Enabler alert part two ...

Found something else really cool yesterday while grocery shopping. Electrasol dishwasher detergent has another limited edition tin series!!! Yes, tins! My store had them for $2.88 -- and later I found a coupon for .50 on the Electrasol website.

These tins are shorter than the ones from last year ... totally cute. I can't wait to alter them. Here are two photos of the tins as they will appear in your local grocery:

If you get one and alter it, email me a picture. I'd love to see what you do with it! Now I'm off to clear some space under my table for more tins. LOL.

enabler alert!!

Ok - Cambria has been blogging about this Janome sewing machine. She is not a seamstress, and neither am I ... so today when Cambria posted that the little machine she uses is on sale at Hancock Fabrics online I just had to order one for myself {chuckle}. Click here to see the machine price, and if you happen to decide to order type in WELCOME for free shipping! woot! I'll let you know when mine arrives!!

To view some cards Cambria has stitched with her Janome click HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

update

I know this is not good blogging, but it is my reality for today.

Tonight is visitation, Monday the funeral. It will be a double funeral. Really so sad. Daniel was 32. The coroner told us he was not hurt in the wreck, but killed trying to get his girlfriend out when the car exploded. So horrible. Please pray for Daniel's family, they are heartbroken. And please pray for his girlfriend's family as well. It is a true tragedy.

not a good Friday

No Weekend challenge today.

Friday is a day I ususally look forward to.
Not today.
My husband's cousin was killed, along with his girlfriend, in a one car wreck early this morning on their way to work. Tragic. We are packing and preparing to return home from the beach today. Please say a prayer for his mom and sister.

Last pages today

These are the final two layouts for the mini album. Ellen is on the left, one of the churches they held VBS at is behind her. Will is on the right - standing on the roof of their dorm playing his guitar. The cowboy hat was a market find. I think he wore it most of the week to keep the sun off his face. You can barely see a dorm under construction behind him - and of course, more mountains in the distance. Beautiful scenery.





The colors on this last photo didn't turn out very good. The coral color is the same as the page above with Will playing guitar. I tried correcting it w/ Paint Shop, but this was as close as I could get w/out turning it yellow. Anyway ... the plane ride home. Although they loved the mission trip, they were tired, dirty and ready to come home!

{and yes ... here is my misspelled word. Got to fix that, but I glued it down w/ a liquid scrapping glue and I don't know if I can pull it up. hmpf.}

Photos 7, 8 & 9 of Mexico

More photos. The first page is of a Catholic Cathedral in Matehuala. don't you love that clock? My son said the church was beautiful. One thing they found very different, and I guess it is cultural, there was a coffin at the front of the church with a replica of Jesus in it! The kids had never seen anything like that before. Maybe someone reading this can message me with an explanation of why Jesus would be in a coffin?





Animals are everywhere in the mountains. They are all free range, and you see them at every turn. I thought since the kids had taken several shots of animals, we should let them have their own page. Goats are really important. They serve as a source for milk and cheese, and for really special occasions, they will actually cook the goat! You know you are special if they cook a goat for you. Can you imagine?

In these photos the kids are eating and shopping at the market. It is sort of like a flea market with everything you could imagine. They said the food was terriffic -- especially my son, he LOVED everything they served and ate what the other more picky eaters wouldn't. I believe the meals were all bean-based. In the bottom right photo, they are eating hamburgers -- topped with fried bologna and cheese. yuck.

One more post and we'll be done with this album. Hope you are enjoying it. If not, it will be over soon, lol!!

Mexico on my mind ...

Why? Because my daughter just booked her flight for this summer's mission trip. She will be working on staff this year, in Mexico. It was an awesome trip for her last year and she is busy trying to raise money and get ready to go again.

I guess that is why I finally put last year's photos in an album, because I knew there would be more pictures this summer for another album. Here are the next pages from last year's trip:

Their Bible story was the Coat of Many Colors. Our teens would read the story, and then another person translated into Spanish for the kids. The craft was to glue colorful ribbons onto a coat ... I think the girls loved the ribbons. And, as you can see {sorry, it is a bit fuzzy} they ended with a pinata - what fun.

This is a photo of our youth group -- again, really bad photo, my apologies -- in front of a pond in La Laja {pronounced La LaHa}. It must have been a beautiful place. I do know it was very hot, even though they were up in the mountains of Mexico.

I'll post more, hopefully the end of this week. And ... I got a new TOY in the mail today. I'll share it with you soon. I'm so giddy!!

reporting in ...

So, after posting that I'm hardly working, I got my act in gear {sort of, don't want to overdo it, ya know}. Today I have already been to the dentist for treatment 2 out of 3 {root canal, don't ask}; been to the bank, taken my son's car by the repair shop, mailed $50 worth of letters at the PO; had delicious potato soup for lunch and am heading out again to take my mother shopping. Whew, I better slow down before I ignite! LOL!

I think I should share the mini album I recently made of our teenagers mission trip to Mexico last summer. If you are a friend of mine, you've already seen it ... and none of you were brave enough to tell me I misspelled a word! Thank you. So when you see the page ... posting it in a few days ... just ignore the spelling error, ok??

The entire album was made with Club Scrap materials from the Surf's Up kit, except for using my Quickutz Blossom alpha dies, and a few rhinestones sprinkled here and there ... oh yes, and my new Martha cornflower punch is on a few pages, plus Making Memories square embellies on one layout. Ok, that takes care of the supplies, let's look at some pages.

These pages are of my son and daughter w/ children they were teaching in VBS. The kids were so receptive, and the simplest things made them thrilled. They were in La Mesa, Mexico in these two photos.

This shows the homes in the area. Simple, most were painted blue ... if painted at all. The rock fences were a really big deal to the home owners. The animals are all free range, so I guess the fence keeps the animals out of the yards, not to mention it defines their property lines. Notice how much smaller the door to the house is than my son. He is 6' 2", so tall, but not a giant as he looks in this photo!! These photos were made in San Ramone.

I'll post more later this week. : )

hardly working?

I have sooo much to get done this week ... so what am I doing? Yep, you guessed it, scrapbooking! You know I love it, but scrapbooking is also the perfect activity for anyone in denial! It keeps my mind off those boring things ... like chores, to do lists, laundry, etc. You get the idea! So, since I am hardly working today, I wanted to share my scrapping table {temporarily set up in my front room} and a page I finished yesterday.

This is Ellen's dance photo. They got new costumes this year and it looks like something futuristic to me {I call her robo-dancer}. Anyways ... the paper is Club Scrap Stratosphere kit. It's not quite my normal style, and I would have never picked it out myself but it works so well w/ this costume. The pink embellies are microbeads -- really cool to work with unless they spill and roll all over your floor.




And, this is where the MAGIC happens! Well, only for this week anyway. I never scrap in the same place twice it seems. I am trying very hard to get a pseudo-scrap room set up in my bedroom, but unimportant things like clothes and a huge treadmill keep getting in my way, which regretfully means I have to seek out other areas to pile my stuff. A good friend told me the best way to set up a scrap room is to kick out your kids {LOL, just messing w/ ya Joan!}.

You can see all my mess here, and waayyy in the back are my new, uber cool scallop punches. No, I haven't actually made anything w/ the punches yet ... but I have grand plans for them, yes sirree! I'll be sure to post when I finally make something w/ these cool punches. If you don't have any ... you need them, seriously!

Proud Grad & Dad

Friday night was great. The graduation ceremony went smoothly. The speaker was excellent, and I hope the graduates took his advice to heart. Now our daughter is officially finished with high school! Wow. So hard to believe. That just leaves one more in the nest.

Here is the proud grad:

And here is her proud dad:

Blogger isn't being nice to me!

Blogger isn't playing fair. It wouldn't let me sign in ... humpf! I had to delete a few things, and now I'm back in. Just in time for the weekend challenge - yay!

Here it is: Household items

Find something from your home and re-purpose it for a card or scrapbook page. Anything goes! Then email me a picture. Got it? Great, get crafting.

Easy peasy graduation card

all images ©1990-2007 SU!

It's that time of year when your mailboxes fill up with graduation announcements! This year we received 3 and sent out 1. This card is from ones I made last year, but didn't need. Both schools in our county use black and gold, so I could make all the cards the same -- which was a nice time saving bonus! The cap was made using the SU square punch, a brad and thread. The sentiment is from a birthday set -- and I can't recall the name at the moment! And the caps on the background were stamped in summer sun ink which creates a monochromatic effect so it is not too busy.

Disclaimer: it's possible I cased this idea from someone ... however, being a year old I can not remember. {Hey - I can't remember a lot of things from last week, much less last year!} So ... if you think this looks familiar, email me and I will try to give credit where credit is due!

Also, please note I've added two fun items to the side bar ... a quote of the day {which I hope will be great for cards and scrapbooks} and a fun little hangman game for when you are bored. Today's quote is pretty funny: I've always been interested in people, but I've never liked them. Do you ever feel that way too???

Today is Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. Let's take the day to remember these soldiers who served so willingly to preserve our freedoms and way of life.

2 new creations

all images ©SU! 1990-2007

Finally, I have some personal creations to share! These are from stamp club Friday night. The first is a mini legal notebook folder. I love these because they are quick to make and are great gifts when you need something in a hurry! Dress it up with a matching pen and you're good to go! The stamp set used is Flower Filled {which is retiring ... sniff} and I cased the colors and idea from WildRoseStamper, except she made a card that was definitely more complicated. ha! Check out her card here. I really liked the rhinestones on the flowers, but alas, I used my last rhinestone on a mini album the other week. Gotta get out and shop more often! {ps - I used the exact same colors as WildRoseStamper did ... her photo is just way better than my scan. rats.}

The next is a card, totally cased from a SU! demo publication. I loved the colors ... because it is a color combination I would never come up w/ on my own. The flower is from Office Accoutrement {love that set} and it is stamped in Pumpkin classic ink. Everything is SU! except for the sentiment, which came from Big Lots {woot}. The scallop border is especially fun to make using the slit punch -- any time I learn of new uses for tools I already own, I am totally excited!

all images ©SU! 1990-2007

Well, TTFN. It's a busy week ahead w/ high school graduation for our daughter. I have tons of things to buy to make ready for the ceremony & reception. For those who do not know me, we homeschool, and this is our second {of 3} children to graduate. Very exciting, indeed.

Weekend Challenge

Here is the Weekend challenge a bit early ... it is a holiday weekend you know! Actually, I decided to get a jump start on a challenge since I've been so bad about blogging! Still feeling a wee bit guilty, I guess.

Ok -- this is your challenge, should you decide to accept it:

Make a card or layout using the following rules ...
Shapes: Squares

Color combinations: no white {ok maybe just a touch}
Tools: punches

Once you have a creation, email it to me and I'll try to post it here. K??? Here is my challenge card. It is a glitter window ... so if the flower appears fuzzy, it's really glitter you're seeing.

I punched the window out w/ my square punch covered w/ packing tape and sprinkled glitter over it. Stamped the flower on the inside of the card and colored it in. I added the thin doodle lines around the window for definition. The flower image is from Back to Nature.

all images © SU! 1990-2007

Now ... off to prepare for stamp club tomorrow night, yay!

2 days in a row!!

all images ©1990-2007 SU!

Thought I should post again today since I've been so neglectful of you. This beautiful Father's Day card is by Dena Mitchell. I love the stamped image of a dad and son. Some days I wish my kids were that young again. Other days I am glad they are not!!

I'm off to the dentist again. My third trip. Today, I am begging them to fix my mouth ... the pain is getting the best of me. Maybe I am just a baby when it comes to pain?

huh? I have a blog??

all images ©1990-2007 SU! Card by Susan Timcheck

Imagine my surprise when my friend Joan teased me because I hadn't updated my blog.

Huh? I have a blog? Really?

So sorry for the month long blog absence. Life has been so overwhelming I couldn't make it back here to blog. Not that I haven't had a lot to say ... but most of it would have been boring details of sickness, hospitals, and such. Not fun blog fodder for sure!

I am happy to report that both moms are home. My mom is doing well, except for struggling with vertigo. My husband's mom is doing way better than I ever expected, but she needs a lot of care and has a long way to go before a complete recovery will be realized. It's going to be a long process for her, but she's been a real good sport and is trying to keep her spirits up.

As for me, I have been struggling w/ jaw pain for over a week now. I think it is tooth related, but the dentist can't find a problem, so I make it through the day on some nice meds.

It's hard to believe that May is almost over. The SU! retirement list is available and the accessory list will be out in about 3 1/2 weeks. Keep making your lists. Once the stamps and accessories are gone, they are gone for good.

Maybe you can forgive me for the long absence if I share a few cards?? Here is a nice beach card. I love this look. And I'm counting down the days to our family beach vacation too!!

all images ©1990-2007 SU! Card by Pam Smollen

I also have a few scrapbook pages that I want to share as soon as I get them photographed and on the computer. Thanks for being patient with me! Have a blessed day!!

Best of Cluck!!

all images ©SU! 1990-2007

Love this stamp set ... and I can't believe it's retiring! If you don't have it, you may want to place an order for it. I think it is one of those sets we'll see used for years because it's just so darn cute!

This card was made by Kristine Reynolds. She very generiously gave permission to post it on my blog {Thank you!}. You can see more creations by Kristine by visiting her online gallery at SCS.

More cards to come ...

Flower Filled

I don't know why I haven't used this set more often. I really like it's simplicity. And, it is very versatile. You can find this set on pg. 230 -- but not for long! It's retiring too. waahh.

all images ©SU! 1990-2007

Again, the black edges are from my scanner, not actually on the cards! I don't know what I was doing when I scanned these. Both of these cards were cased from SCS - but I don't know who I cased, so I can't give them credit here. If you know, email me and I'll add that info to this post.

While we're looking at retiring sets hop on over to Wild Rose Stamper's blog. She has two beautiful cards on her blog using the birdie from Natural Beauty. Click HERE to see.

digesting the list

all images ©SU! 1990-2007

Now that I've had some time to digest the retirement list, I see that I am losing 53 stamp sets and 8 wheels. There are an additional 3 sets and a couple of wheels on the dormant list too. wow. That's a lot of stamp sets I'll have to decide what to do with ... and no, I won't tell you how many sets I have left ...

What sets are you most sad to see retire? I'm sad to lose these sets:

• Best of Cluck
• Petal Prints
• Snowflakes {love this one}
• Artifacts
• French Script
• Collage Alpha & Numbers {use this a lot!!}
• It's About Time {card sample above}

all images ©SU! 1990-2007

I'm planning to post samples with used sets over the entire month. The one above is Stippled Stencils {oops -- the black edging is from my scanner ... it is not part of the card}

Retirement ... Oh My!

There are lots of things going on in the Stampin' world today! The SU! Retirement list came out and it is a doozie! You can see the list online HERE.

There is also a dormant list {?} that you can see online HERE. And, of course, so you can look up all those retiring stamps, you can view the catalog online HERE.

In addition to the retirement list, there is a promotion going on for a pack of new papers. You can read about the Palette of Prints promotion HERE. Below are samples made using the new printed papers {available in the May special}.

Saying goodbye

... to the old stamps ... HELLO to the new!! That's right, the SU! retirement list comes out tonight at midnight {mountain time}. Although I will not be staying up to see the list, I will find out first thing in the am and let all my peeps know the news. I can't wait to see what is leaving, and while I will be sad, it's exciting because retirement means new stamp sets are on their way!!
Stay tuned for more info ....

and Happy Stampin'!!!

a Good Thing ...

Shhhh .... I was able to sneak over to Michael's Sunday afternoon, before my son's band concert. That means I was able to see the new Martha line in person ... and WOW, I loved it! Now, I didn't love everything, but I saw some items that were calling my name. I ended up with 2 new punches, 2 spools of ribbon and a set of bird stamps. I also came away with some non-Martha $1 acrylic stamps that are sooo cute. When I get something made with the new loot, I'll post here for you to see. And, if you've made anything cute w/ those $1 stamps, preferably the newest ones, I'd love to see them. I am always looking for a good card to case!!

I have to say that, as prepared as I was to NOT like MS scrapbooking line, I think they've done a good job producing items that are new and fresh. The packaging is clean and simple, but one criticism is that there is not a lot of description on the packaging, which I found frustrating. I wanted measurements, descriptions, etc. Some of the crafting paper I *heard* is tissue and/or vellum weight, but looking at the packaging, I couldn't tell that. There were also some cute necklace kits, but no length for the finished product. More description on the packaging would be a benefit.

I didn't see anything revolutionary in the line, but Michael's is wise to get this line exclusively for a year. And, I think MS will help bring Michael's out of a slump. I had gotten to the point where I rarely went by there anymore, preferring to shop at Hobby Lobby. As Martha would say, It's a good thing.

Friday Challenge - Are you dowdy?

all images © SU! 1990-2007

Before we get into the challenge, I wanted to share a card I fell in Love with today; created by Cyndee Rush. The subtle colors work perfectly with the slightly distressed images and cardstock. I think I am going to be forced to case this card ... but I don't have the same stamp set, so I'll have to find another one that will work.

This weekend's challenge is due in large part to the discussions this week on the entry of Martha Stewart into the scrapbooking market. There are two specific articles to which I am referring, and if you are interested in reading them click White Trash Hobby and Dowdy Crafts.

I found the media take on scrapbooking to be hilarious. Evidently we crafters are quite an undesirable lot! Scrapbookers are described as dowdy, quaint, mundane, bad cooks and have ugly homes {quote: "including legions of Middle Americans who may never have used her tips on home decor or holiday cooking"} Let me be clear -- this is the media talking, not MS herself. Don't blame her {yet}!

So our challenge this week is two-fold:

1. Create a scrapbook page to be proud of and


2. then go submit it online to Martha's Scrapbook Contest.

If you happen to be the winner -- be sure to let me know!! Wouldn't that be cool????

Disclaimer: I have not seen Martha's products, so I can not comment on them {thankfully!}

Spring card

I love this card -- it is spring to me. The colors are refreshing and the ribbon adds just the right touch. What do you think??

All images © SU! 1990-2007 card by Jolene Gremmel

This particular stamp set is a Hostess set which will not be available after June 30. If there are any Hostess sets you have your eye on, now is the time to do something about it! No Hostess sets will be in the new catalog which debuts July 1 {woot!}.

Also be on the watch for the SU! retirement list which will be announced May 1. I don't know about you, but I am making a list of "must-haves" because last year I missed out on getting some discontinued items {chalk ink refills, etc.} and I've been on the prowl for those items most of this year.

Remember to come back Friday for our weekend challenge. And, if you participated in last week's challenge, it's not too late to email me a picture or link to your blogs.

Happy Stampin'

Great response to challenge!!

I'm pretty excited here ... I received several responses to the weekend challenge. First, I'll show you my example {made in January}. It is an old shelf that I was planning to throw away, or donate, but before I got rid of it I thought why not play around with it and see if I can alter it. No loss since I was going to dump it anyway.


I covered it in Basic Grey papers and now I really like it. It's still not quite finished, I need to embellish it a bit more, but it's functional enough to hang in my dinning room w/ a few photos of my kiddos on it:


Tami emailed me w/ a few links to her blog. This is how she has made something old new again:

A new use for an old door:

Link to post: Door Shelves

A new use for antique levels {this one is totally cool} :

link to post: Level Shelves


If you made anything you want to share w/ me send me an email w/ a picture or a link. Maybe I'll blog you!!

Weekend Challege

I love challenges, but I don't always have time to participate. So, I'm going to try posting a challenge here on Fridays and take the whole weekend to work on it. If you play along with me, email a picture of your challenge project and I'll post it for the whole world to see! {ok, maybe not the whole world, but at least 60 - 75 people? maybe}

The first weekend challenge is:
Take something old and make it new again.

"New" can mean many different things: repurpose an item; or redecorate it so it fits in w/ your decor; take an old scrapbook tool that you don't use anymore and find a new use for it; dig into your stash and use whatever is at the bottom ... anything works!!

Remember to send me a picture of what you did with the challenge. My email address is to the right ....

this makes me smile

These two guys are so talented. They make me smile for many reasons; most of all because they are a lot of fun to have around. Check out their myspace -- they write and record all their own songs which is amazing to me, especially for their age. The Window Shoppers Band.

Tagged!!

I've been tagged by Stefanie! Now I have to list my top 5 favorite blogs. That's cool. It's always fun to see what blogs other people read.

This is way harder than I imagined. There are so many interesting blogs. Some offer challenges; some heartfelt humor, and some bloggers list links to so many cool sites on the web. I had a really hard time narrowing down my choices. Here are the top 5 blogs on my list:

1. Cathy Z's Bits & Pieces
2. Jan Tink's Stamp, Paper, Scissors
3. TIE: Donna Downey's Simply Me and Debbie Olson's Thinking Inking
4. Kurtis' Stampin Kub
5. Susan ... Seriously

TAG YOU ARE IT NOW!!

{Did you like the way I cheated and listed 6 blogs instead of 5? LOL. I told you, this was really hard.}

And, just for fun, here are Stefanie's top 5:

1) Susan's got some great eye candy over at Grateful Heart!
2) Michelle is quite the master! Check her out! http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/
3) You must visit the uber-fabulous Kristina
4) Vic is always there for great inspiration at My Stampin Smiles
5) Jen is always there if you need someStampin Therapy. :)

Stefanie?

If you're out there, email me. I can't find your blog address.
S.

Coaster Book

This was our stamp club project Friday night. I had trouble getting the colors to look accurate ... the pictures are a tad bit darker than in real life. And the ribbon matches better than it appears, honest!

all images © SU! 1990-2007

The "memo" on the front cover will serve as the title placement for the book. On the last page we stamped the calendar from Office Accoutrement so that a date can be recorded for the subject matter.

We used Doodle This, Doodle That, Office Accoutrement, Petals & Paisley + the wheel that coordinates {forgot the name - oops}, Round Tab punch, Flower punch, ribbon and coasters. The papers are Cool Carribbean, Marigold Morning, Whisper White and Artichoke. The Doodle flower was stippled with Rose Red ink for a soft effect.

Click on these horizontal pictures for a larger view:

I thought this book would make a great gift album, or mini album of a specific event. I think it will look even better once I get photos added to it.

I think I need to add some bling to the book. Maybe some rhinestones or glitter would be nice. A few more embellishments may be in order once I select the photos.

little pieces in my thoughts ...

all images © SU! 1990-2007

This card uses the stamp set In My Thoughts which just happens to be on sale during April. I especially like the buttons for flower centers. The flowers are from the set Little Pieces.

Stamp club was great Friday night, even though it was small. We had a ton of food {thanks Kim!} and was it ever yummie. Who doesn't like pizza and cheesecake, hmmm?? We made a coaster mini album. Once I get it scanned, I'll post it here.

For those following the saga of our moms, here is the latest update. My mom is doing well in rehab; some confusion at night, but ok most of the time. The nurse said my mom actually slept last night which is wonderful news!

My husband's mom has settled in to her room at the long term hospital. She is still so very sick and it's going to be a long time before she is well. We don't have a time line for her coming home. She occasionally gets disoriented, but not for long thank goodness. At least she is closer, within an hour drive, and my hubby can work and sleep at home in-between visits.

Please continue to pray for both moms. And thank you for remembering us!

Do you love Wal-mart?

If so, you probably don't want to continue reading ...

I'm not feeling the love for our big box retailer today. Maybe it's the stress of having 2 moms in the hospital, maybe not. But this morning before work I needed a quick birthday gift for my son's friend so I ran to the only store open in town before 9 am -- Wal-mart -- to get a gift card.
I quickly ran through the store to pick up allergy meds and look for a little something to go along with the gift card. I found what I needed and went to check out. This is where my story really begins...

There were 5 lines open {ummm, out of 16 or 17 I believe}. Only one line had a real person checking out customers. Now that our store is remodeling and getting all spiffy they are adding self-check out lanes.
Lovely.
Self checkout lanes always work perfectly and never cause delays.
Right.
Of course, the remaining 4 open lines were all self-checkout.

No one told me you couldn't purchase a gift card in a self-checkout lane.

I guess they missed that one at the customer training meeting.

So after the nice lady helped me cancel my transaction and took me to her post to re-ring everything I had already rung up and placed ever so neatly in my bag, she reminded me that change is a good thing. And that Wal-mart is changing for the better to help ME the customer.

How wonderful!

Not.

I decided it was time to let this nice person -- who probably works for next to nothing -- know that W-m was not providing self-checkout lanes for my sake

... goodness knows it's not about me ...

it's to save the W-m company more money by not paying peanuts to 4 perfectly good employees who probably need the job to help buy groceries for their kids.

No, self-checkouts are for the good of the budget.
That's also why if you go in my W-m around 5 pm you'll find the store strangely dim ... and if you look up over 1/2 of the lights will be off to save energy.
Thank you.
I guess the ambient lighting is for me as well. To enhance my shopping experience.

Ok -- sorry to continue ranting.
Wait ... that's not true ...

On with the story: As I am leaving, the security system beeps and I have to stop and again be assisted by an employee. This time she is even sweeter and possibly 1,000 years old.

She reassured me it's not my fault, that the girl who checked me out just didn't do her job. Oh, but wait ... that would be ME again! I guess they forgot to tell me during the customer training meeting about how to demagnetize items when I am going through the self-checkout lane.

Silly Wal-mart.

TGIF!

Yes, Thank Goodness it is FRIDAY! I truly mean that one. I was hoping to sleep late this morning and catch up on my beauty rest {LOL}; but I couldn't do it. I was wide awake at 7 am.
That's ok. I guess that means my body has had enough rest, right?

My mother-in-law is being transferred today to a long-term, acute care facility. The best news is that this facility is only an hour away. My hubby can now spend his nights sleeping at home, yay! Plus we can all take turns staying and helping her. At this point, we don't know how long she will need to stay at this facility, possibly a couple of months.

My mom is doing well at rehab. She has settled in and is receiving therapy 2 times a day. She is having some problems with confusion, especially at night. When she gets really confused she doesn't' sleep a wink. I don't understand how she can stay up all night and the whole next day too. But all in all, she is ok {but she doesn't like the food!!}

Thank you all for praying. I appreciate it more than you can imagine. And thank you for the comments and emails. It's uplifting to receive a message and know that somewhere, someone is praying for us.

I'll update as I have time. Tonight I must prepare for my stamp clubbies. If you are in the area, feel free to come on over and stamp with us.

updates

I wanted to stop in quickly to give you all updates on our family situations. My mom fell and broke her hip last week, just as we were looking into a hospital transfer for my mother-in-law. Great timing ... when it rains it pours, right?

My mom had hip replacement surgery and today moved to a rehab facility near home. She seems to be content for now. Great news.

My mother-in-law was transferred to a medical university hospital and her diagnosis was confirmed. Relief. She has a very long recovery to look forward to; and most likely will not be able to eat or drink anything for 3 months. Unbelievable. The medical team put in a PIC line today, she already has an IV line for nutrition in her chest. We don't have a time line for discharge. We also don't know if she will come home after discharge, be transferred back to a local hospital, or possibly even a rehab facility.

There is a lot up in the air today. Lots of questions to be asked, and decisions to be made. My husband is holding up well, but he is tired. I can hear it in his voice. He is emotionally drained. And, he is missing the kids.

Both moms are going to need a lot of care and prayers. And their children {me, my husband, and his sister} are going to need those prayers too. Strength, peace, sound mind.

Thanks for checking in. I'll update again as I have time ... and one day soon, we'll get creative again!!

Blessings!

Do you like a good sale??

Well, let me tell you I DO! Stampin' Up! has a promotion during April that is HOT. After I tell you about these incredible specials I'll post a few cards ... so be sure to read all the way to the end of this post.

Here it is straight from the SU site:

Say It With Stamps
Nothing says "buy me now" like stamps at a discount! Until April 30, you can purchase the following versatile greeting and alphabet sets at 20 percent off with no minimum purchase required.

Warm Words p. 177: $13.95

Tiny Talk * {retiring June 30} p. 190: $15.96

In My Thoughts p. 183: $23.16

All-Year Cheer II * {retiring June 30} p. 178: $23.96

Short Order Alphabet p. 194: $31.16

Everyday Flexible Phrases p. 191: $31.96

Oh, but wait! There is a second promotion going on for those of you who have decided it's time to join SU! as a demonstrator. Again, straight from the site:

Fun, Friends, and Free Stamps!
Offer ends May 31, 2007

Get all three when you become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator! Being a demonstrator isn't just an incredible chance to combine a fun-filled pastime with a flexible home-based business, it's also your chance to make a difference in the lives of others by sharing what you love. And now is the perfect time to join us. Right now, when you sign up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, you'll receive two free hostess sets from our upcoming Fall-Winter Collection 2007 before anyone else! These sets are exclusive and won't be available to hostesses until July. The sets you'll receive are:
In the Spotlight (level 2 hostess set)
All about Occasions Bundle (level 3 hostess set)
All about Occasions stamp set
All about Gratitude jumbo wheel*
All about Birthdays jumbo wheel*

*Jumbo Stampin' Around handle (item #103661) not included.

Polka Dots & Paisley by Melany Watson for SU! © 1990-2007

Office Accoutrement by Linda Payne for SU! © 1990-2007