Thank you to all who serve

One day out of the year is certainly not enough to say a proper 'Thank you' to all who have so faithfully served or do currently serve in our country's military. Our soldiers never get the gratitude that they and their families deserve. So today I say thanks to those among us who keep us safe, give of themselves, spread the hope of freedom and liberty and for the families who mourn the fallen. You are very much appreciated, today and always.

I stumbled on a site called ScrappersGiveThanks.org where we scrapbookers can say thank you by sending our soldiers homemade cards that they can use to send to their friends and family. I love this idea!

Another way to say thanks is to send soldiers a gift from home...like a great cup of coffee! Boca Java Coffee gives you the opportunity to send a package of coffee to the troops. Add a note and say 'thank you' yourself!

Let's never forget what these heroes do for us.

Magazine Day

Blog prompt: What magazines do you like to read?

I love magazines of all kinds. Glossy pictures, pages and pages of information (useless or otherwise)--I really will at least flip through any kind of magazine or catalog, except gossip or hollywood types. But magazines are PRICEY! I quit subscribing to magazines when we were trying to budget our money better, because it's just out of control to buy two or three $4 magazines a month! But I still love scrapbook magazines, cooking and home decorating magazines or informational magazines. I'll give a plug to my favorite news magazine, World, news and politics with a Christian worldview.

**If you're still interested in following my novel's progress, here's a *.pdf of the intro and the first two chapters. I'd love to hear what you think, but be kind....remember there is no editing involved--they call it a 'rough' draft for a reason :)

Little Arrays of Sunlight - Intro through Chapter 2

Sandwiches and other good things

Blog Prompt - Today is the birthday of John Montague, the creator of the sandwich. Describe in great detail your favorite sandwich.

When I saw the prompt, all I could think was Compagno's Market & Deli. We ate there in Monterey when we visited California in April and had the most amazing sandwiches. The place is very small, so we took our sandwiches with us and ate them overlooking the water. The sandwiches are ENORMOUS, even a 1/2 was more than I could eat, with tons of meat, bacon, cheese and fabulous bread. Wow! My mouth is watering as we speak. I couldn't find a website, but click on the link above because you have to see pictures of this place. It's just a little deli in a convenience store, and because it's near the Presidio it caters to military clientele. There's a boatload of memorabilia from all the services and it's quite an experience. I'd go back in a heartbeat. And I just realized that I've described that experience more than the sandwich. So maybe you can say that sometimes a meal is more than just a meal.

** First unrelated subject: I made the Gallery Standouts at Sweet Shoppe's blog with the layout I showed you yesterday...first time ever! Yeah for me!

** Second totally unrelated subject: I just had to post a link to an article that I heard read on the Mornings with Brant radio show yesterday morning. Albert Pujols, a baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals, and his wife for the past three years have hosted an annual prom for young adults with Down's Syndrome. The kids get dressed up, dance and have a wonderful time. What struck me were the following paragraphs in the article, written by Tim Ellsworth of the Baptist Press, who was invited to cover the story.

Their population is a shrinking one, because ours is a society obsessed with perfection and devoid of a healthy appreciation for the beauty of all human life. Conservative estimates indicate that more than 90 percent of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.

So our culture is deprived of the honesty, the loyalty, the unbridled joy and the unconditional love that so often characterizes those with Down syndrome, those who despite their shortcomings bear the distinct image and imprint of their Creator.

That struck me and brought tears to my eyes. Don't we all have shortcomings? Don't we all bear the mark of our Creator?

And in the words of Forrest Gump: That's all I have to say about that.

Writing and other good things

With the beginning of November came the beginning of my (possible short-lived) novel writing career. I've gotten 1500 words so far, so if I can just do that 33.3333 more times before the end of the month, I'll be done :)

I scrapped a page about it, since I couldn't actually do any writing until yesterday, so here's what I had to say, using Kristin Cronin-Barrow's Bookworm kit.


And if you're bored, I've posted the first few "chapters" for you to read. Let me know if you think it's worth forging ahead with. And especially let me know, if you think it isn't!!

Little Arrays of Sunlight - Intro through Chapter 2

Have a great day...oh, and VIKINGS BEAT PACKERS! YEAH!!!

Life is Good

Blog Prompt: Today is Evaluate Your Life Day. Reflect about your life and how it's going so far.

Here's a breakdown of today's snapshot of my life:

1. Kids are both feeling better and a trip to the doctor confirms that Danae has nothing more contagious than a simple cold. Yeah!
2. I'm feeling better and have the house to myself for a few hours to recoup some of my missed weekend.
3. Vikings are 6-0 for the first time in six years. Yeah, baby!
4. I sip a good cup of coffee and blog while outside my window the landscapers are hard at work on my birthday-Christmas-anniversary-for-next-five-years'-present. (We're getting retaining walls, a fire pit and a garden, along with edgings, bushes and trees! Now that we've been in this house five years we'll finally have landscaping to show for it.)
5. Last night I came up with a glimmer of an idea for my novel (see previous post). I think it'll be a geek-love story, so my next hurdle is to come up with a working title. Any and all suggestions for appropriately nerdy titles will be reviewed and considered.

So I guess, the conclusion for me, today (and every day)...LIFE IS GOOD!


Glitter Graphics

Taking the plunge!

Okay, so I'm home this weekend sick, taking care of kids who are no longer really sick, which only makes my job a little harder. At least when they were laying around on the couch with me, I could keep track of them :) We're supposed to be in Mobridge, SD for the annual Anderson Family Reunion & Pheasant Hunt (if it had an official title, that's what the t-shirts would say).

So possibly because I'm in a compromised mental state from fighting off some kind of virus or because I just can't bear to let my schedule have any breaks, I went ahead and registered myself at NaNoWriMo.org to state to the world that I'm going to spend my month of November writing a novel. [That's what NaNoWriMo stands for--NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth.] The goal is to write 50,000 words between Nov 1 and Nov 30. I think it should be "fun" (in the most stressful interpretation of the word), but as of right this moment, I still have no idea what kind of book it's going to be, what genre I want to tackle, who my characters will be or why anyone else in the world would want to read something I've written.

The email I received after I registered gave this piece of advice: Tell everyone you know that you're writing a novel in November. This will pay big dividends in Week Two, when the only thing keeping you from quitting is the fear of looking pathetic in front of all the people who've had to hear about your novel for the past month. Seriously. Email them now about your awesome new book. The looming specter of personal humiliation is a very reliable muse.

So there goes.

Scrapping Sales (aka "Let's Go Shopping!")

A couple of "my" designers are having sales, so maybe it's time to get some new supplies!

Scrapper Girl:


Totally Twisted Scraps: