Niece & Nephew

Monday I got the chance to have a photo shoot with my cutie patootie niece & nephew.  This is my new nephew Carston and his big sister, Catarina, who terrorizes him already!!!  Catarina is wearing her Dance Costume.  She takes tap and has a recital soon.  I got to sit and hold him for a while.  He's so sweet and likes to cuddle, he did spit up on me, but he peed on his mom & dad!!!  At least there was no #2 going on!!!

Toodles,

Chelley

My New Co-Worker

The summer internship program started this week.  We got a guy from UT Dallas who is a psychology student waiting to start his graduate work.  Jeff is visually impaired.  He was in a hunting accident about 4-5 years ago.  I don't know all of the details, but he lost his left eye and has lots of major reconstruction work done on his face.  Coming to work everyday with Jeff is Michael.  Michael is a yellow Lab, seeing-eye dog.  He is the sweetest, goofiest dog!!!  Jeff has been assigned to help me with the project I'm working on, so I get to hang out with Michael, too!!!  At the end of the day, Jeff will take off the harness, so Michael isn't "working" and we can play.  He will shake my hand and let me scratch his tummy!!  When Michael is working, I can only pet him when he's laying down.  I took my camera to work today and got some shots of Michael.  So, meet my new co-worker, Michael.

 

Toodles,

Chelley

This morning the bell choir performed.  We performed one my most favorite songs.  It is the 2nd song called Meditation on a Beautiful Savior.  This arrangement was written in memory of a bell ringer (not at my church) who had died from cancer.  The music starts out soft, then it builds as her diagnosis and struggle then death, but ends in a glorious manner as she is entering Heaven, healed of her disease.   I have to admit, we have been practicing this for a couple of months now and every time we play it, I get goosebumps and it was no different today during our performance.  I hope you enjoy the songs.

Bells 5-18-08 from Chelley Johnson on Vimeo.

Toodles,

Chelley

Support Breast Cancer Awareness

Last month I mentioned my youngest sister is fighting breast cancer. She caught it just in time before it spread. She had her lumpectomy last Monday and has found out that she will be starting chemo in the next few weeks. So, please add her to your prayer list. She needs the strength to carry on - working full time and taking care of 5 kids really wears you out.


I have found a cute "Awareness Ribbon" for anyone to insert in the signature line of their emails. With the filter system and work, and the limits of Blogger, I cannot show it to you, but I can tell you how to get it. It is actually a Microsoft font. Open Word, choose webdings as your font--then click on the toolbar to insert a symbol--you will find it. Insert it into your document, then highlight, copy and paste it into your signature line. The color is black, but if you highlight it, you can make it any color you want: pink - breast cancer, purple - pancreatic cancer, yellow - leukemia, red - AIDS, and I know there are lots of other colors and diseases that effect everyone. So, show your support and help spread the awareness.

I know this seems like a lot of work, but spreading the word might help save lives!!!!

Did you know that Google has a desktop tool bar??? Well, it is kind of cool. You can have the weather, a slide show of your My Pictures, and lots of other things to choose from all on your desktop. You can actually have a Self Exam alarm on your desktop, to remind you when it is time to conduct your next self exam. This is for male and females!!! Remember 5% of breast cancer diagnosis are men!!!

Ok, that is my PSA for the day!!!

Toodles,
Chelley

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there!!  My day has been good.  The girls made me blueberry muffins this morning.  My son actually bought me a card, too!!!  It was a funny card that had me laughing for a while.  On the front there is Garfield and it says, "Mom, Count your blessings."  On the inside, there are two Garfields with one sticking his tongue out and it says "I could have been twins!"  Typical Matt!!!

We were going out for lunch, but because of all the yard work going on, we decided to postpone it until tomorrow night.  I got some cute garden decorations for my flower bed and a wind chime to hang off the deck.  We finally got patriotic and got an American flag to hang off the post of the deck.  Tonight we're going to mom's for dinner.  

Happy Mother's Day!

Toodles,

Chelley

Our Not So Extreme Home Makeover

We have finally started fixing up the house---after living here 20 years, it needs some work.  So far inside, we have put in new windows, a new sliding door, a screen door, new 2" wooden blinds on the windows.  Outside, we tore out the old bushes, planted a new magnolia tree (that bloomed yesterday!!!  it smells so good!!!), made a new flower bed with dwarf holly bushes on the left side and a new deck on the right side.  Mike built the deck yesterday and I planted flowers today!!!  Take a peek:

Our Magnolia tree

The deck - still needs the skirting on the underneath

closer up look at the deck with our new chairs - flower are planted behind the chairs

I planted hydrangeas, marigolds, petunias, pink begonias & red begonias

The new holly bushes with a wind catchers

The front porch is on the north side, so it is cool and shaded.  If you're ever close by, stop by and we'll go out and sit on the porch and drink some sweet tea!!!

Toodles,

Chelley

A Day at the Zoo

We took the kids to the Dallas Zoo today for Megan's birthday.  It was a perfect day!!!  The kids had fun in the bird area with the cockatoos landing on them.  It was funny when two landed on Alyssa!!!  We did get to see all of Africa because Megan got sick.  Poor thing, started blowing chunks (all sinus)!!!  She started feeling better until after she ate lunch.  We got to ride the monorail and then the kids rode the best, most beautiful carousel in TEXAS!!!  All of the animals on the carousel are endangered animals. It is beautiful.  I got lots of great pictures, so if you would like to look at them, head over to http://cjphotography.dotphoto.com

Toodles, 

Chelley