Lamb Weather

The last day of March...and it really is going out like a lamb...wonderful spring sunshine and a slight breeze today, the front door is open, the birds are singing, and the flowers are blooming. And here I am at the computer. Go figure. I've been cleaning out the junk stuff and getting rid of tons of stuff. My hubby is soooo happy. Now if I could only get him to clean the computer room since it's all his stuff and it's full of dust! Went to the wedding shower on Saturday and had a really good time. The bride looks so pretty and so very excited and I got to see her dress. It's not the traditional white or ivory; it's kind of a toast color (or maybe I should call it Close to Cocoa)and just beautiful. Her Matron of Honor is wearing a medium light blue dress from the same designer. Sunday I didn't do anything spectacular....well, I guess I didn't really do anything at all. How nice is that! I cleaned part of the house on Monday and fixed a wonderful pot roast in the crock pot. Courtney, our oldest granddaughter, soon to be a mommy, came over for dinner...and to help Grandpa with a computer problem. We called our oldest grandson, Matt, for his 22nd birthday. He was on his way to his parents house for dinner and birthday cake. He says its just another day but he sounded pleased to be going for dinner. But that's how Moms are, they don't forget their babies birthdays no matter how old that baby gets to be. Got to get my desk cleaned off today so I can start my Easter cards and I have half dozen birthday cards to do for April as well. And that doesn't even count the swap stuff I'd better get done soon. {oops} So happy last day of March and don't get caught in too many April Fools jokes tomorrow.

A Little Bit of Me

For all of my new friends out there let me give you a little bit of personal background. My husband, Tom, is a Shriner and we are very active participants in Shrine activities, raising money to support the Shriners Childrens Hospitals throughout the United States. You will see a lot of references to the Shrine and the things we do with our Shriner friends. Yes, he does wear the funny red fez with the black tassel; yes, he does participate in parades...he has a dune buggy and belongs to that group calling themselves the Desert Chariots. They provide parade transportation for the Divan (aka pres., vp, etc.). He also belongs to the Sandbaggers (golfers), the Director's Staff (the workers who prepare for events), the CIF committee (they raise money to support the building), and a few other things I can't even remember. We travel quite a bit and have been fortunate over the years to go on wonderful outings to Vancouver, Cancun, Spain, Jamaica, and many places within the US. I get to go along without having to do all the work.
For myself, I'm having angst this year. My husband turned 70, my baby turned 40, I'm getting ready to go to my 50th high school class reunion, and I'm going to be a great-grandmother. So what the hell happened!!!!! But life is good and I'm actually laughing at my angst. I have wonderful kids and grandkids. I get to do the things I enjoy best. I have terrific friends; and I have the best husband/friend in the whole world (celebrated our 47th anniversary this year).
I grew up in a small Kansas farming community and now live and survive in the large urban desert of Arizona. I hate freeways, you miss seeing "stuff". And people get on freeways and get crazy. But don't think I could ever go back to live in the midwest...too much humidity and cold weather for these bones now. I miss the trees and the rivers and am always amazed by them when we go back.
I have tried pretty much every craft style that has come along, and given up on most of them. Hated knitting, but love counted cross stitch. Can't draw a straight line with a ruler but I'm a "mad stamper"! Couldn't paint a picture but I know how to use markers and watercolor crayons. Love to read, write stories, talk too much, give unsolicited advice (and I try really hard not to do that). Hate talking on the phone, but love hearing from my kids and grandkids....thank goodness for emails now. Tried my hand at flower arranging; I'm okay, but I get bored. Did the whole plastic canvas thing but then couldn't figure out what to do with that stuff. Well, you get the idea. So I cleaned out the garage, donated nearly everything to a Senior Citizen Center and let my new love (paper stuff) take over. That's me.

Get Well Card

inside of card


Card front

This card was done with scraps a long time ago and I just love it. Then I couldn't find the bubble paper for the longest time.

Workshop cards

Here are three cards we did at a workshop. Two, of course, for Valentine's day and one just because it was fun.

This is one of 20 that I'm doing for the bride to give to her at the shower. Used the cuttlebug folders for the hearts, the thanks and the flower.

My First Bella

This is my first Bella to add to my blog. Yea me!!! This card is for a wedding shower on Saturday. Turquoise and brown are her colors, but I didn't think brown flowers would be pretty so I added pink instead, and this was from an image swap. Haven't a clue where the paper came from as I am in "paper overload" around here. The vellum behind the image is fancy glitter and I love glitter and Stickles. This is my first time to add a card by myself...I'm so proud of me. Maybe I'll actually get the hang of it. Hope you enjoy the card. Thanks for looking.

A quiet week so far. Hubby invited me to meet him for lunch yesterday. We went to the Shrine, of course, but lots of friends so we had a fun time. I won't go down there unless he asks me to meet him and all the ladies think it's funny, but we both need our own time and I won't interfere. I'm working on cards and I finally have some to share. Then when I was cleaning I found some from a workshop so I'll share those too. Went to granddaughter's basketball game (7th graders) Tuesday. It was fun. Don't think I've been to a basketball game for 20 years, since my youngest got out of high school.

Had a busy weekend. Got to play with stamps at a friend's house on Saturday. That's always fun. Made some cute cards but I used them before I made a copy...oops! Sunday we went to another friends house for a party. The weather was beautiful but the wind was blowing a million miles per hour. (So today I'm so stuffy I can't breathe). They put tent awnings up for shade and twice the one I was sitting under tried to blow down. The third time a metal pole simply broke and we all moved! But you can't keep a good party down and we just all enjoyed the company, the food, the drinks, and even the gale force winds. Guess the wind is better than having the party rained out. Today I'm going to my granddaughter, Caitlyn, basket ball game at her school. She is a 7th grader and this is her 2nd game so I'm excited to watch her. Of course, Gramma is taking her camera. When Caitlyn comes over we have to scrapbook so I take pictures whenever I can so we have something fun to scrapbook. I've got card and recipe swaps to get done...guess I'll try to finish up some of those while I watch American Idol and the DWTS elimination tonight. DH is going out of town next week and I have to have everything caught up so I can clean the carpet while he's gone. Got an email from my ex-SIL (who is like the sister I never had). She sent pictures...she is in France until June with her husband...who is working over there. Sure wish I could go to France....for any reason. They are living in the wine country and don't have to deal with any big city Paris issues. But they are planning a trip to Paris soon. Some of the photos reminded me of areas of Spain I visited a few years ago. Brought back some nice memories.

New Blog

Just want everyone to know that my granddaughter, Courtney, has opened a new blog and we would like for everyone to stop by for a look see. www.cards4acure.blogspot.com It is also a work in progress, but Courtney is my computer savior so when it's complete it should be nice.

It's Friday

Got my hair done today. Always feel so good when it is done up....that new survey asked what your original hair color is...my answer: same as it always was, I just didn't use bottle color then. Going out tonight with the girls from work...most of us are retired and we try to get together every couple of months. I don't always make it with all the Shrine functions we attend so it will be good to see everyone and find out what's new and what horrible new changes have been made at the office. Sure glad I don't have to be there anymore. I made a list this morning and I should be at my desk cutting, punching, clipping, gluing, stamping, coloring. But this darn blog stuff is getting to me. I'm actually having fun boring everyone to tears. Today is beautiful, 85 when I came home but everything is blooming and looks so beautiful. My rock landscape is a riot of purple, yellow, orange and greens. The cactus is blooming...I'll have to take a photo to share when the blooms open up.

Depressing Thursday

This turned out to be a rather depressing day. We had a funeral to attend this afternoon, but it seems my DH made an appointment for some lady to come sell us funeral arrangements. Not really the thing I wanted to think about since I was actually going to a funeral. Well, it's all food for thought so we'll think about it all. Then on top of that I had to go with DH on the afternoon portion of his job (sitting in the car, UGH) since we didn't want to drive 2 cars to the funeral. So here I am, bored out of my mind, wishing I could be home at my desk playing with paper, but I'm sitting in the car with the airconditioner on because it's already 90 degrees out here. Don't plan on going with (the no longer DH) if I can possibly avoid it. I have, however, decided what the payback is going to be....Bella! Will order next week. Now I have to go play so I will have something to post next time. Have a good one.

I've signed back in now just to see if I could remember what I'm supposed to do. All this modern technology is just amazing to me, although I do love emailing. The weather is changing and that's not a good thing. I really dread for the heat to come. The sun is definitely getting closer to my part of this good earth. Now that I have a blog I know my daughters are going to expect me to post pictures or something. Boy, they just don't know how far I have to go to do this stuff. I think this will be lots of fun after I get over my weirdness about it. It's one thing to type up a nice long letter or email and mail it off to someone personally, but this is open and very new. Enough playing for today. So everyone have a nice evening and please check back.

Wedding Cards

A friend is getting married in May and I'm playing with cards. Some don't have the words yet; I'm still looking for the right words for the space. Take a look and let me know what you think. This blog stuff is getting to be more and more fun. : )

Mother's Day Card

Made this card for a swap. Used SU paper, generic ribbon and brads. Inside says "Thanks....for everything.

Building a blog, oh my!

Granddaughters Courtney and Caitlyn came over today to help me work on my blog. Found a pretty picture and now I don't know what else to put. So will put in another evening of contemplation and hunting down other blogs to see what I want. Don't know if I can do it all by myself yet, but this old lady is willing to try...at least once.

Today is a banner day...I just created my very own blog. Well, we'll see how this goes!