FTL258, Just Sayin’ Boo! Clean and Simple Tuesday Card

Hi my friends. I had a nice mellow weekend but will probably head back up to my condo in Chico in a frew days to take care of business. When somebody dies and you have nobody to help you with the details, it's quite overwhelming. I did, however, have my trusty best friend of 36 years do an awful lot of work for me. Despite the circumstances, I was able to see my oldest son, Mike, and my daughter-in-law, Alaina, who were so kind and I really liked my Uncle Bobby and Auntie Brenda who showed Mike and Alaina the Blancett family history. I think he appreciates his roots more now. Mike expressed to Bobby a "thank you" for taking him on a unique journey with my very large family. When Daddy gets his final headstone put in, I wlll fly back to see it and to tallk to him for a little bit. This has personally been the worst year of my life with so many losses of those that I loved the most. I felt so bad burying him in Kansas and feel like I left him behind (it's a little internal struggle), but his plot is in the Blancett family section, so I'm okay with that and my Auntie will take good care of him. When I go to visit, I always put new flowers on everyboody's grave. I do this on my way out of town back to Kansas City and it's my thing. Auntie knows I do this. Auntie and Daddy were very close. I have part of his presence here with me at the condo, but she didn't have anything, so that was the decisive factor in laying him to rest where his roots and family are. Auntie and I are only 12 years apart so we are very close. I appreciate my cousin, Stacey, and it was so good to see her and Jackie again. We used to have these outrageous 4th of July family reunions every year, but when Gram got sick and died, we quit having them. She really was the glue of our family. We all have decided that we are going to start having those reunions again since now, the only time we see each other is if somebody died. Stacey lives in Mesa AZ so she's just the next state over from me and I have no excuse not to see her as often as I should. My great Uncle Jack (my Gram's brother), who was 10 years older than Daddy also passed away on September 4. His service is on the 18th and I just can't be there or take another flight. I'm pretty overwhelmed and burnt out on this kind of stuff as I'm still trying to deal with daddy's estate too.

I finally got Daddy's autopsy results and why he died, which is very surprising. My kids need some testing done and the father of my 3 youngest doesn't seem to take this seriously as I'm getting blown off. I've tried and there's nothing else I can do. I will not chase after him or beg for a phone call. I don't do that anymore and never will again. Since it's about the kids, it's upsetting. I think my oldest son is going to deliver what I have to say to him, but I don't work like that either. When Daddy died, I left a message on Mike's voicemail and instead of calling me, he called his father and frankly, it was my right and position to tell Mike my father died and I do resent having that taken away from me, but while I resent it, I refuse to dwell on it. I am not reponsible for other people's actions; however, I do not need to contribute to them so others can have their way with me.

I will have to post some pictures when I'm able. Both services; one in California, and the other in Kansas were lovely. Dad had strict orders of "cremate me and spread me." I did one, which was to cremate him. With the second, I refused to do. My Daddy was such a good man and people needed to know what a good man he was and the fact that he was alive and led an exemplary life that touched many. I have never heard a bad thing about my Daddy except from my "husband" and my own daughter. I still hurt and think about him a lot. It's a grieving process and I am not pushing my limits or boundaries. I am going to respect them. I ask that you keep my family in your prayers, especially my 3 youngest. They are not walking with the Lord, despite me raising them alone in the church. They are not in a good place spiritually at all.

So I'm 50 years old without an immediate "family" and no parents. It's awful, but I have good friends who have been so supportive. Again, I would like to thank you for the cards, phone calls, everything. I've met some wonderful people in my life and you are one of them. I'd like to than Kelley Holland and all of the ladies at Our Daily Bread Designs, Julie Koerber at Flourishes for their support too. One of my editors, Jane Guthrie, has been more than patient with me at Paper Creations Magazine. I would also like to make a special mention of Jennifer Dunn for her prayers and Jennipher Lowery, and all of my Christian friends. Then there's Rose, of course, my best friend for 36 years, and hundreds of friends that I grew up with who were so kind to me and supportive. My friends are kind to me and supportive even when there isn't a crisis going on and for that, I am so blessed. If it wasn't for my Auntie, Brenda Mishmash, the Kansas service would not have happened at all. She pulled that one together by herself just a few weeks out of major back surgery with a cage placed, screws, rods, you name it. I'm going to send this card to Auntie since Halloween is her favorite holiday. Last year, I had her pick up one of those glitter trees that you can find at Michael's this time of year and made a lot of tags for her to hang on her Halloween Tree, so I'm sure she will enjoy this card. I like the way it turned out myself!

I still plan on having my ORGANIZE IT! online class but just a few weeks later. I'm aiming for September 30 to October 4. I have a graphic request in that I hope will be completed today as the dates need changed, and then I have to send them to my developer to get the site ready so you can register. I've literally had hundreds of inquiries about this. You will get to see both crafty spaces that I have; one at my house and the other at my condo. 

I loved the sketch (don't I always?) that Natasha made for us at Clean & Simple Stamping, Fall-to-Layout 258 for this week and you will too! I decided to break out some new Papertrey Ink stamps. One of these days, I'll have to ink up my holiday Stampin' Up! products. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy this fun card that I made for you. No video but I promise I will do one soon.

Lots of pictures of this one as I did the inside and made a darling little envelope. The first 3 pictures are of the card itself, then the inside and the last one is the corner of the envelope. I did line the inside of the envelope but did not take a picture of that.

Hugs and blessings to you. Make every day count and dump your baggage. It frees you. You never know when it might be the last day of somebody that you love or yourself.

1 Corinthians 1:4-7.