NANA NOTES

2013 CROP CELEBRATION SCRAPPING TRIP

The Scrapping Sisters always look forward to our trip to Hammond for the Crisis Pregnancy Center Crop.  All the money they make goes for a good cause and we have a great time.  The caterers are always wonderful, and we don't have to leave the building except to sleep if we so choose.  This year we had a group of eleven; the Scrapping Sisters were well represented!! We were all laughing at something except Tara who was in another world at the time!! Can you guess who she is??  She's posing but MIA!! Gotta love that Tara!!  These two Pack and Plays are full of items that we carried to donate for the Pregnancy Center.  The more items you donate, the more tickets you get for the grand prize.  I got four tickets.  This year there was only one grand prize.  In the past you've been able to purchase more tickets and scatter them out on several prizes. More later on that!  Susan has a new job at a nursing home.  She has gotten involved with the activities director and was making "kids" for Tacky Day.  She's going to make a wonderful new employee for the nursing home. She loves scrapping!!  Nice to see her work on something besides Disney!! This is a picture of some of the other scrappers.  These just happen to be our friends the Louisiana Scrappin' Sisters. We love these girls. Our sweet vender friends--Melanie from Baton Rouge, Lenore from Foley, AL and Gina from Foley, AL. We're always seated close to them and enjoy visiting with them. Love these girls very much!!  We enjoyed visiting with friends, taking classes and scrapping for three days.  We usually don't get to stay till it's over because we have to get back to get ready for church on Sunday with Pat being choir leader. I gave Susan my tickets to hold "just in case" I should win.  You see, I've won a major door price for the last two years.  There were several to win and I just got lucky!!  Knowing I had no chance to win this year with there being only one, I just asked Susan to hold them for me.  We'd been gone about an hour and a half when I got this picture on my cell phone with a message.  Hmmmmm, looks like you won something!!!   All three of us riding together just started laughing.  We couldn't believe it!!  I called Susan and she said, "yes, you really did win!"  They didn't have room in their car but another friend has it.  I'll get it next weekend when we get together.  I can't wait.  Now do you know why we love that crop so much!!  We're already looking forward to next year!!

"Let's go to the Movies"

Pine Burr Garden Club's Spring Flower Show was held on April 12, 2013 at the Meadville Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall. The theme was "Let's go to the Movies" and had 12 designs and 53 pieces of horticulture.  The lack of horticulture was due to a major rain storm two days before and the fact that I am out of commission due to illness!!  I'm proud of the members for showing up and showing out with their horticulture.  There were some major pieces of beauty in this show!!
The designs were equally beautiful. Due to club size we only had twelve designs--but the quality is there.  The Pine Burr girls can do designs!!  Take

 a look.  Class 1 Musicals



Class 2 Drama 


Class 3 Westerns

The winner of the Designer's Choice Award and the Barbara Herring Award (best design in the show) was Carol May.  She had the arrangement that was the second picture.  The judges said it was an absolutely perfect traditional arrangement.  There were no requirements for the arrangements. The designers could do anything they wanted to do. They picked their own movie titles and did what they wanted to do arrangement wise. The diversity was amazing.  My personal favorite was the "2001, Space Odessy". It's blue and peach colored with a wonderful background that is perfect for the flowers.  The arrangement looks like a spaceship about to take off. It captured the blue ribbon and the Dorothy McGehee Award for the design that best depicts the theme of the show.  We had lots of visitors and had a fun day. Lugenia Scarbrough won Sweepstakes Award and the Pauline Herring Award for the most blue ribbons in Horticulture.  Good for you, Lugenia!!  I'm proud of you. Everyone did an exceptional job on the show!! Rest up, next year will be here before you know it!! :)

10 Most Invasive Plants

Franklin County Natives in the Movies

Couldn't forget the Special Exhibits.  They were wonderful!!

I did forget to take a picture of the entry!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AUNT KATHERINE'S SUNSHINE BASKET TRADITION

Ed's Aunt Katherine had a tradition of making Sunshine Baskets filled with small gifts that she carried to friends and family to cheer them up.  Pat (Ed's cousin and my sister in heart and love) called to make sure I would be home and up to a visit by her two sisters and her nieces on March 16th.  I told her that there was nothing that would keep me from feeling like a visit from those sweet, funny girls!!  I couldn't wait!! Now on with the story.  That afternoon Pat, Carolyn, Vana, Diana, Zoe, Sallie Kat and LeighBeth all showed up with a huge green basket all decorated with bows and flowers!!  Now the story is that Aunt Katherine says that you're supposed to open one gift a day so the happiness will last a long time. Carolyn said that was a steadfast rule!! Vana said "open them all at one time if you want to. That's what I'd do! Do what ever you want to do." Pat and the girls were kind of "on the fence".  I chose to "one a day" it--except for one Sunday when I thought I needed more!!  There were 22 gifts and 19 days so that's worked out pretty much right.  You can see that there was a tremendous number of wonderful gifts!! I kept a list of what the gifts were so I could remember in the first place and so I could put the in the blog (cause I knew I would do this!!). Here goes:  Jesus Today book, plant stake letter "H", Sweet Panda gift card, white lace scrapbook border, Joshua magnet, Christian Journal, Jeremiah bag, Burts Bees lip balm, cards, Rejoice notepad in a felt bag with flowers, Rose note pad,  Hope tablet, black and white shopping list, Jelly Bean pills, Rhodan and Fields hand treatment, scripture magnets, travel Scentsy, goats milk soap, gummie bunnies (yum), Gail Pittman Hope bowl, and a beautiful picture of Sallie Kat and LeighBeth. The picture was the only one that made me cry, except when they brought in the basket!!  Isn't that a wonderful thing??  I so loved it and will never forget it!!  I'm already thinking of someone I can do one for.  Thank you my sweet sisters in heart for the wonderful visit and time spent together.  You each will get a note for the tremendous gifts!!  I love you!!

SATURDAY DRIVE AROUND THE FARM

I've been staying in a lot lately; mostly because of fatigue but a lot to stay away from germs so I don't catch something because of low immunity. Ed came in and got me Saturday to ride around and see the new horse babies. That called for a camera opportunity!  Our first stop was to check on the baby chickens.  They're cute at this age and they are beautiful when they're grown. Like all creatures, they will go through the teenage stage! Henry always comes to the gate for a handout. Saturday was no different.  He loves scratching and talking and a little horse feed never hurts.  He just loves to be loved!!  Piper had to have her photo made too.  She always poses!  And we can't leave out the big chickens!!  They always get a big helping of feed when anyone goes to the barn.  They provide big brown eggs for us.  Now on to the new baby!!  Our stud Esay threw another blue roan! I love the one white stocking!!  Now on to the baby calves.  It took me years to convince Ed that the motley babies were what we needed around here. Those red cows with white spotted faces are just beautiful.  Finally, when we start to have a good stand, he and Ryan have decided to go full Santa Gertrudis again! Darn it!!  Can't win around here.  And who's your daddy?????   Couldn't be one of Shelly's roping bulls, could it??   I'd better enjoy these beautiful babies. When these are gone, they're gone. Unless I can convince them again. . .








                     

TWO IN ONE NIGHT!!

A few days of R & R at the condo before treatment--this is what I did. 

Plumbing!!

 
Cleaning and Organizing the Pantry!!

Cleaning and Organizing the Laundry Room!!

Of course there was shopping, movie going, eating out, sleeping late, shopping and ice cream--but I didn't take pictures of that!!

SAM'S SCIENCE PROJECT 2013

 I'm the Nana with all the "stuff"!!  Scrapbooking stuff!  That comes in handy when a project is due and you need letters, cutouts, etc.  I'm so lucky to be able to work on projects with the grandchildren!!  It gives me one on one time with them and I get to fuss at them for waiting till the last minute!! :)  Sam chose "Juice Box Geometry" for his Science project.  He spent the night one Friday night and we decided to go to Waffle House for breakfast on Saturday morning. That was fun in itself.  We took pictures of the different juice boxes. 

We took 7 different juices but only tested 5.

 

We had instructions to follow and even had a program on the computer that helped us measure the amount of packaging and the amount of juice. 

After breakfast we went to Wally World and printed the pictures.  Then it was back home to cut letters, type descriptions and get the board in order.  Paper, glue runners, cricut to cut letters--all the good stuff a scrapbooker has--Sam's favorite is the glue runner!!  He can use some glue!! 

Have you ever seen a cuter kid? Unless it's one of my other grandchildren!!

GOT JUICE--Juice Box Geometry--the finished project!!

 

He made 100 and made it to the gym.  Thanks Sam, for letting me help you.  It was lots of fun.  Let's go to the Waffle House again soon!!

 

2013 CROP CONNECTION (JANUARY)

Crop Connection is the best thing to look forward to after Christmas! It takes away the January blahs.  The Scrapping Sisters are a happy group of scrapbookers that love to get together.  You may have seen our trailer following my car when we go to out of town scrapping events.   We all decided that this was our favorite picture! It's so happy!! We're family!!  We're friends!! We're Christians!! We're Sisters!! The ladies that are in charge of "putting on" Crop Connection are family--a mother and two daughters--that treat us like family.  They work very hard to make sure we have lots of space, snacks, "happies", meals and fun. Tiger tails, chocolate covered ants (raisins), animal crackers, and jungle mix--our first snack of the night. Aren't they clever??
They bring in good venders with awesome products and fun classes.  We love these ladies--they ARE our family!! 

We always leave with a bag full of goodies.  This year was no exception.  I can't wait to organize it and start using it. Part of the fun we have is our photo session.  The theme was "WILD". This was about as wild as I could get!!   Libby and me!!  Sisters!! And you can't even see my cute "fascinator"!! It's orange, pink, turquoise and green!!  

I'm so happy that the "Herring Hollow" girls let me be a part of them-Ed's three cousins, their daughters and daughter-in-law--I feel like I'm family. I love them like family. They are my family!!  My time is usually spent working on my Christmas Card album. I do break for classes if I think they are something I would like.  I love the tag embellishment class.  Connie is an awesome person to work with.  She just turns us loose and urges us to be creative while gently guiding us. This is a chipboard birdhouse tag. It's embellished with pearls, ribbon, flowers and a painted bird. I love it!!   Vana and Pat showing off the way she "scrapped" our Christmas card. Now I'm working on reorganizing the "stuff"; getting ready for the next event. And then there's always July Crop Connection!! Can't wait!

CHRISTMAS DABBLINGS

My favorite way to start Christmas is the Hanging of the Greens service at church.  Decorating the church and getting ready for the weeks to come are a blessing to us all.  What a blessed Christmas season we had!  Christmas cooking started way early with cookies, candy and cakes. Trays went out on a regular basis to bless others.  A wonderful surprise one day was opening the door to a beautiful group of carollers.  This group of kids never fails to surprise me. They always remember me in ways I never expect. I love them all.                                             "They got JOY".

Another favorite service at church is the Christmas Eve Communion. The warm glow of the church with candles, the sweet Christmas music, the communion message--all you need for a perfect CHRISTmas.

Having all the children and grandchildren for lunch and gifts is always fun.  The grandchildren are older but they still love to open gifts and enjoy heckling each other.

Have never given my kids a framed portrait picture. Now it's done!!

I love tools!!

Ready for duck hunting!! Now Jennifer has a vacuum cleaner!
Haleigh got her camera strap!!

Bryden likes his "Orvis fishing watch".

About as excited as Josh gets!!

Sam's going to "rip it up"!!

Shelly and Ryan got new vests.
The girls wanted cash!!

A knife with his name on it!!
Jennifer finally has her girl!! Couldn't resist doing this. A trip to Babyland General back in October produced this little cowgirl!!

Now Tiffany can bake for ME!!!

No more emails from Under Armour. Made Graham happy, happy, happy!

 
Papa loved his knife sharpener!

Can't leave Shelby out!!

Jody will be making a trip to Bass Pro in the future!!

Piper wasn't happy that she didn't get a present. She was promised the prettiest collar in Pet Smart when we went that way!!

The Lord has blessed us with so much. We are grateful to have each other and to be able to be together. We should never take our family for granted. To quote Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one."

LIGHT LOOKED DOWN

After months of rehearsal the MUMC Choir finally presented "Light Looked Down" to the community.  We've done beautiful music lots of times but this music was very special to me. My heart is filled with great joy!  I don't think we missed a cue of hit a bad note.  It sounded that good to me.  I am so blessed by this group of choir members who are my family in Christ. It's a special group of people. Merry Christmas and love to you all.

Oh, and did I mention that the composer/writer came to our program?? How awesome is that?!!!!!

2012 Girls Trip

We finally made it to October!! That means Gatlinburg!! Libby, Deb and I took off and made it in two days!! Lots of laughter on the way.  That was the first color we saw. A man from a car dealership saw us taking pictures and came over and took this one.  We did lots of walking before the rain set in. Then we drove and walked in the rain!! The traditional pancake breakfast and trip to the outlet mall.  On Halloween afternoon there were all sorts of folks out trick or treating.  This was a couple I ran into.   Meet Shrek and Fiona!!   And don't forget the Good Witch!! That's her with the hat on (in case you have a problem with identification!). As if by magic, the next day most of the fall decorations were down and Christmas was up.   During our drive one afternoon we saw a drove of wild turkeys.  I realize that's pretty normal for us that live in the country, but I never tire of seeing animals in the woods. I get excited just like I'd never seen them before.  On that same drive we saw beautiful leaf color.  And YES! We saw SNOW!!  We rounded a curve and it was snowing! We were like children.  That night it snowed over 10 inches.  When we left this is what it looked like at the Tennessee/North Carolina State Line.

  

 

 

On our way to Atlanta, we stopped at Babyland General Hospital--home of the Cabbage Patch Kids. That's all I can say about that!!  Well, it was an awesome adventure too!  I've always wanted to go there.  We spent a couple of nights with my Aunt Net and came home.  It's always fun to travel but coming home was good too!! Thanks Deb, for inviting me!!

BLESSED!

It's not everyday that you get the chance to host a beautiful party and have fun! Lately it seems that we've been doing a lot of that though. Ed and I were blessed to have Anna Grace and Nate's rehearsal dinner here on Friday night. People from all over the US were here and we had a wonderful time. Nothing goes better with friends, food and music that nice chilly weather, warm propane heaters and a fire pit!!  After a delicious meal and nice toasts from family and friends and (as Nate said) everyone put on their "ankle braces" and got the party started. I was off my camera game and didn't get many pictures but someone took my camera and got a few shots.  I did, however, enjoy the dancing!! Thanks, AG and Nate for trusting us to have your dinner at our home. We loved doing it.                                               Shots of the lower deck. Four of the six Hollinger siblings--Jean, Bruce, Joni and Mark (seated). And, yes, I danced till I couldn't any more!! Here I'm doing some kind of something with Chris and Cosima from California!! I loved it!! And I love these kids!!  The wedding was beautiful and I didn't take my camera. I knew Jen would take plenty and maybe I could see those later.  We were blessed by Anna Grace and Nate when they came by the house to change into their traveling clothes so I got a picture after all.  It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission so I'm posting it. (thanks, Susie.)     Ready to leave and yes, she's still going to know me when she's famous !

We love you Anna Grace and Nate!!