Chocolate Sushi...

Ashley went to the Chocolate sushi factory, and brought us back some chocolate sushi. It's really pretty good. And it looks pretty real! The dish is made of chocolate, the "wasabi" is green tea flavored chocolate. The "ginger" really tastes like chocolate ginger. And the "fish roe" is apricot flavored gummy. The chocolate is really very good.

I think maybe Cindyann would eat this sushi! LOL mine is tamago sushi (egg) and the crispy rice they use looks like rice too! LOL

Our New Year's Eve...

While shopping in Wal Mart tonight, Ashley found Marine Corps Fleece. So, she decided (after Phil had described a blanket Debi G. made for me) to make a blanket. Not the way her bf wanted to spend New Year's Eve, but since she's not 21 yet, and can't go to the bars, they decided to spend NYE home with us.

So, we have been cracking up about her making a blanket for NYE. SO of course we all had to tie a bit of the blanket so we could say that we spent NYE making a blanket for Ashley. ROFL.

So here is Phil, Harry, and Ashley tying up the ends of the blanket. LOL

Jabba the squirrel

We have a new addition to our backyard menagerie. Jabba du squirrel. This is one of two really LARGE squirrels that have been visiting us. And of course, Phil has decided that he needs to feed it. Since the outside cats have passed on, and the raccoons haven't been around lately, it's funny that we're getting adopted by another animal. LOL

After it grabs the nuts from the stump, it either eats them or decides on burying them in our lawn. LOL I figure that if they weren't roasted peanuts, we'd have a lot of peanut plants in our lawn. I just went to get some birdfood with corn in it, I'm guessing we'll have corn plants out there too!!

Oh, and I just found out you're not supposed to feed squirrels salted nuts...oops! LOL We bought some unsalted ones today. :D

Will post more pics when I get better ones!!

Almost a New Year

Can you believe a new year is almost upon us? I swear, they seem to come sooner and sooner. I remember when we were younger, and they seemed to take FOREVER! Now I would like there to be more time between the years. LOL Can't we go 370 days? 36 hours?? LOL

I went out with the girls yesterday, and we had a blast! Wish we could get together more often. I really do miss seeing them. I wish Deb, Kay, and Shari lived closer so we could go out and cause trouble together. Wouldn't that be a blast??

Today was a good day. Put the tree in the box. Didn't think it would fit. LOL Cleaned up some of the boxes, put away some Christmas boxes. I can't wait for next week when we can take all the decorations for Christmas down. :) But next is Valentine's. And I'm already tired of val cards. LOL We put out 7 boxes today, and we need more room. Saw a really fun one for my dad. LOL

oh! And I got to chat with Kay last night, that was fun! I miss chatting with her every day.

Happy New Year!

Dancing with the Stars Tour

Tonight, Debi and I went to see Dancing with the Stars! My cousin was going to go, but then she couldn't, so she gave the tickets to me as a gift. I know she would have loved it, but I'm glad that we got to go!!

I took my camera, they actually allowed cameras! So I took a few pictures. This was the finale of the show. It was really fun! They did a lot of the dances from the show. They did some group dances, which were awesome!

We got to see Drew and Cheryl dance their Thriller dance and their Freestyle country dance. That was way cool!! And Joey danced his Singing in the rain dance.

If you are a big fan of the show, you have GOT to see the tour!

De-Christmasizing....

Well, we're de-christmasing the store. I am SO glad I only decorated the store, not home. This is going to take forever. LOL Not even touching the tree till tomorrow.

Think I'm missing boxes too. LOL Where the heck do they go??

I think the snowflakes will stay up, cause it's still winter.

What is everyone doing tonight? I'm going to be at the Dancing with the Stars tour! YAY! I didn't think I'd get to go, but my cousin couldn't go, so I have her tickets...YAY! can't wait!

And tomorrow I get to see Debi and Joanne!! I haven't seen them since last month. Gotta do that more often.

The wind is really blowing outside. Fences were down. Saw a container almost blown off a truck on the bridge today. Got here early cause I knew something would happen. It looked like my hood was going to blow off my truck today. Gotta check into that tonight.

Batten down those hatches, bay areans!!

Happy Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Now is downtime. We're gonna start gearing up for Valentines too, believe it or not. that and inventory...ick!

Been reading Pride and Prejudice this week. Halfway through. Love the movie, love the book. Now I'll have to read Emma and Sense and Sensibility too.

Got to chat with Deb last night...YAY! I missed chatting with the girls. And hopefully will get to see everyone else later on.

Tomorrow night is Dancing with the Stars!! YAY! Can't wait! It should be a ton of fun.

Hope you all have a great evening!

Merry Christmas!

Hope that you and yours had a very Merry Christmas today! I had the best present EVER! I got to sleep in till 10!!! WOOO HOOO!! LOL

Last night we exchanged gifts with the kids. Ashley didn't stay the night, so we decided to do that last night. It was nice to do that the evening before, and then get to sleep in!!

Phil and I exchanged gifts this morning. He got me a George Forman Grill. LOL And a blanket that is like a sleeping bag, but the top folds over and snaps closed so that you have arm holes. I had one as a kid, and I wanted one to use while I'm on the computer! He got a screwdriver set and some jeans. LOL Woooo, exciting gifts, huh?? LOL

We went to my parent's house today. Cheryl was there, and it was funny having to relive her and Eydie's argument again. I don't think I've ever heard so often from Eydie. She has to call to tell on Cheryl. Sheesh. I'm just glad they're not mad at me!! ROFL

We got home early from my parents house, and I thought I'd get to chat with the girls, maybe. But of course I fell asleep in the recliner. Still kinda sleepy here, but I'll see if anyone comes on.

Well, back to the old grind tomorrow! Hope that you all had a blessed day with your families and friends!!

It's Christmas Eve!!

and WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!

OMG, I am going to enjoy sleeping tonight. Brought all my gifts here so that I can wrap them. We've had 2 people in so far. Everything around us is closed. Can you believe it? I can't believe the jewelry store is closed today. Wouldn't you think that today would be one of their biggest days??

So, it's quiet on the street. I hope people come in today.

Got to get the rest of my shopping done for my family here today.

Went to the Hallmark store this morning and found the last Star Wars Ornament I needed. Am thinking about getting up early to see if they are going to have anything left tomorrow.

Hopefully I can see my chatty friends on Tuesday night! I SO miss them.

love you guys!!

Ok, major geekdom again...

So the other day, I spilled Coke in my keyboard. NO, I wasn't doing an experiment to see if I could screw up the keyboard. LOL And No, I wasn't trying to repeat my experience of pouring a whole cup of tea in it. I was a bonehead and it just dropped on the keyboard.

I thought, OMG I totalled another keyboard. Crap!

But it worked, just had really sticky keys.

SO, when I turned it over I noticed that I could take it apart. Couldn't hurt!

Have you ever seen the inside of a keyboard?? They must have re-engineered it for people like me. Everything is encased in plastic. The electronics is on a big plastic sheet. On top is a clear rubbery-like sheet with bumps for every key. That's how the contact is made. It's all very cool.

I remember years ago spilling a whole mug of tea in my keyboard (and a big mug it was), and then my boss at the time told me to pour water in it to clean it out. Shorted that sucker right out.

But this one hadn't, so I was wondering if they improved the technology through the years or what. Lucky thing for me that I tilted it right away, cause if the soda had gotten where those lights are (you know, the ones that tell you that your caps are on), then I would have been messed up.

So, I wiped it down, and it works fine. No sticky keys.

So, if you ever do that, just make sure you tilt it towards you to empty out the liquid really quickly. Then just let it dry out. And hope that it hasn't gotten into the elecronics stuff in the corner!

Only 2 days left!

Love being able to count it down with everyone. :)

I was going to blog yesterday when I got home, got some e-mails done, then I zonked out. I couldn't believe I was so tired. Meant to bake more, but I just wasn't into it last night.

Only 2 more days. I am going to put a sign on my bedroom door that says, "If you want to give me a great gift, please let me sleep in today". ROFL. I don't want to wake up at 6:30 in the morning this year. NOPE!

Gotta bake tonight for Phil's family. I think I'll do caramel corn.

We had a lot of people in last night. The one thing I love is that people will stop by to wish us a merry christmas. That is too cool. I love our peeps.

Well, more later, now gotta go!

It was a good day...

We had a good day today. We were busy all day, not super busy, but constant. That was nice.

Got some cleaning done when I got home, and wrapped Ashley's gift. She's coming Saturday, so wanted to get that done.

Just figured out what else to put with Ashley's bf's gift. Making him a sushi basket. He wants to learn how to make sushi. So I have the mat, the vinegar, seaweed, wasabi, and sesame seeds. Gonna get a sushi plate and the little shoyu bowl. Oh! Got to find shoyu too (Soy sauce). Gotta have that kikkoman dispenser thing that all restaurants have. LOL

My mom and dad dropped by today, and they dropped by some beard papas! I just love those things! :)

Nothing else going on here, took a break from baking and from gift getting. Just wanted to veg a bit today.

Only a couple of days left!! YAHOOOOOOoooooo!

Christmas time is here...

Only4 more days, and it's all over! I really am tired this year. Not sure why.

I did make some new cookies for our event tomorrow. Peanut brittle cookies and butterscotch cookies. I like them, but since it was my first time making them, I know I can do better. I think I'll go with the standard rice krispy cookies tomorrow. :) I want to try the malt ball recipe tomorrow too. That one looks yummy.

I got to go shopping today. Found gifts for Phil. Gotta get one more, but not sure if I can get up early enough to go. He wants a coffee maker but I'm not sure if I can swing that. We'll see.

And I didn't have to go in till later today, that was nice.

Phil took the portable heater out of the back room to warm up the kitchen today, and OMG, Velcro was not liking that! She kept running in and out of the back room. Would go to pet her, and she'd run down the hallway. When I wouldn't follow, she'd run back. She did this for about a half an hour, till I realized, she wanted me to move the heater back to the back. So, I did, and she's back there sleeping. That was really funny! Guess she wanted to sleep, but not in the cold. LOL

My sisters got into an argument today. OMG, they are so much alike, but different. They have strong personalities, but different values. My little sis is really direct and to the point. She doesn't beat around the bush. All I can think of is that line in Galaxy Quest, "This is not time for pleasantries..." that would be her. To the point and see ya! LOL

My older sister lives in her own world. Life revolves around her, and when life isn't going quite right, she gets really REALLY stressed, and snaps.

There in lies the problem. When direct an to the point, calls sis when she's stressed, stressed sis snaps. DTTP sis gets mad, and yells at Snappy sis, and then they have drama. LOL And one or the other will call sis in the middle to vent. Glad it was DTTP sis, cause we can laugh about it. Stressed sis will cry and have lots of drama.

And all this before Christmas. LOL

I thought it was supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year! I'd better listen to more of my Christmas CD's to get into the mood. LOL Well, 4 more days and it's OVER!!!!! I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing the Dancing with the Stars show!! That and seeing my two friends, Debi and Joanne!!!

Only 5 more days!

Wooo Hooo! I'm excited cause there are only 5 more days till Christmas. I've got one of 4 boxes packed to go. Just need packing peanuts. :) 2 cards done. I was going to stamp on them, but at this point, I think they look ok to go. Wanted to do more, but I hope everyone likes them anyway.

Not stressing at this point. I'm going to get what I can done, and the others will go out as they get done.

We have one more big event before Christmas. We've been doing ok so far...knock on wood. But talking to other retailers in the area, they are just as slow as we are. That isn't great, but at least we're not alone.

I'm going to go to Phil's family's Christmas this year. Mainly because his sister and I are getting along better now. Makes life a lot easier. I don't think i've been to a Christmas there in about 7 years now. So, I'll have to do some major baking in a few days.

We went to the mall tonight, and we got some more shopping done. Have to go to Wal Mart yet again tomorrow at some point. I think we've been there 4 times this week. LOL

Hope everyone is having a great week so far. I got to chat with Shari tonight...YAY! And I miss Deb and Kay. I hope we can chat at some point before Christmas! I love you guys!

Baby, it's cold outside....

Ok, I know for those of you that are not in California, this probably isn't cold. But man, I'm freezing! LOL On the bottom left is the temperature outside...BRRRRR. And you can barely see, but there is a snowflake on the bottom of the clock that flashes to let us know that it's butt cold outside! LOL Like we didn't realize that it was that cold already...DUR. LOL

This morning it was 18 degrees! Yep, 18 degrees. So, I woke up to frost on my car. So, there went going to drop some stuff off to Jackie's work. LOL Everytime I kept scraping the ice off, more would appear. I really would suck at living in snow.

Hey! Maybe we'll have a white Christmas! :D

What a day...

Well, this morning was not a good morning. I was planning on getting a ton of Christmas stuff done today, cause all I had to do was call in to check how the store was doing all day. Phil and i were going in to replace the ballasts on the fluorescent lights at one, so we were going to do some of our shopping, and I was going to work on cards while I was in there....

NOT!

Ngoc called in sick. So, I had to go in all day. I was pretty pissy cause I've had no time off this week. I was using the day to finish up stuff. But of course, I leave everything till the last minute, so of course it gets messed up on me. My fault.

I mean she's covered for me the one day I was sick this month. And I was SO frustrated. The one store I want to go to is only open the same hours we are, so today was the one day I could go there. Gonna have to figure out another way to do what I was going to do now. sigh.

And then the ballasts weren't the right ones. The ones we needed were thicker than the ones that were bought. So Phil couldn't do that today either. And that was frustrating. Not that he couldn't do it, but just that now he has to go get the correct parts. And I wasn't going to have Phil put up something that wasn't the same shape or size. Electrical stuff is really tricky, and I don't want it overloading and causing a fire. That's all we need.

I'm just really tired. And burnt out. I know every year I'm going to work long hours at Christmas. I get that. And normally I don't mind at all. But I think on top of wanting to get stuff done so that my friends know how much I care about them, and all the stuff we have to do to promote the store, then sell stuff in the store, I'm really getting to not be in the Christmas mode this year. I thought I was doing good too. Thought I'd get stuff out early, work on all kinds of stuff. I'm definitely going to have to do New Year's stuff.

Sorry for the vent. And I know that there are worst things in the world. this is really little stuff, and I need to get over the little stuff. Good thing that Phil's here, he has been a big help in getting some stuff done for me. :)

Imposter Oreo...

There is an Oreo imposter running around the outside of the house. LOL

Oreo is my tuxedo cat, and he's an inside kitty. We figure that he's so not smart, he'd get eaten or run over by a car if we let him outside. LOL I love him to death, but he's just a dork sometimes.

Anyway, tonight Phil was on the phone talking to his nephew, and he looks outside and sees Oreo. So he gets off the phone and starts chasing this cat around the yard. The cat turns around, and he realizes...That's not Oreo. ROFL! He goes inside, and Oreo is sleeping on the bed in the back bedroom. ROFL!

Can you imagine, Phil running around after this poor kitty! The kitty was probably thinking...What the heck is this guy running after me for, calling me a cookie?? LOL

I would have LOVED to have been here to see that!

10 more days till christmas....

And I just finished writing my greeting cards. I still think I want to make some cards within the next couple of days. We'll see.

Our showerhead broke today, so we went to Wal Mart tonight to get a new one. Found Taylor's CD for $7.94!! What a deal! I have listened to the first 4 songs so far, and I love it! Just his style. I'm glad cause I wasn't too thrilled with the song they picked for him at the final show.

Also, Clay has a 4 song Christmas CD out only at Wal Mart, so we got that too. :)

We're picking up at the store, so hopefully it will be a good season for her.

I still have to go to the post office. Think I'll mail my friend's box tomorrow. Feel like such a butt that I haven't been there yet. Most of the other stuff hasn't been packed yet, so I'll get more stuff out on Monday.

gotta get a lot of shopping done this weekend....fun fun fun!

Christmas is 12 days away...

OMG, here I am plugging along at life and I realize, Christmas is in less than 2 weeks! YIKES! I'm just buying stuff here and there, and OMG, it's almost here!

So, a lot of stuff is going to get mailed in two phases. I finally got my friend's birthday and Christmas gifts in a box. Gotta get up early to go to the mailbox. I have to pack everyone else's stuff tomorrow. I thought I was going to make some special cards for Christmas to go in the boxes, but since my other computer died, I'll have to do that next christmas. LOL I still may make cards though. :)

I have to get Phil to make some goodies. Hopefully he can do that this week. I got to get into cookie making mode this weekend. :)

I hope it will all get done this week!!

I love this bracelet!I made this for a gift, but I'm not sure that I'm going to give it away now. LOL I found the charms at a great bead store in Santa Cruz. They have the best supply of charms that I've seen so far.

Anyway, I love the fantasy/sci-fi theme of it. I'm a big collector of dragons, and I love that little dragon charm. And the stars and moons just had to go on it too. LOL Good thing I have an extra supply of those charms. Well, except for the celtic knot one, and the big crescent moon. LOL

I hope she will like it. It doesn't have as many danglies as Debi's bracelet did, but I think it still looks cool.

Oh what fun...

Last night I got an e-mail about my ebay account. I haven't been on ebay in months, and haven't bought anything in like 2 years from them. Someone jacked my account and started selling bootleg copies of TV shows. Greeeeaaat.

So, I spent tonight trying to fix it. Wasn't that hard, but what a pain!

So, if you have an ebay account, keep changing your passwords periodically. Cause someone could actually try to sell stuff through your account, and you wouldn't even know it.

Sushi Boat

Last night Ashley invited us to go to dinner with her friends at the Sushi Boat restaurant here in town. It was a lot of fun, she brought over 5 of her friends.

The sushi boat restaurant is one of those with the sushi bar in the middle with all those boats floating around with sushi on them. They charge you by how many plates, and the type of plate that you took off the boat. Pretty cool concept, but really dangerous. You could have a ton of plates stacked up and not know you just spent $50 for dinner for yourself! LOL

Phil and I always order dinner, and then maybe pick up one or two different plates of stuff. OMG, Ashley and her BF had a stack of plates. They ended up spending $120! OMG! LOL It was interesting watching the types of food they put on the plates. Some types of sushi i'd never seen before.

It was really fun though! Think we'll take them to Hokkaido next. Then they can eat all the food they want. And we'd spend $120 for 6 people! LOL

You know you're getting old....

When describing Billy Idol by his singing "White Wedding" is not registering to the kids. But saying that he was the guy at the end of "The Wedding Singer" works.

Ngoc had no clue who Billy Idol was until I asked if she had seen the Wedding Singer. OMG. Did I feel old! LOL

Mini Christmas shopping trip....

I went on a little shopping excursion today. Went to target to get the Christmas CD that I didn't get last week, and of course, it's gone. Went to see if they had anymore pink ball ornaments, of course those are gone too. 0-2. Why did I think they'd be around now? And OMG, Christmas is like how many days away?? LOL

Then went to Cost plus. Found an ornament for Philip. They had a statue of liberty ornament. He collects the glass USA ones. Cool huh? And found tiny ball ornaments I'll make into earrings at some point in time. Found something for a stamp friend, she's gonna crack up. And a sushi mat for Ashley's BF. He wants to learn how to make Sushi. So I think I'll get him the supplies to make sushi. Saw a set at Cost Plus, but OMG, gonna get him the real dealio stuff at Takahashi's. Well, if I can get there on Sunday before going to the store.

Then had to go to Beard Papa's to see what flavors of Cream Puffs they had today. They had not only Vanilla, but chocolate and strawberry! So I got the chocolate ones, and one strawberry for Phil. The chocolate cream ones taste like hot chocolate (but not hot, does that make sense?)

Gonna go to our target tonight to see if they still have the CD. :)

Think maybe I can talk Phil into going??

Chris Daughtry's CD

OMG, if you are a fan of Chris from American Idol, you HAVE to get his new CD Daughtry. OMG. I'm a big Idol fan. And I have a few of the artists CD's. And I have to say, this CD is one of my favorites so far.

You'll see when the first song starts playing, "It's not Over" OMG! I just knew this CD was going to be awesome!

My favorite song so far is: Over You. Just love it! I keep singing it over and over.

I really wasn't sure, cause in the past, the other CD's from idols were only OK. Well exceptions were Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Clay. Liked Josh Gracin's CD too. But I wasn't too impressed with Justin Guarini's, Bo Bice's, or Latoya London's. And I loved them on the show. I think I wasn't too impressed with their song choices.

Anyway, if you love Chris, get his CD!

why am I still on the internet?

I should be stamping, thinking of what to stamp, making cards. But what am I doing? I'm on the net. Sheesh. Brought my paper in. I think I'm sitting here hoping that it will jump out of the bag and make cards out of itself. LOL

The bag isn't moving.

Guess I should get busy! ;)

20 more days till christmas...

And will I get cards made? Got the paper today. LOL I felt bad buying yet more paper. Had to wait till Phil fell asleep to bring it in. LOL Well, feel bad cause I could be using my money for other things, but bought paper instead. Still have a ton of gifts to buy too.

I'm also going to make some munchies to go with some of the gifts I'm sending out. How did December come so quickly?? LOL

I am ahead of last year on the gift stuff. YAY! But again, people are getting stuff from the store. :)

Hope they won't mind. LOL

The illness curse...

Sorry I've been absent from the net. We had a big event at the store that really was a lot of fun. Then of course on Saturday night my cousin was commenting on how great it's been that I have been so healthy so far this season.

Spoke way too soon.

Sunday morning at 3 am I was sick as a dog! Up every half hour. YUCK. I still think that stomach sick is the worst type of virus to get.

So I slept all day yesterday. Maybe up for about 20 - 30 minutes at a time. I got to see the beginning or end of most of the Law and Order Criminal Intent marathon shows on USA. I was bummed that they would replay it, and I would still miss the end of a show I wanted to see how it ended up. LOL Love watching Chris Noth!! He's a hottie.

So, I'm better today. I can sit and stand for longer. Thanks for Ngoc for covering for me yesterday!! OMG, she's a trooper!!

And for my chatting buddies, hope to see you tonight after Heroes!!

Gourmet Krispy Treats...

Phil's making some of his gourmet krispy treats for our event this weekend. It's cool that he will do that for us, cause he is just so good at it! LOL

On the menu for this weekend so far is:

Chocolate Malted Krispy Treats
Coffee flavored Krispy treats
and a new one:
Toffee Flavored Krispy treats with Heath bar pieces in it. :)

And tomorrow night I think he's making cranberry krispy treats too.

I made some Peanut butter cookies tonight and some brownies
Yesterday made a batch of cornflake cookies.
Tomorrow I may do chocolate chip.

Did a ton of dips and a salsa.

So, hopefully people will show up. I hope so! LOL

Snowflake card

This is the second sample I did. I loved the different circle designs, so I used them as snowflakes. She said we could use stamps that we had at home, so I used a snowflake stamp to give it more of a christmas feel.

I have been into the snowflakes as of late, decorated the store in snowflakes, made this last card in snowflakes. They are just so pretty!

Now I can work on Christmas cards and ATC's. The pressure is off! WOOO HOOO!

Wednesday update

Well, I have one more sample to do, and I'm blocked. Thought I had a good idea, but I didn't like it. Then I lost one of the stamps. It's a clear stamp, and I dropped it, it bounced, and I have no idea where to. Will have to look more tonight between cookies and cards.

Yep, our store event is Friday and Saturday, so I'll be baking tonight and tomorrow. Got to finish that last card tonight while the cookies are baking too. Talk about waiting till the last minute! ROFL.

So, if I'm absent for a couple of days, you know why.

Sample card....

I am making samples for a LSS, and I'm not too sure if I like this one. It's in a style that I'm just starting to get into. I swear, it feels like the stamping world moved so far ahead of me. So, I created this tonight with a set by autumn leaves. I think I'll submit it anyway, but I'm still thinking that something is missing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you all thankful for?

I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my kitties, and for the internet. For without the internet, I would not have made such good friends in my stamping buddies. Well, and my scrapping buddies as well. :) You all know who you are! LOL

Comic books

I just finished reading the Serenity Comic book. It was ok. I wish it were longer. Guess I'm used to the Manga books that are way long. LOL

For those of you who don't know me well, I LOVE comics, cartoons, animation, and anime.

When I was in grade school, I read lots of comic books. Loved the superheros. Batman and Robin, Superman, Supergirl, the Fantastic Four, and Spiderman were particular favorites. I also loved reading the funny ones like Archie, Disney, and Casper the ghost. I can just kick myself for not saving them. Can you imagine what they would be worth right now??

I would read them over and over again. And would love to watch them on the TV as well. I still love superheros today. I think Phil thinks it's funny how much I love going to see the movies like X-men, Spiderman, Batman, and the Fantastic Four. He only goes with me once in awhile to see them. He's not into those types of movies as much as I am.

But I loved the idea of people becoming heroes, helping others. The TV shows used to always have hero figures too. Not like now, where they glamorize the bad guys. We always knew that the police would be here to protect and to serve. Loved guys like starsky and hutch who could figure out a crime in an hour or two. Bad guys were always punished for their crimes.

Guess that's why I loved the comic books so much too....

Lazy Sunday

Today was a lazy day. Well, it didn't start out that way. We went to pick up my truck. It had been in the shop because I didn't pass the Smog Check. The timing was off and couldn't be adjusted. Well, we found out that there were parts that were actually broken, so the parts taking up the slack, just weren't doing their job... the nerve of them! LOL

Then we went to get it smogged. Luckily the place we called was having a grand opening sale, so I got $20 off my smog! YAY!

Phil and I went to breakfast, then picked up my truck, and it passed!!

Then I went to Borders. I love Borders. I could spend HOURS there, but found what I was looking for, the Serenity Comic Book.

I went home, and I really was going to work on some projects, and then went to sleep. Took a great nap, and got nothing else done the rest of the day. LOL

Guess I should enjoy it, cause there won't be many of those days between now and Christmas.

That's Cawazy!

OMG did you all see the people waiting in line for the playstation? That's just crazy! I am glad the kids are all over that, cause there's no way I'd wait in line to pay $600 for one of those. I'd rather put that money into a computer or something.

One of my friends waited in line for 24.5 hours! You know what I could do with 24.5 hours and $600?? That would be one fun shopping trip at stamper's warehouse, let me tell you!

But I guess everyone has their own thing. LOL

Go Emmitt!

Last night Emmitt and Cheryl won the Dancing with the Stars! OMG, I was so happy! I voted for him on all my different e-mail addys. Couldn't get through the phone at all. And I figured he had a ton of votes, cause I can usually get through once or twice when it's Idol call in time.

I think Cheryl must be a great teacher, cause she plays to her stars' strengths. I just loved it when Emmitt would dance, cause it just made me giggle. :) I thought Mario's freestyle was all over the place. Too many different elements that didn't flow together. But, that was just me. LOL

What is even funnier, is that Phil is just SO into the Dancing with the Stars. He actually wanted me to vote for him this year. He NEVER cares about voting. Not during any of the seasons of idols. Not during last year's DWTS. And he's so into figuring out how the point system works, why Emmitt should win over Mario, and OMG he even knows when they misstep! It's kind of scary actually. He's WAY more into it than I am.

Green Dangle Earrings

This is what I have been working on today. Green dangle earrings. Gold tone metal. I usually make my dangles in pinks and clear. But I decided on green cause they're for a friend of mine. Her favorite color is green.

Not sure if she'll like them. But I hope she will.

Uncle's old trunk

This is a trunk we found at my aunt's house. It belonged to my uncle. On the side it had the date of 1946. Can you imagine what this old trunk has seen? Where it's been? We think this may have been his trunk from when he and my aunt were in the internment camps during wartime.

It's so amazing to think of what kind of history was there in their home. They went through so much in their lives. It's so sad that it's too late to ask them about everything that happened with them.

Christmas is just around the corner...

Can you believe it is almost Christmas already? Thanksgiving is like Next week too! Where the heck has the year gone?

This week we'll be decorating the store. Lights, trees, everything. I think I'll wait for the tree part till Ngoc is here cause that is not one of my favorite things to do. LOL

I think the boys at home are sad that we don't decorate for Christmas. After being at the store all the time, and decorating there, I just don't feel like it when I get home. Maybe I'll have to take out the christmas stuff this year.

Is everyone ready for Christmas??

favorite Characters

Ok, now that i've bored you with my favorite scenes, I'll bore you even more with favorite characters...

Han Solo was always my favorite character. Who couldn't love Harrison Ford?? OMG, he was such a hottie!!

R2-D2 My favorite droid. Just love his spunkiness! He's smart, adventurous, and very loyal. His actions just crack me up!

Chewbacca Let the wookie win! He's scary, intimidating, but such a softie!

Boba Fett. Ok, the bad guy here, but just love him! He outsmarts Han, has very cool armor. Just think he's really cool.

General Grevious. OMG, I thought it was too dang cool when he opens up his cape, grabs 4 lightsabers and starts fighting with them ALL! He's a horrible mean guy, but the way they created him is so very cool! Part live parts, part mechanics. And it cracks me up when he starts crawling away from Obi Wan.

And LOVE Obiwan Kenobi! The Ewan McGregor version cause he's a hottie. And then Love Sir Alec Guinness. Ewan did such a great job catching Sir Alec's mannerisms too. :)

Sebulba is the particularly dangerous Dug that Anakin races against in the pod race. Sebulba has a dragon's head (Well to me). His character is really interesting. I love how they created his walk, and just his whole personality.

And Wedge is another favorite. He's in all 3 of the older episodes. He survives the battle at Yavin with Luke. He's in Empire, and also ROTJ. Always loved his character although he wasn't a main character. Just love that he's always there, and is a great pilot. And did you know that in real life he is the Uncle of Ewan McGregor???

Favorite scenes...

Now that I've been watching the Star Wars Marathon this weekend... Phil says it's going to warp my brains...NOT!

What are your favorite scenes in Star wars?

Episode 1: I love the Pod Race. It is such a fun sequence. Love the different characters, and just the excitement of it all! Is he going to win? Well, you knew he had to win, but it was exciting to see!! LOL

Episode 2: I have a ton of favorites in this film. LOVE the chase scene through Coruscant. Love the Arena fight. But I mostly love the connections that they were making of scenes in this movie to all the other ones. They really began to tie things together in this film. My favorite line in the movie is when Obi Wan tells Anakin, "YOu're going to be the death of me" Cause he really is in the 4th episode! LOL

Episode 3: This was a darker movie, of course. But my favorite scene was in the beginning where they are trying to "save" emperor palpatine. I love the dogfight scenes. And just love the elevator shaft scene. Love this movie cause of how it ties everything together to the earlier movies (eps 4-6). Didn't like Padme being so wimpy. But I guess she couldn't live after this episode, cause Anakin would be able to feel her presence.

Episode 4: Just love this whole movie, mainly for sentimental reasons. The opening scene is my favorite, cause I remember the WOW factor it had at the time. Love seeing Han Solo for the first time in the Cantina...sigh. And loved the end of the movie too. :)

Episode 5: This movie at the time, was very dark, not my most favorite of the series. Boba Fett was introduced for the first time, he's one of my favorite characters. The Asteroid field scenes were a favorite of mine, and loved it when they got to cloud city.

Episode 6: Love the speedbike scene where Luke and Leia are chasing the stormtrooper through the forest on Endor's moon. And love the fight sequence at the end with the ewoks. I loved this movie a lot just because of how it ended. Everything is well in the universe.

I have a bad feeling about this...

Ok, so I think the negative ions have overtaken my body or something. I swear, almost everything electrical in my life has taken a big dump. Latest casualty, my truck.

This morning, I get ready to leave for the store, early, mind you. And I get in my truck, turn it on, and the radio is going, light is on, but when you turn the key to start it, nothing. The dreaded Clicking noise.

Of course the boys had already left to go to breakfast. So I get in touch with Ngoc to open the store. Call Tina. And finally get in touch with Phil to tell him what is going on.

Turns out the battery in my truck as died. So, he figures we should jump start it, and it will charge when I get to the store....NOT.

Philip also tells me today that he thinks it's not the fan in the computer. That it's the power supply. Sigh. Electrical.

Of course the VCR's dumped a few weeks ago. And before that I swear, Every TV in the house decided to die at once.

Wonder what the heck is going on. I tell you, negative ions or something. LOL

Laugh it up, Fuzzball!

OMG so today on cinemax, they are playing ALL the episodes of Star Wars all in a row! OMG! Episodes 1 to 6!!! Can you believe it? I could sit there all day long if I didn't have to go to the store. And it's pretty much all weekend long too!

Ok, everyone who knows me, knows how BIG of a Star Wars fan I am. I can remember back in when Star Wars first came out in the movie theatre. I couldn't imagine what the big buzz was about. I mean it was a sci fi movie for God's sake! And back then, the special effects were pretty hokey on any movie.

SO, in we all go to the theatre, and sit down, watch the opening sequence with the words all scrolling on the screen. I'm thinking...O-Kay.....

Then the blockade runner comes on the screen with the Destroyer chasing it, and I'm hooked! I'm thinking: OMG! Where are the strings! How totally awesome is that???

And of course I fell in love with the movie right then and there. Didn't help that Han Solo was such a hottie too!!

So, I've seen every movie in the theatre multiple times. Own multiple copies of the movies on tape and DVD. And we won't even go there with the memorabilia. LOL

And yes, my sister calls me whenever her or her friends have a question on why this is happening, or what is that. Cause of course I've read the books too. LOL

The sad part of it all, I was so sad last night when I thought I can't sit there this weekend to watch any of it! I can't watch all the movies in a row cause there are other things I'm scheduled to do this weekend.

So, I'm thinking...Maybe I'll tape it!!! OK, think about it....Tape it? You've got them all on DVD and tape already. WHY tape it???? DUH.

Ok, I had a really DUH moment there.

ROFL!!

Velcro's new sleep spot

Velcro has a new sleep spot. She loves sleeping on the couch above Phil's head. LOL For some reason she loves sleeping above our heads. And she loves the new couch too.

It's my two grey hair peeps!

Oreo enjoying the night...

Oreo really REALLY enjoys it when we have a fire. He would like us to have a fire even if it was 78 degrees inside. He can hear us getting the wood ready from the back of the house. Then you see him run into the room to get close to the fire. I swear if he could find a way to get into the fire without getting burned, he would. LOL

And he'll sit there till he gets really REALLY hot on one side, so then I have to go and turn him over so he bakes evenly.

Stamp on Over

So, tonight I went to Stamp on Over, which is a stamp store within one of those craft boutiques. And I was totally amazed at the amount of stamps they had in the store. And they also had a bunch of accessories and other things. I really wasn't expecting them to have as much in there as they do.

Met my friend, Pat, there. And it was good catching up for a few minutes. We're on a design team for the store, so we went to pick up the stamps for the new samples we have to make. I was going to stop, but I really want to follow through with this. I am going to make time to do this, and be creative. (And I'm saying this while typing on the computer!) ROFL

It was fun talking to Pat, and I was glad I went to have an idea of what they carry in the store so that I know what I can and can't use. ALthough, Lisa was there, and she said we can use whatever we want, as long as we specify where we got it from, or if you can't get the stamp anymore, let them know so that no one searches for it. :)

I'll be stamping this weekend, I hope!

49ers moving??

OMG, could it be true? If they moved to Santa Clara, not so bad, but I hope they don't move to LA. What will my cousin do? she goes to every single home game. It's unreal, the thought that they could be gone. Our family have been 49er faithfuls since the old days before Joe Montana. What is Phil going to do? We can't be Raiders fans. YIKES! The thought!

They are going to have a news conference tomorrow. They are ending all talks with SF, and they are focusing on Santa Clara. PHEW! Breaking news.

At least they are going to stay in the area...I hope. They're staying in SF till 2008.

I hope they stay.

OMG, and now they are saying the A's are leaving Oakland! OMG! I hope they will go to Fremont! That would be cool. But if they move to sacto, no more games for us. :(

wow, lots of breaking news stories here!

Fun day in Santa Cruz

I had a wonderful day in Santa Cruz today! I was with my friends Debi and Joanne. We went to the Ivy Cottage first, they had a holiday open house thingy, and Debi's friend Monica has a display of stuff there, so we went to see what she had made. It was a really cool set up. I think it was a house or something, and they took all the doors out of the rooms so that you can walk through each room. And I think each room was by a different artist. There were some really great items there, I would tell you all what I bought, but I found a friend's Christmas gift there. And I know she reads my blog, so I'll say something after christmas. LOL

We then went to the Pacific Garden Mall. I love going out there. Lots of great boutiques. Gives me some ideas on what to do at our store. There is a store called Red Poppy that I LOVE! Can't afford too much in there, but it is set up really nicely. Big furniture pieces with lots of nick nacky stuff.

We had lunch at the Palomar inn. I LOVE lunch there. Very Delish. Had Sopas this time.

And then we just walked around. It was fun to see all the new things, things that we have at shadzz, and things we wouldn't carry. Pretty much a lot of the same stuff. Lots of really pricey clothes. And we also went to the bead store. What is great about that bead store is that they have a lot of inexpensive pewter charms. I use those in some of the bracelets I make, so it was fun to go there.

I just love hanging out with the girls, we have a great time and enjoy each other's company. No stress!

Great...

So, while chatting with my friend Deb tonight, my computer just shuts itself off. Right in the middle of a conversation. Turned it back on, it worked for like 2 minutes, then down it went again. Thought it was a dust problem, but now it looks like a CPU fan problem. Biggest clue, the strange smell emitting from the computer. Hopefully the computer will be ok. I downloaded most of my stuff from it just a few mins before it happened. I hope I didn't lose all my music there, but we'll see.

Got my old computer hooked up right now, so I hope that it will work for a bit.

Great...

Is anyone else tired of political ads?

I am getting so tired of all these political ads. Especially the ones where the candidates blast their running mates. I mean come on, what really makes you all think you're not going to raise taxes. You all ALWAYS say you're not going to raise taxes, yet we get more taxes.

And really, do you think you can really do all those things you've promised us to do? And what about the people who used to be in office who try to endorse different propositions and such. I mean, come on, you didn't get it done when you were in office. Why are you dissing anyone when you didn't get anything done yourself?

I miss regular commercials. But on the bright side, the election is Tuesday, so the ads should stop by then. :)

And Remember:

Women fought for the right to vote!

Finished with the danglies bracelet

I finished the bracelet for Debi. And it came out really cool! I love it! Lots of fun danglies. :) I really do hope that she likes it. I just love all the dangly beadies.

Polar Bear Jewelry

One of my friends is a big polar bear fan. I was at the bead show and found these really cool polar bear beads, so I made her a bracelet and earrings. They look like little gummy bears! LOL

Just something simple, but fun.

Happy Halloween!

This is my friend Debi, she's dressed up as the wicked witch. LOL we love going to her house for Halloween to watch the kids who come to her house. She does a really good job at scaring them.

Her cousin helped her out this year, as did Alex. Alex had the mask on from the scream movies, and would jump out of the bushes to scare people. LOL

And it's always fun to catch up with Debi's family too. I love her mom & dad. And her cousins and uncles. They are a ton of fun!

Just keeping up the tradition....

Now tonight I was making cookies to take to Debi's house tomorrow. And of course, as always, I burn the last batch of cookies. Never fails. No matter how many times I tell myself that I'm not going to forget they are in there, I start doing something else, and they burn.

One of these days, I'll have to just sit and wait till they are done, not start anything else. I think it's that Adult ADD kicking in again.

Working more on the bracelet...

I added a few more things on the bracelet. Added a flipflop charm for the beach. Added a die for games. And added a scrapbook.

It's getting pretty full. I found some great grape beads I'm going to add to that too, and a sand dollar. Haven't found a music note yet, but we'll see what I can find this week.

I really really like this one, I'll take a pic of the one I did for the store tomorrow.

Time change

How is everyone doing with this time change? It is kicking my butt today. I am always kind of off, but I was totally behind all day long. Guess the internal clock works a whole lot better than I thought.

I need to sleep, should be asleep, but can't get there yet. NOt sure if it's cause I laid around most of the morning, or if it's cause I did too much today. LOL Or the coke and 2 cups of tea I just drank a little while ago. Hmmm....

How does everyone else cope with the time change?

The Lake House *SPOILERS*

IF you haven't seen the Lake House yet, and want to keep the whole movie a surprise, then don't read this post. And Don't say I didn't warn you...

I just finished watching the Lake house a little while ago, and OMG, I totally love that movie. I thought at first, yeah right, they're in two different times, how the heck can they send notes to each other? That whole part is kind of weird, but I love what they did with the story around that.

OMG, it was wo weird how their lives intertwined without them knowing it. And I love it when Sandra realizes that she's actually met him before. That was really cool. Midway through the movie I guess what happens at the end. Kind of predictable.

But it's always so cool when it's a happy ending. Kind of weird when at the end all the times kind of converge on each other. I want to watch it one more time before I return it to Ngoc. There were a few times where I had to actually rewind it cause I missed something.

I totally thought that Sandra was going to work on his dad, cause she's a doctor in the movie.

The glass house is really cool. Would be kind of weird to live in cause they can see everything. My messiness would totally not be cool there. LOL

Just wondered where the dog fit in to everything. How did she know what was going on? was it doggy sixth sense?

Bead show & Tower Records...

Went to the Bead show today, plus made a stop at the bead store cause the show didn't quite have what I wanted there for the bracelet I'm making.

On the top is what I bought at the bead store. $24 worth.
On the bottom is what I bought at the bead show. $22 worth.

Think I got a good deal at the show? All the beads I got were glass, and were $1 a strand! Yep, you read right, $1 a strand! Needless to say, I didn't buy much else at the show. Deb, you'd be proud of me! I think I only spent $30 total at the show. LOL

But then I went to Tower Records cause it wasn't too far from the bead show. They're closing all the Tower records, which makes me very sad. And they're having a closeout sale. So far 25% off. So I picked up a Hawaiian CD that I've been wanting forever. It's a record album my sister had when I was in High school, and LOVED. And I also found a movie: Come See the Paradise. It's a movie about the Japanese internment.

I'm sad because Tower records was such a part of my life growing up. Chris (my best friend from college & High school) and I would go there every weekend. We'd go to the movies or pee wee golfing, or something else, but would always end up at Tower. You know, us geek girls had to go somewhere, and we loved going to tower records.

I'm just sad that it's an end of an era. :( Darn downloadable music on the internet. LOL

So, I just got home a little bit ago, reading the sunday paper, checking the internet of course. It's getting colder today, fall is here I think.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A bracelet for Ms. Boring...

I started making a bracelet for my friend Debi. She saw a pic of a bracelet with tons of danglies, and liked it. So I thought I'd make her one

Started out with a few danglies that I had sitting around, and then started adding more and more. Trying to go with a love theme, I love hearts!


Then found a butterfly charm cause we went to see the butterflies last year. Found a drama mask charm cause she loves plays. And I am going to put a scrapbook charm on there as well cause she likes scrapping. So, I'll have to figure out more of her loves, and add those to the bracelet as well. I figure Carlee's got to get on there somehow too! And something to do with wine. I know i have wine themed charms somewhere. Gives me an excuse to see what is at the bead show too!!

I was inspired by Shari to put a project in progress up, so as I put more danglies on there, I'll post.

Inside my ATC

This is the inside of my holiday ATC. Figured that simple was better, thanks to kay!

I still think it needs something, but I am going to move on....

Another quiet day...

It's another quiet day here. I actually finished the back of my color atc last night, and will work on finishing the holiday ATC too so that i can just be done with it.

Got to clean out stuff in the extra room so Philip can paint and strip the floor. He wants to take out the rug and put in flooring, which is cool. Hope he can get it done in a week.

We didn't go to the movies last night, not too bummed though, cause I got to chat with my buds. That was a great time, cause I haven't seen a couple of them for awhile.

Got up a bit early, and I'm finding that I really don't want to get up in the mornings. Not sure if it has to do with the fact that it's getting colder in the mornings. That and I just am so blah in the mornings. I set my alarm early so I can wake up before I wake up...does that make sense?

Watched last night's episode of InuYasha. Really bummed by the fact that they didn't say there were new episodes, and I think I missed a few. Hope they replay them again.

Tonight is repeat TV already. So after Survivor, I think I'll just do some stuff around the house. I can't believe that we're like a couple of months into the new season, and they're already showing repeats. What happened to the good old days of no repeats until the summer?? I still remember the season lasting a whole lot longer than this.

And hopefully we'll do something fun this weekend too!

Isn't the internet wonderful?

OMG, I'm serious! Isn't the internet wonderful? I'm listening to my cuz in Hawaii on a radio show, live. He's there, we're here, and we can hear him on the radio! I totally love it! And the fact that he's 3 hours behind us in time, cause there would be NO WAY I'd get up in time to listen to him at 5 am. LOL

That and I just love how I can keep in contact with all my friends across the country. It's almost like they're here! Almost.

I just love the internet. :)

Love our new clothes

Don't you just love this top? It reminds me of old rock 'n' roll/Stevie Nicks times. We just got this in and I love it! Wish I looked as cute in it as Ngoc does. LOL

I just love that vintage feel to it. Whenever we stop at the booth that has all these clothes, Tina and I are in heaven. Everything is so girly girl. Totally not me in real life, but it's so very cool.

Also reminds me of one of our old friends, Karen. She loves wearing all those types of flowy & glittery tops. Very romantic. We don't hang out with her anymore, but I always remember her with good memories.

I'm stuck

Well, this is my holiday ATC, kind of. Got the outside pretty much done, but REALLY stuck on the inside. The paper in there is just so WHITE. LOL I get really intimidated with a piece of white paper. Mainly because there is so much possibility with a plain canvas. And what if I mess up?

What if what I do just doesn't fit? What if it is too much? Not enough?

I've had this part done for almost 3 weeks now. And I'm just stuck.

I hopefully will have a better idea of what will happen on the inside when I get home. Cause I really do need to work on them.

Cousin Kale...

My sister just got in contact again with our cousin Kale. It's been such a long time since we've all seen him. I think I haven't actually seen him since I was in high school. I can remember being up at my aunt's house with the rest of the family, and he and his mom were visiting at the time. And the cousins were all in Tina's room, and we were listening to him play guitar and singing This Masquerade. I thought he was the most awesome singer. Made me really appreciate jazz music a lot.

Well, as always, life got in the way of our keeping in touch with him. And we all kind of lost contact with each other. But a few years ago, I think Cheryl found him, and we kind of connected again. He's doing well with his music. I'm really proud of how far he has come.

What was funny was that he plays under a different name from what we know him as, and for awhile I was getting e-mails from him not knowing it was him. LOL Now I know I wasn't spammed! LOL

Wish I could make jewelry like this...

We got this in today. And all I can say is, I wish I could make jewelry like that! OMG, the colors are stunning! I love the autumn colors.

Just in love with the whole design. I would never wear something like that, cause where do I go? Um, I'm wearing this to watch TV dear. LOL

Maybe someday I'll learn how.

Project Runway winner

Ok, so Jeffrey is the winner of Project Runway. Debi was right. LOL

I loved Uli's clothes, and I had wished that she would have won.

But Jeffrey's is more trendy, more of what they want in a magazine I think.

I just wish he didn't remind me so much of my ex-bf! LOL

And I loved laura's stuff too. Too dressy for me, but it was all so beautiful!

I hope they all get to do well in the fashion world cause they are all so talented!!

Jay and Heather

This is a photo of Phil's niece and nephew, Heather and Jay. They are in the Army National Guard, and are serving right now in Afghanistan. This is their second tour to the Middle East.

Heather actually drives that big truck behind her, and I think they actually want her to drive and even bigger one. LOL Truck driving is in her genes! It's a Louisiana family tradition. :)

We're so very proud of them!

I am internet addicted...

Ok, I admit, I am addicted to the internet.

Does that mean I'm an internetaholic?

I mean I get home, and what is one of the first things I need to do? Get on the internet to see if the girls are online so we can chat.

How many times a day do I need to check my e-mails? More times than I can count

How many times do I really need to check all of my favorite sites? More than once a day?

And how many pictures of Karl can I find on the internet that I haven't seen before?

Do I really need to check in to see what kind of free stuff people are offering on Freecycle? What if I miss something!

And do I really have to check my favorite comic strips on the net instead of buying a paper?

Well....

OF COURSE I DO!

Do I really need to Google my relatives, friends, and aquaintances to see if they are on the internet? Of course I do!

Yes, I have an internet addiction...

And I love it!

LOL

Project Runway

Ok, so am I the only one who can't wait till the final episode this week? I mean I wonder if Jeffrey gets to show or not. It would be a shame if he couldn't, cause eventhough he reminds me too much of someone I used to know, he does have some great designs.

And I love Lara's stuff! OMG, she really does have a lot of talent.

Love Uli's prints, but it doesn't look like she has a ton of prints. Good and bad.

And Although I love Michael's work, a couple of things that they showed of his, really didn't float my boat. I hope he has better stuff that they hadn't shown yet.

This is gonna be fun!

Daybed is gone!

I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I'm happy cause it's out of the shed. Gone, moved onto a family who will use it for their young ones.

But I'm sad cause I've had that daybed since high school. My parents bought it for me. And I used it in my apartment, it moved with me to Phil's. And now, it's gone....

Oh well. Gotta let go of things sometimes. I know Phil wishes I would let go of a whole lot more...

LOL

Next thing to go is the full-size bedframe, I think. I swear, this freecycler thing is fun!

Exhausted!

OMG today Kristen and I went shopping. And I'm not talking about a little excursion, we went to a bunch of places. I haven't done that in so long! It was a ton of fun!

We started out at the Verizon store to get her phone fixed. We then ended up in San Leandro to pick up a replacement phone there. Then we went to the Eddie Bauer store, and she found a bunch of stuff. I found a digi thermometer for Phil. LOL

Then we went to eat lunch, and then to DSW. That's a pretty cool store. Never been to one before. May have to go back to get some shoes. Not sure what I want yet, but I'll know it when I see it.

Then to the Great Mall. I haven't been there in ages, and of course there were a ton of people at the mall. Not a ton of people buying stuff, but a lot of people just there at the mall. And were their stores thrashed!! I don't think I'd ever want to work there, why can't people put their stuff back where they found it??

I think I'll probably have to take a day off sometime just to go shopping there. :)

Then home. But Phil and I did get a grocery shopping trip in. We haven't gotten groceries in awhile cause we just don't go shopping much.

Got Kristen hooked on Project Runway, and can't wait to see what happens on Wednesday!

Freecyclers...

OMG, I am so addicted to Freecycling. Gave away our breakfast nook set that was actually given to us. Phil was going to put it outside with a sign that said free. But I thought that I'd put it on the site, and see if anyone would want it.

That day we had 8 people ask for it, and the past couple of days I've been getting more e-mails. It's gone, and we helped out a couple who really needed it. I love it!

My daybed is the next thing to go. I've had the daybed since college. took it with me when I moved out on my own, and then it moved in here. Phil said it was falling apart a bit, and needed to be reglued. Someone wanted a twin bed frame, so I asked if she wanted that, and boom, that's going too!

It's cool seeing new offers every day, and seeing that people want things. I think a few things of mine are going to go bye bye! :) This is really fun! I'm having more fun getting rid of stuff to people who really need it.

LOTR cigar box purse

This is my Lord of the Rings Cigar box purse. We worked on them awhile ago. Decopaging pics on cigar boxes, then putting hardware on top for handles. It was a lot of fun. I want to work on more at some point just to do them.

Velcro Kitty

I've been posting pics of Oreo, here's one of Velcro. She's my princess kitty. She thinks she's the princess of the house. Won't do anything unless she wants to, and if she doesn't like it, she'll let you know. LOL

She's our wall kitty. We found her in the wall of our garage. She was born in the roof of the house, and somehow fell inside the wall. I still think it was to get away from Oreo, cause she can't stand him. LOL

We broke a hole in the wall and got her out. I've always seen things like that on the news, never thought it would happen at our house. LOL

Holiday ATC

this is the start of my Holiday ATC. It opens up and has more things inside. I haven't finished the inside, but I was excited on how it was turning out. :)

I am doing my holiday ATC on Girl's day or Hina Matsuri. I remember celebrating girl's day when we were younger, so I thought I'd pick a day that meant something to us that wasn't the typical holiday.

Will post the inside when I finish.

SO, this is what it turned out to look like. I have to get a camera! LOL Scanning with dimensional elements really sucks. ;)

I just added a couple of things to the ATC. Just cause i thought it needed a couple of things. I love silver, and silver goes so well. LOL

I just love the purple papers I found. I want to make more cards using those papers now!

Purple Reign ATC

I'm trying to figure out what to do with this ATC. I'm doing purple and pink as my favorite colors in my color palette. But haven't figured out what to do with the rest. Guess it would help to have all my stamping stuff here. LOL

Love how this is coming together, I actually doodled with a silver paint pen on the bottom. But I don't know where I'm going to stamp yet. Thinking of stamping "Purple Reign" on the top with a crown on it or something. Gotta think...

Any suggestions??

My Stamping Sisters...

There is a group of ladies that I met on the net that I call my Stamping Sisters. They are located all across the country and even in Iceland. :) We started chatting about stamping in a stamping chat room, and our friendship has blossomed from there.

I've met a few of them, and have gotten to be really close friends with them too. I am still amazed that we meet to chat almost every night. At least once a week. But most weeks it's every day.

You all know who you are!

We've all gone through so much together. We've gone through so many accomplishments together. Many hardships, losses of people near and dear to us. We've seen each others kids grow-up, and have been there during some of your pregnancies. I know I wouldn't have gotten through many of my hard times without you all.

We have taught each other stamping, I sucked a few of you into the world of beading, and most of us have dabbled in the world of scrapbooking. I just love seeing all of your pieces of artwork, and glad that we get to share them with each other.

I so appreciate your friendships, and hope that we remain friends forever!!


Love you all lots!

Working on Holiday ATC's

Today I am working on Holiday ATC's. And of course my holiday is going to be Girl's Day in Japan. LOL When we were young, we used to celebrate Girl's day every year. We didn't have the dolls that you're supposed to put out, but we used to always get the fun pink rice mochi balls with the leaf on the outside. Those were always so yummy.

I'm finishing the outsides first, and now have to think of what to stamp on the insides. I'll have to work on those this weekend.

Funny picture

My sister had this picture of us on herspace, and it just cracked me up. I had forgotten about this picture. It was taken at an Obon dance way too many years ago.

My sister is the one in the kimono. :)

Familiar Phrases ATC

Here's my ATC for familiar phrases. Since Cindyann bumped up the bar on the ATC's, I thought I'd try my hand at a 3-D ATC. Her accordian asian themed ATC was so beautiful! I thought I wanted to do something along the same lines.

I actually had this partially done last month, added the flowers inside, and finished the outside last night thanks to Kay! Your idea about embossing an image on the outside was simply classic.

I had trouble figuring out how to close the ATC, there is a flap to the right that opens up.










But this morning I realized I could put a sleeve on the outside with the dangly bead things I wanted to use. And just hold it together that way. I think it looks ok. :)

Happy Sunday!

Hope you all had a great day! I had a fun day today. Got to see my Little sis. I don't think I've seen her since Christmas. Yep, that long. LOL It was nice, we all went to dinner with my dad. And it was nice to be all together.

Went shopping for a bit. Well, actually went to go and get cat food. Saw some kitties I wanted to have. But I know that would NOT go over well with Ms. Velcro. She's such a pain about new kitties.

Went to get my dad a gift card from Harbor Freight. I have to go in that store again when I have more time. They have some cool new stuff.

And had fun chatting with my family. :)

It was a nice day! :)

Almost finished!

I am almost finished with my quotes ATC. Thanks to Kay, who suggested a few things to me last night. I will post when I finish and scan.

Next one will be games. I already know what I'm going to do with that one, just hope that the execution will work. :)

IT's been a lazy day. I didn't get up till late, and laid around watching Project Runway. I love that show! Caine got offed last week. Love him, just not all of his fashions. Jeffery gets on my nerves cause he thinks he's better than everyone else. I love Micheal's outifts, and I hope he wins. :) Can't wait to see this week's episode.

Guess I should go get some cat food.

Snow Kitty

I found this picture of Snow Kitty on the computer today. He was our outside kitty that was more like a dog cat. He would run to our car when he would hear us driving home. And then if we had take out food, he'd try to trip us, cause he was hungry.

He adopted us a few years ago, and would hang out at our house with Bubbie his bud, the grey kitty. It was cute, Phil would make sure that he had a place to sleep, and he'd feed him too. He ate better than the inside cats!

And it was always fun seeing his eyes peeking through the screen door to the garage. He always wanted to see what we're doing.

He passed away a few months ago, and I really miss him. :(

Dancing with the Stars...

I can't believe it is already time for Dancing with the Stars! I just LOVE this show. Cindyann got me hooked on it last year because she wanted me to vote for anyone but master p. LOL Well, and that Jerry Rice was on it too, and of course we HAD to watch it cause the big 49er fans that we are (well Everyone in my family) we had to see Jerry dance. LOL

Anyway, so we had to tune in to see how the new people were going to do this year. We were hesitant on Jerry Springer being in there, cause I know I'm not a big Jerry Springer fan. But he didn't do half bad. He really reminded me of George Hamilton last year.

I LOVED Mario. He was awesome! I think we need to get Phil some batteries for his hips too. LOL I hope Mario can pull of the other slower ballroom dances too.

I thought Joey was very good. Didn't like the bald head, but he danced pretty well.

And Emmitt Smith was a really big surprise! OMG, I couldn't stop giggling cause it's so fun to see a big guy like that move like that! WAY better than Jerry Rice could think of being! LOL

I love Sara Evans, but she was just ok for me dawg. I hope she stays around to see how she improves.

Loved Vivica! I hope she will be on for more dancing. Yay for the over 40 women!!

Harry needed to loosen up a bit, way too stiff, but better than I could have done. :)

The others were good too, I can't wait to see who stays tomorrow!

Sadie Won!

WOOO HOOO! Sadie won the Idaho/Wyoming state finals! So, she's going to be in the finals in Elko, NV! I'm so excited for her. I hope she does well!! Or at least, makes the right contacts cause she is so good!

This is a card I made a little bit ago. Love the Sizzix letters, and wanted to use them for a card. I love the paper shapers flower. Love it so much that I broke the darn punch. How do you do that? LOL The bottom part that's made of metal, actually broke off!! OMG, I couldn't believe it. Gotta get a new one.

Anyway, just love using Pink in cards now. And I love the Bazzill cardstock colors too!!

Layers: Inspired Collage...

I finally picked up my friend Shari's book: Layers: Inspired Collage for paper projects with meaning. And OMG, it is SO AWESOME!! Her projects are simply amazing!! I want to do them all, and I don't know where to start!

Shari does such beautiful artwork. She works for Hero Arts as well, and has so much talent. I don't know how anyone could not LOVE this book!!

http://www.amazon.com/Layers-Inspired-Collage/dp/1581807848

Happy September!

Hope everyone had a happy Labor Day! I had a great time with my friend Kristen. She was visiting from the Fresno area. She was my movie buddy when she lived here, and we have become really great friends.

We spent the weekend shopping at my favorite store, Stamper's Warehouse, and then going to Borders bookstore. We both love bookstores!

Then we watched Rome, the series from HBO. She thought we'd watch one episode and then the special features...NOT. LOL We ended up watching 8 episodes before she left. I love that series. Ray Stevenson is great as Pullo, and James Purefoy plays a great Marc Antony.

And then I had some time on my own cause the boys had gone camping. Love it when they go camping cause I'll watch DVD's all day long!

Us at the Idols concert...

Here we are at the Idols concert. We were walking to our seats, and Debi pulls us over to get our picture taken. How she saw them doing this with all those people around, I'll never know. She is amazing!!

Pictured from left to right is me, Joanne, Debi, and Debi's future daughter-in-law Denne'.

Debi and I have been going since season 2, and Joanne joined us last year. This year Denne' joined us!! It was so fun going out with them all!!

Idols Concert...

OMG, that show was the best! I've been to 4 seasons of idols concerts, (missed the first one) and this one was by far the best! I think it was because it was more of a rock concert than in previous years, plus I loved most of the contestants this year!!

Mandeesa started the show. I love her! She sang, "I'm every woman". And she rocked the house! It was a great start.

Ace came on to sing with her after her two songs. He is so dang cute! Of course he sang Father Figure!! I love his version of that song.

I can't remember all the songs they sang, I'll try to look it up later.

Lisa was next, and OMG, she was voted off too soon! She was awesome!! You can tell she has had much more experience with the tour, her voice was so much better, and her stage presence has improved so much!! She sang the song that is on the Idols CD, plus 2 Elton John songs.

Paris came on and sang Waterfall with her. And then started her set. Lisa SO blew her away!!

Bucky did well, I did like him on the show, just didn't want him to be my idol. LOL He sang You're the ONe that I want with Kellie too. I thought that was just ok. I think knowing that Kellie really isn't as naive as she projects kind of ruined her performance for me. :)

Then there was an intermission

THe second half really rocked!! Chris came on and blew everyone away!! He sang that whole lotta love by Led Zeppelin, Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi, and then Renegade by Styx. He was AWESOME!!!!

HE then sang a song with Elliott, and then Elliott sang. He is one of my favorites!! He sang Never too much by Luther. OMG, he should sing other Luther Vandross songs, cause he does them so well!! And then sang his song from the CD. He brought out Ace, Chris, and Bucky to sing with him, which was really cool. they sang a Guns and Roses song. It was cool!

Then Katherine came on to sing that song she sings on the floor. But she actually stood and walked around, which was cool.

And then Taylor came on. I just LOVE Taylor. He came out through the audience and sang and Elvis tune. Then sang 3 other songs. Hollywood Knights by Bob Seger, his song from his CD, and then Takin' it to the streets for an encore.

They all came out to sing we are the champions too.

I know I forgot some of the tunes, it was an AWESOME Show!!

Idols!

Tomorrow night is the American Idols Concert!! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big big idols fan. Debi B and I go to the concert every year...Thanks Debi!!

This year was the best year so far, and the person I voted for actually won! How amazing is that! I loved Taylor from the auditions, and I'm so glad he won!

So, will update you on the concert after tomorrow night!

Cleaning cleaning cleaning...

This week I've been cleaning up the crap room...I mean Craft room. LOL Of course I won't admit it to Phil, but there is stuff in there I forgot I had, don't know where it came from, why I needed it, and/or why do I have so much of it.

Not even going through some magazines at this point, I figure, if I haven't looked through it in awhile, means I won't get to it. And Kristen, here they come! LOL

I'm still looking for those faux asian coin charms that I have somewhere in there. Now they could be in two places. Got the bookshelf moved, my LP's. Yep, LP's. For you young'uns, they're those BIG vinyl round things with the tiny hole in it that sound WAY better than CD's. But CD's are better to store. I forgot I had every Van Halen album made before CD's. And the REAL Van Halen with David, not Sammy.

I mean I LOVE Sammy, but Love him better as a solo artist, not as Van Halen.

Tomorrow I'm tackling the Electronics bench....

Heaven help me!!

Jewelry

Another one of my hobbies is jewelry making. Well, pretty simple jewelry making. My friend Cindyann is a 100 times better than I!! I have always loved beads, and made simple earrings and bracelets in the 80's. Just got back into it not too long ago.

Lucky for me there is a great bead store near me, the Bead Asylum. And of course I love the Gem and Jewelry show too. One of my wishes is to take some jewelry making classes to make some really big pieces. It would be cool to cast my own jewelry. Make my own charms. Maybe some day...

Phil's birthday party

Phil turned 50 this year. And we had a big party for him. I finally got some pictures of the party from my sister, cause I'm a dork and didn't get my pictures developed yet. ;)

Phil of course had to BBQ. He loves to BBQ. His friend from work, Cesar made carnitas for us, and they were delish! My dad had never had carnitas before, and was really interested in how they were cooked.

We tried getting different people here from Phil's life. A lot of people from his work came to the party, his family, and even one of his softball buddies came to the party too. It was nice to have them all over, and we hope to have another party again.

San Mateo County Fair

We all went to the SM county fair yesterday to see Sadie perform. She sang on the outdoors stage. And it was really neat, cause people were enjoying her singing, more people were there listening to her sing than the previous band. It was really neat to see people go up to her and talk to her after she sang.

She didn't win the California Finals of the Colgate country showdown. Bummer. We all thought she was the best female singer there, but a boy band won. I thought it was weird to have the singers go up against bands, cause they are different categories. But what do I know. She was really great though.

She got to meet Charlie Daniels at the show. He performed after they all did. :)

And it was neat seeing all the changes to the fair. I don't think I've been to the SM county fair in eons! The last time I went I think Chris and I went in college. And that was too many years ago!!

We ate a lot of fair food, corn dogs, killer brownies, ice cream, nachos, caramel apples. I could have SO ate more, but we didn't have a ton of time. Or I really would have ate that brick of curly fries!! LOL

Raccoon snot...

Today I fed the raccoon by hand. Phil has been doing that for a little bit now. So, he tells me to go out there and feed her to see how soft her hands are. So I did, and since Cheeser doesn't know me very well, she had to smell my hands with her wet nose....ICK.

Raccoons really do have soft hands. They are really cool. The one that has been coming around, Cheeser, is funny. Philip (phil's son) was feeding her Cheese Its (hence the name), and she's become pretty used to us. She now checks to see if we left any food out on the game board. And finds Philip's stash of various snacks. It's pretty funny.

Tonight she decided to knock on the screen door since I wasn't paying attention to her.

Raccoons are cute!

Go A's!

We went to the A's game today and they won! YAY! And we didn't have ticket issues either! Even better! LOL My sister gave us some tickets from her company, so we went today. And the A's won!!

I love going to the games. And yes, I like both the A's and the Giants. Although, I used to like the A's cause my sisters are both Giant's fans, and I just had to be different.

Debi and I have a great time just chatting away. We get to comment on the players ages, how they were born when we were in high school or just graduating. How Milton Bradley is the coolest name, but can you imagine how he must have been ribbed in school?

We have a couple more games to go to this season. Next week we'll be there again. It's funny cause Debi's brother bought tickets for the guys, and didn't get them for the girls. And Cheryl sent us tickets for that same night, so we get to go too!!! YAY! It's going to be a girl's night out for us!!

Kochira Hon Ikegami Sho

Ok, so at my parent's house, they have been watching this show on the JapaneseTV station called Kochira Hon Ikegami Sho (Central Ikegami Police). And of course I got sucked into it while I was there. Luckily it's in subtitles or I would be truly lost. Really sad if you think about it. LOL

It is a really fun show. I loved it in one episode, they're showing these street punks, and in the background they start doing the boyband dancing. LOL Real tough guys! ;)

I really didn't think I'd watch any of the "Japanese Programs" as we used to always call them. But I think I'll have to start watching this one.

Sadie

We're very proud of Phil's niece Sadie. She made it to the California State finals of the Colgate Country Showdown. The finals are going to be at the San Mateo County Fair! I am cracking up cause it's such a small fair, you'd think that they'd have it at like the state fair or something. But it's cool that San Mateo will have something like that! :)

She's really awesome, and really a sweet girl. Glad that things are going so well for her! Go Sadie!

Asian Inspired ATC

This is my Asian themed ATC. I did mine on Anime, Japanese animation. I grew up watching Anime when I was a child. Remember Speed Racer and Kimba the white lion? Then there was Raydeen on the Japanese TV station with subtitles, Voltron, Battle of the planets, and Robotech. I was reintroduced to anime through movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell. And then a friend's daughter started me into Escaflowne, and I was hooked again! Now I watch Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. And I'm hooked into regular cartoons as well. Love that Danny Phantom and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. LOL InuYasha is my all time favorite at this point. InuYasha and Sango being my favorite characters.

I love cherry blossoms too, so seeing InuYasha and Kagome in a cherry blossom tree was just the inspiration I needed to make the card.

Stamped the cherry blossoms with pink brilliance ink. Happiness is stamped with black dye ink. And the flowers are from making memories.

Alphabet ATC

"N" is for Neko....

I wanted to use a letter that wasn't "M" , so I picked "N". And wouldn't you know it, Neko is the word for Cat in Japanese. I just love cats, and had these wonderful Cat stamps from Hanko Rubber Stamps that I absolutely LOVE. They remind me of my cat, Oreo. And this was a perfect chance to use them all.

I cut the "n" out of chipboard, then covered it with Bazzill red paper. Then doodled the white pawprints and cat face on there with a white pen. I was amazed that out of all the bajillion rubber stamps that I own, not one pawprint stamp in the lot of them. LOL

I also used that Tim Holtz tea dye ink pad to antique the edges of the card and the letter "n". I kind of like it. :)

More Stamping...

Did some more stamping today, got the Asian themed ATC and the Alphabet ATC done. But since I can't scan them till tomorrow, you all can look at my inspiration for the Alphabet ATC... my cat Oreo! :)

Hopefully I will work on part of the quote ATC tonight. I had an idea, but had to change it.