Adventures

May your adventures continue! Unless of course you live along the Texas Gulf Coast, in which case, you've probably had your fill of adventures.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Stampin' Up, topiary die by someone else whose name eludes me right now. 

An Eye for An Eye

Poppy (the cat of  'Hello Beautiful' fame) gets these gooey eyes from time to time. She has these soothing eye drops the vet gave her and I am to use them when her eyes get bad. I've never been overly impressed with the vet's eye drops as they lessen the problem, but it doesn't go away and it takes a solid two weeks for it to happen.

But this time I noticed a difference in one day. Poppy's eyes were clear and she wasn't sounding like her whole head was full of snot. I was all like, "Whoa! What happened?"  Well, what happened is I gave her people eye drops instead.

These were from when I had an eye infection in December and they have antibiotics in them. You can bet if Poppy's gooey eyes come back I'm telling her doctor to give her antibiotic drops not just soothing eye drops. BTW, I haven't been giving them to Poppy 3 times a day like I had to take them. She's been getting them once a day. I'll probably give them to her for 7 days to make sure the problem is licked. Well, not licked. If she starts licking then she has to wear the cone of shame. Let's leave licking out of the equation.

Here's a boring looking cat card. This is all on the front of the card. Hubby said the window should open to the inside of the card so you can see the cat face. Yep, that would have been cool.

The Fine Print: So yes, this means my Pirate Eye Problem goes way back to last year. Stamps, dies and punches by Stampin' Up. 

August 28 Mail Call!

During the past week the mailman brought me the following goodies, including a prize!

Then he brought me a cat, because you always need more of those!

Then he brought me a little girl and a hummingbird all on the same day!

While this card didn't come in the mail, I thought it should count. It was a thank you card for hosting the impromptu solar viewing party.

Then I got even more in the mail!

All in all the mailman has been pretty good to me this past week. I guess we won't kill him yet. :-P

Rudolph Days - Mitten Time

It's mitten time! I'm not kidding either. It might be August and I might be in Southern Arizona but I also work in an office that can sometimes double as a meat locker. So I always have my mittens at the ready. Sure I get mocked but I think that is because my coworkers are secretly jealous.

I know my mittens won't get mocked at the Rudolph Days challenge. They are all about all things winter and Christmasy. Check it out! And maybe play along so you'll have some cards already made when that C-word holiday rolls around.

The Fine Print: Mittens 'n stamps by Stampin' Up.

Hello Beautiful

Yesterday, after work I'd decided that I'd had enough of everybody and everything and sprawled across the bed next to that cat. A few minutes later my hubby came into the room and said, "Well, hel-LOW Beautiful!"

The cat looked up and him and gave him a happy and welcoming meow.

I dissolved into giggles.

The Fine Print: Isn't that sweet that my hubby calls my cat beautiful? Poppy sure liked it, she purred in delight for quite some time.  Stampin' stuff by Stampin' Up. 

The Nice Girl From the Science Department

So my husband is a geek and because he is a geek he has geek friends. They do things like have official NASA-sanctioned solar viewing glasses made for the fun of it. Oh, and to advertise their solar photography hobby, which is a really geeky hobby in case you didn't know.

Because of this I had not one but two official NASA-sanctioned pairs of solar viewing glasses yesterday during the eclipse. I also have a problematic eye so I was leery of looking at the sun even with NASA's permission. However, thanks to a super enthusiastic coworker I grabbed up my two pairs of solar shades and ventured into the sun yesterday.

My coworker had been trying to drum up interest in his pinhole solar eclipse viewing rig that he put together. And by "put together" I mean plucked off the bulletin board. See, once upon a time the marketing department where I work made round cardboard flyers advertising our business. They were round because our logo is round.  Because of their roundness everyone felt compelled to hang theirs up up jabbing a thumbtack right in the middle and that's makes for the perfect solar eclipse viewer.

I confess to being skeptical of the geekery involved in a pinhole viewing rig so I just had to see how that was going to work.  Well, it was truly impressive, made even more impressive by then slapping on the official NASA goggles and staring at the sun. So much so, that my coworker ran off to round up everyone he could to come look at our pinhole eclipse viewer and stare at the sun with our shades. More and more people came while I was standing around with a piece of cardboard and two pairs of glasses. I was more than happy to share in the awe that is a partial eclipse.

Because our piece of cardboard had the logo on it people were muttering about the official Pima College Solar Eclipse Viewer we had and saying how it was nice it was to have the opportunity to see the eclipse.

I swear there is a pinhole in there.
And I'm holding the logo crooked.

It was a lot of fun even if I did later curse my geeky husband for making me have to stand in the sun for an hour and a half and talk to people. At least I had something cool to talk to them about. You know a lot of people are going to remember and talk about the day they came to college and ended up seeing the solar eclipse. I just hope none of them go prowling the science or astronomy departments looking for me since I'm just not that geeky. Really.

The Fine Print: Official Pima College Solar Eclipse Viewer by Pima College. Stampin' stuff by Stampin' Up. 

Mailbag Monday

I knew this week was going to pale in comparison to last week's bonanza, but what lacked in quantity was made up in quality.  Check out these masterpieces, especially the flowers on that gatefold card. They are wonderfully 3D.

W W J D ?

Forget Jesus, What Would Judy Do?! With her day off today? One would think that she would be playing with paper and making fabulous creations but that doesn't seem to be happening.  But that is only because the few creations she has fussed with today have fallen flat on their faces. The day is still young yet though.

Here is a project from the other day that did not fall flat on its face. In fact, it stood up and pranced around proudly.

The Fine Print: Stamps and DSP from Stampin' Up.

SWAK

It's time for some hogs 'n kisses! Smootchie Smootchie Smoo!  And somehow I suddenly have a strange craving for a bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich. Oops. I'm guessing that's not PC.

The Fine Print: Products by Stampin' Up. 

I haven't got time

Does anyone remember a commercial whose tagline was, "When you haven't got time for the pain?" The commercial was for some pain relieving remedy. The tag line cracked me up though. Like on occasion you're sitting around thinking to yourself: Oh hey, I have some extra time to kill. I guess I'll have some pain.

An acquaintance of mine recently asked me for my opinion about the shenanigans happening across America in the name of.... something. Racism? Revisionary history? Discrimination? Stupidity? Anyway, my answer was that I didn't have time for an opinion.

Which of course set this person off. How can I not have time or an opinion!? Well, because I'm living my life currently and it's a busy one. And also I knew voicing my opinion would then mean I'd have to hear this person's opinion and their opinion of my opinion and I didn't have time for that either.

However, since most of my readers are not from here ('Murica!) I'd like to hear what your opinion is of the situation. Even if you are from here, you can speak up.

I'll share mine and I apologize in advance if you were expecting something inflammatory. A little background first: when Trump was elected my buddy Ed said that he just knew he'd get us into a war. My thoughts on what is happening now: Hey, I'll bet Ed didn't know it was going to be a civil war.

The Fine Print: Not that anything going on in America right now is civil. And also, if you don't have an opinion but you are just sitting back munching popcorn and admiring the trainwreck, do tell. Funny thing about this card. It's from a Club Scrap kit called Hope. That seems to be in short supply right now. Gotta dash! I have some pain I need to schedule. 

Gone!

Oh my gosh! The whole day is gone. Just gone. And I can't even blame the catnip. 

The Fine Print: Oldie but Goodie stamp by Stampin' Up. 

Happy Mail Monday

I know we all look so forward to Monday when I share what the nice mailman dude brought me. Check these beauties out--fun, fun, fun! I was so tickled by how much mail my friends bestowed on me this week.

 

 

 

 

 

The Fine Print: It's great to have talented friends!

Advice From Dio

Hi, I'm Dio and I'm gonna be your guest columnist today. As a Life Coach I kin give you sum excellent advice. Here is sum now: It is okay to be lazy, but sometimes you gotta move around a little bit so the vultures don't eat you.

See, the clouds were being rilly lazy this morning. I s'pose it is okay because dey were rilly buzy last making growls and lights and rainings. But if they don't git up soon, vultures might eat them.

My mom made this pretend pickture of me. It's called an Ay Tee See. She made a whole bunches of them.

The Fine Print: Window die by Taylored Expressions, cat die by Memory Box, scenery stamp and brick embossing folder by Stampin' Up.

Suck It Up Saturday

In this Facebook group I'm in, a bunch of stampers are trying to come up with crafting related names for every day of the week so if you have a class or a blog feature on Wednesday you can call it something fun and quirky. Example: Washi Wednesday featuring washi tape.

I'm totally useless because I can't get past things like Margarita Monday (drink themed projects anyone?) and Suck it Up Saturday (put on your big girl panties and craft!).

I finally managed to contribute with Fancy Fold Friday, so maybe I'm not totally useless. More like 98.8% useless.

This Z-fold card might not really be "fancy" but it is a different fold from the norm. I mean it's pretty good considering it ain't Friday no more (and Thank God for that!).

The Fine Print: Stamps, cardstock and DSP by Stampin' Up. No idea about that die, sorry! 

Feline Fine Friday

Pink nosed kitties are the best. Wouldn't you agree, Charles?!

The Fine Print: Charles says yes and he'll even wear a pink bow because he is secure in his masculinity. And his insanity. 

Holy Cow It's Thursday!

Where did Wednesday go? I guess I missed it. I suppose that works out that I forgot to take a picture of my desk for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.  I was going to share my ultra clean desk with them (a sign of a sick mind). It is so clean hubby asked me if I were moving out. I don't think so...?

Instead I'll share this cutesy wootsy card I made with an old Penny Black stamp. I picked it up at my stamp club meeting last month out of the free pile. You can't beat that price with a stick.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Penny Black, weren't you paying attention?! Remember: SHIT (So Happy It's Thursday)

Pee Pee

Oh my, that didn't come out right. Pee Pee is the initials for Paper Pumpkin. What were you thinking? Anyway, back in January I got a special kit for special people (it came with a helmet and non pointy scissors, oh wait, not that kind of special).

I wasn't convinced about the suggested card design but fuddled forth and made one of them. It was as I suspected--less than exciting, so I put the PP kit and its 7 other card parts aside. I felt bad that I hadn't revisited it, so I pulled it out and made this exciting card.

There is hope now for the other 6 cards and maybe I can even fix up that first card.  You know, in another 7 months or so from now.

The Fine Print: Card base, corrugated paper and die cut word by Pee Pee, butterfly die by Stampin' Up, leafy die by Sizzix, and flowers from my stash.

Manic Mail Monday

In no particular order, here is the lovely mail that the postal dude brought me. I also got a stamp set and some punches in the mail. I didn't take a picture of them though. You'll just have to stay tuned for me to use them one of these days.

Here's a bonus card from me. Only it really isn't a bonus. I actually think it is kind of a lousy card. Other people liked it though, so maybe it is tolerable.

The Fine Print: Stamps on my card by Stampin' Up. Hope you are surviving your Monday.

Ooh! Lookie!

Lookie! Lookie! That always in a hurry guy with brown shorts and a brown truck brought me brand new goodies!  Feast your eyes upon new stuff.  Gotta like that!

The Fine Print: New stuff by Stampin' Up. OMG! The old stuff on this card is by Stampin' Up too. Ha! Nope, no stamping here except for the greeting. It's all punched or cut out of DSP.

Avast me Hearties!

My eye is less twitchy today and I've been doing well at ignoring the fact that I have a shoulder. This all makes more sense if you read yesterday's post. I suspect that SARN is right and I have Pirate's Disease. While I don't have a parrot on my shoulder I have had this sudden urge to plunder and make my enemies walk the plank. And I have 4 cats so there might have been a parrot...

Meanwhile, here's a doggie looking sweet and cuddly. This is my kind of doggie. He's not barking or trying to hump my leg.

The Fine Print: Card parts from a Max and Whiskers (maybe) card kit from Basic Gray (definitely). And I totally have Pirate's Disease. I dug for buried treasure in the sand this morning. Then again, I do that every morning when I clean the litter boxes.

Enjoy the Ride. And No Vomiting.

I'm so sad right now. The every-2-hours-while-you-are-awake medicine I was using on my eye has done wonders until today. Now my eye is all twitchy twitch twitch and it makes me sad. Everyone keeps saying that my twitchy eye is stress (that is everyone but the actual eye MD). I wasn't stressed out in the least until my eye started going to town. Even the lousy meeting this morning wasn't bad at all as it actually had good and useful information at it (such a rarity) and I brought doughnuts making me the coolest coworker ever (so cool I got a green corn tamale as a reward).

And to top it all off my shoulder hurts so bad and it is well medicated too. I'm supposed to start physical therapy on it in about 10 days and I can't fathom how much that is going to hurt given how much having the shoulder doctor just look at my shoulder hurt. Okay, he touched it too, but really it was some nothing touching, not like a Vulcan nerve pinch or something. So maybe I am stressed out, not looking forward to someone manipulating my shoulder--someone I have to pay. But I don't really think so because I haven't been thinking about how much more my shoulder is going to hurt because that will make me cry and that's like crying before you even spilled the milk, which now that I think about it is something you aren't supposed to cry over anyway.

Life has so many rules! Don't run with scissors. Don't cry over spilled milk. Don't stab your coworkers..... What a hassle.

But here's a card which means that I found the jump drive all the photos of my cards are on. It wasn't really lost or anything. It just was always in the opposite place I was.  If I were here, it was there. And now we're all here, together.  You and me and the jump drive.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Lawn Fawn. Really fun paper by some company that makes little pads of fun papers.  Yep, I'm chock full of useful information today!   Now, I have a green corn tamale to go eat. Bye!

August!

It's August now in case you haven't noticed.  I guess that makes it the dog days of summer. I asked the cats what they thought of that and they just shrugged. Apathy has set in.

The Fine Print: Stamps and calendar by Taylored Expressions.