Monday, July 26, 2010

The Persian Pickle Club

I've been on a reading binge lately..........I just finished the Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas, I liked it. It's about a group of quilting women; their friendships and secrets. It's not a long book. I seem to go off on tangents for a while, then get tired of it and move on to another interest. Right now I am reading, although I have always been a reader.

Yesterday bff and I had a fun filled day of shopping, eating, and card making. We made 4 shabby chic cards at Archivers......nice place! We also stopped at Dressbarn, the Birkenstock store, and Michael's crafts. Once again we ate at Red Lobster (I had a coupon). Fortunately, for my wallet, I wasn't in a shopping mood, in fact I spent more on my dinner than all of my other shopping combined. While I was gone Hubby took grandson J (5) with him when he golfed. I guess it went well, hubby would not talk and J's mom wouldn't answer her phone so I could ask J. The golfing was a first, hubby is a good grandpa!!!!

I got home at 7 and should have gone to the grocery store...but my back was/is hurting so I rested a bit on my recliner, washed the dishes, and made almost 2 scrapbook pages for Heather & Eastin (I have to have it finished by the 15th). I'll try to post some of the cards I made and some of the scrapbook pages soon.

WOOOHOOO This is my last week of working alone, I can hardly wait to have another person doing the 'other side' of the office work. I am behind with things b/c I could only work 4 days a week and right now we have extra work to do (audit and end of year).

Have a good week.......................keep checking here b/c I will have photos soon!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Martha Stewart punches

Yesterday I got my new Martha Stewart punches that I ordered from HSN. WOOHOO!!!! :-) I like to watch the craft shows but seldom order.


I haven't had much time to play with them yet, but they look like they'll be FUUUNNNN! You ll notice that the 'wings' fold up for storage. The butterfly punch comes with 3 clear stamps so you can stamp the butterfly then punch it out. cool, eh???

There were 2 sets for the TODAY'S SPECIAL or a ONE TIME ONLY..........I don't remember what they called it, just that I could only get one set. After I ordered I played the $185K giveaway game and won a $20 gift certificate. I could hardly believe it. I never win.


Let me know if you have these punches and what you've used them for. The 2 on the bottom are 'punch around the page'. First you punch the corner then use the longer one to go all around the page, you can even use the corner to punch on a folded corner of a card. I tried it, it works....great idea, right?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Third Time's a Charm???

The good news is that we've finally hired a new person at work. I've met her and it appears that she will fit in and work out good, time will tell though. She will start the first week in August. This will be the third person since Connie retired in May of 2009, wish me luck! This has been a hectic month for me: I had extra work of my own b/c I took a week off in June, I have an insurance audit coming up, I had to do accounts payable (not my regular job), now I am working on the end of the year reports, and I also have to do what ever else needs to be done. I like to be busy and enjoy the challenge, but it's time to share the workload.

I have a busy week ahead:
Today I am babysitting until about 1, and getting my hair (high lighted or low lighted) later. this is the last Thursday morning I have to babysit, mom is taking time off (baby is due early Sept).
Saturday night grandson J will be here.
Sunday my bff and I are taking a class at Archiver's :-).
Tuesday I have a Stampin' Up party.
Wednesday is my book club.
Thursday I have a massage scheduled..............ahh......:-)
Saturday is Jessica's (step-daughter) wedding.

Monday, July 19, 2010

YUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM

It was ready so I ate it! My tomato was small but very tasty! The cherry tomatoes are starting to turn also. I don't have any big tomatoes so I may buy some from the farmers market, but that's OK.

I just finished reading RAINWATER by Sandra Brown for book club. We're discussing it next week over pizza. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Home grown tomatoes


Yes, they are starting to ripen :-)!!! This is a new one I tried this year: SIBERIA, ideal for short growing seasons, matures in 50 n- 60 days. The leaves are different from my other tomato plants. I love fresh veggies! I hope these are as good as they look. We have a really small back yard and no place for a garden, so every year I plant 3 pots of tomatoes. BLT, here I come!!!!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Nestabilities


My first try with the Nestabilities I bought in May at the Stampede. The roses are from purchased cards. I try to find 3 of the same cards at the thrift store but can only seem to find 2, so I had to work with what I had. No stamping on this one, except for the inside.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Just Thinking......

***I live in a cold part of the country with long winters.......brr....so this past month, when it's been soooooooo nice and I can walk outside in my 'jammies' or shorts and a tank top, has been HEAVEN. That's probably why I don't get my housework done in the summer. I need to enjoy the sunshine while I can!!! or am I just lazy??? Can anyone else 'relate'?
***The recession has been hard on lots of people, we are lucky and haven't seen any major repercussions, Thank God. I do know people who can't find a job, get a raise, afford insurance, or any extras besides the basic home/shelter/food items, etc. But did you ever think that most of us have money for the things we WANT, whether it is chocolate, crafting supplies, dinner out, vacation, cigarettes, movie, casino, techno gadgets, golfing, new clothes (etc), flowers for our yards, etc. We are blessed that we have discretionary funds to spend on what WE WANT to spend it on. No, we don't have as much as we'd like or as much as we are use to having, but we have more than what we REQUIRE to live on. Think about it.....maybe you can afford it but it's not what you choose to spend your 'extra' money on???? Nothing wrong with that, just the way it is (maybe)??? I think so.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Finished TELL NO ONE and Started Another



I finished Harlan Coben's TELL NO ONE, his books are hard to put down. One of his characters, Eric Wu, give me the creeps. Now I am reading MIXED SIGNALS. It's good, has a Christan theme, and I am not sure how it will end, altho I think it's pretty predictable. I wanted something that I did not have to put a LOT of thought into.

SU cards

Here are some Stampin' Up cards I made at a workshop. This baby card was made with a large wheel. The butterfly has crystal effects on it.

Guess what the pansies are made of??? They are punched with the butterfly punch.
I exchange cards with a number of gals, one of whom is very sick and undergoing chemotherapy and can not stamp. I would like to shower her with handmade cards.........whether you stamped it yourself or not. If you are interested in sending her a card please email me and I will get her address to you. Thanks to anyone who can put a card in the mail.

What a Wonderful Week!

I took off from work last week: the weather was perfect, I was busy with friends and grandchildren but it was enjoyable, and now I have to change my mindset to "back to work"......oh well. Yesterday we had our annual 4TH OF JULY cookout at hubby's brothers home. (They have a nice, big yard and firepit.) SIL always makes lots of great food! The 3 boys (2 grandsons & 1 nephew) are 5 & 6 and the guys were playing baseball with them, it's so fantastic to see the dads and an honorary uncle teaching them a sport they used to play. We had a couple of sprinkles but the rain held off for all the festivities. We attended the fireworks at night and then back to BILs for a fire,...... yeah, the guys lit off some fireworks and we also had a great view of the neighbors display. It's nice to see hubby and his son getting along. Just as they had finished lighting everything a police officer stopped over to let us know that they had complaints.....He was very nice and so was hubby. If you treat them with respect most likely they will treat you the same way.
Of course the men (including Eastin) are golfing this morning. SIL wants to go to the beach today, but the sky doesn't look like it will be a good beach day. It's grey and showers are predicted for all day. Today I have to pick up here (an ongoing job), do laundry, and then stop at church and clean up after communion.
Tomorrow it's back to work..........and I mean work. The woman that was hired in March did not work out so she was let go. Hopefully we'll get some good resumes and find someone who will work out this time! Third time's a charm???? In the meantime I will work extra days to get everything done. Thursdays I babysit so the guys will have to man the phones themselves.
Tomorrow night is our Red Hat meeting. We're meeting in a meeting room at one gals apartment building and working out our scrapbook. The 2 hostesses will provide food.......:-)
Wednesday evening I think SIL and I will take the boys to the park (the other grandparents aren't into the park and mom & dad are working).

Thursday, July 1, 2010

YUM!


Frozen-Hot-Chocolate

I saw this in Woman's Day and can't wait to try it. I bought the ingredients this afternoon.