Monday, December 31, 2012

Friday, December 21, 2012

Well, well.....

Have you ever done something completely normal, well intentioned, and got kicked in the teeth for it?

I just did. I sent Christmas cards today, by email, as it has become a custom for me, since my handwriting is so bad these days, I wouldn't wish it on anybody to try and decipher. I got some sweet wishes back,  and than I got an email I had been looking forward to getting, until I actually opened it.

To say that the floor dropped out from under my seat, would not quite be accurate. It was bizar, to say the least. Let me give you the abbreviated version.... It was implied that I was using having cancer as an excuse for not keeping in touch. (THAT was definitely a first!),  I didn't care enough to get a paper card and mail the darn thing, and with all things I supposedly don't have time for..... I DO have time to maintain my blog! Life wasn't all fun at their end either, but they didn't complain to everybody in emails about it, and the only reason I EVER emailed in the first place, was probably because I felt guilty about not keeping in touch!

I couldn't believe what I was reading. I haven't kept up, personally, with A LOT of people......  No reason other than that life has a way of getting in the way. Nothing personal, no ill will intended. Shit just happens. I haven't seen my dad more than 4 times since we got back. Nicky a little more, but it's still a whole lot less than what I think to be normal.
Does it mean I don't care, or that they don't? No, it means everybody has a life.
Does it hurt that we don't stay in touch as much as we should? YES!
Am I worried I may run out of time to catch up with them? YES!
If I had more time/opportunity/energy/brainpower etc would I be more "on the ball" and around people? YES!

I hoped that by writing the blog, everybody could keep up with what was going on, but apparently I need to revise that thought.  So, to everybody I have neglected over the last 3 years during my struggle to get my life back.... while maintaining my sanity (more or less)

I AM SORRY THAT I DIDN'T KEEP IN TOUCH!!!!
I LOVE YOU ANYWAY, WHETHER I TOLD YOU LATELY OR NOT
I WOULD LOVE TO PROMISE I WILL DO BETTER NEXT YEAR, BUT I WON'T, BECAUSE IF LIFE HITS THE FAN AGAIN, I MAY NOT BE ABLE TO KEEP THAT PROMISE.

I AM SIGNING OFF UNTIL AFTER NEW YEAR.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2013!

Don't forget to hug that loved one!
Hugs,
Pauli


Friday, December 14, 2012

Well, this day was fun......

It started out sucky, and didn't get better with time.

I'll tell you about that in a little bit. I just got around to checking email, and I have something REALLY REALLY cool to tell you.

                                              BOO HAS A BUY MY STORE SALE!!!!
Over time, I have bought her store twice, and believe me... it's worth it!  I'm very happy that I'm on her Blossom team, and I hope that if you have liked the pages I made with her kits sofar, you will at least check out her store over at The Studio. Just an extra thought here..... for the price of 5 super bundles at regular price, you can have them all............................  If you don't want the whole store, most of her collection is on sale, with some awesome discounts!

Now, if you want to stick around for a couple of minutes.... I'll tell you about my week.
Mike has been home with the flu, which he got from a coworker that refused to go home, and passed it on to me by Wednesday, so in my "infinite wisdom", I decided he needed to see a doctor, which he came right back and told me to make the appointment for both of us. I didn't want to, but I did. She checked him first. It is the flue and because of his diabetis, she didn't want to perscribe any meds. She told him to stay home, and take his time to recouperate, take lots of rest and if things didn't feel better by Monday, to come back in.  Than it was my turn.... I started to get really dizzy, queezie and asked to lay down before I fell down, and that's when stuff started to hit the fan. She checked my bloodpressure, but couldn't find one, my heart rate was on the low side and she couldn't listen to my lungs, because I was laying down. So, she called in another doctor, who also couldn't find a bloodpressure higher than 80 for the high number, so they called the ambulance to take me to the emergency room............. That was a shocker! She didn't even want us to drive there. I'm not sure if it was because we would probably never show up in the ER (I really didn't want to go, and I think she picked up on that) or the fact that Mike was not feeling good either. Either way, I got there, they hooked me up to all kinds of wiring, checked my bloodpressure again, and it was fine. Took a heart film, that was good, and took 5 viles of blood and left me alone to sleep. Mike had followed the ambulance to the hospital in the car, and was sitting on a chair (bolted to the wall) on the other side of the room. We both nodded off, and after 2 hours doctor came back to tell us that everything was just fine, to go home, take it easy, and let things take its course..................................  We're bothh very happy that all turned out ok, (because of the speed that she decided on the ambulance we were both in a panic) but I have this sinking feeling of extra costs that we won't be able to pay, and the fact that they don't give you ANY leaway in paying (If it's not paid in 2 weeks, you're going to collections) and I'm still realing from the dentist bill!

I haven't scrapped at all this week, and I'm missing it, but sitting up to do it just isn't an option right now. I'm on the couch, tucked in like a mummy, with the laptop. I had to check mail, and when I saw Boo's announcement from the 12th, I just had to post. It's only fair :-)

Well, enjoy the weekend, I probably won't be back until somewhere next week.
Don't forget to hugg the loved ones!

Hugs,
Pauli


Monday, December 10, 2012

Happy Tuesday :-)

Too early for Christmas wishes, and I couldn't think up anything clever....
It's been a strange couple of days. I'm still nursing my jawbone infection (with the corresponding shooting pains, more than normal sleepless nights, and just general cranky-ness) BUT, I finally got the ok from the insurance, and re-made my cancelled appointment for a root canal. Never in my wildest dreams had I figured to be happy to make that appointment! LOL. It's after Christmas, and I'm not entirely sure whether that's a blessing or not but eating does NOT hurt.... so maybe it's not so bad. I was not aware of one thing though. A root canal consists of 3 appointments here, and than a years wait before they put the crown on. First they clean the roots and get the infection cleaned up and pumped full of medicine, than they wait a while for that to clear before they actually fill the rootcanal, and if that works out, they put the filling in.....
That they are taking care of the infection felt good. It freaked me out when she said it was severely infected. All my fear senses (And I have quite a few, believe me) went on high alert, and I kept thinking of the idiot in Texas, that told me... "We don't know what it is, it's an encapsuled infection of some kind, but it's not cancer". I do this everytime I hear the word, and sometimes I wonder if that will ever go away...... Oh well, you didn't come here to hear me moan, so...... Good news is..... Between December 27 and sometime next year.... I won't have a tooth-ache anymore :-)

Haven't started my page for the scrapping things yet.... still on the fence about that. I'm also still trying to clean off the I-Mac so we can take it somewhere to be checked.....Although I don't believe it's the computer, the fact remains that Mike used to be able to run The Sims, and now it won't even install.... so it needs to be checked why it's not "playing nice" anymore:-)  Clearing email, one mail at a time, if you have about 15-thousand of them is quite a daunting task. Atleast I started to throw stuff out as I get them, but I'm  not making much of a dent in the rest of them. The Tera-drive is getting fuller, and I'm trying to figure out a system that will catalog the contents on the drive, and I won't have to do it everytime I hook it up to a different computer. I thought I had a good start, on my mac, untill I tried to find things on the Imac, and it came up with absolutely nothing. I aliased kits to elements, papers, animals, flowers, and than again by color and I had a pretty good search result when I did that. I hook it up to the Imac..... nothing. When I just started, I made Picaboo photobooks, splitting them into books of papers, full kits, masks/brushes/styles, quickpages, temples etc, and that was ok, but with a tera-byte of stuff, that's not really an option anymore.... so, like my genealogy filing system.... I need to figure out something that works, and find the time to redo the current system! So, if you have ANY ideas in this directions.... bring them :-)
I realised the other day, that unless I work with a kit, and only that kit.... I spend 90% of my scrapping time looking for things. I know what I want, but unless I know the designer... I'll have to do a search of all png files. Besides the time it takes to do the search, I can spend hours looking thru everything. There HAS to be a better way!

The new mini's at Ivy Scraps are in. I haven't played with them yet, but I'm hoping to be able to do so on Thursday.

The Point In Time challenge over at the Studio, will be posted by end of week, and will run thru January.

Booland Designs is still having a huge sale over at the Studio, and we've been told there are lots of good things coming up, so stay tuned...... But untill the other cat is let out of the bag.... She still has an awesome sale going to the end of this month.... in her own Bargain Bin.....



StarSongStudio's has a new kit coming, but I haven't had time to play with it either.
She also has a freebie on her blog, that was made with her latest release: Winter Wonderland. go take a look. The kit is great for pages, or bookmarks, or greetingcards... if you can think of a use... it will handle its execution, flawlessly!
I started to put a snow picture behind the window, but decided against it. I love the snow piled up in the window panes, and wanted to show it off a bit.. The only way to do that, was to put a non-snow picture in it.......


I come away with one thought, after putting this post together..... I have a lot of things I need to take care of this week!

For now, I'm going to see if I can catch a nap in what's left of the night, and get a fresh, if frantic and time crunched, start around 6 AM. That will give me a good 3.5 hours.... That's do-able, right?

Hugs, and talk soon.
Pauli

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Magical......

That's what it looks like outside. Just a dusting of snow, nice pink sun-up bouncing off ice crystals and colder than the inside of the freezer. LOL

First things first. I heard last night, that if there is a even the hint of a thought that you want to start a cookbook, or give out the recipes to those home made goodies...... You should seriously go look over at The Studio.

Booland Designs has THAT MAGIC PUDDING as the DEAL OF THE DAY!

Go to the store
NO, SERIOUSLY!.... GO TO THE STORE AND CHECK THIS OUT!!!!
This is for some incentive to go check it out.....



I had SOOOO MUCH fun playing with this kit. I went waaaaaaay over what the CT requirements are, and I'm still not out of ideas!  But there are more kits to play with and the Point In Time challenge to set up, so I had to stop. LOL

You may know by now, that I love winter, christmas and cooking. One, is never certain we will get, especially in Holland, one is a GIMME, and one is dependent on budget, health, space and opportunity. Now that I know that our little oven will "do" cakes, I'm on my way to trying cookies. Years ago, I found this Pillsbury cookie cookbook in the library in Hiawatha that had all the award winning recipes in it. I would SO love to have that, but it is out of print, and being where we are, I don't see that I'll bump into it in a secondhand bookstore, but I DO look regularly if it is available for download somewhere..... Maybe I should email Pilsbury....... (That Just got added to the TO DO list :-)..)
Anyway, I wrote out a couple of the REALLY REALLY good ones, and some of them ended up on my pages for the kit. If you're interested, I will ask Boo if I can give the page away "as is", if that's not an option, I will post the recipe as a pdf for download.


the plate with cookies is not part of the kit. They're the ones I baked. 

After posting this, I will be getting double dressed, grab the camera, and go wandering about the neighborhood. There is a wooded area about 2 blocks away that I've been wanting to explore, and today is a great day to give that a try...... These may be the only snow pictures I will get this winter, so I don't want to miss out on them. Later, when he's all napped out, if it is still light when that happens, I will take Perky for his first ever walk in snow..... although I was hoping that it would snow on a day that Mike is off, so he can do the leash-thing and I can do the camera-thing, and with a bit more snow so it's not just cold, but actually fun for the fuzzy roommate to go out in ........ so maybe I will wait on that for a bit and instead concentrate on where I want to put the Christmas Tree! I'm running late. The weekend after Thanksgiving, my normal time to set up the tree, things just didn't go as planned, and it was one blur of running around. Last weekend, I had Sinterklaas at my sisters, and this week..... I'm not sure what happened, but I DO know what didn't happen .... right.... decorating for Christmas. So, I will sit down and do some planning! Oh boy.........

Well it's time to get going for me...... don't forget to hug that special one at least once today!
Hugs,
Pauli




Wednesday, December 5, 2012

I hit a little snag

in the Christmas shopping department....
Mike only wants 2 things, so I thought..... Done in 5 minutes!
I really should know better by now, but what can I say, I'm an optimist LOL

He wants Black Knight Rising.... not a problem, it came out yesterday, and I'm going to base tomorrow or so and I'm sure they'll have it. If not, there's Amazon :-)
So I have  4.5 minutes left, right? NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!

He wants a work shirt, like the one he used to have in Iowa, that he can wear to work, without worrying it will tear, and that is warm that if he has to go outside for/with a customer, he's not freezing. You know, the flannel outside, with the nice warm fleece lining and a hood?  I went to Cabelas, thinking that they had wearable clothing. They HAVE to, right?! All I could find was somthing Kenny from SouthPark would wear, if he wanted to get trashed again. I think Plastic wear is in this year. What's with fashion these days? Not everybody is 16, and us old geezers need to wear clothes too? Trust me, you WANT us to wear clothes! LOL
EddieBauer is even worse. Unless it's checkered, or has some funky design, and god forbid you want a color other than grey............... forget it. Walmart, Sears/Target was next......... nope.

I think it's time to figure out if my sewingmachine works here, right after I find out if they have a shop here that sells material and patterns. There's one tiny little shop in Kerkrade (10 minutes by bus) but they mainly sells stuff to make dresses, and no patterns, thread, buttons, zippers or anything. I swear. I have no idea how people make a living having a shop here. The other place I HAVE seen materials, but again, no patterns of any kind, is the really huge Maastricht Market (hour and a half trainride). Since we accidentally caught it one day, I'll have to find out when that is held, and see if I can go there and check out what they have. For now, I'll have to ask him if he wants maybe something else for Christmas......

I'll get going on the the secondary promise.... I'm still working on the family cookbook, and planned on having it done this year, hopefully in time for Christmas. I hope, once it is dispensed to my sisters, I will get some recipe's in return, to add to it. Otherwise, it will be a very THIN cookbook! :-) I had it started with a certain look, but I think I will let everybody put their own touches on the rest of it, and make it truly a family collaboration. That way, I can also do a little bit creative scrapping on the other recipe's I want to put in it. LOL.

Don't forget to hug that loved one! My fuzzy roommate is on his blanket, right next to the keyboard, with his head on my hand, so please forgive the occasional weird words?

hugs,
Pauli

Saturday, December 1, 2012

S N O W !!!!!

YUP!
It is snowing outside. Big, thick, fluffy snowflakes, gently drifting down, catching the light from the lamppost on the way ..... and melting as soon as they hit the ground....... I guess the weatherman was right. He's been predicting snow for a week now, and he finally got it to work out! LOL.

The only reason I'm still up, and enjoying the view out the window, is that I'm still trying to get organized. I'm going to my sisters tomorrow to celebrate Sinterklaas. Mike is not going, but I have the car. Now I'm wondering if I should be a good "Boy Scout", and be prepared to stay the night on the couch or if I should just plan on coming home..... I'll have to re-evaluate in the morning. I can't cancel (Don't want to either for that matter) because someone would be without gifts if I do. We drew names and I did NOT draw Mike. :-)  So, I'm still trying to get a poem figured out that is worthy of printing. Gifts are wrapped, awaiting the tags. One is going to be interesting...... I'll have to borrow a shoe, and finish wrapping after I get to her house.... I'll let you know how it all works out, but for now, it's back to the drawing bord for me. Perky has dibs on the blanket and my chair, Mike is already out for the count, and I'm getting tired, so I better hop to it.

Don't forget to hug a loved one and enjoy the weekend :-)

Hugs,
Pauli

Thursday, November 29, 2012

CT stuff and other things......


Hi all,
I'm going to do things a little different. I am starting a page with special things from my Creative Team "duties". We all know that when we use the word "duties" for CT related things, what we really mean is "a license to play" After all, you committed yourself to doing this, and it should be done before the fun of chores, which are, in my understanding, optional, at best. LOL That these "CT-duties" are 99.9%  fun, is something that nobody needs to know.......

I will still talk about the designers and the kits, as well as the pages made, on the main blog, but I'm going to put the pages etc here (linked from the main page), and if there are special sales, or things, they'll go on the blog part. I was reading back the other day and noticed that most of the blog is "advertising" so I want to try this for a bit. Leave me a note with your opinion?

I'm working on the family tree again, and hopefully, I will fill those pages up a bit more also....

For now, I have an awesome kit to play with from Ann, that will be released on December 7th. I'm doing that, while I'm waiting for the Heritage Chat over at Ivy. I slept thru last months, so I figured I better show up for this one. LOL.

Don't forget to hug a loved one, and hopefully, I will talk to you on Monday. This weekend is Sinterklaas over at my sisters place, and I still have a couple of gifts to make, and try my hand at a poem or 2 as well........ OY!

Friday, November 23, 2012

OH FUDGE!

I knew I forgot something yesterday......

Ann has this really neat new kit out. I told you about it last week? Well, I played with it, and forgot to post!

Here you go.


It's available here
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Pain meds wore off, pain unfortunately didn't, but I'm not taking anything today, I'm still woozy from the last batch. LOL
Mike is back to work. They're having a Black Friday Weekend full of sales, so I probably will catch up with him on Monday. He'll be tuckered when he gets home tonight, and I'm pretty sure, by the time I get back from Tai Chi (YUP, Im actually going tonight) he'll be asleep, either on the couch or in bed. Tomorrow, I'm making a quick run to go see my dad, between dropping hubby off on base and picking him back up, and sunday, they're having a great sale in the PX, so I'll be on base, at least for part of the day.

I have to figure something out for Sinterklaas. I "signed up" with my sisters family for Secret Santa, next sunday. and I have some ideas, but putting them into practice is something entirely different.  I'm going to charge my I-pod, and do some excercising while on Base on Sunday, like I used to, and which I don't anymore, resulting in being winded when I walk up the stairs again.................

Sorry, I'm ratteling....... Mind is going 90 miles a minute, on a road to nowhere LOL. So, I'm going to leave you alone, maybe pick on the kitty, if he's awake, or read my book. I dug out my favorite mysteries..... They're all centered around the holidays. Right now, I'm 3 chapters into Mary Daheims Alpine Christmas........ So, I'm going to make me a sandwich, with a side of pumpkin pie and hot chocolate, park myself on the couch with a blanket, turn on some music, and basically veg until it's time to start dinner and get ready for Tai Chi.


Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Pauli

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our's has been going on since about 5.30 this morning, which would make it a little early for US time, but hey.... we're celebrating :-)

Pumpkin pie has been baked, and tested....... I'm about to see if the turkey breast fits in the oven, if not, it's going to get trimmed down till it does! No sweet potatoes this year, or cranberries..... Base was out, and the local stores don't carry them, so I'll just imagine them.  Mike is watching some creepy "Mikey movie" so I have my headset on, blasting Omnia and catching up with the blog.

I'm having extra fun scrapping this week. We received the request from Booland Designs I have been begging for (in silence, LOL) to please mix and match kits.......... I'm LOVING that! It's the one thing I miss being a CT-member. You have to stick to one kit per page made. This is soooooo not my style of scrapping. I usually open up my Tera-drive and pick and choose what I think fits with the picture, or the idea of the page I'm working on, so I'm in my own little corner of heaven right now.

I'm also pretty loopy, so please forgive the tone of this post. If I were to quote the vet right now, she would say I'm seeing purple elephants! LOL.  I have a severe infection on my jaw, and took some really good painpills. I still had them from when I had Chemo and figured the strength might have lessened a little, but on second thought... I don't think it has. Not having taken them for a while, they are hitting me pretty good, so after I finish this post, I think I may make my way to my comfy chair and doze for a bit, and leave the operating of the oven to Mike.

I have a couple of pages for you with the mixed kits. The kits are available over at The Studio

Kits used on this page are:
Yuletide, White Christmas, CloudBerry, WhiteWhispers and Iris

Kits used on this page age:
Iris, Blue Skies and Sunshine, Peacock Dreams, Sunday, Winter Bloom, Ambient Moments and Chantilly Lace

Kits used on this page are:
Daddy's Girl, Cherish, Hawaiian Blue, Carnival, Glorious Morning, Claudette, China, Grandma's Quilt, For Margaret, Forest Delight, Fall for You, Cloudberry, Cinco de Mayo, Precious Blue, Great Expectations, , Meadow Lane, April Bloom, Autumnal Sun, Ambient Moments, Gentle Breeze and photomask is from Bend it Like Boo

She has a couple of new releases out I'm not sure I've showed off yet, so.....

Autumn Harbor

About 20 minutes drive into Germany, there is a Wildlife Park. Every time we go see my sister or my dad, we pass it, and I keep wanting to go there, so when we wanted to go "out" on our sisterday, we went there. It was C O L D, and as our luck would have it, the restaurant we had planned on warming up in for lunch,was closed that week, so by the time we got back into the car about 5 hours after we got out  we were chilled to the point that neither one of us felt toes, fingertips or face muscles. But we both agreed we had a lot of fun. LOL

Walk in the Forest, I used for some of the pictures I took on our latest Sisterday. 
Well, this is it for me, for now. I'll be back this weekend, but for now, there's a piece of pumpkin pie and a cup of hot chocolate calling my name......

Don't forget to hug that special loved one, and enjoy your day

Hugs,
Pauli

Sunday, November 11, 2012

'Allo 'Allo......

I can't believe it, but I'm all caught up!

Ann has been quiet, I'm all done with the pages for Ivy for the month, the Point In Time challenge is posted, there is no BlogTrain to follow, that I've found at least, and I've played with the available kits over at Booland Designs!  

Darned!I should have planned this better..... now I have no excuse not to do housework! LOL.
Actually, It's a good thing I'm caught up. Now I can start implementing my plan to follow a schedule. You know, one that includes, housework, must do's daily, weekly, monthly and "when ever", sitting down at regular times and do bills, instead of when they come in so you don't forget, scheduling time for fun and keeping up with friends and family. I'll also have to take in account that I need time to follow blogs at least once a week, and keep up with CT requirements/updates etc. and write blogsposts. THAN.... I have to set a little time aside in the weekend, and do some family research, and get back to people I sent one or 2 emails to, and forgot that I had, and didn't keep in touch, but should have, as well as rescale the pictures I have of cemetery markers for posting on Find A Grave..........

So, if I figure this right... the hours in a day will be increased to 35, the days in the week to 10 and sleeping hours will be cut to 3 hours twice a week..... and I may just be able to keep this schedule! LOL
Maybe I should rethink?

For now, I'm going to show you some of the pages I made, and I'm going to do it right, and include shop-addresses. I'm trying to figure out how to put those on the sidebar, by designer....If you have any ideas on how to do that, please let me know?

ANN - StarSongStudio:

She has an AWESOME new kit out, that I completely missed, so I'll be doing some begging here shortly :-)    It is called "FROSTED" and is available as a kit, as a bundle and all parts seperate..... Since I have no page to show you on this one, I will show the previews she has on her blog  (PSSST! You don't want to miss the blogpost!!! :-)  Trust me)



She sells the kit and bundle at her stores:
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I don't remember posting this one yet, so......

The kit is Autumn Reflections for both these pages.



As pointed out last month, Ivy is doing things a little different these days. Instead of one mega, there are new mini pixel kits each month. 
These are the kits:






And here are the pages I made with them, sofar :-)
I took this picture while in Chicago to renew my passport. There was really bad weather in the forecast and the nice day checking out this awesome city turned into a quick "hit and run". I took this picture while Mike was trying to dodge crazy drivers, on a road we had no idea how to get off of. LOL
If you know which building this belongs to, I'd appreciate the feedback :-)
If you're not into genealogy, this may seem a little strange, but you wouldn't believe how many connections I made in a cemetery :-)
Besides that, it's a very peaceful place to gather thoughts, and enjoy each seasons beauty. this picture I took at the cemetery in Iowa City.
This picture was taken on one of our many drives around Iowa. I severely miss, not just the drives  and the great companionship, but the open spaces, without being empty, the beauty, no matter what season it is and the variety in colors. Sofar, I haven't found the likes of it here, and I really hope that, someday, I will feel home again.

Booland Designs has been busy, as always. I will try and catch up here, otherwise, I will add them to the next post, as I find out what I missed :-)

This page was made with Autumnal Sun.

Kit used for the page is Autumn Dawn

Page made with Carnival.
This Lay Out was Gallery standout over at The Studio... Cool Huh?!


Picture was taken on a detour thru Monschau. There was no parking to speak of, and 2 way traffic on a goatpath leading to this castle wall. While Mike was waiting for the oncoming traffic to let up, I took this picture.
The kit is Merry Fall
This is my favorite picture of the day we spent in Valkenburg with my niece. Poppies are such a  happyt colorspot,  don't you agree?
Kit used is Fall For You

Picture was taken in my sisters backyard. I just couldn't resist....
Kit used is Thank Fall

On our trip back from Overloon War Museum when we saw these elk in a meadow, up an embankment. Luckily there was a small shoulder and Mike could pull over. As soon as my head popped over the embankment, the does started to move away, but the bull just stood there as if the does moving made him invisible. It was kind of nice to see that they were cautious, but not frantic. I marked the spot on the map, and we're going back in the spring when the calves are born.... so stay tuned :-)
Kit used is Last Fall


BOO sells all her kits at The Studio

Also over at The Studio this months Point In Time challenge is up... Go take a look.



I think you're all caught up. According to the new schedule, my next post will be Wednesday evening.... so. Enjoy your week, don't forget to hug a loved one, and I'll see you in a couple of days.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

PHFEW!

Have you ever noticed that you miss things for a while, and when you get them again, you wished you would have enjoyed missing them a little more?
I know, this sounded a WHOLE lot more sane in my head, so let me explain a little. LOL.
All the years we lived far from any kind of family, I missed having them around on my birthday, and the longer it was, the more I forgot the balancing act to keep the peace. I grew up with only moms family around, and every birthday it was the same thing. As a kid, you don't really notice but the really blatant things, and as you get older the memories change and you DO pick up on the little things too. I love family gatherings, I just wished you could zap certain people into stases the minute they walk in the door, give them memories of an awesome party, and thaw them out when the rest of the family is ready to go.... Until than.... I guess you swallow hard and keep smiling!

It was STILL a great weekend, AND the house got a good going over in the process. Nicky came with her family and it was very nice to have all of them together, without having to work. (Last time they visited as a family, we fixed up the computer room, and the time before that, they put the flooring in the house). They had taken us to a V E R Y nice grill place about 30 km away last winter and we had a blast  and as a birthday gift, they gave us a gift certificate to go there.... so nice! It has great food, and a grill in the middle of the table. You grill as you're hungry, nobody bugs you about your order, and you can stay as long as you want, or until they close, whichever comes first. Not sure yet if we will use it for our aniversary, or "just because" but either way, I know we'll enjoy it very very much. My oldest sister and her spouse gave me a very sweet birthday gift. He brought the drill, and hung the coatrack and shoecabinet, so now I have more space under the bed for dustbunnies :-)  My niece came too with her hubby and 3 kids..... Sunday we had 11 people in the house, on Monday 5, and after everybody left, I just sat on the couch with a cup of coffee and enjoyed the quiet.... It's usually only the 3 of us, and neither Perky or Mike talk much, so it's pretty quiet around here. Besides the fact that I completely forgot how to entertain, to have that many people in the house, and keep track of everybody, talk to at least everybody for a little bit and follow conversations......it's tough. A nice problem to have, but still .... brain hurt!

Besides the gathering, I also did a little bit of playing..... I only sleep about 3 hours a night and that leaves a couple of hours of quiet time so Mike can sleep, so that's when I do a lot  of it. I also make A LOT of lists of things I need to do, think about, figure out and so on.... The stack of lists gets bigger, but the things on them don't change..... I need a plan to finish the plans! I wonder if I should put that on a list........... :-)

Boo has been busy, Ann has a new kit coming out (and there's a couple of older ones I haven't played with), I have to post the Point in Time Challenge over at The Studio and Ivy has the new mini pixels out AND a birthday celebration going on...... And one of my new  years resolutions was to get more involved in the sites, and better prepared for CT requirements/duties.

Sooooooo.............

I'll finish this up tomorrow, and see if I can get some sleep :-)

Don't forget to hug a loved one!







Tuesday, October 23, 2012

It's been a while.....

I feel like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland..... Always running, and always late!

Mike's birthday passed without much fuss, just the way he likes it. We had planned on a nice dinner, until I saw the bank-balance, and we stayed home. He absolutely hates celebrating his birthday, and even though my family is "not built that way" over time I managed to convince them of this so even the phone stayed quiet. The only concession he makes, is that the 2 of us celebrate, a little. And I truly believe, this is because I won't let him slide by without it! :-)  I had ordered, and actually received IN TIME, 2 books for 1$ each, so I figured we could do that, at least and I baked him his cake. Not the normal 9x13 but a round one. REALLY came out good. The oven is tiny, so a regular cake pan won't fit, and on top of that..... it's on the old side, so temperature and cooking times vary by day outside temperature and wind direction. LOL  I figured since the cakepan was 9 inch diameter, I would stick to the 9x9 inch cooking time, knowing the oven, I added 20 minutes, and was 45 minutes short! It should have took about 30 minutes to cook, it took an hour and a half....... BUT, it was worth the wait. Never made a round cake before.  Sometimes change is good.....

I haven't been feeling right. No specifics, just not right. Sleep in spurts, eat occasionally, which is reflected in my vitamins being off kilter, which probably is the reason for not sleeping and feeling off. I'm worried about needing to go to work, not being able to, and having a heck of a time keeping my sanity. After fixing one thing, I'll be happy for about 5 minutes, thinking it all is finally getting in some kind of order, when the next shoe drops, setting me squarely back on my butt. It's not the size of the hurdles I'm starting to have a problem with, just the sheer volume of them! It's hard to remember a time that everything went as it should and I'm sure I'm not alone, so please forgive the whine? I cannot do the job I have done for the last 23 years and, according to the powers that be around here, I lack the qualifications for anything but housecleaning jobs, and when I tell them that I'm not even able to clean my house, they just kinda look at me like I must be the laziest person they've seen in a long time. I'm at a loss on how many other ways to explain to them that it's not the "not wanting to", but the "not able to". I know it wouldn't be right, and surely wouldn't accomplish anything, but sometimes I have such a hard time not suggesting to them to try and walk in my shoes for a week, and see how they like it...... But, my mum raised me right, so I won't. Meanwhile, I'm stuck between a big rock and a huge rock.

I've done a couple of pages, but even the scrapping doesn't get me out of my funk. My camera is about to give up the ghost! The sensor is REALLY funky these days. I'm getting in the habit to take 3 pictures very close together. One will be too dark, one will be way light, and sometimes the third one will come out ok. I wasn't aware that they only last about 2 years...... Oh well. As long as I can fudge the pictures a bit, I'll be ok. Once it won't let me do that anymore, I will have a problem! :-)
It's really weird though. It will start out looking right, and usually right when I hit the shutter button, it turns either really dark, or really light.....

This concludes the cranky part of this post... On to the fun stuff!

Star Song Studio's  has a new kit out. MOUNTAIN WHISPERS. (and a new one coming called Autumn Reflections. I have a really nice picture in mind for this one, I just have to go take it! :-)...)


Ann's new kit: Mountain Whispers.
The page is going into the Family Tree. 


This is one of my favorite pictures, and I don't believe I will ever make another one like it. Everything was just right. Lets face it, more than half the time, what you see, is not what you get in the picture. I don't know why, but between the eye and the camera, it looses that special something......
To get the picture within the frame, I double layered the paper, and erased everything but the frame. Than I dropped the picture between the 2 layers. So... I guess this is my long winded way to say that the frame is not part of the kit as a separate frame.

The kit is available here: 


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I did my pages, and the Bingo page for Ivy. The Themed Monthly Mega is no longer that. Instead it consists of several mini-kits with one color palette. It raises a whole new set of challenges for this CT member, let me tell you. Luckily for me, most designers were in the same mindset this month, unluckily for me.... I don't have many pictures of Halloween events.. I think you've seen all of them, several times. LOL
So, I still made the pages, just forgot the Halloween part...... kinda.




Boo From Booland Designs, has been extremely busy, and so she keeps us out of trouble :-)
I haven't been good at posting her kits, and I truly apologize for that. She is very generous in what she lets us play with, and I feel really bad about not praising her as much as I should.Believe it or not, I actually haven't worked all the kits she has out, because I can't keep up with her. I will share the ones I have made, and make a promise to get better at posting, and to learn "enabling".  Right after I find out what it is! LOL

The latest kits is called MISTY MORNING. I got to play with the collection, so there is a little bit of everything to use. I should have kept track of what was part of the original kit, and I will, in the future kits, but I saw that she has a killer sale over at The Studio

 I will forever treasure the morning I spent, traipsing thru the snow, after an ice-storm hit Hiawatha. Complete silence except for the crunching of boots on snow, cold air and squirrels and a cardinal almost oblivious to me standing there.....  And needing a day to warm up :-)


This picture came about almost by accident. It was in the castle at Hoensbroek, where they had put this little room together, to look like a skullery maid was doing laundry, by candle light. I thought the picture would be too dark to make anything out on, but when I got home and saw it on the screen, instead of the littlebitty window on the back of the camera, I was glad I hadn't erased it. It reminds me of the work of one of my favorite old masters, Jan Steen.....

One thing that cal almost always brighten my day, is seeing poppies in a field of grain. Don't know if it is the bright spot within the solid, or the fact that it's a happy color. I just like it. It was nice to see again.

TOUCHED came out earlier this month: 


I love the mix of colors, They''re all very soft, but not sickeningly sweet.  AND it had a teddybear! 
Somehow, I cannot put my hands on the other page. As soon as I find it, I will post it.

As did DARK NIGHT:


These pictures were taken in the middle of the day, after a very nice bright sun up. The longer we were driving the whiter the skies, and I silently hoped they would drop some snow, but alas..... just cold fog. We sat at the waters edge for a while. The window slightly opened, sipping hot coffee, enjoying the eerie silence around us. Very faintly could we hear the boats on the canal and the traffic on the road behind us, mostly we heard nothing.

AND BEFORE I FORGET AGAIN....... The Point in Time challenge has been up over at The Studio.....



So, I believe you're all caught up.  Talk soon, and please, don't forget to love that hugged one :-)

Pauli