On eagle's wings

I've written about my travel journal class. I've been using a 5 x 7 three ring notebook for a journal for this class. The picture is what I did to the cover. I was going to embellish it more, but decided I liked it just as it is. What I like about doing this is I can be creative altering and with my writing - two of my favorite things. After the class, I intend to continue using it for journaling all my travels, both inward and outward. I so enjoy journaling and learning, too. Even taking a spin on Maxine can be eventful, especially if I take along my camera. I try to find something new and go to a place where I haven't been for awhile, each time I ride her. I have found some interesting things - like a 45 MPH speed limit for a golf trail. I think that one's a hoot! I feel that even my goals for the year are a travel of sorts. I'm really enjoying the challenge of it all. So traveling is quite something. And my new journal cover will help to beautify my journey along life's road.

Today I sent out a letter noting final details for our Faith Circle Journal. Dewy has been such a marvelous help and has given me such encouragement. I feel so uplifted about the entire project. I have been trying to decide what to do with my own. I think it will be about prayer, peace, and praise. But I won't be sure until I actually start working on it.

Bob and I are going to go shopping today. I'm really excited because I want to get him some scrapping supplies. He would like his own paper keeper and I'm hoping we'll find him a really nice one. Our anniversary is August 12th and I want to give it to him for that. He's such a sweetie and so supportive of all I do. I ordered him a bunch of military stuff for his Navy album yesterday. I know that will surprise him. He has promised to do a LO with me this weekend.

For now, I need to get moving to start this day other than on the computer. :)

........we will fly above........

Love and Peace
Ang

My Friday Five

1. What was your first job?
My first job was at a local department store as a cashier. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about retailing

2. How much did you make?
I started at $1.25/hr and was at $1.40 when I left. Remember this was in 1965/66.

3. Describe your least favorite co-worker of all time.
It had to be one supervisor (not mine thank goodness) who believed women had no place in law enforcement and did his very best to get them all fired. He found fault if you stayed calm and he found fault if he thought you were excited. It was impossible to do what he considered a good job no matter how hard you worked. He wouldn't give anyone - man or woman - a positive job rating because he felt no one ever did their best because no one is perfect! Even the men disliked his trying to lead with intimidation. I always dreaded when he filled in for my own supervisor.

4. What is your dream job?
My dream job would be to lead four creative retreats each year. I could also write, paint, draw, scrap, etc. to my heart's content during this time. Two would have to be near the ocean and two in the mountains.

5. What do you currently do and do you like it?
I coach journaling and love it.

Friday is all right .....

These one hundred words were written for a challenge on Care2 for describing Friday.

This Friday is good. My pain is low and Cruzer will be home the for entire weekend. Tonight promises to bring some couple time for us. Cruzer will be bringing home some sort of treat for us for dinner. Something scrumptious like pizza or Chinese or perhaps even Mexican will grace our table. Or it could be as simple as a hamburger. What ever it is, we’ll have it by candle light with soft music. Then it will be show time and we’ll watch a favorite movie while we relax and wind down from the past week. Ahhhhhhhhh the anticipation!

All right with me......

Did you ever.........

Did you ever wonder why? I have all kinds of things that make me wonder.

*I wonder why it is that everytime I'm in the middle of something important and intense there is a power surge and all (or most) is lost.
*I wonder why some people only read part of anything and then their answers sound silly because they have already been answered.
*I wonder why the dogs never bark or jump on me until I am on the phone. I wonder why the cable always goes out in one of the few tv shows I watch.
*I wonder what it is that makes my browser not like certain web sites.
*I wonder why Bob can't put things back where they live.
*I wonder why children have to be sick.
*I wonder why some people have to be mean if they don't agree with someone else. I wonder why they can't leave things alone and move on to something they do like rather than stir up hard feelings.
*I wonder why some people find such peace within their faith and others don't.
*I wonder why my mama kept a will for 40 years and put her own someplace where is still hasn't been found for 8 years.
*I wonder why siblings have to argue and can't have good relationships like I have with my brother.
*Why do some people feel it necessary to lie about almost everything in their lives?
*Why do dogs like chew toys?

These are only some of the things I wonder about. I could do a whole other journal simply on this subject.

I did another LO yesterday. I'm not happy with it, but considering what material I had to work with, I did the very best I could.





This time I had to use cardstock only, buttons, rub-ons, no-alphabet stickers,tags, and twill ribbon. With limited supplies, I didn't do so good, but did the best I could. All I can think I could have done differently was to perhaps add more stickers or a breaker bar between the top and the bottom of the page. I don't know. Sometimes I don't think I have a very good eye.

Well, I'm off..........
Ang

Dust in the wind.......

Your Blogging Type is Confident and Insightful

You've got a ton of brain power, and you leverage it into brilliant blog. Both creative and logical, you come up with amazing ideas and insights. A total perfectionist, you find yourself revising and rewriting posts a lot of the time. You blog for yourself - and you don't care how popular (or unpopular) your blog is!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

These are so much fun!
Ohh Baby, Baby.....

Ain't too proud to beg, oh baby baby

Angela Diane Dabelko Cruze's Aliases

Your movie star name: Salsa Paul

Your fashion designer name is Angela London

Your socialite name is Ennie Vegas

Your fly girl / guy name is A Dab

Your detective name is Puppy Howland

Your barfly name is Crackers Margarita

Your soap opera name is Diane Reeves

Your rock star name is Kisses Jet

Your star wars name is Angbud Dabbob

Your punk rock band name is The Happy Tripod

The Amazing Meganame Generator

Ain't too proud to beg, oh baby baby

Angela Diane Dabelko Cruze's Aliases

Your movie star name: Salsa Paul

Your fashion designer name is Angela London

Your socialite name is Ennie Vegas

Your fly girl / guy name is A Dab

Your detective name is Puppy Howland

Your barfly name is Crackers Margarita

Your soap opera name is Diane Reeves

Your rock star name is Kisses Jet

Your star wars name is Angbud Dabbob

Your punk rock band name is The Happy Tripod

The Amazing Meganame Generator

Young and sweet, only 17

Friday Five:

Who was your first best friend?
Margie and I am still in touch with her via email. We were about 4 years old when we became best buds. We lost touch for many years but located each other a few years ago. We aren't as close, but are still friends.

Who have been some of the most influential people in your life?
My mama was the most.
My maternal grandmother.
One of my paternal aunts.
A youth minister when I was in high school who taught me acceptance of those who are different. He always said as humans we have more in common than we have different.
A college professor who taught me that often times what seems "bad" is really an illness, but that there can also be those who are so indifferent that nothing matters to them, not even themselves.

Do you usually have one best friend or a lot of close friends?
I usually have both - one best friend and a lot of other friends, too, though not as close.

Do you believe people of the opposite sex can be best friends and not lovers?
Yes I do. I had one like that. It was a joke that when I got married, my spouse had to accept him along with me.

Have you ever fallen in love with a friend?
Yes and I have been married to him for five years next month.

Just another day in paradise

It amazes me how long I'm going between posts. Perhaps it is because of my class. I'm journaling on paper and my blog suffers a little. I promise today to try to get back to my former routine. Now that's a goal!! I'm also concerned about my plans to turn my journaling class I teach towards being faith based. I feel that for healing to being to take place, faith must be present. I really need to pray some more for this. Strong feelings doesn't mean it is what should be done. It is exciting to see God's plans unfold in our lives.

Although Dennis didn't hit directly in our area, we had some winds and lots of rain from him. And the rain continues from the whirls in the Atlantic. Everyone is amazed that so many named storms have occurred and we are only in July. Makes me a tad nervous as to what's going to happen between August and September - usually the two most active months. But the rain is getting me down. The roads can't dry before the next rain. That means I can't have Maxine out. Oh, I could, but I refuse to take unnecessary risks with her. Yesterday we were all concerned the shuttle wouldn't go because of the weather, and it was heartbreaking that is was scrubbed because of the sensor problem. One good thing, it has been rescheduled for Saturday and that means Cruzer will get to see it, too.

Everyone I know has been excited about the new Harry Potter book coming out. I've never even read the first one! I guess I should to be able to understand what all the fuss is. Maybe someone will chose it for a future read in ROTH. I think I'll ask them to see what those who have read the series think about it. I do know there has been a lot of controversy about it from some religious groups and I don't want to step on anyone's toes. That isn't why I haven't read them. I'm not too wild about science fiction. My SIL tells me I should try the first one as she thinks I'll enjoy it.

I've been trying to get some of my scrapping supplies better organized. I can't believe how many I have accumulated. I think it is easy to get overwhelmed! I've been so blessed in having had a secret sister who has quit paper scrapping altogether and does everything digitally. Because of that, she sent me some stamps, a heating tool, lots of embossing powder and two books about stamping for scrapbooking. I can't get over her generosity! And ribbon!! I am so addicted to ribbon. Right now I'm going into my second ribbon swap. Now how cool is that? I love getting the different colors and feeling the textures. Does this mean I'm sensual? lol! I think not.

My brother's MIL is not doing well. She'll be 92 in January. Dave told us last night that they are wanting to do surgery - a colostomy. It is amazing that they feel she'll make it through. IT is a lot different with Shirley than with our mama. Our mama couldn't swallow too well on her own, was weakened because of the stroke and the infection. We knew she didn't want on a feeding tube unless it would be a temporary thing. It wouldn't have been that way, and quite frankly, she most likely wouldn't have survived the surgery. We knew the end was near and opted not to put her through that. I kept remembering her telling me how she felt when they removed her breast without telling her or having anyone to be there with her. I couldn't decide for her to have more of her body removed. And I had that option as her medical surrogate. Honestly, if Dave would have insisted she have the surgery, I would have oked it. I'm glad he finally realized it was the end and to let her go peacefully the way God intended for us. She and Shirley were only a few days apart in age and became friends when Dave and Elaine married. I like Shirley a lot. We took a genealogy class together. I continue to pray for her and have added God's will be done and for her family have the strength to accept it. When it comes, it will affect me, too. She's a pretty special lady and has been wonderful to my brother all these years and to me, too.
Right now the night time Emmies are being announced. West Wing is about the only one I watch. They even have a category for Reality TV and that is something I don't usually watch. Last night started a new short series called Brat Camp. We are watching that one. It is quite moving watching the troubled teens come to take responsibility and face their individual issues. But usually when it hits 8PM, we either watch Food Net or turn on a movie - usually the latter.

It's been great getting back to adding to my blog. Until next time ------
give me a Cheeseburger in Paradise, cheese and mustard'd be nice.........

In foggy London town........

I am still reeling from the carnage I saw last week. England's 9-11 is 7-7.The bus that exploded was in Russell Square, right close to where we stayed when we were in London. I kept thinking, we could have very well been on that bus! A close friend of my was scheduled to go into her office Friday but said the door to the building needed secured, so she wasn't able to do so. The entire thing is so tragic! If this in fact was a religious war as the terrorists say it is, they would blow up buildings, etc. when people would be hurt, not during rush hour when so many innocents are killed and injured. But that they place such little value on human life says it all - they are selfish cowards with no more religion than a turd. It takes much less to fight than to identify problems and work for solutions. They have proven they don't even respect Muslim life! I'm sorry, I can't write anymore about this, I just can't!

As usual, when tragedy befalls, I tend to get creative. I scrapped two more pages for my cookbook and made a new category page. My scans are horrible, but I enjoyed the work to relieve my mind from the events. These are the pictures at the top of this post.

It's where I want to be..........
Ang

I'm so lucky to be.......

**Some of this post is a repeat of my last post, but I wanted to get everything in order.**

This week has been simply phenomenal! It all started last Wednesday. My wonderful nephew testified in front of the total House International Relations Committee on Global Water and Sanitation (HR1979). It was web-cast live and I watched the entire thing. His 6 minute brief was so great! He covered all important issues and why they should concern the US. I was so proud of him. My mama would have been, too. Geoff's work is her legacy of love for the environment and caring for it.

Thursday we started to change the computer room with the spare bedroom. We are basically into the computer room, but there is still tons of de-cluttering to accomplish. But we are finding things we thought were lost forever!! lol !!It has been a real experience, I can tell you with all honesty.

During this time, I have been working with one of my new friends in getting what is called a Circle Journal going. But this one is unique as it will be faith based. I'm so looking forward to doing it.

My journaling class got better and better this week, too. I'm really getting to know the members and we are sharing all kinds of travel together. It doesn't matter if it is inner or physical. Some of us have physical issues that are taking us on new travels and others are actually taking trips. One of the women writes of her travels in poems. I'm so enjoying this class, I think, better than any other I've taken.

Friday I received a wonderful altered book from my friend Vicki. It is quite lovely. It is done in shades of purple (my favorite) and is adorned with hearts, flowers, and other embellishments. Ribbons are tied onto the side. She used a bracelet with a purple flip flop charm to be used as a bookmark! I really, really love it! On the inside page, she added a postcard from where she lives as she know I collect postcards. I feel so honored that she thought enough of me to gift me with this book.

Sunday I had an full blown asthma attack. Thank goodness for emergency inhalers or I would have ended up in the hospital. As it was, I was rather worn down by it all. When I went to get up, I fell. My entire left side ached like you wouldn't believe!! During the night, the meds wore off and I was so achy breaky I couldn't sleep, so off to the computer I went. I had sprained my left hand so I really didn't get to do much, but I did read a lot.

Monday was a lovely day for the most part. I had Maxine out and Bob and I sat out in the morning having our morning libations - he had coffee and I had my iced water. The dogs were out, too, and we all enjoyed the nice weather. By late afternoon it started to storm. Instead of having our food on the grill, we did them on the George Foreman indoors. It still tasted good and was a real treat.

Yesterday one of the scrapbook boards I go to was having a special day to celebrate Independence Day. Every 1/2 hour a name was drawn for a prize. Low and behold, I won one of the prizes. It is a cutting system with bunches of templates - which I get to choose. The entire prize is valued at $500.00!! The amazing thing is, I had just posted asking for opinions on which was the best as I was considering buying one. Now I can have almost all of it!! And to top it off, I rarely win anything!! I'm still stunned about it all, and ever so grateful to the company who has the community for giving such a wonderful prize. One other person won this same gift and the only bigger prize was the finale prize!

Needless to say this week has been mixed blessings and one I'm not likely to forget anytime soon.

And the beat goes on....
Ang

Through all the tears, you made me smile

Yesterday was not a good day for me. I had a full blown asthma attack during the day. Thank goodness for recue inhalers! What a blessing they are. Then last evening, I fell! Talk about being sore. I couldn't sleep because I was so sore. I had taken tylenol without much success. Or perhaps it there was and I would have felt worse without it. Anyway, I landed on my left side and rolled. I sprained my left hand and bruised my hip, knee, and foot. Fortunately nothing was broken and I didn't hit my head. But then again, if I had hit my head, perhaps it would have been an improvement! lol !! Anyway, I am very thankful I wasn't hurt any worse. My angel was looking out for me for sure.

This past week I have spent more time journaling in my regular journal and in my travel journal for my class. Elizabeth and I have also talked a lot about doing a Faith Circle Journal. We have invited several other members of CX to join us. Right now there are four of us. Hopefully after the holiday some more will respond. But if it remains at four, all the better. We'll really get to know one another better. I have faith and know it will be as it is suppose to be.

My journaling class is coming right along. The group is a wonderful mix of personalities and we all seem to fit in just fine. I must admit to being a sort of email wall flower. I tend to read more than post. I don't know why that is. Usually when something involves on-line I am not shy. Now real time - that's another story completely! I'm very quiet and listen and observe. But look out once I get to know someone and feel comfortable - I never shut up!!

As for scrap pages, I haven't done that much this past week. We are trying to get the computer room and guest room switched around. Everything must be gone through and although not difficult, it is time consuming. How on earth do we ever get so bogged down with so much paper? Geesh!!

Geoff testified to the House Internation Relations Committee this week. It was broadcast via the web. I watched and was so very, very proud of him. All I can think is how much my mother would have been proud, too. She was the one who instilled the love of God's creations in us.

For now my hand is getting sore, so I'm going to close.

Because you loved me.

Ang