Another weekend and more company!!

This weekend my brother, Robert and his fiancee Michelle are coming for a visit and mom is excited to be seeing them after living here with us in New York for 2 months now! Of course someone else is excited...after I took this short video of her she started crying....now she's just sitting in the doorway WAITING. Hurry up and get here, guys!!!

10 Days without blogging??

Yikes I just haven't had the time to sit and blog the past 10 days or so...life is just moving along so fast lately that I hardly have time to catch my breath some days before I hit the pillow at night. I'll try and catch up a bit tonight...we'll see if I get it all in. I love the fact that I have this blog and that I can come back to it and read back some of the things we have done over the months, it helps when it comes time to scrapbook certain events, as well.

A few days after the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Jim told me that his brother and sister both saw the History Channel show "102 Minutes" and that they both saw Jason on it and it was a total shock, they weren't expecting it at all! It really hits you like a ton of bricks to watch home videos of someone who has passed away but to have that happen when you are just watching a random tv show and not expect it, well I can't begin to describe that feeling.

I had to hunt this down and get a copy of it on my computer so that I could have it to watch over and over and make some screen captures to print out photos from it. Jason was in NYC the day of the attacks and this was taken in Times Square, people were watching the news on the big screen and they were showing the towers collapsing. Jason was 23 years old and what a handsome young man he was...I look at this and still can't believe he's gone and it has been 3 months already.


Here is the video clip of what Jason said on the show.



Last weekend Nancy was here to spend time with mom and I did a lot of things for myself. Saturday morning I had an one hour massage and felt wonderful when I walked out of there, I will totally do that again sometime, it was worth every penny of the cost. I took myself to lunch and ate at my favorite chinese buffet and sat and read an entire magazine while eating my lunch slowly and without interruption, that was great. Did some shopping after that and since it was such a beautiful day I walked around the shopping center for about an hour. Jim, Alex and I went to dinner together later that night and enjoyed a nice family meal.

Sunday was another beautiful day here, the weather was picture perfect which was great since we went to the Hamptons for an outdoor party after my niece's baby's baptism. Alex loves it at Uncle Jack's and can spend the whole day just sitting on the dock fishing. You can see Jack's new boat in the background, Alex says it is a really fast boat and he loves to ride on it and go fishing.


I made a watermelon basket for the party and it went over very well...Alex said it looks like I made it to look like a baby carriage which I thought was funny, that wasn't really my intention but I guess it does somewhat look like one.


Dad and Alex have been busy working on a brand new and improved tree house in our backyard and I'll post pictures of that another time, I've been taking a few shots here and there to keep track of it as they go along.

Just to update on mom she is doing well, we went for an MRI yesterday and we should have the results next week at her next appointment with the oncologist. We are hoping and praying that it will show the tumors are getting smaller.

This weekend my brother and Michelle are coming up to see mom and then next weekend Nancy will be back and I'm heading up to Creating Keepsakes Convention in Connecticut!!

And the rest....

I posted most of the layouts, not all of them but these are the one that I really like...there are just too many! Hope you enjoyed looking at them.

Some more...

A few more...

Here are a few more pages from my SIL's book. Some of the pictures turned out blurry of the layouts but you get the idea. I tried to keep some continuity to the book by using the same font on the titles "Day#" by either the die cut or the stamping, I think that helped with the 'flow' of the book.

Scrap till you drop?

I suppose that was me the past week...with my sister in law's birthday looming close I decided that I would make her an album so that she would have her memories intact to share with her grandchildren someday (isn't that the whole point of scrapbooking?). You see, my now 60 year old sister in law went on a month long motorcycle trip back in the summer of 2006 and for me I know that if I accomplished something like that I would certainly want to have something tangible to remember it and share it with my grandchildren someday! I have to admit, I bit off more than I could chew but I put in some marathon scrapbook nights and I managed to get it done (in between working and taking care of my house, my family and mom) I figure I spent about 20 hours total on it and the final product was 36 pages with the last page being a blank canvas with the title "Final Thoughts" and I instructed her to write in her own handwriting and her own words about the trip and how she felt about it.

I will share some of the layouts that I did and hopefully it will inspire someone else out there to do a 'gift' album for someone in their family. Yes, it was a bit of work and time consuming but in the end I feel as though I did something that truly epitomizes the reason why we scrap, for those of us who do...to give the gift of MEMORIES to those that we love.

Monthly oncology visit today

Wow, what a busy day I had today...it was non stop all day!! I started my day off early and got Alex off to the bus and then I really got busy! I had a meeting at the school with his guidance counselor, the school psychologist and his 4 'core' teachers so I could fill them in a little bit on my son and his needs, having a child who requires a little extra TLC means that you have to be a parent advocate and not to toot my own horn but I feel I was born for this job. To say that Alex has a lot going on in his life at the moment is quite an understatement so I wanted all of his teachers to be aware of everything and to let them know that they can get in touch with me if anything comes up that they feel needs to be addressed. I felt good when I walked out of there!

Came home and since Jesse was here today to stay with grandma and hang out I took the opportunity to get my coupons in order and get my weekly shopping done. I saved $75.00 on my shopping order today, even the cashier was impressed!! :-D After a quick lunch it was off to the Stonybrook Cancer center for mom's appointment with Dr. Wu, her oncologist.

We had a good visit and mom was really happy to hear that she is doing well and that her being able to tolerate the chemotherapy and continue to stay on it is a positive with this type of cancer. We got the go-ahead to start another round of chemo tonight and the doctor scheduled an MRI for 3 weeks and a follow up at the beginning of October.


The traffic coming home was pretty crazy so mom and I stopped and enjoyed a yummy dinner at Friendly's (no ice cream, thank you!) and got home at 7pm to find some lovely cards from friends/family and a package with this really beautiful, soft, warm and cozy blanket that was sent to her by Sandy Royston (THANK YOU!!!!) and was all handmade by her...mom loves it!!




A few days ago mom and I went to Kohl's for a little shopping therapy and she put a hurtin' on her debit card but doesn't she look pretty in her new sweater and knit pants? She even got herself a beautiful and very warm 'wrap' for those chilly fall days that are coming before you know it. :)

I did it!

I sent Alex off to school and didn't shed a tear! Ok, so it probably helped that the neighbor down the street was chatting with me as they were getting on the bus and I was distracted but whatever!


I managed to go into work for 2 hours this afternoon as well and I'm glad I did because someone wasn't feeling well and needed to go home so it was good that I was able to help out.

I even came home and was able to put in a little bit of time at my scrap table so I'm feeling really good about today as a whole.

Summer is coming to an end...

Where did the time go? I sometimes think about how time goes so quickly when you're enjoying yourself and yet at other times when you want it to pass it only seems to drag on and on. I wish we had another month of summer, I'm not ready to let this little boy go back to school...to send him out into the big world of middle school and away from the safety of the elementary years! I wish I could keep him like this forever and not have him grow up and turn into a teenager who will think I'm some crazy woman and not his mommy who loves him so much even when he's making me crazy! Every time he wants to 'snuggle up' and come into bed with us I think that it might be the very last time he asks and I get sad but I cherish each and every moment that he is still wanting to spend time with us and be close and get hugs and kisses from mom and dad.

Ok so I'm getting a little emotional but I have to let him get on that bus in about 8 1/2 hours and smile and wish him well and not show my tears until he's long gone down the street. I can do it...I think I can.


I have to admit that all things considered I really did pack a lot into my summer. Last weekend Jim and I went out with our friends Laura and Mark and we saw another great concert for me this summer, Gavin Degraw!! I love his music and I had a blast with Laura, as always!


Mom is doing well and she will start another round of chemotherapy next week as long as all her blood work comes back good, we see the doctor on monday. She is getting more stronger and more independent around the house in the hopes of maybe someday being able to care for herself again. The walker has long since been folded and put away and she only uses the cane in the house now which is wonderful! Here she is sitting on my deck with Pookie enjoying the warm sunshine.


Last saturday I took Pookie to the vet to have some skin growths that she has checked out and the poor thing wasn't too happy, let me tell you! One antibiotic and some baby onesie teeshirts later we were home and hopefully she will get better although surgery to remove one of the growths isn't out of the question yet...we just have to wait and see what happens.






The next few weeks will be busy with work, doctor's appointments, school and then lots of visits from Nancy, Robert and Michelle and then mom's cousin Madeleine too! Whoo, I can't wait to finally meet her in person!