Do you feel lucky?

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Join the St. Patrick's day fun at STS tomorrow!

The Story of Me part 32

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People I Loved Who loved Me Back

Leo Lewis

It’s important that I back my story up and tell you about Leo Lewis. We were children, but I loved Leo from the first moment I saw him and I believe that’s when he fell in love with me too. It was Leo who became my first friend. Leo who kept the other kids at school from picking on me. Leo who listened to my secrets and told me his. Leo who planned a future with me and made me believe that anything was possible.

Leo was born to an unwed teenage mother just like I had been. His mother had given up her rights in hope that Leo would be adopted by a family who could give him a better life than she could provide. She had never held her son. She never really saw him. She was unaware that he had been born with a heart defect that would require surgery and prevent any family from wanting to adopt him. His defect wasn’t fatal, but the surgery was expensive and families were afraid to adopt a child that would require so much medical attention as such an early age. Any families that were offered Leo opted to wait for a healthy baby.

Leo spent the first six months of his life in the hospital and the three years following that moving from one foster home to another. He started acting out, became a discipline problem and was moved to a county group home. Leo told me once that going to that group home was the best thing that ever happened to him because he never would have met me otherwise.

The boys in the home had to share everything. Leo slept in a room with five other boys sharing three sets of bunk beds. Leo was the youngest and therefore learned to fight for what he wanted at an early age. The counselors that ran the house were more interested in receiving their weekly paychecks than in actually helping the boys. As long as things were quiet and there was no visible blood or bruises no one stepped in to stop the bullying that went on daily.

I was eight years old when I first met Leo and only eleven years old the last time I saw him. He was a year older than me, but he had not passed the third grade so we were together at school. According to Leo, not passing the third grade was the second best thing that ever happened to him because it allowed us to be in the same class. Leo wasn’t dumb he just didn’t have any one to support or help him. He had been alone in the world until I came along. We were kindred spirits.

Twelve years passed between the last time I saw Leo an the day I died, but I never stopped loving him, waiting for him or hoping we would find each other again.

That Man of Mine by Nibbles Skribbles

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Check out this fun kit from Nibbles Skribbles called That Man of Mine! It's perfect for scrapping pictures of that man of yours...

This kit has 40 elements, 12 papers and a full alpha. Chech out the layout I made...

You can find That Man of Mine in the Nibbles Skribbles store at The Studio and you're really lucky cause right now, it's on sale!

My Creation by FlowerScraps

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If you've got kids you've probably got Legos and the My Creation kit by FlowerScraps is perfect for scrapping pics of of both! This fun kit has bright colors and fun elements. Take a look at the preview...

I made a layout for Sebastian...

Check out the flowerScraps blog for more layout inspiration and a freebie!

Spring Fling Collection by Nibbles Skribbles

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The designers at The Studio have all used the same color palette to design some great spring themed mini kits. Manda of Nibbles Skribbles loved the colors so much she made lots of goodies! Check them out...

Isn't it all just the cutest?! AND.....all the kits are on sale for $1 until the
20th! Cool, huh?

I love that everything can be mixed and matched. That's exactly what I did to make this layout...

Check out the Nibbles Skribbles blog for more layout inspiration and make sure you visit the Nibbles Skribbles store before the sale is over!

Sebastian is home!

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Sebastian was released from the hospital on Sunday!

Mom says he is still in a lot of pain, but that he is very happy to be out of the hospital and in his own house. I think they're all getting more rest now that they can sleep in their own beds.

There really is no place like home!

Next week, (I think it's on the 21st) Sebastian is scheduled to go back into the operating room to get a new cast put on his leg. The one he has now is a combination cast/splint/wrap thing that they put on because there was lots of swelling from the surgery.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get a picture of his new Spiderman cast to show you!

Sebastian and his mom and dad are still busy reading all of the cards Sebastian rescieved. Here's another picture of some of his goodies...

My friend April is hosting a challenge at Scrapbook Flair that involves making pages for Sebastian and there are some adorable ones that have been posted. There is still time to join the challenge! I know there's some sort of prize involved, but I'm not sure what it is.

He is going to love seeing all the pages with his pictures on them!

The nicest car jacker ever...

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I know there are areas of town that should be avoided and I seriously avoid them ~ as long as my bipolar GPS doesn't insist on taking me there. There are other areas that I am comfortable with --- maybe a little too comfortable. Areas like my own neighborhood.

I was up and about early this morning and after getting gas I decided to vacuum out the car and run it through the car wash. I was meeting up with someone from my photography class later in the day to take pictures and thought she might appreciate riding in a halfway clean car. Plus, I seriously can't remember the last time it was vacuumed out so it really, really needed it!

I got my gas and drove the car around the building to the vaccuum. I put my quarters into the machine and began the boring job of vacuuming. YUCK! After finishing up on the drivers side of the car I walked around to the passengers side. Of course, I couldn't take the vacuum hose with me so I pulled it across the seat from the drivers side door. You know what I'm talking don't you? You've done the same thing before, right?

I'm almost done vacuuming and I look up to see someone, a man, standing right by my car ~ right at the open driver's door.

Now, I'm pretty sure you are all too aware that I don't handle emergencies well, but I gotta say that I was proud of myself today! In a matter of seconds, I assessed the situation and noticed some very important things...

1. This guy was tall enough that I only had a view of him from the waist down, but his pants were on and zipped up so that gave me quite a bit of relief.

2. My purse was under the seat on the passenger side of the car ~ closer to me than him so if he wanted my whole $12 and change he was going to have a hard time getting it.

3. If I needed to run I could cause I was closer to the street and the front of the station than he was.

4. The last and maybe the most important thing I noticed was that my keys were in the ignition and the car was running, so if he wanted to drive away with my car there wasn't going to be much that I could do to stop him.

Now, I'm torn between saving my car and letting him steal it so I can get a new one. Even though I would really like to get a new car, instinct kicked in and I decided to save my beloved VW.

The guy was still standing there as I started screaming and reached across the car to turn it off and grab my keys.

Well, I scared the poor guy more than he had scared me! He immediately put his hands up like he was being arrested and tried to back away, which wasn't easy because of the vacuum machine, the curb and the fence that were behind him. As he backed away he was saying...

"I'm nice! Please don't scream! I promise I'm nice! I'm waiting for my friend who is supposed to be here cleaning his car! I'm nice! I promise!"

I got the car turned off and managed to get half of my key out of the ignition before backing up enough to see that I wasn't in danger. Yes, I literally mean that I got half of my key out of the ignition. Apparently, I don't know my own strength because while I was screaming and turning the key and trying to get it out of the ignition I managed to break it off.

The scary car jacker guy is still standing there with his hands in the air apologizing as I'm standing on the other side of the car pointing my half of a car key at him like a weapon and holding my other hand across my heart cause I swear it was about to beat itself right out of my chest. The scary car jacker guy was talking and talking about being sorry and not really being awake and his friend being late and not knowing where he was and trying to call him and not realizing that he had even walked up on my car the way he had and how he didn't mean to scare me and how he really was a nice guy.

Once my heart rate slowed to a pace that allowed me to hear something other than the pounding sound of it's beats in my ears I actually looked at the scary car jacker guy and had to laugh. I really was scarier than him and he was still holding his hands in the air. If the police had shown up, I probably would have been the one in trouble.

The not so scary car jacker guy offered to help me get the broken key out of the ignition, but I was able to get it with no problem and I had the valet key so I wasn't stranded. The guys friend arrived and I got to meet him. He was nice. Turns out he knows Orange Croc Guy, so OGC knew all about my experience before I had a chance to tell him.

He's still laughing at me!

I know that I was lucky and that this whole thing could have gone wrong ~ very, very wrong~ but I am having a hard time telling the story without laughing myself!