Croppin' in a small town...

is more fun than ever! If you want to find a scrapbook store that has a big heart and a family feel, then Croppinsville is for you. Allie has a store that just rocks! We have a great bunch of croppers that are regulars and when the weekend rolls around, Croppinsville is the place to be! We dance, we sing, we crop and we share! I have never been to a scrapbook store where you walk in and feel like you just walked into your own home! It just has that kind of feel. Yes, I do work there but I feel that everyone that comes into the store is just a part of my family! Even if you live in South Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Jenks or Bixby, it is well worth the trip to come party with us! I do every weekend, even when I am not working! And I happen to know several other of our regulars drive from South Tulsa and beyond to play with us! You will learn new techniques and see the LATEST AND GREATEST in scrapbooking and paper crafting products. AND if you can't find what you want, Allie will go out of her way and order it for you!!! Just check out the CROPPINSVILLE blog to see what is happening every week and then you can even link to some of our other designers to learn more about them!!! We have the best designers in this part of the country-I guarantee it!!! Reserve your table early for the best seat in the house (and the most comfortable crop chairs ever-even if they look like a cow)! We play hard and we create the most awesome layouts, cards and altered items! Allie carries a great variety of items to alter and with the holidays creeping around the corner very quickly-now is the time to start working on those gifts!!! Come see what we do to give you the ideas to knock your family and friends socks off when you gift them an item you created!!! See you at the best scrappin' place in the country!!!!

http://www.croppinsville.blogspot.com

My Indian Heritage

My mother is 1/64th Cherokee, my dad is 1/32nd Choctaw and 1/64th Chickasaw, so that makes me 1/16th American Indian, even with my blue eyes. My hair is naturally dark so the blond doesn't count-Ha! I went to the Cherokee National Holiday this past weekend to help my dad in his jewelry booth at the Arts and Crafts Fair. He makes some wonderful silver and turquoise pieces as well as other semi-precious stones. Is is just now working some with gold.
The other photos are from the Pow-Wow Saturday night. I really enjoyed attending this and got some awesome photos. All different tribal wear was just so colorful and spectacular. It really made me want to get more in touch with my heritage and learn more about the outfits and dances. Maybe by next year, I will make myself a tear dress and get to dance the stomp!

Procrastination and goals...Uh-ooh!

I am the poster child for procrastination! If I can put it off, I will! And I don't care if I am having to scramble at the last second to get the job done. In fact, I think I do a better job if I am under the gun, so to speak! This goes for projects at work, projects at home and even cleaning house, I will put off the inevitable. When I was in college, my best papers were written the night before they were due. If I started them early, I just couldn't seem to get my mind wrapped around my thoughts but give me a deadline looming over my head and my brain kicks into overdrive! If company is showing up at my door within hours, even if I have known about it for weeks, I will put off cleaning until the last second and be flying through the house with mop, broom and duster going at warp speed! Of course, then again, it doesn't do any good to clean my house until the last second anyway, since I leave with a bunch of pigs!

I am trying out for a new Design Team position at www.sassynsavvy.com and the voting will be done by the membership. Everyday new questions are asked for whomever is trying out, so everyone can get to know the contestants a little better. Today, the question was about our blogs and how often we update. I had to confess that I am poor at blogging, but did state that I should get better at it to make myself a better individual and improve my journaling skills. So, I am now challenging myself to set goals to blog at least once a week and post new layouts to my blog.

Maybe by setting goals I can improve as a journalist, photographer and scrapbooker and maybe not procrastinate so much in that part of my life. We will just have to see...

I will survive!!!

OMG, I finally had my surgery a week ago today. I had a laparascopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo oopherectomy. So what does that mean, my ovaries and uterus are gone!

It has been a long painful process to get to this point and if I knew I was going to be so sore and incapacitated, I am not sure I would have gone through with it. I feel like I have had all my strength totally sapped from me. I get tired just walking across the house. Of course, I lost a lot of blood and had to receive two pints of blood during the surgery. That may have something to do with it.

But, I feel like everyday I am getting a little stronger and push myself to walk a little more everyday. I walked around the outside of the house twice today and enjoyed the beautiful spring afternoon. And I have 5 weeks to get myself back into shape before I have to go back to work.

I am hoping to feel up to going to the park next week with Hayleigh for a photo shoot before she goes to California to spend the summer with her dad. She leaves the first of May and won't be back until the end of August. Her dad is in the Navy and will deploy for the next year so we agreed to let her spend the summer with him because he won't see him for the next year or more. But I will sure miss that little stinker. Here is a picture of Hayleigh on her 4th birthday at Safari's Wildlife Sanctuary. She is a beauty!!!

Wow-has it been that long???

Okay, so I am not so good at blogging!

The last post I had was over a year ago and I can probably just say read below for most of the similar thoughts. Lilacs are just now beginning to bloom. Forsythia is in full bloom and I saw the most beautiful deep purple tulips today! Spring is in the air and I feel great! Just got the results of my CT heart angiogram-everything is clear, I have no blockage, my heart is pumping efficiently and I don't need to follow up with the cardiologist or need medications to take for the left bundle branch block that is causing a flow murmur in my heart. This all precipitated while I was preparing for a hysterectomy and an abnormal EKG showed up while getting my pre-op for surgery! Wow, what a month it has been, but alls well that ends well as soon as I become uterus and ovary free on April 9th! Woo-hoo! Something I have wanted for a very long time! Just goes to show you-be careful what you wish for-God does have a sense of humor. My mom has said this many times, perfect example. My sister while in high school had no boobs and she just wished and wished for boobs-long story short-she had a breast reduction recently! Again, God does have a sense of humor!!!!

Lessons learned:

Laugh instead of cry! It's much more fun that way and the endorphins produced by laughing is healing! Crying just makes your eyes swell and get puffy and red!

If you woke up this morning feeling like crap, then it means your not dead!

And not to repeat myself, but, God has a very good sense of humor, so laugh with Him not at Him!!!!!!

Happy Friday!!!!!

Wow-March has snuck on me!

Well, Spring is upon us! It is beautiful outside and I love this weather! That means I can walk the dogs and not have to bundle up. No more coats, sweaters and hoods! Of course, I always carry a jacket and blanket in the car for hockey games though. It is usually cold in the ice rink even in the summer! But that is okay too!

I can get some plants to fill my planters, including fresh herbs, YUM! Here's a picture I took last year of a Swallowtail Butterfly on my lilacs in full bloom! I love my new car, especially in this weather, I can crank open my sunroof and enjoy the sunshine! Woohoo! I love this time of year. Everything will start blooming and new little animals, especially the calves. We have a herd of long horn cattle in a pasture near our house and they have the cutest little spotted calves. I love to just stop and watch them play! Spring always means rejuvenation and there is just something about the smell of the air that just makes you feel better! I can open up the house and get rid of that old closed up smell. The dogs like it also because then the door stays open and they can run in and out all they want!

We will have to start getting the pool and boat ready for summer! I hope we get some rain to get the lake levels back up. Besides we have a big burn pile right now and since we have been under a fire ban for the past 5 months, it is getting pretty ugly out there, a couple of broken down chairs and some broken tree branches plus some paper trash that needs to go bye-bye!!!

Everyone have a great day and enjoy the weather, 'cause you know the old Okie saying, "if you don't like the weather just wait a minute and it will change"!

HAPPY NEW YEAR-RESOLUTIONS??!!??

This is the time of year everyone looks at the past year to make changes and improvements for the new year. Of course, a big one for many people is their weight and trying to drop those pounds. I hate making this a resolution because it always seems to set me up for failure. Yes, I would love to drop about 60-70 lbs and be back at the weight I was before I had children. Is that realistic? Not likely, why? #1: I enjoy snacks and sweets way too much to give them up. #2. Although I would love to be able to exercise more, I don't have the will power to force myself to get into the habit (and I have got all the exercise videos, dvds and equipment to prove it). I have sworn to "Tae-Bo", "Pilates", "Sweat to the Oldies" and even "Walk Away the Pounds". Plus I have a lifetime membership (that cost a small arm and leg-I wish) to a local fitness center that I haven't even darkened the doorway for over 2 years. I have been trying Weight Watchers-AGAIN. And will probably stick with the more nutritious eating but I will still have my occasional breakdowns. If I can realistically loose 25-30 pounds and just be able to bend over and put on a pair of socks or walk out to the mailbox without huffing and puffing, I think I will be happy. I will attempt to actually remove the wrappers from my most recent exercise DVD's and may even pop them in and give it the old college try. Who knows maybe the newest ones may be the ones to work...only time will tell!!!