Hockey Season has Begun

Jimmy is playing Varsity Hockey at Catholic Central this year.  Season opener last night against Orchard Lake St. Mary's.  CC won 3 to 2 in a packed Rink.  There was a tournament on the other rink so we saw lots of our hockey friends.  It was a great night all around.

Football 2009

Michael's 2nd year of football, covered in bruises, every muscle and bone beat up but the kid still loves it and can't wait for next year!  It is definitely a guy thing.

Hopping Mad MAMA

Since my post on the 28th regarding Ryan and his latest, hopefully last, fight with an IED I have been trying to assist him and the guys receive the care they deserve along with the respect and compassion which by all communications seems to be absent.  The guys remain in the wounded warrior tent enduring headaches which Ryan rates as a 15 (on scale 1-10), lightheaded, occasional nausea, neck and back pain, irritability, sleep problems and short term memory loss.  Ryan has exhibited this memory loss in our conversations, in one he talked of a letter from his Dad that I put in a box full of Halloween treats for him to share...he talked of the letter but knew nothing of the other items until I asked about the bouncy balls and he said something like, oh I have that in my hand.  I received an email with the names of other guys not well and feeling like no one is giving them any answers or monitoring them as they should.  They have not even had a tent medic.  Hmmm short term memory loss soldiers taking care of themselves and no one monitoring the meds they are taking.  Of course since they have short term memory loss is what they say or think is happening even accurate? I believe it is when I found out that the FOB commander thought they were in Germany and stateside rear detachment commander thought they were at the FOB and no one in the army at any time notified family that these men are injured and at Kandahar and what their treatment plan is. 

Enters major frustration today...Wounded Warrior Resource Center said they could make contact and at the least follow up with plan of care, they contacted Medic Command in Texas whom say they can do nothing and contacted Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline whom say they can do nothing until/unless I do not get answers through Senator Levin's office.  A Congressional Official is as high as you can go.  I am waiting to find out whom Senator Levin's aide contacted and what are potential outcomes of that interaction.  I don't wait well, I am more the lets take care of it now type...especially when someone is not well and my interpretation from what I have been told and read is that they are receiving sub-standard care and published Army Standards for TBI are not being followed.

Hope my internal screaming is not piercing your ears!

QuicKutz 2009 Holiday Gift Set: Santa's Workshop

I had so much fun creating this album using Wintergreen from Santa's Workshop.  I took fall photos in the yard that afternoon then made this fun album that night.  The scalloped edge page insert cut right through my photos making fast and easy photo pages.

I started off the album with a photo of the front of our home. I used the font Harvest to create address.

I caught Pooh,our 14 year old cat returning from his daily hunt. The ReUse gift set from spring made great fall trees. I loved scattering the leaves.

The file pocket looks great when you cut one from cardstock and back it with pattern paper.  I plan to tuck in photos of our family.  Tulip Tree was cut form Santa's Workshop font. 2 days later that tree was bare.

The spines are fun to use on pages as well as outside the book.  The final page of the book is the back view of our home along with a vellum quote from Die Cuts with a View.  "Where we love is Home, Home that the feet may leave, but not our hearts. Oliver Wendell Holmes"

Our tiny girl Juliet.

Juliet is our little talker, she greets you with barks and whimpers when she snuggles.

Our Sweet Havanese Boy

Romeo

Scrappin Time

Since it is fall and we have been too crazy busy to hit the pumpkin patch I pulled some photos from 2005.  Natalie was here and we went to a couple cider mills and were pretty wound up when we hit Jenny's fruit stand between Pinckney and Dexter. They had lots of pumpkins and being silly and thinking about Ryan and how much fun he would have had we bought a pie pumpkin and proceeded to play Pumpkin Football.  One year we hope Ry and Erin can join us.

For you scrappers this mosaic technique is super easy when you use Wish in the Wind's Mosaic paper as your foundation.  Have lots of pictures at your disposal, and cut into 1inch squares then glue onto background.  You don't have to use every square, flow them so the photos blend into one another. Of course my title, football and pumpkin are all QuicKutz.

Where have I been?

Since I last posted I have been to 4 wonderful Quickutz events, volleyball games, a hockey game, football games, many physical therapy appts and experienced my first "joint injection".  I wonder how much to blog about...but the title says we are crazy busy so I guess I'll share...I can't forget to add in Jimmy getting stitches in his chin, homecoming, Jenna spraining her arm at volleyball and Jim getting the flu.  Where's Michael?..steering clear of the chaos.  Yesterday Ry's Bride, Erin, received a letter from Ry with sd card loaded with photos.  Her favorite and mine is Ryan and his machine gun.  He is a Gunner, his Stryker unit is even labeled with his name.
Mike and Jimmy are off to Lion's game with Grampa Bob. I am going to attempt to do a bit of yard clean up...don't worry I'll take some motrin first...haven't done anything since July.

Deployment Layouts

Mike, Jimmy, Jenna , Michael and I were able to go to Washington in July.  It was very important to me to be there for Ryan at his Deployment.  Everyone did well staying strong.  Newlyweds Erin and Ry held it together. We all had teary moments but we did our best to hold them back, I even saw Ry biting his lip when standing with his Dad.  Erin's Mom, Sister Jamie and son Matthew were there too. I am glad Ryan had so many people there that love and respect him.

Missed Ryan's call

Boo hoo, I missed Ryan's phone call from Kandahar.  Erin shared that the guys were able to make a supply run and a day's R&R.  I am just happy he is hanging in there. 2 months down and 3-4 to go until leave.  I continue to monitor a few of my favorite sites on the internet for updates on Afghanistan.  Senator Levine, great man that he is, can really get me going when I read his objections to sending additional troops.

Distressed Scarecrow

This Scarecrow from QuicKutz was just the right element for this fall layout.
After I cut the shapes from card stock with Rev-0129-S Scarecrow, I inked the edges of the flower and scarecrow face with Rangers Distress Ink frayed burlap.  For his cheeks I applied a dab of pink chalk. Then I assembled him on my Craft Sheet.  After assembly I applied Rangers Crackle Accents to the entire surface, I was generous with the amount, I wanted nice deep cracks.  It took about 4 hrs to dry.  I applied a dry adhesive to scarecrows neckline to place pieces of rafia, then I wrapped a piece around neckline and tied in a knot.  It was fun to pull some old photos (circa 1994) to put this layout together...

Ouch!!

A lesson I recently learned is that there are some fears in life we do not need to overcome. Horses are such beautiful powerful animals....they are stubborn too and can cause some damage if they don't get their own way. Feeling brave I took a very brief walk on my Girl friend's horse Liberty. Wanting to go back to the barn she took off full steam down a hill and when I firmly pulled back on the reins and said Whoa she let me know she was the boss and bucked me off! Owe...this happened July 30th...I was turning the corner and on the mend when my R leg pulled it's own stubborn fit and it became too painful to walk or bear weight. I am now in the hospital for pain control and to get the appropriate referrals in place. Anxious to get home and return to Mom duty as well as my new role as a Quickutz Ambassador. More about that soon.

Prayers for our Soldiers

Ryan, our eldest son, is in Afghanistan. If you are following the news you know they held their elections today and our military has been instrumental in providing safety for the citizens to vote. Hopefully Ryan is free from harm and resting safely right now. Please Pray for Ryan and all of our soldiers.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog...I am totally overwhelmed, don't know where to start...yet excited. You will see lots of changes as this process progresses...hang in there and lets have some fun.