My (blogging) struggle is real.

My fans have been demanding my return.
(You know who you are. :o) )

And I have excuses,
they are the same excuses that I've posted before,
but excuses.
So I won't list those today.

But I will share that my return to the blog came at a great price.
(not really, don't panic)
So, for whatever technical reason, I couldn't log in to my Google account which apparently I needed to in order to get back to Blogger. I was given directions to "log off of Google", then "log off of Chrome" and clear something called a cache....you techy people know what that is....
Well, I should have asked a techy person to do these tasks because when I did it....well,
Good news - I can blog again - {everyone say, "yay, yay," applause, applause}
Bad news - I deleted ALL my bookmarks, my saved websites, my favorites - {everyone say, "oh no"!}

(Process that for a minute.)

So I'm here!
The poor blog, it needs some updating, but that gives me goals.
Photos, I have photos to share, yay, more goals.
And stories, I have stories to share, yay....more goa.....to do....I mean goals, goals are good, "To Do Lists" just make me sad.

Okay, off to gather photos and stories.
Love you!

(a visual for you as I go....I'm either skipping away - "lah-de-dah"   or I'm rubbing my hands with an evil little laugh "now I've got you my pretty".....)

Melle

Dreams do come true....

Our Disney Cruise 2015
....started on Friday, January 9th with Grandma and Grandpa on the Disney Dream out of Port Canaveral, Florida.

 I was so overwhelmed when we arrived, I just couldn't believe we were here!

Dinner the first night was at a restaurant called "Animator's Palette",

The attention to detail blew me away. Even the outside of the menus looked like sketchbooks,

And the inside looked like an animation board!

I died and was in heaven.....and it was only the first night! :o)

Pirate Night was our second night

***Okay, so I started this post months ago with the best intentions....and then, well, never finished it. HOWEVER, I did, just finally, 6 months later, finish the Disney Cruise book in Shutterfly. Now our own hard cover book is on the way!!

Here is our book with my favorite photos from the trip.

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Enjoy :o)

Happy New Year in 2015!

Well, I'm not the type to make "new year resolutions", but IF I made two for the year they might be,

1) blog more often then last year - since I only blogged 4 times, I think my chances are good!
2) I will not feel guilty when I choose to relax instead of work.

Amen.

However, these photos might be what's brought you here to this post:

a new paper crafting contraption

the remaining scraps when I was done with this project

My new toy to play with is an "envelope punch board".....which I love!  It now gives me the opportunity to cut and fold my own coordinating envelopes with the note cards I like to make. Turns out it makes a few other things as well.

With this punch board and three sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper, I can make,

Three envelopes and three matching note cards AND....

Two tags with a folded pocket for a smaller tag AND.....

with a little bit of white card stock, four tiny envelopes and gift tags WHICH.....

happen to be the perfect size for gift cards! :o)

So in between the groceries and laundry, that's what I got done today.....guilt free! (not really, but I'm working on it....)

Peace.

A little academic bragging...

I brag a little today, only because I'm in awe.

Awe: "an overwhelming feeling of admiration".
Yes, "awe" is the right word.

School, lessons, studying, test taking, grades.....all of it was very difficult for me through my public school years. Who knows, maybe that's part of the reason my 4 year college degree actually to me 10....

How ironic, that I became a teacher. Or perhaps that was His plan all along. Hopefully, those struggles help me be a better teacher.

But I digress. This wasn't going to be about, me the teacher....
It was going to be about me, the parent.

I know this is only a small link in their large academic future, but I am thrilled to share that, McKenna finished another school year with "ALL "A's".....

AND Andrea finished her first year of college with almost all A's, only one B her first semester. Ultimately making the Dean's List the second semester!

My grandfather liked to tell a story about me when once he was so proud, "he burst a button" right off of his shirt....Me too Gramp; I'm so proud of these girls I could "burst a button"!

Thanks for checking.
Melle :)

Fathers

Fathers.

Fathers have always been kind of a mystery to me.

My dad,

My dad was cool.

He and my mom met in art school, in Los Angeles, in the early 1960's; I mean, he was very cool!
He played trumpet, which I never heard, but I do remember loving his guitar playing and his "sound".
But, my dad, wasn't a father.
And that's okay.


It's okay, that he wasn't a father, because, I had a grandfather. A grandfather, who I still think was the greatest man I've ever known.

It's a very blessed person who has an amazing father or grandfather in their lives. And of all the prayers I prayed as a child, the greatest prayer I had was that my own children would grow up with a great father. My second prayer was that I'd be blessed with a daughter. How fortunate am I to have two daughters and they have a wonderful daddy. {I can't imagine what I've done right to be so blessed, but I am ever so grateful.}

Scott and the girls!

Through the years, my dad and I had an on again off again friendship. He passed on to me my curly hair and according to my mom, his temper. I've also always had an innate appreciation for Native Americans, which truly must come from that Cherokee blood. I spent about a week with Roger when I think I was about 13. He was living in his native hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I fell in love with the land there, too.

Roger Tillison passed away just before this last Christmas. If you Google his name you can find a bit of information about him. Click here for one such article and samples of his music. It has some nice comments after it with some stories. These are things I never knew about him, but they warmed my heart a little by the kind words many of his friends wrote about him.


I always thought it was the coolest thing that my grandfather was born just before the "turn of the century". He was born in 1898 in the Rocky Mountain state of Idaho.

This is a sketch by my mom of me and Gramp, 1964. It's just about my favorite.

During my young childhood, before he retired and spoiled me rotten, Paul S. Ballif was Chief of Engineering for the National Bureau of Standards, in Boulder, Colorado. I remember never really knowing what that was, but it sounded "really important"!  This photo was taken while visiting him at work.

I mean look at me. That's a little face of someone who adored her grandfather! He was such a wise man. I only wish it didn't take me a lifetime to appreciate that. He wasn't always so patient and he was private, but he was steadfast in his beliefs and a great storyteller! Gramp passed on to me my dimples and my bushy eyebrows { I loved his eyebrows, I'm not so crazy about mine}. He taught me to love the land and appreciate the outdoors. In my heart, "home" will always be that red brick home, nestled at the foothills of Boulder, Colorado.

This is McKenna (3) and Andrea (8) during the summer of 2004 in front of my grandfather's house. Gramp had passed away while I was pregnant with Andrea. This was the first (and the last) time I had visited my hometown. 

But whether its dad, daddy, father, pop, papa, or the man of the house, for me, it doesn't get any more amazing then this serious,

I mean, wild and crazy man I am blessed to call my husband.
He IS patient, thoughtful and kind.
He IS wise beyond his years, and could be humble if he ever made a mistake.
He IS my other half and my better half.
He fills all the voids in my soul.

The only man in my life that I love with all of my heart.
So grateful that he is the daddy to these two sweet girls.
Enjoy.
{Scott's daddy and awesome grandpa is also featured in this video}


{you can watch in full screen by clicking the rectangle in the bottom right corner}

Happy Father's Day to those great daddys out there.
Girls and boys, hug them tight, because you'll never know the sacrifices they've made to help you
become a better you.

Melle

Summer 2014 - It starts - thank GOD!

six months since my last post, i don't think that counts as blogging anymore
so here is a little post, just to get me started again

It's week two of my summer break.
What happened to week one?
Well, it seems, I always spend my first week sleeping. Or sometimes I lay for hours watching movies. And then, more sleeping.

Week two though, I finally found my hands with some paint on them:

I didn't really paint anything.....but I did finish with a boat load of new gift tags!

I don't know what I'll ever do with so many, but I like making tags because they provide immediate gratification. That's good, because I usually {never} finish anything!

And on that note, I am working on ideas for future posts, but we'll see:
I have an idea for sharing  "Photos from my cell phone"

Or an idea for "Father's Day Tribute"

photo circa 2007 (Scott and McKenna at Disney with Andrea peeking from behind)

And, just today, feeling inspired to work on a few projects for school; not artwork projects but paperwork projects. It's very unusual, but I'll go with it while I can.

I'll keep you posted.......I hope!

Melle

Happy New Year!

The blessings of a new year include a clean slate:

Here I can here Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables saying, "Each day is a new beginning, with no mistakes in it."

And, you can leave your past behind you:

Here I can here Rafiki saying, "Yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it....or learn from it.....so what are ya gonna do?"

.....I hope, learn from it!

Happy New Year everyone! For those of you who know me well, I do don't New Year's eve, day, week, very well....I'm not sure why. I think I'm always sad to see the old year go and I'm scared to death of what the new year brings! I always feel badly about the things I didn't get done and I dread the list of things I still have left to do. See, now you know why I'm such a basket case! :o)

Okay, well, then, "learn from it", my mistakes of last year: I didn't blog as much - poor time management? Probably. Internet surfing - yes, for sure; sucked into what I like to call the Pinterest vortex. (A blog post coming about that for sure in the near future.) But, I've put on my "big girl panties" and I'm ready to try this again.

Let's start with a little video of our Christmas.
Another mistake, I didn't take very many pictures, so I had to improvise with this slideshow. When I was all done, it still made me cry, so I think I still managed to record what was important. Enjoy:



For the daughter who likes to cook and bake, but still only eats five things in her diet,

she got a Kitchen Aid from Santa! This was totally inspired by Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Women.
For the daughter who is now a college student,

she finally got a real, bonafind, updated, working laptop!
For his Man Cave, Scott got beer...

and a cute little fridge to keep it in!
I got clothes, purses, slippers and jewelry....and then, just a little something....

to decorate my walls with!!! Yes, that's a Thomas Kincade print of my favorite Disney movie of all time!!
(OMG, I can't believe I just posted this picture of me - eek!)


There are a few more changes to make to this here blog for the new year that I'm still working on. One change is the tabs at the top, I've added two new ones and condensed some others. One is 50 @ 50, click on it to see what that is about. And then, the "My two cents" tab which will include bits and tidbits of things I find on the internet (since I spend so much time there) that some of you may find helpful from time to time.

Okay, well then, another mistake I make, all the time, is procrastination....and letting my kids sleep in too long while on break.....SO, here's to starting the new year off right - I better go wake up those girls and start putting the holiday decorations away......

.....right after one more cup of Earl Grey.....
I'm on break too, you know!

Love, Melle :o)