New Year = New Beginning = = = =

= = = = new opportunities = new blessings... and so on.

Last night, I slept in my chair downstairs. Johanna wanted to sleep on the couch and she wanted me down here with her. No problem. I woke up this morning hearing a phone vibrate. Mind you, I can hear Caitlin's phone when it is on the floor upstairs and I can even hear Tim's phone when it goes off - upstairs, in our bedroom, on the bathroom counter (yes, even on vibrate). Mine is usually either on my scrapping desk or in my purse in the foyer upstairs. Either place... I can hear it. Well, Miss C is at a sleepover, so I ruled her out, so she gets to live another year. It was too loud to be Tim's. I had put mine on silent when I went to bed so I could sleep in. That left one person... one phone. Johanna. It was buried in the bedding when I found it - vibrating away. Only six people have her number, so I looked to see who would have possibly called her after I went to sleep at around 1;00 AM. That person was going to have some splainin' to do. I looked at it... and it was the ALARM! Johanna woke up and I asked her about it. She said, "I set the alarm for 6:00." Great. I asked her to turn it off and came in here. Now, what do I hear? Her snoring. So, now I'm up and she's in LaLa Land. What's up with that!? All I can say is... it's a good thing she's so stinkin' cute! :-)

In September 2007, Fiskars asked me to create a layout for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I created a 2-page layout with photos from the prior 1,552 days... since my final chemo treatment. I think those two pages will always be my favorite. It's called "Moments" - the moments I most certainly would have missed if I hadn't gotten my mammogram. In that respect, I consider that anniversary sort of as my New Year. This year, I did [almost] the same two pages on that anniversary date and have decided to make it a tradition. It will remind me to be thankful for each day and each wonderful moment with my family. Below is the layout I did for this year. (On the back, I put a matching grid with a little information about each picture and the month it was taken.)

I've saved this to post until now, for the "traditional" New Year's Day. (I know you can't read the grid, by wanted to post that for my scrappy friends to see how I did it.) Anyway, I wanted to share our year with you. Each day is a blessing. Don't forget to count them.

I'll be back later with news about the first day of our new year. I hope everyone has a safe, prosperous, and blessed New Year, too.