Scrapbook Challenge- Aug. 19-26!

This is gonna have to be the scrap anything layout as I couldn't find anything to scrap with 7 pix or green and yellow (what are you, a Packers fan?!?!?!)

So, as some of you know, I'm working feverishly on Anne's DD book and this was when she was 4. Can't remember who the layout sketch was from, sorry! But I loved it and it fit so well.

Love and Blessings!

Scrapbook Challenge- July 8-15!

Okay, this was the layout I'd planned to do for last week which included a 4th of July theme.... and this week's theme includes bling and embellies over two years old............well the bling IS over two years old....hehehe...... So if I really wanted to get technical, I've done two weeks in one layout...........but I would NEVER get technical with y'all, yeah right!!!

Though I miss her terribly, I am so very, VERY PROUD of my baby girl, Anne! She's in boot camp as a Marine recruit for 13 weeks. She'll graduate on September 16 and move on to the next chapter in her life. It's an amazing step for her and she IS an amazing person. Can't wait to watch her grow into this.

Love and Blessings,

Back on the Picture Track.....Day 09 – A picture that motivates you to do more (Day 09 A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most)

Sorry, I've been gone for quite awhile. For better or worse, our youngest daughter enlisted in the Marines last March with a ship date of November 2011. She received her orders on June 15th, for a ship date of June 20!!! WOW! All of a sudden, we were faced with having a grad party (originally scheduled for July 9th) and getting her ready to leave (2-4 months early!!!) and calming our "fears" and "anxiety" and sadness regarding her leaving...........

Now I'm back................

Remember (maybe) that when I started this, I'd found two lists that were slightly different, so I tweaked them together.......so some days have two pix. This is one of them.

Okay, this may get a little boring for y'all cuz my favs and my inspirations and my closest's all seem to be the same people.............with slight variations.

KOLTEN. Yep, the picture that motivates me to do more is Kolten, my bubba. Also just lucky to be included is my hubby, Freddy. He, by far, has gotten me thru the most. Now, bear in mind, my MOM is one of my best friends and is always there for me, no matter what. I chose Freddy to go thru life with 30 years ago! We've been thru a lot together. It hasn't always been easy; don't let anyone tell you it is, but he's always there; we always do it together.

So this is a pretty cool picture that covers both "days".

I also noticed on another blog, that the person included the list (and names of the pix) on each blog............so I'm gonna do that here too. The nice thing about that is that I can just look at "yesterday" to see what I need to blog about "today".

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Day 01 - A recent picture of yourself (Day 01 A recent picture of yourself with ten facts)...Mom-me-Jen

Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest...me & Kerry, me & Mom

Day 03 - A picture of your inspiration for weight loss...Kolten

Day 04 - A picture of the cast of your favorite TV show (Day 04 A picture of your favorite color)...Grey's Anatomy, Kolten w/Green cake all over

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite animal (Day 05 A picture of your favorite memory)...Bailey (duh), Mom & Daddy dancing at anniversary

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day...Bill Gates

Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item...my scrapbooks

Day 08 - A picture of your favorite color (Day 08 A picture that makes you laugh)...my REAL fav color, Corvette Red & Kolten w/a mohawk

Day 09 – A picture that motivates you to do more (Day 09 A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most)...Kolten&Grandpa in Marine gear & Mom

Day 10 - A picture of your closest friend

Day 11 - A picture of your IPOD or other music playing device on shuffle, and then list the first 10 songs that play. (Day 11 A picture of something you hate)

Day 12 – A picture that defines you (Day 12 A picture of something you love)

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist

Day 14 – A picture of you now (Day 14 A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without)

Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die

Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity, and the reasons why it is the biggest

Day 19 - A picture of your nicknames you have; why do you have them.

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

Day 21 – A picture of an exercise you can’t do, but would like to try (and then try it if you want to)

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book; why is it your favorite?

Day 24 - A picture of what I would find in your bag (Day 24 A picture of something you wish you could change)

Day 25 - A picture of your favorite super hero and why

Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you

Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member

Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of

Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile

Day 30 - A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

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Love and Blessings.

Day 08...A picture of your favorite color (Day 08...A picture that makes you laugh)

Another tweak in the system........from two of these lists melded together...........

My favorite color is Corvette Red.

And something that makes me laugh..............oh, you gotta be kidding..............how could you not laugh, smile, giggle, grin at this face?!?!?!

Another day down...........trying to catch up before the end of the month....yeah, right!

Love and Blessings.

Day 07...A picture of your most treasured item

I'm blatantly stealing this idea from another Sparker, MCLAFLIN. My most treasured item(s) are my scrapbooks. I've got all of the digital files on a flash and I'm working somewhat sporadically at getting all of the older paper books scanned so the flash can be put into a safe deposit box.

That's all for this one.

Love and Blessings.

Scrapbook Challenge!!! May 13-20!!!

...Day late and a dollar short................this was the challenge for last "week" which ended yesterday.....and I thought I was going to be able to do all of the items for the challenge, but ended up with only the blue and 6-month-old embellie...... Oh well, got something done and "anything is better than nothing", right Trace!

Love and Blessings.

May 2011 Digital Challenge...Spring & Flowers

Last spring Mom and Jen and I went to visit the Iris Gardens in Forest Lake. We were pleasantly STUNNED! The pictures just do NOT do it justice. But here they are.

Love and Blessings.

Day 6...Person I'd Like to Trade Places With for One Day

This was really tough. I looked at several other's blogs about who they'd like to change places with and just wasn't inspired............not that they're choices didn't inspire me, but that I still couldn't come up with anyone. Well, I can't tell you precisely who it was, but someone wanted to change places with Oprah for a lot of reasons, but the one that struck me was being able to get things done with the money and influence she had.

Money and Influence...........

I've always thought that you can have too much money. I love the way Bill Gates and his wife give theirs away. Their Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest charitable foundation in the world. And they've been credited as the 2 most generous philanthropists in America. Okay, so I really, really like them.

It occurred to me that if I could trade place with Bill Gates for one day, I could get some of that money for my pet charities, like the American Cancer Society, the Girl Scouts of America and my church..............and because we're in such dire straits here at home, I'd probably have to grab just a little bit of that money for myself to get us out of debt so we could start over. A little selfish? Yep!

So, that's it for this one. Maybe I'll do Day, 7, 8, and 9 to try to catch up a little.....

Love and Blessings.

SCRAPBOOK CHALLENGE- May 6-13!

Kinda lame cuz the challenge included using GREEN......Been so busy working on Anne's grad vid that this was the best I could do. Maybe I'll try to do another one later.....

Love and Blessings.

Day 5 - A picture of your favorite animal OR your favorite memory

Okay, my favorite animal in general (dog) or my favorite dog in particular, Bailey. I love dogs. I was raised with dogs. We always had a dog (or two or three) in the house. We have Bailey. Mom has Sunny (a yellow lab) and both brothers have their canines, one a weimaraner, the other an english spaniel and a springer. We've gone through cockers, poodles, gordons, and brittanys. We're dog people. And here's one of the reasons.......

My favorite memory is simply of my mom and dad together. They were the epitome of love in my book. They were also some of the best parents I've ever known. Not just my own, but any parents I've ever known. Mom's still one of my best friends and dad was just always......there. They were unconditionally loving to each other and to us. They were fair, though us kids didn't always believe it. They were fiercely loyal and completely supportive.

Unfortunately, he hasn't been "there" for almost 13 years now. Gosh, that's just amazing to think about....when I think about it. It seems like only yesterday that he died and then it seems like forever ago. I miss him so much. You know how they say that it gets easier with time? Nah, it doesn't get easier.....the times just get further apart. When I stop..............................and think about him, I miss him just as much and I cry just as much and it's just as hard not to have him here. The difference is that there are so many more times now that I can think about him and laugh.

So that's it for today......not days in a row, but still on a roll. Gonna get these 30 days-30 pix done............eventually.

Love and Blessings.

Day 4...my first little tweak of the list.....

Okay, here's the first tweak. One of the lists I found says today I should post a pic of my fav TV show......and that's okay, but I don't know that that tells a lot about me. Here it is anyway.....I rarely miss a week of Grey's and I'll be sad if it ever goes off the air..... I don't know that my favorite color tells a lot about me either BUT, my favorite color changed as of yesterday! Take a look.

I am totally in love with green................as long as it's on the face of my little one-year-old pumpkin!!! We had so much fun yesterday. Kolten really didn't know what all the fuss was about. He just knew there was fuss and he was LOVIN' IT!!! as the commercial says........... He also did have a grand 'ole time once he figured out that all of those pretty bags and boxes on the window seat were for HIM! Then he wanted them all and he wanted them now! Mind you, he didn't care what was inside..........he wanted the bags and boxes.... ; )

Happy 1st Birthday, little man!

Love and Blessings.

Day 3...My Inspiration for Weight Loss

People who already know me well will reply............duh! For those who don't, this is my Kolten. My only grandchild is the love of my life, light in my world. He's going to be 1 year old tomorrow! My how the year has flown. He is such a joy and we're so blessed that, due to circumstances, Kolten and Mommy live with us. I have to admit, I'm not good at this weight-loss thin g. I'm really going for the healthy-living thing. I watch what I eat. I move more daily than I ever have before (with the exception of HS and college). I'm trying, but I hate labels and restrictions so I refuse to say that I have to do "this" or "that". I just do my best at living the best way I can. Kolten has been my most recent inspiration because I want to be around for his baseball games, graduations, and marriage and kids like my mom is.

Love and Blessings.

Scrapbook Challenge!!! April 15-22!

OKAY! I know! I'm an over-achiever. I admit it. The latest challenge was just posted four hours ago. Well, it was sooooooooooo tough for me.....seriously, here it is verbatim......

Here are your challenges, should you choose to accept them:
- Use pastel, springy colors on your layout!
- Use black, white, and only one other color on your layout!
- Make a layout using pictures of your family!
- Scrap anything!!!
Anyone playing?

Well, I'm definitely playing cuz it's just too easy. I'm right in the middle of getting Kolten's scrapbook done for his first birthday.........on SUNDAY! So, "family" was a given and then I decided to be a smarta$$ and do the pastel as the "one other color" on the "black and white" layout!!! Here it is!

Stay Gold.

Love and Blessings.

Day 2...I'm on a Roll!

The person I'm closest to...for the longest. Well, my very first thought was my very, best friend, Kerry. I met her when we were 3 years old. We grew up next door to each other and walked in and out of each other's home like they were our own. She's only 6 months younger than me but, due to birth dates, we were one grade apart. We got married two month apart and lived within 5 miles of each other all but 8 years of our lives (and three of them were before we met)!!!

Now I have to mention that THE person I'm closest to......and obviously have known for the longest is my mom.

She's absolutely the greatest. Okay, so she's a great mom, but she's also a really neat person. We haven't always gotten along (duh, I was a teenager at one time), but she's always been there for me through thick and thin. She listens more than she talks and only gives advice when I ask. We live far too far away from each other and that's only 53.6 miles. Yeah, so I've tracked it! So what?!?!

ciao for now!

Love and Blessings.

30-in-30

Okay, so everyone else is doing it, I'm gonna do it! Yeah, heard that one before.

Well, there's a number of people on various teams who are blogging 30 pix in 30 days that describe themselves in various ways. I'm a scrapper, so I thought this would be a blast! Of course, one of my main vices is procrastination......yeah...... Well, my friend, the WickedQueen started recently and made the caveat that it would be 30 pix with the blogs, but it may not be in 30 days and she wasn't going to apologize for it! YEAH!!! Me too, me too, me too!!! She also tweaked the themes and I'm going to tweak them as well. Today's includes 10 facts about me.

I happened to have the pic above on my flash at work and had time to blog during lunch, so here I am...............

1. My name is Carla Cooper aka: MiniCooper cuz I want one and I wanna be one.

2. I am proud to be 51 years old! I've lived half-a-freakin'-century people!

3. My birthday is exactly two months after Christmas Day. That makes me a Pisces.....and I am!Imaginative and sensitive

Compassionate and kind

Selfless and unworldly

Intuitive and sympathetic

LIKES

Solitude to dream in

Mystery in all its guises

Anything discarded to stay discarded

The ridiculous like to get 'lost'

DISLIKES

the obvious

being criticized

feeling all at sea about something

know-it-alls

pedantry: I had to look it up.........a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning. a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details. a person who adheres rigidly to book knowledge without regard to common sense. OMG! yeah, I hate "them".

4. I've been married to my best bud, Freddy, for 30 years, come May 29th!

5. I am BLESSED with an amazing family, including two daughters Anne-18-a USMarine, and Lacy-21-mom, student, and server and my grandson, Kolten-1 year old on April 17!!!

6. My mom's one of my BEST FRIENDS.

7. I LOVE reading (mysteries), music (country, oldies, jazz, anything but rap) and my computer playground! (SP, FB, SCRAPBOOKING!!!)

8. I'm silly about cars. I give them personalities! I had a Saturn that was my baby for 11 years! .....and my poor, little youngest DD crashed it (not her fault, and she was not seriously injured) and now I have the CUTEST little Kia Optima and I love it!

9. I have a job that I love, SPED para for ECSE peanuts! And I also do the MA billing for the district....AND I'm the AT clerk.....AND I help out with testing this time of year............

10. I talk too much.........hehehe...........and probably write too much too!

See ya tomorrow, I hope!

Love and Blessings.

New Car...Didn't Make For the Original Challenge...

Yep, didn't get this done for the challenge, but dang it! I wanted to get it done just for me. How cute is my little baby! She is soooo much fun to drive, a little sporty, adorable color, some fun free features......like bluetooth (omg! talking on the phone from my car....way too futuristic for this ole'lady). Her license plates just arrived and will be put on next week, when I get some time. HA! Anyway, got a neat idea from another SPDigi-Scrapper and I'm going to take some interior shots and do another layout while she's pretty and pristine! ciao for now!

Love and Blessings.

Scrapbook Challenge- March 12-19!

OMG! Is he just the cutest thing you've ever seen? It's okay, you can lie to me and simply agree. The love of my life, my sunshine, my moonglow, the smile in my heart. These pix seem so oooooooooollllllllddddddd now. They're literally from only 8 months ago, but that 8 months has flown! I can't believe he's going to be 1 year in less than 40 days! Well, as you can tell, he just fascinates me and I can't stop taking pictures. If anyone has a really cool 12-month layout, PLEASE let me see it. I've taken pix on the 17th of every month and would like to do something really special for his birthday.

This challenge included using green and gold. The green is there. The "orange" is kinda "goldy". Totally CASEd this template from ScrapGirls. Used all my own papers and embellies.....I've gotten quite creative over the last two years. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "I Love GIMP!!!"
Love and Blessings.
Stay Gold.

Scrapbook Challenge- March 5-12!

Among other things, "use some yellow and white on your page" was part of the challenge. How cool is that? I'd just scrapped this the night before. I'm struggling to get all of Kolten's first year done before his first birthday. I only have 2 months done................BUT I have 28 pages so far!!!

Can ya tell I'm just a little crazy about my little peanut, very first, grandson?!?!? Oh yeah, baby!
So, now I'm to the point where the rest of the pages will be pretty simple; one for each month with maybe a special something for the holidays that happen. Should be somewhat easy. My only real concern is, at the same time, I've really got to get BUSY getting Anne's DD book done for her graduation in June!
Good thing they're both so much fun to complete.............and I'm doing everything digi! OMG! What did we do before digi?
Love and Blessings.
Stay Gold.

Scrapbook Challenge- Feb. 26-March 5!

So, the challenge this week was to include a picture of ME in the layout. Obviously, Tracy knows how tough it is to get us "family legacy makers" to get IN the pictures. Well, long ago and far away, there was a time when I actually showed up in some pictures. Not so much anymore....but here were two that I found at Anne's 1st birthday..........awe!!!
Love and Blessings,
Stay Gold,

THE most valuable lesson I can share..................

THE most valuable lesson I can share..................

When nothing seems to be going right.................GO LEFT.

Oh my, this is something I've tried to live by all my life, teach my daughters, share with friends. It's kind of that "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality that I was raised with. You CAN change your circumstances. You CAN start over. I'm absolutely crazy about quotes and adages, sayings and words of wisdom. I speak "cliche", so get ready, here it comes.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about Dancing in the Rain." ~Tiffany Wilson

"It doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up." ~Vince Lombardi

I truly believe that every day we get up is an opportunity to start over. We have a choice to believe we're going to have a good day or a bad day. If we start the day thinking that it's going to be bad, there's very little hope for the day turning out "good". But, if we start each day thinking, 'THIS is going to be a GREAT day!' then, even if things go "bad", we have a better chance of dealing with them in a positive way. ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING!!!

I remember reading one of those perpetual email stories a long time ago. It was called "ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING". I saved it. I read it periodically when I need a lift. Bottom line, guy was shot in an armed robbery. The last several paragraphs of his story are:

-----After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door", Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?", I asked.

Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?", I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me", said Jerry. She asked if I was allergic to anything. "Yes", I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply... I took a deep breath and yelled, "Bullets!" Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead." -----

I think we all have to OPERATE as if we're going to LIVE, not die.

"Live, Live, LIVE! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving!" ~Auntie Mame

Love and Blessings,
Stay Gold,

Scrapbook Challenge- Feb. 19-26!!!

White...Black...and one other color... Okay, I can do that. Obviously, for anyone who's looked at the last several posts, I've changed formats for Anne's DD book. It finally occurred to this old brain that I could do the 12x12 format and still put it in a video. (the edges will simply be black)......duh!
So, this was one of the Challenges this week. White, black and one other color. It was kind of freeing. I'm not really a minimalist, so I had to step back a bit. I love these pix of Anne and Lacy. Lacy thought she was such a big, big girl when they would sit together and play and Lacy would "teach" Anne all sorts of important things.
That's it for this week.
Love and Blessings.