deja vu

Suddenly, as I was uploading today's word art, I had a feeling of deja vu....as though I've used this word art before. Niggling thoughts coursing through my fevered brain at the moment...but too late. If I have, it would at least look different from this one. If I haven't, then this says what I'm thinking today:

I did not see it coming that my husband and I would keep trading the flu back and forth between us for the past two months. Of course, by now, he's totally convinced himself that it's the swine flu and that he narrowly escaped being hospitalized or worse. [He's a guy; what can I say!] He's fairly fit (more so than I) but this time it just took hold of him and he's not accustomed to feeling that bad for such an extended period of time.

On a much lighter note, one of my silly guilty pleasures is that I like to watch the Disney Channel when I'm not in the mood to have to concentrate on anything in particular but want the background noise and the lightheartedness of it. The silly gets to me sometimes, yes, but at least I know who these people are: Lily Truscott, Hannah Montana, Cody and Zach, London Tipton, the Russos....I have a soft spot for Alex Russo (Selena Gomez's character in Wizards of Waverly Place) and I love her little laugh when she says "I did NOT see that coming!" in just about every episode. Don't hate me or think little of me--this can't be worse that grownups being caught up in Harry Potter [read them all] or the Twilight series [not interested in vampires], can it? Just reliving our childhoods in a whole new way, I think. :)

Having rambled all that much, I'm tired...time for more meds and a nap...but I'll be back later today or tomorrow. I'm just about ready to make a big announcement and share the news of a fun project I've been working on just about all summer.

In the meantime, be good to yourself!

Melanie

download

stop to think...

download

a new look

How do you like my new look? My sweet friend, Kim Broedelet, surprised me with it over the weekend, using her new Soft Whispers kit. Isn't it gorgeous?!!

That was the inspiration for today's word art. And before anyone says anything about it, I DO know that two of the words aren't REAL, and quite poor grammar. But they suited the purpose for my gratitude to Kim and I thought they'd be fun on your layouts. I used Kim's SW papers in creating this WA today...you can use them together or separate them, as you wish.

She made a blinkie for me, too, and I'll post it as soon as I can figure out how to install it properly. I'm really behind the times in some of that sort of thing! Sorry about that.

I have some fun things to tell you about later this week but I'm not quite ready yet. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I want to heartily thank all of you who had such dear, sweet, kind things to say about my Dad's September kit. After all the wedding hullaballoo over the weekend, my mom and I slipped out Sunday morning to put fresh red roses on my father's grave at the cemetery ... it seemed fitting and lightened our hearts. I'm glad this kit gave some of you special memories of your own. Thanks for sharing them with me.

Have a great Monday...and thanks for stopping by,

Melanie

download

Dad's September

I ran out of time before I could do everything I wanted with this kit. My dad has been on my mind a lot lately--partly because there's a big family wedding this weekend and we always miss him keenly at those events, partly because the wedding is the day before what would have been his birthday, and partly because it's been raining a lot lately, and he and I spent hours on the front porch when I was growing up, watching the rain fall...talking...and sharing silences, too.

My dad loved the autumn time of year and I have such fond memories of that. KimB's color palette she chose for this month's DSO Color Challenge brought that to mind. I wanted to honor him...I wanted this kit to be better...I wanted it to represent him. But, it is what it is today, and that will have to do. The photos I used in the background of some of the papers were taken either in England or the Smoky Mountains earlier this year. I associate special memories of him with both of those places, too. Please take care of this kit and accept it in the spirit in which it is given...a loving, IMISSYOU tribute to my dad. He's been gone 10 years, but sometimes it just seems like yesterday.

Blessings on your day,

Melanie

download 1

download 2

download 3

download 4

download 5 alpha

Kim's Soft Whispers and Girls Night Out

My friend, Kim Broedelet, has this gorgeous new kit available today. I got a sneak peek and LOVE the very appealing color palette. It's got a year-round feel to it, I think, and appreciate the fact that it's not all pastels. She calls it a vintage romance type of kit, which I think suits it. She's got it in her store at DSO now, so check it out!

I used her palette to make today's WA...hope you have fun using it!

Take care, and blessings on your day,

Melanie

download

remember

download

happy birthday, sweetheart

Today's my husband's birthday, and it's not a milestone he's happy about. To top if off, he's got a respiratory infection that has him coughing up his toenails (I had it two weeks ago for about three years :)] and he's just not feeling well. Hope you'll indulge me in sending him birthday greetings...hopefully, you can use this more generic birthday word art greeting in YOUR life!

As always, I'd love to see how you use any of my word art... and for those of you who leave comments, I'm extremely grateful. It's nice to know I'm not creating these things and working in a vacuum!

Blessings on your day,
Melanie
download

it is what it is

download

metamorphosis

download

blessed are the flexible

I'm not keeping score, but do you find yourself having to be much more flexible in your attitude these days than ever before?! Seems like that's true, to me anyway. Just a thought!

blessings on your day,
Melanie

download

no eraser

download

the same things are funny

For those of you in the US, did you have a great Labor Day weekend? My husband had looked forward to it until I got him locked into attending a family function. He loves my family but wanted a break from any MUST DO thing. We were both feelin flu-ish, which didn't help, but the party/shower for my niece and her fiance turned out GREAT. My niece liked the decorations that I had prepared so much that she wants a variation of them for the programs at her wedding in a couple of weeks. I was thrilled...she's such a free spirit, gifted, lovable person and I was delighted to still be able to tune in on her wavelength! Know what I mean?

Laughter is the same way, I think. Shared laughter is such a delightful feeling...and for a moment you are all on the same wavelength, the same plane, the same level of humor that's such a liberating place to be. I had taken some pipe cleaners and those goofy eyes with adhesive backing for the little guys to play with while the gift-opening was going on. They had a blast making spiders and monsters and microphones out of those very inexpensive craft items. One of the 3-year-olds plastered a row of the eyes all along his upper lip like a mustache, with the smaller versions of the eyes spaced on his cheeks and forehead (one errant eye landed on his flip-flops, much to his annoyance). But all of us attending the party laughed aloud when the 6-year-old showed up with a pipecleaner red pointy hat and a white pipecleaner mustache/beard, ho-ho-ho-ing...the bride-to-be and groom-to-be stopped everything to join the laughter and the extra photo ops of these little guys and their antics and we enjoyed that slice-of-life moment equally, from age 3 to 76. Laughter spans generations, which is AMAZING when you think about it. Today's word art reflects that feeling. Hope you can use it!

blessings on your day,

Melanie

download

love these moments

I'm not a negative person, usually, just a realist. Conversely, my personality type, overall, is considered "melancholy." Go figure. I'm a Gemini...what can I say!

Because of that paradox in my personality, I rarely have moments where I honestly will sit back and think to myself: "Life is GOOD!" When I hear/read that phrase, my mind's eye conjures up an image of myself stretched out on a hammock, swinging between two sturdy oak trees, on a hillside, with the wind gently blowing the grasses--which make that lovely swishing sound that is so fresh, vibrant, soft--lost in a good book...yet totally in tune with my surroundings. Try it sometime...if you can't make it happen for real when things are just so busy, crazy, sad...give yourself a LIG moment to remind yourself about what's important to you...and how important you are to the world and those you love.



Blessings on your day,
Melanie


download

choose your battles

I can't believe a week has gone by since I last posted WA on my blog! I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to it, but I've been busy working on a bridal shower, decorations for a wedding, taking care of a new puppy, and continuing to work on the special project I've mentioned in recent postings. Plus, just trying to breathe while battling a respiratory infection in between coughing spells.

One of my mantras in the past 10 years--to help me stay focused on what's important--is the simple phrase: CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. I started thinking yesterday about how closely that intertwines with the Serenity Prayer, because as I'm choosing my battles, I'm asking God for the discernment to know which ones to fight and which ones to let go. My stress level has decreased sooooooo much since I started abiding by that mission and it helps me find clarity when times are confusing. Hope this message helps you in making choices in your own life.

Hope you have a very serene day!

Melanie

download