RIP Jesse James

Today was a very sad day for me. Our 13 year old budgie, Jesse James passed away. He had been acting very quiet and sleepy for the past three days and wasn't eating or drinking much. Every hour I would reach into his cage and hold food and water up for him and he would take a bit, then go back to sleep. It was so unlike him, as for 13 years he was chirpy, happy, active, cheerful and affectionate every waking moment.

I had contacted an avian veterinarian, but she said that 13 was very old for a budgie and if I tried to bring him into the clinic for a checkup the stress would be too much for him. So I followed her instructions, lowered his perches, placed folded up towels in the bottom of his cage (in case he fell), kept him warm and quiet, and tried to keep him as comfortable as possible. This morning he was quieter than ever. I took a few photos of him, knowing in my heart the end was near.

Late this afternoon I was in the kitchen and happened to be watching Jesse as he slept with his head tucked under his wing, when he suddenly just stretched his wings straight out from his body, then slowly, slowly, slowly toppled off his perch and landed softly on the towels. Within a few seconds he stopped breathing. I think his heart finally gave out. I burst into tears, but was very grateful that the end was quick for him. Poor old Jesse. I loved him dearly and will miss him terribly.


I used Word Art World by Jennifer's June Facebook exclusive, "Memories" kit to make this page for Jesse.

1945 C.W.A.C. Mom

I'm continuing work on my heritage pages. I used one of my sister Lil's beautiful kits 'Vintage Sepia' (LLL Creations) for most of this page about our Mom. The little Memories tag is from 'Clementine' (Rebel Without a Pause). And I made a few things... the Sergeant's patch, the Canadian Women's Army Corps pin and the army button were all extractions from photos and enhanced in PSP. The vintage postcard is a crop from a multi-colour C.W.A.C. poster, which I aged to dull it down to the right tone for the page. And the letter is a real WWII letter from history archives ... I aged it and blurred it.

May the Force be with you!

Yesterday my hubby and I were driving around doing some errands, grocery shopping, etc., and when we drove by an arena we saw 4 Storm Troopers standing right by the driveway at the side of the street. Well we had to pull in to find out what was going on.

The parking lot was packed, but we found a spot and went inside. A group of volunteers called 'Force Niagara' were holding a fund-raiser for 'Help a Child Smile', (helping children who have cancer).

We walked around looking at the exhibits and there were lots of volunteers wearing amazing costumes. One of the fund-raiser activitiies was getting your photo taken with the storm troopers, $5.00/pic ... we bought two and made another small donation on the way out. It was fun, a nice little break in the middle of doing errands, and it was for a good cause.

I think we were the only couple there that did NOT have young kids with us. :)

I used 'Space Race' (A Saxon Creation) for most of this. The green ticket is from 'Let Them Eat Cake' (A Saxon Creation). The film strip is from 'Sweetie' by Scrappy Cocoa. It was brown, but I changed it to black :)

Fabulous

I was thinking about how quickly lives can change. It was only a few years ago that my niece posed for these photos, and now she's a wife and a mommy with two baby boys and is more beautiful than ever.

I used a kit called "Hey Girlfriend' (by LouCee Creations) and the matching freebie cluster frames that I grabbed (just this morning) on Lou's Facebook Fan Page and her blog.

The journaling says,

"Just a few years ago you were dreaming of being a wife and a mother, and now all of your dreams have come true. From your whirlwind courtship, to your fairy-tale wedding it's been an incredible story ... and now you have a loving husband, two beautiful baby boys and are still a gorgeous young woman. You are a fantastic Mommy, a fabulous person, a loyal and generous friend, and I'm very very proud of you. You are loved Shannon."

1945 Beautiful Mom

I used a kit called "i doodle love u" (Word Art World by Jennifer) and Jennifer's Mother's Day (SWAP 82) wordart. Roadside Designs had a free Mother's Day template (which I can't use in MyMemories), but I flipped it around and sort of scraplifted (copied the layout) it as a starting point for my page.