Scrapbooking and Celebration

I've got a lot of scrapbook pages to do from before 2007, so while I try to stay (relatively) updated in my current scrapbook items, I also try to make sure that old events get equal attention. Thrilling, huh?

I'm sure you are wondering why I am sharing this information (especially since I'm sure I allude to it any time I post an old scrapbook page). It's because I feel the need to justify why I have just finished this page now when it is from 2004. And I feel like a slacker for not having done it sooner.

Enough with the babble. Here's the page:

Spring 2004

It took way too freakin' long. Mostly figuring out what accents I'd use. I tried some other flowers but they didn't do it for me, then I tried something else which didn't work, and finally I got on the idea that I used, but I had to take the original white flowers off of the stems and replace them with the flowers I made and then I had to glue the single stems all together to make something that would fill that space. Yeah. It took way too long. Kinda crazy, but I'm really pleased with the results.

In Other News
I keep forgetting, today is Dan's and my anniversary. Six whole years! Woo hoo! I can't believe he's put up with me this long!

Friday we went out to dinner and went Costco-ing but that wasn't really in celebration for our anniversary, but since we haven't done anything today aside from go to church and watch some TV, I'm retroactively making our Friday night dinner a celebratory dinner.

Scrapping

Wow, productive day today. Lots of journaling and scrapbooking going on - and lots of blog posts, too.

This is the scrapbooking that I did today. It is a page for the day that I spent making chocolate covered cherries (my first foray into candy making!) while Dan and Dad fixed the first section of fence that had been blown over by the wind.

Fence Fixing and Candy Making

When I was putting that page into the scrapbook, I ran across the page I did a while back (and didn't post it because I was unhappy with it) for Clark Gardens. And I, once again, was very unhappy with it.

Clark Gardens Page, Take One

I figured out pretty quickly this time why I did not like it - no contrasting colors. So, I decided to switch the background page to see how that looked.

Clark Gardens Page, Take Two

I think it looks better and Dan wouldn't dare say anything I did looked bad. I wish I had the paper pattern in a purple since that would go perfectly, but the blue works good, too, because of the blue water, the bluebonnets a the bright purple in the irises that (I think) coordinates well with the blue - they both sort of glow. Thoughts on the change?

I think I'm done scrapbooking for today. Might grab a little bite to eat and then get on to bed. We'll see how that plan works out.

Kitty-booking

So, Ashes is doing better. She's still eating, though a bit less than when she first started eating. We are still keeping an eye on her because of that. But she's walking a lot easier and has gotten a bit of her pissy back, so that's good. She's still separated from the herd in the master bathroom so we can continue to monitor closely and keep her from getting picked on.

In other news, I did some scrapbooking today.

Our New House

Yep, just a little bit past the date it actually happened - this one is for 2003. But I did a Clark Gardens page (which I didn't take a picture of because I was tired, so no posting) which is from this April, so it's a trade off.

I really need to focus more on the older pages I need to complete - gotta knock those out! Though 2007 only lacks one page now. Nine pages needed for 2006. Ten pages for 2005. And fourteen pages needed from before 2005. And I need to do a Baja California trip book (from 2005) and a Hawaii book from our trip this spring. So many pages to do! Fortunately, I find it kind of exciting, so that's good. Oh, and I have 16 more pages to do for the kitty scrapbook, including a Lion Cut page for the Big Girl. I think I'll get those pictures developed soon so I can do that one.

Very fun!

Winery

Okay, last but not least, our Lightcatcher Winery scrapbook layout.

I had text for it, but I didn't have enough of the color paper I needed, so I couldn't put it in, but I still think it turned out nice.

And that's the last scrapbook page for me today. Well, if you still count today as Saturday, which I am since I haven't been to sleep yet. But I'm about to fix that as soon as I brush my teeth.

Good night!

Road Trip

Got another page done. Woo! Also used the trial version of Cricut Design Studio for this one, too. The next one I'll make though, I probably won't be able use it because, as a trial, I can only use one of the cartridges. So unless I want all my future pages to be with George and Basic Shapes, I'll have to go back to the "normal" Cricut-ing. At least until I buy the Design Studio!

Anyway, here's the page:

Road Trip

I think it turned out fairly awesome, especially considering how much trouble I had with it.

DAVE!

Well, today so far is for my scrapbooking and LOST-watching. Okay, and making rice and eating and Dan getting the new home server set up. But I'm really only posting about the scrapbooking.

I worked on one page for a bit but haven't been able to finish it - I need to get some paper to do that. But then I worked on this page (and had everything I needed to finish it), so ta-da.

Total Money Makeover LIVE!

It's from February when Dan and I saw Dave Ramsey live. Very cool.

Anyway, I played with my Cricut some with it - I downloaded the trial version of the new Cricut Design Studio. OMG, I so need this beastie. It is sooo cool. Seriously. It lets you weld letters together, swivel them, shrink them, enlarge them, slant them, move them, reverse them... it is awesomeness in insect form.

Dan already said that my car windows would be tinted for my birthday if I was a good girl (I told him I thought that was a Santa-related thing, but he insists it applies for birthdays, too) and I'm not willing to trade tinted windows for scrapbooking software, but I still want. So maybe after the windows have been tinted for a bit, I can get the Design Studio just because.

And Even More Scrapping

Okay, three pages in one day, must count me as a scrapin' fool. Yes?

I'm thinking this is my final page for the day. This is the Mudbug Madness page for this year's festival. The pictures, sadly, is not that good. It is hard to see the colors accurately, the stripes on the text looks much better in person, the pictures are dark and you can't see the glitter accents on the text. Other than that, this picture is an exact representation of the page I just completed.

Mudbug Madness

It's kind of busy, but that sort of fits with the overall theme of the festival so I think it works. I'm kinda liking this page.

Even More Scraping

Wow, I'm just a scrapin' fool today, aren't I? Okay, maybe two pages does not equate to a "scrapin' fool", but still, decently productive considering most pages take me an hour or more to do.

This one is Bitty's "Page 2". So now the Bitty section in the Kitty Scrapbook is complete. Only 16 more pages (out of 42) to go before that book is done (assuming we add nor lose any more kitties between now and completion).

Just Plain Cute

Now it is time for dinner (while watching still more of LOST season one), then, if I have the inclination to continue scraping, I will do a Mudbug Madness page.

More Scraping

So, I ran out of adhesive yesterday, so Dan and I stopped by the craft store on the way home from church to pick up some more. Which means I could do more scraping today!

I ended up working on Nibby's "Page Two", which completes his section in the Kitty Scrapbook. Each kitty gets an intro page, a "page 2", and two event- or character- specific pages (Nibby's being Circus Star (balancing) and Don Juan de Nibby (yesterday's)).

Nibby's Page Two:

Cats Leave Pawprints on Your Heart

Cocoa was previously the only one with a completed section, though Gidgie and Bitty are only a "Page Two" away from having their sections complete. I don't have pictures printed out for Gidgie's page, but I do for Bitty's, so that page might be next.

Don Juan de Nibby

Did some scrapbooking, working on a page for the Kitty Scrapbook. Also seems to be continuing the grieving process by doing Nibby-related scrapbooking.

Nibby's Passing

I have been thinking about Nibby a lot this week. Yesterday I had to stop by the vet to pick up more ringworm medication and ended up thinking about sitting in the examination room as I waited to hear news about Nibby's condition, then hearing the worst news, and then holding him and saying goodbye after he was gone. So yeah, rough day yesterday. And that's even discounting the lizard-bit I stepped on in the living room, which added a whole new element of stress to the day.

Anyway, I guess this would qualify as grieving. I didn't mean to do the whole page. I was actually just organizing some pictures that I got printed out last weekend and was finding some matching paper for layout ideas. But once I got started on this one, I didn't stop until it was done.

I think it turned out really nice. Thanks to MIL-Claudia, who provided flower brads and both the background and matting papers. Cricut's Opposites Attract was used for the text and Accent Essentials for the, well, accents.

Scrap

Wow, it's been a couple months since I've done any scrapbooking. I started this page a while ago but then Nibby died and I didn't feel like doing much of anything so it's taken me until tonight to finish it up. But I think it turned out really neat! Thought maybe this isn't the best picture of it...

Ducks @ Stars

I've got a lot of pages to do, but a lot of them I need to get pictures developed for. Once I've got the pictures printed out, I want to do a Hawaii scrapbook and one of Nibby's pages for the Kitty scrapbook. I just have to sit down and pick out what pictures I want to use for them, edit them and then take them to Costco next time we go. Hopefully I'll get in gear and do that in the next week or two.

Look! Something Different!

I finally did some more scrapbooking! I took a little break of a month or so but now am back at it, at least a bit. Here's what I cam up with tonight:

Blowout Hockey

This is from the December 26th Blues game Dan and I went to when we were in St. Louis. The "blowout" bit is because the Blues were beat 0-5 by Detroit. It was embarrassing.

Sort of like the Ducks current play against the Stars. Sigh.

My Final Scrapbook Page

Okay, so this isn't my final scrapbook page ever, but this is the final page in what I have planned to be the 'Dan and Amanda Scrapbook One' (anyone have a better name for that? please?) which will have 64 layouts covering the time period from our graduation in 2001 to the end of the year of 2007. So basically, our first 6 years - five of which we were married and (due to not taking many pictures) those five years of marriage will cover all but 5 pages (one being the title, one graduation, once for our engagement dinner and two for the wedding). So yeah, one year of dating will have two pages basically. Unless I want to include a soup eating page. For some reason Dan took multiple pictures of me eating soup in college... Weird.

Anyway, the hockey game took place on 12/29, so that's the end of 2007 and thus the end of the scrapbook. I think it is kind of sad but I have the entire book planned out - each even, how many pages and where in the book it will go. I figured I had to do something so I didn't have to insert blank pages to ensure that two-page layouts kept facing each other even when previous events were scrapbooked and included(if that makes sense).

Okay, so that was a bad "anyway" because I just kept babbling. So here's the real one:

Anyway, here's the page:

Blues Hockey

I like it.

Happy Scrapbook Day, My Hubby!

Today is Dan's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAN!!!. He's a whopping 29 years old. For his birthday I pulled out all the stops and made a big dinner of his favorite (meatloaf) with baked potatoes, green beans, garlic bread, salad and even a two-layer Red Velvet cake. Yeah, it's a good thing his birthday is only once a year because I was cooking for about 4 hours today. But you know what? He's so worth it!

In other news, I did my Christmas 2007 layout this weekend.

Christmas in Graham

Christmas in St. Louis

Fun, yeah?

In more fun, Kitty Bellies!

Chlo-belly

I guess Chloe got a little warm today. So had to expose that cute pink belly.

Co-belly

This one if from a few days ago. I took a nap and so did a horde of the kitties. Dan got this classic Cocoa-belly picture. It's so big!

And while this one isn't a belly, it's a kitty and it's cute so I'm sharing.

When my parents come visit, they usually have a bag of goodies for us - magazines, cards, random goodies - and nine times out of ten, I give the bag to the kitties so they can play in it. Well, lately they've changed the way they use the bags.

Nibby utilizes the paper bag

The kitties aren't climbing in it (well, Chloe did until it got flattened), but laying on it! I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I mean, it's just one step up from laying on a piece of paper on the floor. But it is still cute. So I share.

Hmm, Nibby obviously enjoys the paper bag. I wonder if I should have gotten one for Dan's birthday. Nah, he probably likes the cake better.

But he better not lay on it.

Another One

Yep. Here we go!

This one is actually from 2005 - my first non-2007 layout I've done. Of course, I still don't have any more of the page protectors - I've ordered some from Costco but they won't be here until Thursday. So until then, I'm not sure what to do with all pages I've been making. Oh well. Only an issue until Thursday.

Instead of cleaning the microwave...

Yeah, so this is what I did instead of cleaning the microwave today:

Now I need to go and actually clean the microwave. Still not mopping the bathroom floors, though.

My Productivity Seems To Be Limited...

The past few days my productivity seems to be limited to scrapping. I could be mopping the bathroom floors, but instead, I did this:

City Museum, St. Louis, MO Layout

So much more fun than mopping.

I Did Another One

Yeah, so doing scrapbook stuff is so much more enticing than cutting up mushrooms or strawberries, which is what I had planned to do. Or dishes.

College Graduation LO

You can't see it, but there are lots of sparkley bits all over - outlining the pictures and mats, the die cut, and the diplomas on the background paper. The sparkleys come from this super-neato pen my MIL got me that is a clear glitter pen. I'm in love with it.

Sadly, it won't help me do dishes.

Whee!

So, I went in to my new job for about an hour and a half today. I think it will be a great match for me. I took a hard-sided notebook with me to take notes and I was so excited when I got home, that I "fancied" up my notebook so it would be my official office manager notebook.

My office manager notebook - Yes, I'm a dork

I was so pleased with how the notebook turned out (even though it proves that I'm a total nerd and should have no contact with anyone, much less the general public unless I have a keeper with me), that I kept on scrapbooking and made my Stanley Cup layout.

The Stanley Cup so deserves a 2-page LO

And each page:

More Productivity for Today

Oh yeah. I'm so productive.

When we went to St. Louis back in May 2007 for Dan's cousin's wedding.

Actually, I have no idea where the day went. I watched some movies while doing scrapbook stuff (including the massive project of planning out all the pages from 2001 through 2006 to make sure double layouts would be facing each other with no blank pages - that took forever).

Oh well, at least I have some pretties as a result of my day.

Scrapbooking Kitties

Lookie what I did today:

Bitty Baby Page

I was productive.

Scrapbook Crazy

I completed three, yes three scrapbook pages today. Craziness! Two for the kitty scrapbook and one for our scrapbook. Go me! Of course, I had to do something while I was scrapbooking, so I watched three movies and listened to two periods of a Ducks game (they lost 4-0 to Edmonton - ouch). For the movies, Dan and I finished the Die Hard series (he had never seen it - I hadn't seen 4 yet. Good entertainment) and then I watched Van Helsing (not impressed with the ending).

Without further ado, scrapbook pages:

Princess Page
No real explanation needed as colors are good and everything is easy to see. Oh, text is done with Opposites Attact, flowers were done the George and Basic Shapes cartridge.

Pissy Pissy Princess

Text:

I used to think Princess was one of those "special" cats made entirely out of evil.

When she lived with my grandma, she would hide from everyone. If we sought her out, she would bite, growl and hiss. When she was being held, she growled constantly.

When she first came to us after my grandma passed away, Princess would scream, hiss, spit and bite at our ankles. She eventually turned into a sweetie, but she will always be known as the Pissy Pissy Princess.

Ashes Page
Okay, this one is hard to see - the colors are pale, but the title says "Big Girl Cuddles" in light blue, edged in brown and there are little blue flowers with cream centers to each side of the title (similar to the one in the bottom right corner). The title was done with ZooBalloo, the flowers are from the Walk in My Garden cartridge.

Big Girl Cuddles

Text:

Ashes is a friendly and lovey girl. She will wave to get attention, becomes a loud purr-box when she’s getting her chin scrubbed and can usually be found in the same room as her people.

But as lovey and sweet as she is, Ashes has never been a big cuddler. So the few times she decides to get on a lap are really special. Sometimes she will just stand and purr then leave. But there are times when she gets the urge not to stand on a lap, but to settle in and take a nice little nap.

And if that doesn’t make a heart melt, nothing will.

Yard Page
The colors are off just a tad here (the green isn't quite as acid) but close enough. Text is with Opposites Attract, critters with Walk in My Garden.

Spring 2007

No text, but aren't the little buggies cute? I so love my Cricut!

I'm Taking Votes...

Well, it's really a case of collecting suggestions actually. What should I title future blog updates that really have no redeeming social value and are just me showing the world the fact that all I apparently do is scrapbook?

Yes, that's right - I have another completed layout. It's busy, but I quite like it.

Hockey!

Text reads:

Dan & I got to see the Sharks & Stars play thanks to more free tickets. It wasn’t a great game, at least not until the final period. Both teams were playing like girls with lots of playground-style pushing & no real checks. Bad puck handling & we couldn’t believe that Turco wasn't pulled from the game. But then the Sharks started racking up goals (3 goals in less than 4 minutes) which really turned the game around. Even though the Stars lost 4-2, it was a fun game!

Hockey is always fun, but extra bonus, ex-Duck Todd Fedoruk was playing for the Stars! He even had one fight that was sadly very short and ended up with Fedoruk losing his footing and falling flat on his back. I still love him, though. Go Fridge!

Yes, it is a layout for something that happened less than a month ago. Go me! Of course, I still have tons of stuff to do from earlier this year. So far everything I've been doing is from this year, but my ultimate goal is to go back to when Dan and I graduated in 2001. Have the scrapbook be basically our life together (which actually started a couple of months before graduation, but I think the only picture I have of that is me eating soup in Dan's room. Thrilling, yes?)

Of course, I ran out of two of my favorite adhesives - mounting squares and Tombo Adhesive roll. Sigh. Saturday I am so going to the craft store to get more. Yay for a new budget month! (I still love my budget, though. And Dave Ramsey).

Dave!

Oooh, speaking of budgets, Dan said that Dave Ramsey is going to be in Dallas in February. I think we are going to go. We both really want to because Dave is well, simply awesome. Not sure how much we actually need to go since we are about to start "Baby Step 6: Paying off the house early" hopefully in January.

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps

Of course, we are skipping Baby Step 5 since the kitties do not require college education to shed and vomit up hairballs. And we are doing a little more than 15% in Baby Step 4 to try to max out our IRAs for this year (we got a late start because of paying off Dan's car so are playing catch-up).

Anyway, enough babbling about our finances. At least I didn't post our budget here. And no, I don't have a budget line for scrapbooking. Though that could be useful....

Forgot This One

Oooh, two posts in one day. Though they are both scrapbooking related. Ah well.

I realized that I had not posted this a few days ago (the 15th I think) when I finished it and then I managed to delete the pics off the camera. But anyway, this is Cocoa's what I've taken to calling "Page 2" in the kitty scrapbook. It faces the kitty's intro page.

Co-kitty

I've got to think of new titles...

More scrapbooking stuff. I'm just a scrapbooking fool. No remarks from the peanut gallery on that one, okay?

Ranch Rodeo

Yeah, Dad's face got caught in the flash, but it's there, I promise.

Text reads:

Ah, the joys of my parents living in Graham, Texas. We get to experience entertainments like the Working Ranch Rodeo.

Ranch Rodeo is distinct from Pro rodeo in several ways. There are different events, ones more similar to the happenings at a working ranch (Team Doctoring versus Team Roping) & there are different rules for the events that are similar (such as Bronc Riding). The most important difference - & what makes a Ranch Rodeo a Ranch Rodeo - is that all participants must be employed on a working ranch.

Of course, there is also the most entertaining difference - Ranch Rodeos have the event “Wild Cow Milking”. Seriously.

I like it.

Is This Thing On?

Yeah, so even though I get 25+ hits a week, I don't think anyone is actually reading this. So that makes me feel less silly for posting all the scrapbooking stuff. So if someone is actually reading this, comment and I might actually post content instead of pretty scrapbook layouts.

Okay, I'll probably post content AND pretty scrapbook layouts.

Baptism

The text is Mat 3:16-17, REB version.

And since no one is reading, cute pictures of mini-Dan.

Little Dan

Leah (Dan's sister) & Dan with a neighborhood kitty

Cocoa Cuddles

More scrapbook-y goodness:

Cocoa Cuddles Layout

Okay, I'm partial because it is my kitty and my layout, but I think this page is just so cute!

Everyone Loves TMFP

What is TMFP, you ask? That is my new pretty red laptop. And I lurve it! It's so fast! And pretty! And what does TMFP stand for, you ask? The *something* Princess. Why, you ask? There is a Avril Lavigne song, Girlfriend that has a line "I'm the MF princess" and that line just tickles me so much. Dan says I need a shirt that says that, but I would never wear it out in public. So I named my computer that.

Hey, at least I didn't name it after a Dune character like some people that will remain nameless *coughDancough*.

Anyway, everyone is really enjoying my computer. Me because it is lovely; Dan because I am less likely to become a Luddite with a working computer; the kitties because they got a new box. And they look so cute in that darn box that I can't find it within myself to throw it away. I've tried to twice but someone is always in it and looking so cute, I have to take a picture.

Shh, don't tell Cocoa she doesn't fit.

Bitty tried to do the "normal" kitty box thing...

...then she realized the smaller compartment was a better fit.

Chloe takes the traditional route.

Nibby shakes things up.

And Because I Can
More scrapbooking stuff - aren't you thrilled? Shaddup. My blog, my pointless posts. Now look at the pretty:

I've noticed a sports theme with my scrapbooking lately...

The text is an edited version of what I posted on my blog for that event, which can be found here.

Scrapbooking and New Pretty

New scrapbooking page done - whee! Just a one pager, this time. I got a new Cricut cartridge a little bit ago, Opposites Attract, and used that for the title bits. I'm really very happy with the page. I think it turned out nice - especially since finding hockey-related scrapbooking stuff was so hard.

Ducks vs Stars Layout

The text reads:

It’s always fun to watch the Ducks kick some butt - it’s even more fun when it’s live! That’s exactly what Dan and I got to do when the Ducks came to town – beating the Stars 5 to 1.

For once, Dan & I weren't the only ones cheering for the visiting team, either. We were part of a group of 6 Ducks fans sitting together. It was nice to not be the only one cheering for the Ducks - and there was a lot to cheer about: Teemu Selanne got a hat trick & the three stars of the game were all Ducks players (Teemu, Andy Mac, and Cappy Scott Neidermayer).

The only bad news of the night was that Giguere was out with a groin injury so I was once again unable to see my favorite Duck at a live game.

I really like this page. Yay!

But speaking of other things I like, I got a new pretty today!

My pretty new toy

Ooooooh! I'm so excited! Dan's setting it up right now and getting it all ready for me. It is currently the fastest machine in the house. And it's so pretty! Yay!

Vogel State Park

Yep, it's another one. But this is my last Georgia-related one. Woo hoo! I win! Got 'em all done before the weekend.

Anyhoo, here's the layout. I'm kinda fond of it. And not just because there is a bear.

Vogel Layout

Page One

Page Two

The text reads:

Vogel is in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia and part of the Chattahoochee National Forest – which means there were lots of twisty, turning roads we had to take to get there. But the drive was well worth it. Over 230 acres of nature – but nature that had air conditioned cabins, which is really the best kind.

Yep, that's pretty much it. No idea if I'll keep obsessively posting future scrapbooking endeavors in the future. Only time will tell.

And one day I'll even post a real update. Oooooh.

Crook Reunion - August 2007

Four posts in five days! I'm a beast! You have no idea how much I wanted to post yesterday to say I wasn't going to post anything. I was so close.

Yes, I'm a dork.

And to further prove my dorkiness - another scrapbook layout!

This one is for the family reunion that we had last month. Wait, aren't they all? No no, this one is for the actual reunion. I promise! Look, don't worry, okay. After this one, there is only one more reunion-related layout coming. Promise.

Reunion Layout

Page One

The text reads:

Hamburgers, hot dogs, and deviled eggs, oh my! All that plus a bag of chips. . . okay, more like ten bags, and almost all of them were Doritos, thanks to Corrie.

Seriously though, there was some fantastic food at the third biennial Crook Family Reunion. Even if the grillers did almost smoke us out of the area with their cooking.

Yes, Dan has already pointed out how goofy this bit is. But I like it so it stays. I even slept on it for almost two weeks before deciding to leave it as is, punny and all.

Page Two

Text:

After an afternoon filled with family, food and yes, even fun, the official family reunion concluded, only to have the unofficial continuation of the reunion occur a few hours later in the form of a night full of roasting marshmallows over an open fire, beer drinking and story telling.

Of course, after everyone was all marshmallow’ed out, there was a bit of playing in the fire. (Though thankfully nothing outside of the fire pit actually caught on fire).

And of course, all of the stories told were entirely true.

and lower down reads:

The morning after the official reunion, some of the family managed to get in some quality sand volleyball before it was picture time.

The teams were Corrie, Gail, Cole and Austin against Steven, Kay and Micaela. Apparently Gail is quite the shark when it comes to beach volleyball. As Corrie said, “”Grandma’s kickin’’ your butt!””

Of course, after a 40-minute trip across state lines into North Carolina to the closest Wal-Mart to get the volleyball, it was good that it got some use!

Yeah, lot of text on that one. But really it was three different "events" so I did a text block for each one. I have trouble calling it "journaling" because that makes me feel like I should be writing, "Dear Diary, Today I met a really cute boy."

More to come. I'm sure you are thrilled! I promise - I will one again post something non-scrapbook-related. At some point.

Though I can't promise it won't be chicken-related.

Dad's Alma Mater

Yep, more scrapbooking stuff!

This one is still from our August Georgia vacation. Dad's college was nearby, so went to see that, as well as spend some time in Dahlonega, the town the college is in. So, without further ado, the layout:

North Georgia College

And I just realized that I misspelled "alma" on the scrapbook page. UGH! I fixed it but feel like quite a dork and don't feel like changing the pictures. So just pretend there is no spelling mistake because there isn't on the real page.

Page One

The text on this page reads:

In 1829, North Georgia was the site of the nation’s first gold rush and the town of Dahlonega was born. So much gold was found in the area that a branch of the US Mint was opened in the town!

The mint closed in 1861 when the Civil War broke out, but Dahlonega is still around. Now it’s a cute college and tourist town with a colorful and picturesque town square. NGC’s Price Hall stands on the foundation of the old mint and the old courthouse houses the Dahlonega Gold Museum.

Page Two

The text on this page reads:

While it is now North Georgia College and State University, it was just North Georgia College when my dad graduated in 19XX. A small campus of less than 5,000 students, it is also a military college for the Corp of Cadets. About thirteen percent of students are enrolled in the military college, something that is very obvious when you visit. Students in uniforms, crew cuts and ARMY athletic clothes can be seen everywhere around campus. At 5pm every day, all the students stop as a (very loud) cannon is fired, retreat is played and the flag is lowered.

and

NGCSU is one of only a handful of universities with permission from the Department of the Army to raise and lower the flag daily. The cannon is sounded, retreat is played, and the echo bounces off the distant hills. The Retreat ceremony, which is believed to date back to the crusades, honors our nation's flag at the end of the day. A formation is held, and the call is blown, late in the afternoon just prior to the firing of the sunset gun and the lowering of the national flag.

Okay, that's all. Time for bed!

Georgia's Highest Mountain

Woohoo - look at me. Two posts in two days. I really am feeling better!

So I finally got one of the four 2-page layouts done for our Vogel trip last month. The others are really close to being completed and I think I finally have everything I need for them (had to print out a few more pictures) so I should finish the others up by next weekend.

Anyway, here's the finished one:

The full layout

Page One

The text on this page reads:

At 4,784 feet above sea level, Brasstown Bald is the highest moutain in Georgia. The Sunday after the Crook Family Reunion, m7y mom and dad, my cousins Steven and Corrie, and Dan and I all decided to take a trip up the mountain to see the sights. And what a sight it was! Four states are visible from Brasstown Bald on a clear day and while the day wasn't exactly clear, I'm still pretty sure I saw some mountains peaking at me from across state lines.

Page Two

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Rain clouds started gathering just in time to have the bottom fall out while we were half way through our 6/10 mile walk back down the mountaintop to the parking lot. We got very wet.

And if anyone is interested, the text was done on my Cricut with the Doodletype font. I know you were asking that. Really.

Anyway, that's it. I thought the page turned out pretty neat so I wanted to share.

Promises, Promises

Okay, so a couple of posts ago, I promised some pictures. Of course, I also said that I'd probably get them up in October. Well, lookie here - September 15 and here they are. This will cover a few unrelated topics (and not all of them in anything close to a timely manner) but that's what happens when I slack this long with blogging. So, without further ado, stuff!

Hiatal Hernia
You know, for the first little bit after my diagnosis, Dan kept singing Weird Al's "Living With a Hernia". Sigh.

So, what, you may ask, exactly is a hiatal hernia? Well, here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say about hiatal hernia and a little diagram:

Your chest cavity and abdomen are separated by your diaphragm — a large dome-shaped muscle that's responsible for a good part of normal breathing. Your esophagus passes into your stomach through an opening in the diaphragm. Hiatal hernias occur when the muscle tissue surrounding this opening becomes weak and the upper part of your stomach bulges through the diaphragm into your chest cavity.

Hiatal Hernia

And according to my GI, there is a nerve that runs near your esophagus that can be affected by hiatal hernia. And guess what that nerve controls? Lots of stuff, including heart rate. So now that my hernia is all fixed, my heart arrhythmia is going away! Seriously, how cool is that?

And just 'cause it is neat, I'm posting the pics from my endoscopy that revealed the hiatal hernia. The GI showed me where the hernia was, but honestly, who can honestly read these pictures without a medical degree?

My former hiatal hernia

Reunion-y Goodness
I know I've already mentioned this before, but it's my blog, so I'll be repetitive if I want to. Dan and I spent almost a week in the mountains of North Georgia last month. Not like wandering around the mountains like Grizzly Adams or anything, but at Vogel State Park, in a lovely little cabin that had running water and a/c.

Me and Dan at Vogel

Our cabin

While we were there, we also got to visit Dad's alma mater, North Georgia College. Well, now it is North Georgia College and State University. It's a really pretty campus.

Price Hall at NGC

The top of Price Hall is covered in gold from Dahlonega, Georgia, the city the college is in. Dahlonega is pretty much the site of the first US gold rush and has very high quality gold. Very pure. Aren't you glad you know that?

The mountains of North Georgia

And, of course, the main reason we went to Georgia: Family!

Family Reunion

The family reunion was on Saturday and on Sunday a few of us went up to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia. We also ran down the top of the mountain in a rainstorm, but that's a whole 'nother story that I'm sure I'll post when I finally finish that scrapbooking layout and post pictures.

Corrie, Dan, Dad, Mom and Steven on top of Brasstown Bald

Scrapbooking Fun
Okay, not much for this section, but still - my blog, so...

I've started a general scrapbook. I've got a kitty scrapbook that I'm working on, but other than that, I typically do trip scrapbooks. Japan 2003, Hawaii, etc. But there are lots of neat things that happen in our life that I want to remember (and lots of scrapbooking toys I want to play with), so I'm doing a "Dan and Me" kinda scrapbook. Just stuff that we've been up to - trips that aren't big enough to get their own scrapbook and other little events that happen. So far, I've only done one page, but I've got four 2-page layouts from the Georgia trip that I've been working on and will post when I'm done.

Anyway, this is the first page I did. My mother-in-law (who finds that coolest scrapbooking stuff!) sent me both the paper and the Cardinals patch, which is what inspired me to do this page and even start the general scrapbook. So thank you, Claudia! I think the page turned out quite nicely.

Play Ball

In case you were wondering, when Dan and I were in St. Louis for his cousin's wedding, we went to a St. Louis Cardinals game.

The text says:

My first Major League baseball game in I don't know how long and my first chance to see Dan's beloved St. Louis Cardinals.

Well, apparently the Cardinals aren't all that good. They lost to the Houston Astros a whopping 10 to 0. Ouch.

At least the winning team was from Texas.

Fin
Well, that's all the babble and picture-posting I have in me right now. I'm feeling much better so I'm anticipating more frequent posts and that they even be picture filled. Okay, maybe not filled. But pictures will be present!

Merry Cocoa, 2007!

Okay, so I have to do some post catch-up. So without further ado, stuff:

Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. We had a great one. My parents and came and spent a couple of nights with us. Dan got a little sick Christmas eve night (he's the only person I know that has a cold that lasts one day), so we missed the candlelight service, but we still had a great Christmas weekend with my family.

Of course, lots of goodies were exchanged. Dan got me a Cricut personal cutting system for my scrapbooking which is way cool. I finally picked up a glue pen today (I think the kitties ate my old one) so I was able to finish my first page using the Cricut.

The Bitty Box Page

I also got a wonderful necklace from my mother-in-law. It's a James Avery piece out of their Descending Doves series.

Floating Dove

Isn't it gorgeous? It's a different length from my Serenity Cross that Dan got me when I was baptised. I'm debating whether or not I am cool enough to pull off wearing both at once.

Tubeless Cocoa!
Cocoa's tube is out! YAY!

No more tube - or cone!

Cocoa went to the vet last Friday to get her tube out. Now she has a few stitches - some in her tummy where they had to cut her open to remove then tube, and then some a little further up her side where the tube was put in. She'll got back to the vet in about a week to get the stitches out. Then we just have to wait for her hair to grow back and she'll be back to normal. YAY!

Happy New Year!
I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. Happy 2007!

Looking back on my goals for 2006, I only managed to accomplish one of them: reading the bible. I'm thinking that one goal a year is the best I can do, so I'm only setting one goal for this year. My goal for 2007 is to complete my 1996 - 1997 Japan Scrapbook. I'm actually over 1/2 way through it, so this one is totally doable.

At some point in the next month, I'm hoping to update my Books page to list some of my favorite books of 2006, but I'd also like to update the Crook Reunion website and that hasn't happened in a while, so we will see!

Prime Real Estate
Okay, this is just too cute, I had to post it.

Three Times the Kitty Love

Chloe was the first in my lap, then Gidget and eventually Cocoa. It was lovely, if a bit crowded.

Everyone have a prosperous and successful 2007!