Book Review "Thirteen Reasons Why"

Wow, tomorrow is April already!!!
I have been doing pretty good with my goals for this year.
One of them was to read (at least) 12 books a year, which is 1 book a month.
I started this month with a different book, but didn't enjoy the writing style so put it down.
In the past I would have forced myself to finish it, but I have come to the conclusion that I won't be able to read every book out there, so I won't waste my reading time on those books that don't keep my attention.

Now onto the book I chose, Thirteen Reasons Why.
I had read this book in the past, it was recommended to me by my daughter Heather, who by the way, has great taste in books.
Heather had told me that they made a show about this book, so I wanted to refresh myself on it before watching the show.
I enjoy reading a book before the movie or show comes out.

The book is about a girl who commits suicide and explains the events that brought her to this decision on tapes.
These tapes are then passed to the 13 people who have had a part in her life that impacted this decision.
We follow Clay around town as he listens to these tapes.

This book was a quick read...one that is hard to put down.
So hard to put down that Wayne wanted to watch a movie with me.
So I watched a movie as well as read this book.
I even had a notebook with notes on the characters in the book and what their connection to Hannah was.

What I took from this book is what an impact we have on someone.
No matter how good or bad, no matter how long or short we are in their lives, we all have an impact on someone.
It also makes me so sad that this young girl felt this hopeless, to take her life.
Having daughter's, I thought of how I would feel if one of them took their own life. I would be devastated...I kept thinking this while reading it.
I think of all of those that feel there is not another option...there is always another option.

Tracy

Celebrating Kristy's 22nd Birthday

Kristy celebrated her 22nd birthday....how is my baby 22?!
I know we all say this...but seriously time didn't go this fast when I was younger.

Here is Kristy's cake.
I baked it and Kristy decorated it.
I told her, you're not suppose to make your own birthday cake.
But she was so excited to make this one.
Those are smashed Cadbury Mini Eggs on there...she loves these.

Look at this face...she is so beautiful yet silly :)
Kristy has such a great sense of humour...even when she isn't trying to be funny, she still makes me laugh.....unless she is giving me heck about not eating right...then she is just scary, lol.

This is a fun shot that Ashley took of Kristy taking a picture of her cake :)
Kristy wanted Finn pancakes for her dinner out.
After dinner we came back for some cake and ice-cream, gifts and a game of "Things in a Box".
That game is always fun.

Here are her gifts.
Kristy is going to Italy with her boyfriend and his family, so we bought her things she will need for her trip.
They are going for 14 days, and she is planning on only bringing a carry-on.
She pre-packed this bag and she has room to spare for anything she wants to bring back.
We got her a journal to record her trip as well as this memory card, so she can take lots of photos.

Hope you all have a very Creative Day :)

Tracy

My 14 hour Scrapbooking Crop

I love to have my friends over to create with me.
So a few times a year I like to host a big crop.
Yes, I still have Friday Night Scrapbooking at my house every week, but I like to host a big get together a few times a year :)

I also love to decorate for these crops :)
This wood backdrop I made for Ashley's wedding.
I have seemed to claim it for my use now, teehee.
I set this up at the bottom of the stairs before entering the rec room where we craft.

Sending out invites is a must so everyone remembers when it is.
So I made an event on Facebook and used this photo of one of the insides of my cards I had made a few years ago.
I just put it in picmonkey and added the wording..easy.

I had these tissue medallions from a previous crop I held, but I wanted to change them up a bit.
I just added some large paper doilies behind them and voila, I gave them new life ;)

I have so much old scrapbooking paper that I decided to make some of these large and small medallions out of some of it.
Even ugly paper looks pretty this way :)
Oh and note to self...when they keep falling off and you need to add stronger tape, don't use duct tape as when it is time to take them down....you pull off your wall paint as well, lol.
Good thing I was planning on painting this room soon anyway.

These letters as well as the "artists" were left over from banners I had made for my daughter Ashley's bridal shower.
No, I never get rid of anything, lol.
Anyone need a couple of huge bags full of pink tissue paper flowers ;)

Here are some of the ladies that attended.
2 of my friends weren't able to make it..but my friend Lesli came by the night before :)
1 of the ladies had to leave early, so she missed the group photo.

I like to do giveaways as the day goes along.
Here is my friend Denise with her winning...a smashbook.
I gave away Smashbooks, large collapsable totes, a scrapbook with a co-ordinating kit and a scrapbook storage binder.
I also put out a "take what you want" box.
I think next time I might set up a table so everyone can set out their products that they don't want anymore.

Oh look we had a cute little visitor as well :)
My grandson Sawyer came to check out the ladies.
So happy he didn't make strange with anyone :)

Everyone had a chance to hold him...at least once ;)

My friend Lynne, kept losing her stuff.
I don't know how long she searched for her letter "A".
I offered her the one from my kit, but she found it, lol.

As much as we chat and laugh....we do actually get some crafting done.
The last few crops I have hosted, I have set up another table beside this one, so we would have more room...but no one wants to move from this table.
We are a close bunch.
So the table I set up, we put out our dishes. As it was pot luck and everyone brought something yummy to share.

Donna gave me this beautiful plant, I was so happy when it bloomed :)
And Denise made me this sweet card.

I can't not express how much I love to host these.
Not only do I love to see my friends and create with them, but it is so much fun having them in my home.
Love these ladies.

Tracy :)

Life update

My sister in law reminded me that I haven't posted since my daughter's Birthday last month.
Yes almost a month ago!!!
Hard to believe I used to blog daily.
So I figured I had better get my butt in gear and put up a post.
Here is a bit of a life update...and a lame excuse  as to why I haven't been posting.

I have a new Cardiologist, as mine retired.
The new guy wants me to add another type of heart medicine to what I am already taking.
I am a bit stubborn and won't take anything unless I 100% do my research.
So I went back to him to ask him another 110 questions, lol.
Well, I started taking them a few weeks ago and don't like them as they make me tired...which has also hindered my motivation.

I also had to wear this heart monitor for 14 days!!
Yes 14.
One good thing about this (besides how great technology in health is) is that it is a lot smaller than the one I had to wear years ago...mind you that one, I only had to wear for 48 hours.
I also was able to put it on myself, so I didn't have to go to the hospital to get it put on.
I had to carry this black berry around as it sent the results back to the lab.
But it would go into sleep mode on me all the time, unless it was plugged in. So I had to stay 30 ft from an outlet, lol.

I did get an irritation from the sticky electrodes though.
Didn't help when I bent over and the machine unclipped from my pants band and ripped the sticky thing right off with some of my skin attached, lol.

The day I got to take this off, my husband came home during his lunch to give me a huge cup of hot chocolate from Tim Hortons :)
I love my hot chocolate...and my honey ;)

I have been spending so much time with this little cutie.
I just can't get enough of him.

My husband Wayne hurt himself the other day.
He has had a weak ankle for many years, and lately he has been rolling it quite a bit.
The other week he slipped on some ice and sprained it real bad.
The other day he was washing the dishes (which he does about 3 times a year) and his ankle gave out and then he fell against the counter and thought he cracked a rib.
Turned out that he just bruised his ribs and that his ankle is badly sprained and he has to go for physiotherapy to strengthen it as this keeps happening.
He has to take 7 days off of work, so I get to play Nurse Tracy....and no, I am not dressing up ;)

Luna loves Wayne's office chair.
When she was a kitten, she would run up the back of it.
Now she sleeps on here while Heather is playing her video games or on her laptop.
It is always full of her fur and very hard to get off of this material, so I bought a cat mat for her to lay on.
Turns out she does not like this on her chair, lol
I have to laugh as she will not sit or even touch this mat. We even washed it and I rubbed it on the chair to get her fur on it.
But nope, she refuses to touch it, lol.

I enjoyed lots of Sawyer snuggles.
Here he had just woke from his nap and when he saw me he had the biggest, cutest smile on his face.
This little guy just melts my heart.

I even cleaned off my craft desk!!
Well it was clean, teehee.
Time to tackle it again.

I also hosted a crop last weekend, but I will share that in another post as this one is getting a bit long and kind of depressing...besides the photos of my adorable grandson :)

I hope you all have a very creative day :)

Tracy :)