Think Spring!

It snowed last night!  About an

inch.  I don't know if we will

get any more or not, but I don't

think so.  So, to bring Spring a little

closer (I wish)  I have a card

with cute little birds on it.

They are tweeting (get it?  LOL)

"Spring,  hurry and get here!"

 They're my birds so I get to

decide what they are singing

about!  My story.

 

The cat is out of the bag with

Coleen.  She texted yesterday

and wanted to know if I was

signing "This I believe" on Sunday.

I said, yes, but I thought I might

like to try "Only King forever" as

well.  She loved the idea!  Everyone 

has much more faith in me than

I do.  We are going to meet Thursday

for dinner so she can show me a

couple things she changed to make

it easier to sign.  I like that idea!

 

Tomorrow the birds are going to

get groomed.  They are getting

very sharp!  Especially Lili.  It's

more noticeable on a 2 lb. bird.

Well, I'm not exactly sure how

much she weighs, they do it

in ounces and I'm too lazy to look

for last visit's paper.  But she's

at least a pound and half.  She's 

heavy at any rate.  She's moulting

like crazy, so it's a good time to

get it done.  Anyone want a 

bunch of small red feathers?

 

My father has come into the 21st

century, gotten a smart phone and

I taught him how to text!  It's not

a good way to have a long conversation,

but he can send quick messages.  He's

enjoying it.  Also the emoticons.  I

call them smilies for him to make it

easier.  I didn't think to show him the

microphone, my sister mentioned

it.  So the next time I see him,

I think I will show him that.  It will

make it much easier.

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

Another little note

Sorry I was MIA yesterday.  It was 

a difficult day.

As you can probably surmise, the

little note, just a note, etc. are my

favourite stamps!  So here is another:

The paper behind the stitching is some

more of the glitzy glitter paper.

It looks much better used this way.

Less is better sometimes.

 

My song was OK yesterday.  I faltered

on a couple of the verse parts, but I looked

over at Coleen and got them, even  if a

 little behind.  The chorus I had down pat.

I'm thinking of doing two next week

as I think I can do the first one we're

singing.  Judy, don't say anything to

Coleen . I want to wait until Saturday

to see if I can pull it off, LOL.  But I'm

sure I can do the second because I've

done that one before.  I think it's 

important for me to try at least.

 

The roads were fine yesterday.  Saturday

when I came home from practice

there was an icy mist going on.  I got 

off the highway early so I could go 

slower and nearly slid off the exit

ramp.  Talk about scary!  I was praying

the whole way and God got 

me home safely.

 

No other news beyond it's still cold.

When, oh when will summer be here

again?  LOL.  I'm glad we haven't

had much snow and even the cold

isn't too bad most of the time but

the wind cuts right through you.

It's not too great to drive in, either.

 

Happy Monday!

 

Amazing friend

Well, first and foremost, I have

to say that Jesus is an amazing friend.

Since I can't send the card to Him

I don't know who to send it to

because I have SO MANY

amazing friends! I love how it 

turned out!

And speaking of amazing, I'm planning

to sign "Amazing Grace (my chains

are gone) on Sunday.   I went to

deaf chat last night and an amazing

friend, Judy, (keeping with the theme,

 lol) went over some of the signs with

me and we'll go to practice tonight.

I am pretty comfortable with most

of it, but there are a couple things

I'm not sure of.  A couple things I

would change, too, if I had glossed

the song.  For instance, for the

phrase "unending love"  I

would have signed it "continue love"

rather than "forever love" but

that's me.  Since the other

signers will be signing "forever

love"  I'll go with the crowd...! 

I've never glossed a song, so I

don't know what I'm doing anyway!

We had a little bit of snow flurry

last night, but the wind was

terrible.  The drive to Auburn is

a little more than half an hour

and my car isn't aerodynamic.

So I'm all over the road.  Very

annoying.  It makes everything

worse in the dark.  I'm not fond

of night driving anyway. 

Happy Saturday!

Winter is back

Fortunately all we got was a very

light dusting of snow.  I  heard

possibly 1-2 inches.  I'm sure it's

not over.  I'd prefer it wasn't on 

the weekend as I have a lot to do....

So to bring Spring a little closer,

another hummingbird card.  It

didn't turn out the way I meant

for it to so I had to revise my

idea.  The paper I got at JoAnn's

and is called glitzy glitter.  I

ordinarily don't use paper like

this because it's hard to adhere

anything to it, but this is flat and 

accepts adhesives.

That's some serious bling, huh?  I like

it but a little goes a long way and I

think the entire mat being that

paper is probably too much.    Trial

and error.  But I still like it.  This time

I remembered to chalk the bird.

You can see light pink along the

throat and belly.

 

Tonight is the deaf chat.  I wish

I could get over my shyness with

people I don't know and get more

confidence in my signing.  One lady

talked to me a little last time, but

I have a tendency to not put myself

out there if the people are deaf

or hearing.  You'd think as much

as I've been there I'd be better

at it, but I'm not.  I mostly just

watch, but that improves

my receptive skills so it's not

like it's a waste of time or

anything.  If I see her tonight

I've determined that I will smile

and say hello to her.  I always worry

that people will think I'm standoffish

when I'm actually just shy.  Now, anyone

who knows me will say I am NOT shy,

but given the circumstances of not

knowing people and also not being

secure in my signing makes me

that way.  Or if I'm in a crowd and

new experience for instance, going

to a new church or dinner party, etc.

Enough of that!  I'm going to hit

the treadmill.

 

Happy Friday!!!

 

You're gonna make it after all!

I was so sad to hear that Mary

Tyler Moore died yesterday.  Such

an icon that they cut into regular

programming to announce it.  I

loved the Mary Tyler Moore

show where they were in the

newsroom.  My favourite show

was "Chuckles the clown".  What

was yours?

I have a couple bookmarks to

show today:

I bought a new corner punch the other

day (one of the things I treated myself

to when I realized I'd shorted myself

$60.!)  It has three different punches

in one.  It was also on sale so I

could hardly pass it up.  I don't

have a clue why I have been making

bookmarks lately.  I almost never

read, but when I was younger

I was a voracious reader.  I could

go through 4-5 books a week.  As I

got older I got more into TV.  They

have better shows on-and many more

channels.  Although on Saturdays 

and Sundays even with all those channels

there's still nothing on!  Go figure.

 

It's cold and rainy out this morning

but I hear it's supposed to snow

tonight.  There goes that "S"

word again.  And my wonderful

brother texted me yesterday

lamenting about laying around in

front of the pool.  I'm still in the

market for a new brother.  Any

volunteers?

 

Happy Thursday!

 

I won the fight (sort of)

I fought  this card for hours yesterday

trying to make it since I couldn't

find a tutorial for it.  It's still not 

right, but it's right enough.  I got

tired of trying!  So for better or

worse, here's the card:

I'm not going to say where it's still

not right.  I had to hold it closed so

you can see my fingers down at the

bottom!  But all in all, I think it

turned out OK.

It's still not too bad outside, but I 

hear that's not going to last for

long.  Why oh why can't it be

summer again??

I made a $60. mistake in my checkbook

which I just found out about yesterday.

In my favour!!  So I treated myself

to a little trip to JoAnn's.  While I was

there I ran into the manager (Or owner?)

Anyway, I asked her if they were planning

on not selling as much scrapbooking

stuff because it was all on sale and seems

to be diminishing.  She said absolutely

not, that they were expanding it!  I

was really happy about that because there

are things that you can get there that

Hobby Lobby doesn't carry.  I was afraid

that with Hobby Lobby there that

they might lose some business and stop

selling scrapbooking things.    There's a

JoAnn's superstore but it's in Fort Wayne.

I only go there if I have to get bird food

or very occasionally if I want to get

out of the house and drive for an hour....

Happy hump day!

Smile!!

I do love my word dies.  I brought

out another die to play with as well,

my lattice background die.  I love

it and don't use it enough.

Apparently I cut off the bottom of

the card when I photographed it,

and didn't notice.  Sorry about that.

But you get the idea.   I'm sure

everyone is getting tired of the 

stitched cards even though I'm

not, so I thought I'd throw in a

couple "regular" cards.

 

I've been fighting all morning with

another style card that I think

I finally have gotten right.  I'm

missing my engineer right now.

John was always good at looking

at something and figuring out

how to make it work.  He really

loved my cards and encouraged

me.  He also would go to craft

stores with me and if I was looking

for a particular thing he would zero

in and find it if it was there.  Give

him a mission and he was a happy

man!  I miss him.

 

The weather guy was saying the

"s" word last night.  I hate how they

swear on TV.  I do not want to

hear the "s" word.  I thought maybe

we could just segway into Spring

and have it done with, but I knew

that was probably too much to

ask for.  I can hope!

 

Happy Tuesday!

 

Family.....

Yesterday I got a text from my considerate

younger brother informing me that it

would be 81 in Florida that day.  Then

today I get a text from my sister saying

that they are having thunderstorms.

I currently in the market for a new

brother and sister.  Any takers??    Well,

Maybe someday soon it will be 81

with thunderstorms here.  I can only hope.

Speaking of Hope...

The jury is still out on if I like this card

or not.  It's different.  It was hard to get

a picture with the gold cardstock.  And

working with it under the light was blinding!

I love how it looks on a card, but you can't

see what you're doing in the dark or the

light with the shiny gold.  I saw a 

couple pictures on pinterest today that

I want to try.  They are really pretty

cards.  One of them, though, I don't

have a clue how she made it so I

will have to surf around and see if I

can find a tutorial.

 

The song went well  yesterday.  I faltered

just a little at one point and let's just say

I did it all better at home, but then that's

expected, I guess.  All in all, I was happy 

with how I did.  One step at a time.  It's

huge enough for me to just turn around

to face the congregation!

 

Happy Monday!

 

Junior mints hot cocoa!

I was getting rice yesterday at

the store and across the aisle was

the coffee.  I glanced at it as I was

walking by and saw junior mint

hot cocoa!  I just had to try it and

It is SO GOOD!!!  If you have

a keurig I highly recommend trying it.

Aren't these cute bookmarks?  My friend,

Coleen, has a weiner dog so when I saw

this I had to make it for her.  I should

not say this, but the reason the dumb

hearts are there is because when I was

inking it I got a smudge of ink right

in the middle.  Then it didn't look right

with only one heart so I put a couple

more on. I see I forgot to ink the other

one, so I'd better do that before I forget.

This time I was careful not to get ink

where it didn't belong.

Today in church I am signing "Worshiping

You".  I was going to do another one but

I kept messing up the signs.  It's not a

problem of knowing HOW to sign something,

the problem comes in trying to  keep up

with a song and getting multiple things

like "I believe" with different words

behind.  (In God the Father, in Jesus 

Christ...etc) Then I start getting them

mixed up.  Not to mention that when

you sing "Our God is greater" the gloss

has you signing "You best" .  That's very

confusing.  Singing one thing and signing

another is not as easy as it might seem!

But I am comfortable in doing this song.

As I sign more songs I'll get better at

it, I'm sure.  I also  have a low

frustration level and that doesn't

help.  I expect to be perfect and 

that's not possible.  As my dad says,

"There are only two perfect people

that ever walked the earth and that's

Jesus Christ and John"!  Inside joke, lol.

John thought he was perfect and 

wasn't afraid to say so!  He didn't

have many self esteem problems, let's

just say that!   

Happy Sunday!  Enjoy this weather

if you're in this neck of the woods.  I'm

afraid it's not going to last.

Behind the mask

Our church showed this movie last 

night.  It's not really my cup of tea, 

but Pam and I went out and had a

coke later and visited so that

was fun.  It's an action film that

has a lot of fighting and killing,

a little loving and some talking

of God and His love.  Not a bad

movie if you like that kind.  

I have two styles of cross cards

that I made.  I think I like the oval 

one the best.

It looks like I have the gems crooked, though.

Oh, well. you can tell it's hand made if

by no other way than the mistakes!  I

generally don't make/send Easter cards

but these crosses lend themselves to

cards like that, baptism, etc.  How often

do you use things like that?  Not sure

why I got them....Because I could and I 

had a coupon, of course!

 

Cody and Pam posted a pic of them on

facebook:

 

It looks like they're at dinner somewhere.

Aren't they cute?!  He's got the best wife

ever and I can prove it because I picked

her out!  They say they have an arranged

marriage because her mother and I worked

together and used to joke about them getting

married someday.  After they met

they started dating and the rest is history!

I have to say, I won the lottery in 

daughters in law, though.  The other

two are pretty amazing, too!  If I couldn't

have daughters then they are the next

best thing!  Besides, I didn't have to

change diapers with them!  LOL!

 

It's pretty warm out there!  Still a little

foggy, but that will probably dissipate  

before the morning is over.  Is it too much

to ask for no more cold and snow?  Probably.

 

Happy Saturday!

 

 

 

Happy ignauration day!

How many of you will watch the

TV coverage?  I have some movies

I would like to get caught up on.

Before you burn me at the stake,

who cares about all the pomp and

circumstance?  Show me what kind

of president you will be.  I think if

he lost his blow-hard attitude and

quietly and with a dignified air

proved all the nay-sayers wrong,

he would probably be better off, 

but that's just my opinion.  Personally,

I keep myself out of the political 

ring, but since this is a big day, I

felt I would weigh in just a little.

Now on to less controversial

things.  Here is my card for the

day.  I decided to post a "normal"

card, but there are more stitched 

cards to come so I hope you are not

sick of them yet!

My friend, Karen, sent me a bunch

of these swirls.  There is a name for

the die, but I can't remember and 

am too lazy to look for it.  At any

rate, I think it looks fantastic on

the back ground of distress inks.

I wonder how it would look on the

marbeled paper?  I guess I'll have

to try that out.  I like the card.  It

turned out just like I expected.

 

It's been raining a bit today. I hear

it is going to be more later.   I also

heard that we're going to get a 

warm up!  Maybe it will stay that way

and Spring will come early.  We

have Winters that come ridiculously

early, why not Spring?  Well, a 

girl can hope, can't she?

 

Happy Friday!

 

Yellow and orange

Here are the flowers that

are NOT in pink!!

I'm not sure I like the corners but

I needed something different.  I was

getting tired of the same old thing.

I found a site that has tons of

pricking patterns--for FREE!!

Some of them are just the patterns

and don't tell you how to stitch but

as many are just abstract, borders,

etc.  I can figure those out for myself.

I am so excited!  I just think the stitching

is so pretty and it's relaxing.  Another

bonus is that I can do it in the living

room rather than my craft room.

Speaking of which, I finally got a

new cutting pad for my desk.  The other

one is soooo old and keeps coming up 

on one corner, even if I turn it around.

They're expensive so I've been putting

it off but finally I'd had enough. And

then stupid me, I realized I had a

20% off coupon at JoAnn's and could

have gotten 40% off at hobby lobby.

I was in Walmart and I just decided

to get it.  I really need to think these

things through more carefully.

I took B'Elanna out this morning

and I swear it smells like someone

sprayed perfume in the air.  Sickeningly

sweet perfume.  I have no idea where

it's coming from, but I'd rather smell

the break from McDonalds!  Yum!

Going out to lunch today with my

friend, Dianne.  How about you?

I hope you have some fun plans.

Happy Thursday!

Colo the gorilla

I saw today that Colo, who lived in

Columbus, died yesterday.  At 60, she 

surpassed the normal gorilla age

 by two decades.  I don't know how

Ringling brothers treated their

elephants, and I'm sad to see

the circus go, but (and forgive me

if you are a PETA advocate) this

proves that animals are doing

well in zoos.  We went to the

Columbus zoo several years

ago and the animals there

had lots of stimulation,

toys to play with, and seemed

to be enjoying life in enclosures

that resembled their lives in

the wild as closely as possible.

Yes, things go wrong.  But overall,

having these animals in zoos not

only helps keep them from going

extinct, but as Steve Irwin was

fond of saying, "If you see the

animal you want to save it".

Animals in Africa, the rainforest,

wherever, are wonderful.  But we

don't have any personal knowledge of

them and will probably never

travel to Africa or the outback

of Australia.  This will be the

"normal" person's only chance to

see them.  OK, I'm off my soapbox

and my sympathies go out to everyone

at the Columbus zoo as they  mourn

the loss of this beautiful animal.

Onto the card:

This card has the marbeled cardstock

background.  I think it would have

been better with a darker colour

because it doesn't seem to show off the

corner die cut as well, but it's a

little darker in person.  If I do

something like that again, I may

do a black and white and then

the sentiment in red.  I think that

would be striking.  I like those

three colours together.

It's rainy and windy out this morning,

but I hear it will be in the mid 40's later.

As long as it's not snowy and icy I

guess I'm not complaining-too much!!

Happy hump day!!