to do a brain purge.
Yes, I've been VERY neglectful of my blog and for that I apologize. To be honest, I've been feeling the trickle down effect of what many in our nation are going through and it has been very stressful to say the least. Since I don't like to be doom and gloom on my blog, I just tend to shy away from posting at all. I'm not sure if my blog is for me... for you.. or exactly what my purpose is for posting. Probably a little of both. If it is for me, I guess the question is... how authentic should I really be on a public blog? Well, to a certain extent... putting too much "REAL" tends to make people criticize and judge. I hate that aspect of putting stuff out there for the public. On the other hand, I know there are people that really care about me and my family that read this blog so for them I just want to continue to keep it "REAL".
So without laying out ALL the gorry details of my life, I will share a little of what's been happening with our family. As I mentioned in my last post, Madison and I traveled to Atlanta, GA to attend the Pulse convention. I'm so grateful to my Mom for meeting us there and helping us with the expenses of this trip. What a blessing it was to have her with us and enjoy the experience with her. I truly feel lucky to have such a wonderful Mom. I think she really enjoyed seeing Madison perform. It was the first time she got to see her dance in person. I just wish they lived closer. As for the convention itself, what an amazing experience it was for Madison and the other two girls that joined us to learn choreography from some of the best in the industry. Really something that I hope Madison never forgets. As I think about all the really talented people that Madison has had the opportunity to learn from in such a small span of time, it boggles my mind. Kameron Bink of So You Think You Can Dance Fame, Gerard Heintz of America's Best Dance Crew fame, the cast of Iconic and Kaba Modern (again, America's Best Dance Crew), and now Dave Scott, Mia Michaels, Wade Robson, and so much more. The best of the best. Now.... when it comes to pictures... I suck. Well, in my defense, it really is pretty hard to take photos of action, inside in really poorly lit conference rooms. Here are a few that didn't turn out too badly...
From Left to right: Miss Jennifer (Madison's lyrical teacher), Jailyn, Madison, Emily, Miss Kasi (Madison's Hip Hop teacher)
Dave Scott
Mia Michaels
These were just a few of the shots I got and even these weren't the greatest. The memories of seeing Madison getting called up on stage, the laughs and of Miss Kasi winning a scholarship award will stay with me forever despite the poor photographs I took.
In other news, since the holidays our landscape business has been hit hard by the economy and we have found ourselves trying to find new ways to save money and cut costs. Cutting back hasn't been one of my strong suits. I wish I was a whiz at being frugal. When you are desperate, you do learn to adapt a bit. So I started cutting coupons (for someone that doesn't get the paper, this does require a little bit of effort to buy a paper only to find one or two coupons within it... that can be frustrating). We stopped Netflix and Gamefly subscriptions. We eat out (even fast food) virtually never. Learning to stretch a dollar is an art form. Something I'm getting better and better at. I still continue to clean houses and that has been a blessing for us. However, it seems like whenever we take one step forward, we fall 3 behind. I know we are not alone in our efforts to become more frugal and that does make us feel better knowing everyone else understands but it doesn't make it easier when you have to face those that you owe money to. Again, I don't want this post to be a whoa is me, boohoo and all that. It's just very hard sometimes to be optimistic in light of little to no hope on the horizon.
More uplifting news is that my baby will be 11 on Wednesday! Its so hard to believe he will be in middle school in the Fall. Stay tuned for new photos of Fletch.
I haven't found myself scrapbooking too much lately due in part to being so exhausted everyday from cleaning houses but I can share an altered canvas that I created using Create My Keepsakes February kit
Here are the details:
I glued blue tissue paper over the canvas and while it was wet, rubbed off some of the wet tissue paper in the center.
I hand cut one of the designs from the SEI patterned papers. Before I glued the paper to the canvas, I applied a Hambly rubon to the top right corner. I glued the cut out shape to the canvas and attached a Sassafrass chipboard butterfly shape with a few jewels. I finished off the canvas with a wavy flowing ribbon. The quote says: We gain strength, courage and confidence by each experience in which we stop to look fear in the face… We must do that which we think we cannot. ~Eleanor Roosevelt. I hope this piece inspires you today.
I'll end this on an uplifting note. I plan to post soon!
