It sure is Monday~

Good Monday morning....I think! Other than being a typical, rushed, busy day...it is the beginning of a new week~and I wanted to wish all of you a fantastic week ahead. Here it is so very hot, humid and o so windy! The 3 fires still burning in Texas are about 95% contained now, but the areas are still under a SEVERE RED FLAG WARNING for the next 4 days. With the temperatures above 90 in the western portions of the state, low, low humidity and extremely dry conditions with the 20+mph sustained winds, it doesn't take long for another outbreak of wildfires. With 2.2 million acres already burned and loss of over 200 homes and some livestock....we are NOT considered a disaster area. Our Governor has asked for assistance in DEC, JAN, FEB, MAR, APR and finally received the rejection for assistance this month. The Prez is coming to our state tomorrow for a fund raising...think we ought to leave him hanging for 5 months before declining to contribute~let him see how it feels! Anyhow, we are supposed to see some relief in temps in next week or so with a chance of some scattered showers, but not to the areas in desperate need. Then we have the Mississippi flooding over it's banks big time and the tornado clean up in the south, the unusually cold wet winter still hanging on up north. We surely need a concentrated effort of prayer for this nation. I'm doing my share!
Hope all of you had a marvelous Mother's Day celebration. Me, I did what I wanted to do, made some pages for my sisters and a page for Amy/Michael's first anniversary~watched movies~played with my "girls" and read~totally relaxing day! I loved every minute of it. Here are the memories I made...hope you will be sharing yours soon!Kathy with her two sons, Jason/Jeff in a page from Raspberry Road's PansyGarden kit.My brother's daughter Sebrina with her mother Myrl in a page made from freebie by PascaleA. Penny and her 3~Lance/Lamar/Amy in a page using RR's Peaches and Cream cluster. And lastly, a page for Amy/Michael to celebrate a whole year of married life in a freebie QP with no TOU. Thanx to all for the beautiful freebies, I appreciate your generosity! Y'all all have a good week ahead and I'll chat more when I can...Until Next time....Luv, Mat

Happy Mother's Day to all!

I guess I have been MIA...I've missed all of you so much...been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. Work related as well as family related...just one of those things! The bank was sold and had to get new routing info to all the automatic withdrawals, order new checks and stamp. Boss lady has really been swamped too making it hard to get her to the bank with me. My friend's boyfriend's dad passed away and they had to go to Amarillo for the funeral, so I traveled to their house daily to take care of their 6 scaredy cats (and I thought my 3 were a lot of trouble~just kidding~I love mine). My friend lost her job and needed some consoling...and...and...you know how it is...seems to hit all at once. Seems like I haven't been at my computer more than a couple of minutes a day. We finally got some much needed rain and the grass just took off, grew about 3 inches overnight~got it all mowed and edged and even got it all cleaned up yesterday. Now I can relax and enjoy the weekend. MayFest is here this weekend and for the first time in quite a few years the weather is going to cooperate and I would really like to go down and see what all is going on there. I just watched Idol and both my Scotty & Lauren are in it for another week. So I am celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a pomegrante margarita while blogging. I think I will turn in early tonight....so very tired....just wanted to take the time to wish all of you a very happy Mother's day and hope all make lots of memories to share. I made this page for my mother~gone but by no means forgotten~wish I could talk with her every day even after 19 yrs. I love you Mama!I used a paper from the freebie naturalbreeze and a cluster freebie from Raspberry Road and the last known photo taken of her in her police department uniform. Chat more with y'all later. Luv, Mat

My fun eggs~

Just got this Easter on the Farm kit from Raspberry Road and just had to do this page. The word art is from Miss Boots herself. Hope all you good eggs have a marvelous and much blessed Easter. Luv y'all~Mat

May all of you have a Blessed Easter!

I wish all of you reading this a most blessed day of rejoicing our savior and enjoying your families and loved ones.
I hope this finds Carol & Charlie warm and able to get some much deserved rest; Gerri is free of her cold and not irritating Al; Miss Judy is having a blast with all those grandkids, Mike and Bob; Miss Linda is also free of her cold and not sharing it with Farmer McBrown and that her mom is speeding toward recovery from her surgery; and lastly, that Miss Scarlett & Rhett are resting and praising for the success of the surgery on their Kevin and that they enjoy the grandkids and great grandkids this Easter weekend. Love to all my blog "sisters".
We have had a week of freaky weather, severe storms with damaging strong winds, large hailstones, loss of electricity, devastating wildfires and little to none of much needed rain. I think here at my place, we registered about 1/4 inch of the wet stuff. Got hailstones here about quarter sized and smaller. No damage to my roof, windows or vehicles, but there are plenty around that are filing all kinds of insurance claims. The excessive heat (95+) and the high vicious winds have taken its toll on the wildfires just 70 miles west of us. They desperately need some relief. Last I heard was over 60k acres of burnt land, 116 homes gone and numerous homes (some the whole town) have been evacuated and not yet allowed back in them. I decided to make a few pages for my family to let them know how much I love them. I made this page from some photos of the magnolias in bloom last year when I went to Georgia, the photo of me was taken last month. This is my sister Kathy and her hubby of 41 years, Jim. The kit is a older freebie from Angelscrapper called Gerri's kit.This is their oldest son Jason and his wife Christina. Their page is a freebie from SC-hg.Here's their daughters Jade and Ruby in a freebie by Cuddlebeez called Easter surprise.Kathy & Jim's youngest, Jeff & his wife Tiff in a pretty freebie kit by CJS called Victorian Beauty.Next is the widow of my brother and the mother of his daughter~Myrl in a page created using Cuddlebeez's lullaby symphony kit.And here is my lovely niece Sebrina in a page created using the kit Natural Breeze from DigiDesignResort.And last but not least, my baby sister, Penny & hubby Weymond in a page created with Rose background (freebie with no TOU) some elements from Miss Carol's Ivory & Lace and some from SBF.Here's twin Lance and his Maggie in a page created with the freebie kit Easter Surprise by Cuddlebeez as is the page of their daughter Hayden.The other twin Lamar is in a kit freebie from Janniscrap designs called It's a Man Thing.And here is the baby with her hubby~Amy & Michael in a page created using kits from SBF and a Rose background and lace ribbon from Angelscrapper.
Again, I wish all of y'all a blessed Easter weekend and that you make many, many memories to share. Love to all and chat more with you later~Mat & "the girls"

Middle of April already?

Boy, the time sure seems to be flying past here lately! Tax deadline is already here and Easter is next Sunday....1/3 of this year is already history!
Surely glad all those severe spring storms have moved out of here, we had 5 tornados (1 EF-0 and 4 EF-1) lots of LARGE hail damage and lots and lots of wind damage. Not too much of the much needed moisture though and what rain did fall, the wind has already taken it away and has caused lots of wildfires 90 miles west of us. More than 25k acres have burned, 30+houses gone and over 200 homes evacuated. The smoke was almost choking here, cannot imagine what it was like there. Lots of power outages from lines being blown down in the area too! Those roofers and dent removers are working overtime.
Yesterday was the most perfect day ever...the wind finally stopped blowing the new leaves and blooms off, it was not hot, not humid, no fires burning to smell the smoke, just gorgeous. I weeded out some crabgrass, cleaned up other's trash from the yard preparing to mow the grass....NOPE...darn lawnmower will not start. O well, I played with my potted flowers, you know...watering, food and cleaning out the dead stuff from them. Felt good about all being cleaner looking except the grass being mowed and edged.
This morning I thought I would scrap a few pages and chat a little before the races start. So here are my pages. Still trying to learn all the tricks for Gimp. I used a freebie from Miss Linda and a couple from Raspberry Road. Of course all the photos I snagged from facebook accts....LOL! Hope y'all all are safe from this wicked weather and that you are very busy making memories to share with all of us later. Chat more later~Luv, MatGorgeous Maggie
The Hills at Crystal Lake
My little farmer Hayden

Happy Birthday Sebrina

Using new Gimp program as it seems to work with Windows7 where my version of Photoshop does not and cannot afford to buy the newest one just yet....so here is my attempt using it to wish my niece Sebrina a very happy birthday. Hope your day is as beautiful as you are. Love ya~Aunt Maryanne

Some photos of the dogwoods/azaleas/moss etc

These are some photos I took while visiting in South Georgia at the end of March. The woods were full of dogwood trees, the yards were full of azaleas and wisteria and the canopied roads were awesome with the moss hanging from them. The Flint River in Bainbridge was totally cool too~hope you enjoy the photos. Luv, Mat