To those who have offered comment on Pedro...

To those few who have been so kind of enough to leave private comment on Pedro and the quick page I created for him, I appreciate your empathy and kindness. It has been a rough few days of grieving for the little guy. My husband and I miss him very much. He slept every night on a little footstool by my side of the bed and its just really sad when you look over and see that empty spot every night.

To anyone else who comes here and wants to download "Delicate", it would be nice to have his memory acknowledged, if not the dl in thanks for his memory's sake. I dont need accolades. I am not doing this to make money, these are free. But a kind word spoken at the proper time, as the 'good book' says is balm to the soul. Remember, some day YOU might need that balm.
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Recommended Film of the day: "Pay it Forward". Gives new perspective to ones life and how to appreciate other human beings.

In Honor of Pedro. A gift in his memory (freebie)

Monday when I came home from work we came into the kitchen to discover one of our beloved yorkies had died. I cannot even explain the sorrow we have felt since that day. We loved him so much.

He was 14 years old. Pedro was a rescue Yorkshire Terrier. He had came into our lives about 7 years before that as a rescue situation. He had been a puppymill dog, was still intact, had a broken jaw (it was literally sideways) and his teeth were rotten so bad that he stunk across the room. He was in sad, sad shape. We took him to the vet, got him fixed up as best as we could. My husband and I took turns handfeeding him every day for those seven years. He slept by my side of the bed on a little covered footstool all curled up, sometimes he'd jump up and cuddle if he got cold and climb under the covers. He LOVED to be touched but never got over being 'shy' and fidgity.

I have sobbed my eyes out for this little guy for days now..I'll always miss him and though I know he has gone on to rainbow bridge to be with my other furrbabies who have passed and I know my dear friend Terri is watching over him for she loved Yorkies so much, it doesnt stop my heart aching.

In his honor today I created a very special quick page I called "Delicate". He was so very delicate you see...so very sweet and precious. Rest in peace Pedro. You were my very special 'little old man'.

Delicate quick page NO LONGER AVAILABLE, TIME LIMITED GIFT

MONDAY FREEBIE! Shine on U Crazy Daisy pack

Mondays, they can be such a drag eh? Whether you work outside the home or are able to SAH its back to the grindstone! So...I decided, I'd continue this 'freebie trend' for three days in a row!

Its always nice to get an unexpected gift.

Well, yesterday I was so busy with PSPxi that I created this new paper and quick page set out of it and my hubby said it was very pretty, he liked it. So, I decided to share it as the next freebie for you all. Please note in order to put up the new freebies at DIV share I had to delete some of the older freebies, I have attained the limit so I will need to be deleting freebies as I upload new ones, if you have not already gotten them, get while the getting is available...coz when they are gone they are poof~

Back to today:

It's called "Shine on U Crazy Daisy". Theres the original bordered paper I made and then I created 2 quick pages out of it.

One quick page has 2 of my metalic shine frames inserted as well as papers that include a different daisy notepad paper and gold paper. The other has the gold papers and 2 crazy daisies.
In any case you have three looks for pages~. Njoy them.
Download here:
http://www.divshare.com/download/1745353-bf1
http://www.divshare.com/download/1745354-f59
http://www.divshare.com/download/1745355-15b

Sunday Freebies! Wow 2 days in a row!

I've been up since 4am, could not sleep. So, sitting here at the computer being creative. My lack of sleep is your Sunday Freebie 'gain'. :O)

I hope you enjoy the creations~.As you will see, again, I love the use of color and splash it as much as possible. I hate the mundane. Give me vibrant!

Above is a quick page made out of a background paper I made from handdrawn flowers, frames I scanned and processed in PSPxi, and digi photos of the angels in my gardens. I hope you enjoy it..it is called "Someone 2 Watch Over U qp".

Download it here:

http://www.divshare.com/download/1740839-19a

Next is a wonderful textured set of Raspberry colors with Sunflowers in various colors, a solid paper and a vellum to match. The textures on the raspberry set remind me of Aida clothe when you get up close. I didnt want to lose the brilliant color or texture by putting these in jpeg so they are in psp format. If you need these in another format you can let me know and I will try to oblige.

Here is Raspberry Sunflower paper pack:

Download these lovely papers here in 2 parts:


http://www.divshare.com/download/1740567-dda
http://www.divshare.com/download/1740568-7da

Have a Happy Sunday~

Saturday Freebies 4 U~

I've been working on these freebies for you all for a few days. But in between have still been dealing with these tomatoes out the waaazooo. Made homemade bbq sauce this past week with half a bushel and used Pommegranate molasses and fresh oranges to flavor it as well. YUM! Its awesome! It surely has been a banner year for our tomatoes. I will probably have to do more picking Sunday.

On top of this, a few weeks ago, I started a new parttime job so that takes up three days of my week as well. (the puppy dogs are vengeful, they dont like mom gone from home after all these months of having me here).

For your enjoyment today I have uploaded two sets of bows and a very large paperpack. I hope you love color because today is all about the use of it. One of the things I love to do while creating my digi crafts is to expand the colorizations of things beyond the 'norm'. Todays paper pack offering shows I was a child of the 70's hehehehe.

Well, without further ado...here you go....


In the sample photo you can see the first set of 4 bows are Plaid crumpled paper, the second set of four are wire edged stripes. You can download each pack separate.

No longer available~ make sure you download your freebies promptly~

Next up a huge paper pack of color explosion. RHP's Crystal Flowers Paper pack set of 12 papers.

Have a great weekend!

MOTHER LOSS

I chose this topic today in honor of my Mother, Connie Lee, who has been gone since 1967 from this earth. I'm writing about Mom and life without her in the hopes that it will help others out there who have encountered the same issues as I have. I run several Yahoo Groups discussion lists for Mother Loss since 1998. My Mother, Connie Lee, is the reason 'why'. I want to offer hope, comfort, empathy and understanding to others who have dealt with the loss of their Moms so that they know they are not alone in the many issues, experiences and feelings that they undergo.

Mom: She passed away when I was five years old from injuries she sustained when she was in a car wreck. She left behind three little kids, I was the eldest. Mom was a month shy of her 23rd birthday. She had left my abusive father after five years of marriage and the day she was in the car wreck she was due in court to divorce him. He got the news at the courthouse. She lived 14 hours after the wreck. When I say my father was abusive, I mean, he had gone so far as to put her in the hospital with a broken arm before. He beat her when she was pregnant with me. I heard these things as I got older from other relatives and friends of the family. He really thought he could hide that past from his children after she died by cutting us off from information but it didnt work.

It was very hard growing up without her. Sure, my Dad remarried a scant four months after her death and 'provided' what he considered to be a fascimile replacement. (she came complete with two kids of her own) and then they had a son together one year later. She never replaced my Mom, she was a cold fish woman who didnt have understanding, empathy or compassion for the three little kids she had taken up in a package deal when she married my Dad. (who were only five, three and two). They were married for 17 years. My father gave this step mother my own mothers wedding ring to wear and she wore it until they divorced. I didnt get my mothers wedding ring until I was 24 years old at the birth of my third child, my only daughter. That ring is with me now until I die. Its all I have of my Mom other than a few photos and some costume jewelry and a few scant fleeting memories that a five year old holds on to of her mother.

In any case, we were raised in a household pretty much devoid of real love. The adults simply went through the motions on a daily basis. As children, we bonded together, full blood siblings to step and all to our half brother. We tried to protect one another. It was the adults that were nuts.

I never forgot my Mom, as hard as my Dad and step mother tried to make her memory go away. They packed up her pictures, got rid of her belongings and kept most of her relatives, OUR relatives away from us so that we could not know about her.

Teenage years were very tough without a Mom to talk to, certainly I could not talk to my step mother about any of the normal girl things one needs to talk to a Mom about. I was very isolated in my concerns and had to read books to find out information. I became an avid reader. My step mother hated it because she was really not very intelligent and didnt like to read. Every time I came back from the library she would go over my books, reading the backs of them to see if they were 'appropriate' and if the word 'love' or some other word she didnt approve of was there, she made me march back to the library and take back the book. (we are talking the 70's here). I learned to get books that didnt have jackets and relied upon the head librarian to help direct me to good books as I began reading at an adult level way beyond what a lot of kids were doing. The library was my santuary.

The Step mother used her religion to try to control us for a period of time. My Dad, an abusive, alcoholic let her use her religion and force us to go to those meetings etc, because it allowed him to keep us all in control while it allowed him to do what he wanted to do, as he was not in it. In our teenage years we rebelled highly and they gave up trying to force it. It was frustrating to us to watch the step mother lead one life when she was at her religious meetings and another when she was with Dad. It was like leading a double life constantly. As children, it put us in the untenable position of being outsiders no matter how it got sliced. We werent good enough for the church crowd kids even though we were forced to go and werent allowed to have worldly friends because it was against the religion. It really isolated us.

But getting back to my Mom.
The way we were raised we were not allowed to grieve. My Dad didnt let us go to the funeral for Mom nor did he allow for counseling or explaination of death, grieving etc.
We were told to 'dry it up'. Crying was something my father detested. He wanted us 'tough'.
I sobbed into my pillow when I was alone. I wanted my Mom. I couldnt stand my step mother and really began to detest both my father and my step mother.

I left home at just turned 17 and got married, had my first son, quit school in my junior year to escape the bad home life. Ten years of that marriage, three children born to it and it became abusive after six years or so. We were divorced.

Grieving for my Mother hit me into my thirties. Depression and anxiety. I didnt really understand. I have suffered from severe migraines ever since I was 22 years old. (strikingly the age my Mom died at). Two of my three children also suffer from migraines.

In any case, one day when I was in a bookstore with my husband, (a favorite thing for us to do), perusing the bookshelfs. I was in the self help section and there on the shelf was a book whose title blazed out at me "Motherless Daughters: A legacy of Loss by Hope Edelman".
I felt the breathe drain out of me...omg..
In all my days, I had never met anyone who had ever been through childhood mother loss. Everyone had moms growing up. I was the isolated one, the unusual one. But everyone assumed we had a Mom because we had the step mother and trust me, she didnt ever take the place of my mom. I picked up this book and started to flip through it and read the stories of mother loss. Suddenly I felt an overwhelming panic settle on me of grief. I was totally unprepared for it. Here I was in the middle of a bookstore for goodness sakes and I was crying and losing it. I felt an overwhelming desire to get out of that store. I knew something was going on emotionally that I had not ever dealt with before.
I have a wonderful husband, and thankfully when I found him he got me out of there and I explained what was going on he was very comforting.
A few weeks later I went to the library and got that book. I tried to read it, but every time I did I got so emotional I had to put it down. I tried this for a month.
Finally I had to take the book back. I never got it read totally. It is ironic that I never even thought as I was growing up that anyone else was going through what I was going through. I was raised in a very small town in Southern Indiana. We walked to school and everybody knew everybody else and their business. We just didnt know anybody else who had gone through the loss of the Mother. Divorces, yes. But not motherloss.
Here I was at the realization for the first time in my life .....that I was not alone. That very realization was a comfort to me.
I thought about how I could find other women/girls who had or were going through this. I wanted to connect, to be able to talk about the experiences life had put me through, put them through.
It was then I thought of the Internet and I had already had one discussion list that I was running for yorkie owners. (we have three). So I began the first Motherless list which was for women/girls only (back when onelist and then egroups before yahoogroups had control) and that list blossomed into several other lists for motherloss, motherless2 a list for women/girls who have lost their moms in the past two years who are more raw to the emotion of loss, motherless3 a discussion list for women/girls who have lost their moms to abandonment, adoption, estrangement (through religion or other issues and moms can be alive or passed for this list), motherlesscoed, a list for men and women, motherless4 which is my baby a list for women/girls who lost their moms when they were children or teens, and a peer list for twentysomethings and under to discuss motherloss with each other called motherless5. Recently I just started Motherless6 after many requests from men to join the motherless lists who wish to help their children after the loss of their wives.

These discussion lists began their life with that first list in 1998 and have been going strong ever since offering a supportive environment to those who have experienced motherloss.

This I have done in honor of my Mom, Connie Lee ...may flights of angels sing her to her rest.
I love and miss you always Mom~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August

I've got some goodies for you. I hope you enjoy. Dont have much to say today, just have been too busy to really post. Still dont have the appliance situation resolved from the lightening strike and that looks like it will take quite a bit longer to resolve, which is frustrating. I've been busy with all those garden tomatoes and have more to do today.

I started a new part time job working with the hubby and so that will help out a bit.

Let me know what you think of the digi gifts I am offering if you have a moment.

Offerings today: (check out the sampler pictures)

Med Dreams Quick Page



Reflective Puddle paper pack



Mod Flowers pack



Affections of the Heart paper pack



Affections of the Heart Frame and Mat pack



Spring Fling Quick Page









Spring Fling quick page




THESE FREEBIES NO LONER AVAILABLE~ REMEMBER TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES QUICKLY AS THEY ARE TIME LIMITED ~

Lightening Strikes...life is busy .....and some freebies for You.

Yes, Lightening struck a week ago this past Saturday and I had Internet withdrawal as it effected a lot of appliances in our home as well as the wireless router. Took days to figure out the issue. Lightening had actually struck the transformer on the pole, then the overload came back to the house and fried out the meter. We were continually then hit with an overload of power in flashes which fried out electronics on my washer, dryer, fridge, and other appliances. Lovely.


Thankfully it didn't take out the computer. So while I couldn't get online, I could still be creative on the computer with my Paint shop pro xi. Therefore, you get the benefits of days of no Internet service eh? Well, I created a lot more than these but this is a start.

I love real looking textures used in digi scrap. The idea of being able to be creative in this forum offers up a host of avenues I just cannot draw. Take for instance, the creations I am offering to you today are in brick and concrete 'look'. I hope you enjoy using these in your digi scrap as much as I had fun making them. I'd love to see a layout done with them.




I am offering pink brick for the girls and concrete for the guys. Feel free to change the colors on the bricks for personal use only if you would like to have them for a guys layout.



Please read Redhead Pixels Terms of Use on each item you download.


First up:

Frame Trio in Pink Bricks with circular centers for your photos. I made all of these frames very large and you can resize them down. I did this offer you all a clearer brick pattern as well as more options of sizes.





Download here:
THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE





Squared centers











Download here:
THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE





Then we have: Frame Brick wall w/ six spots for photos








Download here:
THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE



Then my Concrete blocks frame. I really liked doing this one because its offset and a great look for guys too. I think this would look great with some denim myself.





Download here:

THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE




Also offered today is my Frame creation of tape with a gold eroded spray paint look. Like I said, I love textures and this frame offers a very realistic look to it. (dog not included lol)

Download here:

THIS FREEBIE NO LONGER AVAILABLE

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Life is Busy

Garden is putting out tomatoes faster than we can eat them so of course this is the time of year I have to figure out what to do with the excess. I have made two huge pots of spaghetti sauce and put them up in the freezer in the past few days. We have been getting about a bushel every day or so of tomatoes. Keeps me hopping! I have been keeping three dehydrators going because I really didn't want to have to can them this year.

I love creating things homemade. I have always tried to do as much as possible that I could. Two years ago I learned how to make homemade lye soap and ever since then I have made my own homemade soaps for my family and friends.

Two days last week I made homemade lye soap. Omg they smell wonderful. I made three different blend scents; Chocolate/Mint which looks like fudge but please don't eat it~, then I made a Blend with Cucumber Melon, rosewood and lemongrass, smells so fresh and wonderful! Then I made a batch scented with Vanilla Absolute, Rosewood, and almond that smells awesome out of this world. I have made my own homemade soaps now for two years using my own recipes after much research online. My soaps tend to have 8 to 12 different oils in them. They are rich with all kinds of good properties for the skin. My skin used to be broke out in bumps all my life on my arms. That is totally gone now because my pores are not clogged up or perhaps I was even allergic to something in store bought soaps. I don't know. My skin feels better as well as does my husbands because over the counter soaps are really mostly detergents, not soaps and the glycerin has been taken out of the soaps which leaves your skin feeling dry. With my skin (I am no spring pup) I need all the extra moisturizing properties I can get and so I add the oils that offer the best properties for healing, moisturizing, and elasticity (very important to my aging skin). We have seen a huge difference for ourselves. I highly recommend homemade soap over store bought if its made properly. I have to add, homemade does not mean cheaper. I do not make my own soap because I want a cheaper bar of soap. I make my own soap because I want a better quality of soap for my skin that I cannot find in stores. I also then know and can control the quality of whats going in the soap.

With so much going wrong in today's world as far as recalls of products, at least I know that my own soap has excellent quality, because I did it myself and I assured the quality of each bar.

For those of you who are interested in trying this out yourself, there are lots of great discussion lists out there as well as websites to learn more about soap making. There are safety issues you must be aware of but if you take precautions and NEVER make soap around children nearly everyone should be able to do it.

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and finally....the smattering of my viewpoint......its highly personal.

Questioning Authority (my political rant for the day)

I am as patriotic as most Americans. I pay my taxes, I abide the laws of the land. So it really is irritating to me when I hear the crud about how some who support this war and this President will go on attack if you are 'against' the war and its reasons for existing. Dissent and a will to have Freedom is what created this country. Why would we want to silence the differences in people to make them cookie cutter versions of what is running this country right now?

My father served in his young years in the National Guard (back before they sent them overseas), my brother was a Marine back when the barracks in Lebanon were bombed (thank god he was not there at the time but we didn't know where he was then, bless the soldiers whose lives were lost during that horrible time and whose families were effected forever), my second husband was a Marine and my grandfather served in WWII in the Army. My nephew now is in training in the National guard in Georgia. I pray they do not end up sending him to Iraq. But I fear they will. He has one baby and one on the way. We have a former Navy Seal in the family and his son is currently serving in the services as well.

I am however, disturbed by the current discussion of the Iraq war czar to reinstate the draft. Here is the reason why. Our young men and women should be serving OUR country and if they die, they do so fighting FOR our country and not for oil or to create a base in the middle east to protect that oil which protects the profits of the huge oil corporations while we STILL pay the huge prices for gas and oil and they walk away with HUGE PROFITS. (and government backing and tax breaks and you name it!). Our Government cannot continue to be tied to these oil companies as well as pharmaceutical companies etc.

I pray for the safety of all the Brave service people putting their lives on the line. It sorrows me to see many every day who will not make it home to their families. Lives gone forever. What for? Enduring freedom for Iraq? It will not happen. They are a nation at war with themselves as well as us. It boggles the mind that we are handing them guns that are used against our men and women trying to keep peace. Our own government is subverting the process. Money, oil, and guns are missing that cannot be accounted by the Pentagon. Yet they hand more guns out.

I don't understand why they are not taking guns away instead of handing them out!
But I do feel that they should come home and let the Middle east sort out their issues on their own. I don't feel we should have ever involved our country in Iraq. I understand Afghanistan. But not Iraq. It is astounding that after all these years the one person they started this war far is still on the loose and never has been found. I don't believe for one iota of a second that the upper echelons of our government does not know where he is or what has happened to him.

I did not vote for this President and I will not vote for his party in the future. I want and seek change. It is my fervent wish that he and his cronies be impeached.

Its astounding to me that America, considered to be 'the Greatest Nation' for taking care of its people etc, has no national health care for its people, yet other countries do. It astounds me that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and find it harder and harder to get out of poverty. Huge companies are allowed to let their CE Os to profit when they go out of business (even at their own failures) and the people who end up losing their retirement pension plans and health benefits are not the CEO figureheads who walk away with astronomical figure package deals but the people who did the REAL WORK.

Congress votes themselves pay raises regularly but how often does the cost of living increases go up and how high for Social Security and Minimum Wage? Its ridiculous!

Katrina and New Orleans, two years later, a National Disgrace. What of the people put into trailers with formaldehyde permeated interiors?
Nothing being done for their health issues? New Orleans crime is ungodly and why isn't the government calling in special help for that crime torn area to get things back into control??

The infrastructure of our country is collapsing faster than it can be rebuilt. Look at the pipe burst in New York City and the people it harmed, then the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. This is a harbinger we should be paying attention to. For years utilities and oil companies have all these profits and they say they are going to be putting money back into infrastructure. If that is the case, there would be a better handle on the situation. But this is a case of greed. Speaking of greed....

The price of gas fluctuates to the breeze of the Oil companies whims. Now ethanol is supposed to help save us? Yes? No! Because now, these huge farming companies are planting corn to make ethanol and the price of corn is going up, therefore its competition for FOOD products. Note how much your milk and dairy products, and all corn made products go up over the next few years.

Why aren't we focusing on Wind and Solar? Why do we have to keep focusing as a nation on things that give these big companies profits? Our government should be offering grants to solar and wind creation so that we can get out of the mess we are in. Instead corporate lobbying is forcing us down the pathways of greed. But not all nations are following this path. Lots of other nations are focusing on Wind, Solar and even Steam from the earths interior as well as finding new ways to recycle methane etc to create energy. There are OTHER ways and we just need to focus on them.

Until we as a Nation of People stand up together UNITED (any party, all parties) AGAINST tyranny in the areas of business, government and justice too, we will continue to have these horrible issues plague our society to the core.

Margaret Mead said " A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."