Another Day

S0..so ready to be done purging and living with total chaos in my studio. For last couple of weeks been going through everything I own and trying to downsize to put it all in Caroline's Hoarders garage sale at The Crafty Scrapper this coming weekend! The community of Waxahatchie is also that weekend having a "Junk in the Trunk Sale" on the square. Sounds fun for someone to load up on stuff after she purged HA HA not! Picks to follow soon of the boxes! Thank goodness Jami helped bag and tag last two days! yeah for my Daughter the helper!

 

 Recently did my first swap that wasn't in person with a sweet gal named Loren, she recently moved from Texas to California. Well I won't hold against her for that....Just kidding! Usually do swaps with close group of friends or at an event I am attending!I'm spreading my wings! I did this box with a vintage flair! We were to decorate a box and share at least 15 items from our stash with at least 2 handmade by you! O and I had to do vintage things!

 

 Made her some denim flowers with The tattered flower die from Tim Holtz and then sprayed with some Tattered Angels and then attached em together with some blingy brads from Close to my Heart!

Also did some crinkled seam binding flowers and trim in green and while I was crinkling mad more trim for her! Also threw in some white from when I was making flowers for SB local scrap store!

I filled her box and  I think she was pleased with it!

 

Here is another journal page from when I started doing pages from Tracy's ustream show on Mondays , this is what I chose for my word for the year.....Have to hold close to my Faith in order to " Let Go and Let God"

Been a semi rough week and I have elephant ankles where I have been swelling ...NOT pretty folks

 

Be back soon with more hope you are having a great start to Wonderful weekend!

Get up and create something !

 Hugs Neisey



Birthdays and cleaning?

My baby girl Jami always shares a birthday with the first day of Summer and was also born on the same day as my my baby sisters , Terri and Sherri!

Jami is my first born and the mother to my three great! Grandsons! Which with school out are driving her bonkers, Imagine that! they are so sweet not them!

 Here is hoping my Lil sisters are having a great birthday even though Sherri is working in Iowa right now doing claims with her hubby and Terri is home at the Ranch! saw them both not long ago but am missing them again!

 Tyler my oldest G-son came over Monday to help me clean cuz grand-Mama has a bad knee and need to get things under control before I go to the specialist next Monday to see if I can be repaired or need to retire this model! Or send me out to pasture! But back to Tyler cleaning up......

 He found this bubble wrap and had to ....of course....pop them all before he went on cleaning! LOL

                     Here is taking a deep breath so he can do the second half of the strip!

 He is finally at the end now maybe we can get the room done today???? or this week?

Gee was not happy with all the commotion and was so happy when the popping stopped..She came and got into my lap after he stopped!
Well that's all I got today my knee is hurting so gonna go get some ice to put on it although it really doesn't do much but get me to freezing....
Keep making something beautiful,
Till we meet again and Happy Birthday to Jami, Terri, and Sherri I Love y'all lots!
Neisey

Up way too Early!

Life has been crazy around here as of late trying to get so many things accomplished!
Boys apartment is looking really good and we have hung everything up and all is unpacked! Think they are really liking it! We got blackout curtains for them so they should sleep well during the day! ( they work nights) They had Jami and I over for lunch this past week! for yummy chicken vegetables and they had macaroni and cheese while I brought one of HMR meal replacements to replace the fatty stuff!

Casey my boy!

What my trade for the mac n cheese was!

went Junking and hunting for re purposing items yesterday and came across a few items! Stopped into Cottage Panache to see what was new and found some Seam binding that I was in so in need of!

 Still stressed to a degree about prep work for classes at Scrappers Boutique but so excited also!
     Have a sweet friend who is opening her studio and classes soon in Keller and soooo Excited for her!
Tracy Pounds is her name and her place is The Little Blue House check the links for her location and blog!
I wish the best to these friends on this new adventure. I know they will do great!
   Think I am gonna go see if I can get busy designing some things since I am up tooo darn early! But the weather here in Texas the last two days has been wonderful, supposed to get to low 90's today which is warmer than last two days but sure beats triple digits on the old thermometer any old time!
Well till next time here is another old item I created for my daughter a while back for her house....

With that I will close again by saying Go Create something beautiful in your life!
Till later.....
Denise

Bad Blogging!

Well boys and girls I have been a pretty bad blogger this year so far with all that has been going on around here. But her goes a long one! first of all last month I designed my first cards for "The Cards For the Troops" at Scrappers boutique! I had a phobia for card making till now....Made and prepped 66 cards for last month! And I am working on that and some more for this coming Sunday! two will be Father's Day again and two common like Thinking of you and maybe another Birthday! Still working on those tonight!

My first Father's day card!

Happy Birthday!

Second Father's Day card!

We have had a crazy spring thus far with invasions of nature itself in the form of Bees, Squirrels, Rats and others.......Needless to say I have not been a happy camper in my house!....MONEY MONEY MONEY! MMOOONNNEY!

Bee's were coming into our bedroom wall outside through the mortar next to the window and along the brick , these are pics after he dosed them with something to make them go away for a bit to be able to get them out of the wall.

To be kinder to my house they came into the house to get them , which means they tore at part of the sheet rock to get them, I thought that they would have to take more but wound up to be less! Whew!

The squirrels no more than an hour after cable guy came and fixed this they had it chewed again! even after metal applied over their holes that they were getting in the attic from! UGH!

Below is the wall before bees removed! All nice and intact! Also with sheet rock and paint!

Casey and I had to cover everything we thought might get sticky or that the bees might fall into!

Casey was wonderful in helping shorty me out!

This is my wonderful wall after they removed honeycomb and bees and my poor wall!

Oh by the way forgot to say Jeff my DH is deathly allergic to bee stings, The grand kids came to watch all the activity although they were closed out of the room during the capture in the BIG vacuum they had!

After most bees gone they let the boys help with some clean up and finishing of all of it! They thought that was cool , but their mom is the one that wants to get into the suit and do this! Crazy daughter of mine!

The guys telling the boys what they had been doing in the closed room!

One of the bags of honeycomb that came out of the wall.....It went from floor to ceiling but only top half was juicy with honey thank goodness!

Showing and retrieving some of the honeycomb for show and tell!

The wildlife truck portion of Orkin! and Toby and TJ!

Viewing my room from outside! The safe view! Tee Hee!

Toby showing me that they were missing the ones behind the blinds! And scaring me with his pose on top of the fence!

Honey comb in jar with some bees that were still in the honeycomb! one lived without any air in there for four days protecting the stuff!

To another topic when we got the channels and cable back Jeff was very intense with his sports and Gee decided she needed attention, getting into his lap wasn't working so......

She climbed on his shoulder and verbally started letting him know....LOL!

And decided she liked the view out the window from there much to my husbands dismay!
Well I finally had another pic taken and I am now 60 lbs lighter but still have so much more to loose! Was hoping to make one of my goals by summer but.......

Not sure the 37lbs is realistic at this point, but we will See gotta get to working out again at fitness center more regularly like I was doing in past! Just have not been as motivated before allergies started driving me crazy in our wonderful Texas spring wind and pollen season amongst other things....Well time to get into the studio and finish prepping some cards, Hope you get time to create something wonderful too!

Denise

PS...... down 5 pants sizes since starting! 30 to 20!

On this WEEK and DAY 20 yrs Ago!

It took my Aunt Doris my mom's twin to get me to look at this date as to why I am so down this week.

20 years ago today was my mother's death!

Dorcas Annette Cole passed away after a bout with cancer she had been in remission 3 years when it came back with a vengeance and she let us know the day before she left to be with our Heavenly Father that she could not fight it anymore that it was time to go home.

20 years ago this week

~a week prior to mom we buried my Dad...Stacy Lewis Haws after going in to the hospital with a heart attack and not making after surgery. Although they had been divorced 15 yrs they followed each other into Gods hands.

This is one of the hardest weeks in my life that I often subconsciously block this time of year but I always heck to be around. Had a good cry last night and felt somewhat better today but surrounded my day with family .

My Day!

Jami my daughter and I went for Sushi at lunch and the bike shop to get DH's bicycle fixed.

then went to try and get my hair cut but will try to get in early in the morning . cuz Tory the one I like is always booked for the day if you are not on her door step at 9am.

Then had supper with two of my favorite men Casey and Jeff at El Chico's.

This is more eating out than we have done in 2 weeks, I so love payday! Then home for Jeff to see the Cowboys so I am on the computer playing and pouring out my guts to the world!

Aunt Doris I Love you and know this is very hard on you with your twin gone, just know we know how hard it is and you are loved by your nieces!

Enough said and hope you have bright days on your horizons I know I am looking for them!

Till next time in Blog land....

Denise

PS....Please continue to pray for my nephew Wesley and family as he will have surgery at Cook's Children's Hospital Set. 21st unless it gets to bad to tolerate before then.

Thanks for the prayers said thus far we have felt them!

What a week! Whew glad it is over....

I feel like we have been under a bad storm cloud following us that is just now lifting and I am tired! here is what has sorta been going on in our lives this week. Moma always said when it rains it pours and that it comes in threes think it feels like mor than three this time!
Thursday.....AM
First part of week Jeff goes majorly high in his blood sugar and can't get it down....Call Doctor on call and with all the insulin already taken he has us do a separate shot other than what we are doing through pump........I am thinking not good at time he takes it......It stars coming down but not fast so he goes on to bed cuz he feels really sickly because of ketosis from sugars above 500.
Around 2:30 AM notice him sitting up several times and ask if he is okay and no response, touch him and he is sweaty and cold and clammy , so jump up turn lights on and see he is going under from sugar dropping too low, run to get peanut butter and crackers and he is too gone to eat them so head back to get juice, get back to bedroom and somehow he has managed to get into our very very small bathroom and just as I ask him how he is doing he crashes into the floor in convulsions, did I say how small our bathroom is, not big enough for him to lay in the floor without his head being against the door jamb...By the way if you have never seen someone in convulsions or seizure than you probably don't know how horrifically they jerk around. Jeff's head was against the door and wood floor pounding his head and not able to get him up as he was slicker than snot from the sweats. 911 time and thank goodness they are only around the corner.
Holding his head to try and keep him from getting concussion too in comes 5 t0 6 EMT's and firemen into our bedroom. they get him on the bed and he is talking to him now that I remembered to suspend the pump and he hates me to call for help in past. His blood sugar is 25.
After an IV, peanut butter sandwich, crackers he now knows who he is and what vital statistics they ask him, and then refuses to go to hospital....needless to say not much sleep for me from 4:30 am till time to go to a class on Thursday morning at TSS for Hot Metal MOMMAS! He still wanted me to go! PRAISE GOD for waking me and for me being there to keep him from leaving me!

Thursday afternoon.......10am to noon class longest class I ever felt like I had been in but glad had friends around me! but when I finish my birdhouse it will be cute! Jeff gets call from his DR. seeing if he is okay and says Doc on call told him tooo big of shot....DUH think we figured that out!

Friday.......Get a call from Terri late they are headed to Cooks Children's with Wesley headaches, pressure and lethargic actions getting worse, Dr. Honeycutt not there till Monday, but they admit him for the week-end. he is sickly and gets sick at stomach .

Saturday ......have class with Tracy and Create Joy team scrapbook in a day! All going good and getting to last part of the day, and get phone call from daughter that it is 89 degrees at the house and they can't get the air to work at my house. Get friend to come see if it is something little or if need to call repair guys. It is bad and Brown's who our warranty is with is gone for the day. GREAT and it is 94 when I get to the house. Toshe does not do good with heat at 16 and heart problems. Jami and Jason and kids are off to go to Florida and don't want Toshe in their house cuz Scrappy their male dog will mark everything when they get back where she has been, So although it cost us when go to a Holiday Inn express that takes small pets. Boys could not take us in either because of their lease agreement. Oh and by the way it is gonna be Fathers Day and Jeff is not happy. Stay-Cation it is not when there is a dog with you in a hotel. house is 99 degrees when we go back to get some things.

Sunday...... By the way Jeff sees his Mom every week-end 1:30 to 3 and she was not responding to anyone this week-end another bummer for Jeff as well as problems at work so phone calls Saturday evening through all day Sunday, less sleep again but we are all cool at hotel!

Monday...Air guy calls me at 9am and says he is headed to my house so grab stuff and head home after checking out. It is still 99 degrees inside....Air is fixed by 11:30 and warranty was still in effect PRAISE GOD! otherwise it would have been 14oo.00 smacker roos...Get a call from Terri they have released Wesley Dr. says not bad enough yet to do anything so they head back to Comanche to wait it out again....poor guy! by the way Terri spent her birthday and Fathers Day away from her family, the 21st is Terri ,Sherri and Jami's birthdays and every couple of years also Father's day! We are all waiting for the fun to stop....LOL....NOT! Last night at 9:30 PM we finally got to 78 degrees after it running constantly to get there and it is great to have slept in my own bed last night. Kids are having great time in Florida and hopefully no more surprises!

Tuesday .......So glad to be home cool and rested again !

I am counting the days till my class with Tim Holtz and Cheryl Darrow this coming Sunday afternoon! the 28th is coming Yipee! WooooHooo! Metal meets grunge or so I hope although anything from these two has gotta be cool.
As I finish some projects will try to post pics especially from my SBIAD and Hot Metal MOMMAS birdhouse!
Keep crafting and take care till next time!
Denise
PS ....Please pray for Wesley to not get the pain he has had before and for this to be healed or for God to show us what he wants us to do for this wonderful young guy. On the 25th Wes will be 16.

Body Aches!

Man my yard had really gone to the trees and junk since feeling so poorly and having so much pain, then surgery so feeling better which means I want to do more and clean it all up. Well the kids helped cut things down and then today we bundled it all, I started and then Jami and GKids came after three to help, got it all tied and bundled ...but know they won't pick it all up tomorrow but hoping lots of it will be gone.

My body is not used to working out like that anymore... though right now I feel like a truck ran over me and to top it off , I tried to fall at supper in a parking lot after sitting to eat , I got up to leave and it was like my body had other ideas. Luckily there was a van on one side and concrete on the other, missed the step down and just did catch my self enough to plow into the van. Now we are not gonna say exactly where I am hurting from catching it in mid fall, but I am hurting when I walk.....OUCH! ... thank goodness my neck seems okay after all that though just sorta sore there. The rest of my body is not fairing to well..

I am feeling like such a clutz and I scared Jeff my DH to death cuz I made funny noises evidently as I was trying not to fall. Oh well and no pics for funniest home videos either, bummer!....NOT!
Hate to see what I feel like when I lay down for the night and have to get up in the morning....at least I will be here by myself to scream or cry by myself>>>LOL

Keep creating whether it is indoors or outdoors.....but be careful!....LOL
Denise
PS...I got a new chainsaw in the process today though...so watch out for more trees in the fence line to go when we get rid of the mess from this time!

Life in the Cook household!

Yea! We have the first Brick and Mortar Scrapbook store in our immediate area of town again! Not that I don't like Michael's, Joann's, and Hobby Lobby but this is just scrapping which thrills a lot of us. Went to their open house yesterday and hope to soon find myself there cropping with some friends..."Scrapper Boutique" in NRH Texas, yippee!

Got to go to my normal crop that is every 4th Friday, This week but just too worn out to get anything really accomplished except catching up with friends!

Yesterday my Daughter and her DH and 3 boys came over to tackle our very overgrown trees in the back and we made some headway and looking lots better. Because of yesterdays activities though outside my allergies are overwhelming me today. My eyes especially. I am so thankful for their help, I could not do this without them.

Today and tommorow looking for my Blessings and hopefully creating!

Denise

Altered Shoe #One and #Two!

These are 2 of the 5 shoes I entered into Cheryl's TSS Altered Shoe Contest. Got the idea from a Stampington publication from 2002, just added the metal into it.

I used molds from Ten Seconds Studio and Cuttle bug folders for the embossing on the metal.

I punched some elements from the metal paper mix also for the flowers.

I used Wheels for the stitched look.

ADD bling and buttons also into the mix and walla a baby Girl shoe to Give my daughter Credit for being the angel after surgery.

How about some blue metal and a nest? of brown metal and paper and blue wire? And you have an Empty Nester's shoe to represent the start of this year when my boys moved out of the house and we are alone for the first time in our lives my DH and I.

Alphabet mold from TSS for bottom of the shoe, It's one of my favorite molds.

A kabuka new mold ( collage) from Ten Seconds Studio and wheels for the stitched effect again.

Add some fiber for the laces and a couple of eyelets and you have a little boy shoe called Empty Nester's!

Hope you enjoyed these two will post another actual shoe that was altered tomorrow....2 down 3 to go...LOL Man this is the rainiest day yet and I gotta get out to go to the Doctor in a bit hope the rain stops or lets up while I drive for the farthest I have had to since surgery without my brace for comfort...

Keep creating and Be still and KNOW!

Denise