Tuesday Ramblings

[Disclaimer: Please brace yourself for a wild ride. I seem to jump from topic to topic without any warning.]

I made a card! Yeah, it's a LOT like the last bulldog card I made, but this one only has one bulldog on it, and in the process of making them I used up almost all the pieces of paper I'd hacked! Yay!

I decided to leave the dog un-colored, partly because I'm lazy, but also because when I looked up bulldogs on the Interwebz I saw there were all-white ones, too, so that's my story - it's an all-white bulldog variety. Okay, I did put a little pink on the muzzle, but the rest is just white (or off-white - whatever). These guys just need to be bagged and tagged, then they'll be ready for sale. The markets start May 1st, and my inventory is really sorry right now.

Next I have a glaringly-poor photo of my puzzle-a-day calendar page:

Why did I take this pic, you ask? Are those not the most hideous colors? One of my co-workers gags every time she sees it. Fortunately every 10 pages or so the paper color changes, but for about 10 days we've been subjected to this. Ugh.

More stuff from the Asylum tour!
This is a wing (and the right arm of the costumed tour guide) from the Civil War era. Below you can see a closer view of the stones:

The stones were all hand-cut and placed. You can also see the level of dis-repair - the place is in really bad shape.

At the top of one of the buildings are some gargoyles:

There were actually several places on the buildings that had these. I'm sure there's some significance to them, but it escaped me.

Now, I bring you the coup of the whole tour! Check out this sweater:

It was COLD in the building (no heat), and we were told to bring jackets. I, of course, didn't need one since I run hot anyway, but this woman had the best sweater! The front also had cats on it, but it would have been tougher to get an on-the-sly shot of that, so I settled for the back. (hee hee)

Okay, I'm off to try and salvage my failed crafty attempt from last night. I hope to bring you a success story very soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Card and An Insane Asylum

Hi, remember me? Yeah, I've been MIA lately, mostly because I haven't stamped much, and today is really no different. Seriously. The following card is not one of my own creations. Nope, it was sent to me, and I love the colors, so I decided to blog it.

This is from my Tweep (and fellow SU Demo) Sue (aka: @ireland1):

Isn't it BEA-U-TI-FUL? Something very funny (but not unusual in my world) happened upon receipt of this card. I saw the bird punched out and immediately asked her what she'd used: punch? die? Turns out it is a die from the recent Holiday Mini - one of a set of four dies that I own. How embarrassing ...

Moving right along, lookie where I went this weekend:

This is the Trans-Allegheny Insane Asylum, located in Weston, WV. And NO, I was not committed; it was just a tour. It was really an Insane Asylum up until very recently. It is now privately-owned and open for tours. One of the tour guides actually worked in the facility for almost 30 years. I'll do some blog posts this week to share some of my pics.

In other news, one of my cards will be part of some of the Only The Best Of Etsy Samplers this month. Here is the list of all the contributors. I think it is a very good way to buy stuff from lots of different etsy stores, and for a very reasonable price. Check it out!

That's all I have today! Thanks for stopping by!

Setting The Stage

I have had a ca-razy busy week, and have done NO stampin', so I have absolutely nothing to share with you. BUT, I am about to embark on a mini Road Trip, and I thought I'd post cryptic random thoughts and pics along the way.

Then I thought up a little naming convention, so I've decided to divulge the secret code now. That way, when they hit you from my Crackberry, or wherever, you will be able to de-code them.

Here is my plan for the post names:

DEC09 = December 2009 (DUH)
PA (or OH, or MI) = the state of the Union (not my mental state)
### = a mile marker if I am on the turnpike or other numbered interstate

Yeah, that ought to do it. So let's have a short pop quiz, shall we? If I send the following from my Crackberry, what does it mean?

DEC09 OH 239

Guesses? Anyone? You can cheat (like I'd know). Okay, it means I am in OH, and near mile marker 239 (which also means I have 239 more miles to go before I leave Ohio). I do NOT plan to bore you with simple progress reports. Oh, nonononono, each post that I send will be accompanied by a photo, probably of questionable quality, for your entertainment pleasure.

Okay, can you handle this little wacky idea of mine? Well, CAN you? GOOD! It will undoubtedly begin tomorrow morning when I wake up to see if we got any of the predicted 20" of snowfall. Yes, I plan to still go, though I might be delayed by the amount of time it will take me to dig out my car.

So thanks for hanging in there for me, and I'll see if I can find some interesting stuff to share along the way.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: Do not make plans to rob me or steal my kitty while I am gone (and you know who you are!). My cat sitter can take any one of you with one arm tied behind her back! I'm just sayin' ...

Road Trip - Day 4 (and Last)

The last leg of my Road Trip was ...dry. Well, there was a token spritz of rain in Indiana, but it lasted only a minute, then there was no rain for the rest of the day! Woo-hoo! The sky was mostly overcast, but it was sunny at the same time, so I actually got to wear my sun glasses! Here is a pretty typical sky shot that I took at one of the Ohio rest stops along the turnpike:

It turns out the remnants of Ike caused major flooding in Northwestern Indiana and the Chicago area. Most schools were closed on Monday, and the expressways were flooded and closed in spots so that it really snarled Chicago-bound traffic. Fortunately for me, I was headed the other way. I only went through one water-logged on-ramp and the rest of the trip was dry, dry, dry!

My decision to take the Toll Road/Turnpike was a good one, as I made it home in 12 hours. My only complaint is that 10 of those 12 hours were spent on the same, boring road. And the real bummer was my boom box CD player failed me, so I did not get to listen to all my books on CD, which usually makes the trip fly by. Fortunately the scan button on the radio works and there are some decent stations in the Midwest.

Also in the Midwest, people know how to merge. It is so refreshing! As soon as I put on my directional (turn signal, blinker, that flashy arrow thing), someone would wave me over. I definitely miss this part of living in the Midwest.

I knew I was home when I crossed the Mason-Dixon Line. For those of you who were not listening that day in History class, the Mason-Dixon Line is what divides the North and the South, so technically I live in the South, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell that around the DC area. I think you need to go about an hour into VA to see signs of Southern-ness. I remember one year my Dad and I drove to FL together, and instead of the typical "Shirt and Shoes Required" sign on the restaurant door, we saw "Shirt and Shoes Preferred". Yep - we were in the South.

So how did I know I was home? Once I passed this point:

(that's the brown Mason-Dixon Line sign on the left, and the Welcome to Maryland sign on the right), I started to scream at stupid drivers.

When I got home, kitty immediately attached herself to my right leg, and all was well with the world. I called my Dad in Ohio to let him know I was home safely (it's a rule - we have to call when we get home), and he told me that Ike left their whole area without power. He's thinking dry ice to save the stuff in the chest freezer. Ugh. Fortunately I had no surprises awaiting me.

So today is my catch-up day. Lotsa stuff to do, and hopefully it will include some stampin'! I'll post later if I actually get any done.

Road Trip - Day 3, Wherein The Crooked Stamper Meets Ike

I left Port Huron bright and early this morning, and surprise! It was not raining. Okay, it was not raining when I left the hotel, but it was raining by the time I met up with #1 son. I did have to get my sunglasses out once, but I put them away again.

After a hearty breakfast, I left to head West to Indiana to meet up with #2 son. Most of Michigan and Indiana looked like this:

I set the camera on top of the steering wheel and snapped it between wiper swipes, so you see what I saw: a lot of wet. Actually, it was getting quite windy, too, which is easy to tell in a Miata, because keeping the car going straight can be a challenge with strong gusts of wind. Turns out (I found out later) that I ran into the tail end of Ike. Apparently he took a right turn once he made landfall and just headed up to hit the Midwest, which is where I was. Darn! The closer I got to my destination, the wetter it got, including standing water that closed several exits off of I-94, and also major flooding in the town to which I was headed. It was so flooded that my son met me at the hotel, because he was sure I would not make it to his place. As it was, the road just past my turn-off to the hotel was totally flooded. Ugh. But by the time we went to dinner, it had mostly drained away.

I see Ike is now in Canada, but we are in for some more rain tomorrow. Oh, joy. I get to drive through 4 states in the rain. But I am getting real good at it.

The shopping center behind where we went to dinner has a Hobby Lobby, and I have never been to one of those. Hopefully I will get out of here before they open and not be tempted. ;-) Actually, I think I'll do my damage online, instead, as PTI has their release tonight at midnight, which means I'll hit them later this week (probably Tuesday - my day of recovery). They have a new "Jewish" set that promises to be exactly what I am looking for. Now I'll be able to tell all my Farmers Market customers who ask: "Why, yes, I do have Bat Mitzvah cards."

Oh, and because someone asked via a comment, Farmers Markets generally run May-October in our neck of the woods, but both of mine run into November this year. In particular, my Saturday market in the Kentlands goes through the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and my Sunday market in Olney goes until November 9th, I think. So if you are looking for farm-fresh veggies, you should be good until the second or third weekend in November. Make sure to ask one of the farmers when you stop by to confirm the end date.

Tomorrow I head for home. Part of me wants to take the back roads, because the turnpike is so incredibly boring, but with the rain, back roads can be dicey, so I'll undoubtedly opt for "faster" over "interesting". I'll wait for a sunnier day to do the "interesting" version.

Thanks for stopping by!

Road Trip - Day 2

I woke up this morning to this:

This is what we call "rain". Yes, it was still raining. Now last weekend in Maryland, we got rain like this since we had the pleasure of getting hit with the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna. But what is the excuse here? Sigh ....

One of the things I do not miss about Michigan are the billboards. We have none in my county - maybe even in most of the state. But here they are everywhere. In fact, they are not your average, boring one-topic billboards. Nope. These are fancy, electronic versions, so 5-10 different ads can all share the same outside space. Check out three of the little jewels I got to see from my window:



Did you also notice it is raining?

So we headed out to the wedding this afternoon, in the rain. It was held at a golf club, and it was very nice. They did a lot of their own decorating, and it was quite well-done. Here are the tables with all the teal bows (the girls' dresses were the same color):


This is also the same color ribbon I used on their card, which I left back at the hotel! Grrr....While we waited for everyone else to arrive, I checked out the view:
Did you notice the rain? Oh, and those tents? Our wedding was at 4:00 pm (outside, but only weather permitting), and there was another wedding scheduled for 5:00, in those tents. Yep, they were determined to be wed outdoors, rain or shine, and by golly they were! We, of course, stayed inside and dry.

Nice lake and golf course, right? But wait, what is that over to the right?

It is a house, and not just any house. It is the house of the guy that owns this whole place. Not too shabby, huh? Let's zoom in and see if they are looking back at us:

OMG - that is just obscene.

Then we had the wedding, followed by dinner and very loud music. My other nephew, who was sitting next to me at the table, told me it was only loud to me because I was old. Then he looked around and said we were all old. Then he looked back at me and told me the music really was a bit loud, but we were still old. Cute kid. ;-) He'll go far. He is looking at colleges, so watch out! He is thinking: medicine. I love it when I have time to just sit and chat with my family that I so rarely get to see.

I am now back at the hotel, packing and planning what time to leave here to go see #1 son in the morning. I sure hope it is not still raining.

Road Trip - Day 1

I set my alarm for earlier than a work day this morning, so of course I got a late start. I have yet to figure out how that happens. Anyway, I left at 6:30 am instead of 5:30. Oh, well. It usually takes me 8-9 hours to get to the Detroit area from Maryland, unless I hit traffic or something. Or something. Today that something was rain, and lots of it. It rained the...whole...way. And I'm not talking drizzle here; I'm talking all-out wipers-on-high-and-your-speed-on-slow-so-you-can-see-the-car-in-front-of-you rain. Ugh. Twelve hours ... it took me TWELVE HOURS to get here. But that's okay, cuz my Dad and Cousin and Brother and Nephew and I all went out to dinner, and we had a lovely time. And it is still raining, by the way.

So anyway, last night as I attempted to pack for this weekend, I had laid out all my clothes, but did not haul out the suitcase too early - I did not want the cat to have heart palpitations before she needed to. As it was, when we went to bed and she saw the suitcase on the floor, she stopped dead in her tracks to check it out. Then she glared at me. Did you know cats can glare? She'll be fine, though. The cat sitter totally spoils her.

Between the laying-out-of-the-clothes and the packing steps, I stamped sumpin'. (Surprise!) My new SU goodies arrived last night so I HAD to break into them. One of the things I pulled out was the new Calendar Kit. Here is the insert from the package:

It is very cool. It is all pre-printed - the calendar and lines on the front of all the pages, and the page backs are all printed DS paper in about 4 different colors. It comes with a die-cut card stock sleeve that when first assembled looks like this:

All the pages slip nicely into the sleeve, but it just seemed...I dunno...lame. So I tried this:

Instead of decorating the sleeve with the sticky die cuts, I covered two pieces of the Small Book Basics chipboard with Bashful Blue and Close to Cocoa DS papers, and stuck the die cuts onto the blue cover instead of the cardboard sleeve. Love it!

I had to trim down the pages a little bit to fit on the chipboard, but that's okay because I did not like the lined parts anyway. I also rounded the corners of the pages:

No, this is not what the kit page looks like! I covered the bottom of the January page with a piece of last year's Christmas DS paper and added some of my new felt flurries. I also stamped a new snowflake from the Tree set (I do not have it with me, or I'd put the real set name in here ...) from the Holiday Mini. I added a piece of ribbon to hide the seam, and called it done. I really like how it turned out.

Here is what the January page looks like next to the nekked February page:

Oh, and those tabs are soooo crooked. They are tricky to place, especially since I hacked off a bit of the page and also rounded the corners. I think they would all fit under normal conditions, but we all know I am not "normal". I put the Jan tab on, lined up the Feb page and put a pencil mark where the Feb sticker should be, and I just did them all that way. The last three months start at the top again...it looks fiiiiiine, like I meant to do it that way all along.

Now I have to finish all the pages before I can show it to my customers. They are all excited that I might offer a class for this calendar, and the class fee would include the kit. But I literally put the original calendar together in about 10 minutes (it was uber-easy!), so if I do a class, I plan to jazz it up like I did with this one - chipboard covers, DS papers, flurries...the works. That will certainly take an afternoon!

One final note before I hit the hay: I am in love. Yes, in love ... with the heated leather seats in my Brother's car. Turns out my Nephew has them in his car, too, and he swears by them. OMG, it's like therapy! I can just imagine sitting on a heated seat in that hellish daily commute of mine. I might even be nice to the people that cut me off in traffic! Maybe not. But I still want the heated seats! I'll be shopping for them next week, mark my word!