Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!

“People are always telling me that change is good. But all that means is that something you didn't want to happen has happened.”

~ Meg Ryan ~

Wow!  Thank you for all of  the birthday wishes yesterday.  I was receiving birthday wishes all day via text, phone, blog, email, message  boards at SFTIO and Facebook.  It was fabulous to have such a wide-reaching birthday "party".  In fact, all of those "reach out and touch someone" moments were the absolute best part of my day.

Otherwise, I've been coping.  Coping with the store closing (a third  store in our community announced that they were closing as well today - three out of the five our Local Scrapbook Stores are  now closing in the next month - that's crazy!)  I've had to cope with everyone in my immediate family viscinity being sick and I don't  want to catch it.  My car was taken to  the shop for some repairs that have now exceeded $1000 and that number seems to be growing.  Oh, so many things going  on in one little 24-hour period.

But I got cake.

And some fun little gifts.

And  some time with The  Hubs (even if he was coughing like crazy) to watch some movies we've had hanging around.

And plenty of rest and naps.

I love naps.

But I'm seriously flirting with a depression the size or our most recent recession.   (I'm a  poet, did ya know it?)  I don't  cope well with changes.   Yes, I know they are inveitable, but that doesn't mean they're pleasant and wanted.

So,  help me out.  What are your tricks and tips to cope with life changes?

Today...



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Today is my sister's birthday (Happy Birthday!)

Today is my birthday!  (Nope, not twins)

Today I am off from work and going to enjoy every minute of "my" day.

Today I am happy for more inches lost at my last measurement (see fitness foibles).

Today I am the only NON sick person my house.

Today marks a sad day as it is the first day of my LSS's (where I work) going out of business sale.

Today is rainy and dreary.

Today I'm  going to eat cake.  I hope.

Today is the first day of the next year of my life.

...there is a lot of opportunity in that.

Have a great TODAY everyone... enjoy every minute, even the hard and bad minutes because you'll never have another day like today. 

I Hope You Dance...



8 Years Old and Proud of my Tu Tu!



I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,

May you never take one single breath for granted,

God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed.

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,

Never settle for the path of least resistance,

Living might mean taking chances but they're worth taking,

Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth making.

Don't let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter,

When you come close to selling out reconsider,

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance!

Layout by Kai, Lyrics by Lee Ann Womack

Scary

Image Source

Happy Friday the 13th. I hope you have a Jason Vorhees free day.

Another Layout

Products used include Core'dinations cardstock and Cosmo Cricket
Mr. Campy papers,chipboard and embellishments

This is actually one-half of a double-page layout.  The other page has no photos on it, but is designed with photo mats. When I was cropping with my gal pals a couple weekends ago, I realized I didn't have all of the photos of this event, and clearly remembered two that I wanted included.  So,  I just "made space".  But as I said, since there are no photos, there wasn't much to see, so here is the left-page only. 

This was a canoe trip I took with a group of newly-found friends the first summer I moved to Ohio.  It continues to be one of my favorite memories of my life here since 1995.  It was fabulously fun, full of adventure (and spiders), and a couple of canoe capsizes.  Not mine.  Sadly, we chose to put all of our picnic food (and a guitar) in the one canoe with the least experienced canoers.  Well, they said they were experienced but if they were, they certainly did not work well as a team.

About mid-way down the river, we found a rope swing.  We pulled off in that area, built a small campfire and cooked chicken, had potato salad and drinks (and whatever else survived  the capsized canoe) and also had plenty of fun on the rope swing.  It was my first and last time (so far) on a rope swing over a river like that.

The other major memory I have was the river was swollen due to some recent rains, and we were afraid our canoes would not be able to make it under a felled tree across the river.  It was my first time doing that as well... laying down in the canoe so you could get under the tree.  I remember being worried about certain... uh... ample parts of me would not make it under.  "They" did, but I swear my nose scraped the bark of the tree, it was that close of a clearance!

The people in the capsizing canoe had quite a bit a difficulty with that one as well, if I recall.

There was a lot of yelling.

Man, it was fun.