the week in review

white pine
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

This past week has been a whirlwind. Busy at work, busy in life. It was more about getting out than staying home for once.

I went to a Clippers baseball game with the hubby and 3 of my girlfriends. It was dime-a-dog night! Funny how a generic hot dog tastes SO good in the right setting (and with the right beverage).

Tuesday was a much-anticipated event with some more girlfriends. It was the inaugural outing for FORK. My friend Jenny concocted this scheme for us girls to visit a new restaurant every month. There are a lot of rules. You can invite your "others" (other friends outside of our little circle), but no boys. "Others," as we call them, have become more important in the past few years. Everyone has others, but you can't talk about them, because your inner circle will get jealous. Well, no more. The Others have been outed. They are welcome in the circle (they always were... we just make a bigger deal about it now!) And Others can be so much fun! Even if they are your classier and smarter friends, they still know good dirt on you to share with the inner circle! (muhaha!!) So anyway, I got out of the house on Tuesday and it was fun.

On Wednesday, we stayed home. The hubby and I yacked it up in the garage watching a storm. It's funny, sometimes we just like to sit and talk about life, work, family, our past, gossip, etc. And when we do, it seems like we've been moving so fast, that we haven't talked in ages! It's fun being married. I have a good team. :-)

Thursday evening was also at home, but one of John's friends came by for dinner. So at least we felt like we were socializing.

The other thing about Thursday... it was my first day with the PEDOMETER. My work has a new program where we are challenged to walk 10,000 steps every day through the end of the summer. I think, "I walk a lot, I bet I can do that lickety-split." Uh... day one, not so good. I had walked 4,000 steps by the time I got home. I am looking at the darn thing thinking, "GREAT! now I have to go for a really big walk... and I don't.have.time." So I went for a 3 mile walk to get all my steps in. Mind you, I had already worked out that day, but I had to get all my "clicks" in. By the time I did some more housework (upstairs, basement, back again, inside, outside, kitchen, bedroom, etc.) I was at 11,400 steps for the day. I'd better be svelte by the end of the summer.

It's been a good week. I'm tired in a happy way. Happy Friday. How was your week?

go clippers

We went to dime-a-dog night tonight with the girls to see the Clippers. They won... we ate a lot of hot dogs. It was fun. :-) Night night.

yellow in the garden

yellow in the garden
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

I got a new book for digital scrappin' inspiration: Digital Designs for Scrapbooking by Renee Pearson. The book is the nuts and bolts of making digital pages. The designs are simple... an excellent starting point for anyone.

This page is a "scraplift" of one of Renee's designs in that book. I think I have a few more tweaks to it... but mostly I like how it turned out. Sometimes I get a little crazy with the papers and textures... but for this one I intentionally kept the color scheme simple and the backgrounds muted so the photos would stand out. (And believe me, I had to change it a few times in talking myself out of the busy backgrounds.)

The journaling isn't the best. What can I say? I have a one-track mind. Either I'm thinking design and color or I'm thinking in words... I can't do both at the same time.

Ah well, it's a start.

The only purchased element here is the yellow print on the top. It's from ACOT.

just be

just be
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Nowadays I just like being home. I like not having to go anywhere, not having anything I HAVE to get done. I like watching things grow. And believe me, there is plenty growing here. I like that there is always something to do - work and fun. I like coming home to my husband... even when he's ornery.

The past couple weekends we have spent at home and we LOVE it. Starting the day off right by making coffee, filling the bird feeder, and cranking up the iPod.

We're pretty sure our house is a castle... so please don't let us find out it's not. :-)

one year

On Sunday we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. Time flies, doesn't it?
Bill and Theresa have kept the top of our wedding cake in their freezer for a year now. They brought it to us over the weekend. We dug into it after dinner tonight. From the horror stories we have heard about year old wedding cake... I have to say, this one still had some life in it!

Happy anniversary, hubby. I love you.

pie irons

When we had our bonfire in West Virginia, it was the first chance to use Dad's new pie irons. The old ones were apparently made of aluminum, and if left in the fire too long, WOULD MELT. Just ask my brother...

So we made delicious pizzas and cherry pies in the pie irons. (I mean, is there anything better than pizzas, hot dogs, and marshmallows over an open fire?!) In the process, one of the pins fell out of one of the irons. Since my dad is retired, he had time to email the pie iron company and ask for a replacement pin.

Now these folks produce a product that isn't very expensive. Their product line isn't that extensive (although, bigger than you might expect it to be). And their repeat customer base probably isn't that great. But one of their employees took the time to send my dad a gracious email and provide a solution that was more than what he asked for:

Hi Paul,

Thanks for writing and sorry to hear about the pin falling out. Sometimes when we hear about a pin coming out of the iron, the pin was actually missing when the item was made and escaped our quality check. Although a replacement pin can be sent, it may not hold as well as if it were assembled here - so my suggestion is that we send you two new pins + a replacement square pie iron. Best case scenario, you'll have two square pie irons in great shape and the worst case is you'll have a replacement for the bad one.

We'll ship it via UPS in the next couple of days.

Best regards,
Michael

Now doesn't that just warm your heart like a cherry pie fresh off the campfire?! I think the Pie Iron people should make (or at least service) cars and medical devices... what do you think?

Check out what else these folks offer for you campers out there...
http://www.pieiron.com/

Happy trails...

deep thoughts

I have deep thoughts all day long. When I find time to sit down and blog, my brain is fried and nothing comes.

But I haven't blogged in a few days, so here is an update.

We are wanting to finish our basement, right? We are saving money to have it contracted out so it's done RIGHT. Well... savings takes time. IN THE MEANTIME... there is a ton of unused space in the basement that I could totally take over for scrappin. So I made John set up the drafting table my brother got me. It's FABULOUS. THE THING for scrapbooking. PLUS, being in the basement, I can go down there and make a huge mess and LEAVE IT. I got a layout done over the weekend. I know you are thinking, "one whole layout, eh?"... but that's a lot for summer when I'm typically on hiatus from scrappin'. (I can't believe I am posting photos of my skanky basement. Never was a hole in the ground loved so much! Hehehe. Look how messy it is. John's just glad it's not the kitchen table!) Check out the rest of the pics on flickr.

I dragged Jenny to the market on Saturday around 7:30am. Yeah, it doesn't open that early, but if I'm up, I need some Starbucks. So off we went. Lots of beautiful plants at the market. Also nabbed some fresh strawberries and tomatoes. Didn't get enough tomatoes, we have already devoured them. I also got a lavender plant and pulled up some dead-looking phlox to make room for it in the front flower bed. Not like I needed any more plants... but it's LAVENDER. yum yum.

The other reason we had to go to the market so early was so I could hit the yard sales in my neighborhood at 9am. It was pouring the rain down by then. But it was community yard sale day, so I wanted to show my support. Sh-yeah. I just wanted cheap junk. I couldn't believe what I scored! Lots of scrapbooking stuff. A brand new artsy scrapbook for a dollar and plenty of unused papers and stickers. I also got a 3-drawer storage bin that was perfect for my new craft area. $3!!! So guess what I'm doing this Saturday morning? Oh yeah... just gotta figure out where the good sales are.

It's also our anniversary this year. Wow, time flies. And I can't believe we still like each other. For real... we are special people... :-) I'm just kiddin'. I love that dude.

Aunt Emmy's Peonies

During Memorial weekend in West Virginia, as we drove by an old homeplace, Mom pointed out that there were peonies growing, even though the house was gone. That's some determination, I tell ya.

The house is long gone. There is part of the fence and some of the foundation remaining. The woods has overtaken the yard and I'm sure there are snakes, though luckily, I didn't see any.

The house belonged to Aunt Emmy and Uncle Homer. According to my mom:

Aunt Emma (Emma Corella) was a sister to your great grandmother Lilly Rosella (Sumpter) on your Pappaw’s side. Their maiden name was Norman. Emma was married to Homer Beall. Uncle Homer was Mammaw’s uncle – a brother to your other great grandmother Allie Beall Alltop (Mammaw’s mother). So they were related on both sides. Aunt Emma and Uncle Homer took in most of the orphaned children that were left parentless due to tuberculosis. (Photo of Frank and Lilly Sumpter on their 50th wedding anniversary in 1952.)

In a time when we are warned of the dangers of West Nile virus and avian flu outbreaks, it's interesting to think of the impact that tuberculosis had on our families back in the early 20th century (at least in the midwest and Appalachia). TB took my Mammaw's mother and her two brothers early in their lives. And she herself did a stint in one of the sanitariums in West Virginia - Hopemont. The sanitarium was strategically located at a high altitude where the air was cooler because this was thought to help the patients.

At any rate, it certainly makes you thankful for the advances in medicine over the last century that have helped us to find better vaccines, treatments, and cures for diseases. I'm sure thankful to still have most of my family members in my life... and for the time I got to spend with those who are gone.

roughin' it

We went to West Virginia for Memorial weekend. 3 day weekends are a good time to head down there to hang with the family. My parents (and other family members) own a lot of land. My dad has a hunting "cabin" that we refer to as "the cabin". It's not really anything like a cabin. It's a mini-house that was expanded from 12' x 12' with a loft to 12' x 36' with bunk beds for all and a giant back porch. (This means my husband and sister-in-law can listen to my entire family snore at once!)

We ride 4-wheelers, snap pictures, play cornhole, take little hikes, and most importantly: build a bonfire and drink! We have s'mores, pizzas, cherry pies, and South Dakota pheasant cooked in the embers at the bonfire. Theresa has discovered that wine in a box travels well on the 4-wheeler with some tie-downs. We use the 4-wheeler as a buffet . . . very ingenious of us. Bill caught some fish at our little pond, but none big enough to cook. (Dad claims these are disease and chemical-free fish.)

So after a weekend like that, I'm shocked that I am not scorched. It's no secret: I'm pale. When I buy make-up, it's called "Dead White Pale." So I spent the whole memorial weekend out in the sun playing cornhole and riding the 4-wheeler in a tank top. I used a generic brand (aka $4) sunscreen that contains Parsol, which blocks UVA rays (in addition to the UVB rays that most sunscreens contain). I'd heard this on some news program, but I'm happy to report that it is true! I may have re-applied only once. (I wasn't swimming, so I can't speak to that.) WebMD has more information on sun protection, including a better description on Parsol.

There is much more to tell, I'm sure. But it will have to wait for another time. I must finish uploading the pics and then off to bed.

random day off

I'm recovering from the weekend in Windsor with the girlies. We took tons of pics... see them on flickr.

So today was just wrapping up the normal household chores. I did some laundry and went for a walk this morning. Then picked up Panera for Jenny and the crew in her lab. Amy and I delivered that for a little treat... something different! It was fun to see Jenny in the middle of the day and see where she works. (It looks so high-tech!!)

I had an acupuncture appointment this afternoon. That felt good and will hopefully keep my chi flowing freely for another four weeks or so! Then home to work on my home's chi... pulled some weeds and worked in the yard a bit. More laundry. Made dinner for the hubby. Then he mowed and we did more yard work.

After that, he suggested that we go together to drop off the recycling and maybe grab a milkshake on the way home. WELL... the kia wouldn't start after we dumped the recyclables... I mean, it had just started and now it was done. DONE. So we called Becka and Jari to come pick us up. Grr... darn car.

New books came today from Amazon... I'm pretty excited! These should elevate my expertise in my hobbies. (haha) If I ever have time again to get back to these hobbies again. It always feels this way in the summer... I abandon my indoor hobbies in favor of spending time outside.

For scrapbooking I got Ali Edward's A Designer's Eye for Scrapbooking. And for photography and digital scrapbooking I got The Photoshop Elements 4 Book for Digital Photographers.

It has been a glorious day off. Beautiful weather, got a lot of chores done, and spend time with friends and hubby. Blech... I don't even wanna know right now what my email inbox at work looks like!

n'night...

Unbelievable

19. Unbelievable
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We did a photographic scavenger hunt around Windsor today. This was our list:

1. House of Worship
2. Good Things
3. Small Packages
4. Change
5. Fragrance
6. Media
7. On The Road
8. Unusual
9. Paper
10. Group
11. In The Sky
12. Indulgence
13. Trend
14. In The News
15. Animal
16. Broken
17. Structure
18. Fresh Food
19. Unbelievable
20. Rock
21. Cameraphone
22. Street Lights
23. Celebrate
24. Fun
25. Black and White
26. Noise

Can I say... this was a TON of fun! It was the perfect list for this trip.

We started the day with coffee (of course). And then we happened by the Windsor Visitor's Bureau where we totally got the hook-up on what to see and do. We had lunch at Patrick O'Ryan's, a cool Irish pub. Then we walked along the riverfront where we actually took most of the pictures today. We buzzed into the Casino just long enough to lose a little bit of money each. We knew that our "indulgence" photos were going to be a little dessert outing, so we did that on the way back to our hotel at a little place called Plunkett's.

Back at the room, just enough time to upload the pics, blog a little, and get ready for an evening out!

On the Road

7. On the Road
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We arrived in Windsor last night. Pretty short trip for going to another country with different currency and a whole new language. Di Giorno pizza isn't delivery in Canada, it's Delicio. Mazda is "Maaazda". Our television remote at the hotel was bloody buggered.

We went to a bar called Treehouse. It was mildly entertaining. Kids today... geesh! We had some yummy shawarma rolls at a little restaurant across from the hotel - yummers!

Then off to bed... and we're spending the morning gettin' ready. I hope there is coffee in my immediate future.

toodles...

Autism Awareness Month

John's fam
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

John's nephew Caden has been diagnosed as autistic and started going to a special school where they are working very closely with him. Since it's autism awareness month, I thought I would dedicate a blog to him.

It's uncanny how many folks our age have kids with autistic spectrum disorders. A friend I grew up with has a little boy who may be autistic. It certainly makes you wonder what-if for your own unhatched children when it happens to family and friends.

We asked Caden's mom, Sherrie, a crapload of questions over the weekend. It's hard to get used to living in Caden's world. He doesn't comprehend HOT. So we have to be extra careful with the stove. And he loves, LOVES lining things up. But his teachers are trying to break him of that obsessive behavior, so you have to shout "Mess it up!" to get him to stop. (Which means he tosses everything... so careful when you yell this!)

While learning may be a challenge, he's certainly very bright. He must have a photographic memory. He can memorize a puzzle at first sight. And he memorized his magnetic alphabet board on his own and can put the letters back on lickety-split.

In this photo, he had collected all the numbers and was arranging them on the stairs IN ORDER. It is fascinating to watch. He hasn't been taught numbers and letters yet. He just sees them in order and memorizes where they go. If only I could remember stuff like that!

Caden is a sweet kid. He tolerates his aunts and uncles smothering him with hugs and kisses and I've never seen him throw a tantrum. He has come so far in 4 short years. It HAS to be exhausting to try so hard every day to learn even a little bit.

It's hard to imagine the thoughts that are going through his mind and the frustration it must cause him when he can't communicate with others. It is going to be very exciting to watch him develop over the next few years. Love you, little guy!!!

moving in

moving in
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

This is my favorite photo of late. I think it's a little busy... but then I like the stories it has to tell, too. And I like the contrast of the bright blue against the blah background. There is a stick crossilng the foreground, an ant crawling around, a green leaf just to the left, and a fallen honeysuckle flower in the bottom right.

I have been wanting a photo or some art work for the guest room. The room is painted "Almond Nut". It's basically light brown or beige. The accents in there are blue and lavender. I purchased some wall words that proclaim "Carpe Diem" for that room. I think that's fitting to use with this photo, no? Bust out of your shell... leave it for the ants... and get going! Life is too short to stay too long in one place.

finding that Zen place

The hubby and I are back to playing tennis. We took some lessons this spring. Which was fun, because we didn't get to do stuff like that together when we were dating... being as we had an LDR (long distance relationship) and all. HOWEVER... now that he knows how to really serve, he's way better than me. I have no chance against him. We love playing together, but I need to get better by leaps and bounds to keep us having good volleys at least. But I'm looking forward to a summer full of tennis anyway.

Tonight on the way home from yoga, Jenny and I were discussing our special group of girlfriends. We've been a group for several years. We've always known that we have a special friendship amongst our little circle. Last year challenged the very fabric of our friendship and we held fast and most likely even strengthened the bonds that hold us together. More recently, folks have been noticing how special this group is. Jenny and I both heard "you have such a great group of friends" from different people from a weekend event. Well, that's the heart and soul of our group shining through in every situation. They're my zen place. :-)

I'm getting psyched to finish the honeymoon scrapbook I've been working on lately. I'm gearing up for summer activities outdoors. Looking forward to getting more exercise and TAKING PHOTOS! I've been working so hard to become a better photographer... and it finally feels like I'm getting somewhere. And next week... my Photoshop Elements class will hopefully make me a better digital scrapbooker, too!

C'est la vie for now...

it's a RAGE SALE!

WHY am I up at oh my god o'clock on a Saturday?! My nephew and my mother woke me up for the GARAGE SALE... that's why. The garage sale is an annual thing now. My brother and sister-in-law show up with their jeep loaded to the gills and mom and I throw in our stuff and it's a party. Mom was playing techno music in the garage yesterday. We found the first year that sales improved dramatically when we added music. That year we were selling a record player and it was actually a ploy to inspire the sale of that one item. It worked... we only had music for about 30 minutes until it was sold and driven away.

Our garage sale is pretty popular with the locals, too. We're known for our dirt cheap prices. And we're so wal-mart, we don't even care if we sell grandma's antiques for 50 cents. Theresa brought all her 1980s toys this year. Those are sure to be a hit! And this year we lucked out and planned our sale for the same day as the community yard sale in my mom's town. Dad is surely sad to be missing this event... he's in Oklahoma.

Mom and I played portrait photographers yesterday. That's my goal this weekend... to practice taking portaits. I'm normally into nature and inanimate objects. They are so much easier... they don't whine and they don't move. I can take a thousand shots at a time and nature/objects just let me do it. So the problem with people photography is that you have to train the subjects to be good models. Or otherwise trick or surprise them into being such. Not to say that I'm a very good model myself... hehehe....
Ok... brother is out putting up the sign. Gotta go sell some junk...

it's time to be a for-real blogger

I think everyone should blog. It'd be a good way to keep up with what everyone's doing. I wish my friends with kids would do it so I can keep tabs on what all the little munchkins are doing. Now that we're 30-somethings, it seems like everyone is so busy and it's hard to stay in touch like we used to. The girls started blogging with me on Yahoo 360. That was a fun way for all of us to keep in touch. I guess I got bored with it right around the time I finished the roman shades. It just wasn't what I was looking for in a blog site. And I think the girls are losing interest, too. So that's the why. Now about WHAT I want to write here. Um, well, everything. I have far too many hobbies and I have no desire to abandon any of them. So I become obsessed with one of them at a time. Right now, it's scrapbooking. Other times, it's sewing, photography, fitness, yoga, home improvement projects, etc. All these things make me feel complete... provide an outlet for me in one way or another. And I hope, enrich my life. But I can't do all of it at once... so I have at least gotten better on FOCUSING on one or the other of them. Speaking of taking on a number things... there was another site lately that thrilled the heck out of me. 43 Things. It actually encourages filling your life with a multitude of goals. Heck yeah!! And you can write about it. So when I just have a little bit to say about something and I don't think any of my email buddies really care to hear about it in great detail... I just go blab about it on 43 things.

The top 3 items on my list of 43 things:

1. Learn photography
2. Get in shape, and stay there
3. Blog more often.

So here I am working on #3. Of course, blogging is a good outlet for photography, too. But #2... oi. #3 is definitely counter-productive to #2. hehe.

One of the things I'm really into in my "spare" time is digital scrapbooking. It's just a brilliant way to go. I can't believe I am so late in picking this up. There are some GORGEOUS digital designs out there by the most creative people. Here is a digital page I did last night with an oddball photo and some random (FREE) elements:

• the "paper" is from a 2 peas May freebie.
• the edge brushes are from tribe radio.
• paisley embellishments were a purchase, but cheap. They're from A Cherry On Top.
• I have surely forgotten to give credit for something . . . If I realize I have, I will update.
  

So that was last night's fun... more to come. Hey, I've been doing a lot of paper scrapping lately, so I haven't been on the computer much (besides work). I'm hoping to finish our honeymoon pages before the summer draws me outdoors for good.

Ok... I have the day off today, so I'm going to go for a walk with my mom.

As my friend ej would say... ciao!!