Arabian Nights

We are here in beautiful Titusville, Florida for our annual visit to the American Police Hall of Fame…to attend the Police Memorial Ceremonies that they provide for the surviving family members, Law Enforcement and anyone else who might be interested. They have been doing this for a really long time now (since 1960) and are very good at it too. (more on this subject tomorrow)

Each year they try to do something wonderful for their guests and this year is no exception. They arranged an excursion to Arabian Nights, in Orlando, for dinner and a show. That was SO much fun! They had 4 buses here by 3:45 and over 200 survivors eagerly awaiting the trip. It was about an hour and 15 minutes to the attraction and it was rather uneventful (meaning I took a nap) and we arrived in good time to get everyone inside, seated and comfortable before the show…but not so long as to be bored by the time it started.

This is not your typical seating arrangement…instead of tables there are long benches with backs and almost a trestle type table to eat on, about 18” wide and 15 people long with a 3” raised ledge on the front portion, so you don’t accidentally send your food down the back of a diner at the ‘table’ in front of you. These tables are set up in a ‘stadium seating’ type of arrangement so all can easily view the entertainment, which takes place in the arena below. We were really excited to see this show! It is a loosely woven story of an Arabian Princess coming into her own and being introduced to her own personal Genie, who is rather inexperienced and needs the practice to protect her new mistress. In the course of this tale we are treated to a visual extravaganza of horses in various settings, the Wild West doing a square dance on horseback, the Native American with symbols painted on her steed, the chariots of yore – complete with a very competitive race in which the two sides of the arena cheer on their champion – trick riders jumping rope, jumping through flaming hoops and doing back flips – all while riding bareback on beautiful horses. And of course they evoked the Black Stallion! There was a nice mix of suspense, yearning and comedy. It was a delightful show and I would feel comfortable recommending it to you as a nice bit of light entertainment. Of course if you have a horse crazy child it might end up causing trouble as they will almost certainly want to do those things themselves and I think that might be something you would want to discourage. Lol

We were a little concerned about the quality of the meal. I’m sure you have all been to places that mass serve, and usually that means inferior quality. We had a choice of one of the following menu items…

New York strip steak

Grilled chicken breast

Certified Black Angus chopped sirloin with gravy

Children’s chicken tenders or

Primavera penne pasta bowl (vegetarian/vegan option)

Almost all the folks at our ‘table’ chose the New York Strip. When our food arrived it really didn’t look that great…the Strip was coated in pepper and looked dry, we had mashed potatoes and a broccoli/carrot mix, and a roll. I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite of that steak…it was tender, juicy and flavorful, despite the pepper (which I’m sure you know I DON’T DO PEPPER, so that’s a pretty high accolade from me). The vegetables were tender and with a little butter on top the potatoes were really good. It was a bit difficult to eat in the dark whilst screaming, er I mean cheering on our champions, but we managed without any mishaps. (unless you count the butter that somehow managed to fly through the air and attack Larry a row behind us) Our waitress had a great sense of humor and was really quite good even with all the people she was serving; I think she had either two or three of those long tables. The entire experience was one I would happily repeat if the opportunity arose and I hope you all get a chance to do the same.

Trav's Blog

Wow, Trav's really gotten on the blogger wagon big time!!! He has posted a few really good ones lately - you should head on over there and see what he's been up to...Read him with your coffee in the morning to get you ready for the day lol. here's the addy http://travstales.com/

Ya might leave him a comment to let him know that I sent you...I get points for that sorta thing - hey life's a game, even when you're married, why not have fun while you play?

Anyways, I've been totally unable to write anything more than my name lately, and I don't know why, but - that is going to change...I will be back in full force soon. We are going to Titusville next week for the Annual Police Memorial Day Ceremonies, so maybe I'll even have something to write about! There will be at least one post on the Memorial - that is a promise.

So, I'll see you soon...go see Trav!!!

Craft room update

ok, so we got some more done on the craft room this weekend…it’s not finished, but most of the construction stage is done…got new flooring down, have the shelves cut back and lined and trimmed…got most of the new under counter drawers in…have the counter installed. all that’s left now is the organized re-entry of ALL MY STUFF!!!!

That is going to be interesting…to put it mildly.

I am really excited tho, even if it IS taking a lot of time and effort…I’ll be able to find all the things I KNOW I have, but cannot locate. That will be worth a lot to me, and I can get my craft stuff off the kitchen table and counters, THAT will be worth a lot to Trav lol.

Updates to follow with a pic of the finished project.

My Craft Room

Trav and I are in a perpetual state of remodel! No wait, not US---our House!

We were supposed to be working on the back room (referenced in a previous post) but for some reason we are not. Saturday we started working on my craft room…

I want my craft room organized and neat and for it to be somewhere that I can go to relax and be creative. It is none of those things at the moment, nor has it been.

When we first discussed what we needed to do in there I envisioned a row of storage totes all labeled with craft components and just Waiting for me to drop pieces and parts into them in preparation of redoing that room. Reality once again rears it’s ugly head…somehow we ended up starting willy nilly – without a shred of organization, just jumped in and started pulling things out!!! Oh NO!!!! I am traumatized – sniff sniff - I think I’ll stop this line of self pity right here…just know that I DIDN’T LIKE IT one bit! and Trav found a way to make it a little easier on me, so…onward…

This is a room approx 8 x 6 that has shelves on both long sides, a drop down work surface on one short side and the door on the other short side. The shelves on one side are about 5 inches deep and on the other side are about 18 inches deep. We cut 3 of the wide shelves back to about 12 inches, leaving the top two for long term storage as opposed to everyday accessibility. The bottom two shelves were removed and one put back in at table top height to extend my work surface the length of the room. We are going to extend the top shelf across the short end over the work surface to give me a little more storage space. We will be putting drawers under the work surface and smaller drawers on the surface towards the back for pens and things like that. On the wall to the left of the work surface is a group of shelves that are wider than the others, just one section that is about 15” wide…we are, hopefully going to turn those into a paper rack. I would really like to see shallow shelves that are tilted to a 25 or 30 degree angle with a small lip on the outside edge and a finger notch…then put a piece of chipboard on this shelf then the paper on top of that. (Then maybe I can color coordinate my papers and cardstock and actually be able to FIND things?)

Right now it is a major disaster and I’m not able to do any crafting….hopefully we will be able to get back to it soon.

I haven’t decided what I want to put on the work surface…Formica? wall board?? or??? There is a pegboard on the short wall next to the door, and I have some components to use with that, but I really haven’t figured out the way I want to do it yet. We will be putting some form of lighting under the shelves on the long wall (over the work surface) and mostly that long desk will be used for ‘work stations’, such as my die cutter, my large trimmer and things like that.

I‘m not really sure where we are going from here…we really need to put something different on the floor or go to the bare wood look, but not just an area thing, all or nothing I think. And something easy to keep clean.

I don’t know…I’ll give you an update when we have something new going on and after we are done I will upload a pic so you can see by beautiful new crafting area!!!

Wild animal story addendum

Since I named them in yesterdays story, but didn't give you a picture to look at, Trav suggested that I add this today....hope you like them, this is Michael and Loverboy, ignoring the excitement - as usual. lol

Wild Animal Story

hhmm, I promised you a wild animal story didn’t I….guess I should tell you about it then….

Once upon a time, there was a family with 3 dogs (Micheal, a maremma, Tug, a jack russel/spitz and Spunky, a pomeranian) and a cat (domestic shorthair gray tabby, Loverboy), that lived in the woods outside of town. Every now and then different animals would wander into the yard and the dogs or cat would take after them and the family would have to go save them. Some times it would be too late, and sometimes the ending was happy. And sometimes they weren’t sure which of those it was….

Ok, so let’s just say that last Monday, the lady of the house stayed home from work to play with all the new toys she got from the Scrapbook Expo. And let’s say that first thing that morning, before she was even dressed, one of those three dogs was barking funny in the front yard. And let’s say that this lady went to the window to see what was the matter. and found….

Tug barking at a ‘possum! Ok, so it wasn’t the Biggest ‘possum in the world, but it was at least as big as Tug!

Now it is not unusual to have critters out there, but usually Trav (the man of the house) is home to handle things…not this time…he went to work. That left me….and as I mentioned above, I wasn’t exactly dressed to go wild animal taming. But something needed to be done, soon, so…in my flip flops and sleep shirt, off to the rescue I go. I grabbed the broom off the front porch on the way out and started hollering at the dog to leave it be (as I do not know the gender of our visitor I will hereafter refer to it as ‘he’ for ease of reference). Of course Tug ignored me and started really going at the attack and I was terrified that he would get hurt so I jumped right in with that broom and tried to separate them. That worked.-.sorta…every time I poked the ‘possum it

would show me ALL those teeth and gggrroowwll and that would set Tug off again!

Finally got Tug to listen a little and back off and so I started trying to herd that poor ‘possum towards the gate to get him to safety…once he figured out that I was pushing him in the direction HE wanted to go he stopped fighting me so hard and sorta ambled in that direction.

Things went quite well until….about 5 feet from the gate. At that point he decided that he wanted to go to the back yard (which is probably where he came in) NOT out the gate and turned on me….man, was THAT scary. Have you ever tried to keep an angry ‘possum at bay with a broom? and no pants on? and open toed shoes? I was feeling so exposed – more than I can remember in my whole life. But what could I do at that point? so I ran around him and opened the gate and then back to the other side to give it my best. Wasn’t enough, he managed to scoot by me and into the bush at the base of the tree that grows next to the front porch. And as soon as he did Tug went in the other side of the bush and Spunky thought it would be fun to get involved too!! I yelled at them both and Spunk backed off, Tug I had to broom again. Finally I got them to go in the house and I sorta locked us in.

I never did get that wild animal out of the yard, but by the time I allowed the dogs back out, he was gone. As far as I could determine, Tug was completely uninjured. The ‘possum had a couple of what looked like minor bite marks on his side, but nothing major that I could see.

And as far as I could tell, Michael never even woke up. Great watch dog, gotta tell ya. But given the choice of having him in that mix as well, I’ll take a grumpy sleepy mutt to an alert attack dog any day!

Did I live up to my promise?

Scrapbook Expo Day 2

Hi Ya’ll, I’m Back!

Have you been breathlessly awaiting today’s installment? Well? Have you? oh, not really? sigh, I was afraid of that….Oh well, I’m here now, so I will tell you the rest of the story!

Ok then, the day started at 7, got up, got all my stuff together, went downstairs and got some French toast and coffee and headed out. The first class was at 9.

The first one was A boys life chipboard album, by Rusty Pickle. Parking was horrendous so our instructor was a trifle late and flustered, but her Teacher’s Assistant (TA) had everything well under control…we already had our kits, she had already collected our ticket stubs and we were all ready when she walked in at 5 minutes til class time. That was a fun class, it was rather fast but not frantic…we did not finish the album of course, that rarely happens in a workshop, but it was fun anyway. I finished that one when I got home and it’s really cute.

Then came the marathon! I signed up for FOUR S.E.I. classes! one right after the other, one at 11, one at 12:30, the next at 2:30 and then the last at 4:30. That is with a half hour between each class for clean up and set up.

Ok, the first one was to teach us 4 ribbon techniques. And although I don’t have a picture up of that one, it was really cute. It is the word Friends, cut out and embellished. We only had an hour for that class and it really wasn’t long enough to get it all done…that one was truly frantic! But with everyone helping each other, we finished on time with a great little album.

Second came the 4 album enhancing techniques – In that class we worked on a “scrapbook in a box” and learned how to make French knots – work with linen paper – doodle with a stencil and ink edges. That was an hour and a half and it took a bit of work to keep up, but it was still fun. We almost finished a 20 page 8x8 album. I finished it when I got home and now need to find photos that will do it justice.

Third was a 2 page spread to learn how to have motion on the page. We learned how to cut page protectors and make slides and folded papers to hide then reveal the photos or journaling. This class was a little more leisurely and we did finish everything there. Again I need to find the ‘right’ pics.

Last, but certainly not least, was the Velvet paper techniques. We were supposed to learn 4 ways to work with/enhance/embellish velvet paper. Inking, stamping, embossing and rub ons. That was a 6 panel accordion album made out of heavy chipboard and is really kewl! It is one of my favorites. That was a really laid back class since it was the last one of the day and we didn’t have to be out by any specific time. It was a lot of fun and I would really like to do one like that again.

I didn’t really have any time left over for make & takes, so when I had a couple minutes between the S.E.I. classes I ran around the exhibit floor and bought my stuff and purchased the M&T kits to bring home and do.

I also bought a Zutter Bind-it-all system! www.binditall.com That is going to make some of the paper crafts I do SSSOO much easier! That is how I bound this word bloom album that was one of the M&Ts.

And I also used it to punch the holes in one of my coaster boxes (not this one of course, but the other one lol).

The trip home was pretty uneventful, except that Trav was the navigator, since I was driving, and he sent us the wrong way on I-4 and we ended up going approx. 24 miles before turning around and heading back. Got caught in the traffic madhouse by Disney and that took some time to work thru, but once we were past that it was smooth sailing all the way home.

I had taken Monday off from work too just cuz I KNEW I would want to play with all my new treasures, so I just planned to craft. And except for a little run in with a wild animal early on in the day, it went relatively nicely. (and I’ll tell you THAT story in a day or two lol)

So there you have it folks…the continuing saga of the crazy lady with the funny name. (read that in a radio announcers voice….bet you can’t help but laugh!)

Bye ya’ll

Need an Excuse to NOT drink and drive?

link to the story

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20080404/NEWS/804040359/1002/NEWS

Scrapbook Expo

Scrapbook Expo

We went to Orlando this weekend to attend a Scrapbook Expo. I was SO excited!! I signed up for 9 classes/workshops!

We took Friday off and got up at 4:30 in order to make sure we were packed and on the road by 7am. We were taking the laptops, the cameras, the food and on our way we went. Got about a mile from the house when Trav turns the truck around and said, Forgot my laptop!!! Lol. Since he was planning on working on a project while I was in class, he had to have that little baby! So, we went back.

Actually got on the road at about 7:30, and headed out 27 to Ocala. We planned on stopping on the way to pick up an insulated mug that would fit into my drink holder that clamps on the table, figured that wouldn’t take long. Wrong! Couldn’t find one that fit…so we stopped at Wally World knowing that they had the Bubba mugs with the skinny bottoms – rrriigghhtt, that was a real adventure. Couldn’t find them in housewares, nor could we find anyone to help us…oh we found people all right, they just were not going to help. The guy in automotive, when asked where the mugs were in his department acted like it was an imposition to point down an aisle and say, “somewhere past the oil”. Finally a young lady from sporting goods tried to help and was totally confused when she realized that an entire aisle was missing. That’s when it hit me, seasonal!!! So I went searching for the coolers and sun tea jugs, and there they were. One style, looks like a basket ball…ugh. But it would work, had a cover, wouldn’t sweat, could put a straw in it and it fit the holder. So 45 minutes later, we were back in business.

Back to the truck and let’s get going!! Ah, shucks, I’m hungry! Ok, make a quick stop at Mickey D’s for breakfast and get back on the road. Finally!!!

So, on the road we go, and believe it or not, the rest of the trip down was uneventful. We were running a little later than I wanted so we arrived at the Convention Center at approximately 10am and my first workshop was at 11. I needed to find the registration desk, get my tickets and room info and find the room and be there on time. And I MADE IT!

My first workshop was Celebrating Sisterhood, with Sue from Albums & Answers, making a 6 x 6 accordion album – using accordion paper for the inside, but constraining the spine with ribbon so it was really a book. It was fun and the instructor was very good with an excellent sense of humor.

My second one was was Bright Birthday Mini Album, same as Sisterhood, but with a different theme. Very cute.

and then we scrap outside the book with a wall hanging, absolutely adorable…Live, Love, Laugh with Keller’s Creations – they were hilarious and the class was great…fast paced, but not the speed of lightening fast lol

After that was about an hour and a half break, so I called Trav and asked him to pick me up so I could eat, then bring me back in time for the 6:30 workshop. Which he did. While I waited for him I took my first walk around the exhibit floor, lots of kewl stuff just waiting for me to find it.

Which eventually I did

This one was Expanding Baby Album – This was kind of a unique project, and I think that if all the components had fit together properly and the instructor wasn’t ill, it would have been a great class…but…I am planning on making this one at home, on my own, to see if it works out any better. I would really like this one if it is done correctly.

and that was it for Friday, Trav came and got me…it was right about 8pm. Long Day, but BOY did I have fun!!!!

And that’s it for today…stay tuned for Saturday!!!

thank you

Thank you to my loyal friends who have been checking back on a regular basis. I am sorry I haven't written in so long, it seems that my blog gene went dormant when I was sick and is just now waking back up. Tomorrow I will tell you about the Scrapbook Expo we just returned from yesterday - and maybe about the wild animal in the front yard today....nah, that one can wait til Wednesday!

See ya tomorrow and Thanks again.

I'll try to change my header too lol

our weekend

We go into Ocala every weekend, usually on Saturday, to do our grocery shopping and this week was no exception - even tho we had gone to G'ville first thing Saturday to pick up some furniture. We went a little later than usual due to the G'ville trip so were coming home after dark. We were only a few miles from the county line when we saw a cop pulling a car over on the other side of the median. Figured they must be running radar so checked my speed and made sure I was at least close to legal. About a minute later I glanced in my rearview mirror because there was a care really close behind me all of a sudden...then he started to pass me and I realized it was another cop. No big deal, I wasn't doing anything wrong, so he gets about half way past me, then hits his brakes and pulls back in behind me...great - I had a headlight out, so we knew at that point that he was going to pull me over and sure enough, he did. You see, we noticed our headlight out on Monday, I think it was, and on Wednesday we stopped on our way home for a headlight bulb and windshield wipers (you remember Wednesday don't you? the night we SHOULD have stopped for gas?!?!?) Trav had planned to put it in on Thursday, but, as you might have noticed, it rained...Thursday AND Friday!! So that didn't happen. And what with going into G'ville Sat morning, we sorta forgot and so....we got pulled. Now, the officer Could have been a butt head and written me an equipment ticket or warning, or even given me a lecture on not being safe with out both headlights...but he wasn't and didn't. Maybe because when he got up to the window to talk to us, Trav was holding the package with the bulb in it up for him to see and half laughing and I was handing over my license. He started laughing as well, ran my license gave it back and told us to have a nice night. I thought it was funny. And was really glad that we had that bulb in the truck with us. And you know what? that bulb is STILL in the truck!!! Trav is sick today and since it almost takes an act of congress to change one of those bulbs, it didn't get done...so I better not drive home in the dark tomorrow lol

But because Trav is sick, I didn't get my normal Sunday morning breakfast in bed with the Sunday paper and my sweetie...and I had to go get my own paper!!! I couldn't get the Ocala paper at the little store closest to our house so I had to drive on into town to pick it up...was coming back home via 27 when I looked to my left and what do you think I saw? A COW!!! Grazing on the side of the high way, just as happy as could be...and walking straight for the road! I couldn't just drive on when someone could get hurt, so I flipped around and pulled off the road between the cow and the road...and honked the horn a few times. Both to hopefully move the cow away from the highway, and maybe alert the owners that there was a problem. Well, the cow moved, but no humans showed up. So I called the sheriffs department. I told dispatch that if it had been a horse, no prob, I would go get it...but I don't do cows! no way, no how. she said she would send someone out and thanked me for calling. After I hung up I realized that I couldn't leave until someone got there, cuz I would feel responsible if someone got hurt...so I sat there...and sat there...and honked on occasion when she got too close to the road. It took about 20 minutes for a deputy to arrive, at which time he came up and thanked me for helping out and I drove off. On my way home I thought about the irony of the two encounters with the law...(I have a twisted mind)...one cop pulls me over - no ticket, but stressed - so I send another cop on a cow roundup....lol...it's karma I tell you, it's karma - like that old tv show Karma & Dread? you remember that one don't you? lol good nite ;o)

We Are Blessed

We Are Blessed.

some days are better than others, lol

Wednesday Trav and I were being lazy…we went to eat at Bennigan’s on the way home and when we were finished eating it kinda looked like it was going to be really rainy, so we decided not to stop for gas. We determined that there was plenty to get us home and then back into work on Thursday. We stopped and picked up some parts for the truck on the way home and that was it.

So, on Thursday we came into town, I dropped Trav off at work and came to my building and went to work. Trav was trying to make up a little time at work from having to be off on Monday for the washer (that’s another story altogether) so he IM’d and asked that I pick him up, so that he could work that extra hour. No problem, I say (well, not quite that cavalier as I HATE having to drive over there at 5pm, but you know what I mean). Five o’clock rolls around and I go get him…traffic is really bad for some reason and we sit in traffic for about 10 minutes before we make much headway. Then we stopped at the drug store to pick up some meds. Then it’s time to go to the gas station…we are going to hit the one right before we leave town.

Weeellll, sitting there in traffic I was starting to get just a trifle nervous about how close we were cutting it, in the back of my mind was the thought that it would really be a bummer to run out of gas in the middle of traffic and have to wait for triple A to get there as we blocked the road….not a happy thought. As we made our way closer and closer to the station, I was relaxing a little at a time, thinking that we were doing good. So we are about a block and a half from the station, still on the main road, just at the entrance to the Publix shopping center and….yup, you guessed it, we ran out of gas. The truck just stopped running and refused to re-start. Before it came to a complete stop, Trav jumped out and started pushing and told me to steer into the parking lot…that truck is heavy! So it didn’t make it very far, he was pushing, but you know how that goes, right? the road was wet – it was drizzling and the entrance to the parking lot was slightly up hill…not a good combination, so I hop out and try to steer and push at the same time, it almost works…we are making progress, when whoops, we seem to both slip in the water at the same time and the truck starts rolling backwards…right back into traffic! I quickly hop back in and hit the brake, then get out and we try again, nope, not working. The cars are going around us and pulling into the parking lot, just ignoring us…brats! I am really starting to get worried about now, that someone is going to hit us or run into Trav at the back of the truck, when from across the parking lot – An Angel starts jogging towards us!!!! As she ran to the back of the truck she exclaimed “I’m not very strong, but I’ll help!” And put her hands next to Trav’s and saved the day. That little bit of help was all it took to get the truck (and Trav) to safety. After we stopped, she offered us the use of a gas can she just ‘happened’ to have in her trunk. So, off he goes to get it and to walk the block or so to the gas station. She works at the Publix right there and was on her way to work when she saw us struggling. Without hesitation, she threw herself into helping and went even further by providing the gas can- she had no way of knowing if we would return it or just take it and go on our way.

Well, we got the truck running, pulled around the parking lot, parked the truck and went into the store, with the gas can (now empty and in a plastic bag) looking for her manager…we really didn’t think they would want that can in the store but what to do with it then? We located her manager and explained what had happened and he took us to where she was – he asked her if she had been on break or just coming in and she said just coming in, so he asked if she was late because of it. She looked scared and said no, then amended it to – about 2 minutes. He then stated that he would make sure that she was paid for that time and that he appreciated her helping us and please take the gas can out and put it back in your car. The smile on her face was radiant! and she took off like a shot. As we walked back to the door the manager was telling us that they have a program there in which they award their employees tokens for doing certain things and they can use these tokens to buy gift cards and things like that. He assured us that she would most definitely be the recipient of one (or more) of these tokens. He thanked us for bringing this to his attention and we left.

We drove over to the gas station, filled up the truck and headed home in the rain.

We made it without any other incidents on the way….

Then we stopped to pick up the mail and had another surprise in store…a package from someone I correspond/interact with on a message board (Crafty One at Daisie Company) with some really nice little goodies in it…I had been RAK’d!!!!! How did she know??? How could she Possibly have timed it so that this package, and all it means, would arrive Just at that moment? When we had had a rough time and needed a pick me up? TWO Angels in one day!!! We are Blessed!

As Alabama has often said “I believe there are Angels among us”…we were blessed to encounter two of them in the same day. Thank You God.

Later

I am your child

ok, here is the second one thanks for looking

http://www.gottapixel.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/96596

Forever Young

If you are interested you can go here to look at my latest Lay Out. I'll be putting another one up tonight sometime.
Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Hope you like it. [shy smile]

http://www.myscrapshop.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=1&pos=0