The weather has been so warm! The flowers are bursting out of the ground at an amazing speed! Spring wants to arrive, but Central Illinois is so unpredictable temperature wise!
Here is our group from the weekend. We are sitting on the steps to the stage at The Barn III. There were some other photos, but they were silly ones, of course! We were all spoiled like royalty during the Crafting Queen Retreat!
This is truly the best scrapbook retreat I have ever participated in. We had a group of 7 girls at our table. There were about 50 crafters during the 3 days! I already registered for next year!
This was the sale at the Barn III during the craft retreat. Crafting Auntie (Lisa) needs to downsize her supplies. Our group has volunteered to help her. This will be an amazing weekend with our friends.
I think this picture is from a couple of years ago. Jim's mom and his sister, Jill. Gram would have been 97 today. We all went to eat lunch at Whiskey Taco after we finished removing her belongings from Cedarhurst.
We said goodbye to Jim's Mom, this morning. She passed away around 9:30 a.m. We had several nurses that would qualify for this Daisy award in the past few days. She will be greatly missing at just shy of 97 years young.
Stacie has been on Coco duty. We have been at the hospital with Jim's Mom. She fell on Friday and broke her femur. She has been placed on "Comfort Care" for now.
The weather has been so warm the past few days. Our tulips are pushing up their green leaves. I hope this means an early Spring. We have had snow in April when the blooms are huge!
I started doing the leg press after I got my right knee replaced in April of 2022. I still do this exercise and my strength in my legs has increased so much. I am amazed at how straight my leg is now.
Lobster Ravioli is what's for dinner! We celebrated Stacie's birthday tonight. She was busy during the week of her birthday with work stuff. Jim, Tom, Stacie and I went to Joe's Italian Steakhouse in Peoria Heights! YUMMY!
Jim, Coco and I went for a walk at Coal Miner's Park. Coco had the best time sniffing all the "things"! He walked along with us the entire way. What a good boy! We really enjoyed walking outside today!
I have been cleaning and organizing in my scrap room. I am building kits to auction at Timeless Treasure Market and donating the money I earn to Totes for Ta-Ta's.
The white car on the back of this trailer is my dad's car. He passed on August 26, 2023. This car was in Oklahoma in his garage. His wife decided she was keeping it, even though the laws said she didn't get the car. I hired a lawyer and the car was finally delivered to Illinois. My sister will be the next owner.
I bought Coco his St. Patrick's Day kerchief at The Picker's Daughter. He loves wearing them. He will wag his tag and put his head right in the opening!
Tomorrow is Stacie's birthday. This picture came up in my Facebook memories! I took this picture of her on her 30th birthday. My mom and Peyton are posing with her. I'm not sure what Peyton was singing, but he was happy!
Jim has to wear a heart monitor for 30 days because he was in Afib after valve replacement surgery. Hopefully, this will be the last test he needs to complete his recovery.
Today we celebrated the life of Eilene Bingham who was 102 years young. Andy and Stacie are in front of the booth that houses John's high school football jersey and photo.
I worked really hard yesterday getting the auction items ready for the boutiques. The auction's start on Wednesday and end Thursday at 7 p.m. All of our profits benefit Illinois CancerCare.
Today was Super Bowl Sunday! I personally do not know anything about football, but I love the commercials! The Kansas City Chiefs won in overtime against San Francisco.
Today we spent time together to help our friend get her house ready to welcome home her husband. Of course the cat had to help with everything! I love that we can get together and help a friend in need!
This evening we had a "Pop-Up" at Whiskey Taco for Totes! Pictured with me are Kim, Christy, Stacie and Sarah. A few of the other committee members came later to help out! We sold 15 purses and made $291! The best part is we talked to a bunch of ladies to spread the word about Lymphoma Is A Loser our registered non-profit.
We finally got to order Jim's hearing aids! After waiting for 5 months, he had his MRI to rule out a tumor in his head and we got the appointment with the audiologist!
This squirrel was sitting on top of the garage when I let Coco out this morning. Jim put the bird feeders out over the weekend. The squirrels have been getting their share of the bird food, even though the feeders are "squirrel proof"!
This pair of Bald Eagles have a nest in California. The Facebook page is Friends of Big Bear Valley. This is Shadow and Jackie. They have 3 eggs in the nest currently. We have been watching their progress for a couple of years.
I say this sentence in my head before I write past 30 for any month...except February, which has 28 unless it's Leap year and it has 29. And this year is Leap year! I feel like this January was at least 973 days!
I bought another clearance priced flower bouquet at Kroger! This one had mini carnations, sunflowers and lilies. I didn't know what the green buds were when I bought it. I still don't know the name of the flowers!
This is one of the new papers for 49 & Market Wherever collection. Someone added the quote about the craft store. This is so me and I may have some of the paper on order! LOL
I have been eating strawberries nearly everyday since March. Tonight, I opened a new container and this huge berry was in the middle of the strawberries! I was almost as big as my fist!
We went to the arena at 4:15 p.m. to watch our friend Corbie play hockey! They played one of the top teams in the country and lost 2-6. The third period was the downfall, but it was a great game to watch.
We hosted a trivia night at the Moose Lodge for #Lymphoma Is A Loser! We had about 48 guests. Jim and I didn't have a team. We helped Stacie with check-in and the 50/50 raffle! It was a fun evening with many friends old and new!
Hello, my name is Aprile. I enjoy scrapbooking, making cards and altering items. My creations took a turn for the better when I bought my Cricut and Cuttlebug. I have upgraded to a Silhouette. There is definitely a learning curve, but getting more comfortable with it everyday. I haven't looked back! I have been married to a wonderful man (Jim) for 46 years. He lets me buy all the scrapbook supplies I can hide! I am retired now and look forward to everyday. Always wondering what project to get started!! Thanks for looking at my life in pictures. It is hard to believe I have been taking a photo a day and journaling about since 2009!