Wednesday, February 29, 2012

My Life–Week ending 2/28/12

This has certainly been an interesting week.  I got through my mom’s 5 year angel-versary.  William and I had some time where we could play outside.  He is very into trucks and dirt and pretending aspects of real life.  One of his favorite outside games is to get in his car or on his trike and pretend to go through the drive thru – he orders anything and everything – always with a side of fries Smile at least we know where his heart lies lol.  our indoor time has been spent playing with water in the kitchen sink, playing in the tub with shaving cream, playing in the tub period.  he is a total water baby!!  William got an early birthday present which is one of those carpets with the roads and stuff on it.  He is figuring out how much fun we can have with it.  I usually have Saturdays off but both Rich and Sammy had to work so William and I played – as much as we could – my back has decided to be out.  it sux mostly because it really limits what I can or cannot do not only with William but for any aspect of life. 

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Sunday Sammy and Rich went out for an actual date night.  William and I played for a while then cuddled up and watched The Lion King and Aladin on tv.  it was nice because Sammy and Rich got home right as Aladin ended so they got to say goodnight to William and put him to bed. 

as for me this last week, between my back, my mom’s 5 year angel-versary and just my normal depression I spent a lot of time just sitting in my room reflecting on life and where I want it to be heading (and coloring).  my long term goal is to be self sufficient with artsy type projects and be able to work from home and still have my own apartment and be able to pay my bills and I don’t know maybe eat once in a while too lol.  I am also looking very forward to going to Wild West Showdown in Bremerton this upcoming weekend.  it is 3 days of roller derby with teams from all over the US.  it was a blast last year and I know it will be again.  I get to go since my sister Jaymee is one of the EMT’s for the whole weekend and I am her plus one – it is my late birthday present and I love it!!  Well hopefully this upcoming week will be just as eventful for me – until then,

peace and luv to all

laura

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Genealogy–Ancestry dot com

Hello all, today I am going to talk about genealogy.  now this is a subject I could go on and on about and as much as I know there is still that much more to learn.  I love learning about my family history as well as my friends families histories.  one of the most used genealogy resources is Ancestry.com.  And I use it as well as several other resources and programs.  I absolutely love ancestry just for it’s ease of use, however, I don’t like that by clicking the cute little shaking leaves and adding what seems to make sense to you to your tree can invite people to then message you and tell you how wrong you are.  it is supposed to be a tool, and I, like many others, use it as a quick start point.  yes, I go through and add info from the shaking leaves without really verifying any of it.  yes, I now know that is not the right way to be working on my tree.  so I have a new tree, that is on my computer only, where I have started over and am adding all info and verification as I go.  but it is still fun to go play with the shaking leaves!!  because you never know what you might find – photos, stories, new family members, new news articles and the list goes on and on and on.  do I think ancestry charges too much?  yes I do, and I have to be very careful on my limited income so there are months that I have to cancel and then reinstate it when I can afford it for a month or two again.  I would think that with as many people using it and with it’s ever growing popularity due to the series “Who do you Think you Are?” that they could afford to cut their prices some, but it is not my business to run and therefore I pay it when I can and love it while I have it.  the biggest thing I think I have learned in this process of learning about genealogy is to never assume that what someone else states is a fact.  always take the time to verify things for yourself.  that way when others come to you and disagree with what you have you will be able to say to them, yeah I get where you are coming from as that is the family story, however, blah blah blah…….. they might not like it but if you have the proof to back it up it is hard to keep arguing about it.  with that said, I will let you all go (and hopefully find out one new fact about your family).
peace and luv to all,
laura

Monday, February 27, 2012

Journaling Prompt of the Week

Hello all – this is a new thing for me to coincide with my new project of making altered journals out of composition books and selling them with a years worth of weekly prompts geared to different groups of people who would be writing in them.  I will hopefully be rolling out my website and getting this all off the ground on March 1st. 
This week with my family weighing heavy on my mind, I decided to go with a family heritage prompt.
What were the names of your mother’s parents?  When and where were they born, where did they live?

My mother’s parents were Jessie Jane Burns and David Claiborne Whitehouse.  Jessie was born in 1912 in Illinois and David was born in 1914 in Louisville, Kentucky.  My grandmother grew up in Decatur Illinois living with her parents on a farm until her mother passed away in 1923.  After that her father sent both her and her disabled sister Fern to live at the Girls Welfare Home in Decatur Illinois.  Fern died there and my grandmother left there are age 18 (I think).  My grandfather lived mostly in Louisville Kentucky, but when he was 6 his family was living in Denver Colorado while his father was working for the railroad.  By the time he was 16 they were living back in Louisville.
I hope you all have enjoyed this little peek into my family, have fun discovering yours.
Peace and luv to all,
Laura

Sunday, February 26, 2012

My Heritage–My Mom

Where to even begin?  My mom was born in 1946 in Louisville, KY.  My grandparents had either already split up or were on the verge of splitting up when my mom was born.  My mom lived her first few years with “Gramma Cruzie” this was like a modern day foster home, but it was before foster homes.  I know that this time in my mom’s life instilled into her a great fear of thunder and lightning (when she was little and a storm rolled through, Gramma Cruzie would huddle with all the children under the old spring bed until it was over) as well as a penchant for hoarding (Gramma Cruzie apperantly was a hoarder and lived in clutter).  She also had some anger towards my grandmother for visiting but always leaving her there.  My mom moved in with my grandmother and her sisters somewhere around the age of 5 or 6.  My mom spent a lot of summers traveling to Washington state to stay with her Auntie Nano (her father’s sister) in Enumclaw.  I know that when she was growing up that the family was Catholic – my mom was a “lapsed” catholic all my life.  I know my  mom took accordian lessons.  When my mom was in high school she met and fell in love with my father.  They used to dance in ballroom dance compititions as well as enjoyed bowling and cars – they both loved cars and racing all my life.  My mom instilled in me that life is to be lived, not to be wanting to live, she gave me my love of nature, she helped me to believe that anything is possible – I am not saying that life was all peaches and cream because it wasn’t.  but after I had my son we worked a lot of things out and she became one of my best friends and my biggest supporter – no matter how many mistakes I made along the way.  She passed away 2-22-07 after a week long coma after her colon burst.  this was unfortunately an unexpected complication of her kidney failure that she had been on dialysis for for over 6 years.  I still miss her very much to this day, and wish she was still here – even knowing that now she is in a better place with no more pain.  that is how humans are – selfish to the very end.  I honestly could write pages and pages about my mom, but for time and space considerations, I am going to end it here.  Know that it is not an end by any means, and I will wright more about her in later posts.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Daytona 500 Sunday,

peace and luv to all

laura

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Cemetery Talk

So, yeah I am one of those people that like cemeteries.  They are just such peaceful places to wander and gather my thoughts.  Also there is some amazing art in them if you just take the time and look. I love to wander and take photos usually of gravestones that catch my eye, but other times of animals or people or flowers.  I have not been exploring in way too long, but plan on fixing that really soon.  Auburn which is very close to where I live now, has a couple cemeteries that I have never experienced so those will be great adventures for me.  today’s photos are from the Brinnon Cemetery in Brinnon, WA.  I liked this cemetery as it was off the beaten path and contained so much history of the town of Brinnon including the Brinnon family.

Our first headstone is for St. Elmo Russell 1903 – 1959.  This stone intrigued me because it says St. Elmo on it. 

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our second stone for today is for William G Walker 1856 – 1912 (Here Rests a Woodman of the World)  I love stones with birth dates in the 1800’s – living in western washington those are usually the oldest dates – yes there are earlier graves of native americans but they don’t usually have dates if you can even find them.  also when it comes to native american graves I try to always ask before taking photos so that I don’t break any of their customs and rules.

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and in closing, an angel – I love cemetery statues, angels are my favorite but I love finding all the little trinkets that loved ones leave.

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as always, peace and luv to everyone,

laura

Friday, February 24, 2012

My week with Pinterest

Ok everyone, Fridays are now all about my Pinterest addiction!  because sharing my pins with all those on Pinterest is not enough, I want to share them with blogger people too. 
Ok this week I found items for alllll my catagories, but will limit myself to 5 each week on here (if you want to follow me on Pinterest click here)
Craft Ideas to Try; I found the cutest playroom type chairs made out of used tires.  Unfortunately the entire site it is from is in spanish so I still don’t know how to make them, but I am still working on figuring it out Smile
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Ideas for the Munchkins: while my son is grown and on his own, I am nanny to a wonderful little boy who will be three soon as well as auntie to several nieces and nephews – most preschool age or younger.  I found this great idea to add food coloring to bubbles and blow bubbles onto a piece of paper for bubble art.  but I am waiting for nicer weather to try it as it seems like an outside project to me.
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Hair, nails and makeup: Peacock Nail Art – I used to always have amazing nails that I did myself, I am not sure why I quit, but I love these nails and really want them!!
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Genealogy - Old Masons Home, Shelbyville, KY – this is where my great grandfather lived his last few years and he eventually died here.  It was interesting to me to find that they are still there, my next trip to KY I will have to go see it in person.
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Flowers - Pink Tulips, photo by Veronica Spriggs – these are pinned for my mom – she passed away 5 years ago on the 22nd.  She loved tulips and going to the tulip festival up by Mt Vernon, WA every year.
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I hope everyone had a great week,
peace and luv to all
laura

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Barbie & Ken Wedding

So today I am delving into what I have been working on with my digital scrapbooking, and while I have tons of photos that still need scrapped, I wanted to work on a wedding album.  But none of my friends or family have gotten married in the recent past nor are they getting married in the forseeable future, so here comes the Barbie and Ken wedding – I did not take these photos and do not want anyone thinking I did they are from Beatrice DeGuigne but I am having a great time with them Smile  I mean could there be a better couple who deserve a great wedding album more than Barbie and Ken?  Here are a few of the pages I have created so far – some are from freebie quick pages, but I always add to them at least a little. I forget where I get most of the freebies from as I have been getting them for well over 4 years now – so if you recognize the work please let me know Smile 
dress and shoes copy
hair ready copy
ken getting ready copy
through the years copy
I hope you all enjoy these,
peace and luv to all
laura

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

What William and I are learning this week

William is big into ocean life right now as well as dinosaurs- so we have painted the ocean with whales in it (at least William’s version of it) and we will be working on the letter W this week.  He can recognize almost all the letters now, and we will be starting some prewriting pages in the next few weeks.  I also have some toilet paper tubes that I will be punching holes in and giving him shoelaces to string to work on his hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.  If the weather gets nice we will go on a nature walk and see what we can see that points to spring.  As for me, I am working on my journals with prompts ideas and getting the website put together and stuff like that.  Here is a sneak peak as some of the journals I have created:
sample 6 copy
Each one will come with 52 prompts that are specifically for the type of journal you want.  The themes I have decided to go with are:
  • Teens
  • elementary age
  • family heritage
  • life story
  • relationship building
  • art journal
  • self esteem
  • travel
  • Christian
  • Wiccan
  • Native American
I will let everyone know when they are ready for sale. 
Peace and luv to all,
Laura <3

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Changes to my blog :)

Hello everyone,

As you can see, I have been MIA for a while.  I have been working very hard on organizing my thoughts for not only this blog but for the one that will be part of my Journal selling site.  I have also been working on getting my site up and ready to go.  Anyway, I have a tentative schedule for what I will be posting about:

Monday = Journaling

Tuesday = Genealogy

Wednesday = My Life

Thursday = Digital Scrapbooking

Friday = Pinterest Highlights from the week

Saturday = Cemeteries

Sunday = My Heritage

Hopefully I will be able to stick to this schedule and even prewrite some so that I don’t forget (sometimes these ideas creep up on my at the weirdest times). 

Anyway just a little bit about what I have been up to lately, watching William takes up most of my days and it is such a joy to see him growing into the little person he is turning into.  Right now I think his favorite phrases are “What’s that”, “play in the bath” and the always famous “NO”.  We are working on potty training, letter and number recognition as well as I try to have him do something special for the holidays that come up to give to mommy and daddy.  For Valentine’s Day we made foam hearts and painted them with glitter glue and painted rocks with water colors and glitter glue.

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Also I have been working hard on getting my journaling prompts into categories so that they are all nice and ready to print as needed.  I didn’t realize I had collected so many over the years!!  I also had a birthday (we will not mention which one here lol) and spent the day playing with William then my sister Jaymee came over and we went to dinner and hung out at the mall for a while.  We stopped in at Williams Ave Pub but there was no one there so we came home and hung out here until she had to leave to drive back to the Port Townsend area.  My son found out that his whole life when he has been treated for Attention Deficit Disorder, that it was probably masking his symptoms of Bipolar Disorder.  He is now getting his appointments to get that dealt with as well as his depression and health issues.

Well I think that is about it for my life lately,

peace and luv to all,

Laura <3

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

did you ever just want to yell redo and get to start over?

I think everyone should do just that every once in a while.  Lord knows I do it all the time, in my genealogy research, my general life, my trying to have a home business and even in trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.  I don’t know about you, but growing up in the greater seattle area in the mid 70’s to mid 80’s there was a lot of emphasis on career in school.  it started with career day in elementary school, then in middle school it was career week and once you got to high school you needed to already be choosing a career so you could take the correct classes to work towards that lifelong goal.  I think that idea was probably good on paper, but not in reality.  I am in my mid 40’s now and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.  somedays I am happy doing what I am doing, being a live in nanny for good friends.  then other days, I want to be a photographer or digital artist or do data entry from home or create one of a kind dolls or sew baby clothes or teach preschool to kindergarten.  I also have my days when I would like to be a home organizer, a wedding/party planner and my days when I want to go back to cubicle land and just put in my 8 hours a day and be done with it at the end of the day.   I just really don’t know what I want to do and I am not sure that it is fair to ask a teen to choose one thing and that is what they should be happy doing the rest of their working careers.  so on that note, I am revamping my All the Fine Details – which was formerly my digital scrapbooking site – into All the Fine Details – A year Long Journal Writing Experience for Everyone.  ok that was kinda longwinded so it will probably take a few hits before I am done and happy with it.  But that is what I am working on right now.  Getting ready to share my brilliance with the world once again Smile 

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I hope everyone is having a great day, week, month, year.

Peace and luv to all

Laura