My Favorite Things

I'm so lucky to have a friend to correspond with. And she's so creative! The pictures and flowers are from a letter. Even the stamps are from old letters from her that I have stored in my grandfather's old trunk in the cellar.

Thank you, Anne!

Simon's Sketch Give-away

Simon held a raffle on his reading blog and I was the lucky winner of one of his sketches.

It's a perfect sketch for an English teacher with that Jane Austen box.

One of Those Weeks

Like the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times" describes my week.

The weather was absolutely beautiful for my spring vacation. My husband was painting his mom's house so I had all day to myself.

I did an equal amount of spring cleaning, computing, reading, and crafting. Perfect!

I got to spend a day playing with Kylie.

And the flip side of the coin? The contents of this page in my journal.

Ahhhh! Back to Journaling

I can't believe I haven't journaled for over a week! I actually started this page last week but, because we had company for supper Sunday night, I had to put all my craft supplies away.

And that's where they stayed while I did some spring cleaning. Yesterday, I just couldn't stand it any more so rearranged the dining room back into my craft room. Feels good!

Some Kylie Pics

Here's a happy Kylie riding her tricycle with Grampy right behind her. She and Erin came up Sunday evening for supper. Then Kylie stayed overnight and played with Grandma all day on Monday.










I love this picture of her but wish her hair hadn't been in her face! But she was having a blast playing on the swingset next door. Here she is at the top of the slide.

Books Galore!

Here's a look at the books I bought at Borders a couple weeks ago.

I finished The Poetry Life by Baron Wormser and loved it. You can read about it on my reading blog.

I gave Kylie Dirt on My Shirt and she showed it to her mom and said "He got dirt on hims shirt."

I'm in the middle of Crank. It's written in poetry about a young girl who gets caught up in drugs. I've seen many of my students reading it so figured I'd see what it was all about.

The Neruda book is stunning. I'm still working on it. It's the type of book I only want to read a page or two at a time so I can digest each poem.

Yes, I've been immersing myself in poetry lately, but it is, after all, National Poetry Month!

Hats, Handbags, and Heels

This is the result of the banner swap hosted by Lisa. What fun and the pennants are fabulous!

From left to right:

Amy's. Beautiful collage! Love the pearls at the bottom and the old-fashioned flavor to this!

Cindy T's. There is such life and vibrancy here! Love the added jewel as an earring and the way you put her purse on her wrist!

Cindy L's. This has a great 3-D golden purse on it! The lace adds a flirty bit and the old name card just makes it!

Mine: I really need to practice collage!

Lisa's. Love the mesh material added to her dress, the lace under the hat, and the sparklies on the purse. Very lighthearted with the lipstick and perfume!

Funeral Weekend

Guess I shouldn't take pictures at night! This came out way too dark. Kind of fitting, though, for a sad event.

The Shovel Handle?

I had never heard of this restaurant but it was a great place. Off the beaten path but worth the drive. The food was different and delicious. I had a chicken breast stuffed with cranberry stuffing and covered in a fruit sauce to die for!


This is my mothr-in-law with Kylie. They hadn't seen each other since Christmas.








I love this picture of Gary and Kylie. He just loves her and couldn't wait to hold her. It was a nice quiet moment for the two of them in the middle of all the goings on.











This is my niece, Alissa and her two boys, James and River. The little one got my curls!


It was so nice to see everybody. My sister, Alissa's mom, and her husband were up from Florida so we had a fun time catching up.

An Easter Card

This was an Easter card sent by my friends, Anne and her daughters, from Florida.

I didn't journal very much last week because I ended up going to Massachusetts for my uncle's funeral.

Hopeully, this week will be better!

A Bit Different

This page was fun to do. I wanted some kind of background with pink and green to match the flowers and just started painting.

So, even though I don't have any artistic talent, it's nice to know that I can just enjoy doodling designs.