hospital.
Our 16 day break turned into a 14 day break
because Ryan doesn't want to miss anymore school
or drama rehearsals as well because
her drama production is in 2 short weeks.
So here we are 2 days early :(

Last night, I had Erin get dressed in her
Halloween costume because I will miss
going trick-or-treating with her because of
being here in the hospital.
This time I drove us in,
so I do have my car if Ryan is feeling o.k.,
I just might drive the 3 hours roundtrip
as to not miss my first Halloween with my girls.
Look at my Erin!:

How cute is that?
She came up with the idea of being
"the Charlie Brown ghost who says 'I got a rock.'"
all by herself but she is her mother's daughter
when it comes to loving all things "Peanuts"
And my mom gets all the credit
for putting the ghost part together.
Thanks Mom!!!
My contribution was my stash of old American Crafts stickers
to use for the quote on the paper bag.

Believe it or not,
I actually scrapped last night.
I have had no desire or inspiration
in the least to scrap lately.
But last weekend, we went pumpkin picking
at a local farm and I took a photo of Ryan
in front of the red barn wall
in her new fall coat.
I used the "Togetherness" line of Cosmo Cricket.
How gorgeous are these colors?:

So that's about it,
signing off from day #1(of 5)
of chemo round #3(of 6)
Drop us a quick line to say hello,
we can use all the smiles we can get!

Happy Halloween!
-Jody

October Blatherings

2010-10-25T11:04:00.013-04:00

Hi everybody!
I figured I would write a new post
catching up on this past month
a.k.a October blatherings.

First of all,
I have not scrapped at all.
This makes me so sad and I wonder just when
I will ever feel the urge to.
I take all these wonderful photos,
and I feel...nothing.
But I can finally post the page that was published
in last month's Creating Keepsakes magazine.
Megan was the star of this layout,
I had taken so many photos of her that fall day,
in this cute orange shirt,
it made for a very easy play on a title.:

Next up, the love of my life.
No, not my husband or children.
My sweet bunny, Delilah.
(Ok, Erin's sweet bunny Delilah)
Here she is in full-frontal flop mode:

Did you know that a rabbit's fur color can change?
I came home after spending 6 days in the hospital,
and I thought Andy killed our bunny and replaced it with another
because she had changed so drastically in her face.
You betcha I googled it! lol

Next up was my High School reunion.
Oh my, what a great time was had.
We saw people that we were so close with to this day...
and people we have not seen since graduation 30 years ago.
And it was if not a day had passed.
A perfect evening.:

Let me preface this next paragraph by saying,
I will be a happy woman if I never see another snowflake.
Here in New York, we get all 4 seasons in their glory.
The winters are long and cold, the summers are short and hot.
But the fall? :::sigh:::
It is so stunning, the foliage is probably
at it's most beautiful right now.
Here is a photo I took right by West Point.
The view is incredible and my camera doesn't even do it justice.:

Even in our backyard, we get some beautiful backdrops for photos
and its my new favorite photo of #2 and #3:

Next up, was Ryan's Homecoming Dance.
You know I did a happy dance when she said
all her friends wanted to come to our house
to get ready and take photos!
I took so many lovely photos of them in their finery,
here is the entire gang.
It is so hard trying to get 15 teens to all look at me,
but here is the best shot.
There are 5 exchange students from France in the photo,
and Ryan's french friend Camille is very sweet.
She speaks very little english and we speak no french,
so my husband makes up for it
by speaking LOUDLY and s-l-o-w-l-y.
I have to keep telling him,
"Andy, she's French, not deaf!"

We also went pumpkin/apple picking yesterday,
but I'll leave that for later this week.
As always, thank you for your good thoughts for Ryan.
When she isn't in the hospital, life is so very good!
Have a great day!
-Jody

Run For Ryan, Walk For Wenke

2010-10-19T08:06:00.015-04:00

The "Run for Ryan, Walk for Wenke" benefit
was held this past Sunday afternoon.
It was a beautiful blue sky, crisp autumn day
overshadowed only by the incredible turnout.
So many friends, family and what felt like
the entire community showed up to show support.
The final tally was around 650 people!
Can you believe that?

Some people walked:

Some people ran:

Some people wore tshirts in support (and they sold out!)

Some people wore sunglasses to hide their happy tear crying:

Some people were in awe of this young man Bobby,
who orchestrated this entire event,
along with another classmate of Ryan's
(a lovely young girl I work with named Alayna)
and the love he has for my daughter.

Some are still overcome by the emotion,
brought on by all the love felt
on that high school track
on that beautiful blue sky, crisp autumn day.
We are very blessed.
This I know.

-Jody

Round 2

2010-10-15T11:48:00.007-04:00

I am writing this from the hospital
on day #5 of chemo round #2.
We are being released tonight,
and not a moment too soon,
because this weekend will be a very busy one.
Back in March, Ryan went to France with her school
and stayed with a host family.
She has become very close with the girl her age.
Camille arrives here tomorrow,
so we have lots to do in preparation of her arrival.
And then on Sunday, there is a walk/run benefit for Ryan
at her high school.
It's looks to be a beautiful day,
with hundreds of people attending.
I hope to take some photos of the event.
I can't wait to see and feel all the love
that will be there for her.
This hospital stay has been pretty uneventful.
She just got sick for the first time,
which is always tough to watch :(
We have filled our days with many MTV shows.
I am now a "Teen Mom" addict,
after watching the same show 276 times.
At the beginning of this post,
is a photo of Ryan I took
before we left for the hospital.
Bald is beautiful.
Thank you for your prayers and your comments.
I am grateful for each and every one.

Much love,
Jody

30 Years???

2010-10-07T07:20:00.014-04:00

Hello again!
Tomorrow night, my husband and I will be attending
my 30th High School reunion!
How can that be???
Sometimes, it literally feels like yesterday
that I was walking the halls
(and cutting out of the classes)
of my high school.
It probably helps that I am married
to my high school boyfriend,
which keeps it still so fresh in my mind.
We were asked to send in a photo of ourselves
for a class montage and I found this gem
from waaaaaaay back in 1980:

Ahhhh, the memories.
What do you think about Andy's 'fro?
And my eyebrows that were tweezed
within an inch of their life?
I bought him that turquoise cross
and that terry cloth shirt he is wearing!
Yes, those were the good old days :)
Fast forward 30 years...
throw in some wrinkles, some gray hair
and add some extra pounds (for just me!)
and here we are now:

We had a scare earlier this week when
Ryan woke up on Monday morning with a low grade fever
of 100.3 and a sore throat.
We are expected to go to the hospital every Monday
for a weekly check-up.
But a fever over 100.4 means immediate hospital admission.
So we drove there in silence, expecting the worst.
When we got there, they took her temperature...
98.6!!!
She was SO happy she didn't have to stay,
it's bad enough chemo #2 is fast approaching this Sunday.
Ryan, sadly has tried to hold on to her hair,
but it was not to be.
She pulled it out in clumps yesterday,
so out came the wig again.
She is such a trooper :*)

I ventured into my scraproom again
with a photo I took of Erin the other day.
I love the Taylor Swift song, "Mine"
and decided to make a page with the lyric:

And finally, I am off to drive Megan
to a last minute orthodontist appointment
because one of her bands broke in her braces.

Have a great day/weekend!
-Jody

Life Goes On

2010-10-01T11:06:00.016-04:00

As much as I feel that our life as we know it
has shifted in its purpose,
the rest of the worlds life goes on.
Most days I just sit in front of my computer,
reading the wonderful words of kindness
sent from different parts of the world,
and I am astounded that a young girl
who most of you only know by reading
a scrap page I have made about her,
could amass so many prayers and well-wishes,
and I would literally cry my eyes out.

Ryan is doing remarkably well, I am thrilled to say.
She hit the ground running after her release late Sat. morning.
We got home she took a well-deserved shower,
and was out of the house at drama rehearsal 30 mins. later.
The rest of the day was filled with the sounds of laughter
from all of her friends that came to visit
(and we all ate some homemade red velvet cake I made,
it's my new food obsession!)
She has been to school everyday,
and am happy to say her life has gone on too!
She looks so beautiful and we are hoping these 2 new drugs
will have some less side effects than the last chemo drugs.

It's a new month over at Write.Click.Scrapbook
and I wasn't sure I even would want to contribute this month,
but the theme was Tumblr inspiration and holy moly,
if you are not inspired by Tumblr, you are not inspired, period.
I ended up making a card (you know I was inspired,
because I don't make cards. lol)
I wanted it to be a virtual "Thank You"
to everyone out in cyberspace
who has taken the time to comment, email or even
say a silent prayer to themselves, in honor of my Ryan.
So thank YOU from the bottom of my heart!

By creating this card, it inspired me to make a page about
Ryan getting ill again and what it means.
This is one of my favorite photos of Ry,
I think the light shining behind her
makes her look so angelic :*)

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

Counting Down

2010-09-23T23:28:00.005-04:00

I sit here literally counting down the hours
until we are home again.
As of this moment,
it is 35 hours and counting.
It is so difficult to watch as your child
cries hour after hour
repeating that she just wants to go home.
She knows she can't,
but her tears continue.
And with each tear, my heart breaks just a little more.
Compared to her last battle,
so far, the side effects have been few.
She has not gotten sick as of yet,
which was the worst side effect of her last chemo.
This new drug causes low blood pressure,
and sure enough I got to see it firsthand.
The first night we stayed over,
Ryan got up in the middle of the night
(she was supposed to wake me to help her)
and she called out to me and I got to her
just as she was losing consciousness.
The nurses rushed in and took her blood pressure
and it was an extremely low 68/30.
One of the scariest moments of my life :(

Thank you again for all the good thoughts
and prayers concerning Ryan.
Words cannot express how much they have meant to me.

Love,
Jody

Loved

2010-09-20T18:17:00.006-04:00

The outpouring of love and support and prayers
that I have read on this blog of mine
has left me feeling...
humbled.
grateful.
and loved.
Thank you.
Ryan has come out of the surgery
to put in a new mediport
where she will be receiving her chemo.
She is sleeping now as I write this.
Chemo will start soon
and we are already counting down
the hours until Saturday
when we can bust out of here
and sleep in our own beds
and eat in our kitchen
and shower in our bathroom
and hug and kiss and fight
with each other in our own home.
Thank goodness for Ryan's laptop,
it is a wonderful distraction
to the ugliness of the hospital.
I will try to post
when I have something to update.
So thank you all for reading!
Much love,
Jody

Again.

2010-09-15T23:41:00.006-04:00

It is with much sadness and much anger
that I have to write these next words.
My daughter Ryan has cancer.
Again.
These past 8 weeks have been sheer hell.
The "not knowing" sometimes is worse than
the actual hearing of the diagnosis.
The type of cancer she has (osteosarcoma)
is a highly reoccuring cancer that almost always
reoccurs in the lung.
So while we were resigned to the fact
that it probably was another tumor,
we hung on to the glimmer of hope that it wasn't.
Her oncologist was just as devastated
as we were with this news.
The good news (if there is any)
is that the entire nodule was removed,
and there were only traces of osteosarcoma present.
Right now, Ryan is probably cancer-free,
but protocol calls for chemotherapy to make sure
it does not return.
Again.
She begins treatment this Monday,
6 rounds: 5 days we will live in the hospital,
and then we will go home for 16 days.
Return for 5 days, go home for 16 days,
for a total of 6x.
The worst possible news to Ryan,
is that she will lose her hair.
Again.
So please bear with me
if I write a flurry of blogposts,
or if I am silent for 4 months.
I may scrap tonight about it,
or may never find the joy in scrapping.
Again.
I just ask of you to pray for my beautiful girl
to beat this monster.
Again.

Much love and thanks
Jody

Today Is The Anniversary Of The Day I Was Born

2010-09-13T06:44:00.005-04:00

...or in other words...
it's my birthday!!!!!!!!!!
48 years ago, a baby girl was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.
There aren't many photos to commemorate
this world-changing event,
probably because I was the 2nd child.
(Which is probably why I am a crazed lunatic
about taking photos of my own girls. lol)
My sister used to tell me I was adopted
and that is why there was so few pictures of me.
It's ok...because I was the favorite,
right Karin? ;)

Recently, I was asked to contribute a layout
for the Ella Publishing Co. Sept. eZine
focusing on "Girly combinations" for a scrap page.
My three elements were:
1. floral patterned paper
2. scalloped circles
3. pink
And this is what I came up with:

I loved the quote:
"What I wanted most for my daughter
was that she be able to soar confidently in her own sky,
whatever that may be."

Again, thank you all for your supportive comments
regarding my Ryan's latest health issues.
She was released from the hospital last Friday,
still has a little pain,
but is returning to school today.
We have an appt. to see her oncologist on Wed.
for the results of the biopsy.
Please keep her in your thoughts until then...
-Jody

Thank You!

2010-09-09T18:42:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone,
Just quickly checking in to tell you all
that my Ryan is out of surgery!
She is in alot of pain,
but hopefully she will be resting comfortably soon.
(with a self-administered pain pump!)
I want to thank each and everyone of you
for your comments here, on Facebook,
your emails and even some good old-fashioned snail mail!
It's nice to have such nice readers
who I can also consider my friends :*)

This photo was taken of Ryan
on her 1st day as a senior in high school.
:::sigh:::
I can still see her getting on the bus
for her 1st day of kindergarten, like it was yesterday.
It is unreal how quickly time flies
:*(
Give your children an extra long hug tonight, from me...
-Jody

Wake Me Up When September Ends

2010-08-31T22:45:00.009-04:00

Just recently, we took down our white picket fence
and put up a gorgeous stone wall.
I had #3 pose for a photo
a couple weeks ago next to the wall
and all I could hear in my head
was the 1970's song by The Stylistics,
"I'm Stone In Love With You",
which translated means,
I am crazy in love with you,
which I am with all my girls.

Songs to me, are the very essence of my being.
Every memory I have,
can be traced back to a song,
playing in the background.
Where I was, who I was with,
it's all in my head
intertwined with music.

Sadly, the Green Day song,
"Wake Me Up When September Ends"
will now remind me of this chapter
in my daughter Ryan's ongoing battle with cancer.
Eight weeks ago, she had her 18 month post-chemo CT scans.
We were originally told that everything looked great.
Unbeknownst to me,
my husband was told that there was a "spot" found on her lung,
it was very small, but it was there.
Lord love him, he kept this news to himself for 2 whole weeks
(he didn't want me to worry unneccessarily)
because they couldn't retest Ryan until 8 weeks later
to see if it would grow, we didn't tell her.
So the two of us put up this united front throughout the summer,
knowing what lay ahead come September.
As it turned out,the "spot" has grown, not alot,
but enough to warrant a concern
because of Ryan's history.
She is scheduled to have a lung biopsy in 10 days.
Any good thoughts and prayers you can spare,
would be greatly appreciated.
So...wake me up when September ends.
-Jody

Sunkissed

2010-08-27T09:57:00.006-04:00

I was feeling creative last night
so I made this page with some photos
of #2 at the beach last month.
It's amazing what the right photos
along with the right papers
can be such an inspiration.
That doesn't happen very often,
for me at least ;)

#2 is the only one out of my 3 girls
who tans, my others have such
porcelain skin that burns so easily.
She is at the beach right now
and her mama is hoping she is taking some good photos ;)

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

My Girly Little Secret

2010-08-26T00:38:00.012-04:00

Hi everyone!
Does anyone remember me telling you
that I have been busy with a project
for the last 6 weeks or so?
Well, I can finally let you in on my secret!

I was approached by the fabulous Ella Publishing Co.
to make 4 layouts for an incredible new eBook called
"Ella's Essential Guide to Scrapbooking Girls."

"Got girls?
This handy-dandy guidebook is here to help you
make sure you capture all the essentials
of who they are—the facets of their lives
and personalities that matter most
—in between all the holiday and event photos
that describe what they do.

We invited five moms of girls (and only girls)
to brainstorm a list of 20 essential “girly” topics
and create stunning layout examples for each.
They offered up their best ideas
for making their girls’ layouts
meaningful, authentic, and unique.
And with 13 daughters, ranging in age from 3 to 16,
these women know a thing or two about
buttons and butterflies,
princess costumes and prom dresses.
Let's get girly!

I am so excited to have had a part
in making this amazing eBook!
Both Angie and Wendy have been so great to work with!

Have a great day!
-Jody

The Same

2010-08-23T10:55:00.010-04:00

Guess what?
I made a new page of one of my favorite photos
of our beach vacation and it is the featured layout today
over at Two Peas in a Bucket! :)

Yesterday we spent the day at my parent's house.
The same house I grew up in as a child.
We had visions of relaxing by the pool all day,
laying in the sun in between refreshing dips
into the the same pool I swam in as a child.
But Mother Nature had different plans.
It rained and rained and then it rained some more.

So my girls played the same piano that I played at their age:

and they played the same song I played at their age, "Chopsticks":

and they played with the same dominoes I played with:

while eating the same chocolate cake recipe that I ate as a little girl:

all the while being loved by the same woman who loved me:

You know what they say...
the more things change,
the more they stay the same,
which is just the way I like it :)

Have a great Monday!
As always, thanks for stopping by!
-Jody

What's Up With...

2010-08-13T10:44:00.016-04:00

Hi everyone :)
I'm going to sound like a broken record
and say that life is so crazy/busy here
that I haven't had a chance to blog,
much less think in the past week.
Let's see...

What's up with #3:

She (finally!) learned to ride a 2-wheeler!!!
We put off teaching her for so long,
that by the time we bought her a new bike,
she just climbed on and taught herself. lol
I took her and her 2 best friends
to her 1st drive-in movie.
Fun was had by all!

What's up with #2:

We refer to this one as our traveling gypsy,
she has really come into her own
during the softball season
and has made so many new friends.
She is on the go all of the time
or the friends are here, good times!

What's up with #1:

Just a couple things,
as you can see she passed her driving test!
And we got her a car!
She is beyond thrilled
and there is not a teenager
more deserving of a car than her.
She has been through so much in her 17 years.

Yes, I said 17...today is her 17th birthday!!!
I can't believe that on this day,
I would never know love quite like this again:

That was my Dad holding Ryan
on her 1st day home from the hospital.
:::sigh:::

I made a very simple page today with #3,
who turned 10 earlier this summer.
She is such a sweet girl,
truly a perfect 10:

One of these girls can also be found
on page 90 of Creating Keepsakes Magazine!
Can you guess which one?

Ok, I'm off to bake and wrap #1's gifts!
I hope you all have a great weekend!
Thanks for stopping by :)
-Jody

These 4 Girls

2010-08-04T10:12:00.012-04:00

I have made possibly
my most favorite layout to date.
Kraft paper + a black & white photo +
aqua/red colors + a sweet quote =
a happy Jody

These 4 girls were such a joy to have on vacation.
They were in an allstar softball tournament
which kept getting rained out shortening
their vacation time with us.
They were troopers in the end (they lost)
but came down late to spend 2 fun-filled days with us.
And the best part was my #2 was so happy!

Here are some fun shots of them in action,
wave jumping:

group hugging:

lifeguard chair posing:

and finally just being girls:

Thanks to T., K. and S.!
I loved being the mom of 6 girls,
even if it was only for 2 days :)

Thanks for stopping by!
-Jody

Can't Beet It!

2010-08-03T10:45:00.006-04:00

I have hoarded this BasicGrey paper for awhile now,
and knew I wanted to do a "beet/beat" theme for the title.
And when I saw this recent photo of #1,
the colors went perfectly.
She is only going to be 16 for a couple more days,
she recently got her driver's license (!)
and she is fully enjoying her summer!

Thanks for stopping by and
have a great day!
-Jody

As Promised

2010-08-02T00:39:00.009-04:00

Over at Write.Click.Scrapbook the theme was 4x6 photos
and to show how we like to use them on layouts.
The page I created was my favorite photo
from our recent trip to the shore.
It is of #2 and I truly think
she has never looked more beautiful!
I still cannot believe she is 13!

Thanks for stopping by
and have a great day!
-Jody

The Jersey Shore You Won't See On MTV

2010-07-28T14:12:00.002-04:00

And just like that
*snaps fingers*
our vacation was over.

We spent part of last week down at the Jersey Shore,
thanks to my husband's sister,
who so graciously offered us her beach home.

But this is no MTV "Jersey Shore"
filled with nudity, fights, debauchery or swearing.
Ok, so I lied, the swearing happened when #2 lost her cell phone,
To be continued a little later in the post.

The ocean water was a little cold as first:

We finally have a surfer in the family,
ok...a boogie boarder!
#3 was water-logged searching out the perfect wave!:

#1 spent the first few days with us
before heading out to another vacation with her bf:

#2 spent the last few days with us,
after her softball team was eliminated :(
But she brought 3 friends from the team
to soften the blow:

Here is #2 minutes before her phone got lost at the beach:

So I went back and combed the beach for 30 minutes,
(where all my swearing ensued)
defeated I walked back
only to find some good samaritan left her cell on the fence post!
Scoooooooooooooooore!

By day, we looked for shells:

By night, we ate yummy smores:

All in all, it was a perfect Jersey Shore vacation...
minus the fist pumpin'

Thanks for stopping by!
-Jody

We're Just Beachy!

2010-07-27T13:45:00.005-04:00

Hello again!
We took a little beach vacation
this past week.
We had a great time,
I am writing a longer post about it,
but in the meantime,
here is a very quick page I made
using a photo of #3 while at the beach:

There is nothing like being at the beach,
it makes this salty, old broad
a very happy woman.
See you tomorrow for more stories and photos!
Thanks for stopping by!
-Jody

Missing

2010-07-13T00:12:00.022-04:00

Let me start off by saying
there has been hardly any scrapping
at all for the last 3 weeks.
And I miss it terribly.
Here are some reasons I have been M.I.A.:

#2's allstar softball team won districts!
Very, very proud of her and her teammates :)
One more win and they go on to the state championship!

So this meant many post-win pool parties for #2:

Beautiful sunset trip on our friend's boat:

#1 has been busy with her own life,
but was kind enough to let her mom snap a photo of her.
(In reality, I had to threaten her with bodily harm to get it):

#3 has had many summer adventures too,
whether it be collecting butterflies:

Or feeding the ducks at our local park:

I hope your summer has been as busy as mine has been!
-Jody

Sparkly

2010-07-03T00:54:00.003-04:00

The Long And Winding Post

2010-07-01T10:31:00.012-04:00

Hellooooooo July!
I have been waiting for you :)
I love summer so much...
the sun, sleeping-in, BBQs,
juicy watermelon, fireflies,
fresh corn-on-the-cob, lazy days,
weekly (daily?) trips to the soft ice cream shop!
Oh summer, how I love thee!

And now thanks to #2,
we have the new tradition of
All-Star Softball!
It's her 2nd year making it on the team,
we're very proud of her!
It's very serious business in these parts
and I had a blast taking photos of her
and her team the other day,
they won 7-2! Wooooohoooooooooooo!

Rooting her teammates on:

Waiting for her turn to bat:

And successfully bunting the runner over:

the July gallery is up!

The theme over at W.C.S.was "Our Hometowns"
and I had this idea for a page
for awhile now, and I was going to name it,
"Dorothy Was Right" meaning
there is no place like home.
But thought differently once the page was laid out.:

Lastly, we usually add a fun fact
in our notes for the W.C.S.gallery each month.
My alternate page this month was going to be
how George Clooney filmed a scene from the movie
Michael Clayton literally in walking distance from my house.
(If you have seen the movie,
it’s the scene where the car explodes).
Him being in the area caused quite a commotion
and here was the photo I was going to use:

Have a safe and Happy July 4th weekend!
-Jody

Whine And Cheese

2010-06-28T09:17:00.007-04:00

Wooooohooooo!
First Monday morning with no school,
and there's no reason
for getting up absurdly early!!!
So what time did I get up?
7:15
:::insert whiny voice:::
What is up with that?

But best of all,
I finally made a new page!
Last night, my husband and I
celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary
by going out to delicious dinner
by ourselves and after I tucked
him in to bed, headed to my scrap room
to make a page for him
and I thought of the cheesy Debby Boone
song from the '70s,
"You Light Up My Life"
but quite honestly,
when I think of who really lights
up my life, sorry honey,
but that space belongs to my little #3!

So instead, in honor of that special day,
let us take a look back at June 27th, 1987,
shall we?
And ask the very important question...
"What were we thinking???"

Could I possibly have added any more
baby's breath to my ensemble?
Could my butt look any bigger
due to the massive-sized bow
attached to my rear?
Hairdo? Hairdon't!
Spiral perm...'nuff said!
Speaking of hair...
nice mullet honey!
Do you like my Madonna-inspired
satin elbow-length fingerless gloves?
I know you're jealous.
That's enough self-loathing for today...
Oh wait, one more memory,
I remember thinking I was so fat that morning.
I weighed a whopping 118 lbs.
Ahhhh...sweet memories :)

Have a great day!
-Jody

A Real Toy Story

2010-06-26T09:19:00.021-04:00

Morning!
I know it's been quite awhile (again)
but life is so busy right now
that any scrapping has taken a backseat
one major reason was this:

Yes, my baby graduated elementary school
and now will be going into the middle school
where her innocence will be eaten alive :(

Last night we went to see "Toy Story 3"
Oh my, I cried like a baby
during the entire movie.
If you've been reading this blog
for a while, you know the love that #3
has for her "Bunny" and this movie only
reinforced just how much she loves him
and how she would never donate him or put him in the attic.
:::sob:::
I swear, he will be in her wedding bouquet
as she is walking down the aisle ;)

And look at this one,
you know it's an oldie but goodie
because of all the ink I used to use.
Just step away from the inkpad, Jody!

So...did anyone else just adore "Toy Story 3"
as much as I did?
Why, oh why, can't every movie have as much
heart and soul as this one?

Enjoy your weekend!
-Jody

Confessions Of A Middleaged Scrapping Queen

2010-06-18T10:09:00.009-04:00

Hi...um...remember me?
I hate not finding the time to blog,
much less not finding the time to scrap :(
I just finished a very quick page
for my husband for Father's Day.
Now when I say quick,
I mean I probably fussed over 3 hours
printing up different photos,
searching for the perfect quote,
looking for papers and letter stickers,
and making 2 other layouts that I hated
and then threw this one together in 5 minutes.
And it shows :(
But I like to give him something I make
for every holiday.
And I do love this quote!:

Ok, confession time here.
I used to be a smoker.
For 15 years,
almost 20 years ago,
I smoked Malboro 100s,
about 2 packs a day (!)
I was obsessed,
I never thought I would quit.
It was the first thing I thought of
when my eyes opened in the morning...
and it was the last thing I did before
my head hit the pillow to sleep.
Now, that's the way it is with scrapbooking.
With every photo I take,
with every song that I hear,
with every thing that my girls say...
and the worst part...
:::insert confessional music:::
I also dream about scrapping.
I don't mean the occasional dream,
I mean every. single. dream.
There...I said it.
Maybe now that I put it out there,
they will stop.
Anyone else have this affliction?
:::sigh::: I didn't think so

School is almost over for my girls
and they couldn't be more thrilled!
Tonight someone I love is celebrating
her 10th birthday party with some friends
and seeing the movie "Marmaduke"
She is very excited,
and very cute,
here's the proof:

Happy Father's Day to my Dad,
who in his infinite wisdom
thought I should name this blog,
"No Buttons, No Bows, No Sh*t!"
Gotta love his sense of humor ;)

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

I've Mythed You So Much

2010-06-10T08:27:00.005-04:00

Good morning!
All sorts of busy-ness
(is that a word?)
around these parts-
I have been out of work
the last week because of my foot problems.
I am scheduled for a non-invasive surgery
hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
My surgeon assured me that I will be comfortable,
that I will be fine and be put into a twilight sleep
"like Michael Jackson"
Um doc...he died!

Here is one you can see,
I finally scrapped a photo from #1's prom
Here is the obligatory pose for me:

Over at Stephanie Howell's blog,
she posted about how some scrap blogs
do a disservice by painting their lives as perfect
and challenged her readers to debunk the myth of perfection.
Lord knows, it ain't perfect here.
And here are 7 reasons why:

1) I haven't been caught up with laundry since 1992.

2) I hate to cook but more importantly,
I hate cleaning up the mess afterward.

3) There are usually tears at the dinner table
every single night. In all fairness, it's never my husband.

4) I love the bunny we have owned for 11 days more
than the dog we have owned for 4 years.

5) The said dog thinks it's name is "Shut Up"
because that's what we say to her 6,471 times a day
to stop her incessant barking.

6) I went to my dr. thinking I was pregnant.
Turns out I am post-menopausal. Done, just like that.
I am 47.

7) I just had to ask my #3 how old I am.
Did someone say memory loss?

And there you have it,
somedays it's not a pretty picture to be me.
Have a great day!
-Jody

Camera Shy

2010-06-03T12:34:00.009-04:00

Hey there!
I've been very busy with scrap assignments,
bunny-loving and walking in a foot brace.
Yep, I have something known as
pre-dislocation syndrome in my foot
so I need a foot brace/boot for at least a week
along with an anti-inflammatory
and then we will re-evaluate when I can go back to work.
Such is life :(

Here is my latest page...
I love these pics of our dog Sweetie
in her usual pose,
looking away from the camera.

I kid you not,
when she sees my camera,
she gets this "look"
Cracks me up everytime!

Hope your weekend is a good one!
-Jody

How Do You Measure A Year?

2010-06-01T08:25:00.010-04:00

Well hello June!
As always the last month just flew by.
2010 is halfway over...that's crazy!

The theme at W.C.S. was "One Year Ago".
I have done two pages in the past
with this theme and they both were about #1's
cancer battle, so I wanted to continue
with the same theme.
The photo on the right was taken at her junior prom.
She has never looked more beautiful to me.
The title was inspired by the song from
the Broadway musical "Rent".:

Happy Birthday tomorrow to my #2,
no one makes me laugh more and
no one makes me want to pull out my hair more!
Love you Meg! :)

Happy Birthday #3!

2010-05-31T10:26:00.007-04:00

Good morning!
Today is a very special day,
my sweet #3 turns 10!
In honor of this special occasion
we suprised her with her dream wish
of getting a bunny.
She has asked every day
since she could talk
so we caved in and now we own
the cutest bunny in the universe.
Meet Delilah:

Have a great Memorial Day!
-Jody

Foot? Bad. Cake? Good.

2010-05-28T09:14:00.005-04:00

Happy Memorial Weekend!
I am so happy,
I am in the middle of 3 days in a row off!
Which is a good thing,
since I am wearing a foot brace right now.
I am seeing my foot doctor on Tuesday,
think good thoughts for me :(

We celebrated my husband's birthday,
and my M-I-L was here visiting
so it was a busy week here.
I managed to make this page about my love
for my man (who I do love more than cake)
and boy...do I love cake!:

Yay!!! Lee won American Idol!
(but I would have been happy had Crystal won)
I'm just a little happier that he did,
even though she outsang him in the finale.

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

P.S. Happy Birthday to my Mom! Love you!

Lee Or Crystal?

2010-05-21T08:31:00.003-04:00

Yes, another Friday is upon us!
Busy 2 weeks ahead, many family birthdays,
nephew's college grad party, Shrek!,
American Idol finale...am I the only one still watching?
My vote is for Lee!

Took alot of photos this past week,
a bunch were of #2 just being her usual self,
either always on the move or talking non-stop.
Exhausting is the perfect way to describe her ;)

So, if you're still watching Idol,
who would you like to see win,
Lee or Crystal?

Have a great weekend!
-Jody

Like She Does

2010-05-17T09:24:00.006-04:00

Hi there!
It's Monday again,
these weeks seem to go by faster and faster.
Can you believe it's almost June?
There's only 221 days 'til Christmas,
does that put it into perspective?

Sad weekend here,
my M-I-L's husband passed away last week
so we were busy with the wake and funeral.
He will be missed by us all :(

I worked at the restaurant as well,
I'm telling you,
these feet of mine cannot take the stress
of waiting tables anymore.
I worked Saturday night from 4:00-1:00 AM
with not so much as 1 second to rest,
much less breathe,
and it's now Monday and I still can barely walk :(

Here is today's page,
got the inspiration from a song
(shocking, I know!)
called, "Like You Do" by Angel Taylor
I just loved the sweet sentiment.
I am loved by many,
but nobody loves me like #3 does.
And the feeling is so very mutual!:

Have a great day!
-Jody

I Love You More Than Your Shoes

2010-05-11T09:54:00.007-04:00

Morning!
I made a very simple page today,
by picking out the embellishment
I wanted to use first.
These photos were taken yesterday morning
before #3 got on her bus.
She had to wear a dress for a school concert.
This is probably the last time
I will be able to buy her clothes without her approval,
for next year she moves into the middle school
with all the unruly, style-challenged obnoxious pre-teens.
(She is only 9 for 3 more weeks)
Oh please let me have one child who
still likes me after entering 5th grade?
I can dream, can't I?

Her school concert is tonight,
I can't wait :)
Have a great day!
-Jody

Photo Heavy, Scrap Light

2010-05-09T23:04:00.017-04:00

What a great weekend it was here...
#1's prom was a success!
She had a great time with her friends
and I got some great shots, they weather was perfect:

Um, don't look at me how to put it on,
I've never done that (or tied a tie!)

These are her 2 best friends, I can't get over how beautiful they looked:

And here she is with her sweet boy, still going strong...

And I spent Mother's Day with my family,
always a fun time at my sister's house,
with my Mom and Dad,
but it was uncharacteristically cold for May.

Some of us might have played croquet (don't look at me again it was FREEZING!)

Some of us may have had a toasted marshmallow (or 4 or 5!)

Some of us may have laughed nonstop at their cousin's witty impersonations

Some of us may have had cake to celebrate my sister's birthday, Happy Birthday Karin!

But none of us scrapped this weekend :(
I thought my (new) computer died again,
I could not get it to turn on all weekend,
but luckily, it did turn on last night,
for a late Mother's Day gift!

Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day too!
-Jody

Photoshoot

2010-05-07T00:02:00.009-04:00

I also got the blessing of my friend
whose sweet daughters I did a photo shoot with last weekend
to show you one of my favorites from that day.:

Thanks for stopping by and
have a wonderful weekend!
-Jody

Still Here

2010-05-04T09:52:00.008-04:00

Howdy-
Yes, I'm still here...
absolutely loving the new computer
and I've been very busy
editing a photoshoot I did for
a friend's twin daughter's communions.
Such sweet girls :)
Anyway, we're getting ready
this weekend for #1's junior prom.
A bunch of her friends
are coming here (!) for photos
before they go.
Nothing makes me happier
than taking photos of people
when they actually want
their photo taken because
I think my girls
are quite over me always
in their face with my camera :(

I made a new page, finally.
I have probably 3 pages all just sitting
on my scrap table...and I just can't
find my mojo again :::sigh:::
So, I've always loved the song,
"Still" by The Commodores
and wanted to make a page with my husband.
If I could only make layouts
inspired by song lyrics,
I would have no problem.
At this point that idea
is sounding better and better.

Lots of hand-cutting and dimension,
that's what I seem to be doing
again and again.
But I like it, sue me :)

Have a great day!
-Jody

Yay...It's May!

2010-05-01T01:19:00.006-04:00

Woooooooooooooooohoooooooooooo!
It is May, the craziest birthday month for my family.
My sister, mother, husband, nephew and 2 youngest daughters
all celebrate their birthdays in a 3 week period.
There's a lotta presents to be bought, for sure!

Anyway, thanks for all the good thoughts for my back
and my computer.
Good news on both, my back is almost normal
and computer is brand new!
It is lightening fast and has 8x the memory of my old one.
Even with my 9000+ photos,
it has barely made a dent in this new computer's disc space.

Today marks a new gallery
over at http://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/
where the theme of this month was
"Lift-A-Reader" from our W.C.S. Flickr gallery
and I chose the talented Scrappin Barb (Barb Wong)
I love all of her pages she makes about her sons,
as well as her bold, linear scrapping style.
I'm happy to say she is also
one of the nicest scrappers
I have been fortunate to get to know
a little bit through this hobby.

I wanted to make the final page
that included all 3 of my girls
where the title is their birth order:

Today is also National Scrapbook Day,
(there is a holiday for everything, no?)
so I hope to have a free moment to scrap.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
-Jody

The Reality Is...

2010-04-23T09:38:00.009-04:00

Yay...it's Friday!!!
Today is a "me" day,
with as little cleaning/cooking as possible!
It's been a crazy couple of weeks here.
Drama shows, Easter, school concerts,
trips to France, blog-hostings, my real job
and scraproom showing over at Write.Click.Scrapbook.
The reality is...I am tired.

Speaking of scraprooms,
I loved reading all the comments about my studio.
One thing I want to get across is...
it doesn't look like that most of the time.
You know when your children are young,
and you bring them to have their portraits taken?
You clean them up and put them in their best clothes, right?
The reality is...this is what my room looks like 90% of the time:

I spent the day yesterday down at Mount Sinai Hospital
with #1, for another post-cancer well visit.
Lately, we have not been getting along like we should.
Is it the dreaded teen years
that have miraculously escaped us
rearing it's ugly head finally?
Or is it me not wanting to just...let...go...
The reality is...this parenting thing is hard
and I'll never be sure that the decisions I make
are ever the right ones.
:::sigh:::

I did finally scrap last night
and made this page of the similarities of
#1 and #3, they are so physically alike
they could be twins,
if only the 7 year age difference.:

I hope you have a great weekend :)
-Jody

In My Room

2010-04-19T08:19:00.004-04:00

No flood, and no technical computer issues
could keep me from showing you my scraproom today!
If you head over to W.C.S., here's a little peek:

All week long, members of Write.Click.Scrapbook.,
will be sharing their scraprooms
and best organizational ideas!
What are you waiting for?
I'll see you over there!

Have great day!
-Jody