Saturday, July 16, 2011

Praying for Rain & Cooler Weather



It's mid July and the heat and drought is on and today will make 16 days in a row above 100 and over 30 days above 100 for this year. If only the high pressure would break over Texas! I pray for rain right now. Dreaming of fall right now makes the hot horrid temperatures seems to allow each day to drag on and on. I thought this writing this post might make me at least feel cooler. Winter....I love the cooler temperatures, I just don't like February in Central Texas. We get our worst weather during this month. I love the clear blue skies so representative of a blue norther coming through. The air crisp and clean! At night living a rural life allows one to see the Milky Way in no other way one can see it in an urban life. I love these photos, they represent what we need to do during the summer as cattle producers to take our cattle through the winter. The other picture looks up the hill from my neighbors ranch to ours. The tree line in the distance is a lease pasture we have which borders our ranch. I wouldn't trade living right where I am for anything in the world. I repeat that sentence over and over and over. I will not ever stop either!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Mothers

On the heals of my rant yesterday..... I thought I would write about Mothers!!! I love being 'MOM!' I can still hear..... 'Awe Mom!' Now I smile, sometimes wishing I still had teenagers in the house. I never wanted children until I met the man of my dreams. About eight weeks after Lynn was born I told Larry, 'I want six!' Yep, six and I got.... "The Look!" Except inheriting my father's analytical brain logic set in. I wanted two, or in my case I had this extreme urge to give my husband a son. Well the son came as child number two. And the teenage thing, I couldn't wait until my kids were teenagers! Ok, think I'm nuts! Teenagers are wonderful, they see the world with optimism, enthusiasm, and haven't been jaded by life experiences in the way this 50 year old has. Our two routinely got the question, 'Why do you want to spend time with your parents?' Or I routinely heard from their friends and still do as well as my kids, 'Your parents are cool!' Are we? I don't think so, we have just always treated teenagers with the same kind of respect that we expect out of an adult. We also have listened to what they have to say and validated their opinions. They are human after all.

My mother was a positive influence as were all three of my grandmother's of which one was not a mother. I'll let you ponder that one. There comes a time when the kids become grown and your roll changes yet again. My aunt put it right, there are stages to life and they repeat. I share the following layout with you from my wedding pictures. A short two years later my aunt shared that little jewel about life's stages. Now twenty five years later I will at some point get to this stage or I'm in this stage waiting for my children to find the right person to spend their life with. Their friends are starting to marry. And God willing I will see this stage again as a grandmother. I present a quiet time with my mother:



'nuff said....

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Children....Let Them Make Choices


My family.....they mean the world to me! Including our precious Paige sometimes called Paigee Poopers, Paiger's, etc. I read a blog this morning which struck me as odd. Or at least to me odd, as my idea of choices I allowed my children to make were very different. I have often been asked how I have two well adjusted young adult children. Both Lynn and James have given me insight into our parenting skills with them as children. Lynn recently made a statement which made me think. 'No, Lynn we never had a big discussion on parenting between us.' I remember telling Larry when I was pregnant with Lynn our oldest child, 'If we are worried about length or color of hair we are worrying about the wrong thing.' Larry was like, 'If we have a son he's not coming home with long hair or colored.' I know I must have given him what he always has termed, "The Look!" And sure enough when James was in 6th grade he came home with short hair and the style of the time was blond along the top. Not a peep out of Larry. LOL...I think the hair thing was the biggest discussion we ever had on parenting. Parenting discussions between us were more on the line of one or two sentences in passing.

I have always wondered how a parent can with a child of six years of age decide the birthday party is a certain way without consulting the child. The subject of a blog I read today. Now was this really how it went down? I have no idea. Lynn and James have both told us we taught them how to make choices and always explained the "why" to a decision we made. I hated being told as a child, "Because I told you so!" I can remember a handful of times those words came out of my mouth from an exasperated parent with young children in late afternoon. And each time I felt I failed. I would then sit down and explain why I told them so.

Choices....I see more children raised who don't know how to make choices. Hello parents, children have a brain!!! They are more then capable of making choices starting at a very young age. Choices should always be age appropriate and if your controlling choices they are perfectly capable of making.....good luck down the road. The ones I remember giving my children at a young age were on hair and clothes. No a two year old can't go shopping for clothes. But you can pick out two outfits and ask the child which one they want. A very simple choice and the start of boundaries being set. Yeah....they only got one! Or in the case of Lynn, she was two years old by time she had enough hair to cut. I absolutely dreaded the first trip to get a haircut. I hated seeing kids scream bloody murder while mother's thought it was so cute. So I made this big to do about Mommy and Lynn going to get a haircut and looking so pretty when we were done. I started two days ahead of time. When we got to the salon, she was able to watch Mommy get her hair washed and cut. Lynn was fascinated....and there was my two year old watching the whole process without running all over the salon. I was stunned she was so interested for the 45 minutes it took to get me through the haircut process. After my cut I pulled a magazine out and sat with Lynn. I quickly found two pictures side by side. Do you want long hair or short hair pointing to the pictures. She pointed to long hair. Now it was her turn. What fun she had getting her hair washed like Mommy and then to sit in the chair so still watching her hair being cut in the mirror. Not a peep, not a whine! Every female in the salon sat with open mouth wondering how my child in the middle of her first haircut was not screaming. uhhh ya think! She had a say in her haircut. Even when Dad took James for his first haircut, he showed him two pictures and he watched Dad get a cut, I guess modeling after my success with Lynn. James came home with a buzz and a huge grin at age of early two. Out of ear shot Larry told me James never uttered a sound. Again every man in the barber shop wondering with open mouth......again ya think.

Lynn is 22 and we are just talking on the phone. Exactly what we were talking about I don't remember except for one sentence. 'Mom we never had a curfew.' Lynn ended up saying, Mom are you there?' 'Yes, sweetie, just deep in thought.' She was right, they never had a curfew. You might be thinking we were nuts. My response is why give a child a set in stone curfew when they show you time and time again they can be responsible? When does that start for kids, certainly not when they are teenagers. It starts the moment two people decide to be parents. It is your job and responsibility to MAKE SURE you raise well adjusted kids. It's not the grandparents, your neighbors, the school, or government. It is YOU who is responsible!

So the birthday party's in life. Have your child help you plan his or her party within your budget. Remember teaching boundaries are important, too! This was a comment a child made to me recently, 'If my Mom was here, you wouldn't believe the amount of money she would spend.' And this came out of the mouth of a 11 year old. Aghhh....no wonder your parents are having problems. Does Mom know boundaries? This clued me in to listening more to this child. And sass her father, she did on more then one occasion. Katy bar the door, sassing anyone whether child or adult was never allowed by Larry in our household or in public and still isn't. I would hate to be the parent of this youngster in another two years. Those big huge birthday's which are extravagant....that's a whole other post I could rant about. Above all enjoy the time with your children....they grow up way to fast!!!

Friday, July 8, 2011

I'm so excited!!!


Oh, my gosh!!!! I was floating on air Thursday evening after I received a comment to my post on Thursday. Earlier this week Nikki Sivils offered all five of her Fall lines to someone who left a comment and linked the post to their blog. Of course she included Facebook and Twitter, too. Julie asked if she could use my layout for the monthly post "Showcase On You." There's a first time for everything and this is the first time a layout of mine has been requested to be use by a manufacturer of scrappy goodness! I literally did a happy dance. Thank you so much Julie and Nikki for this opportunity and for all of the wonderful products you provide us!!! Again, best wishes for a successful Summer CHA!!!!

Wink and nod.....it's not a picture of my Mom....it's a picture of me that my daughter took 2 years ago when I received my Nikon D40 for my Mother's Day!!! She got to play with it first....lol!!! She plays with the camera every chance she gets! It's ok....it is all about the thought that counts and my mother is a beautiful woman so Julie has honored me beyond measure!

This Month's A Cherry On Top GCT!


I've been so busy the first four days of the month with cattle and the TJLA Belt Buckle Bonanza I totally let it slide to post I was chosen last month to be this month's A Cherry on Top's July Creative Team Guest!

Wow!!! To date it has been a wonderful experience! Thank you ACOT, the Creative Team and bluejeans7 (Guest Creative Team Coordinator)!!! I am having so much fun! I was treated to some fantastic products from K&Co Abrianna line. I had to complete three layouts with my products and I had a huge amount left over so I'll have many more layouts to do into the future! My first layout is to the left of this paragraph. I'll post the next two in future posts!

There is always something fun going on the Message Board at ACOT! There is a whole bunch of challenges each month to keep your creative juices flowing if your into any type of paper crafting! One of my favorite challenges each month is the Scraplift the GCT. Of course this month they are lifting one of my layouts. But last month I scrap lifted meteechtap and I just loved her layout and how my lift turned out at right.

Come over and join us for a rocking good time at A Cherry on Top with the greatest ladies on the web!!!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Nikki Sivils Summer CHA Sneak Peeks


This past week for the My Scraps and More Got Talent Challenge #5 we had to scrap a picture of oneself. Hah!!!! ....my printer went kaput this past weekend which meant I had no access to scan some photos of me my grandmother had. It took me a full forty-five minutes to find a photo of me. I knew just the papers I would pull to do the layout! And with a little help from Page Maps July Maps this is my creation!

This is Nikki Sivils first line of papers, My Sweet Cherry Pie, back in 2009 if I remember right. Since then I've collected papers from another four or five lines. Nikki Sivils holds a very special place in my heart when it comes to her designs. First she incorporates animals and presents them in very unique ways. Second she uses some species that any other designer wouldn't use....like skunks. Had to have some of them, too! And third her style is so totally unique I feel at home even though the colors are not often ones I scrap with. Finally fourth....the papers and embellishments are just plain fun to work with!

Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker, on her blog yesterday she introduced her CHA Sneaks....and as usual I'm drooling. MUST HAVE You're A Hoot!!! I can see myself scraping photos of Papa Red with this line. It's such a treat to see all five lines I can fully love and want!!! I can't even do that with my long time favorite company Basic Grey and their Summer CHA lines. Nikki you completely outdid yourself this time!!!! I can not wait until they hit my favorite online stores or Photolicious in Buffalo, TX. While your at it, you can go straight to her blog post yesterday from the linked, Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker, and leave a comment on her blog and maybe just maybe win all five lines!!! Whoop....thank you Nikki!!!

Congrats Nikki!!! I love love your 2011 Fall Lines!!!!