Cards!!

I had to make a sympathy card for a lady at work. Once I was done, I had the 3 pieces of cardstock left over so......

Wow, 2 posts in 2 days!!

A new worlds record??

In light of the fact that Sherri has indicated that it is 100 days until Christmas, I thought this was appropriate. I laughed until I cried.


Wrapping Presents (With Cats)
Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
Go to wardrobe and collect bag in which present is contained, and close door.
Open door and remove cat from wardrobe.
Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
Go back and remove cat from cupboard.
Go to drawer and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc. Lay out present and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
Go back to drawer to get string, remove cat that has been in the drawer since last visit, and collect string.
Remove present from bag.
Remove cat from bag.
Open box to check present, remove cat from box, replace present.
Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
Cut the paper to size, trying to keep the cutting line straight.
Throw away first sheet because cat tried to chase the scissors and tore paper.
Cut second sheet of paper to size by putting cat in the bag the present came out of.
Place present on cut-to-size paper.
Lift up edges of paper to seal in present, wonder why edges now don't reach, and find cat between present and paper.
Remove cat and retry.
Place object on paper, to hold in place, while cutting transparent sticky tape. Spend next 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from cat with pair of nail scissors.
Seal paper down with transparent sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
Look for roll of ribbon; chase cat down hall and retrieve ribbon.
Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
Re-roll up ribbon and remove paper that is now torn, due to cat's enthusiasm in chasing ribbon end.
Repeat steps 12-22 until down to last sheet of paper.
Decide to skip steps 12-16 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper.
Retrieve old cardboard box that you know is right size for sheet of paper.Put present in box, and tie down with string.
Remove string, open box and remove cat.
Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for lockable room.
Once inside room, lock door and start to re-lay out packing materials.
Remove cat from box, unlock door, put cat outside door, close door and re-lock.
Lay out last sheet of paper. (Admittedly this is difficult in the small area of the bathroom, but try your best!)
Seal box, wrap with paper and start repairs by very carefully sealing down tears with transparent sticky tape.
Now tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst affected areas.
Label, then sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulating yourself on making good of a bad job.
Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed cat.
Spend next 15 minutes looking for cat, before coming to obvious conclusion.
Unwrap present, untie box and remove cat.
Retrieve all discarded sheets of wrapping paper, feed cat and retire to lockable room for last attempt, making certain you are alone and the door is locked.
At time of handing over present, smile sweetly at receiver's face, as they try and hide their contempt at being handed such a badly wrapped present.
Swear to yourself that next year, you will get the store to wrap the darn thing for you.
Author Unknown

I've been MIA for too long!!

Things have been a little crazy here. School, Circle Journals, selling dd's American Girl stuff on eBay and getting new furniture for Nick are just a few of the things that have kept me away from here. I'm still reading everyone's blogs (Julie, FINALLY figured out the blog feeds thing. IT ROCKS!!!)

I'd like to say that now that we've settled into a routine, things will get easier. But alas, that is NEVER the case. We're heading into Birthday Central. Within the next 4 weeks we have my niece Marissa's birthday, my newphew Michael's birthday, my birthday, my brother Kevin's birthday, my mother-in-law Eveline's birthday and my son Nick's birthday. Also is my brother Wayne's wedding anniversary, my parent's anniversary and Scott & my anniversary. That's alot of carsd & alot of scanning. Maybe I will have something to post, soon??

In the meantime, here are the cards I rec'd when I was "flood victim" at the Stamp Shack. Every week, a new shackie is picked to be "flooded" with cards. Talk about a fun week! Everyday, you get cool mail!! Hope I can get this slide show to work. I haven't done them in a LONG time.

Just for the record, I couldn't get the slide show to work. I finally had to let them add it to my blog automatically. At least, THAT seems to have worked. Let me know if it didn't. :)

Hello, Monkeys

As promised. I played with my monkeys (sounds a little dirty). Here are the results.

Life is NOT fair

See the picture on the previous post? That is the last picture I got with my new (got it for Christmas) camera. I accidentally left it at the hotel pool & someone found it & decided the RIGHT thing to do was KEEP IT!!! I LOVED that camera & the coolio waterproof case. I can't belive I did something so stupid. If there is an upside, I did download all the pics before I went to the pool so I didn't lose anything other than those I took that day. I guess I'm back to using my old, icky digital camera until my b'day (in a month) when dh said he'll buy me a new camera. {sigh}

Happy Monkeys

Robyn posted the CUTEST card using these monkeys. She said she found them at Hobby Lobby. Pam, smileycollector at the Shack, posted an eBay seller who had them. I was going to order but Ms. InstantGratification stepped in & said no, I'd go to HL first. Well, I never made it to my HL.

While driving around Sprinfield, MO this week, I found a HL here. And, I found Changito & his buddy there. Woohoo!! I can't wait to get home & play w/these guys. My son is monkey crazy (ok, I guess technically, they are not all monkeys, I think one is an Ape) and my niece says she loves monkeys too. I'm gonna make them both monkey b'day cards.

Sorry no posts for awhile

I'm out of town visiting my family. My bro, sil & all 4 kids moved to Bolivar MO earlier this year. 2 weeks later, her mom & dad moved (they had planned the move all along, just waited until their house sold). The unexpected part was that about 3-4 weeks before Kevin moved, my parents up & decided to move down there too. Boom, a week later, they were gone! Anyway, I haven't been able to come down here (4+ hour drive and w/gas prices what they were....) but Scott got an audit trip down here so we tagged along. I finally get to see everyone's houses & made it in time for the twin's 3rd b'day party yesterday. Unfortunately, I left my camera in my dad's van so I have no pics of anything!


Here is a card I did about a month or so ago. I really liked it but never got around to posting it here.

And more cards!!!

I'm going thru a Cool Caribbean phase:

I think I'm alot more comfortable w/3x3 cards. Plus, this stamp set is fairly small & I haven't figured out how to make the images carry a larger card. Yet?

FINALLY!! New Cards

I got my stamps for Sherry's new website, Inkspirations the other day. I thought these were SOOO CUTE!!! Plus, I need more b'day images. Here are my first creations with them:

Forgive the scans. The knots made the scan kinda wonky. Plus, I'm using dh's computer/scanner & I'm not real "fluent" in his programs. I'm going to make some more cards!

Holiday Circle Journal

Angie started a Holiday Circle Journal swap over on the Shack. We all pick a theme & send it off to 6 others. Here is the start of my journal.

It's been a long time since I posted a card

And I still haven't. LOL. These tags are for Sherri's 3rd Annual Chirstmas tag swap. First time I made it in tho. I forgot how much fun swaps are! I guess the things I've done lately have been too stressful. I've done "classes" for my Saturday Stampin' Sistahs and I stress so much to make them cool & impressive.

Now, I'll admit: I did not want to do candy canes. It was one of the only ones left and I took it but had NO ideas on what I was going to do. I only had 2 candy cane stamps! Well, I started looking thru my stash & found this paper. It all fell together after that. I LOVE this tag. I hope everyone else in the swap feels the same!

SeaWorld -- Day 10 (final day of CA fun)

The night before, Scott & I washed all the clothes from the ocean trip. Didn't want blucky smelling ocean water in my clothes packed in w/clean clothes in the suitcases. I was not looking forward to SeaWorld. I had been there when I was a kid & didn't enjoy it much. It was hot & my parents didn't believe in overpaying for sodas so I remember being thirsty the whole time.

The drive to SW is BEAUTIFUL. The morning fog was out & it was just nice. We got there shortly before they opened. As soon as we got in, we headed straight for the new ride "Journey to Atlantis". The line was not long but, they warned us the whole time we would get wet. It was still cool out & I was worried I was going to freeze all day long. The ride was ok. Not very long & we really didn't get that wet. Which was good because I discovered that one of pairs of denim shorts are too big & when they get WET, they tend to want to fall off. Not a pretty picture!

After that, we did the Arctic Expedition thing & then walked around the penguin place. They had penguin OUTSIDE??? What's up w/that??? I thought penguins had to be kept cold. I guess some of them don't. Probably the ones that were in that surfing movie???

The Shamu show started in about 20 minutes so we headed for his stadium. We decided to sit in the "soak zone" 'cause it was HOT & how bad could it be. A little spray never hurt anyone. Famous last words! I didn't realize the whales were trained to flap their tales & splash you, just for the sake of splashing!!! Soak Zone was right. I was soaked clear thru to my Undies. My purse was soaked. Luckily, I had my handy-dandy waterproof camera so all was good! It was a really good show & a cool story.

After that, we went to look at the dolphin observation thing. Cool. Then we did the dolphin show (no splash zone there, although, I could have used a cooling off. There was very little splashing at the show, we could have stood that) the shark encounter (Scott's favorite), the manatee rescue and then the otter show. By that time, I was sick of amusement parks, partial sick to my stomach & SICK TO DEATH of amusement park food!!! We had brought some water & snacks & decided to leave kinda early & go do dinner somewhere nice.

We were all soaked & tired & hungry & crabby. We decided it would be best to drive back to the hotel, shower & then eat. Of course, La Jolla has only fancy-pants restaurants, as Taco Bell and a Jack in the Box. So, we drove almost all the way back to SeaWorld to eat. By the time we got all that done, it was after regular dinner time. So much for an early dinner.

Back to the hotel, packed our stuff & got ready for an early start back to Anaheim & the airport. All of our clothes from SeaWorld were ICKY!! So much for not having wet, blucky, smelly clothes in our suit cases. I finally just embraced the fact that I'd have to wash EVERYTHING when we got back home.

La Jolla Beach, Day 9

Today was a more relaxing day. We got up & ate breakfast then took the kids down to the beach by the hotel. It was still early & still cool so we didn't plan on getting wet. The kids were as enthralled by the waves as we were. Becca found several pieces of sea glass. I think that made the whole trip a success as far as she was concerned. Of course, while we're wading in the surf, a GIANT wave comes & soaks the kids & I. Oh well, I was planning on washing the clothes before we leave.

We go back to our room & change. Then we drive out to dh's home office. He has to try to exchange his computer for a working one. The kids & I want to meet his assistant and his boss. The building is at the top of this canyon like area. For some reason, I left my camera in the car when we went up there. There were some gorgeous views from up there. We only got to meet Mercedes, dh's contact on the "inside" (dh is a remote examiner. He works from home, the office is in San Diego. Mercedes mails him everything he needs & takes care of anything that needs to be done in office for dh) but his boss was out of the office. At least I can now put a face w/Mercedes name. The only other Mercedes I'd ever heard of was the actress Mercedes Ruehl and I always pictured here when dh spoke of his Mercedes.

Anyway, we left dh's office (w/his new computer) and went to lunch. Then, we loaded up the car & drove down to the beach. Parking is a joke! There is no where to park. You just drive in circles praying that someone will leave. Like the mall at Christmas. Finally, someone left & we got a spot.

This beach was different that the one in LA. The waves hit a little furthter out. You could stand in the shallow water & not be knocked over. Plus the sand was much finer! There were no shells of any sort. And, there was a lot more vegitation. I gotta tell you, seaweed CREEPS ME OUT!!! I hated it touching me. BLUCK!!! But, we had tons o'fun!! Nick litterally ROLLED in the sand. Becca kept wanting to go out further & further to get hit by the waves. It was a perfect day!!

Here is a Suzi eye view of what it's like to get hit by the waves.

La Jolla, CA (still day 8)

We drove down to San Diego after the Wild Animal Park. Scott had stayed in this hotel before but it had been remodled since then. It was an old hotel and they really tried to make it nice. It was just too small for 4 people! But, since we're only staying for 2 days & 3 nights and most of the days we will be gone. The big, Big, BIG plus is that the hotel is only 1 block from the OCEAN.

After dinner, Scott & I walked down to the beach. Ah, the beach. At dusk (we missed the sunset). Beautiful!!!!!! I could live there. I think I need a summer home in La Jolla! We just sat on a rock & watched the waves. There were little kids swimming in the surf. I don't know how, it was COLD!!!!!! And we were dry. I love this place!!!

On the way home, we walked past an apartment for rent. It was one of 4 in a "house" so it couldn't be that big. Rent was $2900 a month. Sure, I can afford that!!!

San Diego Wild Animal Park, Day 8

We got up on Sunday, ate our breakfast (spilled syrup on yet ANOTHER shirt!) and headed for the Wild Animal Park. This place is AWESOME!! It so much better than a zoo. You do miss some of the animals (no monkeys, no bears, no reptiles) but it's just so cool.

We started out w/the birds. Not my favorite of "animal" but, that's where the park kinda starts. Becca was terrified of the ducks!!! One came towards her & she freaked. She would not get anywhere near them for the rest of the day!!!

They started something new since last year. They have this tram ride called Journey Into Africa. It takes you thru the back part of the park & you can see all the animals in their semi-natural surroundings. Way cool. Becca was so impressed that she saw 2 or the 8 White Rhino's that are in captivity. According to our guide, there might only be 5 or 6 in the wild, if that. They are on the edge of extintion & we got to see the only 2 in the Americas!!

After the tram ride, we headed for lunch. During lunch, a duck came out of the trees & Becca freaked out again. It's just a duck girl, GET OVER IT!!!

After lunch, we hit the Elephant show. It was cool to see the elephants doing things & learning about them. Did you know the female elephant is the leader?? The leader of the group had just recently abdicated to a younger elephant. Was interesting to learn how the torch was passed. Very civilized. Unlike male led groups.

We then headed for the giraffe feeding area. When Scott & I came last year, we thought it was so cool that you could feed the giraffes & looked forward to bringing the kids so they could actually feed them. The kids were not at all interested in getting that close to a giraffe. What's wrong with these kids??? So, we looked at the giraffes & moved on.

Scott wanted to see the cheetahs but, being as it was soooo hot, they were no where to be seen (other than the one we saw on the Africa journey). We were all tired and oh so hot. We headed out & on to the next hotel.