Friday Fill-in #152

I have one more comment for the evening. Well, not a comment, exactly, it's the Friday Fill-In. I thought it might help me relax after my debacle with Blogspot.
1. Wait! Wait, don't forget that you swore you would never throw your computer out the window again!!!
2. Have a cold beer, followed at once by a shot of 100-year old whiskey.
3. The trouble is I think I sat on my screwdriver.
4. Sometimes my mind is many miles away.
5. With a faint pop I found my screwdriver.
6. The soup I made for supper was unfortunately quite shadowy and ominous.
7. And for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to logging off this monstrous machine, tomorrow my plans include shovelling snow and Sunday I want to relax and do absolutely nothing I have to do.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

TGIF

I know, I know, EVERYONE says this come the end of the week. But I really really really mean it, as I am so grateful I don't need to drive into work tomorrow. We had a snowstorm today...early this afternoon I was hanging around outside, with no coat on, then BAM. We got slammed. It took me 2.5 hours to get home, a route which usually takes 20 minutes. I had the traffic report on in the truck, "almost 50 cars in the ditch, the north highway is closed, a 15-car pileup on McNight..."...when they said "there are too many accidents to report, we give up", I knew I was hooped.
I was in 4-wheel drive, so I wasn't spinning out like most others on the road, but it didn't make any difference, as I had nowhere to go. Cars to the right of me, cars to the left of me. Isn't that a song?
I've posted a mini-album here for the Opus challenge #34 Sweetie Pie. Check this site out, the ladies are a hoot and have both wonderful talents to share, as well as a great sense of humour! here
As an aside, Blogspot is terrorizing me tonight, won't let me add more than one photo to this post, and shuts down when I try to add more. As a last resort, I've put the pics in Smilebox. It was a fun challenge, as all the Poobah's are!

My Angel

I love angels. I used to collect them, but I realized some time ago that collections just get dusty. And I don't dust. This excludes of course scrapbooking supplies. And my albums. They don't get dusty. Neither scrapbooking supplies, nor my albums. Even if they did I would not care. So I guess it's all about what one WANTS to collect. At any rate, I no longer collect angels. Nor teddy bears. I just collect scrapbooking supplies. And they do not count.

Caroline Ikeli Scrapjacked

I really like the Scrapjacked site.
here The challenges are always so inspiring and wide open to interpretation, which works well for me. This month is no exception. I'll bet there is no one on their DT who is old enough to remember Mr. Bill from the early days of Saturday Night Live, but he was one of my favorites (in what was often a drug-induced haze) Those of you who DO remember him however, will be happy to hear that on this summer's Route 66 Road Trip, he neither was run over by a semi, fell off a cliff, nor was he caught in the jaws of a rapid dog. Mr Bill lives another day!

Some details as promised

Just a note

I've switched up the background of my blog. The last one, as much as I liked it, made me nauseous every time I looked at it. Too bright. So this one is a bit more subdued.My word for 2009 is CALM. I feel that now. That's the point of having a word.
I guess, now that 2009 is almost over, I no longer need to be calm? That opens up a number of possibilities.
And before I leave, here is an ATC canvas I've just completed. I love it and my daughter asked me why I wouldn't make her one? A. Not that I wouldn't and B. She's never wanted anything I've made before. I may. Details of a few of the ATC's are on the next post.

Mojo Therapy

I haven't done the Mojo challenge for awhile, no good reason, just doin' other stuff. I do love their challenges and their DT's work. I did one for the "Therapy" challenge this month tho-my therapy would be my friends. Sometimes they are f2f friends, sometimes friends via email, sometimes it's friends who visit my blog. Heck, sometimes it's my cat.
What else can I say? You do the best ya can with what ya have.

Weekend is over

and it has been a wonderful one!
I spent a few hours today downtown taking pictures-the new Christmas Holt Renfrew windows are done and they are SPECTACULAR!!! So edgy and really beautiful. Apparently the designers are world-renowned-it's easy to see why.
I've spent the past week going through all my art supplies and culling them. Now I know what I have and I realize I must attend a 12-step meeting for this addiction that's become so obvious to me. BUT the thing is, I love having all these options at my fingertips. It's not like I'm taking the glimmer mist out of the mouth of some child in Biafra. OK, I KNOW that was not politically correct. I knew that as I was writing it. But I have no self-control. No addict does.
Anyways, once I got organized, I put my mind to the task of finishing up all the little albums I started and then never finished for one reason or another. I got most of them completed. It was fun, there was a little book of Hoops and Yoyo in Cuba that I really enjoyed doing. I did an awesome (if I do say so myself)
dressmaker's bust with these detailed golden wings I got in Edmonton. I took pics of it but the main one is really crummy, so I'll have to redo it. I'm so proud of it, can hardly wait to show it off.
Did I mention I even gathered up ALL of my buttons and put them in one tin? Yes, one tin. It's a big tin and I'm pretty sure if I ever get really bored, I can cover the truck in buttons. Completely.
Hmmmmmmmmmm...

Nature

What do I see out my window? It varies, from day to day, sometimes moment to moment.
The year I came to thia city, from an island where snow was a rarity, we had 40 degrees below zero and 25 degrees above in the span of a few weeks. so as much as we complain about the weather, wait five minutes. It'll change. tonight it's clear, not too awfully cold and the stars go on forever. Pretty good.

Yes, I did.

I caved. I went down and got my sheets and made the darn bed. My mother's voice was in my ear and she wouldn't shut up! We all know the kinds of things she was saying...how could you, have you no shame, yada, yada, yada.
I slept well last night.
This LO was taken in the Grand Canyon during a Canon photography class one morning.
We got to try out their equipment (Yes!) and had the benefit of a cute instructor.
He told the girl to leap and leap she did. I think she had such an easy time of it, jumping so high because the day before, we finally did some laundry. Laundry when you're on the road is a big deal. Trust me, a BIG deal. So she is really jumping for joy that we had some clean clothes. (Note the laundry line at the bottom of the page.)
Laundry. It seems to be the flavour of the day. Let's hope I've got it out of my system by the next time I post. :-))

Laundry

I have no sheets on my bed. The sheets are in the laundry. My bedroom is on the second floor. The dryer is in the basement. That is two, count em, two floors down.
Shall I simply go to bed and get the sheets tomorrow? Or shall I do the right thing and go downstairs, all the way down two flights of stairs, to get them?
I'm leaning towards no sheets. It's not like anyone would know. Well, yes, YOU'LL know, but you'll keep it to yourself, won't you? I trust you, after all.
I live alone... No child to impress, to husband to complain...It's unlikely there will be a fire tonight and even if there were, I doubt the firemen would really care THAT much if they rushed upstairs to put the flames out and discovered I am sleeping in a bed with no sheets. (Ooooh, firemen are SO hot.)
I'll bet elephants don't worry about sheets on THEIR beds.
Stay tuned.

Eye Candy!

I was visiting blogs from the Opus clan tonight and fell in love with this lady's pretty pretty work: here. She's very talented!

Hey Good Lookin!

I'm back home. Home sweet home. I was so inspired after my class at Treasured Memories, I only just got my coat off and started doing some more painted backgrounds. Lisa you rock!!
This LO is for the Opus Poobahs this week and is about my daughter's FIRST meal she cooked for me at her FIRST home away from home. It was to die for-chicken and dumplings. I'm so impressed. And while I'm at it, the girl of mine got a $1000.00 scholarship, the only one in the city to receive it! Now if that isn't something special! I told her to treat herself and buy a box of M&M steaks. (Not that she can't cook, we all know THAT now). I don't know if she will, but she deserves every sweet thing that comes her way! Way to go, K!

Edmonton

I'm in my hotel room with my teeny-tiny laptop-Second time only in my (long) life that I've had a room with one bed only and I just dumped my Diet Pepsi all over it. Aargh. Oh well, I'm too tired to care. I got a TON of food at Tony Roma's and brought it back to the room. I am stuffed. I have a class in the morning and was going to go to the Farmer's Market first, but decided to sleep in instead and have a leisurely buffet breakfast. Nice. Now I'm turning in to my wet bed. If the pop dries and I get stuck to the bed, will the maid free me in the morning? Maybe I should take the deadbolt off...

Weather

What's the deal with weather? I always seem to want it to be different. It was 114 degrees in Vegas this summer-too hot. We were a few miles away from a tornado near Denver-too wet. A few years ago, there was a twister not far from us in Brooklyn-I was bitching about the humidity. And tonight it's SO Cold out! Although a month from now it will be 40 degrees colder, so heaven only knows what my problem is. Still I whine. In a couple of days I'll be up north in Edmonton, wonder what I'll complain about there? Naaaah, the hotel has a sauna. :-)
This photo was taken two summers ago in Newark. It rained EVERY SINGLE DAY (there I go again) except the afternoon of the seaside wedding we went to. It was perfect! So why should I complain? Because I do, that's why. It gives my life meaning. tee hee

BTW, isn't that a terrific umbrella? I spotted that in Orillia, Ontario. On a bright sunny day.
Go figure.

No fall this year

I'm so sad, the leaves got brown and fell off the trees before they had a chance to put their petty autumn party dreeses on so we could all GET DOWN! in the colours.
Winter coats in the morning, t-shrts by afternoon. retarded weather.
At any rate, I pulled out my album from last year and went through it for a colour fix. it helped. Hence the LO from October (2008) Aututmn colours make me so happy. I am happy now. I pray that you are too. Or at least, if you are not happy right now, I hope you are feeling peace.

Palm Springs here I come

I love the States. All of them. So I'm looking forward to my trip to CA in January. I know, I know, it's a long time away, but IT IS BOOKED. That's the important thing. I honestly think that half the fun of travelling is looking forward to it, then another half is being there and the last half is enjoying the memories. OK. I failed Math. Numerous times. I don't care, I'm excited. Can I maintain this excitement for the next three months? No problem.

Customer Service

You know, sometimes I want to rip people's heads off. Like when someone has 18 items in the express line, or when a company treats me badly and really doesn't care.
I'm feeling that way about Kodak right now. First, many months ago they mixed up my order REALLY badly. So badly in fact, that I swore I would never deal with them again. But then I got an email saying "We're sorry, we've had some glitches and we fixed them, here is a $10.00 credit for you, please give us another chance. So (against my better judgement), I placed an order. No credit. Nowhere. I emailed them and they said it expired on October 5th. I received the email at the end of October. I sent them their own email which says it expires November 5th. They write me back and say so sorry, it's a glitch, here's a $10.00 credit. I lose it with them and point out that I didn't start this, they did and they owe me $10.00. They write me back saying have a nice day and thank you for choosing Kodak. WHICH I DIDN'T!!!!
Anyways, that's where it was left. I was hyperventilating.
I pick up my order the next day, get home, sit down to look at my pictures, and IT'S SOMEONE ELSE'S ORDER!!!!!!
I haven't emailed them again.
I got the name of the chairman of the board and the Senior VP of Sales and Marketing and their address in Rochester NY and I am going to give them a blow-by-blow recap of this crap.
I feel apoplectic. Breathe in, Breathe out. Give me strength.

Tom the Turkey

This is my contribution to Opus' Tom the Turkey challenge, using Kristen's terrific image of this friendly little guy. Our Thanksgiving has come and gone in this neck of the woods, but there's never a bad time to be grateful. That's how I try to start my days, with a gratitude list. After that I ask for help to be kind, compassionate, tolerant and loving towards all I meet. I usually do really well with this until I leave the house. (and I live alone) From that point on, if I hit one out of four, it's a good day. Progress, not perfection.

In withdrawal

I've done no art this week. I was SO Tired at the beginning of the week that I knew I had to make some decisions.
I have gone to bed early every night this week, except tonight and tomorrow I can sleep in a couple of hours. I told the prison I woudn't be there until 10ish.
The darn cat has put her butt on my computer mouse. ARRGGHHH. MOVE, CAT!
So I had to get some kind of an art fix and went to the Fifth Birthday Party of Art Central, a group of studios that open their galleries to everyone for free each Thursday night. It's called First Thursday. Tonight the ACAD art students put on a fashion show of wearable art. It was awesome. I saw lots of interesting work, and especially some excellent encaustic art. I love that.
But it's time to go to bed. Good night John Boy. Goodnight Jim Bob. Goodnight Mary Ellen. Goodnight Moon.

Way tired tonight

I am just BAGGED. I have concluded I am simply too old to work any more than 10 hours in one day.
Good night.

HAPPY BELLY BUTTON DAY!

Drove to Lethbridge today to wish my girl a happy birthday (for tomorrow). She was busy with a customer when I went into her store, and when done, looked up at me and said "Hello, may I help??!" The look on her face was worth the 430km round-trip drive.(I think)
Before I left, I downloaded a pile of Ephemera from here
I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER WORK!!!
So now that I'm home, it seemed like the right thing to do to make a celebratory ATC for my sweet daughter. 19 years old! I'm so glad I gave birth to her when I was 11.
Have a super day tomorrow, girl. Love you.

Apples of my Eye! - #30

Oh my, I look forward to the Opus Gluei Challenges! This one involves apples and in honour of it, I just ate an apple. Well, not really. I was hungry. I did enjoy doing the LO though. I love harvest time.
The good news is I got up this morning and got under the hood of my truck and fixed my burnt-out tail light issue. Myself!!! I am so proud of myself! I dug around until I found the burnt-out fuse (which I thought was the problem) and I replaced it. Not a big deal to most people probably, but it is to me.
So it's been a great day today.
Happy Halloween!

pulled over by the RCMP tonight

for having no taillights on the truck. who Knew. I thought he would give me a warning instead of the ticket, cus I was SO surprised, but he didn't. Gave me a full-fledged ticket. The bum. Maybe he'll run into a moose on the way back to his detachment. OK, that was wrong. A squirrel. Maybe he'll run into a squirrel. It wouldn't have a effect I'm hoping for though.
Note the car. This little ride-on lawnmower was parked out front of our house the other day and I simply HAD to take a photo of it. Can you imagine this in a car chase? I would win, hands down. Too bad it wasn't the city police who pulled me over. I could have outrun them.

FRIDAY FILL INS:
It was a dark and stormy night under the stairs in my furnace room.
My cat was busy hiding in the Xmas decorations under the stairway in the furnace room, so I offered to take the books myself.
Rushing out, I tripped over the snow shovel I had left by the front door.
Oh crap,I think I heard a howl!
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh, maybe it won't notice me.
Listen you cretin, I said to the child dressed as a little witch, "Give me something good to eat"
As for the weekend tonight I'm looking forward to an uninterrupted sleep, tomorrow my plans include getting the taillights working on my truck, and Sunday I want to make sure I remember to set the clocks back so I don't end up at work an hour early!

Halloween Warning!!

This is really important!!! Do Not, I repeat: Do Not leave alcohol near your pumpkins!!! You could be very sorry if you do!

Scrapperlicious Giveaway!!!

Irene Tan has a scrapperlicious giveaway at the Crop Spot happening right now
here
Her talent alone is worth checking it out, the giveaway is just a bonus. I love her style, she has NEVER, and I mean NEVER made anything I haven't loved. You will too!

Computers!!!

I've spent the last few hours trying to sort some things out on my puter. Nuff Said. I feel like the little boy in this pic.
Other than that, it's been a bonnie weekend. Spent some time yesterday and today at the Digital Photo Expo, and took some terrific classes. Plus I got a great deal on a camera bag, so now I don't need to carry my equipment in my Betty Boop backpack anymore. I feel like such a grown-up!

The Shining

Do you remember the movie "The Shining"? I do, scary-scary. I took this photo of the Prince of Wales, which at the time, had just been boarded up for the winter, and couldn't get the movie out of my mind. It's just SO "The Shining"! Spooky, kind of magical, I think. When we looked in the windows, the furniture was covered with sheets...you just know there is someone or something living in there that was waiting for everyone to leave at the end of the season so it could.........

My Kindergarten Grad

Is it really possible to have some meories for over 50 years ago? Cus I do. I remember dancing around with scarves at my greaduation ceremony at age 5. I also remember being happy. Things were so much simpler then.
Not that I'm not happy today. I am, I'm just too tired to enjoy it. Getting up early again tomorrow, although not as early as 4:30 AM. Good night.

It's late

and I must get to bed. Need to be up at 4:30 to pick up some staff and go out of town for drug court training. It will be worth it, but I can't promise anything uplifting about my mood. Heck, I'm driving, I don't need to be pleasant. They're young and perky, I may have to hurt them if they are too perky. I hate perky. Of course it's Friday, which is always a happy day, so I can do anything for 8 or 10 hours.
Good night, I shouldn't make it any worse than it could be through lack of sleep.

Jackrabbit

We found this early one morning somewhere in Arizona. I had read about the giant jackrabbit on some Route 66 website before we left on our Great Canadian road trip this summer, and we arrived very early in the morning, before it was open, or for that matter, before anyone was up. That allowed us to be silly. I won't post the picture of me up on that giant rodent, (I needed help getting down after a fairly feeble EEHAW!?! but as you can see, the girl had a blast. I used Virtual Studio on the print, because it makes me think of an old Poloroid photo in a kind of whacked-out-maybe-it-fell-in-a-vat-of-hot-steaming-toxic-chemicals-kind of way. Try to say that fast five times while patting your head and rubbing your tunmmy. If you can do it successfully, send me your email and I'll send you something very special and very valuable. But be honest, because I have cameras hidden everywhere. Everywhere.

Kara Haupt's class

I found this cool blog here
and took an online class from her. In spite of dropping my camera in the lake when I went out for the day to take picutres for this album, I enjoyed the whole class. I pretty much made the album without many pictures, kind of used other things. Well, ya makes do with whats ya gots. At any rate, check out her blog, she's young and very talented.

Fall in Love Album

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dare 53: I wish

I quit my Bollywood clases. I am simply TOO clumsy and my already fragile self-esteem could handle it no longer. It got to the point where the instructor wouldn't even look me in the eye anymore and I was in the front row, directly in front of him!
To get to this point, I had to bash myself mercilessly for being too unncoordinated, too fat, tool old, blah, blah, blah. But then, I discovered Rebecca's Dare
here and was able, through the planning and execution of my LO, to purge my Bollywood demons. I feel better now. I can't dance, but I do some other things very well. And I'm OK with that. Bless you Rebecca.

Magic

So I checked in at Opus a little while ago and learned that they are looking for a magical submission. I had been thinking about making a card for a little girl and lo and behold, what an opportunity! Plus, it was make the card or clean the oven. duh. So the card is made!

Chinook!

After all my whining this week about the crummy weather (aka snow), we have a Chinook. This guarantees warmer weather on the way. This is a picture of part of it. Basically, it's a huge arc of clouds across the city, something to do with the mountains west of us. Whatever the reason, it makes me very happy.

Learning to Link

Sweet Gini from Opus has given me some info on how to post a link, so I am going to give it my best shot. God willing, this will take you to the Order (my favorite, the bestest blog I know): here
Enjoy!

Opus Blue

I just edited 800 photos. Too many. My brain is fried. I took some and had them printed at Costco. Wow, very impressive! I think I'll do some more. tee hee

Opus asked for "Blue" this week, and "Blue" it is (mostly). I did this for a Bliss challenge awhile back and never noticed that I had a typo on the words on the photograph. How embarrassing. So I reprinted the photo the other night and corrected it. I like it much better now.

"Blueeeeeeeooooo".....do I sound like Joni Mitchell?

Warming Up

There is a Chinook Arch in the sky, the snow should all be gone soon. Life is back to normal :-)

One more day in the work week left, that makes me happy. It seems I'm not keeping up these days, but I just need to acknowledge that and move on. Then it will be OK. There's a little healthy self-talk there. I should listen to me.

That's a wrap.

Traffic Chaos!

says the headline. My job is to find a way into work that does not involve a hill. The radio reports that paramedics and the police are busy, I see fire trucks blocking some lanes. There are two buses stuck at the top of the hill just north of work, luckily, I can turn off and go in another way.

I hear there is an 8-car pile-up on 14th, better not go that way. A car is facing backwards on the Calf Robe. Deerfoot is a parking lot. For hours. HOURS. I give thanks for my 4x4 and horn.

Cars are littered alongside the road, no one is going over 15 MPH.

Winter happens every year. Why is it that every year, the first snowfall breeds a nightmare on the streets of my city?

God, I wish I lived in Bermuda.

Thanksgiving

I've had turkey twice this weekend.  (URP!)

and didn't have to do dishes either time.  Could life be any better?  Having had a break for three days from the daily grind, I am now willing to go back to work and do it all again tomorrow.

It's been nice to have the girl in town for the long weekend, she goes home tomorrow morning.  I hope the snow stops and that she has a safe drive back home.

It's REALLY cold now, apparently at the Waterton gates it was minus 22 yesterday.  How rude is that????

It is however supposedly going to be 19 degrees ABOVE zero by the weekend. that's Celsius.  What is that in English?  65?  Oh, who knows, at least it's warmer.

Only in Canada do we make the kids' Halloween costumes big enough to go over parkas.  ;-)

Opus Scrapjacked

I shop at a store called Scrapbooker's Bliss and they have terrific LO's on display.  Everyone who works there is very talented.  I scraplifted this LO from one done by Teresa, when I first saw hers, I thought it was brilliant.  I made a couple of changes in that I used photos for the trees and photos across the bottom.  But Teresa takes all the credit for the design!

It's winter!!!!!

Jeez Louise, it was in the 90's two week's ago and it's minus 16 tonight. Has the world gone mad? I'm sorry, I can't listen to this global warming drivel ANY MORE!

I drove to Drum Wednesday and in a blinding white out, stopped to take some pictures. Later on, further down the highway, I pulled over cus I could not see to drive, and noticed that the entire right side of the truck was covered in hard ice. Thick hard ice.

It's just silly.

I am, however in a better frame of mind tonight. My girl came to visit and we went out to buy her some clothes for a birthday gift. We went to a new huge mall outside of the city and had a blast. Found some good deals (ie that I could afford) on some funky stuff and a couple of really nice tops for me. entire shops 40% off? I'll be back.

Then when we left there was another snowstorm and that's poopy cus we need to take the highway back. But we made it. Kaitlin said it's all arranged by the mall so that we panic and start to Christmas shop.

I had my overnight staff quit last night with no notice. Called in drunk. Well duh, at least he had the presence of mind to know that he couldn't supervise a bunch of violent offenders in that state.

So I had to do some fancy footwork and my awesome staff stepped up to the plate to keep the joint running for the week. It looks like I have someone to interview first thing Tuesday AM.

If you're American, this weekend is OUR Thanksgiving. The cook of course, is still sick. So I went in tonight and cooked the turket et al. I was a hit, I'm a fine cook.

Long day

NO cook today for the 3rd day in a row. She called me tonight while I was still at work after 12 hours and said she's not coming in again tomorrow. I about bit her head off.

We had a memorial service tonight for one of our peer support group members whose husband died in jail. Corrections took the money he made working inside to pay for his own funeral.

So sad.

That's about all I have for tonight.

Good grief.

Monday

Once, when my girl was little, we were wondering out loud what it would be like to be a cat. Specifically, to eat with one's face. without hands. the way cats do.

So, we invited our friends over (because of course you never want to do these sorts of things alone) and I made a big pot of spaghetti and we set the table for supper. Then we wrapped ourselves with big black garbage bags (in lieu of big black bibs) and with our hands behind our backs, dug in.

If there is anything to be learned from such an experiment, it's that you should never eat spaghetti like a cat in a kitchen with white walls.

And that, my friends, is today's lesson.

As always

my day is ending and it's time for me to say goodnight.

It's been a good day, first, lfelt-making class, then Kailtin showed up, then out for supper then I almost finished my I Love Fall book. There is only one more page to complete. That page is a piece of felt I made in class, and I've glimmer misted it and shall embroider it. I love surface embellishment.

These two ATC's were an afterthough for the day, I felt like doing something before I do go to bed and that's what I've come up with.

That's a wrap.

BLING!!!!

This will be a short post for tonight, only enough to post my Opus BLING submission. I did my first felt making class today (and loved it, I might add) and have been working on my Fall In Love book since I got home. Look at the time! Have to be up early for tomorrow's class, so I need to turn in.

Since I haven't had access to a camera, I've had to do a digital LO this week and it's far from as blingee

as I would have done otherwise. I guess the good thing about it is that I learned how to do a circle of embellishments. I enjoyed doing it nonetheless. We can pretend it's real bling.

Just lke we're pretending you can actually be a rock star with a tuba.

Right.