time out . . .

the alarm just went off . . . but I have been up for quite some time . . . nothing like a stinkin' cold to stave off night time sleep . . . ah, but the lovely long afternoon naps cuddled under the afghan . . . it is almost worth it. I have been blog hopping since the wee hours . . . what a wonderful way to take small vacations into other worlds . . .

ninja . . .

is she a warrior or a wooze? Both . . . depends on her mood. She spends half her life pouncing on anything that moves and the other half cuddling anywhere she can weasel her body . . . silly beastie.

(Template by Katie Petiet, Chip board alpha by Kellie Mize, elements by Corina Nielson, kitten compliments 0f the good Lord)

while we're at it . . .

. . . this is the belated birthday card I made for Sue . . no it's not digi but can you see this ribbon thing going on ??? i do have a fascination for those little strips of fabric . .

playing digi . . .

I swear this is better than being 4 and getting a brand new pack of crayons and a new coloring book . . . . digi never gets broken or gets blunt tips.

(Ruby's Garden by Lynn Grieveson, overlay by Katie Pertiet, Chip board alpha by Kelli Mize, ducks compliments of Boston Common. Oh and lest I forget, many thanks to Kelli for bailing me out once again and explaining how to use the double layered chip board.)

wildness . . .

. . . surprise!!!

I still can't believe we pulled it off. We actually threw Frank a surprise 65th birthday bash and got away with it. All the lies, all the deceit, all the flimflammery . . . it was worth every conniving little second! WE DID IT!!!


We arranged for all 21 guests to arrive as close to 6:00 as possible. You should have seen the looks on Victoria's and Frank's faces when he opened the door. Frank: What are you doing here? Vic: Am I early? Frank and Vic: Wide eyed deer looks. Priceless.

Joe and Jackie arrived having picked up my order from Olive Garden . . . Katie arrived having picked up the cake and ice from Publix . . . I quickly unpacked the trunk of my car which had been hiding chips, soda, beer, paper plates and forks etc. Let the festivities begin.




Look at the damage we managed to do! We are so good!


And the birthday boy. We can't leave him out.


I may have to pay for this in the long run but it was so worth it.

Many heartfelt thanks to all of our family for caring enough to come help us celebrate: Katie, Craig, Stephanie, Kaity, Stacie, Colin, Debbie, Jackie, Joe, Stacey, David, Victoria, Adam, Addison, Kenny, Sheila, Dylan, Mick and Summer. Love you all!

tagged . . . or Sue is going down . . .

My "buddy" Sue tagged me. Arrrrghhh. Ok, I'll play.

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags three people and posts their names, then go to their blog and leave them a comment that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 Years Ago. My dad died and my corner or the world was on fire. We were evacuated. Scary stuff. 1998 was not on my favorite year list!

Things on my to-do list. Everything. But today I am playing slug . . . it is a role at which I am supremely good.

What would I do if I were suddenly made a billionaire? Make sure all fours kids life's were secure. Build a home on a river so my river rat husband would be a happy camper. Throw my to-do list out the window!!

Three of my bad habits Moi?!? I am lazy . . . but somehow I think you all knew that. Love, The Slug

Three places I have lived Grew up in Jersey. Spent 7 seconds in Pennsylvania. Took off on a whim, drove south and stayed.

Five jobs I've had Institutional Attendant at the North Jersey Training School for children. Bartending right out of college. I still get those two jobs confused. Director of Sales and Marketing for a group of hotels . . . which absorbed the next 28 years.

Five things people don't know about me If you've read this blog at all, you probably know everything there is to know . . . just call me blabber mouth.

I'm tagging Sheri!

how dare they . . .

It takes a lot to get me out of the cave. I'm not taking about shopping or errands or running Kaity to school, I'm talking about being social . . . out in public . . . with other people . . . you know going to a PARTY. ACK!! and just think, I did that for a living all those years. Snort! Back on track here . . . my neighbors Paula and Dave are moving . . . I know, I know, how dare they . . . but they are. So one of our other neighbors threw them a going away gig last Saturday. It was fun. There, I said it. I enjoyed myself. So here are some of us in all of our glory.

p.s. That's Paula and Dave at the far left . . . wave good bye to them. Sniff, sniff. Good neighbors are hard to find. Wait . . . they can't leave . . . come back Paula, come back!

grumble. . . grumble . . . grumble

I bought a new program for my computer called ACDSee10 to help organize all my digi stuff and fonts. Great program . . . brilliant really. I thought I was anal, the guys who designed ACDSee went over board. I can now call up all of my papers, or pins, or ribbons or stitching with just a click of a button. Wow! I am amazed. Now you ask, why is the perfect program rating a grumble, grumble, grumble . . . because of the operator. I spent all of yesterday afternoon transferring the last of my kits over to the program from my portable EHD and tagging them all. Hooray . . . all organized. Tonight I go to take a look and all those kits I organized yesterday are non-functioning unless I plug in the portable EHD. Dummy forgot to transfer them to my WD Book before I categorized. Now it has to be done all over again. Smashing head on desk until the pain stops.

Kelli, I am going to have all the bugs worked out just for you. Hee hee hee!

. . .

what better way to spend a quiet rainy afternoon, than curled up in a recliner reading a good book and sipping on a bloody mary.

a day late and a dollar short . . .

I finally finished week three's assignment in the Jessica Sprague class I am taking. Yes, everyone else is a head of me . . . yes I am intimidated, but I am in AWE of this new medium. Love the possibilities and as I learn more and commit more to memory it will only get easier and more
exciting . . . I am stoked!!!

i heard them before i saw them . . .

instantly I was transported back to those long lovely Indian summer days of the 50's, dressed in flannel lined blue jeans rolled at the bottom, soft plaid peaking out, purchased big enough, if we were lucky, to last two seasons . . . scuffed up red Keds with those big rubber toes that I still managed to tear through in nothing flat and just a stretched out hand-me-down sweat shirt over an old Carter's size 5 short sleeved undershirt . . . bobbing into and out of the woods gathering prizes, a newt on a good day or a crayfish hidden under a stone in the brook that ran behind the house . . . sometimes it was seed pods I stuffed in a mason jar . . but coming home, if I was lucky, I would hear them, that dry brittle scutter of faded leaves dancing in a circle, caught by the wind, rattling it's tuneless song embedded in my heart with the sheer joy of it. I would stand and watch them spin hoping they would stay forever and sometimes, not being able to help myself, I would join in the dance, arms out wide, spinning in the sun. But they never lasted long, just as quickly as they started, they stopped and lay as forgotten summer shade. I loved those dimly colored leaves and their dance.

So today in the vast parking lot of Publix, my head jerked up from packing the car when I heard the first rasping notes of the dance and the old familar tune, tucked away for so long in a pocket of my heart. For just a moment, as I watched, I wanted to dance with them once more.

I admit it . . .

digi has me overwhelmed . . . I need a break and will attack again from another front. In the meantime, I found some wall art at Target of all places. It didn't take long before it was up on my wall . . . like a super big rub-on. Fun.

But it was Frank who took one look at the container that the wall art came in and asked when I was going to alter it. Does this man know me or what?

It's hard to tell but that star at the bottom is crystal.

crashing dreams . . .

my hero tried his utmost but the crown molding bested him. Without the proper equipment, it was becoming a stress laden nightmare . . . especially the corner over the open stairway, which is darn near inaccessible. We unanimously agreed it wasn’t worth the grief not to mention my vision of him crashing down the stairwell, through the banister and onto the living room floor. The dear man, as I type, is patching nail holes and repainting scuffs. Gotta love him!

Frank left the remaining molding, which we plan to return, on the garage floor between the two cars. As I came sailing home from running an errand in my little red Miata, top down . . . I try to avoid the wood and manage to wedge my baby onto the frame of the garage door. As in STUCK, GLUED, IMMOVABLE! A call to AAA has the roadside assistance guy shaking his head. I know he wanted to laugh but since he was married, I know he knew better. Ten minutes later, Frank was buffing out the mirror, door and back panel. We will not really have a good idea of the damage until the morning light.

So while Frank has the brown wall paint out, I start painting my canvas. Well heck, if things end up as planned, it will have a conglomeration of goodies: fabric, metal, India ink, and whatever else strikes my fancy. What wasn’t intended was the huge bug who decided at that moment to end his life by crashing head first into the canvas just in time to be wiped out by a big wet brush.

I may not poke my head out of the covers tomorrow.

so many ideas, so little time . . .

Lesson 3 of Jessica Sprague's intermediate digi class went live this morning and I am itching to get at it. The distractions??? Many . . .

Watching QVC and picking up some great ideas . . . going to buy a stretched canvas . . . paint it the same brown as my loft accent wall and decorate it in blues and whites to match the room . . collecting ideas of stamped swirls, brads, florals etc. Cannot wait.

Going to pick a favorite quote, cut it out of vinyl cling and run it around two walls of the loft. Again brown on blue . . . or maybe white on blue . . . choice, choices, choices.

My good friend, who is now selling TLC products Sheri Brooker's TLC Consultant Website, showed me an adorable circle kit and I am dying to recreate it out of chip board . . . another cannot wait!

Little Miss totally creative and artistic Kelli has been making some simply outstanding digi elements. I mean she is creating them from scratch. How amazing is that? I am in awe. Soooooooo special. Yummy! And best of all, she so nicely shared with me! I cannot wait to play with them!!

Not to mention other little diversions like needing to download ACDSee and then organize all my digi goodies that have been multiplying faster than those fuzzy little proverbial bunnies . . . and the rest of my software that needs to move homes.

But the other big distraction is my dear Frank . . . who comes upstairs while I am gleaning ideas from the telly, patiently waits for a commerical and quietly asks when my first break will be so we can head to Lowe's to pick out the crown molding for the loft. HOORAY!!!! How cool is that???

My cup runneth over. Life is so good.

slurp . . .

if the phrases "Yum-O" and "EVOO" are like fingernails down a black board to you . . . fair warning, this post is not for you.

I tried a new recipe tonight called Steak Your Claim by none other than the perpetually perky Rachael Ray. My O' My . . . it was goodish . . . down to the very last morsel. I'm not going to repeat the entire recipe . . . it will air again 2.8.08 at 2:30 p.m. est . . . but the gist is a filet mignon topped with seasoned gorgonzola and a roasted garlic and grape tomato pasta with fresh arugula and basil. I made a pig of myself. A very large, wallowing in the mud and happy as a . . . well . . . pig in mud . . . pig of myself. Not your normal Italian, Frank loved it too. It's a "do-again" . . . meaning we will add it to my culinary repetoire. It was a good day in the cave.