Highlights of April

Mom and dad's Easter visit was the highlight of April for me.   We opted to postpone our Columbus Zoo trip until their next visit, as the temperatures dropped just in time for our originally planned visit this month.   Let's hope we can enjoy the animals more in warmer weather.   I must admit that I felt slightly disappointed that mom and dad didn't want to eat ham for Easter dinner b/c they ate that with my grandmother and grandfather the week prior.   I can't say I blame them for that...just that I couldn't imagine Easter without ham.   So, I decided on a menu of stuffed pork chops, buttery homemade stuffing, and scalloped potatoes, and it did not disappoint!  

Today I had another opportunity to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House located in Columbus.   We make hand-stamped cards for the residents to give to the staff caring for their children, or as occurred today, we had one mom take a card for another mom who was expecting to go home later on this week.   While we enjoy being able to have the residents sit down with us to create their cards, we understand if they need to get back to the hospital (Nationwide Children's Hospital) to see their babies, and we remind them that we will leave any extra cards at the front desk, should they need more later.   I really enjoyed myself today, as did a five-year-old girl who truly stamped up her card and its envelope for her mother!!   Like I told my fellow volunteers, she is definitely a budding stamper! 

Today was my first real test with a new gift, my GPS navigation device, and it came in handy more than once!   I tell ya that it will be a miracle if I ever manage to travel to and from Ronald McDonald House without making at least one wrong turn!  This time I managed the trip there without a hitch, but I made a wrong turn on the way home.   While I normally would have driven several miles out of my way, I had the privilege of the GPS "recalculating" me to my destination, a local mall.   Whew!  I also traveled some "new" roads for me today.   They were the usual rolling farmland of central Ohio, yet I'd not yet explored them in my twelve years here.
Smokey and Butterscotch are doing well, I suppose.  I just found a very sore-looking area on one of Butter's teeth, which I will have checked out, and they continue to claim virtually everything in "my" apartment.   One of the funniest things this month was to see Smokey spend a lot of time on my dad's lap - so much time that I occasionally had to gently nudge her off dad's lap so he could have a break!   This is the first time that either of my cats has taken to any man's lap!   Maybe they are settling down now that they've turned eleven years of age!

Scrapbooker needs help!

Greetings, all!  Well, I did spend some time last evening on my 2009 mini album.   I did add photos to some months' pages for 2009, but (imagine this) there are some events/months for which I have zero photos!  Now I'm thinking "How am I going to finish the photo-less pages?"   While I love journaling, I do not feel that is an option b/c every month has 3-4 completed journaling tags already.   So, I'm considering the use of some stamps and punched-out embellishments to fill those pages.   Thankfully, I have less than a 6 x 6 inch area to cover!  If you have any ideas, please e-mail me or post them here.  I am eager to finish this project so I can move on to other projects, like Christmas for both 2009 and 2011.

Well, I did it yet again.  I was in the process of carrying my camera upstairs last evening, and the next thing I knew...I was doing yet another photo-shoot of Smokey and Butterscotch!  My goodness!  I just can't get enough pictures of my feline friends!   Much to my surprise, Walgreens has another photo special this week.  So, I shall sign off here and place yet another photo order!