FUN it wasn't!!!!

So, this is what I first saw/noticed when I went out at 7:15 to leave for school. "Oh, bleep, someone broke my taillight."

Then I went around the back of the car. "Oh, bleep, someone HIT my car!"

Then I took a close look at the side of the car. "Oh, double bleep, the whole quarterpanel is smashed and the trunk is closed crooked!!!"

Then I started noticing "smaller details". "BLEEP, BLEEP- there are WRINKLES in my car!! There are CRACKS in my car. The back window looks like it's gonna pop out! The bumper is split open like a fault line. My tire and wheel cover are smashed up- on the OTHER SIDE!!! There are cracks in and chunks out of the SIDEWALK from my car."

Then I noticed the debris field- small parts of my car on my car, on the sidewalk, on my LAWN! "Bleep, Bleep, Bleep- there are pieces of my car all over the place!!!!"

Somewhere out there- and probably pretty close to here- somebody is driving around with a LOT of front end damage to their SUV. At least *I* can explain to my insurance company- wonder what the SUV owner is gonna say to his?

The police arrived quickly, the insurance company was REALLY nice and unbelievably fast and now I have a nice rental car for who knows how long. The car is at the shop, the adjuster will call me tomorrow, and the shop already says it'll be at least a week and a half. Between the passenger side from the door back, the entire bumper, the trunk, the wheel, and who knows what else that I can't see or didn't notice- by the time I get the car back almost the entire back half of the car body will have been replaced.

I still managed to get to school in time for homeroom. However, I didn't get to homeroom in time for homeroom- remember how my classroom is on the third floor? Well, today was the day the ELEVATOR decided to call out sick!

And that was my day- how was yours????

Long Day

But better than yesterday- I got out of work aournd 5:15 which is at least slightly better than yesterday. Stomach is also slightly better than yesterday- everything still hurts but at least, knowing anything will hurt, I am back on *some* regular foods.

This is the gorgeous stamp set I was talking about last night. You can find the set HERE. Everything Belinda makes is really delicate and beautiful- and in a style you are NOT going to see in any other stamps.

I can't WAIT to play with the Pierette!

My friend chose to go with CTMH as a new rep- so it's official. This is going to be lots of fun!

Time for bed!

Late Monday quick post

It was NOT a good day. Food is still an issue- and I am getting REALLY tired of saltines! The Eagles JUST lost- to those AWFUL Cowboys and that REPUSLIVE TO! I left for work at 7:10 AM and didn't get home until 6:30 PM- so much for that vaunted "teacher's schedule", huh? Lots of aggravation all day and night- just not a good day in general.

But, in specific..... there were some happy highlights! I got the BEAUTIFUL photo card here from a long-time stitching friend. She was the VERY first "Internet" friend I ever met IRL, many years ago at a stitching festival. She is coming to town in a few weeks for another stitching festival and wants to get together. Haven't seen her in quite a few years so that is really exciting- I can't wait!

I also got a stamp package from Firecracker Designs by Pamela- several new stamp sets. Not sure yet which one I like best- and with no stamping time looming on any visible horizon, not likely to find out soon. You can check them all out HERE and maybe you can see which is best!

Well, staying up late to watch the Eagles win is always tiring but worth it- staying up to have them lose is just depressing. So, I'd better get some sleep!

OH- an important PS- don't forget the new release at Clear Artistic Stamps tomorrow night- there will be a launch party chat starting at 8PM Central Time, which is 9PM for us East Coasters. You can find the chat link at CAS!

Monday morning yuck

"Heigh-ho, heigh-ho (I'm still sick, but..) it's off to work I go"

Sunday night- again

Blogging on Sunday night was something of a habit with me last year. Back into old habits I guess.

Most of the weekend was spent sitting or sleeping. The food report? Well, pretzels are ok (I am really liking Herr's Special Sourdough at the moment), saltines are ok, toast is ok. Chicken noodle soup didn't do so well. Tea and 7-Up are the safe drinks of choice. Oh, and I forgot to mention rice pudding!

Did some reading, a little TV and some looking at catalogs. Exciting news is that my friend is thinking about becoming a Close To My Heart rep. She looked at several different companies but CTMH is the most balanced one for products for both stampers and scrappers, so that's where she will do her inquiries first. I haven't gotten any new CTMH supplies since my previous rep gave up the business for family reasons 2 years ago.

I am still LOVING the TAC stamps- and need to get my act together and get an order in soon!- but I also really love CTMH products.

My DS unloaded my car trunk for me today so all the stuff that went to the Wedding Album Weekend but never got used is back in the house.

I'm hoping to go to the Heirloom Production's Rubber Stamp show in York next month- so if I can manage to have a healthy weekend I have that to look forward to!

I hope Etha and Belinda won't mind me stealing an image but I HAVE to show this. Etha made this beautiful card and the image is Pierette- a French female clown derived from the male Pierrot, who was originally from mime and the Italian Commedia dell'Arte.

She is, I think, QUITE beautiful.

Pierette is part of the Moondreams stamp set being released on Tuesday evening at Clear Artistic Stamps. There are three sets in the new release and they are ON SALE as a pre-order right now! Check THIS out if you want to get not three, but four sets of stamps for a great price.

I am looking forward to getting all the new stamps in the release, but I am positively thrilled about this gorgeous Pierette!

ETA: Gwen just added another Pierette image at the Clear Artistic Stamps Blog! Definitely check her out as well- she is, again, GORGEOUS!!!!

It is getting quite late. I need to get up early tomorrow no matter how rotten I feel- and if right now is any indication, I will still feel rotten.

Off to bed and the prospect of a new week!

Before I go back to bed......

......here are a few more new great blogs I discovered while sipping (very slowly) my tea.

http://hopartstudios.typepad.com/

http://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/

http://www.paperhugs.typepad.com/

http://www.paperlicious.typepad.com/

http://withfeathersandsequins.blogspot.com/

Another weekend ruined

Last weekend I got to spend most of my time in bed recuperating from a long week of too much heat. Headache, nausea, the usual heat effects. This week the weather was comfortable but I was incredibly exhausted and worn out from too many, too long, days of dealing with stuff. So, I spent all week looking forward to a great weekend with good friends, scrapbooking.

A while back a couple of us were talking about how our wedding albums had to be redone. When I got married 32 years ago, our photographer, a good friend, took wonderful pictures and gave us all the negatives. I made my own wedding album- WAY before scrapbooking as we know it today was popular. Well, *THE* thing in photo albums then was the "magnetic" album- which had nothing to do with magnets, but used thin clear sheets that lifted up for you to arrange your pictures and then stuck "magnetically" to cover the whole page. What the scrapbooking world and everyone else discovered about 25 years later is that these books degraded your pictures!

Once I learned about this, several years ago, I dis-assembled my original wedding album. Bought a new album, filler pages, lots of paper and assorted embellishments, etc. Had the whole "kit" together but never got around to actually making the new album. Then my friend and I in conversation learned we both had the same situations- ready to go but never done.

So, three of us planned "wedding album weekend"! It was gonna be SOOO much fun!

I didn't feel great when I got home yesterday- parts of the day were spent in too-hot rooms, I'd gotten drenched walking to my car, my stomach was queasy. But, I decided to go anyway- BAD DECISION!!!! As the evening progressed, I just got sicker and sicker. I don't know if it was something I ate during the day yesterday, getting soaked before the drive home, just a "bug"I picked up, or a combination of all of the above- but by late evening, I was SICK!!!

It just was not meant to be, I guess. I called DH about 8:30 to check in. When he asked how it was going I told him: "I'm sick, "C" can't find her wedding pictures, and "A" (who was planning to do online scrapping) can't get a signal on her laptop- other than that we're having a grand time".

I finally got so sick that I had to call DH and DS to drive out and bring me (and my car full of stuff) home. That was about midnight- needless to say, since DH had to go to work at 9AM today and DS had to leave around 8AM for a trip with friends to NYC today, NEITHER of them was particularly thrilled. We got home a little before 2 AM and I've been sleeping, with many "sick" breaks, ever since. I MUST say, that although they clearly did NOT love driving across several counties to rescue me, they were both wonderful about it!

So, that's how my weekend is going. Hopefully I will start to feel a little better sometime soon. I will, for sure, have to be more careful for a while, probably quite a while, as in DAYS, about what I eat. Right now I am waiting to see how a cup of tea and 6 crackers are going to behave. Whatever they decide to do, it is definitely time for more medicine and back to bed.

Here's to the Heroes Tribute

Another GOTTA HAVE stamp set!

One of the blogs on my sidebar is Stampin When I Can. Well, she has a card there now that uses a stamp from a set called Images de Mon Pays which is French for "Images of my Country". The scenes are French Canadian and the stamps are GORGEOUS!!!!

My first trip "out of the country" was in 1970, a short trip to Montreal and Quebec. It was fabulous. THEY were fabulous!

Now, having seen it, I just GOTTA have that stamp set!

So, if anyone has a set they want to sell, if anyone knows anyone who wants to sell one, if anyone can think of any way for me to get this stamp set- PLEASE let me know!!!

PS- just sitting here at home reading blogs is turning into a potentially very expensive activity today!

Blog Candy and new stamps!

While following a link chain today, I ended up at Suzanne's blog Scrap Bitz. She is doing some great blog candy right now, so check it out.

Another reason to check it out is her link to a stamp company new to me, Whiff of Joy. The stamps are lovely and sweet. AND, there is one I MUST have; NOT "want", but MUST HAVE! Willow with Lantern is a simply gorgeous stamp and reminds me a LOT of one of the many UFOs (Un-finished objects) in my needlework pile- one I WILL finish some day- called Celtic Christmas, by Marilyn Leavitt-Inblum.

More on MLI one day soon, but for now, definitely check out Suzanne's blog candy and the really nice stamps at Whiff of Joy!

Fly Eagles Fly

Something crafty- although not mine

This beautiful card is a "TAG" I received from one of the SCS Stampin Flybabies. The scan does not even begin to show how gorgeous this card is.

"TAG, You're It" is a special swap that the SCS Flybabies do. Rather than have deadlines and stress, you can send a card at anytime to anyone in the Flybabies. Once you are a TAG recipient you need to send a card back to anyone who sent you one- when you can. SOOOO no stress!!!

Finally I am starting to feel better. Today I am going to an Eagles party, but I will be taking my laptop and a few stamps. The hostess is a major crafter like me and she does BEAUTIFUL work- wish I had her eye for design. I want to show her the beautiful Autumn Treats set from Clear Artistic Stamps and maybe do a card or two using the set.

Time to (again!) get back on the Flylady wagon. I was so sick all week from the heat that nothing got done at all when I got home each day. So, I'm off to start the laundry and the grocery list and get some hot spots under control. Hopefully this coming week will be better!

GO EAGLES!!!!

No crafting- or anything else today

Well, it's the first Saturday of the year- and I got no crafting done. I got NOTHING done!

Woke up around noon; back to bed around 2; up again at 5.

Still feeling rotten so I'm taking it easy.

Tomorrow is the Eagles' first game- so its PARTY TIME!

Hope I can enjoy it.

GO EAGLES!!!

Quick Post

Four long days in a dangerously hot room = headache + nausea + complete exhaustion = I slept from 6:30PM until 11:45 AM. I'll be back later.

YIKES!!!! AND OUCH!!!!!

DH had a bad day. The school where he teaches was built in 1848. It has those gigantic, massive windows that are like 6 feet tall for each section with mahogany frames. One of them slipped out of its track today and crashed down on his hand. He moved quickly and it only smashed the top joint area of his middle finger (the distal phalanx). Then there was getting the bleeding stopped, getting it elevated and iced, getting the nurse to evaluate, going to HR who then called the workmen's comp clinic at the hospital- where they told them they were not taking anymore patients today.

So he came home. The finger is not too badly swollen as he was so careful to keep the hand up and the finger iced, but it is dramatically bruised. Tomorrow morning its off to the clinic for evaluation. Fortunately, its his right hand and he is a leftie.

So, he's in a lot of pain, there is nothing I can do for him except give him advil, and it's going to be a LONG night around here.

One more day down

Very long day. VERY hot. TOO hot- I was literally sweating so much my clothes were wet. Followed by a very long late afternoon meeting (to which length I must admit being a definite contributor) in a room with frigid level airconditioning. I think I'm getting sick from the drastic temperatures and drastic temperature changes.

But, I really, REALLY learned a lot of valuable and sometimes fascinating stuff at the meeting, so it was worth it!

So, I'm going to take some proactive cold medicine and get to bed early- just as soon as I iron for tomorrow and finish my evening routine.

Some new blogs

I am REALLY tired- the first day was tough- it was INCREDIBLY hot in my classroom with just me in it- I am dreading tomorrow with a room full of kids!

Lots of meetings today. Most of them in hot rooms. Too tired to write or think.

So, here's a few blogs to check out:

http://www.ashleyscreativecorner.com/

http://karenskreativekreations.blogspot.com/

http://ericasartisticattic.blogspot.com/

http://1of2shoes.blogspot.com/

http://paulssandy.typepad.com/papertransformer/

Now its REALLY over

The sun has set on summer.

I've removed my summer reading list from the sidebar- and added a Christmas countdown.

School starts tomorrow.

DH and I finished it off with a nice evening out to dinner and met up with DS and some of his friends. So, our last summer memory is a happy one.

Only 284 days until next summer!

Summer is Over

So, how many of us are celebrating Labor Day? This picture, which I love, is from Labor Day 1940 at the Jersey shore. One of those girls about to start in the stilt-walking race is my mother!

It's not quite such a celebratory day around here. I have to iron something to wear to school tomorrow- something appropriate for school AND appropriate for the predicted temperature of 93°! (Our school only has AC in the administrative offices- and my classroom is on the 3rd floor under a black tar roof.) I have to pack up my schoolbag, make sure I have my school keys. I have to pack up the plants for my classroon and all the many things I bought over the summer for this year's craft club activities. I also have to pack up all the videos I bought for the kids to watch after school- I got a bunch of movies and the wonderful Pride and Prejudice mini-series, the Colin Firth one, of course!

I'm very late starting out today as I was at the hospital until very late last night- or early this morning, to be more accurate. My post-op Auntie sounded so bad on the phone last night that DH and I went over there and promptly called 911. I am so glad that she agreed to go to the hospital; she is doing much better already.

If I have any crafting time today- doubtful, but possible- I think I may finally try out ATCs. If you have never heard of them, it means Artist Trading Cards. They are tiny pieces of personal art, sized 2.5 x 3.5 inches. You can see a sample and read about them at Etha's blog and find a link to the ATC challenge this week at DRSDesigns.

Time to go work on getting ready for tomorrow, do some work on the Houseworks Holiday Plan, and hopefully sit outside for a while and enjoy the incredibly beautiful weather here for the last day of summer.

Judy Garland - Dear Mr Gable, you made me love you

And the world fell in love with Judy Garland in this scene.