Hello again! Today’s post is going to be a little different from my normal scrapbooking chats. Today I’m going to tell you a little more about me in case there are others currently struggling with multiple health issues and maybe feeling a little lost.

I know a lot has been said about the year 2020 and while it has been quite a year for everyone, there have been many changes in my life that I never saw coming. Late last year, I ended up in an Emergency Clinic because I was having chest pains. I knew I was under a lot of stress and kept telling myself it was anxiety; however, I just didn’t want to take a chance any longer that it could be something else. Well, it turns out there wasn’t anything wrong with my heart – but my sodium level was critically low. The doctor wanted to admit me to the hospital but after arrangements were made for me to see a specialist the next day, he agreed to let me go home.

That began a series of appointments with several different doctors & in the middle of all that – we moved. Not just down the street but halfway across the state. So I basically had to start over with all new doctors and it took some time to get those initial appointments.

Fast forward to March of 2020 and I had been having blood work done routinely for a couple of months. After one lab, before I could make it home, I got a phone call to turn around immediately and go to the nearest hospital. My sodium level was 116, which is considered critically low. I ended up staying in the hospital for 4 days while they got it stabilized. Now, I know that probably doesn’t sound like a huge deal, but I had made it to 50 without ever being in the hospital – for anything. I have never had a broken bone, still have my tonsils & I do not have children. I only ever had one IV up until that point. I was released from the hospital about 2 weeks before the COVID lockdown.

Since then, I have also been through 2 MRIs and a Liver Biopsy. After years of not having any health issues that I knew of, I now have a laundry list of diagnoses. The main one is a Prolactinoma (tumor of the pituitary gland) that is pressing on my optic nerve. Your pituitary gland controls your sodium and thyroid levels as well as several other important functions. I am currently taking medication to help lower my Prolactin level and (hopefully) shrink the tumor. In the meantime I have had consultations with a neurosurgeon and ophthalmologist to monitor it’s impact.

In addition to that, I have Hereditary Hemochromatosis, which is a high iron content in my blood that can seep into your organs. After almost a year, my iron level is within a normal range but the doctor still wants it to be below normal so it does not just build up again. There are a couple of options for controlling this, but I have found that diet has made the biggest difference. Unfortunately, this means I can only eat red meat very rarely. And believe me I love a good steak!

I am thankful that through all of these challenges I haven’t felt too bad; mostly dizzy and having headaches almost daily. It has made it hard to concentrate so at the end of my work day I am pretty wiped out and find it hard to focus on my hobbies. Now that some of my blood levels are in the normal ranges I am hoping to get back to creating and enjoying the upcoming holidays.

If you have health issues or are just going through changes in your life that are out of your control, please know that you are not alone. I sympathize with you and if you need a sounding board or just want to vent feel free to email me or comment if you want to share. I would also love to know if you document these types of struggles in some way – through scrapbooking, journaling, etc. I usually do not; however, this has been such a change that I am thinking it is a story that needs to be told.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Machelle

Family

October 22, 2020

0 comment

October 2020 CKC Layouts

by Machelle Willing

Welcome back! Even though life has been busy, I managed to make a couple of layouts with my October 2020 CKC Kit “Memories of Home.” I am happy to have recorded more family stories to go along with the pictures. In the past I was only journaling the basics of “who, what, when & where.” Recently, I have been trying to write down the stories we tell when we are all together and may not be obvious from just the pictures.

Do you have those “remember when” stories that pop up when your family is together? Journaling does not come naturally to me, so this is something I am constantly working on. What are some prompts that you use to tell a story or start your journaling?

This 8×8 double page layout is about our first house as a married couple. After looking at quite a few houses that did not meet our expectations, we found this one & fell in love with it immediately.

When we went to put a contract on the house, we found out through the Seller’s Disclosure that it was next door to a bomb factory! You see, the house was outside the city limits and there was a huge field behind it. Somewhere in that field there was a bunker where they tested hand grenades, so every once in a while a siren would go off and then you would hear a muffled pop.

If you were in the house you could only faintly hear the siren. It never bothered us in the least and we lived there for six years. Now that is definitely not your average new home story!

October 2020 CKC Monthly Challenge #2

The next 8×8 layout is about my grandmother and something she always said to me growing up. Anytime I would go somewhere, she would tell me to “act pretty.” She wanted me to look nice but to ACT nicer.

I grew up to respect others and in today’s words Be Kind. She always wanted me to be respectful and friendly to everyone, no matter who they were. She knew it was better to be pretty on the inside.

This is something I still try to be mindful of today. I don’t like it when people look down on others because of their current circumstances or things beyond their control.

8x8 Scrapbook layout of something my grandmother always said; green patterned background paper, flower die-cut and a journaling card with hearts

8x8 Scrapbook layout of my grandmother; background paper brown with polka dots, 3x4 card from Simple Stories of a mason jar with flowers, enamel dots and a Lifetime of Memories sticker

This double page layout was for the October 2020 CKC’s Monthly Challenge #2 – Trick or Treat. The second challenge this month was to pick three Tricks (something a little tricky to use) or Treats (something that you love to use) or if you wanted to combine Tricks and Treats then you needed to pick five from the list and incorporate onto your layout. Here were the lists:

Trick Treat

Hand Stitching Flowers

Eyelets Enamel Dots

Glitter Rainbows

Fringing Stencils

Mixed Media Stripes

Doodling Hearts

Rub-ons Woodgrain

So for the pages above I actually only managed to use four Treats – Flowers, Enamel Dots, Hearts & Woodgrain. I have enjoyed being the Guest Designer for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog this month & still have some of my kit left to work with. I am hoping to make some cards as well, so please be sure to check back in for that. Let me know if you played along with the October 2020 CKC and what were your Trick or Treats?

Looking forward to visiting again soon!

Machelle

UPDATE: Since this post I have put together a handout with 3 story starter ideas to help you look for stories that might not be immediately obvious from your pictures. You can check that out and download a copy from my post in March, 2022.

Family Scrapbooking

July 19, 2020

2 comments

“Do You Remember?”

by Machelle Willing

Hello everybody! Welcome to anyone new and good to see you again to those who have been here before. I realized over on the My Story page that I had started with my current situation and how long I have been scrapbooking but not why I started in the first place. It all comes back to the question “Do You Remember?”

Memories + Photos = Stories

Telling stories is what families do. Remembering, re-living, laughing and sometimes tattling on each other. As a kid, I remember any time all my extended family got together someone would start talking about a person, time or place, and inevitably ask the question, “Do you remember . . .?” Everyone would join in with their own memories and there was usually a lot of laughing and talking over each other.

Other times it would just be me & my grandmother and I would ask her to get the box of old pictures down from the top of the closet. We would sit and she would tell me who everyone was, how they were known or related and where the picture was taken. Some of them had names & dates written on the back but most did not. When you are little it never occurs to you that you may not remember who is who or that your elders won’t always be there to tell you the story behind the picture.

However, that’s exactly what happened in my life. I grew up and my grandmother passed away. I have always loved pictures and photo albums so I inherited the box of photos. The problem was I didn’t remember who everyone was, where or why the pictures were taken. And that is how my journey to scrapbooking began. I had my own photo albums and ticket stubs and brochures from vacations but they also didn’t have dates or any information written on them. I did not want what happened to my grandmother’s pictures to happen to mine, so I took the little bits and pieces I had collected to go with the photos and added the who, what, when & why. Throwing in all the pretty paper, stickers, and die cuts was just icing on the cake!

The thing about our photos today is there are so many ways to document our memories, from sharing on social media, journaling, digital photobooks or traditional scrapbooks. We all tell our stories in different ways but the important thing is we tell them. Make sure when someone looks through your photos they know who the people are and why they are important to you.

I am happy that when my family looks through my albums they will always know the stories behind the pictures. Everyone has a story, how do you tell yours? Please leave me a message or comment and let me know, I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Machelle

Family Scrapbooking

Albums family stories Scrapbooking

October 30, 2019

0 comment

Scrapbooking Family Traditions

by Machelle Willing

How many of your family traditions are tied to food, the holidays or both? For me, the one that stands out is Pumpkin Bread. My grandmother made pumpkin bread every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now, I understand that usually when you make bread it is in loaf pans. But not my grandmother, she made it in those small tin coffee cans that they don’t sell anymore.

As an adult I started out making mine in the coffee cans as well, but when they stopped selling coffee that way I had to find an alternative. We tried the loaf pans but, as with a lot of things, it never seemed quite right. Luckily, Pampered Chef started making baking crocks that are about the same size so we bought four of them and now it finally looks right again.

My grandmother was an excellent cook of simple, country food. There are many things that I try to make that just never taste the same as hers, just a little off. The pumpkin bread is an exception and turns out well almost every time.

I recently made a digital scrapbook page for my family album with this recipe. My digital pages are usually a clean and simple design with lots of layers. I like using embellishments that I normally wouldn’t use, like staples, on these pages. Digital is a great way to experiment with different styles because you can always delete it if you don’t like something and you are not wasting any of your physical products.

Scrapbooking family traditions is a great way to pass down recipes, stories and holiday activities to younger generations so they understand why we do the same things year after year.

Click here for a printable version of the recipe.

What are your favorite family traditions or recipes? Please leave me a comment or send me a message and let me know, I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Machelle

Family Scrapbooking

Digital family stories Scrapbooking

May 12, 2019

0 comment

Mother’s Day 2019

by Machelle Willing

Mother’s Day is a wonderful tribute to all the Moms who sacrifice so much every single day of the year to take care of their families.

I grew up knowing my mother, but it was my grandmother who raised me. And believe me, she worked hard.

She had already raised four children. She made the sacrifice of her time, effort and money to make sure that I had everything I needed.

(For a funny story about my grandmother & growing up in a small town, check out my first blog post.)

She’s been gone 17 years now and there are still days when I think to myself, “I should call Maw Maw to tell her that.”

Then there is my mother-in-law, Scott’s mom. Donna raised four boys who all grew up to be perfect gentlemen. We are blessed she is still with us & we had lunch with her today.

Scott & his mom on Mother's day 2019

However, not all women are Mothers and for us that makes this day a rather hard one.

If you go out on Mother’s Day, everyone assumes you need to be told “Happy Mother’s Day.” I have found that to be difficult, because if I tell them I’m not it makes them feel bad or awkward but if I just say “Thank you” then I feel bad. So mostly we just stay home.

While I do not have children, I do have furry kids that rely on me and give me lots of love. Sometimes I feel they are just as much work as children!

George the cat; photo used for Mother's day 2019 blog post. — George

So regardless of your circumstances on this Mother’s day, please take time for yourself and have a peaceful, beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Thank you for stopping by!

Machelle

Family Pets

Cats family stories Huskies

April 21, 2019

0 comment

Easter Stories

by Machelle Willing

Here in Texas we have had a beautiful sunny Easter Sunday. A great day for family gatherings, egg hunts & too much food. For the kids, Easter is all about the Easter bunny and baskets of eggs filled with candy or sometimes even money. So I thought I would share a few pictures of our family Easter stories.

Little girls with their easter baskets — Jami, Kaci, Dakota, Meagan & Kristina

Kyanne sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap — Kyanne with the Easter Bunny

The two pictures on the left are my cousins children and the one on the right is one of their children with the Easter Bunny. The bottom picture is last Easter’s egg hunt. I love taking pictures and scrapbooking so I can look back and see generations of family getting together for holidays and enjoying time together.

I don’t have any Easter pictures of us when we were kids hunting eggs & I wish I did. We had so much fun! I am an only child, but grew up close to my cousins and we spent a lot of time together. The adults would hide the eggs & we would all do the first egg hunt, but then we would take turns hiding the eggs and finding them again and again. Now we just enjoy catching up since we don’t get together as often.

Gale, Linda, Connie & Me (Machelle)

Last year we decided to let the dogs do an “egg hunt”. We have a lot of dog toys that you can stuff with treats, so my husband took the dogs outside while I scattered them around the living room and then we let the dogs find them. It was cute but took them a while to figure it out.

Of course what Easter is really about is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a time to reflect on the great blessing of his sacrifice.

He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”

Luke 24 : 6-7 (NIV)

I hope that you have had a day filled with faith, family & fun and don’t forget to tell your Easter stories, too!

Machelle

Family Pets

family stories Huskies

March 18, 2019

0 comment

Small Town Stories

by Machelle Willing

Hello! Welcome to Small Town Scrap. My name is Machelle & I like to take photos and then scrapbook them along with family memories and small town stories. Here is a funny story about doing what you’re told when you are a kid in a small town.

Growing up in a small town, my cousin, Connie, and I would often walk from my house to the stores downtown on the square. This was about 6 or 7 blocks on one of the main roads through town. The only stern warning we ever got was to NEVER get in the car with a stranger.

We would always start at the Hallmark store, looking at all the figurines and reading some of the cards then it was on to Hall’s Department store where they had a heat press and custom-made shirts, shorts and jackets with the school logo. Next door was the Hardware store, but they also had a whole section of household goods like dishes, towels and home décor. There was a fabric store and a variety store with basic supplies like pencils, notebooks, and makeup as well as knick-knacks and toys. The last stop was always Mary’s Drive In for a Dr. Pepper and sitting for a few minutes before starting back home.

One particular day, we were on our way back to the house and my cousin Gale (Connie’s sister, on the right) drove by and saw us. She stopped in front of the Hallmark store and asked if we would like a ride back to the house instead of walking. We said yes and got in.

Machelle & Connie in our living room; Small Town Stories; family memories — Machelle & Connie

Ya’ll – by the time we got home, my grandmother was standing in the driveway. In the short time it took to drive 6 blocks, someone had called to tell her we got in the car with a stranger! All was okay when she found out who that “stranger” was, but it definitely taught us Rule #1 of small towns – never do anything you don’t want your parents to find out about.

So glad you stopped in. I am looking forward to sharing more small town stories and family memories, as well as talking about all things paper crafting. I hope you leave me a comment, introduce yourself & let me know what hobbies you enjoy! You can also leave me a message or suggestion on the Contact page and follow me on my social media channels.

Come back next time and we’ll talk a little about scrapbooking!

Machelle

Family Small Town

family stories

My Current Health Issues

October 2020 CKC Layouts

October 2020 CKC Monthly Challenge #2

“Do You Remember?”

Memories + Photos = Stories

Scrapbooking Family Traditions

Mother’s Day 2019

Easter Stories

Small Town Stories

-- Categories --

-- Recent Posts --

-Archives-