Fun Etsy Store

Look at the Cricuit covers & scrapping goodies she has to offer at Scrapguild. Wouldn't a matching set of covers and a scrap catcher be fun? She takes special orders. And look how she is storing her cartridges and booklets....too cute.

From her site: I have a fashion design background, have sewn for 30 years and quilted for 10.

Here's her blog Cricutcraftyclare.

It's too HOT!!!!!

Yup, 104 degrees in downtown Seattle. Way too hot for not having air conditiong at home. It's sooo hard to sleep.

Temperatures soared into three digits around Western Washington early this afternoon, hitting a record 102 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport between 2 and 3 p.m. The 102-degree mark at Sea-Tac, where the city's official readings are taken, topped the overall record of 100 set on July 16, 1941 and matched on July 20, 1994. Seattle's record for July 29 had been 95, set in 1971.

Where I'm From...

We have a challenge on our Obsessed Scrappers United boards..to go to this site and create a LO using the questions about where I am from. This was based on a poem by George Ella Lyons called "Where I'm From." It took quite awhile to come up with my words & the LO followed easily. I used paper from July's Club Scrap Jr. kit....it fit the theme beautifully!!

Where I'm From

I am from cool saltwater breezes, from shells, starfish & clams, from a Voit wetsuit for skiing over the sound, long sunny days & cold winter nights.

I am from a home built by my parents & added onto when I was born, from beautiful “mother-tended” gardens, from a shop full of tools & smells of creativity.

I am from wild blackberries, thimbleberries, nettles, elderberry trees, Fireweed, Indian Paint Brush & from the sweet scent of Sweet Peas & colorful, sweet blossoms of Nasturtiums.

I am from family gatherings reuniting souls each summer & loving, caring, closely knit kin, from George & Ruth, from Andrews & Loomis.

I am from the honest & hard-working, music lovers & the curious, from the artistic & creative.

From wait ½ hour after lunch before you can go swimming & is your homework done.

I am from solid & quiet Presbyterians, from the huge brick building & a Sunday School teacher I loved. I am from red-doored Episcopalians & a small church in Port Townsend.

I am from the Pacific NW, third generation, from pioneer stock. The ocean, sound, lakes & rivers run through my veins. From grilled & smoked salmon, butter clams, shrimp, Dungeness crab, sweet corn from grandpa’s garden.

From hardy Yankee stock in Maine who came west in the 1840s, returned to the east to fight in the Civil War, & came west again to homestead in Washington Territory, from a guitar playing dairy farmer & an Irish lass turned school teacher. From a dairy farmer’s son & a brick mason’s daughter – country & city united, strong, dedicated, hard-working men & women.

I am from photos lovingly scrapped from the 1800s to today, from a genealogy written in 1700s Ireland, tatted lace, crewel pictures, hand-made dresses, a hand-hewn shingle from a barn long gone, silver from a generation that lived in a castle & were landed gentry, my paternal grandfather’s guitar that I never heard him play, the letters from cousins in England during WWII, & the stories passed down from generation to generation to those who still love to hear them.

Blog as a beautiful graph

This is My Little Voices, visualized as a graph using an HTML DOM Visualizer Applet :



Isn't it pretty?? Try your blog :-)

This is what 99 looks likes...

This woman has so far, had an inspiring life - serving as Red Cross Club Director in the Orient during WWII to being the Director of Home & Family Life education for the State of Washington (30 years) until her retirement in 1977. She still has a wonderful wit and an enjoyment of all her family around her.

So, family from all over the state came to Olympia to celebrate her birthday at Falls Terrace.


There were over 30 0f us there and my aunt had a great time. The food was wonderful - I had a Seafood Louie, and others had plank grilled salmon, oysters, chicken..and at the end a big birthday cake. I need to mention that the flowers on the cake were 'crimson & gray' - my aunt is a Coug as are almost everyone of us - Washington State University doesn't lack for alumni in our family!!




And, I got to meet the youngest member of our family, Demetri, who is a delightful 2 year old. We held a wonderful conversation for quite awhile.


After, Falls Terrace, most of us returned to my aunt's home and we opened cards and gifts, chatted awhile longer & then left for home. DH & I got home around 10:00 PM after dropping off my nephews.

We were tired, but very, very happy!! Always need that family infusion!!!

I'm soooo ashamed

I haven't updated my blog in such a long time :( But, here I am today. Lots of stuff going on this week. Tomorrow we have a funeral mass for DH's uncle on Bainbridge Island. He was 82 and quite ill for some time. His wife is just trying to get used to an empty house. I'm sure it must seem very quiet to her.

Saturday, we go down to Olympia for a 99th birthday party for my aunt. She's the last one of the five kids. My dad passed away first in 1985 at age 68..but his sisters were long lived...each of the other three sisters lived to at least see their 90th birthday. My aunt in Olympia was the second eldest and my dad the youngest. It should be a fun time for the family. We are bringing a life-long friend (age 93) of my aunt along with us - they should both enjoy the time together.

Next week DH & I go to San Antonio for a scrapbook retreat with my Obsessed Scrapbook sisters. There will be about 20 of us staying cool in the scrapbook store. A few DHs will be there, too...mine just wants to toodle around SA and see the sights. I want to take some pictures because the last time I was down there (in the 1980s) I didn't take a lot. So Riverwalk & Alamo here I come!! I'll be working on a couple of swaps - I don't want to bring a lot of stuff on the plane - so I'm pre-cutting and packaging up my stuff. I'm so looking forward to this since I've never met these wonderful ladies in person!!

We've been having HOT weather here (yes, I know it will be hot in SA) and we don't have air conditioning...just a lot of fans and popsicles.

Well, that's the short update for now. Happy Summer!!

Susan Boyle - I am a fan!!

I watcher her performance on YouTube from April 11th and was in awe. I will be looking forward to hearing more from her. You can see her performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables via YouTube from Britain's Got Talent 2009.

Fruit of the Spirit - Love

Sorry the picture is a little off center. Hopefully you can see it just fine. Prima flowers & butterfly. I really enjoyed putting this one together.


Yeah, I know I've done two for Love - but the spirit moved me to do so! I'm working on Peace & Patience now.

April Telephone Scraplift

In a group I belong to, Obsessed Scrappers United, I am taking part in a challenge. The hostess emails the first person in each group a layout. This time I was first & boy was it a doozy of a LO!! I had to really scratch my head on this one!! I'll post the original later - after this round is over - along with my interpretation. Sorry I can't post it now **sigh** I just finished it & want to show it off...but, the others in my group read my blog and....well, you know ;)

My?? Dog

I was surfing this morning on MSN and the home page had a link to "Best pet for you by zodiac sign." So I had to see what they thought the "best pet" for me would be. Hummm, a Bernese Mountain Dog. They are beautiful, that's for sure, but I'm not sure it would fit into my lifestyle at the moment.

According to Pets 911, they are very loving - wonder if they like cats?

So check out the web site & let me know what pet was picked for you.

The Fruit of the Spirit is JOY

OK, so now I am caught up through last week. I've been doing the Bible study, I just haven't had time to do the LOs to go with it ;) Anyway, the center of each flower has a word or two about joy: laugh, heaven, happiness, have fun, care deeply, delight, etc. And, of course, my dove.

I love my hubby....

Today my DH said, "I would rather be happy and have less money than be unhappy and more money."

I have been under incredible pressure at work and have been looking at my options. His statement really lifted me up. He has been running numbers to see if I can get out of this nightmare, and he supports me 100%.

What more could a wife want? I love you, honey.

March telephone scraplift...

So, the thing is, you are emailed a layout & you have to look at it & then create your own LO. I was last on this 3 person team & this is what I came up with.


The Thickers were the wrong color, so I used some Making Memories Red paint and painted them!!

I hadn't scrapped too much from 9-11 and these pictures from the flower memorial at the Seattle Center seemed to pop up and spoke to me. So I created a "Seattle Remembers" LO showing the pictures I took when we went down to put flowers at the International Fountain. There were thousands of flowers and it was a beautiful day to go and say a prayer and remember.

The Fruit of the Sprit is - Love

A little late - this is last week's Bible Study. The Fruit of the Spirit is love.

Goodbye, PI: 1863-2009

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

I grew up with this newspaper. Every morning it was delivered to the door. It is part of my history and I'm a little sad at its demise. They will go on on the internet, but there is nothing like spreading the paper out on the table and reading here & there, or going through section by section.

After 146 years, the P-I's final edition rolled off the presses yesterday, and quickly sold out. So many things are changing, sometimes I wish the world would slow down a little. So I wish the remaining 20 staff members the best of luck with the new venture.

S ......

has now stopped!!! It turned to rain & then about 1/2 ago everything stopped. There is a trace of snow on the lawn. Off I go to read the Sunday paper and take a short nap.

The "S" word is at it agan....

It's SNOWING AGAIN. So, here I am back on my adverse weather alert shift. Nothing take the fun out of a pretty snow fall quicker than to have to work from home because it is snowing.

It's sticking to everything but the roads here where I live...I don't know how the rest of the county is faring, but you can be sure that the towns & cities snuggled up next to the base of the mountains are getting some.

OK, that's it from the home front for a bit. And how is your morning going?

Fruit of the Spirit

I finally finished it. The introduction page for my Scripture Scrappers Bible Study. We are starting with the "Fruit of the Spirit."

I knew what I wanted to do, but as with all my LOs - it became an ever-changing piece of work. My first thought was to have grape vines hanging over a stone wall. Then I thought about the tree of life. Then I remembered a beautiful piece of printed vellum I've had forever.

So, I sketched out a curved stone arch, drew some grapes and vines over the top, drew in a tree, etc.


Then I gathered my materials....well, sometimes your materials can lead you in a different direction... I found some Prima roses. I decided on paper piecing, so I cut out my tree, punched my leaves, cut out the stones for the arch and then decided punching out little round purple pieces and trying to make grapes was not what I wanted to do. So below is the final outcome.

I used the paper piecing for the tree, stone arch. I painted a vine and leaves on the left side and placed Prima roses. I found some cute stickers of God's creatures and tucked them in here & there and used stickers for the title - "Fruit of the Spirit." Then, I cut out the inside of the arch, placed the garden print velum under it and attached it. I placed a white piece of card stock under the whole LO and placed the sticker of the stone house behind the velum.

Lastly, I placed the white dove on the page. That white dove will repeat on each page with the name of the fruit on it. So, below is the final LO - what do you think??

It's finally over..

Four days of 12 hour shifts. Went to work today at noon & was able to leave as soon as I wanted to. I wanted to leave at 4:00 PM or 4:30 PM, but I had a meeting that lasted until 5:00 PM. But, at least I can go to work tomorrow at 8:00 AM and leave at a normal time. It's gonna take a bit for my body to adjust - this with the time change happening on Sunday really threw me for a loop!!

I've started my Bible Study - see our blinkie to the right - and I really am enjoying the process. I've almost got my intro page scrapped, when I do, I'll post it here. I'm doing paper piecing, so it's taking me a little time to finish it.

Same ol', same ol'

So here it is Sunday and I'm sitting on the computer just in case there is snow somewhere here. At my house it is 40 degrees & partially sunny. Last night I stayed at work until 9:30 PM & then came home and finished my shift until midnight.

I wish I were scrapping or making charms or ATCs - something creative with my hands instead of here on the computer!! I did get a basic LO drafted for the Bloggin' Bible study, so I just have to find my papers and embellies and put the front page together.

OK, enough whining for now **sigh** Hope your weekend is better than mine!

Bloggin' Bible Study

I'm going to take part in an online Bible Study where we scrap the verses we are studying. I can't think of a more fun thing to do and get back into my spiritual life where I belong!!!

We are starting with Fruits of the Spirit & I know just the papers and stickers and ribbon and flowers and buttons and, and, and I can use to do this study!!!!

We start on Monday, March 9th - if you might be interested, visit the blog.

This beading site is gorgeous!!

Have you visited Beverly Ash Gilbert's blog?? The beads are beautiful and the work she does is amazing. She's giving away some bead soup right now - go visit!!

So what am I doing up so late?

There "might" be a weather event & so our work group is on 12 hour shifts. My shift is noon to midnight. Luckily, I'm at home right now (it's about 10:15 PM). I go into work tomorrow at noon, if nothing happens, I can come home at the regular time, but sign in every now & then to see if there is anything happening in the rest of the county. Where I live, we usually get the "weather" because we live in the convergence zone - there is nothing going on outside.

So that bring us to Saturday. I have to go down to work at noon & stay there until midnight. On
Sunday, I can work from home. On Monday - if there still is a weather event, I go into work at noon and stay until midnight.

I'm tired just thinking about it. Soooo, bottom line, please pray for warm weather in the Pacific NW.

43 Things Personality Quiz

I 'stole' this from Betsie's Blog ;-) and found out I am a Spiritual Money Managing De-Clutterer.

Take the quiz & let me know what you are!!

Let's get caught up

Oh wow, another month??

Weather
Well the snow disappeared & then we had more last Monday. Guess the groundhog was right - six more weeks of winter!!

CleanScape
So I called CleanScape and had a very nice conversation with the Customer Service Rep. I gave him the date and approximate time when my recycling was picked up with the garbage. They have video on the trucks that see what their employees do. The Rep. said they were very serious about recycling and were very sorry this had happened. Anyway, I don't know what the result was; however, they listened to me and I believe that they took care of the problem.

Work
Friday, Feb. 13th was our second of ten Furlough days. Which means I didn't work, not did I get paid yesterday. This is a cost saving measure by the county and all county employees (except essential workers - sheriff, prison, some health workers, etc.) did not work & the county saved some money.

Valentine's Day
DH gave me a small heart shaped box of chocolates for Valentine's Day. He's not real big on holidays, but I try to give him a nudge in the right direction. What was really nice about this is that I've been sick with a cold for two days (feeling really crappy) and he remembered without me telling him....I'll keep him for another year.

Snow done & melting!!

Quick note...we ended up with about 4" - 5". It's mostly melted now, but is was a surprise - no forecast of it happening. So, I'm back at work and wishing I still was on vacation ;-)

It's still snowing

DH is safe at home (with groceries!!) We now have 2" on the ground & it's still snowing. According to weather.com it's supposed to turn to rain around 10:00 PM - we'll see.

It's 33F, dark and

Snowing!! I'm waiting for DH to get home safely from taking DS home to his bio-mom.

On that note....after a two week vacation, I'm going back to work tomorrow :( I have so enjoyed being home and getting caught up on various tasks.

Well, just needed to talk about the weather to get it off my mind. Hope you are all safe & warm tonight.

Huh? part two

I thank CleanScapes for posting a comment about their service...it was nice to hear from them & I really do appreciate their customer service.

Can you feel the 'but' coming?

Yup, here it is. We put out our garbage container & our recycling container Friday night. Then I decided to trust what they said to do and I gathered up a lot of extra recycling, put them into paper grocery bags and found a large box (our new computer came it in, so I know it would be sturdy) to hold it all. I had five grocery bags of cans, glass & plastic and one large plastic cat litter container on top of it all. The contents were not hidden, and I had my son write 'Recycle' on the box.

Along about 11:30 AM or so on Saturday I hear the welcome noise of the garbage truck (they always come first & then the recycling truck comes by later). I am having a pajama day, reading & scrapping, so I am not dressed. I peek out the window and watch in dismay as the big box of recycling is thrown into the back of the garbage truck followed by the emptying of our garbage container. The driver had run the compactor before I could get my housecoat on & tell them to pull it back out.

I am very upset with what they did. They did not pay any attention to what they were doing...sure, they were in a hurry because a lot of people needed their garbage picked up. I can understand that, but the box was clearly labeled Recycle....so my question to CleanScapes is...

What else was I supposed to do?