Vogel State Park

Yep, it's another one. But this is my last Georgia-related one. Woo hoo! I win! Got 'em all done before the weekend.

Anyhoo, here's the layout. I'm kinda fond of it. And not just because there is a bear.

Vogel Layout

Page One

Page Two

The text reads:

Vogel is in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia and part of the Chattahoochee National Forest – which means there were lots of twisty, turning roads we had to take to get there. But the drive was well worth it. Over 230 acres of nature – but nature that had air conditioned cabins, which is really the best kind.

Yep, that's pretty much it. No idea if I'll keep obsessively posting future scrapbooking endeavors in the future. Only time will tell.

And one day I'll even post a real update. Oooooh.

Crook Reunion - August 2007

Four posts in five days! I'm a beast! You have no idea how much I wanted to post yesterday to say I wasn't going to post anything. I was so close.

Yes, I'm a dork.

And to further prove my dorkiness - another scrapbook layout!

This one is for the family reunion that we had last month. Wait, aren't they all? No no, this one is for the actual reunion. I promise! Look, don't worry, okay. After this one, there is only one more reunion-related layout coming. Promise.

Reunion Layout

Page One

The text reads:

Hamburgers, hot dogs, and deviled eggs, oh my! All that plus a bag of chips. . . okay, more like ten bags, and almost all of them were Doritos, thanks to Corrie.

Seriously though, there was some fantastic food at the third biennial Crook Family Reunion. Even if the grillers did almost smoke us out of the area with their cooking.

Yes, Dan has already pointed out how goofy this bit is. But I like it so it stays. I even slept on it for almost two weeks before deciding to leave it as is, punny and all.

Page Two

Text:

After an afternoon filled with family, food and yes, even fun, the official family reunion concluded, only to have the unofficial continuation of the reunion occur a few hours later in the form of a night full of roasting marshmallows over an open fire, beer drinking and story telling.

Of course, after everyone was all marshmallow’ed out, there was a bit of playing in the fire. (Though thankfully nothing outside of the fire pit actually caught on fire).

And of course, all of the stories told were entirely true.

and lower down reads:

The morning after the official reunion, some of the family managed to get in some quality sand volleyball before it was picture time.

The teams were Corrie, Gail, Cole and Austin against Steven, Kay and Micaela. Apparently Gail is quite the shark when it comes to beach volleyball. As Corrie said, “”Grandma’s kickin’’ your butt!””

Of course, after a 40-minute trip across state lines into North Carolina to the closest Wal-Mart to get the volleyball, it was good that it got some use!

Yeah, lot of text on that one. But really it was three different "events" so I did a text block for each one. I have trouble calling it "journaling" because that makes me feel like I should be writing, "Dear Diary, Today I met a really cute boy."

More to come. I'm sure you are thrilled! I promise - I will one again post something non-scrapbook-related. At some point.

Though I can't promise it won't be chicken-related.

Dad's Alma Mater

Yep, more scrapbooking stuff!

This one is still from our August Georgia vacation. Dad's college was nearby, so went to see that, as well as spend some time in Dahlonega, the town the college is in. So, without further ado, the layout:

North Georgia College

And I just realized that I misspelled "alma" on the scrapbook page. UGH! I fixed it but feel like quite a dork and don't feel like changing the pictures. So just pretend there is no spelling mistake because there isn't on the real page.

Page One

The text on this page reads:

In 1829, North Georgia was the site of the nation’s first gold rush and the town of Dahlonega was born. So much gold was found in the area that a branch of the US Mint was opened in the town!

The mint closed in 1861 when the Civil War broke out, but Dahlonega is still around. Now it’s a cute college and tourist town with a colorful and picturesque town square. NGC’s Price Hall stands on the foundation of the old mint and the old courthouse houses the Dahlonega Gold Museum.

Page Two

The text on this page reads:

While it is now North Georgia College and State University, it was just North Georgia College when my dad graduated in 19XX. A small campus of less than 5,000 students, it is also a military college for the Corp of Cadets. About thirteen percent of students are enrolled in the military college, something that is very obvious when you visit. Students in uniforms, crew cuts and ARMY athletic clothes can be seen everywhere around campus. At 5pm every day, all the students stop as a (very loud) cannon is fired, retreat is played and the flag is lowered.

and

NGCSU is one of only a handful of universities with permission from the Department of the Army to raise and lower the flag daily. The cannon is sounded, retreat is played, and the echo bounces off the distant hills. The Retreat ceremony, which is believed to date back to the crusades, honors our nation's flag at the end of the day. A formation is held, and the call is blown, late in the afternoon just prior to the firing of the sunset gun and the lowering of the national flag.

Okay, that's all. Time for bed!

Georgia's Highest Mountain

Woohoo - look at me. Two posts in two days. I really am feeling better!

So I finally got one of the four 2-page layouts done for our Vogel trip last month. The others are really close to being completed and I think I finally have everything I need for them (had to print out a few more pictures) so I should finish the others up by next weekend.

Anyway, here's the finished one:

The full layout

Page One

The text on this page reads:

At 4,784 feet above sea level, Brasstown Bald is the highest moutain in Georgia. The Sunday after the Crook Family Reunion, m7y mom and dad, my cousins Steven and Corrie, and Dan and I all decided to take a trip up the mountain to see the sights. And what a sight it was! Four states are visible from Brasstown Bald on a clear day and while the day wasn't exactly clear, I'm still pretty sure I saw some mountains peaking at me from across state lines.

Page Two

The main text reads:

Rain clouds started gathering just in time to have the bottom fall out while we were half way through our 6/10 mile walk back down the mountaintop to the parking lot. We got very wet.

And if anyone is interested, the text was done on my Cricut with the Doodletype font. I know you were asking that. Really.

Anyway, that's it. I thought the page turned out pretty neat so I wanted to share.

Promises, Promises

Okay, so a couple of posts ago, I promised some pictures. Of course, I also said that I'd probably get them up in October. Well, lookie here - September 15 and here they are. This will cover a few unrelated topics (and not all of them in anything close to a timely manner) but that's what happens when I slack this long with blogging. So, without further ado, stuff!

Hiatal Hernia
You know, for the first little bit after my diagnosis, Dan kept singing Weird Al's "Living With a Hernia". Sigh.

So, what, you may ask, exactly is a hiatal hernia? Well, here's what the Mayo Clinic has to say about hiatal hernia and a little diagram:

Your chest cavity and abdomen are separated by your diaphragm — a large dome-shaped muscle that's responsible for a good part of normal breathing. Your esophagus passes into your stomach through an opening in the diaphragm. Hiatal hernias occur when the muscle tissue surrounding this opening becomes weak and the upper part of your stomach bulges through the diaphragm into your chest cavity.

Hiatal Hernia

And according to my GI, there is a nerve that runs near your esophagus that can be affected by hiatal hernia. And guess what that nerve controls? Lots of stuff, including heart rate. So now that my hernia is all fixed, my heart arrhythmia is going away! Seriously, how cool is that?

And just 'cause it is neat, I'm posting the pics from my endoscopy that revealed the hiatal hernia. The GI showed me where the hernia was, but honestly, who can honestly read these pictures without a medical degree?

My former hiatal hernia

Reunion-y Goodness
I know I've already mentioned this before, but it's my blog, so I'll be repetitive if I want to. Dan and I spent almost a week in the mountains of North Georgia last month. Not like wandering around the mountains like Grizzly Adams or anything, but at Vogel State Park, in a lovely little cabin that had running water and a/c.

Me and Dan at Vogel

Our cabin

While we were there, we also got to visit Dad's alma mater, North Georgia College. Well, now it is North Georgia College and State University. It's a really pretty campus.

Price Hall at NGC

The top of Price Hall is covered in gold from Dahlonega, Georgia, the city the college is in. Dahlonega is pretty much the site of the first US gold rush and has very high quality gold. Very pure. Aren't you glad you know that?

The mountains of North Georgia

And, of course, the main reason we went to Georgia: Family!

Family Reunion

The family reunion was on Saturday and on Sunday a few of us went up to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia. We also ran down the top of the mountain in a rainstorm, but that's a whole 'nother story that I'm sure I'll post when I finally finish that scrapbooking layout and post pictures.

Corrie, Dan, Dad, Mom and Steven on top of Brasstown Bald

Scrapbooking Fun
Okay, not much for this section, but still - my blog, so...

I've started a general scrapbook. I've got a kitty scrapbook that I'm working on, but other than that, I typically do trip scrapbooks. Japan 2003, Hawaii, etc. But there are lots of neat things that happen in our life that I want to remember (and lots of scrapbooking toys I want to play with), so I'm doing a "Dan and Me" kinda scrapbook. Just stuff that we've been up to - trips that aren't big enough to get their own scrapbook and other little events that happen. So far, I've only done one page, but I've got four 2-page layouts from the Georgia trip that I've been working on and will post when I'm done.

Anyway, this is the first page I did. My mother-in-law (who finds that coolest scrapbooking stuff!) sent me both the paper and the Cardinals patch, which is what inspired me to do this page and even start the general scrapbook. So thank you, Claudia! I think the page turned out quite nicely.

Play Ball

In case you were wondering, when Dan and I were in St. Louis for his cousin's wedding, we went to a St. Louis Cardinals game.

The text says:

My first Major League baseball game in I don't know how long and my first chance to see Dan's beloved St. Louis Cardinals.

Well, apparently the Cardinals aren't all that good. They lost to the Houston Astros a whopping 10 to 0. Ouch.

At least the winning team was from Texas.

Fin
Well, that's all the babble and picture-posting I have in me right now. I'm feeling much better so I'm anticipating more frequent posts and that they even be picture filled. Okay, maybe not filled. But pictures will be present!

This might be morbid, but...

We had Princess cremated and got her a pretty urn.

Princess's Urn

It's sitting on the mantel. Pretty, isn't it.

I admit it, I cried when I picked her up from the vet. She had been sick for a while and died on Friday morning at about 8:15a. Dan and I were taking her to the vet, actually, but she didn't make the trip. She died while I was holding her. I'm really glad it happened like it did. Although Dan and I had decided to have her put to sleep that morning, I'm really glad it happened naturally.

I miss her and her pissy little attitude. Believe it or not, she was a really sweet cat.

Princess

Princess
1991 - 2007

Update-y Goodness

(Pictures to be added later - though with my current update frequency, that means October).

So a couple of weeks ago, Dan and I went to Georgia for the third biennel Crook Family reunion. We stayed at Vogel State Park, as did the family that came to the reunion. I think both Dan and I fell in love with the Georgia moutains. So pretty. I'll post some pictures later (when I'm not at work on my lunch break) that show of the area.

Right now I'm working on scrapbooking pages for the trip. I've decided to do a "general life" scrapbook in addition to the kitty scrapbook I've been working on. So far it is turning out very nicely. Once I fully finish a page, I'll post some pictures.

Health-wise I am doing better. Still not at 100% but I finally feel better now than I did before the whole ambulance, ER, and surgery stuff happened. Still can't eat normally, either. That's starting to get really old. I even have some hiatal hernia pictures (not of mine - diagrams, really) that I keep meaning to post but haven't. I think I might put them up, though it is a little late at this point, yeah?

One final update. Princess is dying. She's been doing poorly for a while now. She's lost a lot of weight and isn't eating. We've done the vet visits, IV fluids and whatnot but nothing has helped. She's basically just done. She's currently not in any pain, though and still interacting with me and Dan, so we aren't going to put her down. Yes, she is dying. Yes, she is not healthy. And yes, she is weak. But shoot, I spent 2 years unhealthy and weak (and everyone is technically dying really) and no one put me down. So as long as she is still getting something good out of life, we are going to keep her around. Anyway, the whole thing is really upsetting. She's become such a wonderful and sweet (though only to Dan and me) kitty, my heart is just breaking as I watch her waste away.

Anyway, that's what's going on in life. Pictures will be posted at some point so I can get back to the visually interesting blog format. Well, at least it is a format that is interesting to me. Not sure about all you other people, but really, this is my blog. So there.