WOW! They can make solar TV's, but the pond pump still needs a plug....

Sorry, that thought has been cruizing thru my head since this morning......

I love hearing water bubble over rocks and would really like to have a small water feature on the balcony, but I have this innate fear of water and electrics being connected to eachother. SO, I've been looking for a pond pump on solar power. God knows, they make everything else wireless, right? I even tried to figure a way to convert a regular pump to solar, but I lack the skills and at that junction, a plug in with a frayed cord would be safer!  No big surprise there, but still....... Can somebody please make one, so I can have my little babbling brook on the balcony!? LOL
I have actually been looking for one since we got our house Reno, in 1993, so I figure, if I have the idea, some inventor must have thought about it a long time ago....... so where are they?  (solar pumps and/or eggheads LOL)

Now that we have that little kink out of my brain............ On to other things.

As usual, running behind on showing you what is new with the designers. Also have NOT posted the Point In Time challenge at The Studio yet, but I'm working on it. I'll post it, as soon as I have the preview done, but for now.....

                  Word is, it's going to be on the first family member, that left the area.

ALSO in The Studio, is Booland Designs kits. A bunch, as usual, but I don't think she's running out of inspiration any time soon!

In order of release for this month:
LAST SUMMER:

I swear there was another page somewhere from the air show, but I think my computer ate it....... 

ONE PAGE WONDERS:
 Working on them :-)

SECRETS:
There's a story behind "the happy place"
I've never slept as good as Mike. His head hits the pillow, and he's gone, me... not so much. So I asked him one time what he did if he couldn't sleep. Silly question, but hey, if you're awake for hours on end, fighting the urge to thump him one because he is asleep and you would love some company, your mind comes up with some strange stuff. ROFL.
So, his answer was.... Find a happy place. Picture a place where you want to be, and concentrate on that, keep breathing steadily, and before you know it, you'll be asleep, and you won't have nightmares, because you're happy where you are.  If it hadn't been morning, I probably would have asked if he was sharing whatever he was drinking,  and than, years later, I listened to a meditation clip, and there it was again. (Picture yourself in a courtyard, going up steps, surrounded by all your favorite flowers. Look in the distance, where the spot is that you want to get to, and slowly, make your way there, smelling the flowers and enjoying the views as you move toward it........) Who knew?
I have tried it, and if nothing else, it calms me down to the point that my mind doesn't go in 9000 directions. One of them being "why the heck am I not sleeping" LOL. The place itself has changed over time, and with what is going on in my mind when I want to go there, but I found myself thinking..... THAT is my happy place! the minute I saw this spot.
So now you know ...... My secret place.

  

SUMMER PROMISE:

Currently only available at ScrapBookBytes

Not that he doesn't sleep pretty much anywhere, but he seems especially relaxed when he find the tiniest spot of sunlight. His absolute favorite is the spot, right in front of the front door. We call it "the kitty charging station".

Completely of the reservation with this one........ But I wanted to share anyway.
I made these pages from the Clay Warrior exhibit with a combination of  Summer Promise (the papers) May Synergy (tag) and CHINA:

There's more pictures, so you haven't seen the last of the kit :-) 

CHINA was part of one of the "buy my store" deals from a couple of years back. I especially liked it because I wanted to scan and scrap, the pictures from Singapore........ That hasn't happened yet, but I was so glad I finally had pictures for the theme. I used it before, but somehow it's almost like it was made for pictures like this. ROFL.

ANN must be reading my mind. The bike show in Essen we went to, was mostly custom bikes, and a couple of them were REALLY well thought out. We had an overall blast, and plan on going again next year. It's already on the calendar! When I saw the Steam powered bike and the fire bike, I could almost see them running in the victorian age....... and when we got home, I found an email with this kit.
LADY STEAMPUNK:

The funny part is, I was fudging around with just the kit, (This was one of those pages that I had the page figured, but not the final pictures yet) when Mike walks by. Normally he doesn't pay a whole lot of attention but he stopped, leaned over, and told me to use that kit for his life book. I kind of already was thinking that direction, but wasn't sure about the pink part. It didn't seem to bother him one bit, so.... It's in the folder with his things :-) 

There is this thing we do. One will think of something, without telling the other, and sure fire, the other will come up with it within a day or so. This time, it worked almost instantly. He put my coffee cup on the table, and said that the page reminded him of the steam bike we saw........ Needless to say, that's the picture I used. I'm not done with the kit by a long shot yet, so you'll see it again. 

Not sure if we have been together so long we communicate on a different level, or - and this is my favorite explanation - great minds think alike, but it's uncanny how we end up in the same place...... We have a different way to get there, but still, it's spooky LOL.

WILDFLOWER SYMPHONY:

You've not seen the last of this kit either, but I need to go take new pictures.........

I WILL get in trouble one of these days, but I added some things to my list. I also started pushing a little more than I probably should, but I'm so tired of not doing things..... So, IF I'm awol for a while, I'm probably sleeping off one or more dumb moves I made in the time since my last post. LOL

Please be kind, hug a loved one, and enjoy life while you have the health and energy to do so?

Love and hugs,

Pauli

pictures only.... for now

Been busy, running, getting nowhere, and thinking of throwing in the towel, but for now, I want to show you the pages I managed to eek together........ 5 minutes at a time.

Ann has a new kit on the way, to be released when she gets back from vacation. All I can say, is: "It was soooooo much fun to play with!" ROFL. I'll let you know when it's in the stores, so you can go check it out for yourself.

Ivy has had the new minipixels out for a while. Still have to get started on the pages, but I did get the Bingo pages done. Also finished up my other assignments for Ivy, so now I can focus on scrapping the pages, and posting them.

Boo has been Boo, aka "One busy lady". I have officially given up on trying to keep up with her, and I'm going to limit myself to kits I work with, depending on what else hits the fan each week. However... there's a bunch of her pages I haven't shown you yet, so .... here it goes.

MAY Synergy:

ONE PAGE WONDERS:

#56 

#57

#67

#64

I really thought there were more...... Oh well. I'm working on a couple more OPW's and a great kit. All are coming out in a week or so, so you'll see them when I have the ok :-)

Just found out that tomorrow is a Holiday here, so..... I have to replan the plans I made, and adjust the rest of the week accordingly. Not by a whole lot, Thursday I have to go to the Hospital, Saturday, we may go to The Hague. There's an exhibition of the Clay Army, and I would love to go. (Discount tickets for event and train are wonderful things. LOL) and Sunday, there's an Air-show of Old Warplanes at Volkel, Mikes and my old stomping grounds, so we're going to try and go. Those plans won't change, unless Mike's schedule does, but it's the pesky chores and such that will have to find a new time slot, and that will cut into my fun time....

For now, I will say, "Good night" and do't forget to hug that loved one :-)

I just remembered....

I was putsing around on the blog, and just noticed that I got my 4 seasons complete on the Castle ruin.
(and I was thinking I had my brain back. HAH!)

I know it's international scrapbooking day, and there are lots of good deals to be had, but this seems to be the weekend that every site I try to go to, refuses to let me in. Bugger! Oh well. Mike will be pleasantly surprised that dinner is ready when he gets here, after all.

I cleaned house, got all the paperwork out of every corner of the house, and will tackle that tomorrow. It will be separated into 3 initial piles: throw away (should have probably happened long time ago)
                                                            do something with it (probably a bill that needs paying or forms that need filling out to keep us more or less out of trouble on one thing or another)
                                                            file This is usually my favorite thing, because it means I'm done with it, and I can happily forget it ever existed. But, since I have no filing cabinet anymore, it is going into  binders. It's a bearcat to file that way. Not only do I need to poke, and re-inforce the holes,(page by page) I have to wade thru 5 binders to find the right spot to put it in and put it there. This system is also the main reason that there is such a stack of it. I hate it! :-)

Our car has developed a little bit of a problem the last week or so..... The gas sticks. Not to the point that you go faster, but the engine revs so hight, you'd swear we're going to take off to the moon. Once you shut it off and coast for a bit (not real handy on the freeway doing 120) it will behave for a bit, but inadvertently, it will do it again. There's different opinions out there on what the cause is. The throttle control sensor, the fuse, the throttle housing, the wiring, and for some odd reason, one person suggested the clutch palte. So, needless to say, we're calling the garage Monday morning early. And not the one that did the tune-up. We pulled the fuse, but it didn't do any good. Than, we were going to buy the sensor, because the most people came back with that being the problem, (and we wouldn't have to wait for the garage to get the part) but because it is an electronic part, they will not take it back if that's not the problem. I know if it IS the problem, and the garage has to supply the part, it will be a lot more than the 65 Euro's and possibly an extra day without the car, but since there is no guarantee OR return..... we'll deal with it when it hits.
The car is also due for an APK, and they're a lot more fussy here than in the US, so we have to make sure the little aubergine is in top shape, but there is a catch. Bluebook value was 1400 Euros, last summer. By now, it turned over 100K miles, and it's a year older, so how much do we want to put in it? On the upside, if we put the cost it would run to pass APK and the trade-in value together, maybe we can upgrade to a car with powersteering. On the downside... I really enjoy driving it, and the newer cars (year 2000 and up) all have this great invention of start control. This means, if you're stopping, so does the engine. You have to depress the clutch to make it start again. In my opinion, that's going to eat a lot more gas than stopping at the end of the street, making sure you're not getting plowed, and going about your business. It's a lot more frustrating, because traffic is so dense that sometimes you have this little window to cross, and if you have to wait for the car to wake up..... Let's just say that I'm beginning to understand why people here just go, and deal with the consequences later.  It does it on lights, turns, anytime when the car does not move. awesome! I don't know who figured this was a good thing, but I think he didn't drive himself.

Gearing up for ISD, the designers have been busy. Me? Not so you'd notice! :-)
I had a bunch of pages done, for several kits but I cannot find any of them. I hoped to still have the PSD files somewhere, but no luck, so I'm trying to recreate them........ Somehow, they never look the same, and I'm not happy with them so far, so I'm going to leave them be, and look at them in a day or so, and maybe they'll either look "up to par", or I'll do a from the ground up rebuild on them. Computers....... they're supposed to keep track of things, not lose them!

Boo is guest over at SBB better knows as ScrapBookBytes. She has a new kit for that, besides her other ones, of course.  It's called Fisherman's Rest.
I played with it a little, couldn't find the picture I had in mind, and had to change gears, again :-)

There is an added bonus to this..... you can win this kit.......

kit preview

Picture my sister sent a couple of years ago from the family vacation on Texel.

Her May Synergy kit is out, but I do not have the pages done yet, so I will catch up on those in a little while, and post them separately, but I will let you feast your eyes on them a bit. LOL

Page kit

The Walk, is also in the SBB store

Ann, from StarSongStudio's also has a new kit out.... Raindrops and Roses. I am completely in love with it...... The second page is somewhere in lala-land, so I hope you hae a good impression of the kit.

For sale at Escape and Scraps

Well, it's Midnight, the Kentucky Derby is not televised here, I'm not done with the chores for the day yet, but I think I'm going to call it a day anyway...... Set the coffee ready for morning, check the kitty spots, make sure there's nothing loose that may cause him any harm when he gets the crazy fives, and see if I can wake up when the alarm goes off at 5. Mike has to go to work, so I'll catch up with the "need to's" than.

Night all, don't forget to hug that loved one!

Woeff, it's been a hectic week....

Had my bloodletting done this past Monday. All is well :-)
Honestly, it is such a relief. I had a very extensive list of questions for the doctor, including the difference in check ups, which freaked me out, and he explained things, why he doesn't do what I was used to in the states, what they are checking etc. He also told me that if things didn't feel right, regardless of the bloodtest results, he would do more extensive checks. All those answers make me more at ease that they won't miss things, although I am acutely aware that there is no guarantees with cancer, no matter what you do. BUT.... Instead of a new chapter, I started a new book! LOL. So, on to life and living it.

This good news also made me tired....... Don't laugh! :-) I had not realized I had slept so little and Monday night, I was OK, but Tuesday is when the fun started. I fell asleep in the middle of the day, and with the kitty snuggled up tight, I slept a good 2 hours. I went to bed around 9ish at  night, and slept till 5 in the morning, Wednesday, same thing. Thursday, I drove up to see my dad, (couple of hours drive, plus the visit) and fell asleep on the way home after Mike got off work (he was driving, by the way LOL), got half way thru my salad and went to bed by 8.15. Actually made it to the chat, (after Mike woke me up, because he couldn't reach the alarm under my pillow, and I didn't hear it go off) but went back to bed at 4 and got up around 8.30, just in time to see Mike off to work 10 minutes later. So here I sit. Still bone tired, but at the same time rearing to go. Make sense?

Now that I've updated you on things that are on my mind, we can move on to important things:-)

Heritage Chat over at Ivyscraps..... we got some awesome information, but I don't remember, so I'm going to have to go to the forum and print it out. LOL There were websites for research that were free to use, and a bit of information I think, if you're having to dig in Texas, you'll want to know..... They are trying to pass a bill that would limit access to birth and death records for respectively 75 and 50 years. Which would effectively eliminate access to 2 generations, since the census is a secret for 70 years also.  So if you have family there, or know somebody who does... get to those archives before they are no longer accessible. Supposedly, they are trying to eliminate identity theft, but with everybody and his uncle having access to socials and maiden names...... It's bulshit! Pardon my french. Most identity thefts occur thru online hacks and credit cards..... going thru birth-/death records would be way too labor intensive!  BUT I digress........ The kit we received for showing up is sooooo nice :-) 
I played with it a bit....

The kit is by WaiteForTheMoment designs, but JAN is  how we know her. LOL
Not sure if the kit will be in the store, never thought to ask, (I will, here in a bit) but even than, go take a look at her store. There's nice things there .......

 I also found out that a bill was sneaked thru congress, allowing government agencies, not only thru subpoena (which would need probably cause and a judge) but ANYTIME they want, access to your accounts and emails. This is scary to me. ANYBODY working for the government can get to it? REALLY!? Whatever happened to the freedom of speech and the right to privacy? Is that just for "other" people and "not so much" for regular people anymore? God forbid a criminal would have his email checked without a court order.... anything found would be dismissed from evidence, but they can check on anybody that's just going about life, with its opinions (like this one) and remarks without a problem. It's already to the point that you have to watch what you say in public in private conversations, because some Nosy Nelly that listens in on the conversation that's not meant for them in the first place, could possibly get offended, and now you have to watch what you write in emails?  I sure hope that they never invent telepathy that can be taught.... everybody would land in jail for what they were thinking at one point or another....... Sorry for the rant, and I  hope it won't come back to bite me somewhere, but it seems that in our race to protect our freedoms, and in search of people who threaten it, we lost it. Not thru terror, but thru rules....... I wonder what's next. Potential employers already have the right to do a credit check. What the ????? Does being short of money make me a worse employee, does it automatically make me a candidate for stealing? What does it matter what I have in the bank or how I have to juggle the bills to get them all paid, eventually..... If I show up for work, and do an honest day work..........Is that not why I get paid? Creditworthyness, or bankaccounts should not be an issue when looking for work. Is the next step that employers can access your email, to see who you write and what you say? I don't think I'm paranoid, and I definitely don't keep secrets, but I like my private life to be just that... PRIVATE!!! Or at least as private as I want it to be :-)
'nuff said.

Ann will have a new kit out shortly, it is called Raindrops  On Roses. IT IS GORGEOUS!!!! As soon as I get the green light, I will post the information, but think dreamy, pinks in all shades and the impression that you can really smell the roses! :-)

Did I show off her kit Teacup Garden yet?  I'm still working on a page, because I couldn't put the kit to bed, but I'm not getting down on the page what I'm visualizing, so that one will show up later.....

ALL THE PARTS

Pictures on both pages were taken at the rosefestival in Lottum, last year. It just seemed to fit the kit.
The cameraman did not do justice to the displays. I'll have to learn. (Not being able to bend down and get back up, may have influenced it a little, but that, also, will be worked on)

The kit is available at her stores:

Booland Designs has been busy, and I got to play with maybe half of what she put out sofar this month. Working on the pages for MAY SYNERGY, but can't show them to you yet. You'll see in a couple of days.... Probably around the 2nd of May or so.... There's also some stuff coming up, but I have no details yet, so as soon as I'm "free to blabber" I will :-)

Meanwhile, go check out the kits, that belong to these pages. 

My Old Jalopy hit the store today. I love the colors in it. And it has car parts! :-)

Old cars found in a parkinglot in Iowa. Wish we could have taken them home......
Telephone pole and tires are part of the kit. 

Statue in front of the Scholte Huis in Pella.

There are new One Page Wonders, (#56 thru 59) but I haven't played with them yet. You can find them in the New Release section of Boolands Store. I DID play with a couple older ones though......

ONE PAGE WONDER #44

ONE PAGE WONDER #45
The armor is not part of the kit, but I extracted it from one of my pictures.

ONE PAGE WONDER #46

ONE PAGE WONDER#47

So, as you can tell, I'm a little behind.......

Combination page of ONE PAGE WONDERS 56 thru 59

Blame it on the blond thing........ I HAVE them, just forgot I did! I am such a ditz sometimes. LOL

I made this page to get a feel for the kits, and completely spaced it after that! I have the PSD's sitting in my TO DO folder, just never went back to them. Some people....... (Insert a deep, deep sigh and a headshake here!)  

JAPANESE WHISPERSI can't find the picture I want to put with this page, so I left it as a QP.

SUMMER DREAMS
My niece is fishing for brine shrimp at the North Sea coast in October to feed her pufferfish.
When asked how she liked it, all she said was "it was COLD!"

THE WALK
Picture was taken by my sister on her trip to Scotland.

THE WALK

So, I think you're caught up again. 

Tomorrow is World Tai Chi day. It's celebrated at the same place it was last year, and I intend to hit the right button this time, and tape the Qi Chung excercises, so I can start practicing them daily. That, together with the good news of the beginning of the week, my upgraded mental wellbeing and the promise to go walking at least every other day..... Should be a good restart :-)

Now if I can only forget where I put the chocolate.......... LOL

That's it for me for today. Don't forget to hug a loved one, and have a great weekend.

Hugs,

Pauli

Catching up, while waiting

for the LifeBook chat over at Victorian Rose Designs. You see, now that I'm actually sleeping most nights, I don't seem to hear the alarm when it goes off at 2AM, so I decided I'm going to try and stay up tonight and see if I can catch the chat!

I've been busy, both scrapping, visiting and spring cleaning. I also set the oven on fire, but I swear, that was not my fault! LOL.

Lets start with the scrapping, shall we?

Ann has a new kit coming out, and I'm very happy with the way the pages came out. The kit is called TeaTime Garden, and it is gorgeous! It will come out on the 18th, so I will post the pages Thursday or Friday.

In the meantime, and just because the kit may show up in the store early..... It's coming to her stores: 

Boo has been busy, as always. I'm slowly coming to the realization that I can not, and will not be able to keep up with her, so I'm starting to actually decline to work some of the kits. Not because I wouldn't want to, but because there is no way I have enough time in a day. LOL

She is making ready to plop pictures in albums, and I absolutely adore them. Sofar, there's  5. Two of them are not just templates, but quickpages. 2 are templates and one is the Synergy 365 album. I'm trying to use at least one double page per kit, but I noticed that I have very few pictures that would do the pages justice. I'll keep trying though :-)

The pages are from Let's make an Album #1, the kit used is the March Synergy kit.
Pictures are taken the first Easter we were back in Holland.

Pages are from Let's make an Album #5, the kit used is the April Synergy Kit.
Pictures are from our visit to the TutAnchAmun exhibit in Amsterdam. I'm not really happy with the page, but I LOVE the colors on the black background. Like I said, I don't have the pictures to do the pages justice.

The kit Japanese Whispers. I tried to take pictures of some of our Singapore pictures, but it didn't work, so I left the picture off. 

IvyScraps ..... The bingo pages are done, as well as one and a half of the pages for the Mini Pixels. Go check out the forum, and participate in some of the challenges.... It's fun! :-)

Now for the oven story.....

I was hungry, we were out of bread (unless you count the fuzzy things I found in the breadbox) so I wanted to make a  couple of bread rolls you finish baking in the oven. I did what I needed to do, and went about my chores, until I smelled something, and it wasn't fresh baked bread! When I walked in the kitchen, I saw a flickering in the over, and knowing it's an electric oven, and I wasn't burning a candle anywhere.... it freaked me out severely. I can't work the fire-extinguisher we have, so I contemplated throwing water on it, baking soda, or just leave the oven door shut, and hope it would die on its own.....

So I left the door closed, and stood, wondering if that was really the best action.  Between the flame and the bread rolls was a layer of silver-foil, and the tray was on the lowest setting, so it didn't have a whole lot of room, or anything left to burn. I have still no idea how a couple of breadcrumbs on the heating-bars would ignite like that, but I won't have to explain that as soon as the oven was cooled down, it received the cleaning of a lifetime!

I'm wussing-out on the chat, and going to bed afterall. I'm so tired. Have been overstretching capabilities this week, and it's catching up with me. Had a headache for the last 2 days, so I'll call it good, and catch you up properly tomorrow, or Thursday on the parts I missed tonight. Mike and kitty left hours ago, and should be well established in dreamland by now so I'm going to see if I can catch up. Seems a shame to give up this close to chat time, but I can hardly keep my eyes open, or concentrate, so........... night all :-)

Hugs,

Pauli