These photos are definitely not in the right order...but it at least gets a few up...
The roomie.
So, I've now finished 1-1/2 days of inservice for school. Tomorrow is a full 8 hours on a new spelling program. It was almost 90 degrees here in NH and the schools don't have a/c. The other thing I can't figure out...with as much padding as I have on my bohunkus...why does it get so sore and tired of sitting for SOOO long? LOL! I am too tired to mess with Katie's pics tonight, but I did a quickpage last night of Hilary and the twins. These three have been close friends for the last 5 years. I am so proud of all three of them. They only get to see each other 3-4 times a year now, so this is a precious photo of Hilary, Anna and Rachel. Off to beddie-boo time 'cause this body has to adjust to school time again.
Since my last post I have been running the roads with Hilary and Katie - getting them ready to go to college...have been to Philadelphia area and back in 36 hours dropping off Katie and all her stuff for Freshman orientation. Done more running with Hilary and started inservice today for school starting next week, I had hoped to have photos of our trip to Eastern University etc. posted on Sunday, but I was so tired I took a nap and yesterday was spent with laundry and paperwork. MAYBE tomorrow night I'll get more posted about our trip. Hilary leaves Thursday for Eastern Nazarene College - a Junior! John will have to take the truck too since everything won't fit in the car she is taking back. Anyway, I'm off to bed with an early meeting tomorrow.
Things have been a bit crazy around here and probably will continue that way for the next 7-10 days. We've been trying to get Katie ready to head to Eastern University on Friday. Imagine my BABY, a college freshman. She has been busy working, recording, singing and spending time with friends. Thankfully she has just about everything packed that can be packed. Now if I can just get her to clean her room...Hilary doesn't go to Eastern Nazarene until the 30th. I have an inservice, so John is going to go with her. Yesterday we went to Loon Mountain after church. We enjoyed the gondola sky ride.
This photo compliments of Loon Mountain's web page. Although we have plenty photos of our own. Yes, I do have photos of the scenery, but I found these much more interesting - especially Hilary and John climbing through the tight glacier caves. The look on Hilary's face when she finally got out was priceless.
And finally, a LO I did several days ago of me, John and Hilary at the Foscoe Gem Mine in Foscoe, NC. 
Credits: Digiscrap challenge sketch and Limeade kit by Dorren Stoltz
John and I had a great supper with our friends Steve and Pam S. last night. Considering we both feel so disconnected with people here, it is wonderful to meet with them as often as possible...shooting for once a month, but we'll have to see how schedules go come September. This afternoon we went to Portland to meet a friend of Kate's from northern Maine and to get a few of the things she needs for college...DDay is coming soon. Katie and Dan made 3 cakes (well, mostly Katie) for 3 friends with BDays this week. One was a guitar and another a drum set; the third was just initials. They were so cute decorating them. Hilary returned safely from her trip to NY to see Andrew. Next week isn't too busy, so I hope to get rid of some more junk in the house. Friends are using our yard for a yard sale on Saturday and I hope to get some of the big items out of our house and out there too. Below is a LO I did a few days ago of John and Hilary moving brush. Enjoy!
Credits: AmelieScraps Beautiful Days Kit and template scraprallye
Well, I have spent many hours today trying to finish Hilary's financial aid for college. It was due a month ago and I had MOST of it done, but have been waiting on one piece of information from the college before I would complete it and apply for her loan. After weekly phone calls I started with daily phone calls. Today I was calling and leaving messages at several places and finally got the information I needed from an entirely different department. In any case, the financial worksheet is now done and will go in the mail Monday. As soon as I finish here I have to apply for her alternative loan...I do NOT remember college finances being SO time consuming when I was in college. Of course, it didn't cost as much 30+ years ago either. I am glad to help the girls with all the financial paperwork, but with TWO to do this year it has taken more time than I thought it would...I got 2 more LOs done late last night. Mom and Toby are trying to come to terms with each other. He knows he has it good with her, but he still doesn't have the "come" command as part of his lifestyle. I liked all the photos of the family, so tried to incorporate them into one LO. My favorites are me, John and the girls and the second one of me and Melodie. Have a great weekend!
Credits: Quickpage from Anita at Nana's Attic
Credits: Sweet Attitude Kit from Nana's Attic
Not much new here, but I did get a couple of LOs done late last night. It's not very often John does dishes, so I took advantage of the photo op and then Lindsey took a photo of us. Gallazelli and Jack Johnson inspired the LO of me and John. The other LO is from a kit called Beautiful Blessings; that's what I call our girl...beautiful blessings!
Credits: Enchanted Garden quickpage by LBrown
These are some photos from our vacation - playing games and the girls being silly. We taught my sister and Mom how to play Blokus and Apples to Apples. If you are familiar with Apples to Apples you know that in each hand someone is the judge. We got quite a laugh when my Mom was judge and asked, "What's a Puff Daddy?" LOL
Credits: Windowpane template by Tracy Drane, Beautiful Blessings kit by Marcee Duggar
While on vacation my Mom wanted the bank on our property cleared. Mom bought an electric chainsaw because "the salesman told me it was light and even I could use it...". That was the WRONG thing to say to my Mom. Even though we told her NOT to use it after we left and warned of all the things that could happen to a 72 year old with a chainsaw...she sent an email yesterday saying she had cleared more from the bank and the chainsaw worked fine...As my oldest daughter, Lindsey, said..."she's a LUNATIC!" SOOO in honor of my maniac mother...I present this quickly thrown together layout...LOVE YA MOM!!!
I finally found a way to get Katie and John singing on my blog - kinda. Click the link on the left and it will take you to Twango and then click on "Better Together" on that page and it should play.
I have two great birdfeeders from Yankee Droll and I enjoy watching all the birds. We have never had problems with bears before, but evidently Saturday night one decided to make one of my birdfeeders and a suet feeder a snack. He left all parts except the cylinder for the Droll feeder. I took the pieces to Ed at Chick A Dee Station this morning and he is going to put it back together...hooray for Yankee Droll and authorized repair shops.
In other news, it is 40 degrees cooler today than when we returned Friday! The high Friday was 95 and today it ranged from 55-62 degrees...back to heat and humidity tomorrow. John, Hilary and I took the kayaks to Lake Winnipesaukee yesterday...little did I know we were sharing the lake with the President of France. With all the talk on the news about his temper with the photographers yesterday, I'm glad we didn't run into him. Katie and John Petruzelli have released their first solo cd track - well released it to family anyway. They call themselves Gallazelli and the song is "Better Together". I'm trying to find a place to upload it to add to the blog...it is SO good! Oh yeah, I almost forgot while on vacation I got an email from someone asking me to become part of their Creative Team for the digiscrapping store they have! WOW! I was flattered, but declined - I need to get my scrapping caught up before I take on anything else - it was a honor though to be asked.
I haven't had time to do any scrapping since I got home, but did manage to get a desktop calendar put together and my August wall calendar (below). The photo below is me, my sister (Melodie) and my girls. 
Credits: Rachel Knight from an EZine 11/06
It's hard to believe it is August 1st...where did my summer go? We leave tomorrow to head back to NH...long trip, but I am ready for my own bed. It has been great to be with family and to see old friends...only wish I could see them more often. Hilary wanted to go to the gem mine - something she used to do as a child. We did not go to the one we used to go to - long drive and BIG gem show going on in that town. We went to a local one and she was sadly disappointed, but I did get some good photos of her and John panning for gems. A month from now all my girls will be in school (either colleges or teaching Spanish) - WOW! Enjoy your night and maybe they'll be photos up by the weekend.
