Will It Be This Week?

...that it snows here?

LOL, just kidding. I know it won't, and I really don't want it to, as people just go wacko whenever it snows. That's a photo of the eastern sky this morning, taken on my back porch. Tres cloudy. The sun is usually blinding me, but not today. Hovering around 40 degrees, and I'm feeling very lucky. My heart goes out to you all enduring the below freezing weather, ugh!

Ok, back to what my title meant..."Will It Be This Week?"
...that I do everything I've planned for it?

I highly doubt it. Seeing as I plan way more than I realistically can do, that is. So, another new, fresh week for me to screw up, LOL. Dangit, why do I do that to myself?

I was thinking about that this weekend. Little things that set our moods, expectations, ways we judge ourselves (fairly or not so much) when we're not even looking. And ways we react without even fully ingesting what we are reacting to.

Heavy stuff. But here's my case in point before your eyes glaze over in utter confusion, lol. When Hubs and I got married, he already owned a home. He'd bought it with his first wife and kept it in the divorce.

And, it did not have a dishwasher, which I noticed right off the bat because I'd never lived without one. Even when I was a baby, we had one that rolled out and hooked up to the kitchen sink. No way was I gonna start living with one now, right? It was 1987, after all.

The week before our wedding, he took me to Conn's, had me pick one out, and then bought it, remarking, "Here's your wedding present."

Well, I thought he was trying to be funny. That was a joke, right? Uh, no, it wasn't. I decided to not make any drama over it, but I remember being a little insulted and just wrote it off to eccentric behavior on his part.

Now, from my first visit to Hub's parents' house, I knew his mom did not have a built-in dishwasher. She had the kind we had when I was a freakin' baby, except that her machine was not as old as I was by a long shot. I refrained from asking any questions as I didn't want to appear rude.

All these years go by, and I'm still just writing it off to eccentric behavior being genetic, okay? Cuz to my mind, no one in their right mind lives without a nice dishwasher, a built-in dishwasher.

This weekend, Hubs and I are talking about our new dishwasher and how I forget it's new and more modern and improved than the one we had for 10 years prior (the one after my wedding present one, which stayed in the house when we sold it in 1998). How I just automatically treat it like the old one, even though the new one is lots more powerful, yadayada.

Well, I make a quip about it being my third wedding present, and that hurts Hubs' feelings. I'm like, confused and ask him to explain.

Turns out, he had bought that first dishwasher for me as a sincere gesture of bigheartedness, because he was raised to be dead-set against them as a general rule.

"After all," he said, "my mom had to wait 20 years to get one."

Well, that just floored me. Not only did Hubs genuinely believe he was giving me more than his dad had given his mom, and a heckuva lot sooner, but I'd never even realised it! And, he'd never even realised that being against having a dishwasher wasn't even a belief he really wanted to own at all.

I swear, if O. Henry'd been sittin' there, he'd have had a new story line. It's just funny, we really do learn something new every day. LOL

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Hey, I have another layout on Scrap the Girls. I say this because you can, too. It just has to be a girl layout. It can be your child, but it can also be you or your mom or sister or friend. They want their readers to send them layouts. It's more like a reader's gallery than submitting and competing and all that crap that I avoid. So, if you visit that blog and believe in spreading your scrap love around, send them a few of your fave layouts about girls. You need to read the post to see what file size and where to send them, so check it out!
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Doesn't that look delish? Don't worry - it was. Food by Hubs, presentation by me. Another funny story here: he told me we were having mahi mahi. Now, call it a sixth sense, but something told me to ask him how he was cooking it. He was going to blacken it. I don't care for his blackened foods, but I'd never told him that. Now I was going to have to fess up, which I did. He got a little ticked, but begrudgingly said, well, I'll fry it in batter then.

Later, I go to make my plate for dinner, and what do I find? Pan-fried blackened fish. {Sigh}. He's just lucky it was delish, that's all I'm sayin...
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Now, what about this dish? It's called Simple Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. You can get the recipe HERE. This is a fave dish at Hub's workplace, and their food rivals any fire house, okay? If you are in the mood for gumbo, this is it.
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Did you ever know a dog that watched football? Our Reggie does. Here he is, catching the games yesterday with Hubs. I don't think Reggie knows how to yell at the refs, but when Hubs does, Reg starts howling. So, maybe I'm wrong...
Anyway, we've been trying to pay a lot of attention to Reggie and he's been lapping it up. I might pay a hefty sum to know what he's thinking. If he's missing Sheila, or even wonders where the heck she is. I know I'll never know this, but still, intriguing questions.

I do notice that he spends a LOT more time in the doghouse now. Granted, it's winter and cold, and that's where the space heater is. I will be curious to see if he continues once the weather warms. We always wondered if Sheila kicked him out of there, since we'd often find him outside when he was supposed to be sleeping...
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The 2peas blogger challenge for today asks: "If you set a New Years Resolutions, how are you doing with it?"

Well, I did not make any per se, but my WordQuad (Dare-->Bare-->Share-->CARE) implies my resolutions, since I'm trying to do more of those 4 things. And so far, I have:
1)dared to go through my "nice" dressy clothes and part with some outfits that I frankly looked silly in but had to have because the model looked great in it. I bared and tried them on first and looked in the mirror, I suppose to hope in vain that I didn't look silly, LOL. Anyway, I shared by donating them to charity when they called for home pickups. Gonna try to do that every time they call, til I get rid of all the silly stuff, and because I care.
2)Yeah, not gonna go thru the words in each case...that one above was just to show the process...I sent my layouts to Scrap the Girls, cuz they asked for them.
3) I've been keeping in touch with my IRL girlfriends more, as well as our couple friends.

Each of these have been conscious efforts, where my first response was not to bother. So, it's a beginning.

Thanks, Linda - Let's Play Hump Tag!

Missy sent me photos of her brand-new dorm room. She moved to a just-opened dorm and has a new roommate, her bff Katelyn. First, a little reclining shot on her bed...

Then, a shot of a couple of LO's I created for her. She has them in the page protectors sideways and uses the binder holes to hang them by. I think it looks cool...

I got a bit verklempt at this shot of her bedside table. She's showing off her Zapatos shoes; but, me being Mom, I spied the striped SEI scrapbook I had filled with LO's and given her, sitting on the carpet underneath the table, ready for her to look at if maybe she can't sleep at night or gets homesick. Awwww.

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I was tagged by the lovely Linda. All of the questions have 2 answers. After answering all the questions here, add one question of your own (this tag started with 4 questions) and then tag 2 people. Simple enough? I am tagging Barbara and Katy.

1. Name your 2 favorite scrapbooking topics:
a. my family
b. my dogs

2. What are the 2 best places you've been to?
a. London
b. Paris

3. Name 2 things you do every day:
a. eat
b. computter (computer-putter)

4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you.
a. my sense of humor
b. my love of writing

5. 2 places you wish to visit:
a. Amsterdam
b. Montana

6. 2 things you may not know about me are:
a. I am such a homebody that I only leave my house once a week, if I can help it.
b. I'm a closet fan of "Little House" reruns, on the Hallmark Channel. The other day, Laura, Mary and Mr. Edwards' son got stuck on a runwawy train car and man, I was glued to it til Pa and Mr. Edwards got it stopped. Whew! That was a close one!

7. 2 nicknames you've had at some time in your life:
a. Miss 5 (as in Miss 5 Minutes Later)
b. Aim-o, Aimeless, Aimester....something usually along those lines.

8. Name 2 of your favorite drinks:
a. Green tea on ice, with mint and lemon
b. Diet Coke

9. What are 2 interesting (in a good or bad way) jobs you have had in your life?
a. Probably my most enjoyed one: in the late 70's, I was assistant controller for Pace Mgmt, which owned Pace Concerts, during their heyday as THE concert mgmt company. Needless to say, I had an awesome night life!
b. Probably my least enjoyed one: One summer in college, I wondered about quitting school to get a job and be on my own. The first job I found was waitressing at a Denny's-type 24-hr restaurant. Although the money was pretty good, I'd never worked harder physically, nor been treated so badly (very sexist). In the fall, I was signed up for those college classes again, bebe. LOLOL Thank GOD!

10. What are your top 2 fun things to do after work?
a. shower
b. put on fresh, clean clothes

11. What are 2 things I would like to learn:
a. Spanish
b. Photoshop Elements

12. What are the last 2 songs you downloaded or last 2 CD's you bought?
a. Amy Winehouse "You Know I'm No Good"
b. John Mayer "Waiting on the World to Change"

13. I added this one:
Name 2 movies you could watch or you have watched 100 times in your life and still watch again, no problem:
a. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
b. Office Space

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Wish me luck and cross your fingers for me: I pulled one of my famous put-aways. I put away in a safe place the memory card that holds all the not-yet-uploaded photos of what I made for Christmas gifts, and now of course, I cannot find it. I know it is here somewhere. It's just that I cannot yet remember where it is. I'm giving it another couple of days before I begin to tear the house apart, so please...say a little one for my card to just appear out of nowhere, ok? LOL Thanks [blushing and shrugging shoulders]

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Edited to add cuz I forgot: 2Peas Blogger challenge for Thursdayis to post your very first layout. omg. well, okay. I'm never one to say no to providing a laugh, LOL. This is my Hubs, Christmas of 1952, his first one:


Have a great end-of-week days!

Happy Boo-Day Tricks & Treats!

What Your Choice of Halloween Candy Says About You
~~Begin excerpt~~

The Washington Post has examined the all-important issue of what kind of Halloween candy you give out to trick-or-treaters says about you. Steve Almond, the author of Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America), provided the in-depth psychological personality type treat analysis, based on....well, we're not exactly sure what he based it on. But we totally agree with his statement in his book:
"There's something incredibly liberating about a holiday that encourages children to take candy from strangers," Almond writes of Halloween in his book. Indeed. For some reason, Almond asked that we make clear that he is a "professional candyfreak, not a therapist."
Read on to find out what message you're sending to your neighbors:
Three Musketeers: Does well in groups but is somewhat pompous. Prone to fancy costumes and arcane weapons. Wears hats in public that are ill-advised.
Almond Joy: I'm going to put aside my aversion to coconut in praising these folks as happy-go-lucky.
Bit-O-Honey: They have contradictory personalities, hoping to express generosity but also having the passive-aggressive desire to damage the fillings of trick-or-treaters.
Butterfinger: Evasive, slippery, not necessarily to be trusted.
Candy Corn: Purely deluded people. They don't get that candy shouldn't attempt to imitate other food groups, particularly corn.
Good and Plenty: Optimistic, perhaps overly so. A little bit of Weimar energy. Strong advocate of gay rights; acquainted with the bitterness at the center of most lives.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups: Generous souls. Those who understand the salty in life, as well as the sweet.
Snickers: Just going with the crowd, the safe candy choice, guaranteed to please the masses. Not ambitious, but dependable.
You can see the full chart with more analysis of your inner psyche, completely horrifying calorie counts and then vote on your favorite treat to hand out here. A word of advice, though: whatever you do, don't give out Twizzlers. They'll peg you as one of the "Sickos. Truly demented. Plastic people living plastic lives."

~~End excerpt~~

My personal pick: Tootsie Roll Pops (she said, silently thankful they didn't analyze that one....).

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~~~~~~~~~BOO!~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~The Ghosts of Halloween Past~~
Both the 2peas bloggers QOTD and the AARPeas QOTW are basically the same topic: memories of Halloween as a child / growing up / yadayada. Well, I'm going to remember back 19 years today, to our first Halloween as a family. Hubs and I got dressed up, too, because we gave a party that night for family and friends.

Here's little Missy in her very first costume: a pink puppy dog with her own matching pink puppy dog. Hubs was snapping the photos (look out), and he didn't think to give her the stuffed animal, so she's looking kind of forlorn. So we give her the toy and she's like, what the heck is this? Third shot: Mom to the rescue. This perks her up and she's all shines. Looks like she's reacting to me telling her a dirty joke or something. I think I said something like, aren't you the cutest thing...probably the same way the mom in the V-8 commercial tells her kid she's having a french fry, yes she is, before the kid bops her one. Whoa, was I lucky there...LOL

This photo is of Hubs. Pirates were hothothot for grown-ups back then, too. I think he wore that costume for about 5 or 6 Halloweens before finally getting tired of it. Personally, I think he just liked wearing the makeup, what do you think? LOL

Finally, we have me. (Please be kind.) My mom made the yellow clown suit, so I kinda had to wear it to please her. And both my mom and my dad were clowns, too, but they only stayed about 30 minutes at the party, after scarring Missy for life with fear (who ARE those people WAAAAAAA!)(I waited until after putting her down for the night to transform myself). Anyway, that wig got really uncomfortable as the night wore on, but how 'bout those cheeks, huh? LOL

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~~~~~~~~~BOO!~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Tomorrow I start a brand new challenge! You may have notice my new icon on the sidebar (top): Art Every Day Month. To find out about it, you can click on the link I show for signing up (you can just read what it's all about there, too).

I love Leah's quiet determination, dedication, and talent. I've seen her go for ages creating one thing every day without fail, and that amazes me. Anyway, it's really low pressure/stress and I can even count cooking if I need to. (ok, I was going to say a poop, but that would have been too gross, right? LMAO)

So, I thought it would be worth it to help me rev up for holiday gift-making. And tomorrow is Day One, so go out and scare people, eat candy, make yourself sick, and I'll see ya tomorrow!

Freestyle Friday

Sorry I'm late to the gate today. I've been having trouble deciding on a topic, all morning. Yes no yes no. Maybe. LOL

I just gave up and decided to catch up on the blog reading I was behind on, and now I have enough of a topic gameplan.

Lynn had a good challenge from 2peas on hers. The gist of it is, share four things about yourself that make you the person you are today as a creator/artist. Lynn's answers were pretty dang good, too. I am similar to her, it turns out, on a couple of them:

1. Like Lynn, I love color! It's what first grabs me visually, with anything.
(I also am a procrastinator -- and I work slowly, deliciously so, I love to dwell in my creativity, it gives me pleasure, and I love variety and trying new things, too. But I'm going to try to think of 3 other things about me that she didn't mention per se, so as to not be a total jackstress of her ideas, LOL)

2. I'm a noncomformist. Been thinking about that trait in me lately. I was at Mackey's blog, where I contemplated it again. More about it later, but I think that trait in me has been what has kept me from playing into the whole design team and publication route during my time in that little world. So much conforming required, unless you are touched by luck. Because I'm not prone to conformity, I've been compelled to create originally, which most of the time means it's something you're not likely to see elsewhere but not necessarily cutting edge or what the majority would like. Oh well, glad those things I don't do are not a job requirement, LOL.

3. My tendency is to be a perfectionist and I fight that every day of my life. I fight it because it's so dang limiting. I have made progress, in that every thing I create has at least one flaw and usually several, and I keep going with it and just punt (figure out how to cover it or work around it). I don't think I've ever created anything that was perfectly done, and now I'm so used to punting that I am getting used to it. For a perfectionist, that's real progress, LOL.

4. I favor form and function. It's the practical teachers' kid in me, having been raised that way. I often joke that if I won the lotto, most of it would be saved because I just don't have it in me to spend it all. Too thrifty. I think that is why I packrat stuff. Why buy something when you can packrat it for later use? When I look at altered art creations, the ones I'm really drawn to are not only beautiful but practical, useful. I have very few things that are just purely pretties.

The Different Drummer

I've had times in my life when I had to conform, and when I did it, I did it well. The accounting profession is not one for sticking out and doing your own thing. It's all about conforming to the theories, the processes, the consistent steps. And after almost 30 years, I know what I know like the back of my hand. It actually comforts me to do it when I'm in the work groove. Think Rainman here, I'm not kidding! LOL Well, okay, I'm not autistic, but accounting is so one, two, three, one, two, three, that it almost makes me feel like a number (Seger fans, Unite!) That's one side of my personality and brain. Then, there's the creative side, which I never knew I had until about 5 years ago. I've always been a good writer, but to me that was more analytical and cerebral, thinking; not messy, chaotic, feeling.

It wasn't until I got into scrapbooking and ATC's and altered art that I realized their artistic connections to writing, and that I could indeed be both right and left brained. I am left-handed in a right-handed world, and therefore I'm already trained to be ambi-brained. And it goes back a ways. Even as a child, my highest aptitudes were always math and English. And in college, I really wanted to major in accounting and minor in art, but they wouldn't really let me do that. They were right - what do you do with that combo, anyway? LOL I settled for minoring in marketing with an emphasis in writing. Face it, I was all over the board. And always have been. Too many things fascinate me.

One thing about getting older is getting comfortable in your own skin, and that's where I think my noncomformist ways have helped. Now or never, ain't no dress rehearsal, real deal. So, why not be me? I've been real lucky to have a loving Hubs who indulges me and lets me do my own thing. And since I'm such a thrifty soul, I can do it without breaking the bank. I think it hurts me though, when it comes to losing weight and stopping smoking. Conforming to societal standards are huge motivators for modifying those behaviors, and I don't bite on them. Mine will have to come from within me. The weight loss has been happening because I truly want to more than I want to taste delicious food, but the cigarette is still too enjoyable.

Anyway, there have been times in my past when I resented and even hated my nonconformist tendencies, but I'm glad to now be able to embrace it at this point.

Like the man said, I yam what I yam, and what I'm not, I don't got. LOL, have a good Friday, everybody!

Oh My Heck!

Usually my days are comprised of minutes that move slower than turtles, but this week things are going fast at a dizzying speed! It couldn't be the 9 tax returns I have left to do with a deadline of Monday, could it? rofl

Anyway, when things get this busy, there's always something I forget. Like in yesterday's post, I forgot to include some information that was very very important to me to post. Of course, I forgot to, right?

Instant Replay?
I am re-displaying this card from yesterday, because I used a Maria Bell sketch as my inspiration, and I totally forgot to cite that. Many apologies, Maria. I happen to have a saved image file of the sketch, which I've shown right next to my card. I had planned to get busy during October using her sketches to make what I'm calling Maria Cards, but her dang sketch site is temporarily down and it's killing me! Just goes to show you never appreciate things til they are deprived from you, right? LOL Really, I always appreciated her sketches, I just never got my act together to make some cards before now. Ten months, that's all it took. Sheesh! Hurry up and get that domain name, Maria, ppplllleeeeezzzzeeee!!!!!!! winkwink


Daily Card Trick
Excuse me for being old-fashioned, but this card makes me giddy! LOL I love to look at it and am going to rue the day I part with it. Love that music stamp I used on the tag, the image of the woman, the quote, the colors, and I currently have a love affair going on with Colorbox fluid chalk ink cat eyes (which I've had for a couple of years, sheesh again). I had always worried about the ink transferring or rubbing off, but I find that if I let it dry long enough, then take a tissue and gently rub it or lightly burnish the ink, it takes care of that pretty well. Tell me, what do you think about my card today? Hope you like this vintage style, cuz I'll be making loads of them, hehe. You were just warned.....

I am Stuck on Rutless, Cuz Ruts Don't Stick On Me
Today's 2peas blogger challenge asks: Are you a person who will go out of your norm to try something new at least once. Or stay with that your comfortable with?

Oh boy, I think I'm allergic to staying the same for too long, in certain areas. Now, my clothes and my furnishings? They could stay the same for a decade, rofl, and some parts of them have. That's "classic" ya know, winkwink. But my hair, my organization, my decorations and arrangements, my art...all fair game to moving around. Even my blogs, you know that! So yeah, I try new stuff. A lot. All in all though, I'd say I'm about half and half. Some things will never change in my world, by choice. Face it, I'm just weird. And I love it.

In China but Close to Home
I hope this doesn't tear me up talking about it, but I was watching ABC Evening news like usual the other day, and on came a story about a special needs kid who is competing in the Special Olympic World Games this week in China. He's from Richland Hills, Texas and his name is Houstin Gardiner and I'll never forget him. They focussed on him, his history, his bravery, his story. He earned a gold and a silver, and when you watch him on the bars you think he's at the real show, he's that good. Interesting guy, really sad history, he's special needs because of shaken baby syndrome, biological parents were likely drug addicts. He was adopted, though, by great people and he's blossomed beautifully, just needs a bit more time than the average person.

I teared up something awful, worse than watching one of those old AT&T commercial, lemmetellya. Well, I had to google him to spell his name right, and you are never gonna believe what I discovered? 8 other kids in the American delegation to those games ARE FROM THE TOWN I LIVE IN. It floored me. Plus, I freakin recognized 2 of them from their pics. They live in a half-way house / assisted living group home around the corner from me! Boy, I was bawling then. I have a soft spot in my heart for kids who have special needs. It's an automatic trigger on my Mama Bear hormones, what can I say? I'd never be able to work or volunteer around them, though. I tried once and could not keep my emotions in check. Anyway, please join me in wishing these kids ALL the BEST and may every kid win a medal! (I went by the house those two live at and asked just to make sure. It's them all right. They are supposed to call me when they get home. They like ice cream and I'm gonna take them out for a scoop at MacDonald's.) Oh GAWD, where are those Kleenex.......

Catchya later, Ladies! Have your best Thursday ever!

Thanks for the Memories

I just had to copy and paste this post I made over at 2peas this morning. I went down Memory Lane (child of the 50's and 60's) for a pea who was doing a book of me about her own childhood and I ended bookmarking that thread because so many peas my age replied and here I was thinking I was the oldest living pea, LOLOL.
Here's what I posted:
"I'm a 1956 baby. I remember most of what everyone has already posted and I only had time to skim, but off the top of my head, memories of my childhood years (and apologies if it's already been listed):

*Captain Kangaroo every morning

*Malto Meal for breakfast

*My dolls were Chatty Cathy and Tiny Tears

*Jewelry boxes with the ballerina who twirled to music when you opened it

*Saving your money in first a real china piggy bank you had to smash to get the money out of, and later a Thing battery-operated bank (from the Addamms Family tv show) - it would grab the coin from you.

*Bolting out the door in the morning and not returning home until you were hungry or it was dark-thirty.

*Schwinn bicycles, often with a wire basket, horn, mirror and back fender you could haul your friend around on

*going to private kindergarten because there was no public

*huge big-sister-type crushes at one time or another on Annette Funicello, Patty Duke, Hayley Mills...and just aching to be Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) when I grew up!


*Playing Chinese jump rope in the 4th grade before school, or jacks (huge!), marbles, checkers, hula hoops, metal skates you strapped on with a key - you lost that key, you were dead

*having to talk on the hall telephone and only for a few minutes (party line and only one phone in the whole house - finally got my own phone extension for 8th grade)

*Keds and PF flyer tennis shoes and that was it, and the ankle socks with the big-ass furry balls on the heel

*mercurachrome on scrapes and cuts .. finally they came out with Bactine spray

*getting whipped or popped or spanked for any little thing

*Go go boots, Bobby helmets, mini-skirts, fishnet hose, Mary Quant, Bonnie Bell make-up, beauty shop perms that made your scalp sting for days and stank too

*shaving your legs for the first time with your dad's double edged razor (there was nothing else), and of course cutting yourself good (I stupidly wiped the blade off with my thumb, ouch)

*I was in 2nd grade when JFK was assassinated; my dad came to get me at school. Everyone and everthing was just at a stop and in shock.

*Exercising to Jack LaLanne on tv at 6:30 every morning


*Charter member of the original Mickey Mouse Club

*Charter member of the Beatles fan club

*Only diet drinks were Tab and Fresca


*American Bandstand on TV

*camping out at the 7-11 to buy Tiger Beat and Teen magazines every month

*The year that Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Time Tunnel were both on tv at the same time - so unfair (no VCR's)

*Straightening my hair by wrapping it it around my head or rolling on orange juice concentrate cans.

*Drying my hair under a beauty shop type dryer (no handhelds yet)

*Wearing hose with garter belts until sometime in junior high (pre-pantyhose)

*No pants allowed at school until I was a high school sophomore. "

Okay, I wanna go lve back then. Waaaa! It really was fun! And since the speas blogger challenge for today was do I subscribe to any kits?... And no I don't... then this "challenge" was so much more fun.

Thanks for all the advice
from yesterday's post. Reading all your comments and emails made me really think about it. I hadn't even considered that Diego might wig out and be violent. I plan to call Missy tonight and discuss the possibility, to develop a game plan, just in case.

Daily Card Trick
I picked this notecard to show cuz it kind of fits in with my girlhood memories. I used one of my Fiskars border punches (eeks, I have 6 of them, guess I went kinda overboard on those, but I'm going to use every one of them now cuz I had fun). I don't know if you can see, but I made the punch wave be parallel to the wave of text - cool, huh? I've started combining my artist trading card stash with my scrapbooking stash and coming up with these artsy kind of cards. And me likey, how about you? Since I just had to buy the entire Melissa Francis line of vintage diecut signs, I will probably be making these til Hell freezes over and they will call me the card lady because I'll be giving everyone I meet a card just to get rid of them all, LOLOLOL. Eeeewwww, hope that was a joke, eh?

Speaking of Punches
Yesterday for about an hour, I thought I was in the Twilight Zone. I keep my punches in one of those hanging clear vinyl pocket shoe keepers, and I was looking for my scalloped square punch -- a big honkin punch, highly visible -- but I was coming up short, no clues either. I went through the entire house, nothing. This went on for about 20-30 minutes, until it occurred to me that I'd just assumed what it looked like and I might be wrong. I was envisioning it as a Marvy Uchida punch. 5 minutes later I see it on a table in my craft room. It's a McGill punch, so my brain never registered it as the missing punch.

Scarey when it happens to ya. Plus, tonight, I called my doctor's lab results line for my blood test results and their instructions, and I entered the wrong number for my own SSN. That's a first, literally. Being an accountant, I am a numbers person and remember all of them. I suppose it might be all downhill from here and just a matter of time now before I lose it (what I feel like anyway).

Well, this lil dab'll do ya surely til tomrrow, LOL yathink? Have a great Hump Day!!!

Cutting Edge, My Arss...

You are a pair of SCISSORS!You're cutting edge, baby! You cut through life with ease, always keeping others on the edge. You have the power to simplify things by just cutting them out. But scissors beware - you may cut some of the important things out of your life without realizing it, in your need to keep trim!
Take this quiz!








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I cannot remember now where I saw this...whose blog it was on, LOL. I'd definitely give credit if I could remember. Anyway, I took the quiz and I'm scissors. Cutting edge, oh right. LOL Maybe a couple of times I've used stuff a certain way or ressurrected some technique a few months before several other people use it too, but I just figured that was serendipity, people all getting the same idea randomly. I still think that, LOL.

I'm having sleep issues again. My body clock rocks along normally, on the 16-hour wake schedule, but then goes too long after a few days. I struggle to keep it from being 20 or 24 hours, but I can never win. I try harder, to force myself to sleep at the same x hour every night, to no avail. I haven't had success in years and years. How's that done again? LOL

It's actually caused by the combo of my meds: they would make me sleep more if I didn't fight them and it ends up causing me insomnia.

So anyway, I stayed up last night working on tax returns and I'm feeling punch drunk now. I've been trying to get photos of the cards I did Saturday edited and uploaded all.morning.long. No luck yet. Things are moving in slow motion, you know what I mean? (I can still type tho, that's 2nd nature as long as my arthritis isn't acting up in my fingers.)

I guess I'll show those cards tomorrow, or maybe all this week, just to have something every day to show.

I went over to 2peas and looked at the blog challenges to get the questions, but really, none of them since Friday have seemed to apply to me or whatever. One asked about scrapping plans this weekend: none. The next one asked what one technique I use on layouts: none, I'm all over the map. And another asked about where I go to attend crops: I don't. The closest to that is my Saturday group that I've only been to twice since we started back up in September, and that's more of an educational or workshop thing. I never "crop" there. I've never really done crops.

I've been surfing around to writing blogs lately, in my spare moments. I kind of feel that's where I'll evolve to next. You may or may not know that I freelance when I can. A couple of months ago, I was in the running for ghost-writing a book. Found out last week I didn't get it, but came really close. The editor told me I needed to write more online about my life and get out of limiting myself to a scrapping blog. So I've been lurking around at other writers' blogs to see how they do it, and it's fascinating to me.

This is one of three gorgeous fall photos I was forwarded recently in an email from a friend. I'm so jealous of folks who are getting their fall color changes now. Cuz we aren't. Pout. So, a photo has to be the next best thing for me.

So I've been lurking those blogs. No way I'll ever be able to rehab this one to that purpose, so it looks like a second blog in my future. Again. LOL I've been putting it off thinking about this, but I really want to get started on it. Thinking I'll do it on Wordpress, so many writer blogs there.

Well, I probably contributed nothing of value today, but I did want to make an appearance. I see a nap in my future.....LOL (hmm, wonder how I knew..... winkwink)

Anyone up for this?

Sorry. I didn't really mean anything by that. Just liked it as a title, hehe.

I've been in the Bat Cave since last I posted, doing accounting work and hating every minute of it. Whoa is me (sniff sniff).

And on my breaks, I began creating in my new journal. I'm doing the pages outside of the journal, then tacking them down into an old discarded cheap spiral-bound notebook of Missy's. I thought I'd try to use papers, etc., from my scraps stash on every page if possible. Then, I thought I could also try to use junk mail, too. What would that make it, journal trash? Since I'm more of a writer than an artist (like 60/40 maybe), I'm also using it as a free-writing practice vehicle. Just something to mess around with...no expectations of beauty or workanship. At. All.

And may I say that so far it shows, LOL. Yeah. I don't want to spend forever on each page. I just want to "get them out of me" and be done, and leave them until such time if and when I might want to go back and pretty them up more. The journal is primarily for free-writing, illustrated free-writing...which is why I decided to title the thing Essays in the Language of Art. That doesn't really describe it accurately, but that came to me and I liked it.

So I don't know if it's correct to call it an art journal. It's more like an illustrated diary, but not really even that. No set theme. No set topics, anything goes. Could end up being a journal about nothing at all. Move over, Seinfeld. Yeah, I wish.

One of my nephews has a birthday in 5 days, so I need to get my arss in gear and make him a card to go with his $20 bill. Nothing's percolating upstairs, though. I just wanna make journal pages, LOL. I feel displaced, like I misplaced my creativity with cards. It's my boy-card phobia, I know. So tough for me. And not a good time for it, either, as I have 3 nephews with birthdays in the next 30 days. Eegads, that's kinda scarey. Every card has to be unique, too, cuz 2 of them are related and all 3 are different ages. I would love to reach the day where I spend a weekend making all my relative's cards for the year! I've tried before. It doesn't happen. It's a combination of my Type-A deadline-driven motivation and my lack of speed in all things creative.

I read on my friend Vicki's blog about Blog Action Day on October 15th. If you click on the banner blinkie, it takes you to their website where you can read all the details. I am definitely doing this! My idea is to do a journal page about giving junk mail a real and higher purpose by making art with it. Please think about participating and if you do, don't forget to register your blog at their website and embed one of the banner blinkies on your blog.

Just great.
I've been like this lately towards everything. Bleh. Watching myself gettin' behind on stuff and not really caring. One of those rare times I wish I still had my uterus and ovaries, so I'd have PMS to blame, ya know? hehe Well, not really. Histerectomy = Good Thing. On so many levels.

Well, guess I need to post a bit about my health regimin. What a segueway, LOL.

reg·i·men /ˈrɛdʒəmən, -ˌmɛn, ˈrɛʒ-/
Spelled Pronunciation[rej-uh-muhn, -men, rezh-]

–noun 1. Medicine/Medical. a regulated course, as of diet,
exercise, or manner of living, intended to preserve or restore health or to
attain some result.

Things are good, under control. Another "save" in my book of yo-yo's. I suppose I should confess: things appeared to go South the day I drove to pick Missy up from college, which was this past Friday. She'd emailed me saying she wanted to pig out at Luby's Cafeteria, except our local one is not that great. Not bad, just not great. So, just as soon as we got on the freeway to go home, the first exit, there's a Cracker Barrel, and so we exited and ate there.

Now, I was a reasonably good girl. I ordered badly (fried catfish plate with mashed potatoes and greens, and raspberry lemonade - actually I ordered the tea but Missy wanted to switch and as Moms are want to do I took her drink). So I drank stupid useless sugar and ate all my catfish and most of my greens, but truly only a few bites of the potatoes. And then when Missy wanted the apple dumpling a la mode for dessert, I insisted on the sugar-free ice cream and I only took one bite of the dumpling and like 5 spoonfuls of the ice cream. And I was very full. So full that by the time we arrived back home, I was ready for a nap. Bottom line on Cracker Barrel: it could have been much, much worse.

I awoke from my nap to Hubs coming home from work, and guess what he brought with him? Half of the stromboli he'd ordered for lunch from this awesome Italian place that is catering their special project. (Yes, when they work a special project, Hubs and his coworkers get all meals catered. Such is Life in the discombobulated world of mega corporatism, sigh. Not complaining much, though, as we cook much less and I usually don't have to wait til he gets home to eat dinner cuz he's already eaten.) Anyway, I'd never had real stromboli, so of course I had a slice, then another. I displyed super-human effort to keep from slicing a third one, lemmetellya. M-M-M-M-Good, man. And I have no idea what was in it except a massive amount of mozzarella and some kind of boiled meat and wonderfully delish marinara.

Okay, by Friday night, my shame having caught up with me, I walked an extra large number of my step-laps and somehow managed to not eat another morsel. This was hard, as by now my stomach was stretched and I was continually hungry.

Saturday started off well, back on the program. Missy went off on her scheduled bridal party shopping trip with the bride, and life returned to normal. I was flirting with fasting for the day (other than my required yogurt and fruit quota), so when Missy returned with a doggy bag box and announced they'd gone to Olive Garden and here were her leftovers just for me, I was primed for temptation (having eaten next to nothing). Ah, the delectable taste of Spaghetti and Meatballs with a breadstick. I slurp-inhaled every molecule. I doubt my dogs could have cleaned the plate as well.

I kind of forget what else was eaten after that. I doubt it was anything else bad. Probably a tv dinner from my Healthy Choice collection. Missy came in and announced that her boyfriend Jonathan and roommate Anj were driving down to pick her up tonight instead of me driving her back to school on Sunday. At this point, all I was thinking about was how great this was: I didn't have to drive for two hours and my life could go back to normal. So, kiss-kiss and be safe and great to see ya. It's so weird how quickly Hubs and I got used to her no longer being at home, so much so that we prefer it. We're in that period where she prefers being at school and we prefer her being at school, and there's no resentment or hurt feelings. But still a bit awkward. We all agreed she won't be home til Thanksgiving, and that's so refreshing and relaxing. Here I was thinking I wouldn't be able to live without her and look how quickly that changed. I'd feel guilty, but I'm too busy enjoying not having to deal with a 3rd person at home.

So, Sunday I got back on track for good and made sure my steps number was high. When I finally weighed on Monday, I was only a half-pound above my last weigh-in. So, all I can think of was that I'd lost weight between the weigh-in last week and Friday, that I didn't know about, and that's why there was only a half-pound increase. Which I've now lost as of today, Wednesday. Back to the same weight in a week. See how lucky I was?

Blogger Challenge Catch-Up
I need to get current with these and no time like the present. Here's are the questions I've missed (this catches me up until Friday, because Thursdays was posted tonight):
When doing a layout, do you chose to mat or not mat your photos? It depends, frankly. More often than not, though, I do prefer the look of matted photos. It just adds a nice dimension and helps the eye to focus on the photos.
When you are stuck and need some inspiration. where do you turn? For cards, I like to look both at sketches and at what others have made with the materials I'm using (if possible). I usually start at 2peas' user gallery and do a search of the materials. I like to look at Maria's and Di's card sketches. Many times, though, the circumstances are such that I end up having to come up with a completely original card. Maybe I use a little touch here and there that I've seen. For layouts, I have to browse different galleries, magazines, books, not looking for a specific layout per se, but those little touches again. Often I'll combine a few of them, putting my own spin on them. Occasionally, I will get a mental picture of a complete layout, and on those, if I don't sketch it out first the layout can lack balance, since I'm not trained in graphic design or have that natural "eye". So, in each case, no matter what the piece, I do look at others' creations. I usually stop when I get an idea in my head and the finished piece looks like my own, so I look for inspiration and to get my own juices flowing. If I didn't look first, I suspect it'd be way much harder for me to conceptualize something.
Have you ever made layouts/cards to sell at craft shows? If so how did it go? Never have done the crafts fair thing. I have sold cards on commission, making them to the customer's specifications, and I've also made smaller layouts that were auctioned for good causes. I doubt I'd sell cards any other way, because of the time I put into mine. I've lucked out being able to charge at the high end of the range for them because these were people who contacted me and wanted my work without any price dickering. So even though I guess you'd say I got a good price for them, it honestly wasn't that worth it to me, didn't feel like I got repaid enough. I've thought about selling them on ebay or etsy, but so far I'm still not motivated enough. I'm never saying never, though, not this year.

Well, enough of that for now. I'm also behind in my blog visiting for my inner circle girls, so that's what I'm gonna do now. Til tomorrow, peeps! May your Thusday be as good as it gets!