Yes, it has arrived!

I'll start with the good stuff... the babies are both home and are now causing their parents sleepless nights as babies do!



Aren't they adorable?????

Now for the fun I've been having...... It has been an odyssey getting this catalog! Wednesday, another demonstrator in the Sacramento area felt sorry for me and another catty-less demo and PM'd us on SCS that we could go to her house Wednesday evening and get a catalog from her. YAY! Thanks, Jillian and thanks to Stella who gave Jillian the catalogs!

So Wednesday evening I gently and lovingly looked thru the new catalog before packaging it up on Thursday morning to send it out in the mail.... Then my demonstrator copy arrived in the mail (they sent it to the PO BOX - YAY!) on Thursday, so yesterday I had a copy I could highlight and put sticky tabs all over! My box arrived today, so now I have catalogs for anyone who needs them from me! YAY! Sadly, it appears that those of us with smaller client lists (who only ordered one box of catalogs) had ours ship out last. Many of my friends online are still waiting for their boxes to arrive today, while folks in the same areas who ordered 2 or more boxes have had theirs since Wednesday. And just think, we get to go thru this TWICE a year now! Yep, that's right! Along with the normal joys and stresses of the Season, we will be on new catalog watch between Christmas and New Year's Day.... oh, the anticipation (insert dripping sarcasm)....

All I will say about my reaction to the catalog is that it is VERY trendy. For those of you who like the shabby chic, bohemian style that is so prevalent now, you will be TOTALLY IN LOVE with this catalog. Now those of you who know my stamping style will realize that I am not in that camp. I do like the catalog. Thankfully my wish list is not as long as it has been in previous years. Not that I don't have a sizeable order waiting to go in next week, mind you.... Oh, and for anyone wondering, the soonest SU! will take orders in the system for the new catalog is noon MT on July 1st. Here is their holiday schedule, per their website:

We will close the Stampin' Up! Distribution Center and Demonstrator Support on Wednesday, July 4, 2007, for Independence Day. Shipping will resume on Thursday, July 5, 2007. Expedited shipping will be unavailable from Friday, June 29, 2007, to Thursday, July 5, 2007, at noon.

OK... now this throws a SERIOUS monkey wrench into my plans..... Expedited shipping is available when you finalize your order by 11AM - if they aren't taking expedited orders until NOON, that means they won't do any expedites until the 6th. My UPS doesn't arrive until dinnertime usually. 2 day shipping on the 6th puts my order here at dinnertime on the 10th. At dinnertime on the 10th, I will be at the cabin on the coast for the week to work on my swaps for convention..... ugh. I've already had to move this "vacation" once since they discontinued all the accessories I had planned to use and now I can't get the new stuff in time either? The convention swap Gods are NOT smiling on me this year..... SIGH.... I'm on hold with SU! now to clarify.... I wonder if I can have them sent to the rental agency up there????? Hmmmm...... that would be one less thing to pack too..... He he he!

OK.... just verified with SU!.... that's exactly what that means. DARN! And here I had toyed with the idea of doing the SUPER Expedite in the hopes of having new stamps and stuff here on the 6th for my birthday! Guess Russ will get stuck entertaining me for the weekend now! Hear that, babe???? Better come up with something good! Bwa ha ha! Guess I'm no longer "toying" with the idea of Super Expedite... I'm going to have to just to get the stuff in time now. Sigh.....

Off to look thru the catalog again.... I find something new each time!

Oh! And here are a couple photos of Russ with his little niece and nephew....

I could weep.....

Apparently the catalogs arriving tomorrow in my zip code are not coming to me, but to another demonstrator in the area (who I don't know!). Demonstrators who ordered multiple boxes had theirs ship first. My box hit the UPS system today which means I won't get them till Thursday. Still no demonstrator copy in my mail, either. SIGH.... so, Dear Customer of mine, unless a miracle occurs, you won't be seeing your new catalog until after the 1st.... BAH!

Don't even ask. Like JanTink, I'm cranky!

No catalog yet. I am stalking the PO Box twice a day and the sight of the mail truck coming up the street makes me jump up from the stamp table, but nothing yet. I do know that my box of catalogs will arrive tomorrow evening (I get UPS around 5:30PM) which means to a certain customer of mine who reads this blog, yours will be on its way Thursday so if the mail system likes you, it will be there on Saturday..... Unless I see my UPS guy out on his route tomorrow in which case I'll try and get them from him sooner.... yes, I really would.

Right now, I'm killing a couple hours at the car dealership while my 4-wheeled-baby gets her 75k mile service done. I figure I spend 2-3 hours doing stuff on the computer every day, so I'd rather sit here and do that than be stuck at home ALL DAY with NO CAR. Ooo! They just pulled her up.... only an hour this time! YAY! Now, if I could just get my catalog today......

Oh, my..... the horror... the suspense.... the excitement!

This can only mean one thing.... it is new catalog time. We got the list of retiring accessories on Wednesday. It was NOT good news for those of us who have already finished some of our Convention swaps..... even though it seemed like a staple, SU! retired ALL the organdy ribbon AND THE METALLIC CORD! Eek! They "technically" retired all the grosgrain ribbon too, but said SOME colors would come back renamed and on a smaller spool. Oh, the agony.

Then, yesterday afternoon, I got a text message from Melissa (stampinmelis) telling me someone on SCS HAD THEIR NEW CATALOG and was posting info. I was glued to the computer the rest of the day.

So, now I know what grosgrain colors are coming back and which ones are gone forever and some of them were SHOCKING. One was particularly odd, since in the July Stampin' Success (demonstrator newsletter), they USED this particular ribbon in a sample, but it is not in the new catalog. We are hoping it is a catalog error, but I sadly doubt it. What bites is that seeing it in the July issue, I used that on another one of my swaps for Convention.... sigh.... at least this one is feasible to pull off and substitute another color! We also figured out that the per yard ribbon price on the grosgrain is going up about 38% so I ordered the existing 25 yard rolls this morning of the colors I was low on, plus white. I can always dye the white any color I like.

There are now several gals in SoCal and Vegas who have received their mailed catalogs. The Canadian demonstrators have started receiving their boxes of catalogs. My PO Box mail should be there in a few minutes and my house mail in another 2-3 hours. I don't think I'll get mine today.... not feeling lucky.

I have started my wish list already..... sorry, Russ.... it isn't pretty.... Anyone wanna buy a kidney? LOL!

Well, I'm off to the PO Box (hope springs eternal, you know!)... if I get it, I'll post again......

No stamping today....

I made a run up to Lake Tahoe for my other expensive hobby, Hard Rock Pins! Tahoe had a bunch of new pins out including the pin for this year's Street Vibrations...


Saucy little wench, isn't she? He he he!

I did actually do SOMETHING productive towards my Convention swaps.... I stopped at Clearbags and got clear envelopes for all my cards!

It was a beautiful drive up to the lake.... the weather was GORGEOUS!!! It was 75 degrees up at the lake. Coming home was a LOT warmer.... it was 101 when I got home... bleh! I also stopped in Folsom and did a little shopping at one of my favorite stores, Scrapbook Station.... Got some adhesive rhinestones in Lilac, some DARLING patterned paper that I am going to use to make a card for my friend Peggy, some cute adhesive rhinestone patterns that I have in mind to use for another card for another SCS friend, and a really cool template for making designs with brads.... Then I got home and had to go grocery shopping and do laundry and catch up on e-mail. FUN FUN FUN! He he he!

A glimpse into the madness.....

To give you all an illustration of why I never seem to get any stamping done....

I sat down at the table to work on one of my swaps this morning. Started looking for my metal edged tags.

When I went to look in the drawer in the closet, I saw the box that has all my dad's coin collection and my state quarters in it and it reminded me that I needed to get caught up on organizing my state quarters.

An hour later, those were all in their books (one for me, one for DH) and another 20 minutes later all the ones we are missing had been ordered from my supplier on ebay.

Then Russ came home and wanted pizza for lunch so I took care of that and played with e-mail and read over all the reviews and detailed specs for the new camera I'm getting for my birthday. FOUR HOURS LATER, I still haven't stamped anything, but I did find my metal edged tags.....

Ugh.... YAY!...... Bleh..... Grrrrrrrrr......

That pretty much sums up my feelings right now!

Ugh.... yesterday was our first day this year hitting 100 degrees. Depending on who you listen to, the forecast for today is 100, 101 or 102.

YAY!..... The true sign that someone is BFF(Best Friend Forever) material is a friend who will leave 10 minutes early in the morning to stop by the drive-thru at Starbucks and bring you your morning "fix" on their way to work. YAY! So I got up early, opened up all the windows in the house, turned all the fans on, started a load of laundry (want to be done with the dryer before it gets over 80 degrees out!)

Bleh..... By 8 AM it was already 76 degrees outside, the same temp as it was inside, so I had to close all the windows and the blinds in an attempt to keep the temp in the house below 80 (when the A/C will kick on) until after noon. Yeah. Good luck with that. Oh well...

Grrrrrr..... So, I've done my domestic duty, I'm caffeinated, time to plop my fat happy butt in the stamp chair and actually take a leisurely cruise through the forums on Splitcoast! NOT! SCS has been having server issues for the past 5 or 6 days. Actually, this is their second round of server issues. So, the site is down this morning.

Now, I know I have no place to complain as it is a FREE service (although I do subscribe to the Fan Club to help support the site), but darn it! Don't those silly server machines know there is a NEW CATALOG coming in two weeks and we are addicted to talking about it? And Convention is just 41 days away!!!! SIGH.... I've read all my friends' blogs. I've cleaned out my e-mail. I still have almost 3 hours to kill before I can escape to the air-conditioned theater and see Pirates (finally). Guess this is some higher power's way of telling me to get my butt back in the stamp room and work on my convention swaps.....

They are actually coming along well.... I printed the recipe labels for the backs of the second Dinner swap and put those on this morning, and my little supply order from Stampin' Up! arrived last night with my Dimensionals, so I have been putting the finishing piece on those and getting them into their clear envelopes. I have one of my two ATC (artist trading card) swaps designed and have cut most of the pieces for that. I am making progress on the second design as well as ideas for the Card Candy swap and the other card swap I'm in. But, yes, I really do need to get myself in that chair and get moving. I leave for the cabin in12 days and I want to have everything designed and cut so that all I have to do up there is stamp and assemble. We'll see how I do with that....

Yes, I've been stamping....

But it's all convention swap stuff, so I can't share, sorry! If I get going on my roommate gifts, I will post those, since she doesn't even know I have a blog! I did get my second batch of (52) cards done for the Splitcoast dinner at Convention. I'll throw you a bone... here is the focal image of the card:





It is from the Stampin' Up! set "Artfully Asian". The image is stamped in Timber Brown StazOn on the Shimmery White cardstock and then colored in using the NEW Wild Wasabi and Ruby Red reinkers with my aquapainter. Then it's matted on Brushed Gold and again on Basic Black cardstock. The aquapainter and reinkers were a lot more work than using markers (I was going to use Old Olive for the leaves originally), but I really like the shading effect that the painter gives it.

Now I'm off to resume my duties as Domestic Goddess and then back to the stamp table to work on ATCs.... I have 40 of those to do.... 2 sets of 20.


ONLY 44 DAYS TILL CONVENTION!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!

IT'S HERE!!!!!

My preview order arrived yesterday afternoon around 5:15PM. I got my new sets mounted and added my new in colors to my color ring. I stamped a quick little gift enclosure card that I needed to mail this morning... not my best work, but it needed to be done FAST!

I started cutting cardstock for the next set of convention swap cards.... layers, layers EVERYWHERE! Eek! I also started working on prototypes for the ATC swaps I'm in.

So, a lot of organization, but very little stamping and none that I can share here yet.... sorry!

Stalkin' stalkin' stalkin' the poor UPS man!

Well, my hopes that UPS 2 Day would get delivered earlier in the day than ground have been dashed. Looks like it will be my usual 5:30 delivery time to get my new stuff.... sigh.....

I got a prototype done for my second SCS Dinner swap (another 52 cardfronts... eek!). I'm almost happy with it. My "artistic advisor" will be happy to know that I found enough spiral clips (the "S" and cat eye shaped ones) to do those instead of the brad on the ribbon ;-)

My WalMart stopped carrying the cheap little single story cat condo.... I'm going to have to look around. In the meantime, I have a little rubbermaid tub at the foot of the bed so Her Highness can get up there. It's not so much that she is too lazy or out of shape to jump, she just can't make it anymore. I guess at 14 she is the equivalent of 72 in human years so I really shouldn't expect her to be able to jump 1.5 times her height anymore....

While I was at AAA yesterday renewing my car registration (they have a limited service DMV window for AAA members... God bless them... I was in and out in under 5 minutes, unlike the DMV where it probably would have taken 2 hours without an appointment... bleh), I picked up the tourbook for Denver.... Came home and checked the "squished penny" websites to see where there are penny machines in the area. Got to get my "tourist" stuff all planned! Fifty more days......

Grrrrrr.....

My stampin MoJo is not being cooperative. I did get the first batch of 52 swaps done for Convention. I spent quite a bit of time today playing with the layout for the second batch. I have not come up with ANYTHING even close to decent and it's really ticking me off.... Grrrrrr....

Yesterday we got the new bed for our guest room (my office) and I spent much of the day dismantling the old futon frame and then assembling the new platform bed. It's soooooo comfy! It is much taller than the old futon was, so I need to go to WalMart tomorrow and get another one of those cheap little kitty condos. Taz uses them for a step to get up onto tall stuff (like the bed in the master bedroom). Yes, my baby is spoiled.... Here she is checking out the new bed.... she can get under this one much better than the futon.....



I have a new snack food addiction...and I so do not get it. I am NOT a spicy food person. Taco Bell mild sauce makes me sweat. I avoid anything with the words "hot & spicy" in the title. A few weeks ago when I was at Trader Joe's (my fave grocery store EVER!), they were sampling some "Wasabi Peas". I had no idea they were spicy, or I probably wouldn't have tried them, but now I am an addict. I love these things. They make me sweat, and the first day I ate so many, they actually messed with my vision (probably from messing up my sinuses so bad!). Trader Joe's is a bad place for dieters.... They have some truly yummy and decadent stuff there.... If there was one closer to my house, I'd weigh 200 lbs by now.... (before you get too scared, I am almost 6' tall)

Tomorrow will be a day of fun (not) including going to renew my car registration (due this week), going to WalMart for the aforementioned kitty condo, and doing a gazillion loads of laundry. Tuesday my new stuff from Stampin' Up! arrives, so I should probably clean off the stamp table to make room for my new goodies.... can't wait!!!!!

Doin' the "New Product Happy Dance" !!!!

OK. I stayed up later than I should last night and placed my Stampin' Up! preview order. We got to order just ONE of each new product (no, Russ, I did NOT get them all! Sheesh!) in the preview brochure starting June 1st. Which to the order entry system means 12:00:01 Utah time. So at 11PM my time, while Russ was snoring away in the next room (sorry, dear!), I placed my happy little order for new stuff! I finalized my order and printed out my receipt at 12:07:39 Stampin' Up! time. I love having my orders already laid out in excel (yes, I'm a nerd)... just go down the list of product numbers, see if the totals are close and DONE!

After reading the hype and banter on Splitcoast about everyone ordering, a lot of ladies said they were going to expedite their orders. Now, I've never done this in my 20 months with Stampin' Up! because I am only 2 shipping days away via UPS ground, and paying the extra to have it sent 2-Day is just silly. HOWEVER, I have learned that during really big ordering rushes (like new catalog time, the beginning and end of SAB and preview time) their normally lightning fast processing tends to take a whole 3 or 4 days instead of the usual 24-48 hours. Orders that are expedited go to the "express lane" for processing. My happy little order has already gone into "picking" status which means that right now, someone in Utah is putting brand new stamps, cardstock, ink and accessories into a box with my name on it which will be on my doorstep on TUESDAY! Drool!!!!! And what may be even better is that my UPS ground shipments usually get here between 5:30 and 6:30 in the evening, but the Overnight and 2 Day shipments come earlier in the day.... sometimes before lunch, giving me an extra 6 hours with my new toys! Oh, and good news for the one stamper who actually religiously comments on my ramblings here.... Watch your mailbox at the end of next week for a little envelope..... LOL!




It's funny.... I was not NEARLY this excited about the new stuff last year. As a matter of fact, I was gone the last week of June when the new catalogs started showing up and was really not bugged to have missed seeing the stuff a couple days early. This year, I will be gone again (up at the cabin, working on Convention Swaps, just like last year!).... there is no easy Internet connection up there. This year it's bugging me. I can (and probably will at least twice) go up into town with my laptop and pay to connect at a restaurant up there. I guess I can blame getting swept up in the excitement over on SCS. I spend a LOT more time there than I did last year.

What's NOT funny is that I had my first Convention-Swap-Anxiety-Induced nightmares last night..... I usually don't start getting these until a couple weeks before Convention. It's going to be a LONG 55 days, I think! One involved pulling my swaps out to trade and they were just little clear envelopes with blank layers of cardstock inside. The second one had to do with a specific swap I was insane enough to join for "card candy". I've never done card candy before, so I'm already stepping out of my "zone" for this one. In the dream, I was being laughed at by the ladies at the swap because I didn't have the words "CARD CANDY" stamped on my toppers. Not that this is a requirement. At least it better not be, or I'll be in trouble!

Here is the confession of a BAD BAD BAD SU! girl.... I do not own an SU! alpha set. Although the Doodle Alpha is still tempting and should it make the catalog next month, I *might* consider it, I do not like rubber alphabets. Especially wood mounted. I am totally spoiled by my clear stamps for doing letters. Sorry. Take me out and give me 50 lashes with a wet cardstock noodle, but I just can't do letters that aren't clear. I have a large collection of CTMH alphas from my time with them and, should they come out with new ones I like, I will buy more. There. I've confessed my stamp-infidelity!

Happy June and happy stamping (to the few stampers out there who read this!) everyone!!!!!

Yes, a REAL STAMPED CARD!!!!!

Along with Taz's birthday card from Julee (see the May 21 entry if you missed that!), I got some little Cat's Pajamas images from her. I decided to use one of them to make a card to send to Julee.... Now that she has it, I can post it here, because I really was quite happy with how it turned out.... From the new summer line at Cat's Pajamas, here's "Annette":



She's just too darned cute! I love the sunglasses... such total cattitude!!!! I really think what made this card was the raffia around the oval..... I stole it from Taz's favorite toy.... just 2 strands... she'll never miss it, so she actually helped with this one because she did the shredding! Got the paper at the local scrapbook store... I was feeling like using primary colors on this so the red and blue in the paper was perfect. The cardstock is Buckaroo Blue from Stampin' Up! and the markers used to color Annette are also Stampin' Up!.... Real Red, Brocade Blue, Old Olive and Barely Banana, I think. I also used my Stardust Clear glitter pen and my new Scalloped Oval punches. The brads are from Making Memories and the oval frame is from Stampin' Up!'s Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware.

I have an order on the way from Cat's Pajamas.... In it is their new Sprinkle doing the hula..... I can't wait to get that one!!!!!

My Preview is FINALLY here!!!!!

And they weren't kidding that the new In Colors look TOTALLY different in the print version than they do in the pdf version! WOW! I really like that Soft Sky.... I wish that had been around when I was making stuff for the twins.... it is a really pale minty-blue sort of color.

The only one of the colors I'm not wild about is the River Rock, but I'm not really big on yellowy-brown colors.

Normally I really dislike the color orange, but the Groovy Guava is a nice dark peachy color.... it will go well with Blush Blossom!

So now I'm just counting down the hours till I can spend more money with Stampin' Up! June 1st can't come quick enough!!!!!

We spent most of our day out shopping today..... bought a new bed for the guest room... buh-bye to the "crouton-futon" and hello to a platform bed with an innerspring futon mattress. It will be in either the 29th or June 5th. Then we went to Best Buy to get Russ a new monitor.... then to Fry's because they had one in their ad for a whole lot less. Ended up buying the monitor he liked at Best Buy over at Fry's since they had a $30 mail-in rebate with it. I'm going to run to the grocery store and get some hot dogs to BBQ tonight.... nothing like a slightly charred hot dog.... yuuuuummmmmmm!!!!!!

On a sad note.....

As I have probably mentioned, I am headed to Stampin' Up's convention in Denver this summer. One of the fun parts about Convention, since I go alone, is finding a roommate and meeting someone new. Last year it was CraftyKate from Splitcoast. Last month, I found a roommate - Roanne aka Roannestamps on Splitcoast. We have spent the past month or so, e-mailing back and forth, getting to know each other. I just got an e-mail from her yesterday around 4PM her time. She told me all about the 110 swap cards she did on Monday and the Microscope Slide necklaces (swaps) she was working on.

Roanne passed away suddenly last night. Cardiac arrest. She was somewhere around my age (her description was "just a bit older"). She was single, but leaves behind five kitties... Cleo-catra, Venice, Paris, Rio and Braveheart. She collected teacups (ok, got me on that one) and liked to play Sudoku (as do I). She also liked photography. We had a lot in common..... And for someone I never got the opportunity to meet face to face, I miss her. I am so terribly sad for her mother and her kitties and that I was so close to really meeting her and now that won't happen.

Just a reminder of how short and precious life can be..... Give an extra hug to your loved ones, including those with fur for Roanne......

Edited today, 5/27/07 to add that I now know that Roanne was 46 and that she was not alone when she passed, so that was comforting.... She knew she was dying and was able to tell the person with her that she loved them before passing. Should we all be so fortunate to pass in the comforting arms of a loved one.....

One Word.....

This was on Julie's blog, Paper Pleasing Ideas... Here are my answers.... (sorry, had to add an explanation to bathroom.... we have two of them, I just want a NEW one!) Feel free to play along!

One Word

You can only type one word. No explanations...

Yourself: Silly

Your Partner: Strong

Your Hair:   Long

Your Mother:  Responsible

Your Father:  Inspiration

Your Favorite Item: stamps

Your Dream Last Night: road-trip

Your Favorite Drink:  champagne

Your Dream Car: B9Tribeca

Dream Home: bigger

The Room You Are In: office/guestroom

Your Fear: fire

Where You Want to be in Ten Years: Gualala

Who You Hung Out With Last Night:  Hubby

You're Not: Pollyanna

One of Your Wish List Items: Bathroom (remodel)

The Last Thing You Did: Dinner

you Are Wearing:  shorts

Your Favorite Weather: Spring

Your Favorite Book: Watership Down

Last Thing You Ate: casserole

Your Life: average

Your Mood: sad

Your Best Friend: Justin

What Are You Thinking About Right Now: Roanne

Your Car: Forester

What Are You Doing At The Moment: Blogging

Relationship Status:  married  

What Is On Your TV: unknown

What Is The Weather Like: Dusk

When Is The Last Time You Laughed: today

It's been a REALLY long day.....

Which really started last night around 9PM..... Russ got a flat tire right as he got to church last night. 2 of the guys there helped him put on the spare but he didn't get home till almost 10PM. He asked me to drive him to work today and then get the tire taken care of. So I was up at 5:30 (which is a WHOLE LOT earlier than I normally have to be attentive enough to drive!). It's a 45-55 minute drive each way, so it was close to 8AM when I got home.

Then I had to take Taz to the vet for a 10AM appointment. She HATES going in her carrier, so that was fun. Not. We got home from the vet around 11:00, I gave her some treats for not killing anyone and then switched cars and headed for Les Schwabb Tires to see if they could repair the flat.

Score one for luck, it was repairable! 20 minutes later it was back on the car and the spare was even put back up underneath. AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN CHARGE ME the $11.50 they had quoted! BONUS! Helps take away a bit of the sting of the $101 vet visit....

Score two for luck when Russ called and said he had a coworker that was going to bring him about 3/4 of the way home, so I was only looking at 10 or 15 minutes instead of almost an hour each way! Right about the time I was going to go meet him he called again and said that his coworker was going to bring him all the way home! YAY!

Unfortunately, my Stampin' Up! Fall Winter Catalog Preview Brochure did NOT arrive in the mail today.....SIGH.... Everyone keeps saying that it looks much different in real life than the pdf file online does. I hate waiting.....

We have no real plans for this weekend.... we need to do some shopping for household stuff and get an oil change done on Russ' car (wish I'd remembered that today while I had it.... D'Oh!), but that's all that's on our calendar for the weekend. Maybe I'll actually get some stamping done.....

SURPRISE!

Every once in a while I get something in my mailbox that is TRULY a surprise. I've belonged to a couple different RAK (Random Act of Kindness) groups over on Splitcoast, so getting cards in the mail, while still TOTALLY AWESOME, isn't as surprising as it once was.

Until today.

In 14 years, this is a first... TAZ got a BIRTHDAY CARD!

Yes, boys and girls, MY CAT GOT MORE MAIL TODAY THAN I DID! LOL!

And should you be wondering who is sending my CAT a birthday card, it would be none other than Julee (Shadowcatcher) Tilman and her cat, Katie. Well, I'm not sure how much Katie had to do with it.....

Here is Taz, checking out her card (Mmmmmm.... RIBBON!!!!)




And here is a closeup of the card, The cat and sentiment stamps are by Cat's Pajamas. You can check out Julee's blog for tons of awesome artwork featuring their stuff! (there's a link over on the right under "Blogs I read")



Thanks, Julee and Katie!!!!

I cannot believe how TINY they are!

Here are the long awaited photos!

These were taken Friday at the ripe old age of 3 days. They are SOOOOOOOO tiny!!!!

This is Abigail


And this is Gregory


Adorable little peanuts, huh?

It's VSN Weekend, Baby!!!!!

VSN = Virtual Stamp Night. Used to be just one day and then it evolved to start with a "Tailgate" session on Friday night. If you have kids stamping along with you, it starts at 3PM (California time) today (4PM for the adults) and the last challenge tonight is posted at 8PM. Then tomorrow it starts at 9AM for the kids, 10AM for the adults and the last challenge will be posted at 8PM, one every hour. You get 45 minutes to complete your item and then 15 minutes to clean up, eat, whatever. If you are inclined to check it out, here is the link to the VSN forum on Splitcoast Stampers.

I have the house to myself (well, with Taz, whose birthday is tomorrow) till Russ gets home Sunday afternoon!

He will be at his mom's this weekend to help with her annual garage sale. He has been ordered to take his camera to the hospital and take pictures of the babies. I told him not to come home without baby photos! LOL!

I thought about going, but I *SO* do NOT do garage sales, and I'm certainly not going to spend my VSN weekend sitting in my mother-in-law's garage just to see the babies for 15 minutes. I can wait. Besides, the new mother is not letting anyone near them who shows any signs of anything but perfect health and it's allergy season for me, so I'm sure she wouldn't let me in there anyway. She told Russ last night that he wouldn't be allowed in if he wasn't feeling better today and he just had an upset stomach from something he ate! We'll see how long she maintains this level of strictness.... I'm guessing it will stop not long after she has the babies home and her hubby goes back to work! LOL!

I am now off to feed my caffeine addiction and go grocery shopping for hassle-free-foods for me to eat tonight and tomorrow. Can we say "buh-bye diet"??? Then I need to get home and clean off the DISASTER that is my stamp table! I need to print out the VSN Shopping list again (since I lost the first one in there!) and organize all my supplies. Sounds like I'm going to have a busy day!!!!

I'M AN AUNTIE!!!!!

Oh, and Russ is an Uncle.... LOL!

Abigail Mae and Gregory James were born May 15th weighing 3 lbs, 15 oz and 4 lbs, 1 oz. Mother and babies are doing fine, but due to their size the babies will be staying in the hospital for about a month. Sis-in-law was in labor for about 8 hours and had a normal delivery!

Russ will see them on Friday, so I should have a photo or two to upload come Sunday night when he gets back!

72 Days till CONVENTION!!!!!

OK. Now that the Baby stuff is done (shower was fun, the little mother is miserable at 32 weeks with 4 to 6 weeks left!) I can turn my attention to SU! stuff!

I am register for the (sold out) 1st session of Convention July 25-28. I am also registered for the SCS 1st Session Dinner. I am committed (in more ways than one) to 101 card fronts and 40 ATCs for swapping. I must be crazy! I spent 4 hours yesterday working on the first 50 card batch. I got all the layers cut, the punched piece punched and stamped and all 204 brads have been set. Today I decided I really needed craft ink instead of classic, so I placed an SU! order. Hopefully I will have that by the end of the week so I can work on the swaps this weekend.

Although.... this weekend is VSN!!!! And I have the house to myself! Russ will be going to his parents' Friday night (straight from work) and won't be home till Sunday afternoon! Saturday is Taz's 14th birthday, so I will have to set aside some special Kitty Time, but other than that, the weekend is MINE ALL MINE!

Tomorrow is our anniversary (14 years). I have my card all done (A VSN entry from November or January), so I'm ready! Russ stopped at Hallmark on the way home tonight. Nothing like waiting till the last minute! LOL!

The Baby Tins are DONE!!!!!

The shower is tomorrow at 1:30. The tins were finished around 4 PM today. Nothing like waiting till almost the last minute, huh? Of course, I still need to do a card and wrap them....

I did absolutely NO STAMPING on these. This was my first time doing anything like these little memory books, so I was kinda learning as I made them! They consist of 12 A2 size envelopes, each one with the month and year on them from July 2007 to June 2008. The envelopes are then glued into an accordion card stock spine which is then attached inside the front covers of the book. The book covers are just covered cardboard and the spine is double sided heavy paper. All the words are printed on adhesive vellum and cut out and stuck on. The words on the tins are die cut with the Cuttlebug or embossed with the Cuttlebug and cut out. The papers all came from Michael's with the exception of all card stock which is Close To My Heart (it is thinner than SU's and die cuts more easily). Here are the photos of the tins, the tins with the books, and the books open. I'll post the card later tonight.....

My head is spinning.....

Today (well, actually LATE last night) Stampin' Up! released their retirement list, telling us what stamp sets would not make it from the current Idea Book to the next one (which comes out July 1st). It's a pretty big deal and there were a bunch of us over on Splitcoast "stalking" its release. Once it came out, the shock wave spread.

In the past, they have retired around 150 stamp sets - not insignificant when you consider there are around 360 regular "sets" in the catalog. This year they retired 233 sets from the US catalog. It would have been easier for them to list what WASN'T retiring (129 sets). My personal collection took a HUGE hit. I had 35 current sets, I now have 15 and only 5 of those are "images"; the rest are backgrounds and word sets. This is in addition to the SAB sets and Hostess sets that we knew were going to retire.

I still have 4 sets from the past year's mini catalogs whose status will remain in limbo until the catalog comes out... I think one (Like it a Latte) will make it since the only other coffee set we had is on the list. We lost most of the Christmas sets, all but 1 baby set and even the floral stamps took a beating.

I had hoped to start making Convention Swap cards this week, but all the sets I had envisioned using will be retired and not usable for SU swapping. SIGH.... So, after careful pondering, I ordered 2 more sets that are NOT on the list so I can start swaps NEXT week. Just as well.... I need to get back to work on the baby gifts for the shower on the 12th.

Happy May, everyone!

OK, this is just NOT how it's 'sposed to be!

I'm having creative block. Again. And it's really frustrating me.

I must have spent 6 hours at the stamp table Friday and yesterday and what do I have to show for it? Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. I'd like to blame it on the fact that every idea I came up with needed a stamp set I don't own. That would be the easy way out. Unfortunately, I think it all boils down to the fact that my creative faucet just isn't flowing (or even dripping) right now. Although I did come up with something fun and cool, but I can't share because I want to submit it the next time SCS is looking for VSN Hostesses..... Unfortunately, I did not come up with ideas for Convention Swap cards which is what I desperately need to be starting on. Ugh.

We did just spend 2 hours cleaning out Russ's dresser and getting all the clothes he isn't keeping together with the pile I already had and got it all into the back of my car so I can take it to charity tomorrow. That was good. And I just finished BBQing some hot dogs. Yummy.....

Maybe I'll go take another try at the stamp table......

I forget how small 6x6 is.....

I got my sample pack of the new background papers from Stampin' Up tonight.... I forgot how small 6x6 was! LOL! They really are pretty and are so much more vivid in real life than they looked on the flyer or on the internet. I'd love to tell you I was going to make something pretty and post it here, but I'm planning on using it for Convention Swaps so, I'll be keeping them all to myself for now.

The retired list comes out in just 100 hours (give or take a few minutes) and I am already getting my order ready so once I know if the stamps I want are staying, I can get them ordered. I SOOOOOO wanted to use Bodacious Bouquet for one of my convention designs, but I had a thought this morning..... We should probably be doing convention swaps using stuff that would be in the Fall/Winter Catalog and not so much from the Spring/Summer Collection, right? Guess I need to start another thread over on Splitcoast.... Hmmmm..

I did finally get the new Hero Arts Doodle Flower stamp today.... I'm looking forward to playing with that.... Julee Tilman has done some GORGEOUS stuff with it.... You can check it out in her blog, Poetic Artistry, to see all the drop-dead-gorgeous work she does!

It was a good day......

Russ got the job. He starts tomorrow in their Folsom office and then will be reporting to the jobsite at Travis AFB in Fairfield. I think this is the third job he has been on at Travis. It's about a 45-60 minute drive each way, but not a ton of traffic except in spots (like around UC Davis).

The glass guy was able to fix the chunk in my windshield and it looks pretty darned good!

I placed a Stampin' Up! order this afternoon and had a tracking number in about FIVE HOURS! Wow... can we say FAST SHIPPING?????? Jeez. So I will have samples of the new double sided designer papers coming out in the 2007 Fall Winter Catalog on Thursday or Friday evening. WOO HOO!

I got another big pot for the back yard yesterday to put my carnation plant and herbs in. Today I got everything planted in there. I have a medium pink (think Regal Rose, you SU stampers) mini carnation in the center and then I planted a sage and thyme plant that I got today and a bunch of seedlings I started indoors about a month ago (Basil, Garlic Chives and curled Parsley) along the edge around the carnation. It looks nice.

We are having typical mid-Spring weather... in the low to mid 80's. They say we might get close to 90 this weekend. A little too warm too soon for my taste, but I think it happens every year.... sigh..... My roses are blooming like I have never seen them bloom. I'm talking DOZENS and DOZENS of flowers on the bushes out front and from the 3 I planted just last year, I have 8 to 12 flowers on each one and one of them has the LARGEST blooms I have ever seen. I keep meaning to try and get some photos. I think it's the Princess Diana rose... I need to check its tag. I'm not kidding... they are the size of teacups!

So, it was a pretty good day!

Sorry to leave y'all hanging.....

Tuesday we decided to see if the cabin on the coast was available for the rest of the week (it was) and if the WAG Pet Hotel had room for Taz (they did) so we spent the rest of the week up at the cabin. Ahhhhhhh..... the bliss of peace and quiet. The weather was nice, but windy on Wednesday, Thursday we had rain off and on, Friday was GORGEOUS, Saturday it rained ALL DAY and Sunday was a mix of sun and rain. A nice trip. I stamped some swap cards and got some cardstock cut for some swaps I'm going to do for Convention in July.



I also got to take some pictures on the bluffs Friday. Apparently, I just missed seeing a mother and baby whale go by, but I did see some seals playing in the water. Didn't get any decent shots of them, but my flower pics came out nicely and I've been trying to get a decent shot of this little building with the lilies in bloom for years:



Russ had a job interview today which he thinks went well. Hopefully I will have good news to report on that soon.

Coming home from running errands today I had a rock hit my windshield on the freeway. Didn't see it and it wasn't unusually loud, but the chip (more like a CHUNK!) it left looks like a freakin gunshot! AAA is sending the Safelite Auto Glass guy out tomorrow to see if it can be repaired (filled) or if the windshield will need to be replaced. Problem is, it's RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE, so it's very distracting. Hopefully, if they fill it, it will be less noticeable cuz I REALLY don't want to have to fork over a $500 deductible right now! Although a new, pretty, chip-free windshield would be nice..... We'll see.... I'll have to take a picture of it before they fill it.... I've had rocks hit before, but never leave a mark like this one!

That's all for now!!!!

Well, I guess he isn't going to be traveling any time soon.....

Russ just got laid off.....

It's a BIG day tomorrow!

Tomorrow, Stampin' Up! will post the information about CONVENTION!!!! SO EXCITING!!!! I do know that I will be going to first session July 25th- 28th and that it's in Denver. Tomorrow I am guessing they will post the theme and the class information. Registration opens on May 9th, leaving us time to organize our groups and pick classes and colors and all that fun stuff.

With any luck we will also find out tomorrow what the company has in mind for Russ. Hawaii? Washington? Novato (SF Bay Area, where he will be tomorrow)? Should be interesting.......

Stop the ride, I wanna get off!

OK... so NOW he's NOT going to Washington! Someone pass me a barf bag...... I'm getting dizzy! (Yes, dizzier than normal - just HUSH!)

Where is he going next? When is he going? WE HAVE NO CLUE. There is chatter of Hawaii (not getting my hopes up this time - OK, yes I am). He is working from the house the rest of this week (alert - MAN UNDERFOOT!). After that, WHO KNOWS!

He couldn't go to WA because his certification with the Army Corps of Engineers has lapsed. I spent some QUALITY TIME downtown Friday getting him registered for the next course/test (Friday was the deadline to register). He will take the course on May 2nd and 3rd, so at least I know he will be home those 2 days!

On to happier things.....So here are the two cute little tins I'm still working on for my sis-in-law:



Still working on the little scrapbooks too, but apparently there is going to be a second shower, so I might wait with those.....

Cha-cha-cha-CHANGES!!!!!

My apologies to David Bowie.... he he he....

GUESS WHO'S GOING BACK UP TO WASHINGTON?????

I have started calling Russ "Duncan" (as in the human yo-yo). He he he.... We don't know exactly when or for how long yet. This afternoon they said he would go back to Mt. Rainier, but it looks like he will be going to Bangor Naval base. Welcome to my world of revolving change.....

I spent most of today in the stamp room working on shower gifts for my sis-in-law. Her (twins) baby shower is next Saturday and today I pulled out some old CTMH 6x6 scrapbooks I had from a special 3 or 4 years ago and made 12 pages for each book. They have chosen not to know the sex of the babies, so everything has to be done in gender-neutral themes. The little scrapbooks were yellow, so they worked well. She doesn't scrap, so I made them really simple so she can just put a pic and a little note on each page. I figure if they aren't her "thing", she can always put photos in them and give them to relatives. I'm also doing 2 altered lunch-box tins. I got the paper on them, but that's it so far. When I'm done, I'll post a picture or two......

They couldn't have figured this out sooner?

Russ is coming home from Guam. Seems they think he can do everything he needs to do from the office in Novato so they decided it's too costly to keep him in Guam. GO FIGURE. Now why they couldn't have figured that out TWO WEEKS AGO, so he could have just brought everything home with him on the 16th????? UGH!

Taz will NOT be amused.... he he he.....

Well, VSN was a bust.

Between dealing with getting Russ back off to his second "tour of Construction-Quality-Man duty" in Guam, my allergies from HELL and then, the icing on the cupcake, tweaking something in my lower back, I only got 3 challenges done in the 45 minute timeframes and I did two others afterwards. This was my favorite card I did. When they said "tie-dye" and combined with the vacation theme, I immediately thought of the line from Grateful Dead's "Truckin'": "What a long, strange trip it's been". This was Friday night when we were still having server issues over on SCS, so that was my inspiration for the first line. And, since this VSN was a stamping vacation, I thought of a fellow SCSer, Julee, who actually got on a plane and flew to another SCSer's house for a VSN party, so I had to use Stampabella as the image! So, Julee, this one's for you! LOL!


The technique challenge was tie-dye wax resist which is done by folding and crumpling waxed paper and then ironing it against white glossy cardstock and sponging the inks on over it and then wiping the ink away off the waxed areas, which leaves the pattern. Cool, huh? I've done wax resist before, but it never occurred to me to use my tie-dye skill to make patterns.... D'oh! The flowers are those cute little Primas that came in the "underwear" packages with a CTMH Sunny Yellow Bigger Brad in the middle, topped with a glue dot and a small CTMH Hollyhock swirl clip and then with glitter sprinkled in the middle. The words are printed on adhesive vellum and stuck on the card. I got the adhesive vellum at Michael's... 5 sheets for about $5, but I had a coupon! If you peel the paper before you cut out what you printed on it (leaving the backing paper uncut), you can keep running the same sheet thru the printer, you just have to be careful where you are printing!

The other challenge I really liked (and I'm planning on doing more of these!) was the luggage tag challenge. I was not really THRILLED with my tag, but like I said, I'm going to do more of them. I got the badge holders at WalMart in the office supply area (just a foot or so away from the jumbo paperclips!) in a package of 10 for less than $1. At that price, I think I will do these the next time I have a shoebox swap to go to. It's always fun to do something other than a card when given the chance! Here is my luggage tag:

Since anyone who knows me knows that my favorite color is PURPLE, the choice of fibers should not be a surprise! I also like dragonflies, hence the charm, which I also got at WalMart... it came in a package with a little flower and a butterfly charm with it and the 3 on the card were 96¢. I had actually forgotten that I had wound a bunch of fibers onto cross stitch thread cards and put them in one of those plastic boxes for cross stitch thread! I came across the box in a drawer when I was cleaning up the stamp room last week! OOPS! I found the paisley paper (by NRN Designs) when I was cleaning too. I have WAY too much paper.... I need to start using it on EVERYTHING I make! The letters are CTMH from the Boutique Alphabet, stamped in Perfect Plum Craft Ink and then embossed in Hologram Highlights. I also used two rhinestone brads, but one is behind the dragonfly charm!

Things are settling back to normal around here. Sunday I had to drag Russ' patio chair back into the garage since we were forecasted to have rain and possible thunderstorms Monday. Glad I did, it rained HARD for a while. I also got out the spreader and put fertilizer on the lawn. Hopefully later this week the weather will get nice again and I can finish planting in the back yard!

My stamp room is ALMOST clean.....

And I'm ALMOST ready for VSN! It starts at 4PM my time. I know I will miss the first couple challenges.... I have to go run some errands with Russ.... banking, picking up clothes at JCPenney's, etc. Don't even ask me why he can't do it by himself, but that isn't an option. SIGH. At least he got the taxes done. We owe the state $75 and are getting $200 back from the feds, so I guess our withholdings are pretty darned close! Russ is almost ready to head back to Guam tomorrow. We have to pick up his catalog order of clothes at Penney's and then I will need to do a couple loads of laundry for him tonight.




As you can see, Taz is getting ready for VSN by napping....

Hopefully I'll do some stuff during VSN that is worthy of uploading here! If you are so inclined (and aren't already playing), here is a link to the VSN Forum on SCS so you can see what I'm talking about!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Probably not much stamping will happen around here....

......until the end of the week! Russ is home from Guam. He got home Friday night. Saturday morning we got up bright and early and went up to Reno with our friends Justin & Leslie and gambled all day. We started at the Atlantis. After a buffet lunch and a little more gambling, we decided to call it a day. We made our way back across town to find the highway COMPLETELY STOPPED and all the entrances closed! So, we decided if we were going to have to be sitting around, we may as well go back to a casino and play some more! So we went over to the Silver Legacy where we ALL did QUITE well!

Yesterday we stayed around the house most of the day and today I am tackling laundry, dishes and grocery shopping. I will spend my time in the stamp room this week CLEANING in preparation for VSN (Virtual Stamp Night) on Splitcoaststampers which starts Friday evening. Saturday, Russ flies back to Guam, leaving here around 9AM again, so I will be able to participate in VSN most of Saturday too.

I will share the INCREDIBLY cute Prima flowers I got from cutabovescrappin.com - The flowers are cute on their own, but the packaging is a HOOT! They are called "Isabelle's Secret" and I got the Pink ones. They also come in black, I think....
The second photo shows the flowers better..... I love the patterns printed on them!



Aren't they FUN? I almost hate to cut open the cute packages! Hopefully I will find something to use these on during VSN!

That's all for now.... Gotta get back to the dishes!

I did a little stamping today....

It was hard to come indoors with the gorgeous weather we've had this weekend, but I decided to do the Sunday Stampers Challenge on Splitcoast. They list a featured artist and you look thru their gallery of stamped art and recreate one of their cards changing at least 2 things. In the stamp world, this is known as "CASE" or "Copy And Share Everything".

Here is a link to the card I copied

Here is the card I did. I changed the colors, the stamps, the embellishments on the bottom half and used layered tags instead of squares for the trio of images. Pretty much all I copied was Holly's layout and I, too, used stitched ribbon on top of the tags:



It's hard to tell from the picture, but the pink and white tags have a "drop shadow" green tag behind them. They are raised up on "pop dots" to give the card some added dimension. After I scanned the card, I added glitter to the edge of the green tags too. I have to do that after I scan..... I am not patient enough to wait for the glitter to dry and end up with globs of glittery goop on my scanner otherwise.....

The printed paper behind the tags is by Basic Grey... it is from the new "Perhaps" collection and I just had to go buy the new Basic Grey papers after seeing what two of the Splitcoast bloggers have been doing with it.... DROOL..... PRETTY PAPER....

For those who read this for an update on what's actually going on around my house (Hi Russ!), I got all the patio furniture out and uncovered and cleaned off and moved around out back today. I also cleaned the BBQ (eeeeeeeeewww!!!!!) and got the srpinklers up and running for the season (only had to dig one up out of the lawn this year!).

This entry will be all about stamping!

Yes, I actually DID SOME! I belong to a group on Splitcoast Stampers called the "Challenge Chasers RAK Group", or "CCRAK" for short. One of the things going on with the group is an image chain. Dawn started it by sending out cards to two members of the group which included two stamped images inside. Just the image on cardstock. No coloring, no embellishments. The chain challenge is to take those 2 images and make 2 cards and send them to 2 people in the group and include 2 new images in each card. So, I got 2 images in my RAK card this week from Bonnie (radsue). Now, I had a bit of trouble with these.... first, they are SO not my current style (I actually used to own the bunny stamp or one really similar to it at one time); second, I'm not much into detail coloring - I don't have the patience for it and third, they are fairly large images and really dominate the card which I found hard to work with for some reason. So this is what I ended up making:



It's hard to tell, but the bunny card has little flowers stamped in the "open" diamonds of the Print Pattern background. Colors are Barely Banana, Blush Blossom and Pretty In Pink plus markers in Orange, Caramel, Pink, Regal Rose and Green Galore. The off white on the dress is a CTMH Marker in Colonial White, I think. I punched the corners off the pink mat and ran Stickles along the edge. I also pierced those same corners on the image layer. The Prima Flowers have Stardust glitter pen accents which you also can't see in the scan.

The Bear card was a LOT more coloring and since he was SOOOOO big, I went to a 5x5 card size. The brown card is Kraft Confetti and the Elegant Eggplant mat was run thru the cuttlebug and embossed using the Textile embossing folder. Antique Copper Hodge Podge Hardware rounds it out. The border on the Kraft card was fun... I used one of the stamps from the Abundance Borders set by CTMH and mitered the corners by masking with post-its to avoid any overlap or odd change of design. I was quite pleased with how it turned out!

So, these two cards will be off in the mail tomorrow to two of the CCRAKers. The images inside are WAY different styles..... One recipient is getting a Bella and the HUGE fish by Paula Best to play with. The other recipient I know to consume alcohol so her images are a cocktail line image by Stamps Happen and a really fun Wine image by Stamps In Motion that I've had for a LONG time. I can't wait to see what they do with them!

In addition to those two cards, I also sent out another 12 today from my stock of cards that I've been hoarding.

MORE Creativity!!!!!

This one's for you, Julee! I combined two SCS Challenges plus the personal, unspoken challenge from Julee to do something cute with my new Cat's Pajamas stamps! Since I have been unsuccessful in uploading this to my SCS Gallery, I figured I'd post it here!

An update on my "Island Man".....

Russ has changed living quarters twice now. He is currently at the Marriott, I think, and will be there until he leaves to come home on the 16th. He started at some nasty condo place that was filthy with ants in the room. He went from there to the Hilton. He was at the Hilton for about a week. He still hasn't made it over to the Hard Rock yet to scope out the pin selection for me..... Nor has the silly man made it to the beach yet. I tell ya, I woulda had my toes in the sand within the first day! It's just not fair......

OK. I stamped a little this morning....

Needed to get birthday cards in the mail today for my sister and her hubby.... I'm actually rather pleased with how they turned out.... all the stuff used is CTMH except for the "Celebrate" stamp, the red ribbon and the spiral clip, which are all SU!

Quick Update.....

Russ called at 1:05AM my time to let me know his plane had landed in Guam. I haven't heard from him since then, but I assume that he got to his hotel OK and got (or is on his way) to work today. It's 8:24 Monday morning there.....

He's leavin'.... On jet plane....

My apologies to the late John Denver.....

Russ is somewhere over the ocean between Honolulu and Guam. I spoke to him while he was boarding in Honolulu. He will get to Guam around 1AM my time (around 7PM there on Sunday). It's been a long week. His main suitcase weighed in at 49.1 lbs (50 lbs is the max) and the second bag was packed as full as possible and weighed in at 36lbs. His carryon was limited to 25lbs and it was only 15. I pity the TSA if they choose to try and open that rolling garment bag.... it is stuffed to the gills. I ended up going out and buying the rolling garment bag yesterday afternoon around 4PM. The bag I was using just was not cutting it and the garment bag he had is fine for an overnight and one or 2 outfits, but that's it. This one is SERIOUS LUGGAGE!

So things are quiet around here, except for the sound of Taz snoring on the futon behind me..... She was very upset the last couple of days with all the bags out.... she probably thought I was leaving. I am hoping that now I can get some stamping done. I haven't picked up a stamp since VSN on the 3rd. I have a brand new cuttlebug that is still in the box because I haven't had time to play with it yet! I have new stamps from Cat's Pajamas just waiting to be mounted and stamps on the way from Stampabella. I also have SAB sets waiting to be mounted and used. So many stamps, so little time! I'm hoping that I will find some quality time to spend with my poor, neglected stamps and supplies VERY soon!

Welcome to my new blog colors!

I upgraded to the next level of blogger and it lets me tweak colors, so I *finally* have a blog with PURPLE! YAY! Hope you like it! If there is anything that you find hard to read, let me know and I can tweak the colors some more..... The new colors also allow me to make the text normal size instead of having to make it LARGE to read it in the white. Let me know if it's too small now and I can crank it back up!

Mountain Man is OFF the Mountain!

One STUFFED Hyundai Santa Fe and two LARGE suitcases later, Russ (and all his STUFF) is home. I flew back with the 2 suitcases full on Friday evening. He drove from Mt Rainier to Portland Friday afternoon and spent the night at my mother's and then made the long drive back to Sacramento on Saturday. Saturday night when he got home, he didn't even get to come into the house, we were off to our friend Leslie's birthday party! I unloaded his car yesterday and started LAUNDRY. NINE LOADS OF LAUNDRY is what that man brought home! I did 3 loads yesterday and 2 so far today. Maybe I'll be done before he leaves for Guam.......

Which, by the way, will be Saturday morning. He flies out the 17th of February and gets back on the 17th of March. Coming back, he has an overnight layover in Honolulu.... lucky dog..... Fortunately, wherever they have him staying is supplying linens, so that's a huge amount of packing that we don't have to do. They also have standard 110 power, so no converters are needed. All we are scrambling to do now is to get him clothes for the warm and humid climate. (Having just finished supplying him with clothes, shoes and accessories for the frozen north..... Grrrrrrr) Oh well! Oh, and when I say "we" referring to packing and getting him ready, I mean *ME*... he he he.... I also have to find where I put his passport.... It was somewhere "safe" which means it may never see the light of day again.... I'm bad about that....

We've had almost 3 inches of BADLY NEEDED rain in the past 5 days with a little more to come over the next 3. The temperatures are mild and my plants are in HEAVEN! The roses all have started budding (one even has new leaves!), my primroses and pansies are BEAUTIFUL and my mini irises are up! It looks like Spring in the front yard, anyway.... we won't discuss what the back yard looks like.... I need to move some of those primrose pots out back.... it's ugly back there!

Well, that's all the fun that's fit to print around here. I'm hoping to do a little stamping this week between bouts of laundry and packing insanity. We'll see what happens......

Things change at lightning speed!

Today is Monday, February 5th. On Wednesday, I fly up to Washington and drive up to Mt Rainier to spend Thursday packing up Russ' two years' worth of stuff that we have been sending up over the past 7 months. I get to check 3 bags for free on Southwest, everything else has gotta fit in his car. Then I fly home Friday evening and he drives home Friday and Saturday. Sunday we get to unpack everything from the Washington trip and repack him to leave Monday morning for Guam. He will be gone 3 to 4 weeks. Nothing like SHORT NOTICE! ACK!

So, I'm off to spend the rest of tonight working on a 10 piece swap that I now HAVE to mail tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to mail a couple other things too and I have a mystery shop assignment to do too.

Hopefully I'll be back in the blog-world next Monday or Tuesday!

Just when I think I have it all figured out.....

WHAM-O!

Are ya ready for THIS??????

So, this is a weekend Russ is coming home. He calls me at 5PM yesterday to tell me he is on his way to the airport and there are "BIG CHANGES" coming. OK... this is my VSN TIME. This has been on our calendar since December. He KNEW that I was OFF LIMITS from 4-8 yesterday and from 11-8 today. Did that stop him from turning my world upside down???? NOOOO......

He is coming back down off Mt Rainier. For good. We are NOT moving to Washington. *HE IS BEING SENT TO GUAM*. Yes, Guam. As in "bugs as big as my big toe" island, GUAM. We are still waiting for all the details, but now it sounds like he will be gone 3-4 weeks at a time with a week home in between and probably 3 trips. After that, it looks like he might get put on their next job up in Yosemite, which means he will be gone Monday thru Friday and home on weekends. (So he thinks... if I have a FREE LODGING at YOSEMITE, I'll be there a WHOLE LOT!)

So, that's my little world in an upside-down nutshell. Needless to say, my VSN has been blown all to hell.... SIGH... one of these days I'll get to do one uninterrupted.... hopefully the next one will be while he's in Guam, battling cockroaches! HA!