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.