Faith....Flashback Friday 1.29

Love these challenges and Cosmo Cricket and YES SBE template 217 strikes again. lol!!!! Maybe I'll go through them babies twice. Got some primas of course and used a Theresa Collins album cover as a template for my journaling.

My grandparents had a major role in this also. I know what a surprise. My gram's church which was right across the street from where they lived (along w/the elementary school) allowed easy access and since she didn't drive, she could go any time she wanted. It's now a rec center, the new church that was built was moved to the end of town much to her dismay. My grandpop's church was a generational church in the country and a hospital during the French Revolution. The cemetery just rocks with information. But I digress again. Since I had moved to the "country" when I was a tween, it made more sense to go there. I have NO idea why they went to different churches except they both had different roles in each. However, when there was work to be done, gram would jump on in to help grandpop's church, as it was the poorer one. They were the best examples ever of living their faith.

journaling: I was baptized in my Gram's church, confirmed in my Grandpop's church. Both were Lutheran . I thought that was normal. I attended and had friends in both growing up. My journey continued in seeking other denominations. Always returning to my roots. I love serving, the readings, the communion. I love that I've been blessed my whole life. I love that I have the faith of my grandparents.

I just love heritage photos.....

and I'm working on my second Roots journal. Its an informal recording of the past. Sadly, I have photos with people and places I can't identify, so I just go w/what I know. I have cousins that help with stories from their perspective.

In these to lo's I look at the photos and see the dynamics of my gram w/her IN-LAWS. They are young @ 27. Their body language indicates there is love and camaraderie between them that I wasn't aware of when they were older (and I was privileged to each and every one). It just amazes me that I see that my gram was their sister, no pretense, she was family and it shows in the photos. Later in years, the in-law sisters stepped up to take care of her after my grandpop died, not her family and she had plenty of siblings. I just wish I knew more.

Just like US when WE were young, they dressed alike = maybe even planning it. They went places together and partied with each other. AND in knowing them later they were a combustable lot so I'm sure there was some conflict at some of these hoe-downs. But in the pictures they were young people having a good time. Being close. Sharing their lives.

Scraplifting Ali E....AGAIN......

Love that I am now throwing out Christmas Cards guilt free. The las 3 years I have "lifted" Ali's idea of cutting out parts of the cards and making a page. This year I didn't receive many, but I cherished each one. I also decided this year that I would add circles to it because I couldn't locate the big square punch I wanted. Got more with pictures too. So I decided to use a no-name metallic gold. And it was flimsy. So I glued it to a piece of cardboard. WELL...tacky glue lumps. Which I found out after I put the paper on. So now I had stiff, lumpy metallic. Then I decided it was kinda plain, and well the lumps could be ummm......embossing. Bwahaha! So I dry brushed some red paint over my umm...embossing. LOL! So now I have texture. With some help from Chatterbox bling and alphas and stickers, prima AND a sharpie. Gasp. WELL.

Flashback Friday - 1.8.10 This Train.....

This week's challenge was about transportation so I did a lo of my first train ride. It was a lot of fun. I took the train from NJ to Penn Station, then from there to Syracuse. Thankfully my DIL and SD coordinated their baby showers so I only had to fly up once. So after the NJ shower I made my way to NY. The title is from a refrain in a Springsteen (natureally) bwahaha! song "The Land of Hope and Dreams". Cosmo Cricket rocks, qk swirls. AND my ticket.

journaling: The ride from Penn station was scenic, not too crowded and fun. When I took mhy nose of the book I was reading I captured some shots, And chatted w/some great people. Although lightening strikes and trains don't mi. When the signals go out the trains just crawls and schedules are messed up. Late Late for a very important date. LOL!

TOP TEN.....LO's of the 2009

Of course I stole this idea from someone. On 2Peas and just recently saw my pal Debi's list and decided. I can do that. So I did. Really in no particular order (and probably more than 10 because well math as never my strong suit. snort). I hope you enjoy.

One of my fav using some stash Jillibean soup. This was a flashback Friday project (see the Pub-2 Peas website) we play every week. This is chatting about some of my childhood in one of my favorite sizes. 6x12. I love ALL the sizes.

My favorite youngest son turned 18 and we got to celebrate. Used some stash. Love that.
Dressed up for the first time in years. Had a total blast. Got to use more stash especial my Tim Holtz grungeboard. woo hoo!
Love this photo of the 2 grandkidlets. and got to use more STASH. Heidi Swap ghost letters.
Hybrid love that. This one kind of explains a lot. It was a red=letter day.

Nothing says sitting up like G-45 and my grandbabies hitting their mark. Woo hooo!

One of the favorite people in my life. USED more stash.

My son as a father. Scary but true. lol!!! And he's doing a fine job.
Using some stash and being a bit more artistic (for me). Love the die cut shaped paper.
Used a Springsteen title and bit of a song. One of my fav's actually and I do "lift" his stuff. ALOT. Why reinvent the wheel when he says it so well. ummmm more stash. snort.

Spending the day with the young & reckless.......

umm...that's what his shirt says and if the shirt fits......well that's my boy. lol!!!! He's doing well, living with dad and we had great fun yesterday. DH and I went to hang w/Shane and get his some new shoes and clothes for Christmas at the mall. Which I might say was INSANE. (What was I thinking). However, we weren't INTENSE about the whole experience, so being patient, all things did come in its time and we were in and out pretty darn quick. Shane was fun, funny and pretending reluctance at the picture taking....He was so excited about his new clothes that when we stopped at Starbucks for my BIG CHEAT, He changed in the car. Of course the camera caught all the action. I used my newly purchased Canon Powershot A1100 IS which has 12.1 mp. MORE than my Rebel (which I'll never give up). I like that I can carry it in my purse. I like that its stealthy because you never know when it'll be pointed at you. Click.

mmmmmmmmm...DH gets a triple shot latte, and I LOVE the mocha frappachino lite w/the gingerbread cake. OHMYYUM. So glad that puppy is seasonal!

Flashback Friday 12.11.09.....I went Digi Again!!

What can I say except that when some challenges come around I'm exceptionally chatty. Really. And "what I wanted to be when I was growing up..... was it. So of course I made a long story even longer bwahahaha! However, I'm liking the way it came out. Fits in with my Hybrid-(now)DIGI all about me book. and WA-LA. Scrappin' at its finest. Snort. Now all I have to do is figure out how to PRINT it with TOP in tact. and OH YEAH...borderless. However, I digress once again whining about this and that. lmao.....so for your reading pleasure (war and peace) bwahaha....OH Cottage Arts comes through again........

journaling: When I was growing up I had no clue what I wanted to be or do. Career wise or work wise. As most of you know, watching Perry Mason one of my favorite shows, I found Della Street his secretary extrordinaire. And for some reason I found that fascinating and something I could maybe do. So beginning in 9th grade I signed up for typewriting and shorthand classes, and loved them both. Excelled actually. What a surprise. So after graduation, perusing the wanted ads, I KNEW that I could then be the secretary to President of Florida Steel. Naive that I was it didn’t occur to me that I would actually NEED to work my way into that position. LOL. So in the meantime, I put my application into the local phone company GTE. They were only hiring operators, and the wonderful lady in HR told me to get my foot “in the door” by taking the job and I could then be ”promoted within” to other departments. So that became the start of my career. I was an operator for 9 months and the supervisor decided I needed more of a challenge than being “Hang man champ” of the section; I was promoted to a clerical position in Engineering, I was then promoted (after about 6 years) to secretary in Transition Management (cutovers), veered off to Service Rep, went back to being a Secretary in Accounting, which was a perfect move. THC”d (higher temporary classification) to become a Secretary to Director of Accounting which was my stepping stone into management. FINALLY!!!! After 19 years I FINALLY MADE IT!! Believe it or not I had issues with umm....playing the games. I know that was a surprise. After reading the writing on the wall with the new technology coming out, secretaries or Administrative Assistants as it was then known then was really on its way out. People answered their own phones, voicemail took the message, and email and word processing was available to everyone. I then took another tack and applied for and became a sales assistant to the equipment side of the company. Another advancement in management. Then after a couple of years as a sales assistant, I MADE IT TO MIDDLE MANAGEMENT as

project manager. It was then I felt that I finally “made it.” I had a career, money to raise my kids with benefits to take care of our needs, and a job that I had to idea I would absolutely LOVE. I remained in that position until I retired in 2002. Had not GTE sold to Bell Atlantic to became Verizon, I would have not considered retiring. Because changing circumstances made it impossible to do the best job I could, I took the option to leave/retire while I was still successful, after 30 years. Journaling 12.16.09