Pre and Post Moving

Creativity is Everywhere

2012-01-21T10:42:00.000-08:00

And now for something completely different. My friend Joan sent me a link this morning that I just have to share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Have a great weekend
Carolyn

File G: Great or ...

2012-01-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

Credit where it's due, the inspiration for this comes from the background pictures on the set of Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom videos at mycraftchannel.com. Stamps from Layers of Color Art Stamps. Papers uhm ... that's tougher since it was done out of scraps except for the Coordinations cardstock.

I had some issues with the title for this post, maybe, it should have been 'And Now for Something Completely Different'.

I haven't decided yet whether I like it, but I had fun making it. I hope it makes you feel like going and having fun too.

Have a Happy DayCarolyn

Avalanche

2012-01-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

The boxes are mostly unpacked and put away. It's not super organized yet but things are coming along. Who would have known that remembering where everything was before would have been so difficult. Uhm ... maybe I need to take pictures of the insides of all my drawers and cabinets.Today, in no particular order. I had intended to:

clean up some very, very old circle journals
vacuum the last of the tinsel
laundry ( Does that even count? )
finish some work for the class I'm taking

Being a good girl, I started with the class work, more that another day. Innocently I went to the closet to pull out a file folder and ssslooowlyyy, with much creaking and groaning the shelf fell down.

Honestly, there was even less on it than before we moved.

Do I call maintenance or just fix it? I'm reasonably convinced that I can fix it better and faster than they will but it is their job. Anyways, closet organization has been undone, journals are at a stand still (can't get to my supplies until I excavate). Which leaves vacuuming and laundry.

Why is it that when I feel creative there's something in the way? no time, emergencies, avalanches, ... this is so frustrating. I am starting to feel that I'm just lugging boxes of supplies around to fondle, sort and store.

So sorry circle journal friends. Have faith that you are not forgotten. In fact the #1 goal for this year is to complete the unfinished objects.

Normal?

2012-01-03T23:42:00.000-08:00

Tons of card board, 30 days of hotels, 2 visits by the movers, my birthday, Christmas, New Years, a visit from Gramma, one tripod and one notebook power cable later things are getting back to normal.

My husband ordered mugs for work place gifts this year I loved them! Plain white printed with

Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure

Happy New Year!

No fixed address, day 9

2011-11-26T02:06:00.000-08:00

Some of you might be wondering just what the heck is going on. Well, a while back I posted about our landlord’s decision to upgrade all the units in the complex in the next two years. It would seem that the owner decided to up the refurb timetable and so refused to renew our lease. Yes, it’s legal, not ethical but legal. This left us with few choices, we could

1) move to another place. This we tried to do, for those of you wondering what’s up with my crafting, I’ve be busy touring other properties, amongst other related things. We only moved in 10 months ago and our needs haven’t really changed. Meaning, we already had the perfect place (at least for now). Strike that option.

2) move into another unit in the complex. Unfortunately, the only other one ready for occupancy is dark and has chronic parking problems. That would have relieved the short term pain but the longer term ones of continually having our drive blocked... Strike that option. So,

3) move out for 30 days and then move back in. Blech!!

I’m really working staying positive, I don’t believe that the renos were in the least bit necessary! New paint and carpet just don’t add up to the headaches that this little adventure is causing. I did, 10 months ago, agree to rent the unit without new paint and carpet.

I’ll let you finish the rant for me. Meanwhile, my mantra is find a happy place, find a happy place ... fyi Dustin has called me Peach for years.

I confess to sulking for a couple of days but then decided to treat this as another adventure, I do seem to be prone to them ... I can only hope that this one won't happen twice. Having made that decision I’ve been making an effort to take (at least) one picture a day that represents how we were doing. Admittedly this is challenging; suitcase living is very tiring.

We are just beginning day 10 now and I don’t think I want to post all the back pictures but I will put a few up.

Our second stop was a weekend in Monterey. It rained all weekend and so after the aquarium we watched movies. I think Dustin may have done some napping.

Laundry at the Laundromat! Boy has that been a while, anyways, as always some stuff didn't dry. When I hung the socks up the I had a vision of Granny Clampett's possum pie. Can dress me up but can't take me anywhere. lol!

So glad we bought a harchback! Off
to San Francisco for the next leg.

Thanks Giving - did something different and decadent, ordered a prefab dinner. All we had to do was reheat. There is a kitchenette here and the stove has a small oven but I didn't think I could do the whole dinner from scratch. It was pretty good but I don't think we'll do it again

More Clampett thoughts - how many people carry their turkey roaster with them when they go away. Uhm... maybe I should have brought Sid's rocking chair.

Black Friday - Sid had a hard time sleeping last night so it took all day for us to get going. We did eventually get to the carousel in Golden Gate Park.

Actually, that is the plan for this weekend; see all that we can of Golden Gate Park. We've been here quite a few times and never really been to the park so it's time.

On the way to the Muni (subway) we walked through Union Square. There was a huge number of police with baracades and night sticks.

Last night when we were driving around trying to get Sid to sleep we saw a pretty large tent city.I guess the Occupy Wall Street group had Black Friday plans of their own. Sid was upset we took a cab back.

Scappin', Sortin' and Storin'

2011-08-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

I've been busy this week trying to reclaim my desk. It has been infested with paper work, unfinished projects, a few projects not even started that need to be out of here, some unresolved storage issues from the scrap room move, assorted junk that got dumped ... If you've ever seen my desk in real life you would know it looks like it always does. The problem, which for some reason has remained for 40 years, is I CAN NOT work on a cluttered desk. The usual solution, however ineffective, is to open a box and dump it all in to be dealt with "later" . One of those weird time paradoxes must be centred on me because later never comes.

What was that I heard you mention about the definition of insanity?

A long time ago I read a book called Wishcraft: How to get what you really want. Truly the best self help book I've ever encountered. One of the most important messages in it was to break large goals down into smaller ones until you reached the point where you have a task that can be done immediately. That is today not someday; someday being a close relative of later I think.

So the ultimate goal - well not the biggest but a step along the way - is to have a place that is conducive to creative work. When I sat thought about the emotional touchstones that my new place must meet, being alone to work wasn't a requirement. In fact being with my people was one so, since most household activity revolves around the kitchen so it made sense to me to move out of the fish room. That having been done some things won't fit.

I've been playing with my supplies over the last couple of months trying to figure out what needs to be at my finger tips and what can stay in the closet until I need it. The closet is somewhat risky. I'm easily distracted so when I go to the closet there is a high probability I won't come back.

OK, to the point before you all fall asleep. This drawer unit fit's perfectly in the cart. If you are reading this you are probably a facebook friend too so go look at my scrap organisation gallery there to see the cart. Today I bought one of the drawers. It gains me a bit of space on top to keep my heat and glue guns. Two more things I routinely use are now reachable. As well the punches now have a sturdier home in the drawer. The pretty box just wasn't strong enough.

Another issue became apparent during my experiments. What to do with dirty sponges. You know, the ones for the ink and paint techniques. My solution has been to stuff them into sandwich baggies and use the later. It's an OK solution but not great. A few minutes ago I found the solution here. Clever isn't it? Best of all I have a box that will work on hand.

Happy Mail

2011-08-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

My much anticipated package arrived. I just love getting happy scrappy mail, don't you.? It seems like forever came since I've bought anything. This time I ordered from Paper Issues. Here's what I got:

It was lovingly packed and came so fast! Thanks Cassie, and if you happen to read this the other things arrived safe and sound too. They're for Christmas presents so I don't want any snoopers seeing them. I might even keep one for myself. lol

A bit of a sneak at what I'm working on is also there. I'm going to try my hand at one of the over the top mini albums. I have this idea for a "Book of Happy" for one of my friends. I'll keep you posted on how it's going. So far it's a bit slow. I have no idea how to plan one of these things so I'm just playing right now and hoping I can get it figured out before the Christmas mailing season.

Almost forgot, you should stop by the Paper Issues blog. The theme, until August 13th, is Make a Splash. Perfect for the end of summer pictures. There is lots of fun eye candy over there.

Have a fun week
Carolyn

Busy, busy

2011-08-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

Not really much to write about. The usual mundane daily grind with a "To Do" list that is too long.

Craft projects: on hold until I find my desk again.
Computer Stuff: honestly I hate these things except when I love them
Cooking: uhm ... not hungry
Decluttering: ongoing. This week the filing cabinet.
Organising: boring
Cleaning: do you really care?
Facebook: not my thing. I should cancel the account
Packing: playing ostrich
Shopping: excitedly waiting for a small package
Sid: is Sid and needs new clothes. I swear he grew a foot this summer.
Dustin: enjoying work, stressing about being "the boss".
Weather: gorgeous, just like the pool
Ideas: oh so many and not enough time

If you are interested. I loved this mini book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ZKib0zrWQ

I would love to take a stab at this and call it my book of happy.

Have a great weekend
Carolyn

It's a ... box!

2011-07-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

I feel silly still unpacking knowing that I'm going to be packing again soon but I promised that this time no boxes from the Waterloo days were going to move unopened. The original plan was to spend a couple of years at it - opening, purging, finishing projects etc. Now I will settle for the first two and a serious reevaluation of the unfinished project problem.

Last weekend I picked the third scariest box in the pile. No point in picking the easiest; I haven't built up the steam to tackle the hardest. I was pretty sure this one was safe after all it was clearly labeled. Is this what I found?

Well yes, along with calendars dating back to 1980 and more scrapbook paper. I really thought I had corralled all the scrapbook supplies but apparently not yet. So out came the garbage bag and the purging began, again! Anything that looked like it had had coffee spilt on it - gone! Templates from a decade ago into the donation box - almost gone. The strange sizes of bulk cardstock ... well that's harder. They are mostly neutral colours and could easily be put through a die cutting machine. Uhm ... it's a disease. I think I need to watch another episode of hoarders.

The calendars: my plan had been to frame the artwork for a display in my hallway or stairway (depending on the year). Well, I don't have the hallway or stairway any more so all but two are gone. We had fun Sunday evening remembering the events that had been written in them. I made a few notes, then, out they went. Of the two remaining ones, one of them I made this layout:

The other was Tom Thompson artwork. We decided it was worth keeping as a tribute to my husbands love of canoeing and my northern heritage. I trimmed the pages to fit 12x12 frames although I currently only have one frame. Once this move is over I will get the rest of the frames so they can be hung in the dining room with the Lone Pine print.

Frances' scrapbook: I'm not sure I want to tackle this when I'm feeling pressured. The issue I'm having is deciding whether to preserve the original book, which was created when she was a nursing student in St. Catharines or to save as much of the material as possible but update it. Through a weird twist of fate we ended up living in St. Catharines too and it was from her that I learned about scrapbooking. No matter which way I choose to proceed I think there should be at least one picture of great aunt Frances added. I phoned Mum to ask if she could send me any she had. I'm optimistic that she will. Procrastination?

The ephemera: purged, sorted into projects and filed with the rest of the unfinished projects. Before I have to box up those projects again, I intend to get through the pile and figure out what is reasonable to finish. For now I'm just happy to get another box cleaned out.

Archival mist and tissue here I come. Now where the cotton gloves have gotten to?

Evil Cupcakes and Mum's Lemon Loaf

2011-07-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

A while back, I had the pleasure of trying something I can only describe as the most evil cupcake I have ever eaten. It was a light white cake topped with white icing. The icing was so light and fluffy it seemed to floated off the top. The decorations, what cupcakes are all about right?, were sparkling diamonds that turned out to be lemon sugar. The tartness and crunchiness of the sugar made the cupcake a treat for the mouth that I haven't experienced in a long time.

I like to bake. I guess more correctly I like to eat baked goods, so I put on my thinking cap. Uhmm .. that sugar tastes like something I've had before ... the glaze on my mother's lemon loaf ... could I dry that glaze and turn it into lemon sugar?

Long story short, yes it can be done but before I tell you how here's my starting point, the recipe for Mum's lemon loaf.

Glazed Lemon Loaf (from the Purity Flour Cookbook)

Preheat oven to 350F
Grease a 9"x5"x3" loaf pan

Sift together
1½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Stir in
½ cups walnuts (optional)
2 tsp lemon zest zest of 1 medium lemon

In separate bowl, cream
½ cup butter or margarine
Beat in
1 cup granulated sugar
Blend in
2 eggs

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with
½ cup milk + ½ tsp vanilla (vanilla is optional)
Make 3 dry and 2 wet additions. Combining lightly after each.

Turn into pan and bake for 65 to 70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. (The loaf will have also pulled away from the sides of the pan)

Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes.

Then drizzle over top a mixture of
¼ cup sugar ½ cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice 4 tbsp lemon juice

Cool completely and then remove from pan.

Honestly this loaf is delicious. It is richer with butter but certainly quite good with margarine. The original recipe has been modified over the years. First, my mother doubled the sugar and lemon juice in the glaze, That may have had something to do with 4 kids competing for the sugary heel of the loaf ... The second modification was made by my brother, the chef, who added ½ tsp of vanilla since Mum loves vanilla. The final modification is mine. I more or less doubled the amount of lemon zest since I love lemon.

Now if you make this I hope you enjoy it as much as we did when were growing up. It has a long slow cook time, very forgiving but, more suited to winter than summer. Its been unseasonably cool here recently, so I made the loaf, along with a double batch of glaze to play with.

Lemon Sugar
mix together
½ cup sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice

I kept stirring this until the sugar was pretty much dissolved, all the while debating whether putting
it on the stove would turn it from lemon sugar into lemon candy. In the end, I did not heat it.

I poured the glaze into a large rectangular casserole dish and let it dry uncovered for 24 hours. It
was stirred many times as I walked by worried I was making advanced mud pies, by my husband who walked by and had to taste see how it was doing ... eventually the liquid did evaporate and I was left with lemon sugar. It is a very close approximation to that found on the evil cupcakes. I think if I lived somewhere with higher humidity I would have to use the oven or a food dehydrator but here air drying worked.

When life gives you lemons make lemonade lemon sugar.

Note:

1) I used all purpose flour with NO barley. It seems barley, adds extra gluten to baked goods resulting in fantastic bread and biscuits but not so much so for cakes. The flour I use is Whole Foods brand all purpose flour. I believe any brand would work - just read the label. If you are in Canada reading this it is likely not an issue so long as you don't use bread flour.

2) I confess to not owning, and having never used a sifter. Just stir it up with a fork & call it good.

3) When it says cream butter, what that means is the fat should be light coloured and fluffy before you add the sugar. Then beat the sugar in until it is once again light and fluffy. It should look much like whipped cream.

A Geek Evening

2011-07-12T02:53:00.000-07:00

In my other life I am a geek. Really, that probably doesn't seem possible to you but yes it is true.

Our wonderful network, which I really do love, is a mix of computers of varying ages with 3 different Operating Systems (OS). I thought I was doing well to get them all talking nicely together until my wonderful husband decided he wanted to print something from his laptop. Easy ... uhm no, but, yes, in an imperfect workaround kind of way.

The situation:

The printer is hooked to the desk top which runs Windows XP (a 32 bit OS) while his laptop runs Windows 7 (a 64 bit OS), meaning Windows thinks that different drivers are needed. Well, they are, but they also are not available for this situation: a 32 bit print server and 64 bit client. What to do?

Convince windows to use the drivers on the 32 bit machine.

That's getting a bit ahead of myself, although that was what I was thinking. First I had to convince myself that Win7 would actually print to that printer so I hooked the printer directly to the laptop and installed it as a local printer. This worked like a charm and I discovered that the printer drivers were part of Win7. oem21.inf is such a descriptive file name I am certain given enough time I would have figured out that that should have read canonprinters.inf.

Moving along, now I have the drivers available, and I can print to the printer but what I really want is the printer off of the dining room table and onto its shelf.
so,

If you should happen to ever need this solution here it is:

A local printer, by default installs to LPT1 (or possibly LPT2).
These are just labels for telling the printer where to send the data,
much like you can save to drive C: or D:. Another aside LPT is an
abbreviation from the stone age that refers to Line PrinTer.

The trick then is to tell Win7 to use the same port (and hence same drivers) as XP. That is quite doable!
drivers are just instructions that tell windows how to do things.

First, I double checked to make sure I had the settings correct on the XP machine to allow it to share its printer,

After the printer was installed, I moved it back to it's home, reconnected it the the XP machine and took the laptop and a cup of tea into another room - sanity demanded this. Then I reconfigured the ports. Which really isn't all that scarey. The worst that could have happened is it wouldn't have worked, which was no worse.

1. Click the start menu, select Devices and Printers
2. Right click "myprinter", click Printer Properties and select ports tab
6. Click Add Port, select Local Port, then click New Port
7. For the port name, enter the network path and share name of the
printer, be acurate. This time it was \\MOTHERSHIP\i550. Double-check that the
new port is selected with the checkbox next to it.
8. Close the printer properties.
9. print a test page and celebrate! Now I will be able to set this up next time.

I admire you if you read this far. Thanks

The dog ate the pictures

2011-07-09T01:46:00.000-07:00

Wait I have no dog.

I have actually got the before pictures done but the after ... do you want to see the scrap explosion that is in the living room or would you rather see the nice neat, clean organised area that I've created? I know I would rather show you the clean version.

I have a picture for you patient people ... not the multiples I promised but hey, one is better than none. right?

So the point is this lovely scene is about a mile down the walking trail that adjoins our apartment complex. I really need to get out with that fancy camera and play.

I also need to clean up this blog, and the scrappy mess - it's a challenge to myself. clean out the scraps. The project container that I keep scraps in won't close so I'm doing everything this summer based on what's in that box. Paper can come out of the stash to do it but the base of the layout needs to be from the scraps. It's hard but the alternative is to throw it away and I can't seem to do it. So ..

and then there's the landlord.
We moved into the perfect apartment, in the perfect location, with the perfect amenities. Then 2 weeks ago we got a letter saying that the unit was to be completely overhauled in the next 18 months and we would have to vacate. Needless to say I'm upset. Here I am packing again.

Once upon a time I moved so often I had rules.

1) must flat pack
2) must be able to lift it myself
3) must serve at least 2 purposes

Fortunately, the boxes from the last time are still here. Someday there won't be a storage area full of boxes.

For those of you who have wandered on over here from facebook, have faith I will be back but right now I have too much on my plate. Besides I can't seem to get into the "status update" thing. It just seems too abrupt. Though, I do like the chat feature.

Have a great weekend
Carolyn

Look Ma I Scrapped

2011-05-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Good Morning all!

I spent yesterday cleaning, so hopefully I can get pictures of my new and improved living room today. I'm just waiting for the wonderful man to go to work. He's not very appreciative of furniture moving.

I'm going to cheat a bit and set things up for the "before" picture. Now, don't say, 'oh don't bother with that.' I dropped a couple of chandelier crystals and I have to move things to find them anyways so ... why not? Now while I play moving crew here are a couple of layouts I hope you will like.

This is an All About Me page form May's May with May at Big Picture Classes. Sorry no link to that class, it's almost over. I do want to say though that I like May's classes her enthusiasm gets me motivated to do something crafty.

The picture you might recognise from a couple of posts ago.

The really old paper fit the picture perfectly. Did you know I haven't bought anything but adhesive since September? There hasn't been a dent made in the paper stash. Uhmm... better get back to the layouts.

Just after we were married I wrote a list. I was prioritizing the household needs and wants. Need a new toaster, should do something about the end tables, want to finish the set of 'good dishes' and so on. I kept the list pinned to a cork board for a long time, crossing off, re-prioritizing and adding items as our situation changed. Eventually it got put on a pile of papers and ultimately put into a box which I found last week.

I was horrified that I had missed that pile and then we had fun going through that list and seeing how much things have changed. In some cases they haven't changed at all. The end tables are still here and more in need of something done with them than ever.

I really like this one but in hindsight it needs butterflies which means I need some butterflies. (punches or something lol)

Happy Friday everyone!

Not quite ready yet

2011-05-26T02:55:00.000-07:00

So here I am awake in the wee hours of the morning for no particular reason, no weird dreams tonight, not thirsty, still tired so why am I up? I'm not really sure but I went to sleep with the thought that I really needed to do something about my poor neglected blog.

The under construction sign is kind of growing on me. I intended it to be temporary to explain any strange formatting errors while I was working on it. It is starting to look more like me than I had thought possible. I guess it can stay. Getting lost in HTML language would be just a fantastic way to keep from getting back into the blogging routine.

And what's new: I found a friend had listed my blog in her side bar. OMG I really feel pressure now. I need to fix the blogs I follow to include her, I need to blog regularly to justify the space, I need to actually participate in the blogging community, I need to come out of hiding, I need to ...

So, start with scrapping. Since May's Creative Retreat, I've moved my scrap room. I gave it up actually and it is now a family retreat. AKA family room with fish. We love to go in there in the evenings and listen to the water and watch the fish.

Small digression the fish are doing well although there seems to be some territory issues that need to be resolved. I think a nice cave will make our new parrot fish happy. We had the misfortune to pick out a male and female and save them from the fish concentration camp. (Pet store - but that truly is another story)

My scrap room - my dream room - is now in the living room. Since this is an open concept floor plan I am also right next to the kitchen and just off the dining room and it is bliss. Sitting in my command centre, playing with paper, interacting with my family is wonderful. I really am happy. I promise pictures but right now the mess is somewhat uhm... embarrassing.

Personal challenge - embrace the disorder.

Anyways, I signed up for another of May's classes and this time I have been having a ball.

I remember reading somewhere that it takes 6 months to adjust to a new living situation. Funny, I'm starting to feel like myself again and it's been 5 months. No promises, but I think this might be the restart date.

Speaking of dates, when unpacking a box I found a to-do list from 10 years ago. It was the list of replace/repair that I made just after we got married. (Our 10th anniversary was in February) First, I was horrified that it still existed, then I read it and was glad I did have it stuffed in with a bunch of other papers. It was a lot of fun to go back and reminisce about where we were then. The hand me down end tables, circa 1985 brass and glass,originally wedding gifts to my brother, still haven't been replaced. They have had the glass replaced with wood table tops DH made for me. Love that man! There's only one thing to do with a treasure like that - Scrapbook it!

There are so few pictures from that time - there was no money for film developing - there wasn't much for anything else either - that I decided no picture was the way to go. Yeap, still breaking "the rules". And on the topic of rule breaking I did another with no title. Well, not quite, there is a title in the picture.

Technology is a wonderful thing but I can't get to my layout photos at the moment without getting everyone up so I'll have to leave you with those teasers.

Thanks to all of you who are still checking in with me.

Creative Retreat?

2011-03-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

I have to be honest, I paid for the Creative retreat and then found a million and one creative reasons why I didn't have time to participate. I feel just awful about this - sorry May, next time. Anyways, my primary reason for signing up for the retreat was to use my stuff and see if my new space worked. In summary, it didn't.

In the four weeks that it ran, my mother came for a visit and had her stuff in the "spare" room. We were glad to see her but that put me a week behind from the start.

We had fish-saster after fish-saster. The result - all of the large fish and most of the small ones are dead and my table was constantly covered with fish stuff. The never ceasing fear of skunky fish water landing on my paper was too much

It's really very sad. I can't remember if I've posted pictures before, but the big orange fish were parrot cichlids. We now have new ones. They're just babies about 2 inches long and are green. Pictures right now don't show them as they blend into the plants and they spend a great deal of time hiding from the 12 inch monster. Pleco is completely vegetarian but when he moves ... I'm looking forward to getting to know them. Each one of these fish has it's own personality as you would expect from an intelligent creature that lives for 10 years. OK, enough fish but the reality of fish keeping is, these things happen so I have to make allowances.

So, what now? I've moved my table and most frequently used tools into the bedroom. The first attempt hasn't worked as well as I would like. The room is the wrong handedness for me. I keep whacking my elbow on the wall (what is funny about the "funny bone"?) and sitting at the other end of the table has me feeling very boxed in.

The space exists in there, it's just a question of whether I can utilize it. So, today's task is to rearrange some furniture. uhmm, procrastination? Plan B - a hostile takeover of the dining room table.

While thinking about the dining room, I began thinking about styles of family eating. Our kitchen isn't big enough to eat in - better than average apartment kitchen but still ... - so we eat in the dining area. On Facebook some time ago my sister-in-law posted that many of her friends don't have family dinners. People just grab and go. Is this the way you do things? Around here we have family dinners, though other meals are haphazard. What goes on the table isn't really important - McDonalds is fine as long as everyone sits together to eat.

This poses a bit of a problem for me. If I take over the dining room, it will have to be cleaned up every night and my stuff typically doesn't get completely tidied up. Paint needs to dry, I run out of time ... and I can only scrap during daylight hours. (bifocal is an evil word) I would love to hear from anyone who doesn't have a dedicated scrap room/craft room/studio on how they have integrated this space into their home. Another piece of this puzzle, I have about 2 hours a day for scrapping and yes, I do scrap daily. I would rather not spend half that time moving things from one room to another.

So, this is where my creative energies are going right now. It's driving me crazy. In the three months we've been here I haven't been able to sort it out. Arrggh!

One of May's creative prompts, in fact the only one I read was to document something you would not normally document. I did, there is no layout but the pictures are taken. We typically shop on Sunday. Not heavy duty grocery shopping but fun stuff. Last Sunday we made an adventure out of looking for batteries. I'm really glad adventure was our intent since it took three stores and some very wild weather to find the correct size.

Dustin took this fantastic picture of the crazy woman (me) trying to get a picture of a child who won't look at a camera. He, the child was trying to make a break for it. He, the father, said, "This is nuts." And yes it was but it made an otherwise boring and frustrating outing fun. Thank You May!

PS Part of the adventure was to learn how to use the new smart phone. Yes, we've joined the modern world. The old cell phone will be disconnected in 28 days. Please contact one of us for the new mobile number. We sent out an email but I'm sure someone was missed.

TGIF

2011-02-04T12:06:00.000-08:00

Can you believe this, twice in one week. So I'm back but I need a kick in the behind to get started. My former ~~crap~~ scrap area was cramped but worked perfectly. The new one, which I'm sharing with the fish doesn't seem to be doing it for me. I'm not really sure why so I have to figure it out.

I've been walking in there now for a couple of weeks looking at it in disgust and walking away. Not very productive! So I decided I needed a bit more motivation and signed up for another class with May Flaum at BigPictureClasses. This one is called Creative Retreat. The title grabbed my attention as that is what I need to do, retreat to the new room and get creative, use the stuff and figure out why the space doesn't seem to be working, then get off my duff and fix it.

I have an idea in my head that the issue is horizontal space. When I was in full swing in the old room the bed was covered in supplies. Now that I have my own space, there is no bed and so I've lost a huge surface. Being somewhat gimpy these days, (wrecked my back during the move - it's getting better but way too slow for my liking), the floor just doesn't seem to be an option and then there's that whole walking around bit...

Anyways, May's positive energy has already filled me with inspiration so off to work on what I'm sure is a solvable problem.

Have a fantastic weekend

Returning to the Regularly Scheduled Program

2011-02-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

First let me say that this is the first time in a long time that I'm sitting at the computer and would rather not be. I would rather be scrapbooking or hanging pictures or sorting my scrappy stuff, or organizing the kitchen or ... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I want to mention that Mr. Murphy (as in Murphy's Laws) and I have an arrangement. If I part with my boxes then he will arrange for things go topsy-turvy though, not necessarily for the worse. I really am a bit superstitious about this but 20 years experience says ... At the beginning of July we freed the second bathroom from its role as a box storage closet to make room for company.

Our nephew came in August and, well, everyone had a good time. DH had some time away from the nuthouse. Life went on. I resigned myself to the situation and became determined to make the best of it.

So what happened?

In October, DH's ongoing employment at the nuthouse ended in a positive way. He has a new job with a normal company just down the road. That makes him happy, not to mention sane, and, since we live in the same household, does the same for me. Well, maybe not the sane part but ... Things have been looking up since though it has been really busy.

So, we're here for longer than the next paycheck or lack thereof. Next, we needed to fix the noisy, overcrowded, maintenance needing housing. Meaning, we moved. Yep, imagine that the perennial transient moving. Anyways, I started packing the day he got a the job but it took us a while to find something that was available immediately and that we wanted. We took possession of then new apartment the 17th of December and had ourselves in place by the 20th.

I'm feeling guilty about the past Christmas, there are no pictures - the camera went missing. It has since been located but this is the first year ever that there are none! Yes, we did get the tree up but that was about all that happened. Our festivities involved sleeping in a place with no road noise.

The last December picture:

I have one layout to share. I planned it when I needed to look for the good in where we were. It is not a particularly good picture nor is it a particularly good layout but I'm back.

I love the new place and am impatiently trying to make it feel like home. Where shall I store the boxes?

Thanks for looking

ROUS House

2010-10-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

There's a Halloween Party going on at Paper Issues. We would love you would come over.

I did something different this week and made one of those cute little Doodle Bug houses. First I want to thank my friend Heather who sent the house during the great de-stashing of 2010. I would never have bought one. (I might now, this was a fun project)

If you've ever done one of these then you can probably figure out how I did it. Naturally I was incapable of following the instructions so had to be creative.

I started by cutting the templates for the walls and then moved on to doing the windows.

The detailing for the windows was done from the side that became the inside of the house. I started with the curtains (Pink Paislee canvas tags) that I glued behind the window and then wrapped forward. Then, I cut pieces of the Scary Swoosh transpency (Fancy Pants) to use for 'glass' in the window. and glued it on the inside of the house. Finally, I had to use the 'Cup of Eyeball' paper to have creepy eyes peeking out. Patting myself on the back I proceeded to house assembly.

I glued the paper on and read the directions. Found out, I was supposed to do the paper after I assembled it. Oops, oh well moving on, I assembled the house and it almost worked. I needed to add extra glue in a couple of places to make it stay together. I think this would have worked if I had trimmed the paper so I was always gluing chipboard to chipboard. Not chipboard to paper.

Well, now I had the glue gun out. Look out world! I used the glue gun to put on the Goopy Borders (Creative Imaginations). Worked perfectly but... I really wish I could consistently remember to slow down and think things through. Those borders are stickers (tacky, in more than one way) with a high gloss white back. Now that wasn't pretty. So I grabbed the flock and covered the backside by just pouring it on and tapping it off. Yes, much better but I don't think I'll ever get the purple out of the carpet.

So now I have the glue gun and the flock out. The arms reaching out of the ground (Creative Imaginations Fright Night double sided rub-ons) called me from the package to be flocked to so on they went. The Halloween rub-ons are out so I had to add the "beware" over the door which caused me to get the glitter out ( to add to the purple on the carpet)

There can never be enough glitter so out come the stickles. On go the chimney, stairs and window boxes. I finished the curtains with a bit of distressing and a glue dot to hold them open and added the stickles. It looked a little plain so I put on the rest of the transparency, some K&Company ghosts and the spiders. When it was all done and dried (overnight) I went back and did some detailing with my Smooch just to cover a couple of white edges.

btw, rous - rodents of unusual size, remember The 'Princess Bride'. I still love that movie.

Thanks for looking and if I don't get back
have a frightful Halloween

Just a thought

2010-10-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Change is a measure of time and, in the autumn,

 time seems speeded up. What was is not and never

 again will be; what is is change.

- Edwin Way Teale

It seems that many things end in the fall but, I have always preferred to look at Autumn as a time of new beginnings. To move forward the old needs to be cleared away. I prefer, however, to clear away the old with some purpose and recently I am seeing only random actions. So before I sweep everything out and say farewell could someone please tell me why.

Halloween Goodies - Eyeball Truffles

2010-10-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm having trouble finding the images I want today which means I'm going to have to describe this project.

It starts last Christmas with a thoughtful gift from my SIL of 5lbs of chocolate truffles. We made truffles for wedding favours a long time ago so I'm assuming that she thinks we like them. We did but after making truffles for 150 people one or two each a year is sufficient. No problem, I froze them.

Also last Christmas DH got me a wonderful cook book with many candy recipes. I dog eared one page with a chocolate orange truffle recipe that had white chocolate decorating. I thought might be fun to try. I never got around to it though. Somehow I couldn't do it with a freezer full of truffles.

Skip forward to sometime in September when I'm wandering aimlessly around Joann's. (always dangerous) I see in their Halloween display a leaflet showing Halloween cookies decorated like eyeballs. I think the point in the leaflet was to sell a cookie mold. I resisted though I did tear one off to take home. (And bought some black decorating icing on the way out.)

In one of those magical creative moments I solved my truffle problem and came up with cool Halloween idea. When I got home I was disappointed to find that my truffles weren't round. Carefully I remelted them, added a bit of orange extract and reshaped them into balls. I made the chocolate coating recipe from the Christmas recipe dog eared so long ago, covered my balls and decorated.

The recipe that inspired my is this one from Hershey. They rate it as advanced but I don't really think of myself that way. I guess for the meltaways to have the perfect finish it would rate that way but for Halloween a little mess seems fitting.

You can show off your own autumn creation at The DIY Show Off.

Thanks for looking

Computers, blegh!

2010-10-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

I'm back, sort of.

My Scrap Your Stash class is over. It's sad, there was a really supportive group over at Big Picture Classes (formerly known as Big Picture Scrapbooking) for this one. May Flaum was fantastic and really involved in keeping the class motivated to participate.

But ... I can't upload anything to show you. Briefly, the Toshiba went Super Nova. i.e. it overheated. This wasn't a new problem, it's been going since 366 days after I bought it. Next time I'll read ALL the reviews first, apparently it's a known issue for this brand, Anyways, it melted out the wireless card and the connection for the power adapter. There's enough battery life left to transfer files to a new computer via sneaker-net.

So what am I using?

The desktop - noooo that would be too easy. It's old and was never intended it to run on a wireless network. We bought a USB adapter for it and the drivers are so buggy they eat 100% of my memory. Its primary function these days is as a file and print server. It does this reasonably well. The computer is not worth the effort and $$$ to upgrade. Some day, (you may laugh now), the transfer of VHS and camcorder tapes to DVD will be done. Then it will not be useful any more and will go. I'll bet that makes no sense whatsoever. Oh well, if you want to know more leave me a comment.

We bought a new "desktop replacement"? Uhh, no. I want something that doesn't overheat, doesn't cost a fortune, has a back-lit keyboard, and has enough under the hood to do some video editing... Is there such a thing?

So, I'm using my husband's netbook. It just doesn't have the guts to do anything with images. And that is assuming I can download all my software since it has no optical drive.

For a visual person this is very frustrating. I feel like I've stepped back in time.

On the other hand, I've had more time to scrap, I've cleaned out some more of the junk. This week it was the game cube, game boy, associated cables, and the games. Can you believe the package sold? I'm so happy and motivated to tackle another couple of boxes.

Have a great weekend

What I've been up to

2010-09-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

I signed up a while ago for a class (which started today) at Big Picture Scrapbooking called 'Adventures in Scrapbooking: Use Your Stash'. The instructor is May Flaum and so far I've been bitten by the bug to use my stash.

As those of you know who've been following the organisational challenges I face/have undertaken, my biggest solution to the problem is to use it. The corollary is to loose it so I've been working hard to use it.

The last couple of weeks I've devoted to class preparations. What that means is I've cleaned off my desk. There are no more random magazine articles, book bags or other stuff that I'll use 'someday'. (and no I did not stash the stuff in the memorabilia bins. I tossed or used.) So I'm ready to start the class with a clean desk so i can make another mess.

Here's the result (last to first)

The pre-class assignment was to do some scrapping to use the creative muscles. For this layout I also challenged myself to use a stash item. In this case it was a butterfly which arrived in a happy box broken. (boo) Anyways I never got around to asking for a replacement but didn't have the heart to throw it out. I used a sketch from pagemaps to help jump start things.

These two are ones where I had saved items to use later

This one uses a magazine article that I've been saving. It was interesting to find one of the challenge sites I frequent in an international magazine. It reminded me that this is indeed a world wide community even if it doesn't always feel like it when I'm sitting in front of the computer by myself. If you are interested in the challenge it was at the Creative Type. The slide show is still up here. Mine is the black and white dots.

The large leaf on this one is part of a Borders bag I mounted on card stock in June and has been hanging around ever since. I thought it fit well with a picture of the bookcase I took. Why I took the picture? Why I printed it? Why I enlarged it? Anyways the two went well together. I tried to write in a purplish ink. the pen died, I tried another it died ... I used 4 different ones to do the journaling and only 1 survived. I guess that's one way to use my stash. LOL

The last of the Scrapgal August challenges was to scraplift one of the new design team members. I chose this layout by Keesha Cooper. I loved her repetition of starts throughout the page as well as the 'stripes' of paper. It was a beautifully themed 4th of July page. Of course, I didn't have any fourth of July Pics or paper but I did have a fantastic photo of my hubs.

Woohoo I met a deadline! Yet another way to use my stash - do the things I was planning on doing even if I don't get the deadlines.

These next two are a bit earlier (August 25ish).

These pics begged to be put together. I chased Sid around with the camera for a week trying to get the series. I didn't get it in one day but I did get it. One of the things with autism is he doesn't look at the camera like most people so getting good pictures is a real challenge. Sometimes I'm up to it.

btw - a month later he's swimming short distances with out the pool noodle! Rock on Sid!

The second picture is the only one I took during this attempted trip to the beach. I emailed the State Parks people to ask about beach clean up or something and they told me it 'may or may not clear up naturally' and recommended another beach. The beautiful thing about San Gregorio was the estuary. It is fresh water and warm so he can actually get in the water. The ocean is COLD!

So that's it for today. I need to find some neutral coloured card stock for my next assignment. I don't use it very often but I had better not be caught buying any.

Speaking of buying things. I traded my scrappy budget for a few days at a hotel while the maintenance people redid the driveway and parking lot. NO smelling tar, no jack hammers, it was really nice but...

One more step ...

2010-08-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

I'm finished with the blog design. It looks good to me, I hope it does for you too. It's so hard to tell what things will look like on another monitor. Let me know if anything is too bizarre.

I've put the archive back up but since I'm not finished with the online album organisation I can't guarantee that all of the pictures and layouts are going to post properly. You might be tempted to ask why I am bothering. Well, I was thinking...

My old album is linked to my Picasa Web album which was listed under my name and that is visible if you open the album. There is, if a person were willing to troll, a lot of information about us and I thought I would make it a bit tougher for any less than reputable people to get enough info about us to do any damage. Maybe a bit paranoid but better safe than sorry.

That's enough Blogger stuff for today. A house to clean and errands to run.

Oh, and by the way, I had a scary moment this morning. I went to log on and the computer said no internet access. What???!!!

Turns out the router power cord died. It was a $10 / half hour fix but, it made me think. Once upon a time I managed to go days with out turning on the computer. How did I do it?

Even closer

2010-08-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

First, I thought I would share a couple of pictures from the California Academy of Sciences. I've only now started to even look at that week's pictures. I was amazed by how well these turned out. No fancy camera, no special equipment, just my husband's infinite patience and a Canon A90 point and shoot.

You can see where the blue butterflies for the back ground came from. Do you like them?

So I some questions for any one who happens to read this. The background looks good on my monitor, does it on yours? If not, why not? Is it a technical problem or is it just an ugly problem?

Is it loading in a reasonable time? Do all of the elements show up? Any other problems or comments?

I know about the text/link/title colours. They were fixed but I had a moment yesterday and deleted my template. I'll get back to that later (not likely today but soon)

Patience Grasshopper

Ribbon Challenge - RRR6

2010-08-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

I have the most incredible ribbon collection. I bought a bit of it, some of it came in RAKs but the bulk of it was free. One of the many online stores, which has since closed, had a promotional special during it's death throes. Free bags of ribbon!!! I bought some stuff and the ribbon came and a bit more and more ribbon came and ... Each bag was just a little smaller than a quart bag Ziplock!

I have played with it, sorted it by colour or by manufacturer if I was able to. I have found an effective way to keep it visible and yet neatly tucked away. But use it, well not so much.

A couple of weeks ago, the question came up at ScrapGal, "What is your favourite thing to do with ribbon?" I had a hard time answering that one but, it did get me thinking. Maybe, I should try to do something with it besides caress it lovingly!?

Well, then Cassie started telling us about the great things happening at Really Reasonable Ribbon. I checked it out and came up with this layout for their current challenge.

It just happens to be a bogo since I used mostly Prima products so it qualified for ScrapGal's manufacturer of the month contest too. BTW - this is a happy accident, I've had this planned for quite a while and just never got around to doing it.

And in case you are one of my readers who follows our daily lives. This is a picture of us from the opening ceremonies of the Service Excellence Awards trip in 2006 that Dustin won from ABI for being a truly awesome guy. Aside from being the only vacation we've ever had without Sid in tow, it was a 5 day all expense paid trip to Maui. We stayed at the 4 Seasons. I can't gush enough about this!

When I look back I can see it as one of those life altering events that we just lived through and didn't realize that was happening until it was over. I think that, aside from the opulence which is contributing factor, it marked a point at which we could look at each other and say we're doing good. Even though life is not perfect, and nobody's is really, we've come a long, long ways from the Mr. Noodles days. I think it inspired the confidence to make this crazy move to California.

Thanks for the motivation everyone!

Thanks for the Siggy Chez

Closer

2010-08-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

Another step closer to the bog overhaul being done. I still need to finish up the background.

When we were at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco with our nephew, I saw the most amazing blue butterflies in the rain forest exhibit. I'm ashamed to say I haven't even looked at those pictures to see if any of them turned out. I hope so so I can use my own images to pretty things up a little more.

I'm also in the process of reorganising my entire online scrapbook. Oh what a mess. That's mostly what has been slowing me up. Well, ... , that and guests, summer, job interviews, driveway resealing , road construction outside my window ... Yeah, normal summer stuff.

Hope you like it so far
Carolyn.

Popping by to visit my own blog

2010-08-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Just back from vacation. Been lots of places, seen lots of things, eaten, slept (a little), and am just starting to come down to earth.

Before we went away our VIA mag came. It had some great ideas, none of which we did this time, since the trip was already planned but I found an AD that caught my eye.

If you live in California and want a Snoopy License plate follow this link and take a look. I really want one and I love the plate design.
www.snoopyplate.com

Hope your weekend is great!
Carolyn

Purple and other mutterings

2010-07-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to blog for a while now but kept saying, 'when I get the new layout done.' Well, it's not done and I'm frustrated. I will finish it, promise!

In the mean time though, DH has moved on to a second interview. Wish him luck.

I've been thinking about him this morning and about scrapbooking and about home decor and, well ... I've been up since 4:30 trying to be quiet. It's really hard, I've got so many things I want to do and I know the ambition will pass. I'll just be tired.

So, what does purple have to do with any of this? Well, he's got a colour deficiency. Not true colour blindness he just doesn't see some colours correctly. For example, most purple looks like blue to him. As far as I can tell he sees all the primary colours correctly but as soon as they start being mixed ...

This led someone to say, "he must have an interesting view of aesthetics." How true that is!

In his words,"I like colours that know what colour they are."

We've been together long enough now that I have incorporated his views on colour theory into my own work, after all I like to be appreciated. He's a sweetheart and will always say he likes the way things go together. I can tell though, when he's not seeing it. You won't see very many subtle antiqued pages here. To him they are grey and unappealing but I can't give up purple. Not mauve, but real royal purple.

I decorated our last bedroom and picked out the wallpaper, he loved it. He saw shades of blue and yellow.

These were the wallpaper colours

What can I say? I did tell him what they really were. It was a happy bedroom (purple cave). We both got to live in our favourite colours.

and the relationship to scrapbook layouts is ... ? You may see some odd colour combos from time to time. When I do stuff for us/him (not just me) I have to keep in mind his visual limitations. As well as my own, but those ones are kind of built in.

And so what I'm talking about really is knowing my audience. When I scrapbook for me I can do whatever pleases my eye. When I blog for me it really doesn't matter what the web page looks like to anyone else but, since I have others reading it now, I want it to be pleasing to more than just me. I guess that's just a way to say sorry this redesign is taking so long.

PS:
If you want to try something interesting. Take the adobe colour scheme from the wallpaper link and try to make it look like blues and yellows on this site. You will need to use the visual simulation tab on the top right.

Scrapgal DT Call and it's Going to get messy here

2010-06-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Scrapgal is having a DT Call.

Here's the perks:

"ScrapGal is having a Design Team search! We would love for you to be part of our team! Not only do you get wicked awesome perks like 20% off in the store PLUS a monthly voucher...you get all the Swag that Manufacturers send out to us to try AND Fun don't forget the FUN!!!"

Click here to check out the Call and see the forums.

Even if you don't apply come over and check out the forum. We are a comfy sized group who are only a little offbeat. Just like home. lol

I'm not going to submit. I think it would be fun and challenging if I were accepted but I can't commit right now. I honestly think this time the DH's company is in real trouble. The only reason they got paid this month was because the CEO put in his own money. Our health insurance is messed up due to 'cost cutting' measures. I can accept a lot of uncertainty but we can't live here with Sid without health insurance. Consequently I think this time we really are going to move and I know I've said that before.

On a happier note(?)

I've decided:

1) this blog takes too long to load
2) it's scattered and unfocused

So I'm going to fix it. This could take a while as I plan to spend my blogging time learning how to make backgrounds and some other techy stuff.

I'll add new layouts and whatever else I finish to my gallery. Hopefully, I won't mess the link up. If I do, well, it will get fixed eventually.

If you would like me to add/subtract elements from the blog now would be a good time to ask. If you have any other ideas how to make it a better place to visit please leave me a comment. I really would like some input.

Have a great summer everyone.
~~ Carolyn~~

Art History?

2010-06-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

I was painting today. It's a theme. Sometimes I'm painting paper, sometimes houses, sometimes canvas or wood, or paper or vinyl table clothes (don't ask about that one), and sometimes I even get paid for it - very rarely. I love the look of watercolours but I don't seem to have a touch for them. I would pay for another watercolour course but the last few haven't seemed to have helped. Oil paint takes too long and I don't particularly like the way it behaves. I must say, of all the types I've tried, that I prefer acrylic. The nice ones that come out of a tube. I love the vibrant colours, ease of mixing, quick drying time, easy clean up and coverage.

So, today it was acrylics on paper. The paper I was using was a very poor quality print of this Monet seascape. Almost as bad as this digital image. lol

I finally succeeded in creating something that resembled waves and water by using his work as a guide. I guess that's why art students spend time copying the great masters. It was fun and I'm happy.

While I was splotching away I took a look at my poor sad excuse for a brush. It's not a "good" brush. If I want to try new things that might ruin one of my "good" brushes it's the go to brush. The result is the "good" brushes are in perfect condition. Some aren't even out of the little plastic sleeves they came in but old faithful just looks worse every day. I guess maybe it will fall apart but I wonder; it's been around since high school. I'm guessing it's probably my third brush. Which would mean I bought it in about 1983. Impossible to believe!

My Brush

I found this Picasso quote today while looking for something to do with "scraps of life."

The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web.

I suppose that would make my brush a wand of sorts which might explain my inability to use another brush.

"... The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why." ~ J.K. Rowling 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'

It's more likely that I have become used to painting with beat up bristles.

Rainbows and Thunderstorms

2010-06-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know who said this:

Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.

I was thinking about rainbows, and thunderstorms and naturally tornadoes. I'll skip the tornadoes though the sky turns the most interesting colour right before one.

Rainbows are a much happier subject. One of the strange things, at least to me, are the storms here, or the lack thereof. Right now, at home, the humidity should be disgusting, the temperatures somewhere between 80 and a 100 and a thunderstorm could brew up at any moment. Those storms are usually isolated. I remember walking two blocks down the street, getting soaked, then, crossing the road and the other side was dry. I looked back, saw sheets of rain and felt the spray from the rain bouncing off the pavement on other side.

Usually, I could tell by the 'feel' of the air when one would strike us. It's difficult to describe but it felt like the hair on my arms was standing up and my skin was crawling off. I think that weather sense is a result of being caught out way to many times but, being caught in one of the "thunder bangers" is exhilarating. The wind blows cold, the tree branches scream in the wind, and the rain beats down.

Sometimes thunderstorms would bring relief from the humidity as a cold front moved in but not usually at this time of year. On the other hand, the most spectacular rainbows would appear. (June and October were the best) They were the ones with all the colours visible and a full arc! I used to hunt for those ones . I would put Sid in the car and chase the storm until I got out onto flat land, away from tall buildings, and could put the sun to my back.

Wise, probably not but we had a good time.

So, I was talking to a native Californian on the weekend who had recently been 'east' and had seen a thunderstorm for the first time. They described it as the most terrifying thing ever. The noise, the lightning, the wind, the rain really scared them. I, quite naturally, asked if they had seen the rainbow. They looked blank and said, "why would there be a rainbow?"

It was another of those moments when a quote from the Wizard of Oz came to mind, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Have a great week
--Carolyn--

btw: not mine but same car. 40mpg! (get a pic of mine later)

Just a Quote

2010-06-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

~Joseph Campbell~

found it today.

enjoy

Carolyn

Friends

2010-06-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when I talked about scrapping my Maui pictures?

I still haven't done it. I can't bring myself to. Not that I don't want to but I enjoy looking through them and planning all the great layouts I'm going to do. Silly and sentimental though it may be I just can't scrap the second best thing that ever happened to me.

I might mess them up! lol

Do you remember me talking about where to draw the line between what I should share and what I shouldn't?

I'm going to share a bit about me that I probably shouldn't but it needs to be done. Not for my sake but for a friend.

About 18 years ago I was involved in a long term relationship. That was B.A.D. I really can't begin to describe how awful it was and I don't really want to. My friends couldn't stand the changes that had happened to me (I couldn't stand me either by the way), naturally, they disappeared. I was left feeling very much alone. So... around the time I turned 29 I decided to change things. It was a very slow and painful process undoing years of mainly self-inflicted damage. I completely lost track of people who I cared about. I just didn't have it in me to fix me and to fix broken relationships. It also didn't help, in hindsight, that at that age people are getting married, getting first jobs/promotions, having kids and everything else that happens in our 20's.

8 years later, I felt more or less myself had the degree that I wanted and the best that ever happened, happened. I married a sweetheart of a man who was willing to put up with me.

I'm not sure I should have wasted my time getting a physics degree. I guess it was part of proving how smart I was to the world. I did however need to do something to improve my employability.

Now - there is a point to this after all - I know that some of you who read this are scrapgals. I also suspect that there was some kind of bad blood that happened last year. And I'm pretty sure that you know more about it than I do but, I remember a very happy woman in Kauai last summer. You all who know who you are should go read her blog.

For everyone else
Have a happy, thankful night
---Carolyn----

Hurry, Hurry

2010-06-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

It takes moe so long to come up with an idea that deadlines just arrive. Today's the day for the 'My shoes' challenge at These Are A few of My Favorite Things.

Without further ado here is my layout:

Pre and Post Moving

Creativity is Everywhere

File G: Great or ...

Avalanche

Normal?

No fixed address, day 9

Scappin', Sortin' and Storin'

Happy Mail

Busy, busy

It's a ... box!

Evil Cupcakes and Mum's Lemon Loaf

A Geek Evening

The dog ate the pictures

Look Ma I Scrapped

Not quite ready yet

Creative Retreat?

TGIF

Returning to the Regularly Scheduled Program

ROUS House

Just a thought

Halloween Goodies - Eyeball Truffles

Computers, blegh!

What I've been up to

One more step ...

Even closer

Ribbon Challenge - RRR6

Closer

Popping by to visit my own blog

Purple and other mutterings

Scrapgal DT Call and it's Going to get messy here

Art History?

Rainbows and Thunderstorms

Just a Quote

Friends

Hurry, Hurry

Dinosaurs are now extinct

Still thinking - Long post - Lots 'o Pictures

A New Blinky

So I've been blurfing

Scrapgal Crop

Cleaning up my bookmarks part 1 of ? - Challenge blogs

I Tried?

More SF

It never rains

Humour

Organisation Challenge

Email forward

Silence is golden

Uhmm?

A Beautiful Day

Coming up for Air

And out of the box came

Paper Revisited

Help out a fellow Gal, Organize your Stuff Challenge Week 9, Blog challenge 3/1: Makeover Monday, Everyday stuff

Who's been a bad blogger

What is he doing?

Quick post

She's back

Online Reorg.

Up again

Two posts in one day!!

Rainy Morning

A Quiet Weekend

Two Things - A new toy and an idea

Hello, Hello, Hello, is there anybody out there?

We went away!!

A full weekend of scrapping - Thanks DH!

Scrappy Weekend

Weekend Reorg.

Got some mojo from a Blog Hop

A Memory Card at Last

What a weekend!!

Falling Leaves

Most recent Layouts

Creativity

Thanks to people looking and Nerdy Stuff

I'm Almost out of Juice

Too much time to think

More Finishing

Catch up Day