Scrapbook Saturday

Here are the AYM layouts for the month of July:

Nancy's layout. She's doing a re-cap of the month which includes many pictures of the different activities.

She made a fold-out on the right side page to include more pictures.

Pam's layout. Pam did her layout on their family vacation.

She had a fold out on both sides.

Karolyn is a bit behind. This is her April layout. She does a through the years approach: Easter, Confirmation and First Communions.

Karolyn's May layout is all about graduations.

Susan's June layout. She focused on her garden.

Susan't July layout is all about their family vacations to Hilton Head through the years.

Here's mine. I do a search by month and see what pops up. For me, it was many pictures about my hives. I started getting them in 1999, but these pictures do not go back that far.

Join Us!

Join us in celebrating our 54th anniversary today! 

From this:

August 21, 1971 (19 & 20 years old)

Our 25th anniversary--1996

2021--50 years!

2025--54th anniversary. (73 & 74)

And the ride continues!!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

It's That Time of Year!

Back to school time!!!

I cannot believe that "the littles" are all grown up!!

Josie is in 4th grade this year and Evie is in 8th. She seems too young to be in 8th grade! She's taller than me for sure, but she'll always be that little girl to me. 

And then there's the boys! Travis is also in 8th grade this year. Even though he bleached his hair this summer, he still seems "little" to me. Nathan is in 5th--can you tell how happy he is about that?

They all will remain "the Littles" to me!

I hope the have a great school year!

Me on Monday

Last week, my friend, Diane brought me a gift from another friend, Lyn. When I opened it, I found this:

Well, if you know me, I’m highly excitable—especially when I get a new toy! I just had to delve in to the book right away. 

It was a vintage book--I love vintage books! But, I have quit buying books since I already have a library full. To have one gifted to me was a really special surprise. 

I have always loved books. Getting them as gifts at a young age were always my favorites. Plus, English literature has always been my favorite too. That started when my favorite Aunt Marie gave me Silas Marner and Jane Eyre at 8 years old! Yes, you read that right! They were a little beyond me then, but I did read them in the 5th grade! Next it was Agatha Christie and I never looked back! In fact, Wuthering Heights is my all time favorite book! "Oh Heathcliff..." sigh!

In this new (old) book--a diary of Charles Dickens trip---I found the section on St. Louis and had to laugh at how “spot on” it was!

In 1832, Charles Dickens was traveling by the Mississippi river through the mid-west which he found incredibly flat and boring (he actually said "uninteresting")! That’s funny because every time I go “home” I notice how flat and boring it is! When that’s where you grow up, you don’t know any difference until you leave and come back.

St. Louis was settled by the French (hence, St. Louis), so CD reported of the big French influence everywhere—especially all of the Catholics and churches. He stayed at a place called The Planter’s House that was "built like an English hospital." I don’t really know what that means--I hope it's not that the beds are divided by curtains! 

As I always do, I had to research it--the hotel  no longer exists. Eventually—long after CD would have been there, the cocktail, Planter’s Punch was invented at that hotel bar.

Although CD was impressed at St. Louis’ three "free" schools in 1832, he found St. Louis, hot, swampy, full of mosquitoes and not particularly interesting. 

I have to admit that I mostly agree with Charles. He was far too early to have experienced just about the BEST Italian food in America! I know that’s quite a statement, but I stand by it!

Lyn, thanks again for this interesting book. It’s going to make a nice addition to my Dickens table at Christmas—not to mention a great conversation starter as now I know something new that ties Charles and me together!! 

I’m happy to celebrate him every year. In 2024, we raised a glass of the bubbly to him with my toast: “I wonder if Charles Dickens could ever dream that there would be a group of ladies from Nashville, Tennessee celebrating him 180+ years after the publication of A Christmas Carol. Here’s to you Chuck!”

Thanks to Lyn for the book and to Diane for delivering it to me!

Something for Sunday

Wednesday was unusual for us. Unusual in that it was full of fun "thank you" gifts!

This came from "The Swim Gals"--the name my friend, Susan coined in her sweet note to Butch. 

My friends got this collection of ice creams for him as a "thank you" for all his work in getting the pool ready for us every week. I'm grateful for that too! This gift was perfect for him as he LOVES ice cream. He eats it very sparingly--this will last him nearly a month--well, unless I help him. I usually leave the ice cream to him since he loves it so much. For me, I can pass on ice cream unless it's the only sweet in the house--or Pecan Jack's at the beach!

Later the same day, this beautiful flower arrangement arrived.

It's from my granddaughters for the fun trip we had at the beach. They are sweethearts for sure!! I love flowers!

This was the first "thank you" I got that day. It's from my cute, little, 6 year old friend, LaRue. She is the granddaughter of my friend, Nancy.

She painted me this picture as a thank you after the beach trip with her parents. I'm so impressed at the detail of this. Look at that sun. I love how she did the rays. First of all, I would never have thought of that. And if I did, they would have been lines. Even that umbrella--she did such a good job with making the strips look circular. And the dog---OMGosh! Really, it's amazing. I love everything about this. 

She even painted the back.

She was quick to tell me that she had mis-spelled "thank you." Seriously--she's only 6. I think this is pretty darn good. She managed to make those outlined letters. I don't think I can even do that!

LaRue's parents gave us a gift card to Sperry's--our favorite steak place here in Nashville along with a nice note. 

A was a day full of fun surprises--and who doesn't love that??

Scrapbook Saturday

I saved my project to share today because--well--I didn't have anything else!

This was such a fun little project, but it took much longer than I thought. I'd say we probably spent about 6 hours on it. It will be a nice little remembrance of our trip.

Stephanie and Mindy want to make one too. We just have to figure out when and how much time they want to devote to it.