Judy's in town

Judy arrived on Thursday afternoon and we have been having a great time.. Movies, lunch and dinner out and shopping.. Made our usual trip to SAS yesterday to pick up buttons and ribbon.. both made out like bandits. Thursday we went to see "the Women", what a fun movie. The theater only had women in it and we all broke out in laughter at the same time. Great movie for a girlfriends outing. We tried a new restaurant up by my house called Cafepino and it was so good. Judy and I and my friend Connie all went to see "Nights in Rodanthe"Friday afternoon and then stopped at Cafepino for dinner.. One of the best meals I have had in a LONG time.. Yesterday we picked up my grandaughter Karleigh and we went to lunch at another favorite "Rubio's" and then to see "Ghost Town".. Cute movie,

My grandaughter Morgan is still in the hospital, so very sick.. The Dr.'s don't want her to have any visitors, so she can remain calm. Stress seems to bring on the seizures. So Kristan and Don are the only ones able to see her. she has a nurse with her around the clock. All of her tests have come back normal and so now the Dr.'s are just trying to figure out what is triggering the seizures. Here is Kristan's blog so you can see her progress. http://www.kristanpaolacci.blogspot.com/ All of our prayers and thoughts are with Morgan , Kristan and family thru this traumatic ordeal. It is so hard to not be able to see her, but I know that I want to do everything the Dr's are asking so she will recover faster, so I'll just keep in touch by texting.. and phone..

Yesterday afternoon, Jamie called and invited me to go to the movies with her and Zack & Tyler. the girls were out for the evening and Jason didn't get home from his business trip to Utah until 8pm. We went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth..( I thought, well it will be fun to go with my grandsons, even though it wouldn't be a movie I would choose to see on my own) Upon arriving we discover it was a 3D movie. I hadn't gone to a 3D movie since my kids were really little,(many, many years ago). the last time I saw a 3D movie the glasses they gave you were flimsy paper frames with one red lens and one blue lens, and you got a headache from wearing them in a sub-standard production. I was surprised to see the glasses were high quality frames & looked like we were wearing sun glasses. Tyler put his on and asked if he looked like a "nerd", I assured him that he did and that made him happy. (he's 5 and I guess being a nerd is a good thing). The beginning of the movie prompts you to put on your glasses and right from the start I was weaving and bobbing and ducking in my seat, for fear of being hit by flying objects. We laughed and screamed and covered our eyes and I kept looking at the boys to see how they were doing and they loved it. I was very surprised at the high quality of the movie, it was really very good and we all had a great time..

October Card Class

Here are the cards we are going to be making at Mad Scrappers on October 8th.. Morning class and evening class.. Call now and reserve your spot. 480-515-3131 or go on line and sign up .http://www.madscrappers.com/

Clock Class

This is a sample of the clock we are creating on November 6th. In class you can select the color of your background and the color of your letters, you can put one picture or as many as you wish, or no pictures just words. the overlay says " Life is not measured in minutes but moments". the cost of the completed project is $30.00, extra words added are $2.50 each.

I have space for 12 people in this class.. Sign up now. It will be held at my home at 6:30 p.m. You can sign up by e-mailing me at jkharper1@cox.net. I am working on the samples for the October classes; Halloween foldout mini album, Christmas Organizer, A Tim Holtz inspired technique class, making fun projects, and a fall wooden door decoration. In November in addition to the clock, we are creating calendars, and a card organizer file, an advent calendar. In December we are doing "Bags, Tags & toppers". then break for the holidays since everyone is so busy that time of year. I will still be teaching my card classes at Mad Scrappers. October 8th, November 5th and December 3rd. As soon as I have samples to post I'll share.

Marissa downloaded pictures from Kieve this weekend and it is so much fun to see her, in her new environment. I thought I would share these with everyone, she is having a wonderful time and learning so much about eastern Europe. They have a break from school in a couple of weeks and she and her friends are traveling to Vienna & Budapest for the break. She is very excited, such an adventure.

A Busy Time

Wow, where have the days gone? I haven't added to my blog since last Thurs. We have had cooler nights and that is a wonderful thing here in the southwest.. Not cool enought to open my windows yet, but almost..YEAH.

I have been working on my samples and kits for my up-coming classes. Judy arrives next week and I want to have everything finished so I don't have to do it while she is here.. Worked on the samples for All About Me this weekend. the layouts for this month are highlighting our "5 Senses" and the month of September.. Then I started on the samples for my card classes on Monday.. You know some times you can just sit down and create and other times nothing comes to mind... well I am in the latter category .. I struggled and finally stopped yesterday afternoon, instead of getting so frustrated and throwing it all away.. Today was better though.. I have 4 of the 6 completed..

My 1 year anniversary date of living in my condo is coming up and they require each tenant to make a list of things you need to have fixed at the end of the year, so I sent in my list on Friday and they came today and fixed everything.. I really didn't have anything major, drywall touch up and grout in a few places.. The one thing that was bothersome was the toilet in the guest bath, wasn't always cooperating when you flushed.. So the property manager said they were going to replace it and while they were at it they would replace the one in the master bath also.. Wow, they were here and gone in less than an hour.. Just have 2 more things to have taken care of and my list is complete.

Then I started having trouble starting my car and was really nervous that I would be stranded somewhere and couldn't get it going, so this afternoon I took it to the dealership and sure enough, my battery was almost a goner.. So now I am all set with a new battery and don't have to worry any longer.

When I get my samples finished I'll post them.. have a great day..

Each of us wants to connect more closely with the people in our lives.

We want to know that we belong and are loved,

and we want to make others feel the same way, too.

Friendship

The warmth of a friend's presence brings joy to our hearts,
sunlight to our souls, and pleasure to all of life.

unknown author

No symphony orchestra ever

played music like a two year old girl

laughing with a puppy

Bern Williams

Don't you just love these 2 quotes.. they make me smile when I read them.. When I think of friends I smile and for sure thinking about a little girls giggling with her puppy makes me smile..

Each month when I get to teach my classes, I meet new people and count them among my new friends. Yesterday in my card classes there were 5 new "friends" joining us. We all had a great time, laughing, sharing stories and creating fun cards thru the process. I selected some great papers and embellishments for next months classes and I am anxious to start putting together my samples for next month.

Here are the cards from last night... Have a great day..

Yawn. . . .

Wow, Sunday happened I think.. I got home around 11pm on Saturday night and set my alarm for 6 am and then I overslept my alarm and finally woke up at 10:40 a.m. I was wiped out from the Creative Escape weekend. What a fantastic time we had at CE. I was group leader with Karen for the Saguaro's. What a fun group of 70 ladies.. We had all 8 classes together and really did get to know them.. Friday nights extravaganza lasted until 10:30.. So we were on our feet from 730 a.m. till 11:00 p.m. Saturday classes went from 8 to 5 then we had the closing dinner, the ballroom was all decorated with white tablecloths, candelabras on each table, at CE we get to eat dessert first.. beautiful layered torte and then the dinner. They had 60 prizes to give away and then our keynote speaker Jason Hall..All i can say is WOW !!!!!! what a fantastic speaker. I could have listened to him for hours..

Jason Hall was born December 26, 1970. When he was fifteen years old, a diving accident caused him to become paralyzed from the chest down. Jason was told that he would never live away from home, never attend college and he would not be able to provide for himself or his family.
Jason learned at a young age that adversity is the great equalizer of man and through his own tenacity and lust for life, he overcame his disability. In the fall of 1989, he entered Brigham Young University, the nation’s largest private school, on a full-tuition scholarship and was elected by the university’s 30,000 students to be Student Body President. Upon graduation, Jason was recruited for a position at Mutual of New York as an insurance investment planner. Jason excelled in this field and became part of the top six percent of his industry within the first two months of employment.
Then in November of 1997, Jason again found his life threatened. An automobile accident kept him hospitalized for over a year, requiring therapy and numerous surgeries in the years that followed. Jason’s adversities have given him a PhD in life. Becoming a quadriplegic and overcoming his second life-threatening accident have taught Jason a great deal of what it means to persevere, overcome and to be a champion inside. He has gone on to teach these same principles to groups throughout the world.
Jason motivates people to be the best they can be. He does it with wit, clarity and emotion that cause others to want to find their champion inside.

Creative Escape raised $12,000.00 for Cancer Research..by selling raffle tickets for 2 tickets for the up-coming scrapbook cruise. It was such an inspirational weekend, seeing old friends and meeting so many new friends, learning many new techniques, great food, fabulous venue..such a great way to spend a few days with my girls..

Creative Escape

This morning my girls (Kristan, Karen & Jamie) and I head for Creative Escape. We are on the volunteer staff for the next 3 days. It is so much fun to be a part of this event. High energy, fun classes, great women (& Tim Holtz) our token guy, terrific venue, renewing friendships & having fun.
The Sheraton Wild Horse Resort & Spa is south of Phoenix, so it is too far to drive each day.Oh Darn, we have to stay at this fantastic resort for 3 days. Today we will be involved in the Technique Boutique, where the 600 attendees come and work on new techniques that will be involved in their classes the next two days. Tomorrow the classes start and some of the volunteers are assigned to assist a certain teacher for the two days and some are assigned to be in charge of a group that rotates to the different classes. Karen & I are a team and the leaders of a group. Kristan and Jamie are assisting teachers. Each day there are 4 classes taught by leaders in the scrapbooking industry and all 600 attendees take the same 8 classes. All the volunteers got to have 2 preview days where we were able to take each class, so that we could know the project & help in each class. The preview day was in June, and so I don't remember what all the fabulous classes were.but that they were each so creative and fun. We had to pack up our class samples and leave them with the Creative Escape Organizers and will get them back today. All I remember was that there were some great classes and I'm looking forward to seeing them all again. As a group leader, we get to go to all the classes with our group.. Friday evening the teachers from last year teach mini classes to the entire group. Each group is set up in classrooms and each team of volunteers are assigned to assist a teacher and we rotate to all the classrooms in a 2 1/2 hour marathon. Fun evening.. I'll share all the excitement when I return home.. Have a great weekend.

9/3/93

The date 9/3/93 is the birth date of my grandaughter Karleigh. It is the easiest birthday to remember, of all my family.. So today she is 15 years old.. Wow the time has flown by so fast and she is so grown up. She is a freshman in high school and loving it. She is on the swim team and in concert choir. Last year in the final choir concert of the year, she had a solo and I was so amazed at the voice that I heard coming from Karleigh.. She has a wonderful voice and loves to sing, so being chosen to participate in concert choir was a real coo for her. She has been on the local swim team for the past few years and always enjoyed swimming, has always been excellent in the butterfly.. Can't wait to see her in a meet. So happy birthday my sweet Karleigh.

How Lucky Am I

I just saw these pictures on Kristan's blog.. Wow am I a lucky Grandmother or what. . . To have 13 of the most awesome grand kids in the world. I love the picture of them on the wall. If you want to get me crying, just show me new pictures of my family and it will do it..

Then I read Kristan's blog about Marissa in Kiev. She got to talk to her (thru her computer) yesterday and Marissa is doing great.. Kris got to talk to the little girl in the house where Marissa is living..she goes to the school that Marissa teaches at and speaks great English.. Today is the first day of school for them both.. I'll keep you up on the goings on in the Ukraine..

MDA Telethon

It is Labor Day and for the past 30 years or so that meant watching the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon for our family. We would have it on in between our activities and always get caught up in the message of helping raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. The kids would take turns calling in our donation. Since my grandaughter Alli has a neuro muscular disorder I have been more inclined in the past few years to donate more for research and to help eradicate these dreadful disease's. This year an opportunity came up to be a part of the telethon by manning the phones at the local station. I signed up and was really looking forward to being a part of the last 4 hours of the telethon..but I just got a phone call from the guy who was in charge and our shifts have been canceled. They never received the badges for our group and you can't get in without a badge.. So I will be watching today only.. but still participating by donating to this very worthy cause. I want to do anything I can to help so children like Alli don't have to suffer.