Friday, May 23, 2008

Canine Good Citizen ~ digital layout

Jake and I finally finished our obedience classes.
We passed our classes and Canine Good Citizen test, YEA!!
We received Jake's certificate in the mail from the AKC the other day and I thought I would do a digital layout of our accomplishment. I am so proud of Jake and of course myself too!!
He's such a smart pup and we love him!!
Click on the layout if you want to read the journaling and see the detail, thanks for stopping by!

If Even A Day ~ Paper scrapbook layout

I worked on this layout most of the day. I got the idea for it from the book "Embellished emotions for Scrapbookers" and with URGING from Helen to do this photo here it is!!
I'm still staring at it thinking it needs something but then again some times it is good to call it quits before you over do...Michael helped me with it and punched out the little hearts at the bottom. The scan job isn't the greatest but you get the general idea....I'm happy with it and I love the quote!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

We've adopted....

Fred the Loggerhead turtle for a month...YEA!!
Instead of throwing everything that was sent to us for adopting Fred on my blog, and boring you all to death...I thought I would do a digi layout of it...Something to keep for a memory.
Michael was tickled when we received the packet in the mail and I told him that we had adopted Fred for a month...He hasn't stopped talking about the sea turtles since we went and saw them. I thought he might enjoy this. They sent us a packet with a photo, info on Fred, info on sea turtles, and a sea turtle key chain.
If you click on the digi layout it will take you in for a closer view.
I also want to give credit to Rebecca Myers for "A walk on the beach" digi layout kit. It can be found at SeaSideScraps.com until the end of the month and then they are closing up shop.
Thanks for looking!!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Many faces of Michael & How do you know

I worked on two digital layouts today.

Michael did a pose session for me today. He was cracking me up with all the faces he was making and I couldn't reisist doing a layout of them. I needed one more photo for the template and decided to put the one of him sucking his thumb...

Oh Scarlett what can I say? She's 13 yrs old this year and doing things she shouldn't do...Some people tell me it is time or I wouldn't put up with that...but how do you know? Yes she is going blind and deaf but she is still walking, eating and spends most of her time sleeping. Once in a great while she does her "rat on acid" run through the house....so how do you know? I decided to take some photos of her and do a layout showing my indecision.


Monday, May 19, 2008

8 ways to Affair-Proof Your Marriage

I read this article tonight and was stunned by the percentages. I am not sure if they are true or not but I thought the article was interesting and had some good points. Just wanted to share it with y'all....I know Fred and I don't have the perfect marriage and it takes a lot of work to keep it going but I love reading articles like this...gentle reminders if you ask me! I'm a real big one for being careful on the friends you choose and also learning to listen...what tips are important to you for keeping your marriage going?

8 Ways to Affair-Proof Your Marriage
By Therese J. BorchardBeliefnet Updated: May 18, 2008

According to Peggy Vaughan, the author of "The Monogamy Myth," 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women will have an affair at some point in their marriage. In other words, the person who stays monogamous within her marriage is among a growing minority.
Twelve years into my marriage, I can appreciate that statistic. Eric and I are getting to the hard part, where the pressing responsibilities of raising kids and growing two careers could easily blow apart the vows we recited on our wedding day.
Because I want my marriage to stay on the happy side of the statistics, I've gathered these tips for how to make marriage absolutely affair-proof.

1. Nurture Safe Friendships: This is the most important affair-preventer in my life.
No marriage can give you everything.
No marriage can give you everything. A husband is going to have interests that his wife will never care about like fishing, hunting, or golfing. So he's less likely to stray if he can find some good guy buddies with whom to fish, hunt, and golf.

2. Recognize the Drug: Depressives and addicts are especially prone to affairs because of the head rush that comes with infatuation. The spikes in dopamine and norepinephrine we experience upon connecting with someone new fools us into thinking that the sexy man or attractive woman at the bar holds the key to our nirvana and the end to our problems. This is the same as, say, the high from cocaine. Recognizing that that rush is not real, meaningful, or lasting, can help a married person to "just say no."

3. Keep Dating: I'm serious here. Visiting with your spouse with some regularity--just the two of you and no one else--will bring some very definite rewards to a marriage. By dating, you will learn how to talk to each other again.
In her book, "Mating in Captivity," Esther Perel urges a client to imagine her spouse as if she has just met him, to put him into that mysterious category again. This is really hard when you got a little one screaming, "Wipe me!" from the bathroom. However, when you can pull it off, I find her theory very effective.

4. Find a Creative Outlet: People get lured into emotional and physical affairs because the infatuation provides an exciting, stimulating place where they are energized.
So to stay affair-proof, you have to find other sources of stimulation and excitement. For me, my blog is that outlet. I can't wait to log on each day to see what all of my dear readers have to say. When I get overwhelmed by the domestic chaos of our lives, Beyond Blue provides me that outlet where I can create something new, where I can run away, however temporarily, from the stress.

5. Hang Out with Happy Couples: If you're hanging with a bunch of guys (or girls) that see nothing wrong with sleeping around, you are much more likely to do it yourself. The good news is that the opposite is also true. If you have a set of friends committed to their marriages, you will be less likely to cheat on your spouse.

6. Learn How to Fight: Wait before saying something really ugly, and make sure you weren't tired or hungry, or in a stressful situation. I'm not saying that you can't confront your spouse if you're tired, hungry, or stressed, because then we'd live in a silent world. But, it's a good idea to recognize situations that tend to accelerate arguments.

7. Be Nice and Listen: "Duh," you're saying to yourself. But think about it. This is the hardest part about marriage. Listening. Keeping your mouth closed when the other person is talking.
In my conversations with men and women who have had affairs, the number one reason for pursuing the affair was this: "She listened to me. I mattered to him."

8. Remember These Tools: Never forget that you have a toolbox of resources to draw on when you feel tempted by an extramarital affair. Here are some tools offered to me by those healing from affairs, insights to keep in mind when you feel that familiar head rush and are tempted to abandon logic for a thrill:

Don't go there: Don't put yourself in a threatening situation. Skip the conference in Hawaii with the colleague who flirts with you. If you absolutely have to go, avoid all opportunities to be alone with him.

You've got mail: When you don't know if your email crosses the line into appropriate language, send it to yourself first. Read it again, and ask yourself: would I feel comfortable showing this to my husband?

Dress with intentions: One woman told me that she saved her lingerie for her husband, and wore the ratty old underwear to the high-school reunion where she'd see a flame from the past.

Talk about your spouse: A guy friend told me that whenever he is alone with a woman he finds attractive and things are getting uncomfortable, he'll start talking about his wife--what her hobbies are, and how much he loves her. It immediately kills the mood.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Boys & Bikes ~ Dogs & Walks

Let me make a suggestion ~ When you are sick with a cold, bronchitis and such do not attempt to take a boy who doesn't know how to ride a two-wheel bike and a Large over-grown puppy for a walk on a Bike/Hike trail that has more than enough slopes and inclines....And don't even attempt to take your camera, because you will NOT have time to take pictures!!
I took one photo and that is because I called a halt and snapped away quick like before the troop started moving again...and it was an awful photo too...but there is a story behind it and I wanted to take a photo...


This is the old railroad bridge in Goliad that runs over the San Antonio River. You can see the river if you look closely down towards the little hole through the brush at the bottom of the bridge...Fred told me when he was a kid they used to climb all over the bridge. It was one of their favorite places to hang out and do what kids do...Since that time they have taken the sections of the bridge out that led to both banks of the river so the bridge is just sitting there in the middle of the River now...no way on or off it unless you can fly....I like hearing about Fred's childhood and what he did in Goliad to pass the time...There is something about being raised in a small town that makes a childhood seem special to me...I am hoping to get photos of the different places Fred used to hang out at and maybe do a scrap layout of them for Michael.