Insider

Thats right....be sure to check for a special coupon in the DST December Issue of the Insider...it will be worth your time!!!
The coupon is good at both Scraphead & DoItDigi

Inspired

Maybe its the season...or the request to join this year's Christmas Around The World blog train which has been renamed Worldwide Christmas Scrapbooking Freebies. Once again I will participating in this and I was up until 3 am designing last night...and I LOVE what I have come up with. Hope you guys like it as well. Also I will have a coupon in the upcoming holiday DST Insider so be on the look out for that..In keeping with that issue,I am going to try a hybrid project..if it works out well I will post results here & instructions AND a freebie to try it out!

National Pursuit of Happyness Week

Some one sent me this lovely website to energize my blog...it has a 14 month calender to help when you don't know what to blog about. I have to admit that I am often blog entry challenged...I average about three - five posts a month. And this calender is supposed to help. The first entry for this week is that its National Pursuit of Happiness week. This couldn't have come at a better time. Its past time I pursued my happiness. I have been unhappy for some time in my life and its time I put me first. I know people always say that you have to put yourself first in order to be a good mom etc. But I have been so bad about following that advice.But no more.
And my first step is a doozy. I asked my husband for a divorce. I have been telling him that I am unhappy. I have tried to get him to go to counseling, to talk to our church minister...but of course he wouldnt. He doesn't see anything wrong..he gets all he wants out the marriage. He has someone to take care of him. He doesn't feel need to work, help out with kids, help out around house, help with our disabled sons therapy. He can watch cable tv and hang out with his buddies. Generally act like he is 19 years old. His reply when I told him I wanted a divorce was fine..do what you want. Please pray for me and my family. This is going to be a time of great upheaval.

Inspiration for new projects sometimes comes
when we least expect it and this was one of those Inspiring moments.

This very special SHMILY Blog Train was Inspired by a
story on the internet you may read for yourselves HERE.
(Thank you Nicole & KC)

SHMILY (See How Much I Love You) is Truly Inspiring...
Please remember to show those in your life some SHMILY
when they least expect it.

MAMACAT SCRAPS
DMK DESIGNS
KISSED BY PIX
KISSED BY CARI
DESIGNS BY HELLY
KC'S SCRAPPIN SANCTUARY
LIV LUVS SCRAPS
HEAVENS DESIGNZ
MONKEY DOODLE DESIGNS
JUST ANOTHER SCRAP BY JUDITH
MYSTIC INC DESIGN
TOTALLY RAWKIN DESIGNS
FOXY LADY CREATIONS
LADY QUEEN'S CREATIONS
DESIGNS BY CINDI
WILLOW ART PRODUCTIONS

Here is my contribution to the blog train. Be sure to pick it up here

Change is coming

At times it seems that the election dragged on interminably, however last night was a time for great tension. I had three separate electoral maps open (still not quite sure why all three had different numbers at same time) but Obama pulled way out in front early and kept a comfortable lead. I was not sure that a last minute upset or voting irregularity would change that though. As the seconds counted down to the closing polls on the West Coast, I literally was holding my breath..I had already told my husband & daughters all Obama had to get was CA (traditionally Dem territory), OR & WA and it was all over. No sooner than the polls closed then NBC called those three for Obama and announced him as the 44th President of the United States.....my arms immediately broke out in goosebumps and it was hard to see for the tears in my eyes. Second class citizens no more.....3/5ths of a person....not ever again. A Black man is the next president of this mighty nation of ours. A wall has been shattered....a barrier lifted...Yes We Can......Yes We DID!

Whats not to love

about a tutu? Especially a free one??? Simple is having a giveaway for a tutu in your choice of black or red!
My elder daughters are tutu wearers from WAY back....Here are some of my favorite poses...

they are now 17, 16 & 12....so it was nice to look back when they were lil and cute!lol!

Love Is....

I have lost three close family members to domestic violence. My aunt was murdered when I was 10 by her husband of one month. He stabbed her 28 times no one even knows what the dispute was about. She left a six year old son. My cousin who was like my older sister was murdered when she was 23 year old and I was 20. Three hours before her son's father shot her, my mom and I were at her house and were upset at the huge bruise on her arm. She smiled at us and said he SAID he was sorry.....she left two little girls and a 3 month old son. Two years ago another cousin of mines naked body was left in a wooded area, she was last seen arguing with her off and on long time boyfriend, there has been a couple of arrests but prosecutor seems to have little interest in taking this court to trial. She left two preteen daughters. All of these crimes were committed by men who purported to LOVE them. I always go back to (IMO) the authority on Love, who said:
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant (1 Cor. 13:4)...where in there does that leave room for abuse? where does it leave room for murdering the very one you claim to love? My heart goes out to Jennifer Hudson & her family. I am crying the same never ending tears. In one second, some idiot demolished your life as you knew it. And nothing can ever change it back. As time goes on, you build it into something new...something different. Something not quite as good as it was...after all those loved ones are no longer there with you. It never hurts any less...it's just not as close to the surface. But something will remind of that person and even now almost two decades later, the pain of my cousins passing can overwhelm me. I wish I could tell every woman who is with an abusive mate, not to allow him to do to her family what has been done to mine. I wish I could show them all the years of pain and tears that has been inflicted on children who are missing bright smiles and warm hugs of their murdered mothers. I wish I could tell all those abusers, hey we love her too, she doesn't BELONG to you. But I can't. I can only continue to pray for those whose pain I know all too well.