Waters Edge Retreat Center

I spent a 4 day weekend at a great scrapbooking retreat. A group of us from Creating Keepsakes Member Board decided many months ago to get together for a weekend of cropping and scrapping. Gena, aka HiMommy, found information about Waters Edge Retreat Center on line. It is located in the boonies outside the small town of Santiago, MN. It was a great place for such a retreat. 11 of us from Minnesota and Iowa, and Sarah from California, spent 4 days together. I had met 2 of the women previously at Saturday crops at The Scrapbook shop in Saint Paul. The other women were all friends waiting to be made. We took turns making meals, having signed up ahead of time for a particular meal time. It was amazing how well we all got along, united in our hobby of scrapbooking but otherwise representing different careers, religions, politics, etc. One weird but true fact was NONE of us smoke. I think that is why we got along so well. You know, birds of a feather flocking together.

I worked on my 1989, 1990, and 1991 photos and scrapbooks. I had put off doing those years because they represent difficult years in my life, covering the time period after my divorce when I became a single mother of 3 children and we moved to Minnesota. I was able to date the photos with the help of my diary and date book. We sure did go to ALOT of Twins games our first few years here. I completed 22 pages, fewer than I had hoped but a respectable number. I think Bethany did 30 pages. Most of us did somewhere in the 20's.

On Friday a group of 5 of us toured the Creative Memories factory in nearby Saint Cloud. Creative Memories is really the company that contributed the most to the hobby of scrapbooking taking hold the way it has. Scrapbooking has always been around but they took it to a new level with archival products easily available. They encouraged the combination of scrapbooking and photography. I had always kept scrapbooks since 4th grade when the Salk polio vaccine came out. In college I began combining my photos with my scrapbooks. In 1988 I was introduced to Creative Memories at a genealogy conference. I became hooked then. CM really got its start through genealogy. It offered a way to preserve your family stories along with the photos. I have always used CM albums, they are by far the best quality of any on the market. Now that there are a bzillion companies selling various scrapbooking products I do use other products but I tend to stick with CM's basic style of keeping it simple but telling the story.

It was interesting to see the albums made. They are all made in the United States, what a unique idea. The factory is clean, organized, and well run. Yes, CM albums cost a little more but it's worth it to get a well made USA product.

It was a good weekend to spend inside because it was really a yucky weather weekend. It was cold, rainy, and then snowy. Yes, snow!!! We only got 1-2 inches where we were. Up north got 18 inches. That is so depressing for the last weekend of April. The retreat center is located along the Saint Francis river. It was really a very pretty location. The river got quite high during our stay. We were glad there was a stone retaining wall and slight incline between us and the river.

After this retreat thongs, white weiners, ring bologna, and lemons will never have the same meaning again, LOL. Sarah from California received quite the education from us midwest girls. We plan to get together again next April at the same place. We wanted the same weekend but another group already signed up for it so we'll be going a week earlier. If it snows again then Sarah isn't invited to any retreats after that.

Pain

The operative word for yesterday was pain. I have had many eye surgeries over the past 4 years and this was, by far, the most painful. Even when I spent 5 days with radioactive seeds sewn into my eye I didn't have this much pain. I wasn't at all prepared for this degree of pain. The Vicodin hardly touched it but it did make me get sleepy so it helped that way. I have a lot of bruising, which I was hoping to avoid this time but no such luck. I know someone else who had the same procedure done and had almost no bruising. It probably doesn't help that I've had radiation to the area, that always changes the tissues. Add to that I tend to bruise more easily I guess it would be a surprise that if I didn't bruise.

Trying to get my post op appointment is proving to be very frustrating. The clinic number provided on the discharge instructions was incorrect, it was a PT clinic. I called the plastic surgery appointment number and after much repetition of my name and dob I was given an appointment time but then told oops, the computer says too many people are scheduled that day. So I may end up removing my own sutures. Dr. Fletcher used a running stitch so it's like unraveling yarn, once I cut the retaining knot, which is held to the bridge of my nose with a piece of steri-strip the whole set of stitches can be pulled out. I'm supposed to get a call back once someone figures out how to over-ride the computer. Computers have their place in medical practices but really, a pencil and a notebook worked just as well, and cost a lot less.

I'm off the my local scrapbook store to get things ready for the retreat. I leave tomorrow.

The Last Eye Surgery

Tomorrow I will be having what I hope is my last eye surgery. I have scar tissue from radiation and several previous eye surgeries. It causes my lid to have a significant droop, reducing my field of vision. It is covered by insurance because it was caused by radiation and involves the visual field cut. I have to have the procedure done in the hospital rather than the day surgery center because of my latex allergy. It is still day surgery. I have to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. That is really early now that I am retired! Surgery is at 8:30 a.m. and is scheduled to take 2 hours! This rather surprised me, I hadn't expected it to take that long. I hope I don't have as much bruising as I usually get because I am going to a scrapbook retreat for 3 days this weekend.

The retreat is at a place in Santiago, MN. The house is set up as a crafting retreat center, used mostly by scrapbookers and quilters. It looks very nice, with 34 acres of scenic land. Hopefully it won't rain the entire weekend so I can take a few walking breaks throughout the weekend.

My daughter and her family are on vacation in Orlando, FL. This is their first vacation in 2 or 3 years. They drove from Wisconsin so they could visit Emily's birth family in Birmingham, Alabama. They had a good weekend visit with family and after a day of rest yesterday are spending today at Sea World. Katie is 4 y.o. so the perfect age for an Orlando vacation.

My older grandson is anxiously awaiting the arrival of his baby brother, who is due any day. Sondros is so excited about finally having a sibling.

My baby grandson stays busy getting new teeth and refining his walking skills. He is so darn cute. It's hard to believe he's almost a year old. His birthday will see family coming from Colombia.

Happy spring to everyone!!

A Ray of Sun

Today started out as another cold, dreary day but at 1:30 p.m. the sun made an appearance. What a difference the sunshine makes. It's not here for long but by next week we should be enjoying its presence more. We are due for a major snow storm beginning late tomorrow. Duluth is under a blizzard warning. I can begin to understand a little how my German great grandmother must have felt in March 1888. She was a new immigrant from Marktgreitz, a small village in Bavaria. She was living in New York City, in the Bronx. After a week of unseasonably mild March weather the storm began. It ended with 40 plus inches of snow in the city. The whole east coast was paralyzed for many days. My great grandmother had never experienced such a storm in Germany and she wanted to return home. Of course travel in those days wasn't what it is today so she never did return. But she talked about that blizzard for the rest of her life.

Speaking of travel, how would you like to be flying AA this week? I feel sorry for all the travelers unable to get home or to their destinations thanks to all the canceled flights. Two years ago this week Sondros and I got stuck in the Boston Airport overnight. We were returning from Ireland. Our Northwest connection from Boston to Minneapolis left without us. It was not a comfortable night.

The babies saw the vet today. Galway weighs 3 lbs! His paw size already shows he is going to be a big cat. His sister Clare weighs only 2 lbs. They got their first immunizations. Their leukemia tests were negative, whew! The bill today was $196. Is it any wonder so many pets aren't immunized! Each of the big cats have an appointment next week to get their shots updated. I have to take them one at a time.

That's Clare inside the Coke carton.

Grey or Gray?

I tend to spell the word grey but spellcheck always indicates it is misspelled. So I looked it up today. Grey is the preferred British spelling, gray the American spelling. Greyhounds are spelled with the grey spelling so I guess growing up where the Greyhound Bus went by several times/day led to my spelling it that way.

Either way today is another grey, gray day!! At least we did not get the 30 inches of snow that northern Minnesota received yesterday but a little sun would be nice. We have snow in the forecast for later this week :-(

Kilkenny and Clare have the right idea for how to spend a grey day, sleeping.

Enough Already

I love living in a place with 4 distinct seasons. I lived in Alabama from 1977 to 1980 and really missed having distinct seasons. Obviously I like winter or I wouldn't be living in Minnesota. But enough already, waking up on April 7th to it snowing outside is enough to push me over the edge. Where is spring? Warm days? Gentle rains? The sun? Are you listening Mother nature?

Speaking of weather, WCCO, our local CBS affiliate, fired Paul Douglas, its popular weather man. Never even asked him if he was open to renegotiating a new salary, just a bye-bye, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

A More Typical Spring Day

Today was a cold, cloudy, rainy day, such a major contrast from yesterday. It was a good day to stay in bed and read a good book. None of the movies on Lifetime were ones I wanted to see. Yesterday Sondros and I went on a small neighborhood explore. I bought him his own digital camera as he likes taking photos. He has been scrapbooking for about 2 years now. He is getting a baby sibling soon so he'll have lots of photo ops. The photos above were taken by him on our explore yesterday.

A Beautiful Spring Day

It was a gorgeous day in Minnesota. The thermometer hit 60 degrees (above zero, LOL). It was breezy. My adult cats have been out on the balcony all day and refuse to come in so I guess they're there for the night. The baby kittens didn't want to come in either but I carried them in. I started cleaning the balcony. I planted some Irish wild flowers and shamrocks. I am on the north side of the building now, having moved across the hall to a smaller apartment when I retired. Part of the balcony gets a lot of sun so I hope things will grow well. The weather report on the 10 p.m. news is for snow tomorrow! Yikes, that's the upper midwest for you. Northern Minnesota is supposed to get up to a foot of the white stuff. The Twin Cities may have rain tomorrow and a rain/snow mix on Monday.

Retirement Routine

Now that spring is here and I am coming up on the first anniversary of my retirement I'm starting to believe I really am retired, LOL. At first it felt weird doing things during the day, like someone would see me and report me for playing hooky from work. Or waking up late and thinking, oops, I'm in trouble. But I am retired, really honest to goodness retired. I'm starting to develop a routine. Mondays I run errands, Tuesdays I clean, Wednesday is massage therapy for my lymphedema, Thursday I work in a scrapbook store, and Friday I crop all day at my local scrapbook store. Saturdays vary depending on whether my 10 y.o. grandson is with me. Sunday is laundry, ironing, and movies on Lifetime Movie Network. I will be starting a volunteer position one lunch hour/week at St. Agnes High School. It's my older son's alma mater. They've just started a hot lunch program and need some lunch room volunteers..

I can't say I ever gave much thought to retirement when I was younger. I figured I'd be growing old with my spouse. We had talked about doing either Peace Corps or medical mission work in retirement. Divorce changed those plans. I always loved nursing so I figured I'd work until I was well into my 70's. Cancer and lung disease changed that. My life revolves around my grandkids and simple pleasures. I love my adopted state of Minnie-sota, you betcha. I couldn't be in a better place when it comes to both medical care and quality of life. So, retirement isn't what I had envisioned but it is good.

Flat Owl Project

Nature provided a good April Fool's. 8 inches of snow yesterday, 95% melted today. The sun was even out. Any day with the sun shining is a good day.

I found this owl plaque in our apartment complex party room. The room is being remodeled so management put out a table of unwanted items free for the taking. Someone sometime paid $2.25 for this small wall plaque. My cats said no way are you having that owl picture in our abode. So it is free to the first scrapsmacker that wants it. Maybe it could become the traveling owl. We each take a photo of it at a local outside spot and then send it on. Kind of like a flat Stanley project. Who wants the owl? Don't all speak up at once.