Goodbye Uncle Chuck

I got the very sad news today that my Uncle lost his battle with cancer. I learned a very important lesson from this that I wanted to share in hopes I can save even one person from making the same mistake. Probably about two months ago my Mom forwarded me an e-mail from my aunt telling me that his cancer had returned and they were trying a different kind of chemo but he wasn’t responding very well. Tony and I talked about making a trip to Chicago so that we could see him. But, first it was Thanksgiving and then Christmas and we were so busy and wrapped up in our own holidays that we decided to wait until after the first of the year. I would mean to call, but then I would get busy with work and home and forget and when I would remember, it would be late and I would think, “okay, I have to get to that this weekend”. On Christmas Eve, I was thinking of him and decided I would call on Christmas Day to say hi and see how things were. I felt like I needed a reason, instead of just “oh, heard you’re dying so I thought I would call”. But by the time we got through with the presents and dinner and everything else, it was late again, so I thought, “okay, I have to call this weekend”. Then my Mom called me today to tell me he took a turn for the worse on Christmas night and he died this morning. Now it’s too late. I’m so bothered with myself that I am so wrapped up in my own life I couldn’t make 30 minutes to call my Uncle and talk when I knew he was so sick. Please forgive me, Uncle Chuck, and know that I have been thinking of you even though you didn’t know it. I will miss you. Love, Julie
Uncle Chuck and Me – 1968
Uncle Chuck and Me at the Lake – 1968
May 2001

10 comments December 28th, 2007

Scrap Your Trip O*V*E*R*S*T*O*C*K Event

Hope everyone who celebrates it had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great Christmas in the Swatek house. Santa brought the kids their much desired Nintendo DS games, Mommy and Daddy gave the kids kittens and for the first time that I can ever remember, Tony was actually surprised by the gift we got him (he’s one of those good guessers and always ruins the surprise). We all spent the day at the mall yesterday, taking advantage of the sales and stocking up on supplies for next year. I’ve enjoyed the past few days off much more than I did the cruise (speaking of the cruise, I am posting all about it to the blog, but I can’t figure out how to get all the pictures to show up on there. I’m a tad technically challenged when it comes to this whole blog thing, so I’m going to have 20-year old Nicole help me with it today It will be posted later. If you want, you can click on the “Create Alerts” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the blog – it will send you an e-mail whenever I post something). We spent two days taking year-end physical inventory before we left for the holidays. I spent some time rearranging our “back-stock” room and there is a bunch of stuff we just have too much of! So, there are over 350 items on sale at 25% off. Once the overstock is gone, the price goes back to normal. Click here to check it out: http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/overstock.html. Don’t forget to sign up for the e-mail alert so you will know when I’ve posted about the cruise to the blog – (Here’s a hint – I didn’t like it). Click here to sign up for a Yahoo Alert : http://alerts.yahoo.com/main.php?view=blogs&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsite.scrapyourtrip.com%2Fblog2%2Ffeed%2F. I hope you have a safe and wonderful New Year’s Holiday. I am grateful for all of things that have occurred in 2007, but ready to start a fresh new year. Talk to you in 2008! Julie Swatek, President Scrap Your Trip® www.ScrapYourTrip.com ‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®

10 comments December 27th, 2007

Scrap Your Trip Adds 83 Items

Greetings from the Brilliance of the Seas in Key West! We are in our first port and getting ready to get off the ship and go exploring, but I wanted to tell you about our last new products of 2007. See how dedicated to you guys I am? All our your cruise tips have been invaluable! We are in the smallest room we have ever been in – all 4 of us crammed into 165 square feet. That part has been rather challenging, to say the least. I’ll tell you more about it when I get back (and am not paying $.50 per minute to be on the internet!) We’ve really been trying to branch out into lots of different and unique themes to help you “scrap your trip” through life. This week, we have supplies for baptisms, shopping and billiards, along with supplies for Washington DC among other things. Tiffany and Jill have come up with more awesome holiday designs to help complete your pages. Click here to see them all: http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/121907.html. Just like last week, I have posted this e-mail on our blog. I really enjoyed reading all the comments last week, as I know many others of you did. Click here to read and add your comment at the bottom: http://blog.scrapyourtrip.com/. Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel, Zalig Kerstfeast, Frohliche Weihnachten and Nollaig Chridheilhuibh (or whatever holiday you are celebrating at this time of the year)! We will be closed Monday, December 24 – Wednesday, December 26. If you need us, send us an e-mail or leave a message on our voicemail and we will get back to you on the 27th. Julie Swatek, President Scrap Your Trip® www.ScrapYourTrip.com ‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®

8 comments December 19th, 2007

Thanks for all the cruise advice! – Entreprenuer of the Year

Wow! I am amazed and grateful that so many of you took the time to give me such great advice. I believe I am ready to go and am so much better prepared thanks to all of you. Some of the things you mentioned I would have never thought of! The kids know we are going to have a “muster drill”. I’m glad to know this. Logan would have been fine – I’m the one who would have been freaked out! I have my water, cash, clothes pins, disposable cameras, sea-bands, hair dryer, nightlight, LOTS of hand sanitizer, an extension cord, a highlighter, a 12 x 12 container and I have unpacked half of my suitcase Based on all your enthusiam and the number of cruises many of you have been on, I have a feeling this will not the last one. I’ll let you know how it goes! Also, thank you again for all your wonderful comments on my Entreprenuer of the Year nomination. I posted them on the website here. I didn’t win, but the guy who did, Elon Musk, was the co-founder of PayPal and one of his three companies is the leader in private space exploration. He is well deserving of the honor. Of course, I still think scrapbooking and memory preservation is more important, but that’s just me Julie Swatek, President Scrap Your Trip®

2 comments December 17th, 2007

Scrap Your Trip Adds 47 Items – What Should I Do As A First-Time Cruiser?

My “holiday rush” is moved up by one week this year. We are leaving the hustle, bustle and madness to take a relaxing cruise next week (the kids are out of school for 3 weeks and we had to have something to do!) We made the mistake of telling them too early. My 4-year old son Logan woke up and said “Is this a school day?” When we said yes, he threw himself down on the bed (he could rival any drama queen) and wailed “But I thought we were going on our cruise!” Since we’re not leaving until next Monday, he’s going to have a long week I’m both excited and nervous because we’ve never been on a cruise before. We’re going on Royal Carribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas out of Miami to Key West and Coco Cay for 5 days/4 nights. I know a lot of you are experienced cruisers and I wanted to ask what advice you would have for a first timer. Then I thought that others of you might also be interested in this advice too. So…I’m going to try something a little different. Instead of replying to this e-mail with your tips, could you please post them as comments to this post on the ScrapYourTrip blog? That way everyone will be able to read them! You don’t have to register or anything to leave a comment – just go down to the bottom and click “Add Comment” and type in your name and your cruising info I can’t live without! Thanks! Since I’m going on a cruise, I made sure we had new cruise scrapbook supplies this week. The SYT Design Team as also been hard at work on holiday designs. Tiffany has worked her magic again and her Tis’ The Season die cut is absolutely stunning! We have also made green and red stockings that we can customize with any name up to 13 letters (only in the font shown). Jill is the “elf” who works in the die cut room, cutting all our die cuts. Apparently, she’s a budding graphic artist with talents she’s been hiding from us! She and Tiffany collaborated on designing this week and came up with a whopping 29 designs for you to enjoy. Click here to see them all: http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/121207.html As always, thanks for your business! Julie Swatek, President Scrap Your Trip® http://www.scrapyourtrip.com/ ‘cuz life is a trip worth scrappin’®

143 comments December 12th, 2007