I've been tagged... and a few bragbook LOs I made

She did it AGAIN!!! Kristine tagged me... this time with SEVEN things about myself.

1. Link to the person that tagged you and leave a comment on their blog, so that their readers can visit yours. ~~~Kristine's blog WenchdGrafix Designs. Visit her blog!!... she has some awesome kits on sale THIS WEEK ONLY! She also has some awesome freebie samplers.... go check it out!
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 7 Random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 random people at the bottom of your post, linking to their blog. Let each person know by leaving a comment on their blog. (if you don’t know 7 bloggers, just tag who you know)

Seven things about me:

1. One of my most craved snacks are sardines... but they have to be King Oscar double-layer in olive oil or I won't eat them. Hubby won't come near me when I'm eating them, haha... and I passed on my craving to my oldest son.
2. I HAVE to have the TV or music on to read a book... don't know why.
3. On an average, I get about 5 pictures per 100 taken on my digital camera that I ever actually keep. I'm a TERRIBLE photographer! Either that or I need a new camera!
4. My favorite TV shows right now (and my nightly ritual for the week) are Dr. Who, Ghost Hunters, The Riches, Medium, Lost, Haunted Places, and whatever stupid old horror movie Svengooli has on Saturday late night. (that's one for each night)
5. I wear at least one ring on every finger... four on a couple... and they're all silver or platinum. I don't like gold or diamonds (YES, I'm a female!)
6. I want to have Johnny Depps baby.... hahaha. It's impossible (I'm "fixed") but I sure would love to try. [[ Okay, Mom & Dad... pretend you didn't read that! ]]
7. I do butt wiggles and butt crunches while I'm at the computer to keep from getting flabby, LOL. I'm sure you REALLY wanted to know that, hahaha!

I have to tag 7 people. There aren't that many who come here so I'll just say that ANYONE who comes here and reads this has to do it! Let me know if you do so I can come visit!

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Next, I want to share a couple bragbooks I made for my mom and dad. They've never met a couple of their younger grandkids.

These first two I made with an AWESOME kit by Vicki at A Work in Progress called Doodle-icious. You really should go check out her blog! She has a lot of really kewl stuff to share! I love her designs. After these were printed, I found all kinds of stuff I would have or should have done... as usual. You can see the full size 6x4's by clicking on them.... for printing purposed for mom & dad!

This is Tayli on Easter. She ate sooo much candy that she was bouncing off the walls.
Credits
Kit Doodle-icious by Vicki at A Work in Progress.
Butterfly by Boo Silva at Booland Designs from her Granddad kit.
Template used is Template215 by Andrea Gold and modified by me for bragbook size.

This is Emma, Tayli's little sister, on Easter. She's guilty of handing out all the candy to Tayli, lol.
Credits
Kit is Doodle-icious by Vicki at A Work in Progress.
Template is March_template_Left by Karen Maggie for Scrapbookgraphics and modified by me for bragbook size.

This one I used a different kit... I love the colors on this kit. Visit Fran over at Imagine to check out her beautiful kits!

This is Julie, our little miracle girl. She's finally starting to sit still for photos!
Credits
Scrapkit is Picoti by Fran at Imagine.
Overlay & alpha Little Birdie coordinate by Gabrielle at Take My Breath Away.

That's it for me! I have tons to do now. I wasn't even going to blog today until I saw that Kristine tagged me, haha. Ciao!

Another LO

This winter has GOT to end! I'm getting soooo sick of it. Yesterday it was close to 50 degrees... a warm trend for Chicago! But we still have plenty of really cold weather coming. The weather man is talking of MORE snow possibly. I need my WARM!!!

I did another LO... this time with a kit by MyDigiStyle called Watercolor Dreams - Jessica1. You can get it on Mabelle's blog... AND if you make a LO with her creations, you can get an exclusive addon! This time we were supposed to make a LO with the theme "Thankful" so here's mine. This is Julie, one of my granddaughters, who wasn't expected to live. She was born at about one pound and surprised everyone. She still has problems, has a permanent tracheotomy and feeding tube, but she now walks, plays and loves. She's our little miracle! Click on image to see it larger.

Kit used is Watercolor Dreams - Jessica1 by MyDigiStyle
Scalloped template is 10 template decoupe papier (4) by Digiscrap.ch
Font used is Lucida Handwriting

That's it. Not much going on since I'm still in "hibernation mode". Cya!

Grandkids...

The damn cat (we call her Mama) woke me up at 4:30 this morning!!! I swear, the older she gets, the more NEEDY she is! She's about 15 years old and does it ever show! She was hungry and thirsty and wanted tons of affection in the wee hours. Of course I pretended to be asleep but she started her kneading on my stomach and meowing VERY loudly. I finally gave in when she started batting at the blinds (they're aluminum) and making such a huge racket that I thought she was going to wake up hubby. We did her morning ritual of getting fed, lapping up a half bowl of water, massive amounts of getting petted and purring her little heart out, getting brushed, etc, etc. THEN SHE WENT BACK TO SLEEP!!! Meanwhile during all this, I drank a quick ice-coffee (Starbuck Mocha Frappachino, yum) to wake me up, so I couldn't go back to sleep... grrrr. Anway...

... since nobody out there in "blog-land" is usually up that early, I started playing around. I used Kristine's kit "Into The Mystic" again (can you tell I like the kit?) and came up with this 4x6. NOT too happy with it but it's MY grandkids and I love 'em!!! That's Miss Julie (a Packer's fan) on the left, Miss Tayli and Miss Emma (loving sisters) on the right.

Click here to see it larger

Some news.... not good news though.
--- My daughter-in-law, Kim, was recently pregnant. WAS! She lost the baby last week. She was only a few months pregnant but she has a history of this so it was expected (sort of). She's feeling better now, but doesn't want to talk about it. I know for sure that they want ONE more though... sometime in the future ::: sigh :::
--- Also, last week we found out that Miss Julie probably will never be able to get rid of her tracheotomy or her feeding tube. A CT scan and MRI were taken of the brain that takes care of those functions and they're white. Which means those functions are getting worse. Nobody knows for sure what will happen. Julie is a miracle baby and has proven everybody wrong so far!!!

Not much else to say. It's going to be one of those days.

The Story of Julie

My granddaughter, and daughter to my youngest son, Julie, was born a few months early at 1 pound, 1 GRAM. That was 2-1/2 years ago in July. She was immediately put on life support... and EVERYONE we knew was praying that she would live. The doctors gave NO hope of her living more than a few days. My son, Bob, and his SO were at the hospital every day even though they had an hour drive to get to the hospital... and the same to get back IF the traffic was good. Those were definitely hard times!

Julie stayed in the PICU and NICU until January (six months!) when she finally got to go home. But not without TONS of hospital equipment. Because she had been born prematurely, her lungs had not developed properly. She was on constant oxygen and a few monitors... which were NOT enough. A week after her release, SHE STOPPED BREATHING! Bob did the best he could after calling paramedics to give CPR. Thank goodness for TV shows because he kept her alive. Julie was airlifted BACK to the hospital. But, because of the time she hadn't been breathing, there were problems....

At the hospital, a tracheotomy had to be performed which meant MORE constant oxygen. Somehow, Julie lost her ability to swallow so she has a "breathing barrel", as I call it, which constantly needs to be sucked out to prevent liquid build-up. Without the swallowing reflex, she needed a feeding tube (attached through her belly button) and still has it to this day. Needless to say, she can't speak... because of the trach. She also is a "special" child. Her brain lost too much oxygen when she stopped breathing and lost some of her mental facilities.

Thank goodness there were no more non-breathing incidents! Today, Julie has gone through countless therapy sessions, both for breathing, swallowing, and for walking. She finally started walking a few months back! She's a terror now, LOL! There's a home-care nurse at their place for 16 hours a day except on weekends, so that the parents can shop, clean, sleep. Everyday she learns more and more. We are all hoping the trach will be removed one day. The doctors and the hospital have taken TOTAL blame for the problems created AFTER her first release from the hospital!

This is our Julie... she lives a hard life but she is sooooooooooo loved!

Kit used is Secret Garden (freebies) by Jenni at Chaos Lounge
Font used is decemberice by Eric Mynahan

Ciao for now. I'm off to clean the house!