So so so hard to imagine that ONE YEAR AGO...I was laying my "possible" entries out on the table... questioning, doubting, wondering.... then choosing,  packaging,  shipping!...entered Memory Makers Magazine contest... "MASTERS".  DONE!   Then, back to LIFE...on to forgetting about it  and then being SURPRISED by a phone call.   A phone call from,  "I'm sorry, what was  your name again because this time I AM paying attention and I want to remember this momement...."  (I answered my cell phone in the library UNDER the sign that read "NO CELL PHONE USE IN LIBRARY"... (SSSHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!)  as the thrill filled my soul and the tears ran down my face!....and my daughters looked on with worry! (Erin Edelmann... I remember)

What a wonderful year... I have LOVED every minute of being "creative on demand"!   I tell you that when "the" announcement came and my cell phone started to ring from as far away as the north east of the USA ( I was physically in the desert of  AZ... creative escape)... my life changed!  That is when "THE" announcement was made to the public.  I had known for several weeks prior but I swore to keep mum!   ( I did pretty well on that promise... only to family and friends...wink.. and the several few who witnessed my call in the Jan Platt Public Library and those who saw me jumping like a fish out of water in the parking lot... so excited!)

fast forward... waiting for the first assignment... tick tock... tick tock... the wait seemed endless...

I remember sitting at my computer, meeting my fellow masters on line..., tapping the keyboard... building friendships...sisters....WAITING for the assignments to begin...we made our own challenges... our own pages... only to ourselves... or NOT... waiting for THE REAL assigments... THEN   ....   WHOOMPH!   creative on demand!...

we started to get busy... a good busy!  I loved the rush!  I stepped up to the last minute deadlines... I loved the calls for this cover or that layout...I am proud to say that I NEVER missed an issue!   I got them all done! ( I thank my husband who never complained and my kids  and a great baby sitter...)

This has been a great year!  I have forged a path that I would have NEVER imagined 3 years ago when I walked into "the scrapbook shoppe" ... stuffing my basket with paper and embellishments for my son's eagle scout album....and lexi told me to put 1/2 of what was in my basket back!  She saw that I would take it home and get frustrated..... good call Lex!  thanks!

I have met some of the most amazing women EVER!  Michele Skinner, Katrina Simeck, Crystal Jeffrery Rieger, Ronee Parsons... all who call me "grandma" and that is OK!  You will all be my friends forever!  You are always welcome to escape your frozen "wonderlands" and come to a real PARADISE on the west coast of FLorida!  my door is always OPEN to you!    The "effin W" staff... AMAZING!   Loved meeting you all... Greg, you are a sweetheart!, Christine... love working my fingers to bloody nubs for / with YOU!  Eileen, so organized... Erin, ... Miss you.   David ... so sweet and entertaining!... missed you in CHICAGO... Patty, peaceful patty... so sweet!  Courtney,... fun to email with (healthy baby and easy birth!)...love the name catherine by the way!.... Beth, thanks for your sweet encouragement and time...I know that I am missing names... but my heart swells with love and admiration for these folks who have given ME a chance or two... or three or four....  Thanks for the MEMORIES... It has been a fabulous RIDE... a ride of my life ... alll 44 years of it...."grandma"....

I know that OUR term is not really UP but the new (yet unknown) Masters have entered and have met the first of MANY deadlines... now the waiting begins for them... I will pass "THE GLUE STICK" on....  with pride...   BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ALL WHO ENTERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am glad that I am not the "judge"!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Catherine.... aka... grandma!