Tonya and Jamie's Takes

Here is Tonya's take:

Journaling:
(no things - these things suck): people who think the rules don’t apply to them. nosey people. thieves. screaming children in the grocery store. not being able to find my scissors when I want them. The bobbin running out of thread near the end of my sewing project. ice-scrapers that only work on the outer corners and leave the middle untouched (especially brand new ones). slippery surfaces. buying fresh fruit and finding the majority of it rotten. ordering the wrong item from the menu and being too embarrased to change it. fruit flies. fast food restaurants that make you pull to the side and wait. movies trailers that show all the good parts on preview leaving nothing left for the show itself. items that ring up the wrong price at the register. people that talk on their cell phones while driving. back-handed compliments. people that think only their projects are important and everything else should be dropped. wrapping presents. people that return their food for unimportant reasons. the cattiness of teenage girls. bedtime on Sunday. Monday mornings. mean people. when your kids are sad and you know there is nothing you can do to fix it. people who build themselves up by putting others down. people who won’t admit they don’t know the answer and make something up instead. people who try to talk above you. photographers who upload digital photos sooc - they aren’t finished yet. people who upload every photo they take, even if its twelve shots of the same thing from the same angle.

(yes things - these are a few of my favorite things): hearing the birds outside. falling asleep to the sound of the surf. babbling brooks. the smell of pine trees. Friday nights and Saturday mornings. people who are passionate about what they do. people who speak their mind in a non-belittling way. friends who care about my welfare. seeing the world through a lens and then making the photo came to life. the cuteness of kittens and puppies. the creaminess of baby cheeks. milkshakes. eating outside in the summer. decks and porches. days when everyone gets along and seem to actually enjoy themselves. going to the movies. playing card games with family. Thanksgiving dinner at my mother-in-law’s house. crocheting, quilting, knitting, sewing. reading a book so good you feel like you’re missing something when you put it down. listening to music through headphones. roadtrips with no particular destination in mind or clock to watch. close sports scores that your team wins. hearing adults say good things about your children. seeing your children make the good decision, even when it’s harder. dj’s t-bone steaks in the summer with a green salad and a baked potato with sour cream. Friday night being pizza night. warm summer nights. realizing you don’t have to work on the rainy day. Las Vegas. family vacations. being truly surprised. good hair and good jeans at the same time. bananas foster. chips and salsa. laughing. awesome movies. knowing you have the next day (or more) off work. coming home to a clean house. feeling good enough to dance. knowing i’m loved.

Here is Jamie's take:

Journaling:

" '07 In Review"

TV shows I (heart)
Survivor
American Idol
Big Brother
Rock of Love
The Amazing Race
Grey's Anatomy
Biggest Loser
Project Runway

Books I adored:
One for the Money series (all 13) by Janet Evanovich
Pieces of my Sister's Life
Edge of Winter, Sandcastles, Summer's Child by Luanne Rice
Savannah Blues and Savannah Breeze
All of Dorothea Frank's novels..Shem Creek, Sullivan's Island...

Things I'm Proud Of:
After owning my store for 5 years (on New Year's Eve) I've decided to change direction in life an do something new. I'm saying goodbye to my store, and going back to school. It was a scary decision to make, but I am at peace with it. I feel good about "starting over" in another career.

Wow...this year found David and I married for twelve years! I can't believe we've been together for this long...sixteen years and still in love!

I'm so proud of myself for keeping up with my weblog. I celebrated my one year anniversary as a "blogger" this year! I love it and think it's so fun to communicate on such a large scale.

Songs that made me feel happy:
Praise You in this Storm...Casting Crowns
It just comes Natural...George Strait
You will be Loved...Josh Grobin
All of Justin Timberlake's songs
Your Man by Josh Turner

Family Moments to Remember:
*Our Seaworld trip totally rocked...we had a great time!
*4th of July at Tybee Island...always a treat
*Deciding to get a puppy and then surprising Elizabeth with her a carpool.
*Our Mother/Daughter trip to Disney...just the girls!
*Halloween...trick or treating from the back of David's pickup truck.

New Year's Challenge AKA Challenge #5

Brought to you by Tracy King....

I have a secret! Shhh! I am a compulsive list maker. Its true. I even make lists of lists I need to make! Lol. This week I challenge you to step inside my obsession and make a list of lists too. I am focusing on a “year in review” kind of thing because I like to reflect on what has happened during the year. It gives me an opportunity to count my blessings and document what I like and who I am right now. Feel free to do the same or come up with your own list of lists. Maybe a list of things you’d like to do this year, places you’d like to go, things you are going to buy, etc… Perhaps you’d like to do a list of favorites: favorite colors, favorite songs, favorite desserts, etc…

This challenge would be a great opportunity to try scrapping without pictures if you have never created a page like that. Be creative! Don’t obsess about what to write. Lists are supposed to be quick, bullets of information. I hope you have a great time!!!

Here is a list of ideas to get you thinking about lists you can create about the year 2007: (LOL! See? What did I tell you? Another list!)
-books you’ve read
-music you have purchased
-new recipes you have tried
-places you have traveled
-people you have met
-goals you have met
-new restaurants you have tried
-funny quotes from your kids
-new addictions
-pet peeves
-favorite anythings: books, colors, snacks, tv shows, shoes, phrases, hobbies, etc…
-life changes (new job, school, house, etc…)
-funny things
-things you’ll never do again
-things that made you say “hmmmm”
-fashion trends you tried
-happiest moments


Here’s the journaling on my layout. The scan is a little blurry in places due to the bulkiness of the brads.

Books I Read
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Become a Better You by Joel Osteen
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life by Laurie Notaro

Songs That I Loved
“Praise You in This Storm” by Casting Crowns
“Annie’s Song” by John Denver
“Fergalicious” by Fergie

New Restaurants I Tried
Stir Crazy
Thai Pad Kitchen
The Noodle Company

Some Places I Visited
The City Museum in St. Louis
Chemo Center at SLU
The Arch

New Addictions
MySpace
Biggest Loser
iPods

Movies I Liked
The Simpsons Movie
I Am Legend
Spiderman 3
Transformers
Music and Lyrics

Movies That Made Me Roll My Eyes
Blades of Glory
Shrek the Third
The BEE Movie

Fun Things We Did
Art in Bloom at STL Art Museum
Helicopter and Airplane rides
Hayride and Bonfire
Watched Joey play baseball
Paddle Boat around Forest Park

The Big Things
Jason’s new preachin’ job
Joey’s new school
My dad’s death

Whew! What a list of lists! Now what are you sitting there for? You've got a list to make! :-D

Tracy King

Stefanie'e entry from the last challenge!

I am loving this LO! The colors, oh everything!

Journaling reads:

You three children woke up late this year (only 7.05am) usually your excitement makes you rouse far (far) earlier, but I am thankful for this difference. Dad was even able to join us for the gift unwrapping ceremony; usually he is still too fast asleep. You loved your gifts,; Spiderman pc game, books, and the Age of Empires game- racing upstairs high on sweets, chocolates and pleasure to load the pc games and plug in the singstar for Hannah‘s high school musical game.
Dad and I had our tea and just relaxed a little, thankful that the day wasn‘t going to be too hot. Dad peeled the veggies for lunch and I assembled the Christmas trifle. We loaded the gammon into the oven and then had to rush to be ready for church at 9am.
Christmas is all about the gifts, food, family and remembering God’s gift to us: His Son.

Stella and Beverly's Takes

Here is mine. I just completed it. LOL

Journaling reads:
The best thing about Christmas is seeing the gleam in Victoria's eyes which shows unadulterated joy, innocence and happiness for the season. This in itself makes me proud to be a parent and makes our Christmas worth while. The fact that we will be paying for Christmas for months is not important when we see how magical Christmas is for her. The squeal of delight on Christmas morning of, "Mommy, Daddy....Santa came, Santa came!!!! Come look!", reminds me of long ago Christmases when I was doing the same with my parents. She is the reason that we go through all of the Christmas crowds and screaming children at Toys R Us. We have so much fun deliberating over what to get her and how much she will like it. Christian and I have a hard time sleeping waiting for her to come and get us on Christmas morning. I am not sure who gets more excited, Victoria or us. She makes our Christmas.

Here is Beverly's take:

I wanted to use a different style of journaling - so every journal
strip
starts with one of the letters from 'CHRISTMAS'  IYGWIM. (NB: Fish is
the
nickname for Auryn - our youngest son! LOL) Looking forward to the next
challenge - I love Tracy's idea!
Beverley x
Journaling reads:

Christmas Tree: decorated with far too many lights & usually done by
me.
Fish helped this year & we always have Christmas songs playing while we
work
on it.

Having Breakfast: We don't usually bother but at Christmas we have the
works - A full English to tide us over; Lunch is usually late anyway!

READ: Every year I read 'Twas The Night Before Christmas before bedtime
on
Christmas Eve. The boys say they will carry it on when they have kids
of
their own.

I'm dreaming of a WET Christmas: Why is the weather always dull and
grey???

School Nativity: Just wouldn't be Christmas without it! This year Fish
was
the Innkeeper.

The youngest child: Hands out the gifts from under the tree. This falls
to
Fish now and he loves this special role.

Meal: Christmas Dinner is the one time each year when we sit together
to eat
as a family. I cherish this time, made even more precious as each year
could
be the last.

A Vist To Ruxley: The garden centre has the best decorations and we
visit
Santa here too (the real one, obviously). This year, Santa left three
of his
reindeer in a pen outside so that the children could visit with them.

Stockings: It just wouldn't be Christmas without them. Each of the boys
has
a stocking - all handmade by me. Traditionally we open them Christmas
morning but Sean gets particular enjoyment opening his at around 2 am
after
a night out with friends.