SHORT version

So, here's the lowdown: I need to go to the orthopaedic doctor tomorrow as I hurt my foot at WDW and had trouble walking for the last 3 days; I lost a filling that took a piece of the tooth with it- a FRONT tooth, hence the goofy closed mouth smile- so it's the dentist on Thursday; DH's tummy gave him trouble all weekend and I caught a bug Sunday that carried into Monday, so food was an issue for major portions of the weekend; DH's car was declared dead while we were away, so we had to go buy a new (to us, NOT new) car today.

In spite of all which, we had a FABULOUS time!!!!!!

The WDW good news report when I rest up, not from the vacation but from the day after!

Some WDW pictures

Home .....

....for a few days.

We had a fabulous trip. There were several rocky times, quite a few things didn't go exactly right, but we were in Disney World and that made all the difference.

More details coming, including pictures, but for right now I have to get some sleep! In the next 5 days I need to take Mom to the retinal specialist, get to the dentist, go to a baby shower, go with DH to pick up a new (to him) car, do some cleaning up around here, get caught up on mail and bills, and PACK.

Yes, that gorgeous picture above is where we'll be heading on Sunday for four wonderful weeks. I am still on a Disney high, to be followed almost immediately by a "I'm at the shore" high. Life is complicated, but life is good!

I'm off to see the Mouse!!!!!

So, this is where I'll be in 24 hours!!!!!

Lots happening around here, most of it busy, busy packing and organizing. I'm getting so excited I have trouble thinking straight!

I'll have my laptop down there, so if I get some down time I'll post.

If I don't get back here until we get home, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Scrapbooking France

Yesterday DS gave DH a marvelous Father's Day gift- he took him to the US Open at Bethpage Black on Long Island. They left at 5AM and got home cold, tired and wet late last night- and they had a TERRIFIC time.

While they were hiking (yes, if you know about Bethpage, hiking is the correct term, lol) all over the golf course yesterday, I was at my CTMH rep's house for a class/crop/shop day. I had a great time- the other 5 ladies in attendance are all really nice and I enjoyed their company. Cindy did a short class first on a variety of techniques and we all got to play for a while. Then we each worked on our own projects for the rest of the afternoon- with plenty of time-outs for food and drink and sharing.











Most of them were busy with cards, especially Father's Day, but I was working on a display for DH's classroom from his recent trip to France. I used a terrific product from CTMH- a "Memory Showcase". It is a 9" x 9" cardstock accordian album with chipboard covers. It is fabulous for a short album where all the pages can be displayed at once. This will go on a shelf in DH's classroom next year. I used the covers as pages so I got 8 total layouts.

CTMH also has wonderful paper packs available in the 9" x 9" size that make scrapbooking fast and easy- "Simply Snapshots"- which are designed to make layouts a snap! The set I ordered to do this project is called "That's Amore" and was perfect for a memory book about a trip to France.

DH took some wonderful pictures of the group, ones which he will be able to describe as "that's us at....", rather than just sterile scenery pictures. I knew he'd never journal the project so I needed something to fill in the journaling spaces. I used the proof sheet that came with the pictures and framed all of them on the sidebars using the filmstrip stamp from CTMH's new Picture Perfect stamp set. I was so glad that Cindy had that set! I liked using it so much that I promptly ordered it! The sentiments stamped in the showcase are also from that set.

The only non-CTMH things in this project are the gorgeous large stamps of Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe. These are from two new stamp sets from OnyxXpressions that I bought as soon as I got the pre-order email from Cheryl.



















Here you can see the Notre Dame stamp better- and understand why I HAD to have them. The HANDSOME guy in front of the Cathedral is my darling DH and the cute one with him at La Tour Eiffel is Cindy's DH. You can see the album Cindy made (a CTMH 9"x9") of the trip at her blog. One final note: how easy are those Simply Snapshots pages to use? I finished this entire project in less than 4 hours!

We leave for Disney World Wednesday morning, so I'm off to start sorting laundry and making lists and getting everything ready. Hope everyone has a great day!

Cards For Heroes information

Swarovski Crystals is partnering with CFH for the next couple weeks to get 30,000 cards signed! They're gorgeous cards with a little crystal bling added to them . . . and about 150 cards are at each of their store locations til July 4th to be signed by customers. (Some of the stores have a sweet deal offering a free tshirt with purchase, check and see if yours does!) The signing is free—so please take your friends and family with you. Email them about it too! Click on the image or ---> here <---to search for a store location near you!

So, there's good news and bad news

The good news? DS gave DH a pair of tickets to the Phillies game today for his birthday. DH took me! It was an afternoon game, my favorite kind. It rained all morning but stopped in time for the game. I wore my Philllies crocs, a Phillies shirt and the Phillies earrings DH brought me home from Spring Training. Our seats were FABULOUS! Right behind the Phillies dugout, inside first base and SOOO close to the field. It was a great game and we had a really good time.

The bad news? The Phillies LOST!!!! Boo-hoo!!!!

I've got time to report

It's been a little busy around here but not enough.

I'm still feeling tired and not getting nearly as much as I want done each day. So, today I bought a copybook to make lists and prioritize what I really need to do and when I need to do it. Somehow making lists always makes me feel better and like I've accomplished something- at least I know what I need to do in some order.

This picture is a blog award that I got weeks ago from my dear friend Etha.

There are a few requirements to accepting the Honest Scrap Award and they are as follows:

1) I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link.

Thanks so much Etha! You know I love your blog- it is listed on my side bar as my favorite!

2) I must list 10 honest things about myself.

1. I'm not as healthy and strong as I pretend to be and while it is a good thing to put up a good front I really need to stop pretending to myself.
2. Right now I totally do not want to go back to my job in September.
3. My house is a mess because I really have a problem with throwing away/giving away/getting rid of things.
4. I am completely excited about going to Disney World next week but I cannot seem to get going on getting ready.
5. I'm vain about the fact that I have never looked my age but in the last year my age has really caught up to my face and that is depressing.
6. I love, love, love reading authors who not only can tell a story but really know how to use words. Read Rex Stout and you will understand.
7. I am so grateful to Bev for getting me to the Stitching Festival last year and getting me back to wanting to stitch.
8. I really, REALLY want a Kindle and I'm very tempted to spend a special check I got on that rather than saving it for Disney World.
9. I wish all my friends would read my blog and let that make up for the fact that I do NOT telephone or write them nearly as often as I know I should. I am not good at simple friendship maintenance and that really bothers me!
10. I have the most wonderful DH who totally spoils me far more than I could ever deserve, and I am selfish enough to let him do it!

Well, that was completely honest and WOW do I need to do some work on ME!

Now I am supposed to pass this blog award to 5 other people, so here they are:

1. Bridgett: my wonderful The Angel Company "angel" and friend; she has an inspiring blog that really reflects her generous soul.
2. Denise: her blog has made me feel that we are friends and is a delight to read everytime she posts.
3. Allison: her mixture of stamping info and family fun makes her blog something I totally enjoy.
4. Anna: her blog title will show you that honest is completely how she posts and lives.
5. Susan: a writer who shares her talent with words and her sense of humor with me everytime I go to her blog.

That's enough for tonight. I have to do more lists in the copybook and then, if my eyes will allow, maybe put a few more stitches in Aury's sampler!

Summer's here!

Yes, I STITCHED!!!

I got very little done, but I picked up a needle and fabric and got a few stitches in.

This is Aury's Specialty Stitch Sampler SAL. I started with this one because a) I love it and b) it is the Stitch-A-Long I will be able to catch up on the easiest. I am doing parts 1 and 2 simultaneously. The first part is some double running stitch with queen and norwich stitches and I just could NOT get them placed right. So, by putting in the simple cross stitch border from part 2 I got to the right place. YIPPEE!!! It felt SOOOOO good to stitch!

I loved the sentiments on the short-lived "school's out for summer" blog background, but the colors were just too gloomy. I found a Disney background that was WAY cute but it left my links all whited out and hard to see no matter how I changed the other colors, so that was out. So, here's a nice pretty background until it is time for the beach background in July.

Yes, school is OVER. The last day was a nightmare with meetings and more meetings, most of them very depressing. I finally got home around 8:30 and collapsed. Spent Friday sleeping (until 1PM!!) or watching TV- anything else was too strenuous.

Saturday I went with Mom and Auntie to tea! The shoppe is called The New Leaf in Riverton, NJ. It was a lot of fun. The proprietor keeps a whole collection of hats available so you can look like the "ladies who lunch". So we sat in a beautiful Victorian style room and had a delightful (and way too big!) lunch with tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, fruit and pastries, on lovely china with all the accessories. If you're in the South Jersey area I highly recommend!

After a stop at the Amish market in Willingboro, we went to the Nimble Needle in Moorestown. It is a small shop which I'd somehow never visited before. The owner is delightful! The shop concentrates on needlepoint, and has more crewel ( and GORGEOUS!!!) than I've ever seen in a shop before, but she does have some counted cross stitch. I saw a few patterns from my friend Martina Weber of Chatelaine Designs so that really sparked conversation. The cross stitch chart selection is dominated by antique style and reproduction samplers. And, here's where I scored!!! While chatting about reproduction samplers, I mentioned that I was working the Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler and that she, like every store known to stitching women no longer had it (It's out of print). But, NO!!! She had one copy left that was in a drawer!!! So....... I now own the actual, original chart!!! It's a silly thing, I know, but I will really enjoy marking up the stitcher's journal in the chart and keeping track of my progress that way.

All this running around meant Sunday was another day of rest. My most strenuous activity was putting the bacon burgers from the Amish market on the Foreman grill (YUMMM!!!).

I'm still incredibly tired. Now that I am no longer running on adrenaline, the exhaustion of the last several months has caught up to me big time. But today I begin the summer organizing, sorting and house re-doing. We want new windows, a lot of small jobs done around the house, maybe even get the whole place painted if I can get the other stuff caught up before the end of the summer. Today, in deference to being tired, I am going to go through the house and make lists. I'm also going to get some laundry done and stuff like that. With luck and feeling better, and sticking with Flylady, hopefully the house will look transformed by the end of the summer.

Happy Monday!!!

KYW Newsradio 1060 Philadelphia - "I Am Your Flag"

KYW Newsradio 1060 Philadelphia - "I Am Your Flag"

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Happy Day!!!!!!

IT'S ALL OVER!!!!!!!

There Oughtta Be A Law!

I like Ben Franklin. I really do! For many of us in Philadelphia, he is a hero. He started our libraries, our Fire Department, our University and our first hospital, which was also the first hospital in the country. He gave us better indoor heating, homeowner's insurance, and the bifocals which allow those of us of a certain age to read.

HOWEVER.......I really wish that Ben had not written "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise". There are some people who just take this saying TOO MUCH to heart- like the neighbor who decided that 7:30 this SATURDAY morning was the perfect time to use his very loud gas mower on his lawn.

It was a killer week at school. I have a graduation party this afternoon and a retirement dinner tonight to attend. I am exhausted. I need to be able to stay awake late tonight. I should be ASLEEP!!!! But no....thanks to my neighbor, who would surely quote Ben if confronted about the ungodly time he chose to mow his lawn, I have already been up for over an hour and a half. I hope people understand tonight at the banquet if I fall asleep in my soup!



Next weekend I hope to get up early- but I will try NOT to disturb any neighbors who wish to sleep in. I am hoping to get to the National Constitution Center to see the exhibit about Napoleon.

During college I spent a year at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. It was a wonderful year full of experiences that I treasure. One of the courses I took was a history class simply titled "Napoleon". It was taught by the fabulous Professor Bonfils, who was a delight. He spoke exquisite French- lovely sounds but with an enunciation that allowed even the American students to understand evey word. I had taken Professor Bonfils' "Histoire de la Suisse" (History of Switzerland) in the fall semester and signed on for Napoleon just to have another class with him. Every history teacher I have known since I have judged against the standards of Professor Bonfils and few have measured up.

Courtesy of Professor Bonfils, I have maintained a lifelong interest in Napoleon. So, the new exhibit is something I have to see. If you are in the Philadelphia area, check it out!

In the meantime, I am STILL working on that pile of papers I showed you last weekend- or more accurately the ones that didn't fit in last week's picture plus a bunch of new stuff from this week. So, off to read and grade.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!