POKEY PEAS CHALLENGE FOR September 2018

Good Morning Pokey's! I'm here with my coffee being quiet while DGS sleeps lol.

nylene - I'm going to say it everywhere I see it, I love this page! I'm pretty sure I'm going to scraplift it. I just love all the little touches and elements on it!

grammadee - I can't wait to see what you were up to while staying with your DGS. When I crop away from home I always need something I left behind to finish the page, so never fully complete anything. I bet you will be glad to be home.

@elaynef - While the construction is a bad deal, that's great you can still scrap! I'm looking forward to seeing your work.

I think about retreats, but I'm not sure how much I would get done. (as mentioned above) but it's always fun to be in a place with like minded people. I get together with my mom from time to time, but this summer got away from me. I need to plan something with her soon before winter is here. She's an hour away. I hope to have something to share soon lol.

I'm so happy to see all the new faces on the thread! I'm pokier some months more than others, but this month I'm trying hard to keep up with the sketch challenges.

grammadee , I finally have an idea for Sketch #1

LisaDV , I'm sorry DS is having a rough time with having to relocate. I'm sure it will all work out.

nylene , just hang in there hon. You two deserve a break from all this - it's one thing after another!

Waving hello to all of the new and old Pokey Peas  Fall is here. Tomorrow is a weed pulling day.

ETA, I had a lovely time tonight *sharing* the craft table with DD15. I cleared away a little bit of my mess and made a little bit of room for her, and what do you know? There was enough room for us to *both* use the table at the same time. She didn't need a whole table after all. Hmmm, do you think she'll remember that the next time I ask her to clear her stuff and make some room for me?

Good Morning!


msliz - That's so cool that your DD likes to craft too. I don't have any daughters, and that was always something I missed, having someone to share my love of crafting with. My oldest DS would get a little put out with me because I would try to snag his girlfriends lol.

nylene - how are thing? How is your DH doing? I hope things are settling down for you two.

grammadee - SNOW?! I'm sure it won't be much, but then again what do I know I don't live in Canada lol. It has finally cooled off here and we are having beautiful weather. I can finally turn off the A/C and have the place opened up. It's wonderful! It sounds like you have a lot to get done in the garden before that season is over.

woodysbetty - I was chatting with one of our dealers last week that said they are located across the street from The Villages in Fl. I thought of you! From some of the things he said, it sounds like a wild time there lol. I hope everything is well with you.

I'm so glad I joined in on the challenges They have helped get me out of my rut. And give me ideas to store away for later. It's fun and I love seeing what everyone does with them. As far as the team goes, I'm more pep squad than player I scrap so slow lol. And I do love the slower pace over here in this group.

Have a good day everyone!

Happy Tuesday! Hello ladies and welcome to the new ladies. My name is Kelly and I am married and live in California. I love making cards, scrapbooking and art. I look forward to seeing your creations.

Oh boy, we have so much activity going on here. Terrific! I am missing all the fun. I gotta go back and read all the chat and catch up. Be back later.

Happy Thursday/Friday! This week was uneventful but I did get some of those routine things done. Still in the home décor mode and hope to get more done. It has still been very warm out here but my new a/c has been keeping me cool at night. So happy for that!

@elaynef , so glad your scrap room isn't affected by the renovations. Hang in there! Glad to see you are making some progress. I like those aqua blue throw pillows.

patin , joyfulnana , justlisa7 - WELCOME! So happy to have you here and wishing you a fun time here with us Pokey Peas. I think I am the "pokeyist" of them all. LOL! I made a few cards recently but mostly I have been doing home décor and art.

nylene - Oh Nylene, keep taking care of yourself. You have a lot going on but you are doing a great job handling it all. Hugs! Not sure why the message you left for me on my blog didn't show. Don't worry about. I know you are proud of me.

LisaDV - That is a good suggestion you gave about covering my old wall furnace. It is just a tall one with the vent at the top and bottom. I saw these long wooden plaques with inspiring words on it at Burlington a while back. Then I thought of draping a curtain sheer on top and not long enough to touch the pilot. So, I hope to try a few things this weekend. Glad your dh new job is settled. I hope your move goes better than expected. Keep us posted!

Waving hi to all you lovely gals and wishing you a nice Friday!

Good Friday morning, Pokeys!

The snow is not nearly as bad as forecast. The ground was white yesterday morning, but it was gone by noon. Yard again has a dusting of snow this morning, but not the couple of inches we were warned about. At least yet. I hope to get some pages and cards photographed today. If the sun refuses to shine, I may need to use lamp light. Need to at least get a pic of my sample for tomorrow's sketch challenge.

I also need to address the thankyou cards for people who helped with, or brought gifts to, our anniversary party last month. They need to go into the post office today when we go in to meet a friend for supper.

Hoping your drive to school has not been too bad, justjac. I have been missing our visits and my trips into Lloyd to shop at the LSS and Michaels . Thought we may have been able to get there today b/c dh had a family event there, but he does not want to venture out on wet/snowy roads, so we are staying home.

How much is Hurricane Florence impacting you, msliz? Maybe some of you can't fathom snow in the forecast, but I can't imagine the onslaught of 40 inches of rain in one day!!! And the winds! Stay safe!

How are your moving plans going, LisaDV? Hoping that ds will be more comfortable with it if he can get back to the farm from time to time.

I have been loving all your pages this month, nylene, even though you are so busy driving your dh to work and to his appointments. Glad the sketches are helping you come up with ideas, and that you have enough time to put them together. How are your own eyes doing? Please look after yourself!

Happy that your redecorating plans are going the way you like, kellyr21, and that you enjoy the process. Decorating is a lost cause for me: most of the time this house just looks like a colossal MESS! Is that a decorating style?

Sounds like you have a busy Nana weekend ahead of you, joyfulnana. Those are the best kind! Especially if you can retreat to your own home with the photos to scrap them afterward!

Waving hello to everyone else, and wishing you a good weekend.

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been a lurker this month. I tread everyone’s news on my phone, but somehow typing a long reply seems easier on my laptop. But here I am on my phone anyway. Welcome joyfulnana, patin, and justlisa7. I’m Jacqueline, a 43 year old wife and teacher. We don’t have kids, but I have two beautiful nieces who feature pretty prominently in my scrapbooks. I live a little over an hour away from grammadee in Canada. It has been snowing off and on for days, but it has melted nearly immediately. I started scrapbooking in 2001. I’m actually taking part in a public speaking event who’s theme is Craft. I’m going to be talking about scrapbooking for about 6 minutes on Thursday.

grammadee I have missed seeing you, too! @woodybetty and LisaDV good luck with the moves. I was so happy when we got married that DH wanted to move into my house instead of me into his. No moving!

nylene thanks for asking about school. The first month is pretty crazy. Class is full, but I've still had a dozen people apply. I wish we could crop together, too. It would be so fun.

I’ve got to go. I’m accompanying DH to a model train show in the big city, and we have arrived! I will add more later.

Waving to @elaynef and kellyr21 and everyone else.

grammadee , wonderful pages. Love the sunglasses on the August title. How did the scarecrow making go with dgs? Did he love it? Is the garden all taken apart? I can believe snow, I just don't want it in September. We did get it on Halloween a couple of years ago. Just, no! But like you say, I will take that over 40" of rain in one day and high winds.

justjac , I hope the crazy from back to school calms down soon. A model train show sounds like fun.

nylene and patin , I hope you are living it up at your weddings this weekend.

kellyr21 , my recommendations for covering the heater comes from years and years moving to new locations and lots and lots of apartments. Uneventful weeks are good weeks in my book.

msliz , are you still sharing your workspace? Or did you get pushed out?

joyfulnana , I hope you had a wonderful visit yesterday. What's on the plan for the rest of the weekend?

woodysbetty , how are you?  Sending lots of love your way with all the goodbyes you've had to say recently.

Waving hi to @elaynef and justlisa7 .

I've had so much anxiety over the move that no crafting has been getting done. Well that and I'm taking the lead on dd's school again. She has been trying to do it her self the last few years and she was so sick that she couldn't stay on track. So now, I read all the assignments outloud again. I much prefer it, as I then don't have to go before or after and read it so I know what she read. It's also lots of extra snuggle time, which is always good. Also we seem to have appointment after appointment scheduled this month so that we can get it all taken care of before moving.

Yesterday the four of us sat down and went through all of the houses I had saved. I had also made an excel spreadsheet of them to compare cost, bed/bath, SF, estimated taxes, and important to me criteria like not being able to really see your neighbors house (privacy fence/hedges), fireplace, rec/family room that is entertainment worthy, etc. DH added a cost per square foot column. We narrowed down to 7 must see houses and have another 13 in case those sell or don't hit the mark. Some of my more cost conscience choices already went contingent or sold since the beginning of the month. However, just having that accomplished has set my mind at ease and I completed 3 layouts today, although I really should have been doing other things.

Unfortunately, I've really fallen down on the commenting in thread and in flickr. I don't think it will happen until next weekend.

I still have a batch of tomatoes to pick and can which I hope to get to this week in between school and appointments. Plus I'm hoping to get a realtor lined up to show us houses on Thursday. We'll go stay with MIL since she is close to that area. But the youth deer hunt is Saturday/Sunday, and we have to be back for that. This also means the rest of the family will be out of my hair during the day, so I should get some crafty time.

Oh, and thanks for all of the concern and well wishes for DS to feel better about the move. He is starting to come to terms with it. One of my favorite houses is on the St. Joseph River. He loves the idea of a house on the river. Not that we'll end up with one, but we will be looking at 2.

You may just get some likes for a while instead of responses. Forgive me. Hugs.

Good morning, Pokeys.

A sad day out here at the farm. We will have to take our oldest dog to the vet today and have her put to rest. We are not sure of her age b/c she was brought here by our ds in 2004 after his bil could not keep her in their new appartment, but I think she is at least 15 years old.

She had been slipping this summer, having difficulty getting around, but for the most part happy and content. We decided earlier in the summer that we would take her to the vet to have her put to rest before winter came. She is an outdoor dog and the winters here are cold. While I was gone earlier in the month dh thought he may need to do it then, but she rallied and was back to her old happy self the next day. But this cold wet weather has been really hard on her. Still she has been coping, eating, drinking, sleeping a lot, but basically okay.

This morning, she has been vomiting and really uncomfortable. I called the vet when they opened, and they told me we could bring her in this afternoon. Dh was not quite ready to do this, and was upset when he got home from town and I told him I had called the vet. But after he went to check on her, he realized that it is indeed time. He is out with the tractor now, digging a grave so that we can bring her back and bury her near our garden, where the other farm dogs have been lovingly placed at the end of their days.

Many sympathies, grammadee.

Life has been crazy busy the last couple of weeks. My mother-in-law had a massive stroke and passed away. It was unexpected and so sad. We were in NY for the funeral (we live in a Florida) and got back Monday night. Been hard on my husband. She was a lovely lady and so involved in her community and church. Loved by many.

My daughter had her baby this evening. The baby (a boy - Ryder James), is having a little trouble and in the NICU but praying it’s a very short stay in it because he is already doing better. . Third boy and third c-section and she got her tubes tied. She is doing well. Ryder is just so beautiful and precious! So loved already. Once they are out of the hospital she will be staying with us for the first week so we can help. Her husband works and goes to school - so we will all help out.

Got my grandsons to bed late as we were all at the hospital and they are staying will us. I have to get them ready for school in the morning. Haven’t done that in years. 😉 PreK and Kindergarten. They are wonderful little boys and so excited for a baby brother!

Hope you are all doing well and will hopefully find some time to catch up on the boards, admire layouts and eventually (end of next week probably) - scrapbook again!

Take care!

justlisa7- You have had a very emotional week, with the highest of highs( congrats on Baby Ryder) & the lowest of lows- so sorry for the loss of your dear MIL. Thank you for letting us know.

grammadee- It sounds like your dog was truly loved by you & your DH. Hugs to you. I think its lovely that you bury them near your garden on your farm. They probably spent hours there keeping you company & will continue.

nylene- our DGD's wedding was beautiful. I've included a couple of pics. Your family majors in redheads. Ours majors in twins & yes my DGD who is a fraternal twin married an identical twin.

lisa- I love your positive outlook on house hunting. I'll pray you get a home by the river.

justjac & grammadee- I would be so disheartened by snow. September is glorious here & I think it has been warmer here this Sept. Than it has been most of the summer.

justjac- is your DH a railroader? My DH was, as was his Dad & both of his grandfathers & his grandmother. I love hearing about the old rail lines.

@elaynf- good luck on all the home repairs. I hope they go quickly & are less $$ than you have been quoted.

joyfulnana- it sounds like you are thoroughly enjoying your grand. Isn't it fun?