A Little Less Drama

Well, it's been a weird week. After all that yelling and screaming my daughter broke it off with Sean the drunk. At least I think she did!? She started talking to some old friends and I thought she was actually going to start going out once in a while. That hasn't happened yet and now she's still talking about Sean. As long as she knows he's not welcomed here. He really managed to get on my bad side. It's very rare for me to not allow someone into my home, I'm usually too forgiving and easy going. Sean knows though how I feel about him and knows I know exactly what kind of person he is; which probably explains why he is so terrified of this old lady.

He had my daughter to the point where she truly thought he was the only one who cared about her. All this happened way to quick too. In spite of the fact that Sean spent his entire pay in 2 days in the bar and I had $100.00 go missing, my daughter doesn't (or refuses) to see it.

I tried explaining to my daughter what life was like for my friend Cathy who lived with my brother John. I have a name for him I can't repeat and not get banned from the blog site. Yes, my own brother! In spite of my brother Cathy is one of my best friends and a wonderful mother to my niece and nephew. You see my brother used to do the same things to Cathy. John was 10 years older than her and thought he found a real sucker. My brother John would clear no less than $600.00 a week but Cathy and the kids never saw it. Cathy had to live on welfare to provide for the children. I tried explaining at the time to Cathy that there was no way all that money went to the bar in just a few days; that there was drugs involved. Cathy didn't believe me until the night my brother came home and put a shotgun to his children's heads (they were 2 and 4 at the time). Fortunately Cathy was able to get away without harm. I do not want to see something like this happen to my daughter and this Sean has my brother written all over him.

As a matter of fact my brother dared to contact me last year after not seeing or having anything do to with his children in 10 years. He's been in hiding so he wouldn't have to pay child support. Well his first mistake was calling me! He actually had the gall to ask me to sneak his kids up to see him. Little did he know the first time I called him I was calling from Cathy's! I just simply blocked her number. I kept in contact with that jerk for 2 months until I finally got his address out him. Cathy and the kids not only get child support now but got 10 years back support! My brother is so stupid, he knows that when it comes to children I will ALWAYS put them first. If I thought he deserved to see them I'd would have had no problem approaching Cathy about it. But John is still drinking and using drugs, so forget it.

Even my life was not easy living with an alcoholic father who also suffered with schizophrenia. In spite of the stories my daughter just don't listen. I worry that she's going to find out the hard way but there's little I can do about, other than making sure my granddaughter is safe. My daughter did talk to me though about taking custody of Anna. My daughter realizes she has problems that are going to take a long time to overcome.

Now to find out how I go about becoming Anna's legal guardian without having to hire a lawyer. I don't mind at all, I love Anna dearly.

I did do a digi layout this week. With all this worrying about bipolar etc. it made me start thinking of my Dad who took his own life in December 2000. It was left up to me to make the decision to remove his life support. I found a great poem online written by Christine M. Butz that said it much than I could.

The credits are:

Andrea Gold Template 107 ; Scrap Girls: TKA_FireStation_12x12_Concrete_SPECBHA_Stylize_Special_12x12_Crumpled (recolored)SNU_ACollageUnleashed_Emb2_Flw-BlkBVA_CollageStamped_Brush SetPoem: Written by Christine M. Butz

And with that enough said for today!

Need to Vent!

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I swore I was only going to put good stuff on my blog, but I really to need to vent. It's too darned early to bend any of my friends ears or my son John who is probably still snoring, lol.

My daughter just walked out leaving her daughter behind. All because I will not allow her new boyfriend move in. Now mind you I'm the idiot who let my granddaughter's father stay with us for a while because he had no where to go when his parents tossed him. Well, we all know the results of that. My beautiful little lady, Anna. I love my granddaughter and will do what is necessary to make sure she's safe but I still blame myself for my dd getting pregnant.

My dd met her boyfriend at work just 2 weeks ago. Now first I wasn't happy because my dd is 20 and he's 31. At 31 years old he's working at McDonalds, living with his sister and has a son he not allowed to see.

First it was can Sean stay for a couple of days because his sister went away and he forgot his key. Being the idiot I am I said okay but just a few days and knowing he likes to drink I had one rule. He does not come here drunk. My oldest son Buddy is a drinker and even he is not allowed here if he's drunk. I'm no prude by any means, I have no problem with someone wanting to have a couple of drinks after work but getting drunk is another matter entirely. I grew up with an alcoholic father and I won't put up with that lifestyle as an adult.

Well, the first night Sean stayed here it happened to be payday. You know what happened, he went straight to the bar. That's after his sister chased him down for the rent money. He came in here and both my daughter and Sean insisted he wasn't drunk. Hmm... considering he kept speaking with the fake Irish accent, I'd say he was drunk. I let it go but told my dd in the morning, not again. Last night of course Sean went to the bar and was there several hours. I refused to let him in. The 2 of them kept insisting he wasn't drunk. I don't care what they said he wasn't coming in, end of story.

I have no idea where those 2 spent the night and my dd seems to have no concern where her daughter was. Granted she knows Anna was here with me but that's beside the point. All night they tried to get me to "discuss" the situation. I flat out refused, there's nothing to discuss. I had a rule, you didn't listen. My daughter even came up here telling me Sean was promising not to drink anymore. And as she's telling me this she's getting his 4 bottles of beer of the fridge because he wanted it. Say what?

My daughter just walked out my door telling me I'm behaving like a 2-year old. I'm behaving like a 2-year old and yet my daughter just walked out the door leaving her daughter behind! And this was while Anna was holding her arms up to her mother to be held. I made her give me her key to the apartment since she's so determined to stay with Sean.

I'm having a hard time understanding this whole situation. I did not raise my daughter to be so selfish and uncaring. Maybe in some way it is my fault. I've always put my daughter's needs ahead of mine. That's how my Mom was and I feel it's the way you should be. Your children come first! It doesn't help that my daughter was diagnosed as bipolar, refuses to take the meds or see a therapist.

My concern right now is for my granddaughter. I'm going to have to find out Monday what I can do to get legal custody. I hate to do such a thing and take Anna away from Heather but I'm really worried. I don't want Anna to have to be around someone who gets drunk every night. I lived that life and it's not a pretty one.

Wow, it feels good just to type and vent. I've found that if I type or write everything out I can stand back and get a fresh perspective. That and it allows me to calm down and cool off! For the most part I'm easy going and laid back, until I get ticked off. Just ask my dd how many dishes I've broken over the years LOL. Which is why I'm typing away like mad. Anna is awake and playing nicely doesn't need to see Mom-Mom have a tantrum.

Well, Anna is going to get outside to play for a while. I need to go buy my cancer sticks (cigs) and Diet Pepsi so I may as well keep on walking and take her to the park for while to play. She loves it there and the walk will do me good.

Friday and home from work.

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I ended up not going to work today. I'm having yet another FMS flare, yuck! I am so sore it's not funny. But I'm trying not to think about it too much. I'm trying to move as much as I can becuase if I don't I'll just end up in even more pain. That's the problem with FMS, your darned if you do and darned if you don't!

I have to pick up Anna today from daycare (dd working later than normal) and I knew the moment I opened my eyes this morning it would have been impossible for me to go to work and pick her up. Getting home from work, I take the trolley and then the train. I would have had to get off the train at the daycare and then a 20 minute walk. A 20-minute walk when I feel this bad turns into an hour, my arms and legs are on fire. At least staying home I can hop the bus to go get her since it's a straight run from home. It sucks I've always loved walking and to me it's not a long walk at all. Oh well.

On a more positive note , yesterday when I left work instead of getting off at 30th St. Station, I stayed on the trolley and went to the Gallery. My granddaughter is in serious need of fall and winter clothes and I wanted to see if I could get a few things for her. When your income is limited it gets tough keeping up with a growing baby!

Anyway I was going to go in the K-Mart but when I walked by the Old Navy they were having a sale. OH I found the cutest things. I ended up spending $68.00 but for that amount I got her 2 pairs of jeans, a jacket, 4 long sleeve tops and 2 pairs of pajamas. I think I did pretty good this time and I love all the pinks and browns. I did end up in K-Mart anyway because I needed a new pair of sneakers and I'm really cheap when it comes to buying myself something. I did find a comfortable pair (that's all I worry about) for $20.00 and got lucky because K-Mart's shoes are on sale, buy one get another for 50% off. So you know what I did, lol, I bought Anna another pair of sneakers. Well, at least she has 2 pair now. I bought her Dora sneakers and last week I found cute little pink and brown ones so she's good for a while. Now of course after worrying about Anna not having any fall clothes when the weather was cool all last week and I didn't have 2 pennies to rub together... it's going to be nice and in the 80's all next week! LOL, go figure. If I hadn't bought anything we'd have a cold snap.

I just finished a layout for a challenge at Scrap Girls and thought I would share it here. It's of my dd when she was 2. She was the flower girl at my cousins wedding.

I used PSE3 and the following from Scrap Girls:

Paper and frames from:SNU_ACollageUnleashed

Flowers and pearls from:ASO_WinterWhite

Font: Lucida Handwriting

Well, I'm going to rest for a bit before I have to go get Miss Anna.

Just Thinking About Stuff

Oh my goodness I think I actually like my daughters new boyfriend. Believe me I was ready to really not like this guy. My daughter is 20 and her b/f is 30! She met him at work.
Well, he came over last night and he seems like a decent guy. When he came back today my jaw literally hit the floor when he told me he had a talk with Heather last night. In only that one night he observed this scene: I came home from work and since I had to give up driving my car this week (can't afford the insurance) I take the train and then a trolley to get to work. This also involves a good 20-25 minute walk and takes roughly 1 1/2 hours. Well, after work I came in sat down for about 5 minutes after greeting my granddaughter and getting lots of hugs and loveys. Then the routine started. I started picking up all the junk laying around on the floor (empty soda cans, junk mail, etc.), fixed dinner for my granddaughter and sat with her, cleaned up that mess (she's 17-months old, lol, don't need to say more) then sat and played with her for a good while. Then did all the dishes from the night before (I'm too darned tired at the end of the night to do them), gave my granddaughter a bath and got her ready for bed and then finally got around to cook dinner for everyone else. It takes a little bit to make chicken cutlets and all the fixings. By the time I finished all of this it was 11:00 p.m.!
My daughter gets upset when anyone says anything to her about the fact that Mom does ALL the work. I sometimes wonder what she would do if I weren't here. She also knows the possibility of that happening! I had a triple bypass back in November of 1998, having heart disease and running around like a chicken with its head cut off is not a good combination. Well, that and I started smoking again... I know, I know.
I quit for 4 years after my heart surgery and started again. How stupid is that? Dumbest thing I've ever done. There were a lot of things going in my life at that time and I suppose that's what helped me start again. I can actually remember lighting up that first cigarette and crying about it. It was a very bad year for me in 2003. I was burning the candle at both ends. I worked full-time, was going to college part-time and dealing with a newly diagnosed bi-polar teenage daughter. Plus I had never properly dealt with my fathers suicide in 2000 either. Needless to say my depression got bad enough that I had to stay in the hospital for a week.
At first I was really upset that I was told I "had" to go but after getting there I realized I needed the help I was being offered. I took them up on it too, even going for intensive therapy for a month afterward. I took Effexor for a while but found I do better without anti-depressant meds, they seem to a bad mix with my other meds for my heart, blood pressure, thyroid and don't mix well at all with tramadol! I take the tramadol for my FMS pain and I'm sorry but I'm not giving that up. It takes just enough of an edge off of the pain so I can function and try to live a somewhat normal life. Without it just getting out of bed is nearly impossible let alone all the things I need to get done.
Anway, I'm truly glad I got help from doctors to deal with my depression and other issues I had tried to squelch for years. Talking to someone really helped me put things into perspective, especially my father's suicide. That was especially tough for me because I'm the one who had to make the decision regarding removing his life support. I pray no one has to go through that, although I know there are times it happens. My father took 60 blood pressure pills and had been dead for 15 minutes when paramedics revived him. In the intensive care he was in a coma and doctors could not determine if he was brain dead or not in spite of all their testing. After talking to them and my sister-in-law (thank you God for giving me her as a friend) I made the decision to have all but the feeding tube removed. The doctor described to me about removing the feeding tube and if he was aware it would have been a horrible way to die. I sat there beside my father's hospital bed and although he was in a coma talked to him. I told him I remembered that he said if he were ever in this position to make sure he was not left like a vegetable. At that moment even though his eyes never opened he smiled. I sometimes question my decision to remove the life support and then remember the smile. It's that smile that gets me through my decision. Did I make the right decision? I'm sure there are those who would argue that I played God and shouldn't have removed the life support. But, it was what my father wanted and I truly believe that if God didn't want me to do it He would have found a way to let me know. I'm not big on praying but on that day I did, seeking guidance, so I truly believe I made the right decision.
Well, off I go the troops are home!

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I was finally brave enough to join the Digishoptalk Gallery. I do belong to other forums but I'm often afraid to post my work after seeing some of the other layouts!

I can't resist this though, Digital Scrapbooking Day is on November 3! How could I possibly resist that. Not only do I really like digital scrapbooking (okay I'm addicted lol) but Digital Scrapbooking Day is on my birthday! Whoo Hoo what a great way to celebrate!

Anway, I found out about the Tailgate Party at Hummies Blog. She has such a wonderful blog just chock full of info, tips, freebies. I love it ! I thought I would join in on the party as is sounds like a blast. Now to just summon up the courage to start talking to others.

I did make a heritage layout and I'm posting it here. I hope you all like it! It's a picture of my Mom when she was about 2 years old. I have very, very few photos of my parents and grandparents. During a move several years ago someone decided to pilfer nearly all of my photos of them. PO'd is an understatement!

I did this in PSE3 using the following:

Template: Mrs Wresh Template 14; roh_blogparty_paper4 (Randi Oh); EHI_SSTools_Styles_Vellum (Scrap Girls); Mcy-BlogParty-Flower-01

It was suggested that we share something if posted on our blog. Since I'm no where near good enough yet to provide a freebie for digi layouts, I thought I would share a cookie recipe that I just did a layout of. I hope you like it!

Well, I think I'll post more later on. I'm pooped and I still have to clean. Actually I haven't even had dinner yet and it's already after 9:00 p.m.!

Tired of Whining!

Okay, I'm tired of whining and complaining, it gives me a headache and I get on my own nerves! Besides who wants to read a blog of someone having a pity party. Pity party is now over.
I was going through some of my old pictures of my 2 sons and having a good laugh at some of them and remembering some of the times I didn't have a camera handy. Or rather, didn't even think of having one handy with some of their stunts! I made a layout when I first started scrapping of my son Buddy who cleaned his room all by himself when he was 5. I'm not thrilled with the layout and am thinking of doing another with the same picture.
The story behind the picture is what is so funny though. Buddy was so proud of himself for cleaning his room all by himself. He picked up all his toys, made his bed, used the sweeper we had for the carpet and even washed his windows! Now the washing the windows is the funny part. Buddy knew that I cleaned my windows with a solution of vinegar and water. (You just may have an inkling where this is going!) I kept the bottle of vinegar solution under the kitchen sink though and he couldn't get to it because it was locked to keep little hands away from the other more dangerous cleaners. Well, he must have rummaged around in the bathroom (you catch on yet?). Smarty pants Buddy could read quite well at 5-years old and found a box that said vinegar and water on it. I had to walk out of his room when he showed me what he cleaned his windows with! He had taken the box of Massengil disposable douches and used one! OMG, I never laughed so hard in all my life. He did complain though it would squirt on the window like my spray bottle I normally used did, he just squeezed the vingegar onto a cloth. I made his father explain just what it was he used and what it was for. I was listening from the other room and heard Buddy say, "She does what with it?, Grosss. Dad I'm glad I'm a boy."
I remember times like these with my granddaughter running around now. My daughter never seemed to get into a lot of mischief like my boys did. Although, trust me my daughter could come up with some whoppers when it came to mispronouncing words. Imagine having your child run down the street and jump trying to say Geronimo! Only it came out Vaginimo!
Now the fun of waiting to see just what this Mom-Mom's little lady is going to come up with because she's a cross between all 3 of my kids! Oh my, we are in for a wild ride!

My Cable Company IS A NIGHTMARE!

I received a comment from Hummie (and thank you so very much) that moving is too much work. Oh you're not kidding! My cable company is driving me absolutely insane. First of all it took 3 attempts to get someone to properly transfer my service. For purposes of telling the story I'll make up apartment numbers (even I'm not dumb enough to give out my real one). Let's say my new apartment number is 345Z and my old one was 354Y. Now the first time the cable tech came out he want to my old apartment, 354Y. Instead of being told he went to the wrong address my appointment kept get pushed off and rescheduled with no explanation. After pitching a fit and threatening to go elsewhere (this after a week of phone calls) I got an appointment for the next day.
Now I'm sitting in work and get a call on my cell phone that the tech is knocking at my door and no one is home. Impossible I say because I just spoke to my daughter who is sitting at home waiting. Well they idiots sent the tech to 345Y, which just happens to be where my son John lived up until 6 months ago. This is important to remember as it plays a critical role here that is going to send me over the edge.
I tell the tech he's at the wrong apartment and go up to the second floor to 345Z. Okay now my service is finally on but I'm still po'd and need to call the sales rep back I talked to. The competition is offering a 1 year deal for Digital Cable, Internet and Telepone (with 5 calling features) for $99.00 a month. Well, silly me I think all is settled and I just have to call back now and get a better deal with my company.
WRONG! My son just called me and his poor fiance is having a fit. My son just received MY cable bill at his address; which by the way is in another town!!! I can't call the cable company, they're offices are closed at 5 p.m. Sooo... I sent them a nice little e-mail. I didn't use any obscenties (although I would have loved to) although I did ask where their staff came from and what schools they went to. I would really like this information so that when my 17-month old granddaughter is ready to attend to school I can make sure she NEVER sets foot in one them. I explained what has happened and that I want the situation remedied IMMEDIATELY. We'll see if I really get a phone call tomorrow.
You want to know the really sad part... the electric company did the same mistakes except for the billing address. It took a full 2 weeks before I finally had the gas turned on for my stove. Let me tell you, I don't mind using the microwave once in a while but I got sick and tired of it real quick. I had electric but needed someone to come in for the gas range.
Now, I have moved many, many times. Mostly as a young girl as growing up very poor we moved quite a bit (in the 5th grade I went to 3 different schools). By the time I was in my early 30's I had moved 33 times! I've only moved twice since my 30's and well you can tell why, I hate it. I have never ever been through something like this.
Oh it's not been a good day. But, my daughter finally found work and started today so it's not all bad. It's a McDonald's at not much but it's something for while she gets her GED. I told her I'm going to go there and take her picture so I can scap it with the title "Want fries with that?" LOL Fortunately she knows I'm laughing with her not at her. I did my time years ago working for Dunkin' Donuts and putting up with "Time to make the donuts!" Well, if anything at least I can get a funny picture to scrap. As my Gram used to say when she would start getting aggravated, "Laugh, mother, laugh." I can either laugh or go crazy... hmmm should I say crazier? LOL. I think I'll go find something funny and laugh.

The Adventures of Anna!

Well, I stayed up until 3 a.m. finishing up with this move. I scrubbed the old apartment from top to bottom and the only things left are a lamp I need to bring up and a bag of trash to throw out. Boy do I hurt today, it feels like someone is sticking hot needles into my upper back, neck, elbows and knees. LOL I just generally hurt all over! Of course from trying to get everything done now my new apartment is messy and needs picking up. It's amazing what can happen in just 2 days when I'm busy. I think my granddaughter Anna was trying to tell me the apartment needs cleaning. She walked over to the closet, pulled out the broom and started sweeping! You know it's time to clean up when a 17-month old says so! She's so funny sometimes.

Which brings me to the following two pictures that was snapped of my little lady getting into mischief. I swear this girl reminds me so much of my son John when he was little. That boy somehow even managed to pull his crib apart and once climbed out of his bedroom window onto the kitchen roof! (We actually super glued the screen down after that incident.) Ohhh, I can see we're in for a wild ride with Anna!

Here is what happens when Anna is supposed to be napping and decides she's not tired:

Thank goodness it was the nightstand she decided to sit in. She sees my little Tenshi do this all the time. He loves opening drawers and sleeping in them.

In this one my dd ran to the bathroom and came back and found this!

I really think my granddaughter needs to stop watching the cats! They both like laying in the middle of the table and I guess Anna thought it was also a good idea. I've even seen this child try to leap head first off of the furniture like the cats do. Oh my goodness, I think Anna thinks she's a cat!

Thank goodness she starts daycare Monday! My daughter finally found work and starts tomorrow. We have a friend watching Anna until daycare starts Monday. My daughter took Anna to the daycare today to check everything out and Anna loved it. They let Anna go in with the other children her age for an hour or so to play and my daughter said she had a ball.

I really think daycare is going to do a lot of good for Anna. She's extremely active and loves being around other children, but there aren't any kids her age living here. The poor kid has been staying cooped up in the apartment most of the time, except to go to the playground once in a while. My dd does not go out often. Personally I think my dd lets Anna watch too much television, so getting into daycare will give her the opportunity to learn, have fun and socialize with other children.

Well, enough rambling. I feel like scrapping, just haven't decided whether it's going to be paper or digi yet. Hmm... paper will have to wait until the little lady is in bed. So I'll do digi then paper! Besides I'm quite sad because the monthly kit is out at Scrap Girls and I have to wait until Thursday to get it after I get paid. Daycare is expensive! But that's another ramble.

Gentle Hugs to All.

Almost Finished With This Move!

I'm almost there, nearly done!
I just moved from a 3-room apartment to a bigger 2 bedroom apartment. Believe me we desparately needed the space. If it weren't for the generousity of my Aunt we'd still be stuck there. She helped so much by paying for the 3-months needed to transfer.
When it was just me and my daughter living in a small 1-bedroom apartment was not the greatest but liveable. However, with the arrival of my granddaughter last year...whoaa! I had forgotten just how much stuff you have when there's a baby in the house. That and the fact that this move has shown just how much junk I had. No wonder it was impossible to keep the place clean.
I've been doing this whole move with very little help. My nephew moved the beds for me and up until today I've done all of the work. My Uncle came over today and helped toss no less than 2 dozen large green trash bags out of the window and into the dumpster! I swear I'm not lying when I tell you we actually filled a big dumpster with all the stuff that was in there. Can you imagine such a sight?? I almost never invited people over because I was so embarrassed about how it looked. Most of the stuff was my daughter's who just kept accumulating things and then tossing them aside. I am just so sick of living like that. She knows how difficult it can be for me just to do normal everyday chores, but to have to keep cleaning up after her was impossible. I would come home from work and there would be clothes all over in every room, papers from the junk mail thrown about and oh let's not forget the empty Coke cans (or rather half-full ones she didn't finish and left out.
Well NO MORE! I've had it. I'm sick and tired of having to try to keep my home clean and feeling like it's a never ending process. I have no clue of what half of what I threw out was and to be quite honest I don't care. All that junk was NOT coming to the new apartment, which is clean and organized (and staying that way!). My daughter has a choice, shape up or ship out. I'm putting my foot down and if she doesn't cooperate my foot will be somewhere else ;).
I want to be able to feel good about people coming into my home. I can understand toys being out when Anna is awake, but when she's finished pick them up and put them away for pete's sake! Actually at almost 17 months old Anna likes playing "clean up" and is almost always willing to help. She's old enough now to learn how to put something in a box (of course she often takes it back out again LOL). Heck, when I feed Anna when she's finished she likes to take a baby wipe and "clean" her table while I sing, "clean up, clean up, everybody clean up". If you make something fun for a child they will gladly do something.
I still have to go down and finish cleaning up in there but I just finished a mountain of dishes and swept and mopped the living room. I need a break!
Well, that's enough rambling time to get up off my butt and start moving again. Ughh I'll be so glad when I'm done with this move.

My First Post

Hi,

I'm new to blogging and it's going to be a bit of a challenge for me as I'm not used to talking about myself. I think though this will just be about my life in general, the adventures (or should I say misadventures!) of my granddaughter Anna and a place to post some of my scrapbook layouts.

My granddaughter as you will very quickly discover is the light of my life! I was there when she was born, along with my sister-in-law Cathy. That was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I'm helping my daughter raise Anna, my daughter is only 20 and single and can be very naive at times. My daughter is also bi-polar which can make for quite a roller coaster ride.

I'm addicted to caffiene in a way that has most people shake their heads in disbelief. When I say addicted it's an understatement. It's not at all unusual for me to drink 2 - 6 packs of 24 oz. bottles of Diet Pepsi a day! Oh and when you hear me complaining of insomnia, I did try eliminating caffeine. I quit both caffiene and smoking for 4 years after my bypass surgery, my insomnia got worse!

Sometimes you'll hear me whine and have a pity party for myself because on top of the heart disease (I had a triple bypass in 1998 when I was 36) I also have FMS (fibromyalgia). There are days when just sitting at the computer and typing is extremely painful. In spite of the daily unrelenting pain I still work full-time. I absolutely refuse to let FMS rule my life for the most part. There are days when just getting to work and coming home is all I have the energy and will power for. My granddaughter and kitties though can bring a smile to my face on the worst of days. That or when my pity party lasts for more than an hour or so I get on my own nerves, give myself a good swift kick in the rear, and get on with life.

I just started scrapbooking this past May so you'll see a lot of my layouts here. I do paper scrapping as well as digi. I love it! It's very relaxing and great for relieving the stresses of everday life.

Well, I think that's enough for my first post. Besides I really need to go buy more Diet Pepsi and I'm down to counting change because I spent my cigarette and soda money on scrap supplies. See, scrapbooking can also help you stay healthy!

With that I leave you with a recent digi layout I did. Thanks for listening to me ramble on and I hope you like the layout! All of the elements used here are from Scrap Girls.