Friday, December 31, 2010

A Happy, Healthy, Safe, Prosperous, Happy New Year!

This is gonna be short and sweet...and straight to the point friends

It's 10:59p.m. December 31, 2010. A new year is approaching! Thank you Lord. I made it through...again. Times have been tough. It started out good...and kind of went downhill from there. But as usual, Renee is holding on! That's me...rolling with the punches. There's no other way to be right? I've been thinking about the changes that I want to make in 2011...There aren't a whole lot. But they are significant changes in my mind. Changes that will make my life better...happier....easier....healthier....safer. They may take awhile to go into "effect," but I'm determined. None of the changes that I make will seem like much to other people, but to me it will mean a lot. I'm looking forward to making those changes too. I'm excited. I'm figuring that the devil will try to block me in every turn....But I've got news for him...My God will open all the doors that I need opened. And close the ones that I shouldn't be walking thru or even knocking at! My heart is filled with joy just thinking about how good God has been to me and for me. For instance; a job and income -when some people are 'really' struggling, a family that loves me (insert children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins names here), relatively good health, etc. I'm filled up! All year. Every year. And praying that this year will be no different in that aspect.

"Stop telling God how big your storms are...Instead, tell the storm how big your God is!"

Happy New Year
Hugs+Kisses!
Muu-wah!!!!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Prayers accepted....

Hey friends...no scrapping news today....I'm going in a totally different direction....bear with me

I heard some bad news today. Except the bad news had nothing to do with me. Nor with any members of my family or friends; near or far. It had to do with a co-worker....one whose name or face I don't even know. The sad part is this - in my heart of hearts, I feel like she's going to be punished for something that's SO not her fault! All I kept thinking about was 'if that were me, would I want to be hit upside the head without any warning at all?' Because that's what's about to happen to her. I feel so very bad for her. I want to help her. But unfortunately, the first thought I was thinking was that there's really nothing that I can do. Ah, but the good part is...I can do something....I can most certainly put her in my prayers that all will turn out well for her! And I will. I'd want someone to call my name out in their prayers too. I'd want someone to care about me. I'd want to know that everyone is not a "bad guy." I'd want to know that whatever happens- someone, somewhere will fight for me some kind of way. I believe in the power of prayer. I believe that God does watch out for us, over us and never fails us. Sure, we look at things as "bad happening to us, sorrow reaching out and grabbing hold of us, pain that we think that we'll never get over." But again, I believe that God will do IT. He doesn't give us any more than we can bear is what I was always taught. I truly believe that. Don't you? Don't you realize that whatever you've gone thru: loss of a loved one, or a pet..loss of a job....eviction from your home....disease....or some other sickness of some kind - may it be broken bones or some other debilitating thing...even the loss of a good friend who has moved away, never to be heard from again. Whatever the case, that if you're still HERE, you still have LIFE, FAMILY, FRIENDS, a ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD, etc. that you've LEARNED A LESSON...YOU'VE COME THRU IT...YOU'VE EXPERIENCED WHAT MANY OTHERS HAVEN'T....and YOU'RE STILL HOLDING ON? That's the GOD that I serve! I've learned, personally, that I can survive a lot more than I thought that I ever could when I lost my best friend, my mother. I thought that life now would never be the same. And it wasn't and it isn't. But I know that she would not have wanted me to stop 'living.' She wanted way too much for me for that. And of course, I have to give credit to my son, who said "I don't understand why you're so very sad all day, all night, all the time? Why you cry so much? Grandmom's in heaven. So what's your problem?!" Yup, out of the mouth of babes.....I think I was like a robot....He helped to 'turn the switch of misery off.' I'm here. I didn't do anything rash or crazy out of my dispair...I learned to keep living. I had to....I had a family of my own to take care of. My husband, my children - the people that I love dearly! I still had my brothers and sisters. I still had nieces and nephews. I still had friends that have been there for me since early childhood. I still had new friends - also. I still had things that I wanted to achieve. Places that I wanted to go. People that I wanted to meet. There was and is so much! Yes, I miss her like crazy...always will. But the old saying is true - "it does get better." You just have to hold on!

So, I just wanted to put that out there. Remember this...just because you may not know someone by name or face and you've heard a story of their plight....there is something that you can do to help them. Pray for them! Pray their strength. Pray that all will work out. Pray that God will.....

Oh, and while you're at it? Say a prayer for me!
Hugs+Kisses, Renee

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Life is always getting in the way!


I know, I know, it's been a really long time. But you know how it is. I have to do that dreaded thing that probably 99.99999 percent (no, not real statistics, but you catch my drift!) of the world doesn't want to do . . . work! Sure, I'd much rather spend my time sleeping, scrapping, shopping, or scrapping - did I say that part already??? Of course I did! I know what I want to spend my time doing. And, trust me, I don't wanna spend my time "working." But, alas, either I work to pay the bills, feed myself, clothe myself and be able to buy the things that I need to survive or I don't. So, yes, scrapping has been taking a back seat to work lately. I've gotta figure out how to combine the two and yup, you guessed it, get PAID.


I'd love to make real money scrapping...developing layouts and scrapbook pages and cards and altered art...all of which I truly enjoy doing...and get paid enough to live off of comfortably. Haven't figured it out yet. But as they say "I'm keeping hope alive!" I keep missing deadlines for things that I really wanna do in the scrapping world..... That's because work and life keeps getting in my way. Someday, someday very soon... I'll have it figured out. But until then...Work prevails. Keep me in your prayers! I have to admit that I make the time to sit down and do some scrapping as much as possible. I nag and fuss at my friends, who also have families that need taking care of, to take time for themselves. Trust me, you have to find time to do something, go somewhere or just be by yourself if that's what you want to do. Otherwise, you'd probably end up in the loony-bin. Been there. Done that. Don't wanna go back!


Christmas 2010 was a couple of days ago....it was a lovely, boisterous, family oriented day. Yes, Santa was very good to me (not to mention my wonderful children). I got almost everything on my list. I figure, hey, Mother's Day and my next Birthday aren't too far away....I can wait! Haha


I had every intention of completing Tim Holtz's "12 Tags of Christmas." And yet again, life got in the way....so only 7 were actually completed....Here's my favorite (although this pic is not the best, hopefully you can see it just fine). Maybe, just maybe I can finish the rest of the tags for 2010 sometime around May, 2011? Hey, I can dream can't I?
More to come...more often hopefully!
Hugs+Kisses

Friday, September 17, 2010

TGIF!

Yes. Yes. Yes. It's Friday. Good old, I'm so very happy, oh God! Thank you Lord, I don't have to deal with "those" people for a little while FRIDAY! It's just been one of those weeks. Where everybody and everything worked-my-last-nerve. The phone calls. The stupid phone calls. The dumb questions from people who should already KNOW the answer to the question. The el and bus rides. I could go on and on.....See? If my momma was here...bless her soul, she'd blame it on me not getting enough rest...And as usual, she'd be correct.

Even though this would be the place to rant and rave about everything that didn't go right, or what I thought was just plain wrong....I won't. Wanna know why? You guessed it...I'm too darn tired.

Of course, if I stopped scrapping until four in the morning...and getting up a few hours later to go to my real job.... I might not be so tired. I might not think that the world is "after me," and I might not be so darn cranky thinking that everyone, besides me is doing it, something or someone else other than me wrong. Haha. Good thing I know what the problem is, and what the solutions are. Otherwise, I'd be in serious trouble. So my solutions are as follows (uh oh, there goes my professional letter writing voice) : Get more rest. Get more rest. And get more rest!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Who says that scrapping can't be inspiring?

Hey there friends, it's me again.....

Every single, solitary day...I log onto a wonderful site: "Scraps of Color"...a site for African American Scrapbookers...(Yup, gotta give it a shout out!) for all ages, economic backgrounds, professionals, moms, daughters, aunts, nieces, sisters, sistahs, and friends; all at different levels of the craft known as "scrapping." You name it. We're there! It's a wonderful place to create, share, learn, encourage each other and yes, fellowship. And because I'm able to do just that, I've developed some wonderful relationships with some of the women there. Granted, we have never met face to face. But through God's grace, I believe that each of these women have come into my life for a season or some reason. And I'd like to think that they speak the same about me.

One of the best things about these women is that we can talk about anything and everything from A - Z. And those of us that have sense don't openly judge or criticize each other...because let's face it...even though we have developed such a great bantering, have oodles of fun, and laugh until we can't breathe...we still don't "know each other," right? Wrong! I'm in the mindset that some of us have developed a much more deeper relationship than others. Inspiring! And I'm loving it!

It's nice being able to share of love of what we do with each other...including our favorite tips and techniques, teaching one another some things that we never tried before, and reintroducing some of us to things that we had previously given up on. This, to me, is also inspiring.

Thanks to the layout of the site, we're able to post pictures/photos of our work. We get to see what everyone's working on...all of the wonderful, beautiful creations...Again, can you spell inspiring? There are places to post questions, so - you have questions about something? Ask away! We complete "challenges" regularly - again inspiring us to try a specific thing. We have "swaps," where we complete a specific number of our products and trade them with each other. This gives us a chance to get our hard work out there and seen by others. Inspiring us to continue participating regularly.

If you don't belong to the group....you should come on over and give it a try. It's so much more than "just something to do." It's INSPIRING!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Up and running...


Well, I've been promising myself that I would do this. Make a place to share my passion. Well, here it is...it's not perfect, needs a lot of work, and will take some time to get it "just right," but I'm getting there!


I hope that family, friends, co-workers and anyone who wishes to enter will find some joy in what I do. Maybe even decide to try it for themselves and "catch the scrapping fever."

As for me? I already have the fever...I'm burning HOT...And if loving this hobby is wrong? I don't wanna be right!