January 2014

Four Minutes to Midnight

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/four-minuttes-to-midnight/

From Brand Thuder

http://gallery.brandthunder.com/en-US/theme/68b151b4-d098-4b7f-8412-d860e63bed9f 

Last year went way too fast. It was a good year up until the very last.

On Friday the 13th of December, my husband had a heart attack when he was up in the mountains hunting. He managed to get himself off the mountain and back to his truck and drove home! I took him to the ER and after all the tests, etc. they did surgery and put a stent in. He was very lucky he made it home. He did have a setback and that slowed us down even more, but he is on the mend now and just has to take it easy for awhile.  So we celebrated his 78th birthday for just making it to 78!

He has helped out people that can't afford to take their vehicles to a garage for repairs for years, so it is bothering him that he has had to tell them he can't work on their cars for awhile. He has talked to them on the phone and managed to repair their own, though! 

Our Christmas was very quiet. We were home by ourselves on Christmas Eve for the first time in 56 years but we both needed the rest. Christmas Day it was just our children here and we had Papa Murphy do the catering! So it was a very no stress Christmas. I thank God for our wonderful kids and don't know what we would do without them. I guess we raised them right because they are all kind, loving, caring people. I feel very fortunate that they are all within a few miles of us, too. My family moved a lot and that is no fun for kids and I didn't want mine to have to do that. So we only moved them once when my husband got a transfer with the Forest Service, and that was when they were in the 1st. 3rd and 4th grade, so they were all able to have childhood friends and graduate from highschool with them. Most of the USFS friends and people he worked with have their family scattered all over the US. I didn't want that for our family, although my husband would have made more money by moving around a lot. But money is not the most important thing in the world! Family is!

I am very disappointed that the site I was getting all my pretty blog templates from is no longer on line! So I may be stuck with a Christmas template until I take the time to re-do the blog. I can change the picture I use for the seasons because I make those myself...but not the template for the blog.

I am beginning work on Valentines Day now. I didn't even use up all the Christmas designs I made so have some for next year.

I don't know about all you out there but I am ready for summer and winter is only a few days old. 

Till next time.

 HAVE A GREAT 2014!

Christmas Scrooge

Scrooge put a crimp in our Christmas. My husband had a heart attack and had to have a stent put in. This is pretty rough on a man that has gone full bore all his life. The Doctors and hospital have been great but he is still not his healthy self.

And what we would do without our wonderful children and grandchildren, I don't know. They are always there when we need them and so supportive.

But we have decided to stay home Christmas eve and rest and we have to miss a great grandsons birthday party and a family reunion. These are all in a 1 week period, plus Christmas Day. But our kids will be here Christmas day and we are having pizza! Not your traditional Christmas dinner, but it will be good because we will be together.

I wish you all a Happy Healthy Holiday season and a Happy New Year.

Till next time.

Update for December

Adam Cole is a post grad student at York St John University in York and is studying for a Masters in Music composition. He recently asked me if he could use one of my autumn designs for a piece he has composed called Autumn Transparency. I told him he had my permission to use it. He sent me a link to his sound clould page and you can hear his composition. I listend to it and found it very relaxing and different from the usual kind of music I listen to, but I enjoyed it and thought I would put a link to it on my blog. If you are interested in hearing it, you can find it at: https://soundcloud.com/amcomposer/autumns-transparency. If you enjoy it leave a comment for him as I am sure he would like to know what listeners think.

I am trying to cut back on working on Christmas since I have so many already made, but I keep going through my graphics and find something and start a new one.

It is warmer out today and looks like it may warm up some more but when it does that, it rains!

Have a great day, everyone.

Christmas Holly Berries

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/christmas-holly-berries/

December is here already. I know I keep saying how fast time goes, but it does. I have the family 2014 calendars finished and the Christmas cards ready to go out. I don't do a lot of decorating anymore. Since I stopped having Christmas eve with all the kids and grand kids, I don't see any point in it. Plus I work on Christmas themes from Halloween so get a bit tired of decorating! My decorating will be on your computers. I will put up some things that my Mom made and a small tree. I gave the nativity manger that my husband made years ago to our oldest grandson and his wife to use. My Mom found the pattern for a rustic manger in a Family Circle magazine 50+ years ago. My husband made us each one out of cedar from our wood shed. I remember the first creche figurines I bought were from the .88¢ store. Our little dog kept eating the sheep, though. She never touched anything else, just the sheep!

The weather here has been so cold, but it has been cold all over it sounds like. I know my knees don't want to bend in the cold! That is probably from all the old motorcyle crashes and 2 knee surgeries, but it was a lot of fun at the time.

December is always so busy and we have 3 family birthdays, school Christmas program, Christmas eve and Christmas day.

I have been getting such great letters and reviews from people. I try to answer them all but I know I don't get to them as fast as I should, but I DO read them, so thanks to all of you.

I broke down & purchased the latest Print Shop Elements because it was on sale and it is quite a bit different. The first day I used it I wished I hadn't bought it! But am getting more familiar with it. There are still several things I knew how to do in the old version that I haven't figured out yet which frustrates me. It took so long to learn how to do some of them and now I am back to square one!

Going to get back to work. I did update the graphics on the blog last week but hadn't found time to write anything. If I don't get back before Christmas I wish you all a great holiday with family. If it wasn't for family we probably would live somewhere a little warmer. But I can't give up seeing the little smiling faces & visits. 

 I found this little silly cat and just love him so you will probably see him in several designs over the season!

 *****HAPPY HOLIDAYS******

Thanksgiving Month

Happy Fall Friends

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/happy-fall-friends/

It is so hard to believe that Thanksgiving will be in a few weeks. I haven't made a lot of Thanksgiving themes but am working on Christmas. a lot of Christmas designs. I made a logo for a company and they seemed to be very pleased with it, so hope it works out for them. Have another book cover I am working on for an author. Have it pretty much finished just have to get her final approval.

Halloween was fun. We had Puss N Boots, a lion and the cutest little lady bug you ever saw. We live on a dead end road so don't get many trick or treaters. But 3 great grandkids got to get treats, anyway. Years ago when our kids were small our road was full of kids and they would all go out together and have tons of fun and get tons of treats. My husband and I used to go through the bags and pick out some treats we liked!

We will get two Thanksgiving dinners this year. One at our son's house before Thanksgiving with grandkids and great grandkids so looking forward to that. Then we will have a small dinner at our house on Thanksgiving. This will be the 55th Thanksgiving dinner I have fixed but it will be so much smaller than they used to be when my parents, grandparents, brother, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins were around to attend. I remember the last Thanksgiving my Grandpa and Grandma were able to make. Grandma wanted to taste a "tiny bit" of the wine, so we poured her a little bit in a glass and she drank it down really fast. She had never tasted wine before! Then all of a sudden she got really warm. It was a great moment and we laughed so hard. I will never forget. She was such a special grandmother and I was her first grandchild and got to spend a lot of time with Grandpa and Grandma on their little farm. I can remember going to town with her when I was very small. I knew if I saw something I really liked she would buy it for me. Or I would get it for Christmas.  I think the only time I ever rode in a taxi was with her. She didn't drive and I can't remember why we were in town in a taxi, but I do remember the taxi. That was a very big deal for this poor little farm girl.

I am so glad our local elections are over. The junk mail and phone calls we got was terrible and the amount of money spent was enormous and such a waste because I think everyone probably knew who and what they were going to vote for before they ever received any mail or phone calls. I am so glad they turned out the way we wanted. Getting the County Council members in we wanted and needed so badly was probably more important than federal elections since they don't get much done in DC.

Time is going too fast. The older you get the faster it goes. When I was a child I remember Christmas time would never get here and the days would just drag. Now they fly. I don't have enough time in the day to get everything done I need and want to do. Or maybe I am just slower!

I am going to wish you all a Thanksgiving and thank everyone for the great reviews your are posting on the Persona sight and the emails. I try to answer most of them but sometimes one will slip by me. But I do thank you and appreciate you taking the time.

Month of Halloween

Black Cats Halloween

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/black_cats_halloween/ 

October didn't start out very well for me! My husband and I both ended up with some kind of flu or virus that lasted 3 weeks. I haven't felt that bad in years, and it is taking forever to get over. I had walking pneumonia last winter but it was nothing compared to this. I am usually a high energy person and I didn't have any! Energy, that is. I still have to push myself, but then I have to go sit and rest awhile. I lost 5 1/2# and I didn't have any extra to lose so am really trying to eat but don't have an appetite. Our very busy daughter made us 2 kinds of home made soups that kept us going. She made tons so got to freeze it, too. She holds down 2 jobs and don't know how she finds time to help out, but she does. Thank you, Dearest Daughter! Although I know she never reads this cause she doesn't have time!

I have been having a good time working on Halloween designs, though. I got some new graphics and managed to work them into some pretty good designs. Anyway, I hope they are.

Our weather went from 80° one day to 60° the next so no wonder people get sick! It is definitely fall out. Foggy mornings and cold evenings. Today's morning fog is still here and it is afternoon so don't know what that tells us!

Autumn Transparency

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autumn_transparency/

The above is my favorite fall theme. I actually have it on twice. The first time I put it on line I didn't have Photoshop and couldn't clean it up as well as this one. I have been trying to edit the first/old one but Mozilla has a bug and I can't edit it. I think perhaps because it is an older one, I really don't know. So I re-did it and put it on again so at least I can use it.

Well, I am starting to wear down and the clock tells me it is lunch time, so better find something to eat.

Dreary Dreary September Day

Kitten Prayer

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/kitten-prayer/

Last week was just gorgeous. This week has started out dreary and rainy and just plain yukky! The Seahawks kicked butt yesterday, though so that was good! But I hope the little kitty above is praying for more sunshine. Mama needs it!

 

I have been working all morning and was getting kind of down so I started my music and that always makes me feel better. I get most of my music from Amazon, one song at a time. Just got the latest Sheryl Crow song, "Easy". Really like it, too. Most all of my music is country, but since Sons of Anarchy is my favorite TV series, I have downloaded some, but not all of the music from the show. Some of it is too 'hard rock" or whatever they call it now.  We just finished watching all 5 season of the show again. Can't wait till next August when Season 6 comes out. I keep telling my husband, I have to live long enough to see the final episode of SOA!

 

I love reading mystery books and read them on the Nexus 7 I won from Brand Thunder. I found a site called Freebook Sifter. You can sign up for emails and they send out a list every day of hundred of free books. The books are actually on Amazon so easy to get on your e-reader. The problem is I find one or more every day and can't read that fast. But I found out if you find one you like you better get it that day, cause it won't be free the next day. There was one yesterday I kind of thought my husband would like and didn't get it. Yesterday it was free, today it was $9.99! Live and learn, I guess. So he won't be reading it!

 

You all have a great week. I guess I will have my afternoon coffee and get back to work. See ya soon!