An Apology, A Couple Layouts and a Gift

I've probably been the worst hostess ever. I never imagined that when I decided to hostess this week that it would be such a busy week for me. Between the yard sale and getting ready for the big move, I've barely found time to sleep. I think I'm at a grand total of 20 hours for the entire week, let alone scrap and open up to all you Scrapping Garden fansI hope to chose another week to hostess again in the very near future so I can share some before and after pictures at our house, as well as to share more of myself with you all. That will definitely be after the move and after Kathryn starts school in August though. That way I know I can have my life all situated.

But, since I'm here, I thought you all might like to see the layouts that I've done this month with Michelle Rodriguez's wonderful mini kit Day Dreamin'

This first layout is from when I got together with my best friend and her kids. It is Kathryn and Erica's oldest daughter Grace.

And this second one is from my cousin's wedding two years ago.

The first picture is me dancing with the bride during the dollar dance. The middle is my Mom, my cousin Cindy (sister of the groom) and my cousin Jason (the groom). Finally, the last picture is my brother dancing with Jason during the dollar dance. Our entire family is crazy, as you might well be able to tell.

Now finally, here is what I know you all are looking for, my gift to you all for being so patient with me: Falling quickpage (sorry, this link has expired)

And here is a preview of the gift you'll be receiving:

Hope to visit with you all again soon,
Dorann

I'm Sorry

So sorry I've been letting everyone down.
I've been busy preparing for a yard sale with a friend this weekend. And all of the stuff is at the new house so I can't even write a post while I'm over there.
It's okay though, maybe I'll make a few extra scrapping dollars and I know I'll get rid of some clutter.

I promise a good post for tomorrow (or today depending on how you look at it) and hopefully I'll be able to prepare a gift for everyone too.

Just Stopping By To Share Some Pictures

Almost a year ago, Tom gave me a Canon Rebel for our anniversary. Since I got the camera I've taken over 2500 pictures. Most of them are of the kids, but I've also taken pictures of some random things as well.

That said, I have some pictures from this month that I'd love to share with you all.

First off, I'll share a picture of my family. This was taken in May, and it was the first time we've had a family picture done since Paul was born. Thank goodness for my tripod and timer on the camera.

This month we also got together with my best friend who moved to Texas last year. We hadn't gotten to see them since then, and it was the first time that I met her youngest daugther. Here are a couple of pictures from that day.

That was our group picture from the day. From left top it is Paul, my brother Michael, my niece Lilliana. Bottom Erica, her daughters Elizabeth and Grace, Kathryn, Erica's son Zach, and myself.

And finally Erica and I with our babies. Her with Elizabeth and me with Paul.

It is dark because I haven't been able to edit them yet.

I also want to share just a little bit about Erica. She is the best friend that a girl can have. We've been friends for 25 years now. Since we were both 3 years old. She was there for me when my dad died when I was 14 and was a bridesmaid in my wedding. She was able to cry with me when I had a miscarriage on the same day that she announced she was pregnant with her son. We would both have been due on the same day. And she is Godmother to my rainbow baby, Paul.

Hi Everyone

Well, this is my first time blogging here at TSG. And I'm not sure how many of you know me, so I'll start with a little bit about myself.

I'm Dorann, better known as dorannmwin, or Mommy, or Woman. LOL. I'm mommy to two wonderful children, Kathryn who is five and Paul who is 21 months, wife to a wonderful husband of nearly four years. Our anniversary is coming up next week. And furmommy to two furbabies, Michaela and Jasmine.
Right now our family is in the long process of moving into our first house. We started the process of buying our house in October of last year and finally closed on it in February of this year. Since we've bought the house, we've done a lot of work to it. We gutted the bathroom, stripped out all of the flooring on the first floor and had a new heating and air-conditioning unit installed. We hope to start moving our stuff over there this week. However, we can't stay there yet because of two things. First off, we don't have the bathroom done, so there is no toilet. And, more importantly, we don't have an internet connection over there yet. I refuse to live at a house without internet.

So, how have your summer's been going? Ours, busy busy. We've spent a lot of time at playgroup activities and working on our house. And, in our spare time, we love to play in our pool.

I hope everyone will enjoy visiting with me this week and getting to know me a bit better as the week goes on. Any questions are appreciated and I will try to answer them all. I'll try to share some pictures of the house and of my kids this week. And, I might even have a surprise for everyone at some point during the week.

Sorry ...

I was not able to do as good of a job as I would have liked, blogging this week. A few things came up that took up my time.

My son, Michael, began a new job as a private investigator. He has done this kind of work before, ,has a degree in criminal justice and a law enforcement background.

He was sent to Dallas for two weeks training and his experience with the airlines was less than acceptable. His plane from Albany, initially, was delayed due to mechanical problems with the plane. That caused him to miss his connecting flight in Atlanta. He finally made it to Dallas and connected with the guys who were meeting him. His return trip was a real nightmare. Again, there were mechanical problems with the plane in Dallas! BTW, these were on US Air, so BEWARE if you are flying that airline. He was supposed to have a DIRECT flight (one stop) to Albany, leaving at 3pm Dallas time and arriving 10pm Albany. All sounds great, right? WRONG! With all the glitches, he ended up on a CONTINENTAL flight to Cincinatti, around 11pm, after sitting in the airport for 8 hours. US Air did give him a voucher for a hotel room. Another flight brought him home to Albany at 10am the following day. Needless to say, I had to leave work and pick him up. The SURPRISE though, he ACTUALLY got his luggage, in Albany, when he arrived.

During Michael's time in Dallas, I had the ""privilege of babysitting my lovely granddaughter, after work, a few times. Well, APPARENTLY she was really missin' her daddy. This normally, delightful little girl (for ME anyway), was like the monster from hell. I was ready to pull my hair out!

I am working on being TOTALLY back in the swing of things here at TSG by the middle to end of July. Be watching for new designs in my store and a HUGE SALE!!!!!

I am off work the week of the 21st, my birthday is the 24th, and I am ready to ROCK AND ROLL.

Have a great week!

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

There are still some "glitches" in my life, but things seem to be getting under control. I had to spend time today, killing the algea in my "green" pool. NOT NICE! I am hoping that I will be able to vacuum it tomorrow evening, and have lovely BLUE water for the holiday weekend. Our weather outlook is looking good for a change. We have had so much rain, AND humidity, that it really made a mess of my pool. I hate to see my electric bill this month ... that filter has been running 24/7 in an attempt to keep the algae bugs away.

In the meantime, (did I mention I have not been sleeping too well????) I have been able to put together some kits. Today I placed a new MINI-KIT in the store. It was inspired by, of all things, LIPSTICK. When I saw this palette, my mind immediately thought ...cosmetics. I would love to see some layouts of your little girls playing dress-up, or your "tweens" primping! How sweet would that be?!

Here is a preview of the mini, which you can get on sale for $2.00 in my store.


Well, it is late, and I need to get my trash out for the morning. HAPPY SCRAPPIN'