AYM/April

In keeping with our "Back to School" theme this year, this month's topic was recess. The challenge was to use mist on the page. 

In Carla M's. words: "I used a clock mask on the white background paper you sent. I did not have a blue or pink spray, so I used green and then sponged some antique linen over the top to soften the background. I just learned how to make the flowers so I used the beautiful pattern paper for the flowers and the little pink hearts for the centers. I loved your idea of using the vellum holders for the journaling."

Her journaling:

As I ready myself to retire, I had to think about what I do now.  While I have so many interest and hobbies, this assignment allowed me to think about the ways I filled what little free time I have enjoyed through the years.

While Jim’s health is causing us to slow down, I find myself grateful for all of the ski trips, golf outings and time spent cruising the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. 

I hope to improve my piano playing skills once I do retire.  This is the one pastime that can always be improved upon.

I hope I never stop enjoying all the ways that I have found to spend recess.

I love Jeanne's use of the banners. On the left side, she used the negative space as a mask and misted those. 

 This is my page. My title is: "It's all about Hanging with Friends." I masked and misted my title. My journaling:

When we were kids, we looked forward to recess at school. Basically, for us that meant playing on the blacktop Church parking lot---no playground for us. We played dodge ball and jump rope until one of the 8^th graders stood on the top step of the school and rang the giant hand bell---signaling that recess was over.

Today, the activities have changed, but recess is still the same---it’s all about hanging with friends. We take trips together, float in the pool, have “Movie Mondays” and monthly cultural outings. The difference these days is that we have no one telling us when recess is over. In fact, every day is one long recess after another!!

 This is Susan's layout---"Recess Rocks."

"Play Time" was Erin's title. Her journaling:
"Recess! My favorite subject in school! I loved recess, from playing on the monkey bars and merry-go-round to swings and see-saws, I loved it all. As I got older, I would be playing basketball with the boys or organizing and playing in volleyball tournaments.  These pictures are of my brother Ryan and I playing on a playground  As you can see from the more recent pictures, you are never to old to be a kid! We took Drew to the park one summer day when he was 3 and had a blast.  We are looking forward to taking Nathan to the park one day also- I hope I can still do the monkey bars!" 
 
Hope you are doing well. Trying to start my blog, blogger is giving me a bit of a fit (I'm using my work PC) so my goal is to be a master by the end of the week. Have a great one!

Pam also chose "Play Time" as her title.

This is Carla B.'s layout from last month.

This is Susan's layout from last month---"do the Math"

Photo Scavenger Hunt

 This little group has dwindled. Seems there are only three of us that are taking the challenge each month.

AYM/Update

Somehow, I managed to overlook Erin's layout this month. That's okay because now she gets the whole post to herself!

Erin's journaling: On 2/19/14 our lives changed forever. I'll never forget hearing your first cries and seeing your poor crooked nose! The love you have brought into our hearts cannot be measured.

Another thing that Erin is doing to remember her son's first year---in her words:
This girl has a whole thing on her blog, she calls it project 52 pages. Each week you take the pics off your phone, make a collage with Pic Stitch, write the week over the collage with the Over App, and then at the end of the year make a shutterfly type book and you have a year in review. Perfect for a new baby! Since your always sharing cool things I thought I would share a new cool thing I learned :) www.kendahlthrockmorton.co

Great idea Erin!

 

March---Math

This month, the topic was "math." We're surrounded by numbers. I challenged the group to use a large number on their page. Great results.

"Run the Numbers" by Jeanne---she was the "early bird" this month.

Jeanne's journaling.

When my friends & I decided to rent a booth at the flea market in St. Peters we thought we would make some money on the stuff we would normally give to the Goodwill.  We had a couple of months to get everything together & priced.  I had a pile in the basement, a pile in the laundry room & a pile in the garage.  It took me 2-3 hours to get it all priced & boxed up.  I used Jim’s truck to load about 9 boxes & met Diana met at the venue the Friday afternoon before the flea market opened for the weekend.  It took us a couple of hours but we were glad we set our stuff up ahead of time because otherwise we would’ve had to be there at 7:00 Saturday morning to set up before it opened to the public at 9:00.

            When Saturday morning rolled around we met there (I brought bloody Marys) at around 8:00 & waited for Debbie & Donna to help them set up.  Donna was selling her homemade body butter so she only had 1 box.  Debbie got there late & had mostly shoes to sell.  After setting everything up we sat back & waited for the customers to buy up all our stuff.  And we waited!  And we waited!

            We met several other vendors and decided they had created their own little world.  We met Joe & Carol who had about 10 booths every weekend.  They sold furniture, knick knacks, computer parts & a variety of other items.  They were very nice to us & showed us the “ropes”.  We only got in trouble once when we were sitting in front of a closed booth that had all the items on the tables covered up.  A vendor a few booths down came & told us we couldn’t sit there because the owner was in the hospital & he was watching the guy’s stuff & he didn’t want anything to get broke.

            We took turns manning our booth so we each had plenty of time to go shopping.  We all bought something.  We enjoyed the food booths of freshly made Caribbean fare, Greek pastries & drinks.  I fell in love with the Greek cream puffs that looked kind of like Italian cannolis.  I bought a dozen for my Sunday dinner dessert, along with 2 round loaves of freshly made bread.

            We had fun sitting & chatting for 2 days.  We also had a few friends come to visit.  Unfortunately, we didn’t sell much & we were very disappointed.  That’s when I remembered why I stopped having garage sales.  They’re a lot of work for hardly any return.

            I packed up my stuff when the flea market closed on Sunday & took it to the Goodwill.   

 "The Original 7" by Janet. Her journaling: 1. Gene & Gerry Zimmermann became a couple and then parents of 7 children. 2. Easter with Grandma  & Grandpa Preli Joyce is just a baby. 3.A Christmas photo of the whole family 4. Grandma Zimmermann was grabbed for this family shot at Janice’s wedding. 5. All together before Mom & Joyce move to South Bend IN. 6. Christmas at Barb’s in Nashville TN 7. Lined up in birth order (youngest to oldest) Joyce, Matt, Jeanne, Jennifer, Janice, Ron and Barb, that makes The Original 7. ~Then comes The Next Generation~ Ranya I, Angie S, Sami I, Sandy E, Zack MZ, Mike RZ,- John S, Mindy E, Jackie RZ, Stephanie E, Jessica MZ, - Alicia MZ, Madison & Devon Smith

 This was Linda's layout from last month.

 "It's all in the Math" by Pam.

As usual Karolyn blew us away with the memorabilia she has on her layout "Go Figure." She has a little math exercise from when she was little as well as a grocery list written by the store clerk where it was "phoned in"---in the old days when you used to be able to do that.

I did a pie chart for my layout---"My Treadmill Desk is 70% Awesome." My journaling was taken from my blog.

 

Nineteen plus years ago, Jim and I were married on January 7, 1995 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.  Since it was the second marriage for both of us, we decided to elope and avoid trying to figure out where to have the wedding and who should be invited. 

We skied Heavenly that day until about 3 pm.  We then headed down the mountain, cleaned up and drove into town.  We had a lovely Mexican dinner that included fajitas and margaritas.  At about 8 pm we enjoyed a lovely ceremony at Harvey’s Wedding Chapel.

After skiing another day we headed across to San Francisco to enjoy the rest of our honeymoon.  We ran into substantial snowfall and ended up having to buy chains and pay some guy to put them on the car before the highway patrol would let us proceed.

Once in San Fran we toured the city.  The most memorable day was when we rented bicycles and road across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito.  After enjoying a lovely lunch and a look around we caught the ferry back across the bay to San Francisco.