I've been decorating,

Well, I got the Christmas tree up!! No not in my living room, just here on my blog. lol I'm so proud...I just created my own header and it only took me the better part of an hour. Don't worry girls, I'll never be any competition for you in designing. lol I don't know how you all do it. PSE5 and I just don't see eye to eye most of the time. I didn't really make anything except the background (which is a real big deal for me). The tree and garland were freebie png's on the web, the Polaroid frame was a freebie from digitreats and the window was a freebie I've had for quite a while from Bengigirl. Nevertheless, I put it all together myself. My dear friend Linda, made my header for fall, aren't you proud of me Linda? lol
I just got off the phone with Dad and Mom and the Hospice nurse had just left. Dad's skin tears are looking some better and Mom says his hip has all the pretty shades of green, yellow and purple all over it. But thankfully it doesn't hurt.
Thank you all for stopping by and leaving the love and hugs. That just really makes my day.
I love you all,
Jude

A Thank You to All My Friends

You all are the "bestest" of friends! Thank you so much for showing such caring and concern for Dad and for the love and support you've given me. Dad and the Hospice nurses all assure me that as far as his fall is concerned, he's recovering nicely. On the other hand, he's pretty weak and sometimes unsteady on his feet and his Parkinson's is getting a little worse. Despite this, my Dad is so independent that he refuses to sit still for very long at a time. So we just let him do whatever he feels up to doing and pray for the best. What else can we do, his mind is still as sharp as ever, it's only the body that's not in such good shape. I guess it's our fault because we've always "let" him be the boss, lol.
I hope to get back into the swing of things soon, it's just been really hard for me to focus on much else right now. Would you believe I haven't even thought of putting up our Christmas tree and decorations yet? (and then there's packing to do for Linda's and my trip to Vegas) Goodness.... I've got to get on the ball!!!
Love to you all,
Jude

92 Years of Wisdom, Love & Understanding

This is my dad. He will celebrate his 92nd birthday next month! I continue to be amazed at the wisdom this man possesses. He's been a hard working man all his life and continues to try to do things that I sometimes wish he wouldn't. Like raising a garden year round. My parents live in southwestern Arizona where the summer temperatures are usually in the triple digits. Some of the vegetables are for him and mom but most of them are given away to friends and family. Dad tells us great stories about his life. He was a "real" cowboy in his younger days. I love to hear about the cattle drives and how he herded the cattle across what is now 4th Ave. , the main street through town. At one time he was even a poker dealer and he knows every trick in the book, so there's no cheating when you play cards with Daddy! lol. He proudly served his country in the Air Force during World War II. He's been a truck driver, a mailman and a welder. He is full of stories and I could listen to them all day long. Yep, I've heard most of them time and time again, but I still love to listen. My dad is my hero, a wonderful, loving, understanding and very wise man. I am truly blessed.
This kit is "For The Men" by CJS. It is available at cjsscrapbookingwithattitude.

Eternal Love

Another pic I took at TJ and Amber's wedding. I love the pics of the left hands on the boquet. I did pics for our 3 sons weddings with this same pose...they all used different colors...peach, light blue and mauve. Wonder if I could put together a page of those pic plus TJ's lavender?? Would be quite a colorful page, wouldn't it? lol
I made the page in PSE5, again using "Purple Passion" by Debbie and Laura at 2mrssumnersdesigns.bravehost.com

TJ and Amber's Wedding

This is a photo I took at our oldest grandson's wedding this past July. TJ is our first grandchild. Doesn't seem like 26 years ago that I was a first time beaming grandmother. How the years fly by!
This is a new kit called "Purple Passion" by 2mrssumnersdesigns.bravehost.com

The Case Of The Missing Gobbler

On a cool, crisp November day, Ms. Gerri Pilgrim had gone hunting all by herself and she captured a very nice Tennessee Gobbler. She took it home with her and, not wanting to kill it right away, she posted it on her blog site for safe keeping until Thanksgiving day. Then one day she decided that she wasn't sure how good a Tennessee Gobbler would be, so she decided she would cook this one up and see if it was good enough for her Thanksgiving dinner. She had plenty of time to go hunting for another one before Thanksgiving. Well, you'll never guess what happened next...she went to get her gobbler and low and behold....it was gone!!! So all she had to serve that day was a platter of mashed potatoes and peas. Poor Ms. Gerri Pilgrim!! Do you suppose someone thought the little Tennessee Gobbler was too cute to roast and so they set it free? Maybe someone has actually stolen the little gobbler...maybe it escaped and it's hiding in a pumpkin patch somewhere. Can someone please help poor Ms. Gerri Pilgrim? I feel so bad for her (lol).!!

Background and frame from cjs "Autumn Walk" kit free on cjsscrapbookingwithattitude, pilgrim family a free gif on the web, pumpkins are a free png on the web, (Tennessee Gobbler stolen from Ms Gerri Pilgrim's blog.)

My "Other" Parents

I did this page as a follow up for my "Where I'm From" page. This is my aunt and uncle that I speak of in that page. They had no children of their own and they played a large part in raising me. This picture of them was taken before I was born. I love this picture because it is naturally faded and edged as you see it. (no digitals back in those days, lol) My uncle was in the navy during WW II and my aunt, having no children to care for, worked in an ammunition plant in a near by town. They are both deceased now but I feel that I still owe a great deal to them for all they did for me.
The kit for this page is "Miss J" by cjs. You can find it and other wonderful freebies at cjsscrapbookingwithattitude.

This Is Where I'm From

I did this page for a challenge on another site. The challenge was to tell where you were from without actually naming a place. The object was to have you bring back memories that tell where you are from. It was inspired by a poem of the same name by an Appalachian poet by the name of George Ella Lyon. When I started making the page, the words just seemed to pour out naturally and I didn't want to stop. I was enjoying being lost in my childhood again. I could have gone on and on but you can only put so much on a page and still make it legible. Now I'm thinking I may pick up where I left off and do another one soon.
The kit used is Kleopatra's Brownie Kit, a freebie found on the web.

Creative Blackout??

Ever had one of these, or is it just me? I can't tell you how many pages I've started in the past few days and end up deleting them because they just don't look right to me. Anyway, I know there won't be a page created tonight because, I'm spending my time between looking at everyone else's great pages here and running into the kitchen to baste a turkey. Yep, you heard right...I'm roasting a turkey tonight because tomorrow is "Golden Group" day. Just in case you're saying what's a Golden Group...it's an outreach ministry we do at church on the second Thursday of each month. It is for senior citizens in our whole community, we have singing, a short service by a pastor (either ours or one from a visiting church) and food...lots of food. We usually feed anywhere from 80 to 120 or more senior citizens. It's such a wonderful time of fellowship. There are several of us from our church who do all the cooking. Which is why at this moment I have a 20 pound turkey in my oven! lol At church tonight, the other women said they all ready had theirs cooked...well, maybe that's what I should have been doing instead of making, deleting, remaking and redeleting scrapbook pages. LOL Oh well, I will have the turkey ready by tomorrow noon and a pumpkin pie also. Oops, gotta go baste again!!

Quality Time

Nothing fancy here. I was just playing around in PSE5 (I'm telling you Carol, I'm not getting much better at this) and this is what I came up with. My dear husband and youngest son, doing what they do best (according to them, lol). If they are such great fishermen....how come I haven't had fish for dinner in such a long time?? Really though, the idea is just for them to spend some father and son time together. They don't care if they catch anything or not.

First Halloween

This was Tiffani's first halloween. Our little clown has now grown up to a lovely 14 year old. My how the time flies. Way to fast for me! This kit is "Spooktacular Collection" by 2MrsSumnersDesigns on e-crater.