Sugar and Spice Deco Box

Good morning,

It is a little later in the day ... after my last post. My husband called me and is enjoying his day with his son who lives in Wisconsin. They were driving to get his son a haircut ... which is usually what they did when he first arrived at our house for a visit. Dad loves to see a new haircut on his son.

My husband also got to talk to his daughter on the phone last night. She's now 17. This little "Sugar and Spice" deco box was created with Vilene in mind.

The memorial service is due to start in about an hour. Everyone sent their hellos.

On my part, some updated news on me. On June 10th of this year, I took a "face fall" on the floor at work. Talk about an "ouch"! While all the superficial injuries are just a memory, one lingered that has plagued me greatly. My right shoulder sustained an injury. It just will not heal. I recently learned that it may be a partial or full rotator cuff tear, but only an MRI will determine the extent of the injury and the avenue to recovery.

Being that it is Worker's Comp; I have been struggling to learn the process for getting treatment. Seems the doctor I went to see didn't have much idea of what to do either. Not necessarily the doctor, but his office staff. This left me totally perplexed since he admitted that they are WC certified. Hmmmm? "How do you get authorization for treatment, then? I know that 3 requests have been submitted, and all have been rejected for stupid reasons."

Federal Worker's Comp has to go through ACS (Advisory and Consulting Services), which our staff nurse at my office, told me about. It' been 4 months since the accident, and believe me. I am struggling with this right arm pain. It radiates down my arm into my hand and fingers. It radiates out from my shoulder joint to my mid-section (along the collarbone in the front and along the shoulder blade in the back). It also shoots upward into my neck; mostly on the right side. The pain is almost constant: from a low ache to full blown throbbing, burning pain. There is also knife-sharp pain in certain areas in my outside upper right arm, and around the shoulder joint itself. It has recently caused my back to lock up, which calls for a day or two at home in bed resting and on muscle relaxers. Ice has become a great friend for dulling the pain.

I fnally seem to be on the right track for treatment. I was able to get the info that my doctor's office would need to get my MRI. By phone. I accomplished that yesterday at work.

Last night, on my answering machine, I actually got a call from the place that's been scheduled to do my MRI. Yeah! I tried to call this morning to get it scheduled, but they don't appear to be open on weekends, so first thing Monday, I will call and try to get in as quick as possible. I can't wait to end the pain I've endured over the last 4 months.

Hope you are having a great day!

Peace Be With You, Fred

Good morning,

My husband is in Wisconsin for the weekend. He's home with his family, while I am here with my granddaughter.

My husband's brother, Fred, passed away last Tuesday. His battle with lung cancer, as well as a stage 4 rare bone cancer, is over. He was diagnosised about 2 months ago.

Fred had not been feeling well most of this last year. He thought he was fighting a cold, and eventually, he suspected pneumonia. He checked into the hospital, and found out he did have pneumonia. The first few days, they found the lung cancer. A few days after that, with more tests, they discovered the bone cancer, which he had been carrying around for a while, and it was already at stage 4. Chondrosarcoma.

They started treatment right away on his pneumonia, and when that was relieved, they started chemo on the lung cancer. With the bone cancer, it looked dreadful as to the outcome. Even though I'm sad about Fred's death; it was a blessing for him, and spared him pain and suffering.

Fred was slightly younger than my husband. Ray and his brother were close, at times. Fred led a colorful life. He will be missed by his family and friends. I am sorry I could not attend his memorial service, but my own injuries have prevented me from taking the long car trip right now.

To everyone in Wisconsin gathered together to remember Fred ... I am with you in spirit. I will remember the visits we had from him, and the few good times I personally remember. Fred was a rover, and he popped in and out of our lives rarely, but kept in touch with my husband by phone.

You will be missed, Fred. We will always remember you.

Take care all. And have a great day.

Scrap Book a Recipe Card

Good morning to you all!

This recipe card was made today, since I attended my daughter's couples party. She had that instead of a shower before her wedding. We had a lovely time.

Her matron-of-honor, Chessa, brought a dip that was so yummy. And that's when I decided to use my accessory decorations for scrap booking to put together this card.

It is delicious, and while she served it as a dip, I thought it would be delicious poured over a fresh cut-up fruit dish or you could substitute canned fruit ... since fresh fruit may not be as available during the fall and winter. Except maybe apples and oranges.

Oh. There is still plenty of fruit in the stores, but somehow, it just doesn't taste as good as it did in the summer. And the prices are sure to go up since it will be trucked in from a distance.

There is always canned fruit ... so try this recipe, and see if it's something you'd like to take to your Thanksgiving gathering. Or use it as a dip, which is the way it originally was presented.

My accessories are free for you to use. Just go to http://www.easyaspiedailygraphics.com and pick up whatever fancies you. Then scrap, scrap, scrap away!

Tomorrow is my oldest son's birthday. So happy birthday, Christian.

And in honor of Halloween month, there is a Halloween layout coming for October 8th. You can pick up the whole card ... and add to it. Or you can pick up just the stationary layout. You can also pick up the word Halloween ... 2008 ... a bat ... and a ghost! Go check it out.

As always. Have a marvelous day. Even if it's only Tuesday!

See you later!

Scrap Book Decorations - Just For You

Good morning,

I've been busy adding decorations to my website.

Here is just a sample of what you can see there. There's hundreds of decorations to choose from.

So, if you like to scrapbook cards or pages or just want some decorations to pick up for your website ... come on over and check these out.

All decorations are free to use.

The items shown here today will be on the page for 9/27. The items are actually bigger, but if you past them into Excel, you can resize them to any size you wish.

It's lots of fun.

Next weekend is my daughter's couples party. I will be providing about 3 batches of potato salad which I hope to start this week. That's a lot of potatoes. I'm also taking a veggie tray with dip, and some ice. Her wedding date is closing in.

This weekend is my future son-in-laws birthday (tomorrow). The couple is in Ky. this weekend for a big party planned by his folks.

My granddaughter is spending the weekend with her dad and his family while they're in town. Her paternal grandfather is having a big party, planned by his family, for him this weekend. He has not been well, and recently had a leg amputated. I wish them well.

The weather in Columbus has been beautiful. Cool days, some sunny, and others overcast, but still beautiful. I love fall. Some of our trees are already changing their colors. We have not had much rain the last part of our summer, while June had more rain than it usually does.

Wishing you all well. And remember. If you like scrapbook accessories -- free ones -- go grab some at http://www.easyaspiedailygraphics.com/.

See you again soon. Have a great weekend.

Well-Wishing Art

Good morning,

Today, I've made this art deco box. Perfect for a card or for your scrapping projects.

My daughter is getting married very soon. A couple's party is just 2 weeks away.

Every parent wishes health, wealth, and especially happiness to their children. It is hard to find a perfect match ... and even harder to keep it.

I hope you have a great Tuesday.

If you like the box, take it and use it.

See you soon.

Note: Several weeks ago, I told you about my husband's brother being extremely ill. While he does have lung cancer, he also came in with pneumonia. And they discovered something worse after running a full battery of test: bone cancer. It's in stage 4, and while they will treat it, what time he has left will be challenging. He is currently in hospice, and will have treatment on an "out-patient" basis. It is a prayerfull time.

Create FUN Art!

Good afternoon,

Doing a website every day is very time consuming, so I don't get here as often as I'd like. But ... if you like the artwork you see here, hurry on over to my place at:
http://www.easyaspiedailygraphics.com and pick up the accessories and offers. They're free!

For Sunday, I am featuring this set. You get the whole example, the frame separately, and the girl separately. And much more.

This girl was created from a shapes set. It is from the 8-0920 set. It has a total of 64 jpgs so far, but a total of 86 shapes to choose from. I will add to it during the month and it will be free for the asking ... if you send me an email asking for it. I'll put it in a zip file, and send it to you -- all free. After all, creating should be fun, and I bet you'd love to "create FUN Art". (Just put 8-0920 shapes in the subject line.) You can email me cjhamptonatinboxdotcom.

Our weather in Columbus is absolutely beautiful. It isn't fall yet, but we are celebrating fall weather. Those who love summer hate to see the cooler days, but we have plenty of sunshine.

Last Sunday, we experienced Hurricane Ike's fierceness ... even in Ohio. The storm started about 4. No rain -- just unbelievable winds around 75 or higher almost constantly. It blew every different direction, and I hope to never see this kind of wind storm again. Of course, many in Columbus are without power. Most in my department at work got their power back by Wednesday. One is still without power ... and is hoping to be one of the final ones back in the real world by tomorrow.

We were so blessed. Our power kept going out, but it came back on after 3-5 seconds. Just enough to have to reset the cable on the tv ... but such a little matter compared to all those totally without power.

We lost our cable on Monday. My husband was off, and he ended up watching movies. We rewatched THE GREEN MILE Monday night. It was good ... as always.

Today, we went shopping at Walmart. We bought our groceries, and my husband decided to pick up the new TRANSFORMERS 2 as my granddaughter is coming for a little visit tomorrow. She enjoyed the first one, as we did, so we thought we'd pick up the new one. We got home, and he put it in, only to find it contained TRANSFORMERS 1 ... not 2. He took it back to Walmart, and they said that "once a movie is opened, you may not return it." It didn't matter that the package said that it was 2 ... we were stuck with it.

Now this is just plain absurd. I hope every copy of their advertised movies saying it's TRANSFORMERS 2 contains 1 ... and that everyone goes back trying to rectify the situation. This is false advertising. Something about copyright laws ... according to Walmart. But I know you can buy an exercise tape on line, open it, try it, and return it if you don't like it. So what's with Walmart? It's the last movie I'll purchase there. Have you experienced this there?

If you've followed my blog, you all know I had an accident on June 10th. Would you believe it took till 9/2 to get my diagnosis codes from Worker's Compensation? Oh yes! And then it listed the right ankle instead of the left ankle. I called to talk to my "case worker" only to find that she no longer handled claims #'s >>> to >>> and she gave a number to call for your new case worker. This process landed me back into HER mailbox ... telling me again ... that she no longer handled my claim #.

I finally saw 2 doctors. The first was an arm, wrist, hand doctor, and after x-raying my right arm, found nothing wrong. But, he knew I was in pain, and set me up to see another doctor that same day. This doctor suspects I have a partial or fully torn rotator cuff, and said I needed an MRI. He wrote a letter stating such to my doctor at US HealthWorks, to the first doctor that referred me to him, and I guess WC. I was supposed to get a copy of that letter, but I guess I'm going to have to call for it ... as it's not arrived, after 17 days.

I keep getting forms declaring NOT APPROVED from WC for one reason or another. They don't even put on the new forms what they are NOT APPROVING. I am totally sick of WC. More and more doctors are getting away from handling these claims as they spend so much time in nonsense paperwork that it interferes with treating patients. WC appears to be a big ripoff. I don't see why companies still pay into it. I think this is one insurance that should be extinct! Think I'm mad? I am.

Well. I didn't really mean to write so much. I will leave you with this. Create FUN art! Enjoy what you do ... and share it!

Hope you have a great weekend! Take care ... and I hope to see you soon.

Scrappers SCRAP!

Good morning~

Scrap to your hearts delight! Here's a little scrappin' box to use in your scrap pages. Very bold with it's red and oranges.

When I scrap a page, I love to add some unique items. Using accessories can add a lot of charm to your pages.

And being as I created these scrap bits, and there are hundreds to choose from, your pages will be fresh and unique.

I love the barely visible kalei (kaleidoscope) background on this one.

This particular scrap book would be good for a title and even a name in the lower right hand area surrounded by the little orange deco.

So, if you like it ... go on and take it. It's free to use, as are all my creations, for any purpose. But personally, they make wonderful scrap book accessories.

I have a trick to try right now. I know it works from my website, as I've shown others while I'm at work how to use these free scrap decos.

Almost everyone has EXCEL on their computer. Open it. Now find the graphic you want to use. Right click and choose copy. Go to a cell in excel and right click, choose paste.

Now, if you left click on the graphic, you can resize it -- up ... or down. Check your page preview to see how it looks, and voila! You have a graphic ready to print to a paper of your choosing. You can highlight the graphics to print them or fill a page and print them all.

I have hundreds to choose from at my website.

Even better if you have a graphics editing program, as you can take out the backgrounds to make transparencies or remove things you don't like. Change colors. Whatever! They are all free for your use.

Scrappers scrap! So get scrappin'! New ways to accessorize without spending more money. Just your price of paper ... and ink, and you're into some lovely scrap book pages.

I hope you enjoy them. For more, just go to:
http://www.easyaspiedailygraphics.com and you'll find a great selection each day. Eventually, the site will be full, and I will have to take down some of the free selections. When they're gone, they're gone.

I hope to put the ones I take down onto a disk, which you can order. But that's way in the future. For now ... just take 'em.

Have a great day! See you real soon!