working late

yes i am working late again but i have some good reasons why.

1. i got really sick for about 4 days in the last week - like can't get out of bed, throw up flu sick. heck, i even missed my soccer game. that is sick. and when you have days like that, everything catches up with you.

2. the weather is beautiful so i have been trying to take noah on walks and runs (but yes, taking it easy as i transition back into health mode)

3. oh yeah remember the container? i saw it. it...is...full. like jammed pack full. so that has kept me busy (and you know the reason why)

but i am not too busy to do a LO here and there. i did this LO this weekend during some periods of when i got out of bed and wasn't too sick - it has been a while since i have done a layout of my grandma. and even thinking about it now makes me a bit sad.

my grandma is 91 years old this year. she lives in hong kong. she has been widowed for over 23 years now. she does not speak english. she had a stroke last year.

but when i think of my grandma, i don't see my grandma as she is now, i see her as being 65 years old. i see her talking to me. i see her spoiling me. i remember going to her place for 5- 6 weeks at a time some summers.

even just a year an a half ago, she was telling stories and cleaning oysters like in this picture. but after her stroke, she doesn't do these things anymore. it is so hard to see someone you love get old. i was so HAPPY to see her smile when we went to see her in december when she held noah, jonathan and sophia (her 3 great grandbabies). she is the only grandparent david and i have left.

my grandma knew that deb and i had a business but wasn't sure what we did with all the ribbons and things we had designed. so for her birthday i made her a mini scrapbook (which was REALLY HARD in the small space we were living in) - it was just of her and noah from the first day they met. i added some chipboard, stickers and rubons and she absolutely loved it. the day before i left hong kong, i saw that she had the album by her bedside.

for chinese new year, i also sent her a bigger album with photos of her and noah and the other babies. i didn't need to add words. she didn't need them. the pictures along with some of the simple embellishments are just enough.

so this LO is for my grandma and it reminds me why this hobby is so awesome - the things you can do with scrapbooking transcends even words, cultures and time.