Family, History and a freebie

Tuesday's are my Grandma day so yesterday I traveled to see her and share our special day. My grandmother turned 90 a couple months ago. She is in relatively good health considering her age and has already outlived two of her children, including my mom as well as six of her siblings. She came from a family of eight children born to an Irish family that immigrated to this country. She is a wealth of information as she has been the matriarch of the family for a good long time. She has truly kept the family together organizing all the family reunions and keeping everyone up to date on what is happening in the family. She is still living independently in a small apartment and still drives (although we discourage that as much as possible). So yesterday we went through old pictures and I learned a lot about my family that I didn't know and learned even more about my grandmother. It's amazing to me how clear her memory is. For instance when the atomic bomb was dropped she was at work on a farm and my great uncle, her brother who was in the navy, was shipped to Portugal from France where he'd been since war was declared. His wife was from a wealthy French family. I had never met her because she died before I was born. I learned a lot about my great uncle. I also learned that I had a great uncle who died when he was 21 of complications of pneumonia because he was being treated for consumption. Medical technology has come a long way since then. Here is a picture that I brought home of my grandmother's parents, grandparents and her brother who died of pneumonia. I just love this old photo!
It was interesting to learn about things from when she grew up. I am very fortunate that she is still here and can still remember as much as she does. I am also glad that I am taking the time to ask her questions and learn about the family as well and am documenting this for my children.

I did manage to get home in time to see American Idol. It is getting down to the wire and very difficult to choose who might go home. All the contestants are so talented this year. I have three favorites left since they voted Michael Johns off last week. David Cook, David Archuletta and Carly are my favorites. It will be interesting to see who they send home and I am hoping that tonight isn't a jaw dropper like last week and they send either of the Davids out. I thought they both did a wonderful job last night! Carly did okay. I wasn't impressed with her song choice but she has such a wonderful and strong voice I am hoping she doesn't go.

Now for scrapping news!!! There are brand new designers at Deco Pages and they are so talented. Totally cool products are being added to the store daily as they get themselves settled into the site! New designers added: Lori Staton, Movefearlessly Designs, ShhhScrapz, Sharon Signature Designs and Dragon's Lair Designs. These ladies have fabulous kits in the store and you can find them here. And there are new challenges and more coming to Deco Pages in the forum. There is a fantastic new challenge called Designer's Choice Awards. A different designer each month will choose a theme and at the end of the challenge choose three pages that are her favorites and then the members vote for the winner. Winner gets to choose between a "free" month of Club Deco or the monthly brag book created by the Deco Pages Design Team. The two runners up will get a free kit from the hosting designer. It's a really cool challenge. There is also a new challenge added called All About Me and is hosted by Movefearlessly and then in May there are three new challenges coming.... The new challenges will be hosted by three of the Creative Team Members and the prizes will be totally cool!

Here is the freebie for today! Pink Glitter Swirls to coordinate with DigiSkrapNMomma's Chocolate Covered Cherry Kit. Check out her blog as she is giving away daily freebies this week to celebrate Divine Digital's second birthday. There are other designers linked to her site that are also offering daily freebies. She is hosting a chat tonight at 10 p.m. EST and everyone who attends will receive a freebie from her. She is highlighting her "Spring Fling" Kit which is on sale in her store right now for $2.00. I hope you'll join us!