Good Grief

I'm honored to be part of a new scrapbooking challenge blog, Good Grief. The purpose is to document the losses we’ve experienced, cherish memories, and honor our loved ones we've lost.

We’ll be posting our layouts twice a month (on the 1st and 15th), based on different challenges. The first challenge is to ‘use song lyrics’. Over the next couple days you’ll get a closer look at our layouts and a chance to dig deeper to our stories.

I hope you can stop by, take a look, and join us - already, one challenge in, I've found this to be quite therapeutic in my healing process.

My layouts (click to to get a closer look):

29 Day Giving Challenge

I saw this quote today and it spoke to me - so I posted it on my Facebook earlier:

"That best portion of a good man's life; His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." --William Wordsworth

Seeing this reminded me, it was time to take another 29 Day Giving Challenge. I've tried it a couple other times, and while I don't think I've done the full 29 days yet, it's always been a rewarding experience. After all - don't we get more out of giving than receiving?

You never know whose life you're going to touch ... or who is going to touch you!

45 Questions

I was cleaning out my starred items on Google Reader and found a cute quiz on the Splendid Miss M's blog. Since I rarely blog (I know, I need to work on that) figured this would be good enough.

1. What kind of SOAP is in your bathtub right now? Victoria's Secret body wash (hate bar soap!)

2. Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Nope

3. What would you change about your living room? Make it bigger? Honestly, this is the room I spend the most time in, and I don't mind it too much!

4. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Dirty

5. What is in your fridge? Beer, Wine, Condiments, Pellegrino, maybe some old milk. I don't cook at home much (and don't like leftovers!)

6. White or wheat bread? Wheat

7. What is on top of your refrigerator? A couple vases that didn't fit in the cabinet

8. What color or design is on your shower curtain? Green and blue plaid in my guest bathroom, glass door in the master

9. How many plants are in your home? Seven. Not all of them are alive right now though.

10. Is your bed made right now? Yes - I have to have it made!

11. Comet or Soft Scrub? I'm going to go with Comet. Don't use it often though. Prefer my spray cleaner.

12. Is your closet organized? Yes, but it's full. I need to do some purging. And let's not talk about my guest closet.

13. Can you describe your flashlight? A yellow one with my name on the bottom from when I lived at ZTA.

14. Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? Glass.

15. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? No.

16. If you have a garage, is it cluttered? No garage.

17. Curtains or blinds? Blinds in every room - I still need to take Mom up on her offer to make me living room curtains though!

18. How many pillows do you sleep with? Four. There are two more, but I throw them off before I get in to bed.

19. Do you sleep with any lights on at night? No, although I fall asleep with the TV on.

20. How often do you vacuum? Not nearly as often as I should!

21. Standard toothbrush or electric? Electric!

22. What color is your toothbrush? Cream.

23. Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? Yes, it even says Welcome!

24. What is in your oven right now? Nothing.

25. Is there anything under your bed? All of my holiday decorations (none of which I use besides Halloween and Christmas) and my ski stuff.

26. Chore you hate doing the most? Putting away laundry.

27. What retro items are in your home? My Grandma's stand mixer (yes, even though I've never used it).

28. Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? Yes, my second bedroom. Supposedly my scrap room ... in reality, my crap room.

29. How many mirrors are in your home? Four - one in each bedroom and one in each bath.

30. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home? No. Or if I do, I don't remember where I put it.

31. What color are your walls? Mostly the boring cream color my condo came with. One wall is painted a wine color, and another is a light tan.

32. Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? Kitchen knives?

33. What does your home smell like right now? Plug-ins - I have a couple around my home.

34. Favorite candle scent? I like Cucumber Melon - generally like fruity scents best.

35. What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? I think there are a few jars in there ... no idea how long they've been there. Probably since I moved in 6 years ago. I'll say dill though.

36. What color is your favorite Bible? I have one bible, sure it can be my favorite, it's black.

37. Ever been on your roof? Nope, and I don't want to!

38. Do you own a stereo? Yes, just one.

39. How many TVs do you have? Two - one in my bedroom and one in the living room.

40. How many house phones? Three - each bedroom and the kitchen. No one ever calls on it other than telemarketers though!

41. Do you have a housekeeper? She's typing this.

42. What style do you decorate in? I don't think I really have a 'style' - maybe simplistic/homey?

43. Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints? Mostly solids.

44. Is there a smoke detector in your home? Yes, and a couple CO2 detectors, as well.

45. In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you'd grab if you only could make one quick trip? My laptop, my purse, some scrapbooks