It’s 7am when I stretch and roll out of bed. I don’t need an alarm in Summer because floor to ceiling windows face East and that’s the time when the sun starts to stream thru the blinds. First job is to put the kettle on for a cup of tea then let the dog out and make a pot of coffee. I watch the news on GMA, check e-mail and am usually in my body by 8:15 when my daughter drops off my one year old granddaughter. Jovie’s walking now, so we play outside for about an hour then have a second round of breakfast. Nap time rolls around shortly thereafter, so I have about 2 hours to re-check e-mail, make/return phone calls, put in a load of laundry and jump in the shower.

Nap time is usually over about noon, so now we have lunch, then run errands, or go to the park all depending on the weather. It’s been too hot this past week to be outside a lot in the afternoon. 100 deg weather is like living in an oven when you’re outside and there’s no pool….. not for me at least. I do have a baby one, but Jovie has a cold this week, so the dr said to keep her out of the water. Way too soon, it’s time to take Jovie home. Mommy has already picked up her brother from school, so they’re both waiting for us when we get there. Now it’s time to play with Dylan. Speedracer is the name of the game and we spend 30 mins racing cars up and down the hallway – rest assured, by this time Dylan is doing all the racing. 5pm rolls around and it’s time to head home to make dinner. My husband is retired and makes his own lunch, but 95% of the time I cook dinner each evening for us both – the Food Network has become very inspiring. I even have 3 barrels of herbs in the back yard. I tried growing tomatoes last year, but it was too hot or something and they died. After dinner I clean up the kitchen, finish up the laundry I started earlier, pick up toys then relax on the back porch for a few minutes. It’s about 10pm before I get to check my e-mail again and there it is……… an invitation from Ellen to join a mom’s group on Twitter. Since I’m a “grandmom” I’m flattered that she thought of me, but when would I have time? Today wasn’t very busy, but there was still no time for even a lonesome tweet, never mind log on to the Twitter site. How do these folks do it…… it’s hard enough for me to find time to blog, let alone twitter.

The internet is a wonderful thing and I can’t imagine a life without my computer, but there is so much going on out there in the world wide web, I wonder if anybody does anything in the real world any more. So, no “tweets” from me I’m afraid. I think if you’ve read thru this blog entry, you’ll realize there isn’t very much for me to tweet about any way.

Have a fun and fabulous day!

Yours truly,
Julie

Romeo passed away at the vet’s office on Saturday evening. He was 12 years old. For those of you who have watched the show over the past 12 years, you’ll know that Romeo was my daughter’s husky – 100lb of lovable fur and the subject of a plethora of projects for Scrapbook Memories and magazine features. One of my favorite photos is of Romeo as a puppy, sitting on the top step of our pool, literally “cooling his buns”. He was a big part of our lives for a long time and we will miss him very, very much.

Yours truly,
Julie

I’ve been so busy it’s hard to believe I got home from taping the new series of Scrapbook Memories two weeks ago! It was a blast as always. We have so much fun taping the show, but the days are so fast and furious we don’t always realize how much fun till later. We had great guests as always and I got to present some projects too. You’ll have to watch out for my Photo Block holiday ornament. I need to work on my tassel making skills…… they’re really very easy, but for some reason I was all thumbs that afternoon and couldn’t even tie a knot! I’ll refer to that segment as the hassle with the tassel.

We had some new and returning guests for this series. Julie Stephani was back and Julie Fei Fan Balzer, so every time someone said “Julie” they got 3 responses – in the end I went back to my nickname and said to “just call me Jules”………. now everyone is wondering who “Jules” is. I wish you could take a peek into the Green room some time. It really is green. Each time I’m there, I intend to take photos to post, but Beth and I are flying in and out changing clothes, collecting projects, helping guests, etc. that I just forget. BUT, this time I have a treat for you…. Julie #3 (Balzer) is a great blogger and has photos of it all… so if you want a sneak peek behind the scenes of the show, visit her blog @ www.balzerdesigns.typepad.com.

Most of our guests are in and out in one day, but Julie #3 didn’t leave until the next day, so after we wrapped the show (and Julie helped us pack up) we went for a quick trip to Chagrin Falls. It was great to be able to spend time with a guest and chit chat – so, if you see that my blog has moved over to typepad, you’ll know why – Julie has inspired me to do more on the internet. For some reason photos won’t load at this blog site so even if I did have photos to share, you wouldn’t be able to see them anyway… duh…. I can even load short videos at typepad, so I may do one on “How to Make a Tassel”.

Series 1500 will start to air in September, so check your local PBS listings. I always watch on BYU on #374 on Direct TV, so you’ll probably see the new shows before I do. It airs every day at 1pm CST and on Saturdays. The show has been on the air for 12 years now and, of course, there’s more to come. 12 years is a long time – it means I’ve taped 299 half hour shows! That’s a lot of shows in TV Land. Each series has been different and the next series will be different again. Creativity is always changing; that’s what makes it fun and inspiring. On the down side, it means I’m 12 years older too, which isn’t always quite as much fun, or as inspiring. I still love what I do however. I’ve been a “crafter” ever since I can remember – I am always making something. Creativity has always been a part of who I am and, I hope, always will be.

Yours truly,
Julie