Does this make me a pusher??!!

So, I have returned from the land of ice and snow...8 inches while I was there, temps in the low 20s... and today I was walking around my yard in my shirt sleeves. What a contrast and a relief. Inspite of that, I am oddly depressed. Maybe it is because Dave isn't home yet. Maybe it was coming home to a NOT empty house. Maybe it's Mama's maniacal babbling since I stepped in the door. Apparently she has been silent for the past two weeks, saving it all up for me. I saw baby Emily yesterday and that didn't even cheer me up. I usually have problems with depression in the winter- they called it SAD, and it is- but this is different.

I had such a good time in Michigan, despite the weather. The snow was actually incredible, and that part of the state is so beautiful. It is full of gorgeous older homes, including an honest to God 114 year old Sears house (yes, the Sears catalog used to offer house kits) and spectacular views.

I had such a great time with my dad. We seem to get along better ever year. He is recovering from a broken hip and making good progress at last, graduating from a walker to a cane, and is feeling pretty good. His little house is cozy and warm, and he has his good buddy, Snoopy the cat, to keep him company. Yeah, I did a lot of cooking and cleaning while I was there, but we had a nice, low key visit and I miss my dad already.

One weekend my cousin Valarie came across state mid-blizzard and she, my sister Sue and I had a great time together. The three sisters. (Yeah, I hear you saying the three weird sisters; knock it off!) I took a lot of my scrapbooking goodies with me, and we spent a very pleasant Saturday creating pages for the scrapbooks I am making for Daddy. It took me two full days to organize the pictures, and I had finished about six pages when the gals and I sat down to work, and we would have gotten a LOT more work done if I could have spent a day just introducing them to my various cutters, scissors,punches, tools, papers, embellishments and sundries. They had to play with everything, just like kids.

Before I left, I had created the most beautiful book I have done to date covering the first 25 years of my Dad's life. I have pages of notes on his life and have identified tons of pictures with archival ink so that even those not used in scrapbooks will have relevant information on them. I also purchased scrapbooks and some papers for a scrapbook on his WWII Navy career, for at least two more on his life, one on Mom's life and one on his parents lives. I plan on going back every three months or so until I get them all finished. It's going to be so much fun!

Daddy really loved the scrapbook, which was very gratifying.

Sue, in the meantime, got the scrapbooking bug. She was completely enthralled with all my stuff and full of ideas. We went to several scrapbook and crafts stores and she was astonished at all the cool stuff that is out there. She showed the finished scrapbook to her hubby and it tickled me to hear her talk about it with such delight and enthusiasm. She was so excited about doing some scrapbooking on her own.

So, I left her a whole bunch of equipment and paper and headed for home.

I think I heard her whoop of joy from the plane.

I may have created a monster. Or a scrapbooking junkie... because scrapbooking IS ADDICTIVE! So, does this make me a pusher? A paper pusher, maybe?

Anyway, home again, home again. And feeling blue. Thanks to Dad and Sue and Andy and Val for showing me such a great time. Wish I was there, snow and all.