Wendy Hackney Baisden Scrapbooking

Another day with my daddy

2012-01-07T22:21:00.001-05:00

Tonight as I walked out of the home that I was raised in I stopped to close the gate. The silhouette in the window was my daddy setting in his chair. I took a moment to watch the lights inside shine bright and ponder on his breath and the pounding of his heart. I could almost hear it from the driveway thru the walls of the house and down the path that he had shoveled only two days before when he had the heart attack.

It is no secret that I am a Daddy's girl. If you know me at all you know that I am. I can hardly make it thru a conversation with anyone about anything that I don't mention it. LOL

Two days ago the phone rang and the call sent me into panic. Your daddy had a heart attack. Those words didn't really register. What ? My daddy ? Panic !!! Fear !!! Terror !!! A Heart Attack ???

Since I was a little girl there has never been anything or anyone that I looked at with more love and respect and worship than I do my father. He has impressed on me a sense of everything that I consider in a man.

My father is strong. My father is brave. My father is Beautiful. My father is funny. My father is flirty. My father is Talented. My father is Handy. My father is Stubborn. My father is Determined. My father is so many things....

When my toilets break and I find myself with a wrench in my hand and I fix it I know that I am able because I am my fathers daughter. When I look at something and I need to repair it I look at it through my daddy's eyes and I figure it out because I have spent my whole life under his feet watching him and learning from him and I am handy because of him.

I have looked up the side of a mountain and known that It was more than I was able to climb and I went on the journey anyway because I needed to stand at the top and look down and know that I can do anything I set my mind to because I am John Hackney's girl.

My daddy said to me at the hospital over and over again that I needed to go home. There is no need in me setting here doing nothing but looking at him he would say. My answer would be, Yes there is. I won't ever regret the minutes I spent with you. I will only regret the moments with you that I missed.

When I was a child my daddy was tough. He wasn't a perfect father. He worked more than he should have and he made loads of mistakes. I never saw those. I just saw my daddy. The world. The Universe.

What will my life be when he is gone ? How will I survive ?

I stopped at the gate and I looked back at the house and I saw him there in the window where he belonged and I couldn't help but look to the sky and stand still in the cold brisk night and speak aloud a thank you to God. To the creator of this wonderful man. A thank you for the sound of his beating heart. A plea made once again for just another day with my daddy.

This hankie was given to me the day that I was baptized. Chuck May handed it to me as I walked into the creek at the mouth of Meathouse on March 29th, 1996.

It was carried by Gary when he was baptized September 27, 1996 and by our son Aaron when he was baptized on July 12, 1998.

My brother Dee carried it into the water when he was baptized on Jan 2, 2000 and My brother Tatar carried it into the water when he was baptized on April 30, 2000.

Gary carried it April 18, 1999 when he preached his first message and the night that Canada FWB Church voted to send him to be ordained November 18, 2000 he carried it and on his Ordination Day December 9, 2000.

Many Many times I had it anointed with oil and prayed over and carried it with me to the altar to beg God for the salvation of my daddy. I marked a spot on it and claimed in my mind that someday I would place it into Dads hands and he would carry it with him into the water to be baptized by Gary and Dee.

That is a dream that I still pray for. This hankie is certainly one of my most loved possessions and is kept in a fire safe where I hope to someday place it in the hands of my brothers children and Mikey for major events in their lives. I carried it the day that Aaron was married June 4, 2011.

The most remarkable thing about the hankie is that It was brand new when Chuck handed it to me. I will never forget him saying to me "Its a new one, I promise" Chuck has since passed away and I know the world is worse off because he is not in it :(

The wear that you see on the edges and the hole that you see in the folds and all of the tatter on it is not from 12 years of time. The moment that I climbed out of the water with it in my hands it looked that way. One might say that it sounds untrue but it is the case. It went in whole and new and came out this way. I need to have it framed flat and placed in the safe but only after I get to sign my Daddy's name to it the day that he is baptized.

Don't Ever Tell Me I Can't Do Something !!!

2011-12-10T16:22:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday December 7, 2011 I started with a personal trainer. My Goal is not huge. I want to be fit. I want to be healthy. I know, Im not a fat cow. LOL So don't say "Hey you are not fat !" I know I'm not a cow but for me I know that there is an awesome body of a 42 year old in there just waiting to make an appearance. LOL I want to live longer and while I am here Id like to be stronger. Stronger physically with my body and stronger mentally with my confidence in my body.

I have never been a girl who wears her bathing suit out to the beach. I had to study on if I wanted to post an actual photo of my body here. I asked my husband if he thought it was okay. He said, "Sure, I guess there won't be anymore than normal guys hitting on ya" He thinks I am beautiful already. (husbands usually do) I think I have a two photos over my lifetime where I am in a full on bathing suit. One of those is posted here on my blog. Over the next year I am going to post one every couple weeks to this gallery.....No matter how bad it gets !!! LOL

My cousin Christy is supposed to be on this journey with me and I am so calling her out now by saying...I told you I would post my photo because I am to bullheaded to say I am going to do it and then not if everyone is watching to see if I do :)

I am a 23 year olds Mom and a 6 year olds mom. I am busy. I work hard at most everything I do and I tend to go overboard on anything new that I am loving. I have an addictive personality and I know it. I know that I can do this but I must admit that knowing that others are waiting to see me fail has always been a source of motivation in my life. So the story of my doctor that follows is why I am on this crazy mission to have ABS ! Yes, Real life abs ! I am bound and determined to have them in 2012 :)

Working the first day with April seemed like a piece of cake while I was doing it but this morning when I woke up I realized that it was a very very hard. It was an amazing workout. My hips butt and thighs feel tired but nothing like my midsection. My abs are so sore I don't know how I will do more tomorrow.

I wanted a separate spot where I can keep the progress up of my "get fit" plan over the next 8 weeks -6 months -6 years :) So I figured a blog post was certainly in order. Most of my life has been an open book on this blog and I felt like this was something that others could relate to and maybe even be encouraged by.

The inspiration for the need to get the new abs is simple. I got a call from a Doctor about two months ago asking if I was interested in free "work" done on my body. It was for a test he needed to take to complete his training to start doing the procedures locally. He is an awesome Doctor. I love him to death. I was so excited. Id take off to Florida and have this form of sculpting lypo and Id have these abs built into me. My butt would be lifted back to its youthful position. It was wonderful sounding. I had to jump a flight and be there the next day due to scheduling. It was to be thousands and thousands of dollars if I had to pay for it. I felt like Id hit the lottery.

I jumped the flight down the next day and was so very excited to have this chance to do the reconstruction. I woke up at 3 am with that voice. You know the one. The DONT DO THIS voice. I called home and explained my fears to Mike and he and Mikey jumped a plane and we made a holiday out of the rest of the trip and spent a week in Key West.

Why didn't I do it ?

I didn't do it because there are no fast fixes that last forever. I got scared. What if I walked out of there looking amazing ! But then in 6 months of living the same lifestyle and eating the same way I always have what would it look like ? What about when I am older ? What about when I would gain 10 pounds ? What are the long term effects from such a thing ? I chickened out !!!

The Doctor looked my body over and basically said that I couldn't do it myself or I would have already. LOL Ahhhh, A challenge :)

That was the breaking point. The point where I said, No...the Hackney in me said, "OH YES I CAN !!!" And the journey began. I hired an amazing personal trainer who has the body of some unreal alien chick ! LOL (seriously you should check out her body and the amazing determination that she has in life) I am so very inspired by her !!!

I have only gone for two workout sessions and I feel so inspired to become a more healthy version of me.

I now not only want to workout but I want to learn to eat properly and as she said to me "Fuel my life" Not just feed my face.

I have never been more sore in all of my life. Seriously, I had two kids by C-Section and had a hysterectomy and I was not as sore as I have been the past two days. It is WONDERFUL !!! I feel better today and I am sure that next Monday when I start my three day workout week with her I am going to feel like death again. LOL

I know that I owe her a huge thank you because I don't think that without her and her inspirational story of transformation of her own body and the balance that she has in her life that shines through so clearly when you are around her that I would do it. I know that I wouldn't begin to know how to make this change in my body without her !

Today I ate Oatmeal. Something Id never do. But I did it because she said that was the way to go. She is starting a new class in January for how to not diet but "Change your Lifestyle" and I am excited to go and learn more.

Mostly I can't wait to walk into my Doctors office and take my clothes off and say...

Don't ever tell me that I can't do something !!!! I am a Hackney :)

So....Let the story begin..........

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.comhttp://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisdenhttp://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisdenhttp://www.flickr.com/wendybaisdenhttp://www.youtube.com/wendybaisdenhttp://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.htmlwww.thelinkoushouse.comwww.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisdenwww.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

My Sons Wedding Day

2011-06-04T13:41:00.000-04:00

Today I am filled with Pride. It is the day that My Baby Boy will become a Husband. Eighteen words into the thought and my face is covered in tears.

The day that he was born my life changed. I have so many regrets and I look at his precious face today and I see nearly a mirror image of myself. He is MY SON. MY BABY BOY. He is MY HEART. I am forever addicted to him.

I was 18 and pregnant with him. I was married to a man at the time that I loved more than I have ever loved anything.

I will never forget the moment that my water broke. He was born on Jan 13th 1989 at about ten in the morning. I had gone in labor the night before and had not taken anything for pain because I was stubborn. I wanted so bad to see his body come from me and draw in the first breath of air and at the time as the child that I was I thought that I could watch every breath after.

(aaron & gary at my brother's wedding)

I had 21 hours of labor. I refused to take so much as a tylenol. I will never forget those hours. I will never forget Gary and his care during that time. It seemed to me looking back that there was no one there but us. He changed my bed. He held my hand and WE, the both of us, somehow magically made our way thru the night together. The Dr walked into the room and said, He is breach. We will do a C-Section. My heart sank and I knew that I was going to miss the moment his life would begin.

Later when I was still drugged, Gary laid my boy upon me and he took photos of him in my arms. I cherish those photos.

My life has not turned out how I thought that it would that day. His daddy and I divorced 17 years later. I will go to my grave with a respect and love for him because he is half of my baby boy. He is Half of what Aaron is. That deserves, No, It demands respect.

(me pregnant with aaron and with mikey)

I say to myself some days "what if" and the question has no answer. It only begs another question.

I find myself setting here looking at the few photos that I managed to snag last night at practice for the wedding and I realize that this man that is standing before me has grown up OVER NIGHT ! It was yesterday when they laid him in my arms. Where did the time go ?

The little girl that he will marry today is so very young. I love her. I love that when I look across the room at her she looks at him the way I looked him the first time they laid him in my arms. I see that look and it makes me so happy.

I know that they are young. I know that life doesnt always end up like we want it too. I know that life is hard and we make mistakes and we wake up one day and look back and have regrets. I want to as his mother be able to spare him any of those lessons but I know that I cant. He must have his own life and he must enjoy and even have regret.

I watched Mikey last night running crazy and talking when he should have been still. I was upset with him. Im sure that today at the wedding he will do the same. I kept trying to stop him and say, "Mikey today is about bubby. Please you have to behave today." Crying on my way home in the jeep I kept thinking to myself that I will blink and it will be the day that Mikey is standing there with his wife. Life is so fast.

I know that I will cry today. Wait, I already am. LOL I know that I will steal away moments in my heart that I will record in my memory that I will never forget. And on days when I feel like I have failed I will drag those memories out in my mind and I will savor them.

My gift for her was meant to be a scrapbook of pages that over his life I have done. It is one of the hardest things for me to part with my photos. I find that my memory is not what it once was. I need those photos to look at on days and nights when I cant bring it up in my brain as clear as I want. I can hold them in my hands and relive the moments.

I pray today that God will swallow the two of them up in his love and guide them to never make the mistakes that I have made. I pray that one day they lay my grandchild in my arms and I have a chance to spoil it with my love. I pray that I can be to their child a better grandmother than I ever was mother to Aaron. I pray that he knows that I would lay down right now and have them draw the blood from my body and give it to him to save him if only for a day.

I pray that at some point during the day he looks across the room and he sees me there and he knows that I, his mother, LOVE him more than I am capable of telling him.

I love you Jacob Aaron. I love you ! I love you forever ! You will always be MY baby boy !

Happy "Day in The grave" day :)

2011-04-23T10:41:00.001-04:00

What did Christ carry with him before the throne of God that you no longer have to carry? Its nice that we dont have to remember. Its nice that even Jesus forgets the sins he died for.

As people we sometimes manage to forgive those who hurt us. But we always remember those sins. We know "well, I forgave him/her for this or that" But with Jesus, His forgiveness is amazing to me in that he NEVER throws back up to us our sin. Once he gives forgiveness He erases it as though it did not happen.

This is an overwhelming concept to me as a human & Sinner. How can this be ? One of the hardest things for me is the undersanding of Gods ability to Forgive me. I still remember what I did. I still know I am no good. I still am reminded of my sin. If no one else remembers, and they usually do, then I remember them myself and find it hard to forgive them or forget them. This is where Faith is such an important thing, I know.

I was ever aware yesterday that it was the day Jesus climbed up on the cross to die for my sins. All day I remembered. And tomorrow I am aware so much that the greatest thing in history took place! He got up from death victorious over death , hell and the grave !

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory."
“Where, O death, is your victory?
"Where, O death, is your sting?”
"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Every year I think of today. What happened today. The time between his death and his reserection. Its the part that we think little of. This day ? The day between his amazing sacrifice and his almost unbelievable Reserrection ! I need to know more about the day in the middle....The grave day :(

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”

Peter says He went back and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed God. So many have thoughts on what this means. Some believe simply that He preached victory to the fallen angels who had been bound years before and some fuss that it means that some people were given a second chance at salvation. Its the part about the second chance that always grabs me.

I think to myself that God is powerful and has wrath in store for those who do not serve Him greater than any rage that we as mankind can understand. Wrath that I hope to avoid. But it is so like me, like us, to care if God in His wisdom would offer a "second chance" to others. How many times have I sinned against God ? How many times Have you ? I am eternally grateful that God does not remember, Or atleast that He is not keeping count.

If, He gave a second chance to some bound group of individuals from the past while He was "in the grave" it would only be further proof to me that He is the amazing, awesome, powerful, forgiving, worthy, God that I imagine Him to be.
I am not sure what the events of "this day" totally were. But I do know that the day in the middle, the grave day, had a purpose as great as the day He died and the day He was risen.

I will add this question to my list of questions that someday, I beg, I pray, I hope to get to ask a, MY, Risen Savior.

Happy "Day in the grave" day :)

I will Never be ready to lose my Daddy !

2011-04-05T22:11:00.002-04:00

Tonight I am thinking of my daddy. I know that many times before I have said how much that this man means to me. But I need to say to him, to the universe, even to God exactly how important he is in my life.

I plead with God for his life. Please keep him safe. Please do not take him yet. Please let me have another day with him.

There are always relationships in your life where you look back and say "I wish" I say, "I wish I had not hurt my son Aaron & his father by leaving them". I say, "I wish I had been closer to my mama Alley".

I know that we all feel regrets in our lives in relationships.

But on the worst day with my daddy. The days where we stood toe to toe and told each other in no uncertain terms how mad we were at each other. The days when I wanted to just smack him and he wanted to smack me. Even on those days, I have NO REGRETS. I know that Someday later, much later, many many, many, many, many years from now when I lose him, I wont regret my life as his daughter.

I know that at times when he is afraid and at times when he has a moment of weakness or pain or when he does not know what to do that I am who he will call. I am forever his girl. Forever my wonderful daddys baby girl. Nothing or no time or no distance or no single thing will or can ever change that when I stand beside him I am a child. I am his daughter. John Hackney's girl.

I hear the words as I type them and I can only hope that in my lifetime someone loves me the way that I love my daddy.

John Hackney is the most stubborn, most hard headed, most determined, most driven, most obtuse man that I have ever known. You can not tell him anything. He wont listen. LOL

He served in the Army during Vietnam and that service made me the proud American that I am today. I once stood at the Vietnam Veterans Wall and sobbed for those gone but praise God for my daddys life being saved so that I could have him.
During the time in the Army dad had hemorrhagic fever and at the time you just didnt live thru that. He was in a coma for over 100 days. Other than that, I dont know of many times in my life where dad had more than a cold. He has had a few accidents but to be sick, in my 41 years this was the first time that he said, I am sick and I need to go to the Hospital. It was somewhat of a shock to me.

I am so proud of him for that service. He gets up every day and he tends to his mother who has been ill for several years now and he scoops her up and does things for her that No Son should be asked to do. But he does them. In the room with him tonight when the doctor came in I stepped out for his exam and I couldnt help but to think that he has been so good to take on his mom and her care. If he were a daughter Id understand it better. But for a Son, A boy, it amazes me to see him nurse her. He is as tender hearted and loving as a man could ever be and so dang tough and Obstinate and Stubborn at the same time !

He is 64 years old and for as long as I live in my mind he will be 47. I close my eyes and I see his physical appearance and it is of a man that is only 6 years older than I am today. I am not ready for him to be 64. I am not prepared for him to grow old.

I know that I am not special. I know that I have pain and heartache in my life like others will but I just can not consider losing him.

Setting in Starters with Mikey & Mike and the cell phone rang. The some odd 20 miles between me & the voice of my tearful daddy seemed to be 100 miles instead. It took me only 8 minutes to drive that 20 miles to get to him and wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze him so hard. I RAN from the building leaving Mikey & Mike set with no way home but to walk ! I know it sounds horrible but I just lept from my chair and forgot to even say to them anything. As I ran crying down the street in Williamson to my car I grabbed my telephone and called back to Mike to say, Im sorry, I have to go, My daddy needs me !!!

(dont worry they both know I love them but a daddys girl is always a daddys girl)

He is okay. He is okay. The trip from the head of pond creek to the Pikeville Methodist Hospital was one where I came to the realiziation that things have changed for me and my daddy.

Every moment that I have lived I tilted my head back and looked up at him standing there and I felt a sense of joy at the sight of him. A sense of honor to say, Im John Hackneys kid. He is the smartest man I have ever known. He is why I am and Tatar & Dee are such hard workers. He is why we are so determined.

But tonight driving like a "bat out of hell" as the expression goes toward "home" to "my daddys house" to get to him it hit me that I will NEVER be ready for him to be gone.

All of my life I felt safe in his arms. If I had pain he was there. If I had joy he shared it. If I had a need he met it. The joy is in that I know that as he grows old I will get to be the safe place for him. I will feel his pain with him. I will share his life and if he has a need I pray that
I will be there to meet it.

I will never be ready to lose him !!!

In Search of Elk Antlers

2011-03-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

The day began like any other. (fussing over this and that) We finished up with our normal morning of Bed & Breakfast tasks and determined that we must go in search of, No, Not a geocache, but Elk Antlers !

Now mind you that at several points during the day I thought to myself that it was crazy to be out going thru all that we did just to find Elk Antlers ! But I kept telling myself that for over 4 months and alot of miles across the country Mike has been patient while I was searching for geocaches and I tried to pretend to be excited.

Only moments from the house my little jeep began to steam up and smoke from under the hood. Yesterday the huge pot hole there as you leave CVS pharmacy was more than it could take. What was probably a crack in the radiator before this moment was now a full on hole ! The little cachemobile was down. (Mikey & I inside calling for help) Repairs were made by Mike, the trusty husband who is not exactly what I would call "handy". One of the most intelligent men I have ever met. THE worlds greatest father. A fantastic salesman. A brilliant thinker. But "Handy" he just aint !!! lol

So with my looming reservations about repairs that he made himself already as the day began I made my usual nags. He insisted and within 5 miles of the house, The smoke came pouring out from under the hood. Pouring almost like the rain that was falling from the sky !!! The rain that I didnt want to be walking home in !!!

The fussing began about there. Lets turn back. Why must we continue I pleaded my side of the fight !

Out of the jeep standing in the rain, He scratched his head, looking at the steam coming from beneath the hood. He looked almost as if he understood something, anything, about what made the engine run ! Only again, "Handy" he is NOT !!!

We had a fresh jug of radiator fluid that we put inside. The second jug that day. Why could this be happening ? If only we had a "real repairman" I fussed.

With my arms crossed and his stubborn determination now driving us we continued on into the distance. (I was very certain at this point that it was going to be an unpleasant day)

Mikey is now upset because the Ipad has lost its charge and we have driven long into Martin County on roads that were so wet and muddy that a four wheel drive jeep was buried up to its door panels in mud. Not only now are we once again sitting in a cloud of smoke from under the hood but we are MILES and MILES from anyone, the rain is pouring and we are stuck in a ditch of mud that he just slid us into !

Okay, first things first, We managed to work our way out of the ditchline and get ourselves turned around and heading in the right direction. We pulled over, raised the hood, let the rain fall on the engine to cool it down because now we are overheating. Standing there, with our heads wet and with mud up to the back of my knees, complaining about how "I TOLD YOU" we should have turned around !

Now at this point I have to tell you that my frustration didnt come from his lack of knowledge about how to repair the jeep. My frustration came from his inability to admit that he didnt know how to fix the jeep ! LOL

We again filled the radiator and he continued to drive further into the No Cell Service, No People, No Help Zone that we were in. 20 More miles and at the top of a mountain, we got out again to inspect the radiator and why it was loosing so much steam and overheating the jeep when we realized that he had not put the cap back on it when filling it with fluids !!! Ya know, Mr "Handy" had forgot to tighten the cap :) I just crossed my arms. I said calmly to him. "I dont mind the mistake. But what I mind is your inability to admit that you are not "Handy" !!! LOL

Now on the road with the radiator doing its job (atleast for the moment) we continued to search up hollers for elk. In a holler, Up a side road, back out, up another road, to this coal mine, then out and down another road, for hours. For 8 hours we searched for Elk.

And finally I reached over and said, STOP THE JEEP !!!!

There standing no more than a hundred yards away in the field off to the right was the most beautiful, the most proud, the largest dang beast of an animal. Easy, be very still and enjoy ! We did it. We found a herd of the most beautiful Elk.

He said to me, I will go around this ridge line and I will walk and move them up the ridge so you can see them. Now excited myself at the thought, Mikey standing in the seat looking out the "porthole" window we waited as he walked thru the field behind the massive herd of 13 Elk. None of them with antlers atop their heads. This is a good sign I thought to myself as he walked.

And then he did it. He bent over and off from two hundred foot away he smiled. I saw his body change. I saw the joy take over him. I saw him shrug his shoulders and come up with the most beautiful set of Elk antlers in his hands !

Excitement filled me as I jumped out and went toward him with the camera in hand. Most people live their whole lives and never walk in a field behind a herd of wild animals larger than my jeep. Most people are lucky to ever run into them and most people are certainly never going to bend down and pick up a freshly shed Elk antler. I was so proud of him. He got into the car and I insisted that he go look one more time incase there were more closeby so we would have an extra one to gift to Pastor Chuck. No luck but we tried. The three of us now searching in the pouring rain for just one more antler !!!! lol

In the jeep now heading off the mountain I was going on and on about how proud I am of his find. Oh my Goodness I cant believe you found them. Most people will never ever find a set of Elk Antlers in the wild. I was bragging on him and praising him and felt such joy over his find. He was proud of himself and the jeep was running smoothly and we were smiling and laughing and enjoying our day. We even managed to find two geocaches while making our way back out. (always a good thing)

He said to me, Did you see how fast we went from fussing to praise. You never know what the day is going to be he said. We were driving and along side the road at that moment was a huge, bigger than Mikey, Blue teddy bear covered with flowers and crosses in a memorial made there by the road where someone had lost their lives in a car wreck.

I couldnt help but say, That person thought that they were going home. They thought that they were gonna live forever. Atleast they thought they were going further than the curve along side the highway.

Our days never seem to turn out like we think they will. Some days we fuss and some days we say things we dont really mean to say. Somedays we search for Elk Antlers and somedays we search for geocaches.

But today we learnt that sometimes you think you are going after one thing and you find another. I thought we might find antlers but it never crossed my mind until pulling in the driveway tonight that what we really found was a place where we agree. What we really found was a fun adventure. I have said many times to my friend Kelly that I would rather die out on an adventure than die sleeping in my bed.

What a wonderful day of fussing and breaking down and antler finding we had :)

Alone with God

2011-03-03T15:45:00.001-05:00

Setting here on a high mountain. Alone. Thats what i thought I was until moments ago when i realized the alone was so thick that it became so silent that i could hear that actually God was near to me.

The mountain is still. Only the sound of distant cars and a single bird singing Gods praises beside me.

I cant help but set here in the silence and reflect upon the past few days and how hard they have been. I cant help but to think of the lonliness of the world without others in it.

To feel loved or to know the touch of anothers hand is such a wonderful thing.

But there are moments in life like these. Here alone and still sitting on a rock atop a high mountain overlooking Gods creation when i am thankful and joyous and like the little bird next to me i feel a need to sing out praise to God.

I dont think i am going to find the geocache i came in search of. But its ok. When i left home this morning i was searching for something and at this moment with the wind blowing gently against my face and a sense of peace about me i realize that i missed the cache but i found what i was looking for.

Im gonna climb down now. Smiling even without my smiley.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:On a rock on top a mountain

I love my brothers :)

2011-03-01T22:47:00.000-05:00

Tonight I dont have alot to say about alot of things but I do feel the need to just say to the universe how much I love my brothers. I sat in the services tonight for my little cousin David Oliver and I was moved again by how many people were there to show sympathy for the Oliver & Alley Family's.

(little Dee in Kindergarten)

Davids life was short. It's not fair. It is unacceptable and not understandable at all to me how he can be gone. I do not know why or how this can be. My lists of questions about how God has allowed this to happen is so long. I trust God. I accept God's Will but I am not able to say that I understand it. I dont understand it. I look at my cousins who have lost their brother and my heart wants to bust open with tears.

(My beautiful Cousin David and his baby girl)

(Tatar, Dee & Wendy)

I am so proud of my family. I looked at my cousin Kim and I was moved by how grown up she is and how beautiful a person she has become. I see my uncle Robert and my Aunt Pam and I feel a safety in just knowing they are there. They have always been there.

(The Oliver & Alley crew 2010)

I see all my Aunts and Uncles and their children and grandchildren and I am amazed at how many of us there are. I see the children of children of children all from my Grandma and Grandpa Alley and I miss them. I remember my mama and her fishing with us as kids and Phyllis & Dale and the kids and me and my brothers and mom and dad all playing on the creek bank at their feet. I find comfort in those memories. We go long periods without being together in a room but there is such a peace about moments of sorrow or joy and having all of us be there as a family.

I have made my mind up that I am going to get My Family, Tatar's Family, Dee's Family and we are going to do Photos of us all together. We must must must do a photo of all of us together while we are all here. I need to have that.

(My Tatar Bug)

I watched my Uncle Dale hold his boys and scoop up his grandbabies and watched his brothers and sisters rally to his side for strength at moments when he broke down and I was filled, overflowing, with love for him. I love to watch him with my brother Tatar and see their bond for one another. I love to hug my Uncle Dale and feel his strength and the power of his love for me even at moments when I am supposed to be helping him, he comforts me.

(Christy,Uncle Dale, Me, Uncle Robert & Austin at our last family gathering)

All I could think thru the whole night was how blessed that I am. All that I could think was how my skin aches at the mear thought of loosing my Tatar or my Dee. I have two brothers and I love them and am filled with pride over them and I know they are both very sick of hearing me say, "I love you" the past two days but every time I looked at them I had to say it. I just wanted to tackle them like when we were kids and set on them and say, pay attention to me, I want you to know this, Please do not ever forget this,

I LOVE YOU !!!!

(Wendy, Tatar, Dee)

I ache for Dale Lee, I ache for Danny, I ache for Missy, I ache for Libby, I ache for those babies who lost their beautiful daddy.

Missy said to me, "Wendy, promise me to tell Tatar and Dee you love them while you have them " and I know that both of them must have thought I lost it tonight when I just felt myself saying over and over to them, I love you. I love you. I love you Tatar. I love you Dee.

I dread tomorrow. Did I say that I love Tatar and Dee? Did I say I am proud of my brothers and their families ?

(Dee, Me & Tatar)

Did I say that I love them ?

The Anna Rose Room

2011-02-16T18:33:00.001-05:00

The Anna Rose Wellman Room

Named after Anna Rose who was Michael J's Mother. This room now has a full size bed and a twin size bed in it to allow for extra guests or those needing a room with two beds.

The rooms decor is Mauve and White and is filled with country quilts and all the comforts of being at your grandmas house. The rooms windows open to Harvey Street and from the corner window you can see the geographical center of the city of Williamson which is marked by a concrete pillar on the corner of Fifth and Harvey Streets.

The bathroom has a tub with shower.

Hardwood floors from 1896 and just enough throw rugs to cushion the foot.

Spotless clean with all the amenities of a hotel without the bother of staying in a hotel.

You will find a comfy chair to set and read a book of your own or one from the library where you will find several thousand choices or take a seat at the desk and prepare for your meeting with high speed wireless internet so that you can stay connected while on your travels.

Every room comes with free breakfast served daily between the hours of 7:45-8:45

Free Long Distance in the United States and Television in Room.

You have access to the 2nd floor sitting area where ice, sodas, water, chips, and other items may be found as well as an assortment of small appliance needs such as a microwave, popcorn machine and refridgerator.

At the end of the hall on the second floor is a laundry room for those emergency clothes washing events that happen when we travel and an iron board and iron for those of you who are on business.

Your comfort is our Primary Concern. So please come see us soon :)

Pappers Room

2011-02-16T18:03:00.002-05:00

Pappers Room

Named after the first guest we had the weekend we opened for business, James "papper" Lawrence, quickly became family. This room is the room that either of us would slip away to if we wanted to find a quiet spot to hide from the world.

Pappers Room has a stand up walk in shower (no tub) which makes it easy entry for anyone with a need to not step over into a tub.

The rooms decor is Blue and Yellow and is filled with country quilts and all the comforts of being at your grandmas house.

Hardwood floors from 1896 and just enough throw rugs to cushion the foot.

Spotless clean with all the amenities of a hotel without the bother of staying in a hotel.

You will find a nice wing back chair to set and read a book of your own or one from the library where you will find several thousand choices or take a seat at the desk and prepare for your meeting with high speed wireless internet so that you can stay connected while on your travels.

Every room comes with free breakfast served daily between the hours of 7:45-8:45

Free Long Distance in the United States and Television in Room.

At the end of the hall on the second floor is a laundry room for those emergency clothes washing events that happen when we travel and an iron board and iron for those of you who are on business.

Your comfort is our Primary Concern. So please come see us soon :)

Jim "Papper" has been back to visit us and stay on many occasions since we opened and has became the point of reference for us on Why it is we own a bed & breakfast. We Love you Papper ;)

A day in my life :) A good day

2011-01-23T00:10:00.002-05:00

I dont know where to begin. I woke up and I knew that it was going to be a great day. Most of us dont have days where its just all about "me" But today was that day for me. It was about my 1000 geocaching finds, even though I worked so super hard trying but couldnt get there just yet to make it to 2000 !

I dont know when I was happier than today in such a very long time.

I set out to find a cache that would make the day something I would never forget. Something special. I looked at doing the SBCP cache since it was him who got me "hooked" on this silly thing that I am so in love with but as I was driving that way, it hit me, the day would be perfect if only I could find that crazy cache that I had searched for at the top of the Moses Case turnoff at Sidney. Could I climb up that one again and with the ice and the snow against me on this run actually FIND the dang thing. So my jeep pulled off to the side of the road I took a large breath and sat out on the journey.

I found the climb this time to be much easier. I wasnt looking at the gps this time but just carefully making my way back to the spot where I knew it just had to be.

(Me & Mr Blue&Gray today)

I made it up to the top in no time it felt. I could hear myself outloud talking to Mr Blue&Gray. I was saying all sorts of things to him on this trip. I started to be angry with him before ever I got to the top ! Knowing in my heart that I was just NOT GOING TO FIND it ! But I wanted to try so here we are at the top, again.

I spent about an hour and a half at the top before I did the usual "phone a friend" and send out requests by email and text to every cacher I know who might be able to tell me just the size of the container that I was searching for ?!!! Is this another one of Mr Blue&Grays standard, tiny little micro hides ? Is there an ammo can up here that I am looking directly at and just cant see because I am too excited ?

The reply came from Jumpin Jack first, I dont know the size of the container he said ! Oh no !!!

Then SBCP came through. Breath he said. Just stop and think. You are there and you are too excited to find it. Slow down and use your "geosense" he said. I was setting on a large rock at the moment and I hung the phone up and said....Well I said some things to You know who....lol...that I cant repeat here...Then I looked all around me. Where is this thing. How can it be "that" size and me missing it ? UGH

I got up and walked to the center of the gap and let my gps think. Then I did what Spongebob had said. I took a breath and went to the direction that the gps said and then put it into my pocket and just started to look, search, frisk the area ! I can hear myself and wish only that someone else was there to have heard me, When I screamed in excitement at the sight of this container ! HA!!!!! MR BLUE&GRAY !

I hope that I never forget the smile that I felt across my face as I made the little happy walk out of the gap ! I called my geo friend, Brady, and shared the moment with him. I AM HERE and I DID IT ! lol

I called my husband and son and said Drive right now to Sidney and take a photo of me standing on top of this mountain ! Which he did but turns out he doesnt know how to work the camera so my pics from the top of the gap will have to do ! hehe

I left inside on of my pathtags and I took a toy girl figure which I thought was perfect for my geocaching junk jar so that everytime I pass it I will remember the day and how happy I felt in the success of the find.

Then we went to the 1k party being held for me in Pikeville at the Gattiland cache, that started my whole addiction to geocaching.

I will never forget that sciencecacher made the long journey down to spend a day with me. I just love you "Steve Briarpatch the Marshall Man" You are one of those "guests" for the B&B that make owning a B&B so very worth the trouble :) lol

Puddle Jumper it was so nice to meet you and I look forward to many many more events with you in the future.

Jumpin' Jack, I cant put to words how sweet you are. You act all tough but I already know you are a teddy bear. And I dont care what the guys tease ya and say,I know you are just a sweetie :)

Mtmanva2, It was fun to cache a minute or so with ya and I so enjoyed all your tales from the trails. I hope to find every single cache that you have out there just one at a time,I am tired of the push now I want to just cache and enjoy it. I will be searching for yours and enjoying them along the way.

Ky3, Wildcat Angel, CatAngel, I have enjoyed caching with you and meeting your family. Thanks so much for making the journey to the event and for all the fun :)

Wizard Austin and Granddad Brian thanks for coming on the trip with my buddy Steve :) It was so nice to meet you both and I hope that in the future we can do some real caching :) It seems a bit odd that I took you to two caches today and both were of all peoples.Blue&Grays ! lol One find out of two is okay I guess ! I am thankful now that someone besides me is gonna be able to say that there just was nothing under there !!! lol hehe

Chef, You may be the biggest teddy bear of them all. I love love love my pathtag. It is my very favorite pathtag so far ! It is adoreable, Just like you. "the lady" will ride with you anytime :)

DMFlyer, it is wonderful to finally meet you and I must say that I am totally impressed ! You are somewhat of a geo-king and I have signed alot of logs in crazy little spots and seen your name many times and I am so very thankful to finally meet you in person and say I know the man !

Kelfay97 &Vollyballgirl#1, You both know that I love you. Kelfay97, My life without you in it....well....I hope I never ever know what my life is like without my bestest buddy ever :) I love you girlie !

Innkeepermichaelj, thank you ! Thank you for being the cachers husband. The guy who just gets stuck jumping on airplanes and flying off to far away lands to cache even though you really do not enjoy it :) (he says he does but he realllly doesnt, he is just going along with me as usual)

littlemikey2, I am sorry that mommy has been so crazy this past three months. LOL I hope that I have given you a lifetime geocaching hobby. I hope that (once mommy gets all the logs in) You enjoy your brag at school that you are ranked in the top 40 geocachers in the state of WV :) Mommy loves you !!!!!!!!

Mr. Blue&Gray, I seen you from afar today and I knew that you were sorta kinda thinking...is she going to hug me or hang me ! I told you today and I will say it again.....I have shared every find with you. I think of you,I curse you, I bless you, I talk to you like a crazy person when you cant hear a word that I am saying, I say prayers for you even if they are sometimes not nice but I repented all of those today when standing at the top of the gap #4 and holding that crazy cache in my hand, giggling like a silly fool without another person around, screaming to the top of my lungs......HA ! TAKE THAT MR BLUE&GRAY !!! LOL You keep hiding them, please, and I promise to keep searching for them. Of coarse you dont really even need to hide anymore because I may never find the ones you have out there already ! hehe My family was happy to meet you. Your name is spoken in this house pretty much on a daily basis. They were glad to put a face with the name.

And Finally, To SBCP, I cant think of what to say to you....how do I tell you what I want you to know ? YOU are the reason that this madness has came into my life. YOU are the reason that I cant stop ! YOU & That Gattiland cache made my life crazy ! It was appropriate that we held the event there at that cache ! I just love you for bringing this into my life :) Logs are fun with you. Going out in search of the next cache is fun because of you. You have inspired me in so many ways that I cant put here in words. I remember thinking....SBCP is a geocaching GOD ! ( I have since met Brady who has 21,000 finds and now I know that you are just a "menion" as Mikey would say) But to me, I will ALWAYS tell the story of how I found that silly string (which Kandis dropped down into the pipe, oops) (needs repairs) on the Gattiland cache and how I walked away from there knowing that My life was never going to be the same. I would always be looking for another one of those moments of joy that I found right then when I pulled it up out of its hidin' spot and went....Gosh he is clever ! You have become my "wing" man when I cant find them and I appologize for the many "phone a friend" moments that I have had with you at you know who's caches ! lol You make me wish I were a boy ! Then I could just jump in the car and go caching with ya and no one would think it was not okay ! hehe Thank you is all that I can think to say ! Just thank you :)

To everyone....just thank you for the wonderful day and for how tired I feel right now. The feeling of a task complete. The feeling of happiness.

Life last year was horrible. Some of you were there for that. This feeling of joy is not a feeling that I remember having many times over the past year and I must admit....I like it :)

I later cached with my new found friends and the ones that have been with me for a while. I even searched for a Mr Blue&Gray cache that I couldnt find ! LOL

I will lay my head on my pillow tonight and feel joy and happiness. I like it.

A little thank you to the Big Sandy Area Geocachers :)

2011-01-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, (The Members of the Big Sandy Area Geocachers Club)

I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, I mean to tell you ALL that I have cried, like the girl that I am over the event page in my honor for my 1000th find. I was logging in some finds from today just now and using the map to retrace my tracks when over there out the corner of my eye I saw a new event and clicked on it to find what you have done ! I know who you are and I will promptly wrap my arms around you (both) and hug your necks when I do attend this event on the 22nd. Each of the boys that I have had the honor to meet have touched me in different ways.

I have said more than once in the past couple of months since starting this caching thing that I have a love/hate relationship with each of you. Some of your caches (Spongebob's Gattiland cache and Blue&Gray's Stupid Gap #4) are the reason that I can NOT focus and can NOT stop searching for the next one !

(I have a good little record going now with police muggle stops)

On days like today when I went in search of "respect your elders, by SBCP" I am literally moved with excitement and as I said to Spongebob, Filled with respect for "my elder cachers" This cache to me was so cleverly done and the moment I discovered it I felt a little tingle of excitement and a smile came over me that I couldnt stop. The same smile that I had the day I fished out Gattiland and the day that I climbed to the top of the Moses Case cut through with the Blue&Gray.

(lights out where I discovered my need for a jeep)

(my family enjoying the hunt for the Gattiland cache)

(flat stanley)

The kindness of each of the men that make up this club has overwhelmed me today. Pikeville Cacher, Cachemaster Yoda have been very kind and Its been an honor to play this game with you. And of coarse Ky Trio who helped me to hurry late the night before the run to Nevada to gather up the needed info to plan the trip. I didnt even know how to do a Pocket Quiery for heaven sakes without him or how to cache along a route. Thanks Mike.

(the boots)

Some of your caches I have yet to stumble upon (jumpin'jack) but I am excited to reach and know that I WILL get to them. Then there is ones like Mr Blue&Gray...sweet Mr Blue&Gray...lol...who hides caches that I know were hidden long ago without me even in his mind when he hid them but when I am on the hunt for them its almost as though we are on a date. (lol) I spend the entire time searching and usually not finding them and thinking about him and what moved him to be so rotten !

(the Alien Highway)

I Go looking for Chef's and I think of him and how sweet he was the first moment I met him and he said..."Boys you can jump in the back of the truck and the lady can ride up here with me" (hehe)

I have had conversations with each of you in person, over facebook, on the phone and in my head (sometimes even out loud) while on the side of rock cliffs and in pipes with rats chasing me and I am always thankful for the moment that I fished out that Gattiland cache and became "hooked" to this sport.

Thank you boys for this little honor. I told SBCP the day that I met him that I would for sure someday set across the table from him and say that I was just one ahead of him and I swear to you all I wont stop til I am !!!!! LOL Then I heard mention of the ammo can and I must confess the SBCP personal coin promised me at 1000 caches and within hours I was on a plane to Nevada ! Patience is not a virtue that most of us girls have and once I knew it was there I had no choice but to have it for my very own ! My husband offered to purchase one immediately for me in order to avoid the flight and expense and wear and tear on his back needed to accomplish the task of gathering the alien highway series but that was not going to do ! I needed the Big Sandy Area Geocachers Golden Ammo Can and once it is mine I am not sure what I will do with it but I assure you that I will ALWAYS have it and every time that I look at it I will think of the boys in the back of that truck the day I met you and I will smile

Geocaching has brought to my life more people than I can possibly mention here. Jumpin' Jack said to me on facebook yesterday that "its not about the numbers" and tonight I am clear that he is correct ! "It" is NOT about the numbers. "It" is about how I feel right now. "It" is about the Honor of the game and the pride in the find.

Tonight I am filled with Honor and Pride over my finding you all :)

(the alien, Curtis)

(me) *thinking to myself, Golden Ammo Can !!!!!

-Wendy

The Nevada Alien ET Series Trip :)

2010-12-27T13:28:00.006-05:00

I found out about this series of Geocaches in Nevada about a week ago. Hopped a flight from West Virginia and hit the trail on Christmas Day 2010.

(the journey across the country)

My husband and 5 year old were to be the drivers (and company) on what I thought would take me the rest of my life to complete. The day began and we soon figured out how to get into the groove. Getting close to the post for the jump out and learning what the caches would look like in advance of the jump soon became routine all to well known by all three of us.

Mike swung in and I opened the door and thru the right leg out on the ground and carrying in my hand the container with our names already signed and ink pen in mouth I ran for it and the most important part, bent over to pick it up, thats the part that makes my legs so super sore now....the bending over to pick it up....lol....then we/I jumped back into the rented cachemobile and took off to the next one signing the log for that one and replacing it into the container in the thirty some seconds you had before the .10 of a mile was up and you were already looking to locate the next cache. Occasionally getting behind in order to throw a banana or cookie into your mouth and swallow a drink of water. Sometimes the view around you would be so beautiful that you would have to just stop and soak it up for a moment before saying...Okay I must move on if I am to finish this !!!

At this point...I must confess that I am a new cacher with only 360 finds under my belt before attempting this run...there are quiet a few things I do not know..... So I am not totally up to date with how the gps works ! With that said, I'd tell you that I flew from WV without any of the ET Series Caches actually loaded into my gps !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *embarrassed

So finding the caches would be an additional degree of difficult. I didnt even have a gps now on a gps based game ! Geosense would be very important now. I could find other caches locally when in Rachel and Tonopah and Vegas with what was loaded onto my gps from before I left home but I didnt have any of the series I had came to get loaded inside. I didnt even have the heart to tell my husband that I had not brought the cache information along with us. When darkness fell it would be next to impossible to find them. Once we got a system together we figured out that we could press the button down on the jeep and reset the odometer at the cache we were on and go about .10 and start looking randomly until it was found. Luckily the snow had fallen and the rains had came the week before and it left tire marks in the dirt along side the road at most caches that we could use as a way to get more information on where they would be found.

The first day the weather was beautiful. We couldnt believe how much work that RXWRANGLERS (the guy who signed in before us )had put into replacing each and every container. The trail had been laid out for us the previous day perfectly. Thank you RXWRANGLERS. I would also like to say thank you to Marcipanek who left gas cans the week before with coordinates and it was a little fun to go in search of these once we were on the ground at the airport. We passed them on when we were done with them.

I/we were totally impressed with what Clay4 and whtwolfden had done with the this lonely stretch of desert highway. Some of the most amazing land that God had ever made. Way to go guys !!!! One of the greatest adventures of my life. I turned my spot tracking device on during the trip and you can see that we made our way from Vegas to Alamo and began our search. We searched thru number 515 and it was well after dark when we said it was time to give it up for the day.

The first day we began early, as early as we could get there from Vegas, around 10:03 am we picked up the first cache. We worked non stop thru the day eating only what we carried with us and between log signs. Our gas situation was great. Had no need to use any of the spare gas that we were carrying. Driving a four wheel drive jeep 4cyl. We ended the day around 7:30 atleast three hours into the dark at cache number 514. Headed on in to Tonopah. That took another hour and a half or so when driving a desert highway dodging cows !

I must confess that there were alot of interesting things along the way on the trail to keep us laughing and after a few hundred caches we had it going along smoothly except for a few times that we got messed up and had to do a u turn and fix mistakes.

We Spent the night in the hotel in Tonopah and there was no thought of snow when we went to sleep at the end of the long day. I had brought with me a muscle relaxer because I had been told that it was hard to walk after this pushing day....it was and I was soooo thankful to have it when I finally got out of the jeep to find that the hour plus drive on in to Tonopah was just long enough for my legs to realize what they had done that day ! The hotel wasnt horrible but it certainly was not what I would call Clean ! ooowie !

We Began the second day by waking up and looking out to see that the 6400 elevation in Tonopah had been covered in snow during the night. Defeated. I felt so Defeated. I cried. We came all this way. We ate and discussed our plans and my husband made the suggestion that we give it a try. We set out to drive the icy, snow covered highway very slowly to number 515 and start back in the direction of Tonopah again.... Thinking with the elevation change that we would get out of the snow at some point.

Soon into the journey we ran into what apeared to be tracks at the caches on the Tonopah end. We picked up Maybe twenty before we caught up with the cacher in front of us. We were so happy to see someone else caching and making tracks for us to follow. Especially since we were gps-less ! HeHe. The stranger in front of us was signing logs as "DM" and after a while we could not stand the suspense and skipped up two caches to catch and meet him. What a wonderfully nice man. We traded swag. Discovered each other. Talked some Geo=junk and got a plan and hit the series again working together. We worked with him thru cache number 515 going in the "cross the road path" backwards thru the series. This route is a little more difficult but it was working for us because we didnt know how far we would get in the snow.

Thank you "DM" for a fun filled day. I wont tell the story of our meeting the ET Alien....I will just say his name was Curtis and I dont think I like him !

I didnt want to post this part on the series as to avoid any trouble from the locals for future cachers but we were asked...no...told....about half the way in that we were destroying public property and that we were not allowed to be pulling off the higway and that we were not allowed to stop on the road. Curtis was a very unfriendly local who we believe is not a geocacher. We told Curtis that we had came from WV to do this series and spent loads of money and time in order to make the journey and that it was a very sad thing that in a stretch of highway where there were probably no more than 10 cars in two days (two of which were ours) that anyone would have a problem with our stopping along the right of way on the road. He told us that we would need a permit to continue...blah blah...in the end we did continue our journey without to much of a bother and some reasoning by "DM" who was far calmer in the situation than Mike & I were.

As we were standing at the final cache for our day and the completion of the series late that evening after dark another man drove by and stopped to see if we were okay. He was going to start the series the next day. (nice guy) We warned him about Curtis. I stole the log and container for the last one for me and drove up to the next one just to double check that it was where I had ended the journey the first day. Success !!!!!!! With the caches I picked up along the way and over the trip I had in my hand 1035 caches and would go home to WV with my goal of ranking someplace in top 100 in the state.
I can not express how much my family enjoyed this series. I think we made geocachers out of my husband and 5 year old who both signed the logs and now have a pretty good amount of caches to start their journeys as geocachers.

We thank everyone, the people who went before us, the men who set these out, even the alien Curtis, who I do NOT like, and to "DaMuggler" who made the second day much easier for us working as a team.

Gas situation the second day was that we put five gallons in from the tanks that we had picked up from Marcipanek and the coords that he left from his trip a few days ago on the logs. That took us on in to Rachel where we filled up and ate and made the trip back to Vegas. The other gas can was given to "DM" for his trip on in and the last one was left at the spot where we filled up our jeep so that the next person could run up on a tank of gas if needed.

There were lots of adventures along the way and I will put those in on the logs after we are back home from Vegas at the end of the week. Logging in three people for 1200 caches will not be nearly as fun as getting them ! ( I did drop three or four pathtags along the way for the next to find )

The photos are uploading sideways so I put pics up on my open viewing facebook profile so if you click this link you can see the pics even if you dont facebook and then I will put them on here when I get time to set down :) just click on the photos tab and the file for the Nevada trip.

While out there we did play a bit of the slot machines. I put in a total of 160.00 and brung home around 468 bucks that I won from that and played every night a few minutes on the original money spent.

Mikeys favorite part had to be the Circus Circus Spongebob adventure. We saw a 4-D movie there and he loved it but boy was it real. He cried at one spot in the movie because Spongebob wrecked the bike we were riding with him and a board came up and hit us in the face (lol) Scared him to death !!! hehe

We also took the time to drive out to see The Hoover Dam which I thought was super beautiful. The new bridge will take your breath away when you stand under it. It was amazing :)

(the trip back home)

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

The Nevada Alien ET Series Trip

2010-12-22T14:04:00.001-05:00

Okay today is Dec 22 and I am so excited.

We have booked the trip for tomorrow and are heading to the desert in Nevada for the Alien Series of 1000 geocaches in 100 miles.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=4df1b726-d993-45ff-915a-27c3ce5e9905

I have talked to so many cachers about this now since finding out what it was about three days ago and doing the impulse purchase of plane tickets and hotel, etc to make the journey out there.

Here is the deal as I know it now.

There is a stretch of highway outside of Las Vegas where two guys put 1000 geocaches along the road and placed them .10 miles away from each other. People travel from all over the world to do these caches. They are placed in the desert near the area where "area 51" is located. I mean...Not located. LOL

Your task is complicated by the fact that there are no gas stations. Routes must be chosen by how much distance you are from the next town and you absolutely must carry with you an extra 5 gal tank of gas for the last leg of the journey in order to make it back.

Thankfully we are making the trip in the dead middle of winter and not in the summer when you also have Rattlesnakes to deal with and scorpions !

You pull up to the first cache, jump out and find it, take the film canister with you and drop in the hide a pre-made log and canister which has your name already on it. You jump back into the car and in the 528 feet to the next one you have to open this one, sign your name on the log, close it, take a photo, slam on the breaks and jump out again to find the next one where you put the one you just signed and move on to repeat that for 100 miles and 1000 (plus an extra 20 or so for good measure) caches !

There are those who begin and do it for 15 hours straight and complete the task in only a day and there are those who do it and when they run out of gas at the end they fill up with the reserve tank and make a push back to the town for more fuel and rest for the night and begin the journey again tomorrow.

I feel driven to do this and am trying to be honest with myself. I think it will take me two days to complete the task.

The weather is also a big concern. You are at around 6000 feet above sea level on the last leg of the caches and in December that can be very challenging all on its own in Nevada.

I dont know if I have ever felt more excitement for a journey to begin.

Our flight lands in Las Vegas on Thursday and it will be my first time to see it. We scheduled the flight to land at dark so that when we arrive it will be all lit up on the strip for added effect.

We chose the hotel to fit Mikey. The Circus Circus which I am certain he will love. The trip will also include viewing the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. Both of which I have geocaches picked out at already :)

We will make the journey over to California to pick up a cache there as well and I think it may be possible to do a Utah cache before ending the trip.

I laughed that we may need two rental cars because the whole point in the journey is the geocaches but Mike and Mikey will want to do other things and as to not have them slow me down we may get a second car. LOL

The Goal....I dont know that it can be completed....But In this advance blog post I will say that My goal is to come home with no less than 1200 geocaches completed. Now listen, I have cached now for about three months. Hard ! I am totally addicted and In that time I have managed to find 360 caches. To complete this task and walk away with 1000 caches in a two day period is going to be super hard physically and mentally and I am certain now that I will cry at the end. Goals are a beautiful thing and no matter what they are...it is always satisfying to achieve them !

If everyone works hard and I get good weather and conditions go according to schedule it is possible that I may be able to achieve the goal that I have set in my mind for what the idea number would be.....I have 360 finds now...I would love to reach 1640 ! (hehe) That would bring me home to West Virginia with a total of 2000 and make me rank in the top ten geocachers in the state of West Virginia :) Big goals but probably not even close to what I will be able to complete with the husband and kid going along.

I figure the trip will certainly include lots of fussing between us about how that is "enough" geocaching !

However, I did buy the tickets and plan the trip for no other reason than to get the caches so I have told everyone now in advance while I am still in WV that I do not want to hear any whinning about how they dont want to find another one or on my next adventure I will leave them both in West Virginia !

Wish me luck.....

I would like to note that a few months or a year or so ago I did a blog post on some of the places that I want to visit before I die and The Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon were certainly on that list.

The trip is 8 days long so lets hope we can get it all in there.........

Geocaching :) My new addiction

2010-12-16T22:40:00.003-05:00

Well it seems I am addicted to a whole new sport. Geocaching.

What exactly is that you may ask ? This is something that I have had a few chances to explain (mostly to policemen who have pulled in behind me while I was out on an exploration)

It is a high tech adventure game using a handheld gps and a set of coordinates found at http://www.geocaching.com/ where you go in search of hidden things that have been placed all over the world by other addicted geocachers.

These little treasures may be as simple as a tiny piece of paper or a huge tupperware container filled with goodies. You pick something from the goodies and take with you as a treasure find and you replace that item with something that you leave behind for the next cacher to find. Swag or Loot are common names for the "junk" that we take in and out of a cache.

The point of the game is purely to seek. The search. The adventure. It is not ever about the object found at the final destination. However, it is very exciting on top of the other if you also get to discover a hidden treasure box and select things to keep.

These geocaches are sometimes very simply an old container from food or gum or candy that was re- purposed as a water tight compartment for a hide or as elaborate as a false screw in a sign or a blade of grass that is fake and housing a cache inside.

You get the coordinates and set out on your journey.

If you are in an unfamiliar area a Tom Tom or other driving direction based device is very handy. Once at the location you will hold the handheld gps and it will point you in the direction of the hide. Coordinates can be as close as X marks the spot to within 25 foot. Sometimes you walk right up to it and others you look for days before discovering you had touched it a dozen times before making the find.

I have tried to figure out what it is about it that hooked me. The best I can figure is that after a few finds along the way I discovered a hidden tube behind a local eatery and it had been placed so cleverly by a man who has hidden lots of caches in the area and something about the find...something about thinking he had hidden it with such care and craft...something made me think....this is something I might love. Then once I found the next one....it was my new addiction ! I found maybe ten a few years ago when my son was about 3 and it didnt hook me like it did this time. I have never driven more in my car and I certainly have never been to some of the places that the first 345 finds have taken me.

One of the best parts of caching is that it shows you the world thru someones eyes other than mine. Some other person will see a rock formation or cave or just simply a road sign and they stop what they are doing and place this item for me to find. I find that exciting. I love the search and I love the hide.

This week I stood atop a river overlook with my son and felt the fresh air on my face and I was thankful that the person who had hidden it took me to that spot.

I didnt even search for or find the cache that day. I just spent a moment there feeling blessed that I was with my son and we were healthy enough to climb down a mountain hand in hand.

I have spent more time with my family than I may have otherwise spent.

(this is the cache that hooked me)

I stood in front of a grave of an unknown soldier and I was thankful and said a prayer to God of thanks that my father had survived his term in Vietnam and returned home safe to have his life with me and my brothers.

I stood on a graveyard and looked at an old outhouse and was reminded that my life is full of luxury and that I am blessed. I found one that was at the base of three wooden crosses and after signing the log I realized I was knelt down at the foot of this cross and there was a moment there where I had to say thank you to Christ before I got up for what he did on the cross and I wondered if the person who hid it knew that it would touch me that way ?

I have met and discovered new friends who love the sport as much as me.

Walked across train bridges that I never knew were there.

I have lost 10 pounds ! LOL that is just an added bonus. But the exercise is amazing and must be mentioned.

I have stood at caches and looked down on the world in a way that I would have never taken the time to see otherwise.

I have climbed to the top of rocky mountains and felt a sense of power knowing (even though I didnt find the cache and will need to return another day to this one) that I am a girl and I am standing in a spot that most girls will not stand !

Stopped to look at everyday items in new ways. In different directions. Discovering the world again a new way. Things that are so much a part of the world that we dont even see anymore have new meaning to me when I cache. I have a new appreciation for a bolt in a guardrail. I see a screw on a sign and wonder if there is more to it than that ? I find myself setting on a bench and wondering if their is a micro nearby. I bend over to pick up a penny and wonder if it will lead me to more than a copper coin.

I guess its like a baby who sees things for the first time.

Geocaching has done that for me.

If you would like more information on Geocaching just go to the website at http://www.geocaching.com/ and check it out but if you dont want to be hooked...dont even look !!!

And whatever you do...dont find your first one because I am 345 into it and my new goal in life is to do as this sign I found says....

-Wendy or geocaching name.....whbaisden

The day I spent with the blue&gray man 11/16/2010

2010-11-16T17:12:00.000-05:00

Lol & omg ......I have cursed The man who hid this geocache (blue&gray) for hours. I am gonna have to blog post this one ! Oh the story is funny but at one point I was sure I would never search for another geocache! Nothing feels as defeating as the DNF after three hours of climbing a hill that I am certain is one of those "no girls allowed" caches !!!!! Don't think that I am a sissy now because I am not. I set out armed with nothing but my determination and desire to feel the success of saying I did it! But it was not to be....not today!

I went right up that mushroomy looking mountain and I was certain I was on point. It would take two hands....the ground was wet with the rain that had fallen earlier in the day and his notes on the cache say specifically that you shouldnt attempt it on a wet day and that climbing poles may be needed and that this one was not for sissy girls...lol.....and though I am my fathers daughter and too stubburn to accept that a mountain that men have climbed before me may be a little more than I should attempt (especially alone)....I set out to find the cache! Oh the excitement ! What will it be? A pathtag? A mcdonalds toy worn from years of play? A dime store toy of some kind? A blue&gray treasure box just waiting for me to discover! But wait.....

I put my gps in my vest pocket to use both hands to do this big bush to bush, tree to tree, grab for earth climb.....To the top..... I climbed and then something was off? I had both hands free now and whipped out my gps to find I was off coarse some two hundred feet....what the heck ? It must be on the level below....oh that blessed blue&gray! Lets stop for a moment in the story to let me say that I have never in my life been known for my sense of direction ! I can get lost in a parking lot ! And the gps is new ! I am finding them but this is a sport that is mathmatically against me ! lol

So down I went a level and marched my determined rump the five hundred plus foot that it would take to reach the treasure that now I had to have!

Oh my gosh.....slipping and skidding I went dangling off cliff after cliff thinking to myself that scrapbooking was so much more a girl thing to do! But wait....I need to pee.....so I squat there behind the pile of rocks that I had been certain only thirty mins earlier from above would contain the cache....I duck down to avoid being seen by the traffic below zooming by and pee....I remember laughing as I pee'd that that I hoped I hadn't relieved myself on the cache that I had been searching for....if I can't find it I thought.....then piss on it ! When about that time my big fancy droid x phone slid from my hand and slammed into the cave beneath me now laying in the puddle of pee! I couldn't help but laugh. Then I remember saying something unrepeatable about the blue&gray man and thinking to myself that he must have chuckled as he carried his precious plastic tupperware to the top of my grave!

Okay damnit I will go one more level below.....

I did that...I climbed down again with no concept of footage in my unmathmatical, directionally challenged brain and entered yet another level of this thing they call the Moses Case Thruway !!!! I only went about 200 foot this time before it hit me....this man, this wonderful man who hid this beautiful little treasure...he hid it in the road level in the giant rocks where I had parked my car below...thats what he did I thought....ugh...curse him !

So I climbed to the bottom and removed the jacket that had been burning me up and placed it into my car at the suggested parking coordinates and up the side of the road I went again the tenth of a mile to the spot that I would finally find this treasure......again as you guess.....I was still off coarse ! How can this be !!!!

Is it on the next level of the other side of the cut thru ? So at this point I messaged my backup man, Spongebob, to ask for help ! LOTS OF HELP !!!!

And up the other side of the cut thru I marched my ass !!!!!

Now on this side it was much harder to climb. Ya know because I had at this point already climbed the exact opposite side of the road about three times now !

I find a fence and I use it to balance and steady myself and this time I think Oh I am not going to fall for this again....Im going to the bottom step of this mountain first I thought....

Yes you guessed it....

So Up to the second level...

Then the third...

Then the top where I started to feel myself want to cry like the girl that I am when I began to see that I was almost there.....17, 16, 15, 14, oh the joy of 568 feet....yay....feet...I am down to feet !!!!! woooooohooooo !!!!!! I am going to sign this log and get a treasure and I am going to say that I am one of the only girls to ever crest the summit of this beast they call the Moses Case Thruway !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now at this point I pull out my phone, the one that I prayed was going to restart after being dropped into a puddle of pee, and I would phone a friend....Help, you have to pick my child up from school if i am late because I cant give up now...I am almost there !

Now at this point in the story I must tell you that I smell of sweat, Piss and my hair is full of weeds, I have burrs from the top of me to the bottom of me and two splinters in my right hand from the huge tree I grabbed as I fell on the last leg of the climb. I am almost in tears when I climb over the little mountain that was in front of me....I was going to reach the top and see a field of grass with flowers and daisys that was all I could think in my mind....only to see that there were rows and rows of ups and downs yet ahead of me in this blessed adventure !!!

I can only say that at the top of this mountain I called out names before Gods ears that I cant repeat here in this post....This Blue&gray person is not my friend !!!!! (lol) He hates me !

And I have little feeling left for him at this point ! What is wrong with him I thought. Does he not like girls ! He hid this expecting that no girls would attempt it I suppose ? Oh how I cussed him !

Finally I managed to get to the pile of rocks that would be ground zero....I am standing on ground zero ! My gps says I am there ! Its 1 foot off coarse, 1 foot to the treasure, its here...in my reach....I made it ! I survived it ! I did it !

Only I couldnt find the dang thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I searched....I searched some more.....I sat down on this pile of rocks and I wondered if I could call this blue&gray man on the phone and tell him a few things...hehe....I understood right then the need for code names in this sport ! For names where others are not fully aware of who you are while they are searching for your hides ! hehe

With an hour and a half I turned rocks over and stuck my arms and head into cracks and holes and I looked so hard. Where is the thing !? Where could it be ? I didnt find it !!!!

The whole story ends with....I DID NOT FIND IT !!!!!! DNF...the dreaded DNF.....Did Not Find !!!!!!

I retreated to my cachemobile in defeat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home now covered in the sweet smell of pee and briars and the mess from the day...getting ready to log my defeat and send the blue&gray a little thank you note for my adventure.....I am also going to ask him where the Hell the stupid thing is hidden at and insist that he meet me at the bottom and climb this mountain with me while I get this stupid smiley !!!!!!!!!!! A smiley.....my reward for my adventure....It has escaped me today :( hehe

Reading back thru the journey and looking at the photos posted here I am Thinking to myself......I cant wait to go out again tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh how I am addicted to this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will close with a simple thing.....Thank you....Thank you Mr Blue&gray for my adventure ! Thank you for playing this game with me :) I have never and may never meet you in person....but I enjoyed spending my day...my long....exhausting day with you :)

Wendy

I am not going to Hell :) Words everyone wants to hear !!!

2010-10-03T21:42:00.000-04:00

So many things have happened in my life in the past three months.

I have not been able to post to the blog or scrapbook for more than just work.

It hit me that I miss my scrapbook life so very much. Someone said to me a few months ago that I should stop scrapbooking about my life and start living it.....That was some of the worst advice I ever got !!!!

LOL

(love ya anyway, you know who ya are, but it was horrible advice)

When I sat today in church, for the first time in years, I held in my hand my little bible that I carried with me during the time in my life when I was the closest to God that I have ever been and as I turned the pages I read the notes I had written in it from the services that I had attended and who the minister was and what his message was, etc and I started to think about my scrapbooks. I held that bible in my hand with prayers written in it from various trials I had faced and I just couldnt help but to think that when I was scrapbooking everyday I was always in a frame of mind that made me thankful for Gods blessings in my life. I realized that I am better when I scrapbook !!!!

Mike & Mikey & I went to church with my brothers family today and it was one of the three or four times that Mikey has been to church in his life. (That is so sad) He loved it. He said to me at bedtime that he wants to go to Church on ALL the Sundays !!!

It hit me today that I refuse to put myself around anyone who will not think postitive about my ability to save my little struggling family. We have suffered thru so much this past year... The hysterectomy, the fire, the accident and untold things that cant even be spoken outloud.... but tonight for some reason I know that we are going to be okay. A year ago I had someone who was important to Mike & I say to me that they look forward to the "grand and glorious" day that my family would fall apart.....those words hurt worse than I had realized.

Today I sat beside my brother in church and he leaned over and told me that I am not going to Hell and it made me cry. I loved the sound of his approval and the sound of prayers and the songs and the fellowship. I love my brother. I am so proud of him and I am so thankful for his wife Angie. She has been a part of my life for so many years I cant remember what life was like without her in my family and I am so thankful for her. I have two sister in laws and they are as different as day is from night....but I feel so very blessed to have both of them in my life.

They are both wonderful mothers to my nieces and they put up with my brothers...lol

I cant tell you that I am ready to be faithful to my blog. But I can tell you that I am ready to be faithful to my family. For the first time in a very very very long time...I look forward to tomorrow.

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html www.thelinkoushouse.com www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Vacation & Blog catch up

2010-07-01T20:16:00.000-04:00

I wanted to drop in for a quick post to tell all of you that I am not dead ! LOL

I have had so much going on in my life over the past month or two that I have not had much time to do the things that I love so much. (photography & scrapbooking & blogging)

I miss the blog. I feel as though so much has happened since my last post. I dont know where to even begin.

I am not ready to even try to sum it all up. I have not scrapbooked in over a month and for me that is a very long dry spell !

I promise....there is lots of scrapbooking still in me. I just gotta stop scrapin about my life for a few minutes and actually live thru this part....I guess I have always said...scrapbooking captures your memories but there are some things...lol....I prefer to forget !

Vacation is planned and I am super excited about the trip.

In my life I have always dreamed of going to certain places. I made a list years ago as a child. Over the past 20 years as a grown up I have crossed things off that list as I was blessed to do them. I posted that list some time ago. One of the things on it was to visit Hershey Pa and Gettysburg. I can not wait to get there this weekend and I am taking my laptop so that I can catch up on everyones blogs over the week. I am not really sure that I am a relax kinda person. I remember that once a long time ago I knew how...lol...I am hoping that a few days in I will be able to slow down enough and forget the B&B and just enjoy having NOTHING to do.

I will blog the vacation and hopefully all the great scrapbook stores I find along the way from WV to PA. If ya'll know of any places I cant miss be sure to comment me and let me know. Oh I so gotta get my picture standing on the dang Mason/Dixon Line ! lol

Okay the adventures await......

As time goes by...mom & dad page

2010-05-16T16:06:00.000-04:00

(click to see larger)

This page is of my mom and dad. They have been married for as long as I can remember...lol

My mom is forever in my mind as she is in this photo of her in 1990. The frosted hair, full on makeup, dressed all matching and most of all I remember her as flirty and funny and full of life. No matter what she ever does or becomes as she ages....I close my eyes and I see this person.

My daddy is sneaky and rotten and beautiful. I think of him this way. I look at the photos of him and the person he is today and he hasnt changed that much to me. I am now and forever to be....My daddys girl.

I played with sewing machine stitches on this one. I love girly paper and I dont care what the subject is...Frilly girl-ish paper is my very favorite.

-Wendy

You keep me in stitches Page

2010-05-13T17:57:00.000-04:00

(click to see big)

Oh how I loved this page...

You know how you open a magazine and flip.....well...this was the first page that

the new scrapbook trends magazine opened up to today and I had to give it a try...

Love the sewing machine stitches ! I love love love this one !!!

-Wendy

Lots of circles !!!

2010-05-13T13:46:00.000-04:00

(click to see big)

Okay this page was sorta out there for me because I NEVER do a two page layout and I NEVER do this many photos ! hehe

It was fun and I may actually do a few more two page ones.

I started out doing two pages years ago when I began scrapbooking and got away from it because to be honest I like the embellishments and all the other things on the page as much as I do the actual photos...lol

When I look back thru my books I see that I used to never do a page that didnt have a two page match...Okay its fun for a few pages...but I am sticking to the single page ones....

-Wendy

2010-05-12T00:00:00.001-04:00

(click to view larger)

Okay this one was fun. The photo was given to me by a friend recently and it totally cracks me up ! Thats me at like Im thinking 10 or so ?

How funny is that big ole perm my mother so graciously gave me !!!!

She was a hair dresser and she tried every new thing out on my head I think !!!

-Wendy

2010-05-11T00:00:00.001-04:00

(click to view larger)

Okay this one was hard....I am totally going to start doing my journal writing in my handwriting....ugh...I hate my handwriting ! But I am trying to start doing it...slowly...baby steps...

Today I put my sewing machine right smack on my scrapbooking table so I am commited to doing sewing on pages too ! hehe

Happy Scrapbooking

-Wendy

My brother Dee Page

2010-05-09T18:24:00.000-04:00

(click to see full size)

This page was fun to do because of all the layers but mostly because the whole time I was making it I was thinking about my little brother Dee. He isnt my Little Brother...He is a year almost older than me...I tease that My mom must have gotten pregnant on the way home from the hospital with me after having him because from Feb til April he and I are the same age.

The Journal tags on this page say...

When I rmember you as my brother I think back and I see a little boy that was rotten. you were so skinny and yet you were as tough as anyone I had ever met. You were looking for a fight and always won !

you were one of the most handsome boys I ever saw and my girlfriends were totally in love with you. You would whip anyone that messed with me and I was never afraid when you were there. I am always proud when someone says your name. You are my big brother and I love you.

I was remembering the day that he met my husband. He stood toe to toe with him and looked him dead in the eyes and said...If you ever hurt her....Every day that you leave your house....I will be outside...And every day...I will whip your A** ! (smile)

Now thats a good brother :)

-Wendy

Girls make him Smile Page

2010-05-09T00:00:00.001-04:00

(click to see larger)

Mikey is full of smiles when it comes to girls. He doesnt really care if they are young or old, blonde or red head...if its a girl he is in !

Kandis is his favorite right now !!! hehe

The little hearts on this page came from big lots on a recent find and come a whole bunch of them on a sheet for 1.50 the paper is from the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday and Ever After line. The Smile-O-Meter is from a set of chipboard sticker things that I got the very first year I was scrapbooking forever ago and are made by K&Co.

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html www.thelinkoushouse.com www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

My brothers Girls Page

2010-05-08T10:11:00.000-04:00

(click for better look)

I have been trying to get all the old photos of friends and family into some books because I find...as you probably have noticed...that I scrapbook mostly Mikey. So a challenge for me lately has been to try to use photos of other people to hurry and get them all into books so that I can just focus on Mikey ! lol

These are my brothers girls and they are such beautiful girls !

-Wendy

Memories page

2010-05-07T10:08:00.001-04:00

(click for a closer look)

Okay it can never be a bad thing to have a tree on a page !

These little photos of me as a little girl are so dang funny. I must have not wanted to do them in the one from Kindergarten. I am seriously crying ! My poor mom !

-Wendy

Daddy Page

2010-05-06T10:05:00.002-04:00

(click for closer look)

This page was one me and my friend Kelly did on National Scrapbooking Day on May 1. I think she and I both are loving the journalling around the outside of the pages. We got a little excited over the jewels on this one. HeHe. Never enough Jewels !!!!

-Wendy

Family page

2010-05-05T09:59:00.003-04:00

(click for closer look)

This is a simple layered page but I still like it. The Family is a jewel sticker that we found recently at Michaels on clearance. Me and My friend Kelly bought all of them we could find ! lol

The jewels around the circle were a sheet of jewels and I used my Hot Off the Press circle template to make the circle and dots for placement.

Elizabeth in the top ten commenters on my blog has won one of the HOTP templates designed by me ! All she had to do was stop by and comment my blog and be in the top ten and her name was randomly chosen from the top 10 commenters list and Now she is getting a free Spinner Wheel Template !

-Wendy

You & me Grandma Page

2010-05-04T09:07:00.002-04:00

(Click to see larger photo)

This one is simple and sweet. I love my Mama Chris.

-Wendy

Silly Brothers Page

2010-05-03T08:59:00.001-04:00

(click to see larger)

This page was somewhat of a copy from a scrapbook trends magazine. The colors made me and my friend Kelly nervous when we were doing it. LOL Lots of rub ons and layers of junk :)

-Wendy

So Proud of You Page

2010-05-02T08:51:00.001-04:00

(click to see closer up)

This page was so fun. I have never used the stitch words. I now need some ! Kelly brought hers for our little scrapbook day and I gave it a try. Lordie it takes a while and I am somewhat of a speed scrapper but it was so worth it !

The jewel clusters were part of a sale at Michaels Last week. They have started restocking with new stuff and clearing out the old :) Nothing makes me happy like clearance scrapbooking stuff ! hehe

This photo is one of the very few that I have of my daddy in the service and I am so proud of him !!!

Quilt blocks

2010-05-01T00:00:00.002-04:00

(click for closer look)

Okay this page is my take on a quilt block. Love me some quilt blocks !!!

-Wendy

Anna Rose Baisden

2010-04-30T00:00:00.001-04:00

(click for closer look)

This page is one I did using one of the only photos I have of Anna Rose.

This is Mike's Mommy. Mikey's Grandma. My Mother-in-law.

She was so sweet to me. I tell Mike all the time that if she hated me she was far

to polite to ever let me know it. She treated me with respect

and talked to me about Mike and I remember asking her how she felt about

Mike having a child at 55 years old and she just grinned and said

that she only cared that he was happy. If he is happy then I am happy. She

said that when she and Mike's daddy had their last child that he was

very "Mature". She got to see Mikey and hold him and I have a few photos of

her holding him at around 6 months old. He was born in May of 2005 and

she passed away in November that year.

She was the first person to sleep in the room at the Linkous House Bed & Breakfast that we

named after her and she was so proud of that room having her name on it.

I love that there is hardly a day in Mike's life that we dont

speak her name because of the room being named

after her. I love hearing her name and knowing that she

will forever be part of our lives.

-Wendy

Surprise Page

2010-04-29T00:00:00.003-04:00

(click to see it bigger)

This page makes me happy :)

It was my version of the front of this months scrapbook trends magazine. It was a fun page. I want to order the little flag punch that Hot Off the Press just started selling because I love these flag Pages I keep seeing everywhere. So cute !!!!

The little bird was a new cuttlebug die and oh my goodness its sweet. Just cut the little cloud out by hand. Its a happy page.

-Wendy

My Brother Page & Butterflies Template

2010-04-28T10:50:00.000-04:00

(click photo for close looks)

This page is actually fire engine red but my scanner didnt see it that way. I used the layout from the May 2010 issue of scrapbook trends magazine but changed it to fit Brother for my title and I used my

Hot Off the Press 15 Butterflies and Dragonflies Template (designed by me) to make the Butterflies for this page.

This template is awesome because no matter what page you are doing...using the scraps from the page...you can have a butterfly that matches perfectly. A total must have in every scrapbook room.

The film strip is felt and I got it from the Louisville, Ky CKC convention. I love it !

The photo of my brother and his wife is from when the got married. I cant remember what year it was...because...well I am getting old ! hehe

Somewhere around 20 years ago because My son is 21 now...Lordie he was in the wedding so there ya go...It was a long time ago...hehe

The little pic of him in his preschool graduation is the cutest thing. I love his little sweater. he reminds me so darn much of my little Mikey.

Happy Scrapbooking !!!

-Wendy

Once upon a time....

2010-04-26T14:55:00.001-04:00

The story on the card that pulls out goes....

I was thinking when I saw this photo of one time when I was a little girl about this size...My brothers and I saw a set of Guns in the Sears Catalog (catalogs were paper versions of online shopping galleries...we had those before the internet..lol) The gun set had three costumes with it...one for each of us and guns and knives, hats, and all the things to play cowboy and indian for three kids....Me & My two brothers, Tatar & Dee, decided that we wanted it...and dad told us that we would get it for christmas !

That year on Christmas morning we had so very much....as usual...and when the gifts were all opened...the three of us kids were so upset because we just knew we were getting that two page spread of cowboy & indian stuff...Our family joked for years and years later...we joke to this day some thirty five years later...that maybe this year...we will get our cowboy & indian order in time for Christmas.

It was just something that Dad told us to get us to shut up about the thing...lol...We had more than we could play with already....

When I saw you in this little outfit playing dress up it made me think of us wanting it all those years ago.

I wonder what you will wish for...I hope that I can give you enough...

-Wendy

Purple Page

2010-04-25T11:50:00.000-04:00

It hit me today after I put the page together that I have probably done a thousand pages now and this is the only one I can think of that was ever Purple !

I dont like Purple But when I found this pack of paper from Penny Lane & My Minds Eye at Michaels last week with all Purple Paper in it.....I had to have it :) Come on...Its My Minds Eye...Who could resist it...even if you dont like Purple...This is a beautiful stack of paper !!!

The page is somewhat based on the page in the Scrapbook Trends magazine by Kelly Goree on Page 119 of the May 2010 issue. Its a very loose translation of her page but I loved it when it was finished.

I have a little thing going right now with myself that every page that I make must contain a rub on from the many I have collected over the years and never used and atleast one item from the huge assortment of brads, etc that for some reason I have bought thousands and thousands of...but never used ! Also the ultimate goal would be to use a piece of the chipboard I have hoarded up as well on ever page ! You get the picture......I have toooooooo much stuff that I need to use before I buy the next thing.......self control....self control.....

-Wendy

New pages :)

2010-04-21T21:55:00.000-04:00

Okay so here are a few pages that me and my friend Kelly did today. Shew. We needed a scrapbook fix bad ! There was very little thinking involved because we basically used magazines to copy the pages adding our own touches but the goal was to scrapbook a bunch of photos and get several pages done so we werent trying to come up with new ideas....Just finish some pages ! So here they are. If they look familiar to you....Its because you have probably seen them in this months scrapbook magazines..Hehe :)

(my scanner didnt do so well on the corners this time)

Okay...I feel better now...Shew I missed scrapbooking :)

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

God blessed me with the fire !!!

2010-04-01T21:07:00.000-04:00

Today while cleaning on my porch enjoying the weather I was thinking about the fire. I was trying to figure out what came of it. Yes I have a new beautiful kitchen, yes it forced me to clean every single spot in my world, yes I painted things that had been long overdue....I could go on and on about the work....

I am tired and see the end in sight and I am thankful that it is almost over ! But what is the bigger picture ?

I was thinking the other day that Faith is nothing until the days when you are wore out and tired and afraid.

You can talk about faith but until those times in your life that you dont know what else you can do....until the times when you are down on your knees totally scared and lost....faith is nothing.

And almost ever time we face something in our lives...We think we will never get thru it ! LOL

How will I ever survive the mess that lay before me in this photo ! How can I ever make it financially and physically thru the mess that I made that cold January day ? It will never be over I thought (many times)

And today I was washing my porch and enjoying the beautiful evening and putting finishing touches on a totally redone beautiful house that I absolutely love and I was so at peace when it hit me finally exactly what Came from the fire !!!!

Kelly !!! That is what I gained !!!

Did you ever have someone in your life that you just werent sure you were gonna like ? I can remember thinking a year ago that I just wasnt sure if I liked her. She is so bossy I thought ! (sorry Kelly) She is always telling me that I have to do things that I dont want to do ! She is always asking me how I feel about things ? What am I doing now ? What am I doing tomorrow ? What did I buy at the scrapbook store ?

I didnt think I liked that ! ?

See the problem was simple....I have never had a best friend !

Oh I've had people in my life that I was friends with. I had people in my life that I would do most anything for. But I have never had a best friend. A girl. Someone who knows what I am thinking. Someone who comes to me when I dont even know I need them yet ! Someone who is looking out for me when I am too confused to even look out for myself !

Thats what Kelly does. She is my best friend ! She is sharing my life with me. I have never had that. Never had someone other than my daddy or my husband that was close enough to me that what ever is going on in my day its not really finished until I have shared it with them. Kelly wasnt being bossy or nosey...she was just being my friend. (well she is bossy...hehe)

But I love her !

And I didnt discover this fact until after the fire.

Cold and Scared and Confused about how I would take the next steps....Every second of it....Kelly was there. Bossing me ! (LOL)

Telling me that "WE" could do this. On days, and there were many, that I cried, she was there to listen and hug me. On days when I didnt want to get out of my bed because I was so tired from the push to get my life back together she was right there at the door every morning to start again.

No matter what else I had to face the past three months...the one thing

I could count on ever day....was Kelly.

So tonight. I am setting here on my clean porch thanking God. For the chance to have the fire. Thanking God for the blessings he has given me. Thanking God for Kelly. For my best friend :)

Wonder why we cant see the end at the begining ? I guess it goes back to the faith thing. If we could just put our faith in God that whatever we are going thru right then....There is a blessing coming....wouldnt it be so much easier ! hehe....but I never do...I have to learn things the hard way usually. Atleast now...I can be thankful that God blessed me with the fire and thankful for the blessing he gave me in my new bestest friend Kelly. God is good.

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

We moved back into our house !!!! Yeah !!!!!

2010-03-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

So the progress on the Linkous House is really good. We have moved home and are cooking and living in the house now. Yeah ! I am so thankful !!! Yes, we have more to do....the basement is full of things that need gone thru and fixed up and I have a few details to get together but for the most part we have survived.

(me down behind the stove wiring it up when it came)

I looked so horrible this day Kelly just had to snap a photo ! Lol

I lost 15 pounds from Jan 2 to March 2 from all the hard work and I have determined that it will only take me half that to put it all back with all the cooking that we are doing in the new kitchen the past two days.

(My & Mikey's homemade chocolate chip cookies...yummy they were good)

Breakfast this morning was nice. We had our first guests and tonight we have a full house. It reminded me today standing in the new kitchen talking to guests that we love what we do here. Tonight I looked past the nice beautiful living room into Mikes office and saw Mike setting at the desk, Dr Chemma setting on the desk and Rod from the Hospital perched up on Mikeys tiny chair in the office and figured out....we gotta have a couch in the office ! lol I love sharing our home with guests. I love it. I love their stories and learing who they are and about their lives. I love it when they say they slept like they were home. That makes me happy.

I am going to pop in the room with camera in hand tomorrow morning and snap a photo of everyone eating. I am excited for Mike and I to prepare breakfast again for them all. I hope It goes as smoothly as it did in Mrs Linkous old Kitchen.

I made the best homemade chocolate chip cookies in there yesterday and today made homemade lemon pie. Made breakfast buritos today and practiced up on my omelet making tonight :)

Now in another week I think I will be up and ready for scrapbooking !!!!! That is when I will know its all over and done....when I get to set down and scrapbook again !

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

March 19th Progress on the Linkous House

2010-03-19T21:00:00.002-04:00

In what has become ten of the hardest days of my life...second only to the 10 that followed the hysterectomy last June, I have pushed to finish the work on The Linkous House to open for business again on the First day of April. We are so excited to welcome our guests again this year.

One room at a time it is all coming together. The first floor is complete with a few tiny exceptions such as a stove and fridge. However, I have started to think that maybe I am not getting another stove ? hmm ? Maybe it isnt really on order. Maybe Mike is not letting me have another one since I was

so careless with the last one ?

The first guest room to be totally completed and ready for guests is the Papper room. The room is named after our first guest when we opened the bed & breakfast 6 years ago.

Jim "Papper" has became a very dear friend to us.

On days when I am frustrated with the Bed and Breakfast game...I always think of Papper. I think of him and how had we not gotten into this business we would not know him or other wonderful people that we have taken in over the past several years.

I am posting a few photos here of the room today. I need to get a photographer to come do photos of the rooms when we are totally finished to use on the website. I cant seem to get photos I like on the second floor. The room is beautiful though. The quilts in that room make me so happy. I think I might sleep there tonight.

We have also finished the dining room on the first floor.

This is the front living room. I love love love it :)

(I still need some area rugs and a few things)

(fridge and stove come in next week)

(still gotta get the dishwasher in that hole)

Thank You every one who has sent well wishes and said prayers and words of encouragement during the past two months of renovations. It has been long and hard and we are so excited to get back in business again very soon.

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

WE HAVE A KITCHEN ALMOST !!!!

2010-03-10T00:21:00.000-05:00

Really quickly I wanted to post up a couple pics of The Progress on the Kitchen at the Linkous House B&B. It was wonderful today :) Its March 9th and we have a kitchen almost !!! yeah

I must admit that today I had to just set in the room when the crews were all gone and have myself a little bit of a cry. I couldnt help myself. It is so wonderful to see this mess almost over. It still needs lots of countertops, baseboards, sinks, appliances, etc but it got cabinets today built by Dave Wilks Cabinet Co and they have totally impressed me with what they can do. Thanks Guys !

The Painters (Mike Steele) made the walls this beautiful red that I was sorta getting worried

about..hehe...but now I totally LOVE !!!!

Okay gotta go...more to come...

-Wendy

New photos from the progress on the Linkous House Bed & Breakfast cleanup

2010-03-03T22:17:00.001-05:00

So there are no scrapbook pages to report.

I havent gotten to make a scrapbook page in a very long time. It was nice to go to the scrapbook convention last weekend but I miss my scrapbook life.

That makes me sad but right now the push is on for the Linkous House.

(me and Mike Steele the painter)

Its long hard days and we are pushing to get the whole mess cleaned up by April 15th.

Today I reported for work at around 8:15 and began scrubbing the floors. Its a hands and knees scraping and scrubbing thing to get all the fire soot up.

Before I could think I had two carpet men laying carpet on the third floor in three rooms. Which means that they tore that place apart !!! Shew. Right when I get one room sorta organized and cleaned up.....someone tears it apart and moves the furniture and rips into the whole room.

They worked until five and didnt finish so the mess will continue into tomorrow on that project. At the same time....There was two drywall men who tore the second floor apart ! OMG ! I hate hate hate the process of hanging drywall. It is so so so messy. They are really good. Steve and Roger from AmeriKlean Rock !

(the wallpaper in the dining room finished today)

Then I had the ADT guy who came to service the units so that we can be sure

that we are safe when we get to journey home.

I also had the wonderful painters today. They are super ! I noticed today that no matter what else is happening once the painters come thru....It looks good :) They are from Catlettsburg so its a long day for them even before they get to the house. We had a small delima today...lol....The front entrance was Blue before the fire. The color I picked out for the floor turned out to be not exactly the color I ended up with so it looked super ugly with blue....this led me to go to the paint shop with a sample card that I thought was going to match. It was one of the worst colors I ever saw put onto a

wall....hehe....It was like bird poo yellow !

So then....on the next go around we did a brown sorta color I thought...but that turned out to be more of a peach....shewie....Nothing matches this stupid floor !

(front entrance in peach for now)

I laugh that I am going to keep painting it a different color just so I can watch the adoreable painter longer :) Isnt the kid there in the middle a cutie :) And the perfect man...he never says a word...just walks around and works and looks pretty. Hehe :)

We laughed that the color that I picked out when I went on my first trip to the paint store was the exact color of the guy in the middles shirt ! (hehe) I swear that was the color of the walls on the second try ! I think when I was at the paint store I was subconsciously matching his shirt...hehe :)

Thank heavens that Mike the painter is so patient :) For now I am keeping the peach color.

Big Mike, my hubby, came in from work tonight and the first words out of his mouth was....

"Yuck ! I hate the front entrance color"

Did I mention that It was a long day?

After the painters left, the adt guy left, the carpet guys left, the drywall guys left.....shew...I went into the kitchen and cleaned up. I just know that they are sick of me cleaning around them. I cant even help myself. Tonight I wanted so badly to just see the kitchen floor. So after my fifth time mopping the first floor I cleaned up the kitchen and organized the painters stuff. Poor fellas will come in tomorrow, again, and not be able to find any of their things. Lol

On the bright side....the kitchen and pantry look so pretty :)

Okay, enough about the day....it was stressful and now its over...everyone says...Oh it will be over soon...or its no big deal..its not that bad...Its been 60 days since the fire and it is not getting easier...Everyday is more stressful and harder than the day before. I am tired in ways that I cant put to words. I so badly wish I could take back the whole mess. I just want to go home.

(the pantry in progress...lordie that freezer is filthy)

Tonight when we ate dinner,after I finally called it a day, Mike and I were saying how badly we miss our guests. I so much want to go home and open the front door and see one of our wonderful guests standing there. I miss the exploration of the day at the Linkous House. I miss the conversations over breakfast in the morning and I miss going to sleep knowing that someone from someplace else in the world has entered our home and found safety and comfort in their journey.

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

http://www.thelinkoushouse.com/

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

CKC Big Buys from Louisville Ky this week :)

2010-02-28T20:26:00.004-05:00

Where do I even begin with all the wonderful finds from CKC Louisville ? It was on my 40th birthday. Feb 26th-28th at the Convention center in Louisville Ky. And since I realized that while I was gone...my drivers liscense expired and I am gonna have to go take the darn drivers test...lol...it was a nice

little weekend get a way and Kelly and I had a ball !!!

There are so many things I want to share. Maybe I will post a few of my favorites and put pics of it all in my sidebar and if you want to see them you can peek into the photos on the side bar in the next few days I will get them up in a file there.

(me getting into the photo)

(my partner in crime...Kelly )

(me with my beautiful little quilt pillow from the flea market)

(these super cool old bingo cards came from the flea market & we got lots of them for .50 cents from a guy who just didnt know that the scrcapbook stores sell us these things for 1.00 or more each) hehe

(I got these bottles caps and there was 46 in the bottle. I shared with Kelly and I only had to give the guy at the flea market booth my "fake"phone number to get these super cool deals...hehe)

Did you notice the one there in the center with the flower on it. That is a rub on I added to the top of it. I thought it would be so cool to decorate them to match the pages instead of just using the limited store bought versions that you get at scrapbook stores. We had bought a pack the day before at the scrapbook convention that had 6 on it and they were like two bucks for 6 lids and they were limited to what was already on them. Love this idea !

Did you notice the three clock faces. They were from old watches that had fallen off in the bottom of the guys boxes and we got several each for use on pages. A big ole snot dot on the back and these are gonna be great. The keys were the flat ones and we just dug thru bucket loads of them to get these. What a great find :) Dont you just love it all. I think Kelly and I both are forever addicted to flea markets now.

These little locks from old furniture are so super cute. Tim Holtz sells some like this I think and they are very wonderful but a little expensive. Ya'll know I am a Tim Holtz nut...but I had to have these they were so cheap !!!! I got this little batch from the bottom of a junk box that me and Kelly dug thru

and I love love love them !

We go overboard every year when we get close to this booth...shew...but they are so darn cheap here compared to home so we end up buying extras...hehe It doesnt hurt that this booth is the very first booth as you walk in the door. At that point we are usually on such a high from the sight of it all that we are jumping to make a purchase...lol...we both said later...gosh...we went crazy at the bling booth. (lol)

Here we found stickles and since that was like on top of our list...we went nuts...hehe...it was buy five get one free so we did ! (twice) I am in love with the green one there second from the right !

I love it So much that I got two !

More bling...I told you I couldnt help myself...it was 1.00 each so I just had to get one of each color

At the flea market we found lots of little pieces of paper with different things on them like this stack of pillsbury cards we got for .50 cents.

(more pics of my lids, clocks and keys)

This stack of little quilt pieces were from a lady we met there who I loved. She gave me an old quilt before I left and I just fell in love with her. I invited her to come stay with us at the bed & breakfast as soon as we are up and going again. I hope she comes. I really liked her. She had the greatest ideas about quilts and I will post pics of her as soon as I get the photo from Kelly that she took of me with her. She had wonderful little quilts and purses and pillows and I just loved her ! Her name was Joyce.

I have a super duper plan for these...I will share later...so so pretty !

I took this photo of Kelly while she was taking a photo of me. When you scrapbook you learn to get pics of yourself in odd ways...hehe I love this pic of Kelly.

And here is the one of me :)

So my very very favorite thing I bought this weekend is this little stack of wood trees. I got several because I am in love with trees right now. Just think of all the things you could use to make the top part. I have just laid a few of the items I found at the flea market on top of them so you can see the idea of what I am gonna do with them. I will post where they came from in a day or so because I know if you havent seen these your gonna want some. I love love them !!!!!

I got these coins off an old braclet that I got for 2.00 and Im gonna use them to make a tree.

(wont it be cute !)

OMG I love these trees !!!!!

On this one I am gonna put one of the old doillies that we got from the quilt lady. (Joyce)

I got lots of little things. Too much to list it all tonight but as I use it I will share it with you all. Notice I did get thickers...we found some for 1.25 a pack but they only had a few of those because they had sold em all before we found them. But we found some along the drive at a few big lots as well for 2.00 a pack.

Some more things from the flea market and the cutest little bird die cut ! Kelly got an owl one that I am so jealous of. I gotta order one of them. I know she will share with me too :)

I love these strips of bling. They were 1.00 each. Love em !

Love all the little butterflies :)

(us goofing in the mirror)

Okay I just cant share it all tonight. Lol. It was alot of fun and I love all the stuff. I will make a video this week of it all for youtube so you can see it all as I get it out.

Thankful for my goodies and for my trip and for Kelly who is almost as crazy about scrapbooking as me.

-Wendy

Progress was made today on the fire cleanup :)

2010-02-25T22:58:00.001-05:00

Awwww....I was cleaning some of the things on my huge list of things to clean from the fire...and ran across this little bunny that I had made 21 years ago to hold the outift that I brought my son, Aaron home from the hospital in. I sewed the bunny from a pattern and the little cap is the one that Pikeville Methodist Hospital put on him the moment he was born to keep his little head warm. The little sailors outfit is what I brought him home from the hospital in and the two pair of glasses are the first two pair that he ever wore. No..the second and third...he lost the first pair...hehe...but the little bunny sets on top of a cabinet with a collection of ole lanterns and I dont get to really see it often. So when I got it down to clean today it made me smile. I am gonna do a scrapbook page of this because God forbid we ever lost the whole house and not just the kitchen...lol....then this is one of those things I would miss after. Im so thankful that it is okay.

So I am gonna put up some photos of the progress on the Linkous House from the past few days. Its amazing to watch how fast it seems in the photos when the time seems to be stuck during the days when I am actually working on it...lol

This is the kitchen at the beginning of thursday morning 2/25/2010

and this is the end of the day 2/25/2010

okay so this is the primer in this blue-ish color....but I sorta wish I had painted this color...lol....but tomorrow it is gonna look super scary....hehe...because the paint is going to be like RED ! But the cabinets will cover almost every wall surface and just a little red will show later so when I post the photos of it RED...remember that It wont be as bad when all those white cabinets go in :)

Filthy...dirty...nasty me :) I think I may never be clean again from all the work and fire soot

the dining room with the work going on still

(the front living room with work going on)

This is the front sunroom this morning before the work began and during the installation of some vinyl

(this is the truck load of clothes that the cleaning company delivered back to us today that I am dreading so badly having to carry to the third floor ) oh and they are stacked in the sunroom that I had just emptied )

(the wonderful painters)

(my birthday flowers from my Aunt Linda and Uncle Rich in Chicago that came in the middle of the mess) Thanks Guys...they are beautiful

(this window is between the sunroom and the front living room and this is a painting on the window from a local artist who is amazing. Its a photo of me and Mike and Mikey :)

(thats me again...Kelly was getting me all dirty for a scrapbook page) hehe

my nice clean drinks cabinet :)

(front living room work)

(some of the boxes that need carried up to the third floor & our clothes again)

this is me one year ago at the louisville ckc....my how hard this year has been..

..hysterectomy, fire, turning 40,my grandma sick....yuckie year :)

So thats todays progress. I will keep you posted....but for now....everyone be sure to watch Holly Fossen on Home shopping Network on Sunday morning at 6 am and 10 am. She will be showing my 15 butterflies and dragonflies templates in a Hot Off the Press Kit then...so excited !

I am off to Louisville tomorrow with my friend Kelly for the Creating Keepsakes Convention CKC. Cant wait to hit the shopping ! I need stickles colors...Tim Hotlz inks...more of them...hehe....some cardstock...maybe I dont Need the cardstock...but I know I will get some...hehe...okay...I will post again the progress on the house sometime next week.

-Wendy

Catching up again :)

2010-02-22T23:26:00.001-05:00

So I have a few things to catch up really fast

I sent out blog candy this past week and templates, etc won over the past month that I have been so behin on....But I just realized that I think I didnt send all of Billena's to her....Sorry Billena I hope you liked the goodies but today the kit you won was curiously still laying on the table in my room...hmm? Do I have two of them or did you not get it ? (my brain doesnt work right now)

Then I need to tell the Jan 21 blog candy winner...Congrats ! http://jamirodolph.blogspot.com/
Jami you won my blog candy this week for commenting on my blog :) Send me your address and I will send it right out...hehe...while I am (almost) caught up !!!

Everyone be sure to stop by this week to comment for this weeks chance to win something good....it will be a surprise this week because I am going to CKC on Saturday and Sunday and I thought I would pick up something special from there :) So be sure to check back this week.

And yes....I am so excited about the trip to Louisville Ky for the CKC. I never grow tired of going shopping in a convention floor for scrapbook supplies. My friend Kelly and I are going on Saturday and Sunday and its a little special because this weekend is my 40th Birthday ! (its okay...its okay...its okay...hehe)

Here is my page for this weeks sketch from Pamelas World of Scraps. Dont you just love her tree sketch !

what else ? hmm ?

The progress on the Linkous House is going good. We will be back to the pre-fire stage in another 5 weeks or so. The drywall is up and the kitchen is starting to look like a room again. I am so excited for this whole mess to be over so we can go home. I miss my scrapbooking life so bad :(

(this was the kitchen last thursday)

(and this is the kitchen today)

The photo of my husbands bathroom makes me so happy ! It was the first room that was back to total normal and all ready to use. Now on to the rest of this monster house....It is starting to come together now.

PS. Kelly you need to help me remember to take photos of me cleaning the mess up...I keep forgetting to get photos of me...hehe

(my brother Tatar working on the kitchen)

(Michael J working on the kitchen)

I laugh that because my brother is a coal miner he knows how to work and keep clean ! Mike is a salesman and when he works he gets so filthy ! Lol

You can see updated photos of this weeks progress at my flickr account :)

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

http://www.thelinkoushouse.com/

http://www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Drywall tape :)

2010-02-10T12:47:00.003-05:00

I cant take full credit for the idea because I saw a girl do this before but I wanted to share it because I thought it was an awesome Idea !!!

(click photo to view closer look)

(click photo for closer view of details)

Drywall tape !!! You know....the roll of stuff that drywall guys will put over seams and holes before drywall mud to fix your wall....its a roll of mesh type fabric that you can paint or ink to match your pages and the best part is that it is meant to stick to a wall forever so it already has glue on the back so you just unroll it and stick it on your pages ! I love the texture it makes and now that I have a roll of it I am sure to be figuring out new ways to use it.

REMEMBER TO LEAVE ME A COMMENT THIS WEEK TO BE ENTERED TO WIN THIS WEEKS BLOG CANDY :)

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

My very special Grandma Page

2010-02-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

It is taking me much longer to make pages these days. So many things at the Linkous House need done in fixing up the mess I made with the fire. So I used to be able to scrap so many more pages in a week while waiting for guests to check in :(

Now I am lucky to do a page in a week. Shew. Withdrawl !!!!

I know I keep saying this but I LOVE STICKLES !!! The thickers letters on the title were blue and didnt match.....so....STICKLES was my answer. I used cotton candy color stickles to just fill in the top of each of the letters and now they look so pretty in real life. (and I managed to let them dry without smearing them)

The tree is a pattern for the sure cuts a lot software and your cricut that I cut out last night. How cute is that tree ? Its called "retro tree" if you go looking for it to download for your cricut to cut out.

This page has taken me several days to do because of all the hand and machine stitching. I love the page though. Especially the square in the background that is done with the sewing machine....Love that...I took a square and laid down on the page and then used my ruler to mark off a little smaller square and then used the sewing machine to draw in the squares. In person this page is way prettier than in the scan. I hate it when a scan doesnt look as good as the actual page but I guess thats because I love the dimensional look and feel of the pages and when you scan them they flatten out :)

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

I love this sketch :)

2010-02-08T15:10:00.003-05:00

Okay this is one of my favorite sketches from Pamela over at Pamela's World of scrap !!!
I loved this one as soon as I saw it.

I mean who wouldnt love hearts on a page ?

The photo is me and my grandma who has been in the hospital for a couple weeks now. She had cancer in the late 70's and we just found out that she has it again. Things dont look good for her. She will be 82 years old this month and I love her :)

The paper on this page makes me happy. Its all from a new paper pad that I just got this week from DCWV. How pretty.

Here is Pamelas sketch. Be sure to come on over to scrapbook Challenges to share your work with the rest of the members there.

-Wendy

Oh and the latest person to win the blog candy for the week is....

Billena !!! you win this weeks blog candy !!!

Be sure to come back and sign my blog comments to be entered to win next weeks candy

its a nice kit ! Send me your address and it will go out today :)

To those of you who have already won...The gifts are in the mail I promise...I am a little behind but they are addressed and going in the mail on Monday.

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Teaser Pics of my page for tomorrows Scrapbook Challenges Sketch

2010-02-07T14:03:00.001-05:00

So I copied this page from a lady named Davinie Fiero in my scrapbook magazine. Oh how fun it was to do. The paper I used is all from the newest paper pad that I got from DCWV. Gosh I love it. It is called Song Bird and it has lots of glitter and sparkles and for now...its like one of my very favorite packs of paper....For now...hehe

The photo is one of the very few that I have of me and my brothers with our great grandfather. We have a room in the bed and breakfast named after him. The Landon Hackney Room.

Tomorrow is the reveal of sketch 188 over at Scrapbook Challenges & Pamela's World of Scrap and I have to let you in on a little tease of my page. It is the valentines sketch but I did it in all blue and I love.. love.. love the page. I just recently discovered stickles and I am soooo hooked ! Gosh theres not a single page that wont look better with some stickles on it :)

I used the stickles to color the fronts of some thickers that I used in the title that were black and didnt match the page. I used blue stickles to just go over the tops of the letters and now they match so nicely.

I also did hand stitching on the page ! Oh I cant wait to share this one...Its one of my favorite pages in a while and my first page back in my scrapbook room at the Linkous House after the fire on Jan 2.

Come back tomorrow. Monday Jan 8th, 2010 to see the full sketch and the page I did with it.

-Wendy

Progress on the scrapbook room but not the rest of the house :(

2010-02-01T21:07:00.000-05:00

I have had these black science lab tables for years and I tried to replace them. I took them to the basement and brought in new fancy tables....I hated them ! So we went right back to the basement and brought my wonderful black science lab tables right back :) These tables were in the classroom that my husbands father taught school in. When the school was being torn down we "horked" them and my husband loves having them be part of our lives.

I got these little plastic tubs that are meant to use inside your shower and screwed

them down the length of the table so now all

my "I must have" items are at my fingertips !!!

The rack hanging here now has all of my chipboard alphabet hanging on it now. This system takes up a third of the area that it took up before. Each of the bags hanging there have one letter of the alphabets chipboard letters inside. They are hanging with some of the pants

hangers I got for a buck each at big lots.

The peg board holds my punches and as soon as I get settled I am going to punch one of each item out and hang on the fronts of each of the little red holders. Love it :)

The old antique cabinet made a nice sewing center. All hand sewing and machine sewing supplies are in this area. I think I will use the machine far more since I wont have to get it in and out to use.

Paper Paper Paper ! makes me happy ! Once I open a pad of paper and it gets all those little bits of scraps and starts to fall apart I put them into a large 2.5 gallon ziplock bag and then hang them on this rod. I can see the fronts of the paper pads this way and all the scraps of paper are right there with the paper. Its a new system so it needs a little work but I think Im gonna love it.

Of coarse I am always grabbing a new HOTP (Hot off the Press) template so this is my new Template station. I am loving the peg boards.

Lets face it. Thickers are almost as wonderful as Paper ! hehe

So who wouldnt love a thickers (and other alphabet) stickers station :)

I am totally in love with the dress form wearing my collection of ribbon as a skirt :)

My table wont have the junk cluttered up underneath eventually...hehe...I am almost there :)

There are still a lot of things that I need to wash and clean but it is starting to come back together.

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Sketch 183 & Tricia you won the blog candy this week :)

2010-01-25T02:45:00.013-05:00

A note for Tricia at http://www.paperpopsicles.com/ You won the little treat this week for commenting on my blog :) You go girl ! Send me your address to whbaisden@gmail.com

and I will send you your little gift.

Also, Im sorry that I have been slow to do it but I am mailing the new years blog hop template winners gifts out today and I need an address for Jennifer Hanson and Janet Zeppa and Katrina Hunt & Star Rork
(sorry girls if you already gave em to me its been a crazy month)

Everyone else be sure to comment this week for a chance to win some cool blog candy :)

We are still in the rental house and progress is slow on
the Linkous House. I have had a very rough week dealing with adjusting to being out of our home. I can say that my little one is doing way better this week than he was. He is going back into the house daily now and says he misses home.

I am so conflicted about what I want done in the scrapbook room. I thought I had it all figured out and then I came across a very old 7 foot long USPS postal service mail sorter cabinet and fell in love :) It would just be the coolest thing ever to have for a scrapbook room. So that changed my plans a little. Now I am wonderfing if I really want built in kitchen cabinets in my room at all because I love love this USPS cabinet (i used to be a mail lady) ??? Maybe I am overwhelmed with choices right now as I have the whole darn house tore apart...lol

Here is my page for scrapbook challenges for Pamela's world of scrap sketch this week.

and here is sketch 183. Be sure to go on over to Scrapbook Challenges and share your page

I want to share my little girl at the sewing machine with you guys for sure. I cut it from an ad in the Aug/Sept issue of Scrapbooksetc magazine and spiffed it up with some stickles. I have fallen in love with stickles !!! I had to order more today !

Here is a close up of her and oh by the way...is that Niki Silvis paper not super cute ! Those little couches and lamps were cut out of a piece of her paper. I gotta get me some more of her paper lines.

Id also like to share that I used the packaging from some bling instead of throwing it away. Did you find it on the page right off ? Here it is with the bling still on it. Now do you see it on my page :) Look at your packaging before you toss it. Maybe there are some pieces on it that can be used to decorate your pages. I didnt use the bling on this page. Just the packaging.

(click to enlarge)

Here is a page that I did yesterday for a challenge to use up atleast 10 eyelets from all those in my stash. I never used alot of eyelets. I dont know why I have so many ? hehe

(click to enlarge)

I used a sketch for this one (and lots of stickles) for a challenge someplace and today I cant seem to find it online to enter ? If anyone recognizes the sketch let me know so I can enter it...hehe

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Page done with my scrapbook challenges design team gifts from Pamela

2010-01-21T22:59:00.002-05:00

So I recently became a member of the fantastic design team over at Scrapbook Challenges and Pamela from Pamela's world Of Scrap sent out to each of us a box with welcome to the design team goodies inside :) This is some of the fantastic items that I got in my box of goodies. (and so much more) Thanks Pamela !!! I put this page together today and it made me happy.

(click photo to enlarge)

Here is a close up of the flower in the corner. I made it by cutting out three size circles and wetting them by simply dropping them into a bowl of water and wadding them up into balls and then squishing them into shape and letting them dry. Aren't they cute :) oh and I love those Tim Holtz tiny staples ! If you dont already have that little stapler of his...soooooo get one ! I love the tiny staples.

(click photo to enlarge)

oh and this is the other great stuff Pamela sent

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Use your stash crop Party Jan 27th at Scrapbook Challenges

2010-01-20T21:55:00.004-05:00

Use Your Stash! Weekend Crop Party

Time: January 22, 2010 at 9pm to January 27, 2010at 12am

Location: Scrapbook Challenges

Join us for a weekend crop party hosted by SC DT gals Deb, Debi, and Ilene. We will have challenges to make you use up that stash you've been hoarding for far too long. Yes, we're talking to you! Stop on by for a chance to clear some space for new supplies, to win fabulous prizes you won't want to stash, and mainly for fun! :) 6 Challenges will be posted Friday night and you will have until Wednesday, midnight (your time zone) to complete them. Mark your calendars!

Hope to see you there!

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

My Home Page

2010-01-18T17:04:00.004-05:00

I got the day off from the work at The Linkous House today because its a holiday and the wonderful crews who are rebuilding our kitchen and the scrapbook room took the holiday off. It was a very needed break. Mikey is still having a very rough time. We eat most of our meals outside because the second we turn the stove on...He runs screaming to the yard in fear that our rental house is on fire. I feel so bad for him. I did this page today while not doing the million other things that I have written on a piece of paper that

I need to do....Tomorrow...I will start that list tomorrow...

This page is going to be for a challenge over at Creative Scrappers and there's lots of time left if you want to join in on this one. Your page is due in by Jan 30th. The sponsor is Courture Cardstock

(click the photo to enlarge)

The journalling says

There is no pain greater than

watching you be afraid to come inside a building

I want to make you understand that our home is a place where me & daddy & you are...

It isnt a building that can burn down

I want to make you understand that we are okay

I want to take your pain away and give you the safe

place that you once knew as home....

The paper came out of a pack that I split three ways with my friends Kelly & Renee so I dont even know what line it is because this one I dont have a cover for :( But I have the pretty paper :)

The little black House and hearts and home and arrow stickers are the Family Dazzles from Hot off the Press that came in the kit with my Scrapbook Spinner Template sold on HSN last week and I love them !

This is the sketch from creative scrappers site incase you want to join in on the fun there

It is time again for scrapbook Challenges new sketch. Pamela over at Pamela's world of Scrap is ever busy coming up with a new and different sketch for us to try. If you havent signed up to join us over on Scrapbook Challenges I hope you will go over and take a look.

(click the photo to enlarge)

Here is her sketch

and you are so gonna wanna take part because you could win some cool stuff from

https://www.nikkisivils.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker is a manufacturer that "create(s) wonderfully original scrapbook paper and embellishments by focusing on our(their) imagination and love for crafting." I do hope you take the time to check out their stuff. :)

Nikki has generously donated this for one person to win

These are from the "U R My Favorite" line. Those papers are all double sided too, so here is a pic that shows you all of the designs in the line.

So all you need to do to try to win this is to participate in the weekly challenges and sketches. They will all be listed in the "Current Challenges" section. One person will be chosen by random from the list of participants to win the monthly sponsorship prize.

(Nikki Sivils Information provided by Pamela at Scrapbook Challenges Site)

-Wendy

Catching up after the fire :)

2010-01-16T20:24:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone :) I finally got settled into a rental house and rental furniture...its my...rental life ! Got to make a scrapbook page of that. We had a fire for those of you who didnt know on Jan 2nd. I have had a very hard time dealing with the mistake and my son has been very tramatized by the whole ordeal. He is four and I know he will recover but it is very hard to watch him suffer because of a stupid mistake that I made.

I got settled enough today that I made myself a little corner to scrapbook.
I have to admit that I miss very badly my home and my scrapbook room.

My husband has teased me that I have no thought of what the kitchen will look like. What cabinets will I get ? What tile on the floor ? What kind of stove ? These are choices I have to make soon....and many others...but I can get very excited when I think of the rebuilding of my scrapbook room. How will I store my ribbon this time ? What system could I add for storing my punches and paper ? I can get excited about that !!! Who cares about the kitchen. Mike cooks more there than me and I guess the pun to that joke is...no wonder...I cant manage to remember to turn the stove off :(

It will all work out good I am sure later. I read back thru my journalling from last June when I had my hysterectomy and I hear in my voice that I was miserable and thought that I would never get thru that horrible time either..... But I did. The point of my thought is.....This too shall pass :)

So this page is the 150,000 dollar page !

This is the page that lay on my table in the scrapbook room. This is the photos that were coming out of the printer that had my attention when I sat back down and forgot the grease I put on to fix Mikey some fries. This page was laying on my scrapbook table when I went back into the house later after
the fire was gone and the smoke had settled.

Today I finally got things settled enough to set back in front of this page and finish it. I put together a make shift scrapbooking corner in the rental house and I must admit that I really really miss my scrapbook room.

There are more photos of the house fire and construction on my flickr page.

This is the sketch that Pamela over at Pamela's World of Scrap did and the page is long since overdue But for 150,000 dollars and three or four months of our lives out of our home....I wanted to finish it. LOL

I also wanted to share my kit that I won for my scrapbook page over at

Liz Chidester's The Scrappiest Blog.

This was the first ever prize that I won for a contest and I was so thrilled when it came in the mail. The house burnt on Jan 2 and I got this package on my side porch on the 8th. I went up to the house to check things out and when I saw it setting there against the front door it made me so happy. Paper that doesnt smell like fire :) I sat in the cold snow on the porch and opened it up and just felt so happy for the few minutes that I escaped into the world in my head where my house was not in total chaos and my things were not ruined and my kitchen was not gone....it made me happy.
I cant wait to use it later tonight to make a page using the loot.

I will post it here later.

Thank you Liz for your sketches at the Scrappiest and thank you for choosing my page. God must have known that I was going to need this little box of goodies when he led you to choose my

page a week before as the winner.

This is the page that won.

and this is the big ole spread of things that came in my box from Liz for winning the challenge.

Let me just say that Liz knows how to give some seriously good stuff away :)

So be sure to go join in on her site at the scrappiest.

2 strands of ribbon, one brown and one teal

AMM Expressions Word metal strips by All my Memories

Spring Fling Collection Shapes by http://www.pinkpaislee.com/

Spring fling collection, green lace shaped paper

a small sheet of pink lined photo mat paper with a note from Liz on the back

Lets Pretend Caterpillar green Itsy Bitsy Blings

Pink Paislee holly doodle sheet of alphabet stickers

KI memories pop culture flower child socialite paper

daisyd's Rub on transfer sheet

5 sheets of beautiful Spring Fling Paper

1 large 12x12 swirly whirlie chipboard accents with 18 nice rusty pickle chipboard pieces

Thanks Liz -Wendy

OH YEA, LEAVE ME A COMMENT ON THIS PAGE POST AND YOU WILL BE ENTERED TO WIN THIS WEEKS BLOG CANDY !!!! THEN CHECK BACK WEEKLY FOR ANOTHER CHANGE TO WIN !!!

HERE IS THE CANDY FOR THIS WEEK

My template made it to Home Shopping Network tonight !!!!

2010-01-12T22:32:00.003-05:00

Okay I watched my spinner template from Hot off the Press on air tonight. It was in the amazing Hot off the Press Family & Heritage kit on Home Shopping Network and I gotta tell ya...it was nerve-racking !!!

I thought I would pass out while Holly Fossen was on air. She did so awesome...of coarse...she never seems nervous to me and how calm she is...somehow makes me nervous...lol....I am watching her thinking that she is gonna fall down or something stupid...she never does...she is always spot on and does an amazing job but I still get all stressed. Even when she isnt selling things that I designed :) hehe

I wanted to just kinda say my thank you's to Paulette Jarvey and Hot off the Press and Holly Fossen for this huge opportunity. What an amazing company and what an amazing thrill for

this little gal from West Virgina :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svZz7Xb0RXA

You can watch the Youtube Video here where they showed it tonight on HSN and I filmed it with my phone...Hehe...You can hear me gasp when she says my name at the end...lol

She says Hello to my friend Kelly too...She was so excited :)

Thank You Paulette, Thank you Holly !!!

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Home shopping network will air my spinner template on Tuesday Jan 12th !!!

2010-01-10T21:47:00.003-05:00

Sorry that I have been missing in action this week. We had a house fire this week and things have been very stressful. Its funny how the things you dont even realize you will miss...you miss !

I will be back up and going again after tomorrow. The AmeriKleen people will be here to start putting us back together. Looks like we are in for about two to four months out of the house :( On the bright side of this horrible mess....We will be redoing the scrapbook room while under construction...so we will be posting photos of the progress here. That part distracts me from the huge void that we used to call a kitchen :(

Be sure and Check out the HOTP Scrapbook Spinner Template online airing of the new template I designed !!! Holly Fossen will be showing it :) Go Holly

It will air on HSN on Tuesday beginning sometime after midnight during the scrapbook shows. They are having some really great buys and the template will be sold in a nice heritage kit with some HOTP dazzle stickers and a disk comes in the kit with 5000 ephemera clip arts and I can tell you now that 19.95 is a great buy on it so please be sure to check it out :)

This is Holly

Here is a close up of the template in case you havent see it yet. You can purchase it here too from
Hot Off the Press or Paperwishes.com

-Wendy

http://www.wendybaisden.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.myspace.com/wendyhackneybaisden

http://www.flickr.com/wendybaisden

http://www.youtube.com/wendybaisden

http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/466029.html

www.thelinkoushouse.com

www.inspiredblueprints.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

www.scrapbookchallenges.ning.com/profile/wendybaisden

Winners of Templates from the Blog Hop

2010-01-05T00:01:00.018-05:00

Everyone be sure to check out the sketch over at Scrapbook Challenges or Pamela's World of Scrap this week. It is such a pretty sketch. Pamela knows how to sketch us up !

Here is the sketch and my page done using the sketch. This is one of my first couple Pages for Scrapbook Challenges as a member of the fantastic design team. I'm so excited to be a part of the team.

(click on the photo to see details close up)

The Flowers on this page make me happy. (HeHe) They are just circles of paper punched from graduating sizes of circles and then I drop each circle into a bowl of water and then wad it up and wring it out and place it into the shape I want it and when it all dries it becomes these great lollipop flowers.

The font is done using the cricut machine and my sure cuts a lot software. Love the new ability to print titles with unlimited text fonts :)

Oh and just incase anyone wants to know....I drew out the winners of the four free

Hot Off the Press 15 Butterflies & Dragonflies templates that I designed.

Everyone be sure to watch, and buy, the Scrapbook Spinner Template that will air on HSN, The Home shopping Network around the 11th of January. I will keep you posted for the exact dates :)

The Hot Off the Press 15 Butterflies & Dragonflies template will also air soon on HSN. Here is a link for itthe butterflies template in a kit sold on HSN.com. The day they air on HSN I will be giving one of each of them away to two lucky winners so be sure to check back here.

So here they are...the lucky winners...Oh and here is how I drew...I put a slip of paper into a hat for each of you as you followed me and commented...then I drew four out tonight...so it is totally random...I wanted to do a youtube of me drawing but we have been such a mess this week I dont even know where my camera is now...so here are the winners

1. Star Rork

2. Jennifer Hanson

3. Janet Z

4. Katrina Hunt

So girls you have won my very first ever blog candy :) message me at whbaisden@gmail.com and I will mail out your free Hot OFf the Press 15 Butterflies & Dragonflies templates !!! Congrats !!!

-Wendy

Scrap Outside the box Picked my page to win !!!

2010-01-04T10:03:00.001-05:00

I needed this one :) Our house nearly burned down two days ago. It was pretty horrible. My scrapbooks are safe and my scrapbooking supplies need cleaned. We lost the kitchen completely. The Amerikleen crew will come in today and say they can spray something that will start to take the smell go away. It has been horrible. We feel very blessed to have gotten out alive and are just thankful we are going to be able to save the house structure. Thank You to all of you who have messaged and emailed and checked on us.

So on to my win...

The band Aid flower was my take on the challenge to use a band Aid on your page. My little boy is four and at the time of the challenge he had pink eye. So I wanted to do a page of that little event.

I found the Scrap outside the box site one night while blog hopping and found the idea to be totally fun and exciting. I cant wait to see what they do next.

You can click HERE to go watch my little Youtube Video on the Band Aid Flower

HERE is the original post on the band Aid flowers so you can see close ups of them !!!