Effer Dares

I've been following the Effer Dares for a while now. These gals are the pinnacle of artsy scrappin'. Every week they post a dare or challenge to create a scrapbook page based on the inspiration they present.

This week's dare was about "positive self-talk". I'm not usually a self-promoter in my scrapbooks, so this was an original dare for me. Last week our yoga instructor taught us about the chakras and we did a chakra-based workout. Since that was still on my mind, I used that as inspiration for this dare.

P.F. B. dinner

P.F. B. dinner
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

The hubby made PF Chang style lettuce wraps for dinner on Thursday. They were YuuMMMy.

It was a lengthy recipe with a list of ingredients a mile long. I sure as heck wouldn't have attempted it. :-)

the library comes to me!

Here are some things that are making library use very easy these days!

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/
This is mad-convenient. Get out your library card and give it a whirl. Soon you will be accessing your library’s info regarding that topic you just can’t seem to get off your mind.

http://worldcat.org
Coming soon! Can’t wait for this. Beyond the first entry… this one will let you find in any library that provides access to their information.

http://www.librarything.com/
Build your own library! Ok, so it’s a lot different than the others. But it is a good way to get recommendations for other books based on what you own and like.

See more progress on: use the library more

altered card box

altered card box
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

This is another altered container made with stuff from the Scrapologie July kit. I got this box at a church yard sale several weeks back. (Notice a pattern here with the church sales... they are a rockin' place to find stuff!) I guess it was a stationery box of some sort, covered in a dated contact paper.

So I got out the mod podge and got busy on it. The biggest challenge was in figuring out which way to go with the papers. I decided to use one paper on the front/bottom and a different paper on the top/back. I made the sides the same and brought it around the top with a curve to make it look a bit more detailed.

All the papers are from the scrapologie kit except the black with white polka dots. The ribbon is also some I had on hand (not from the kit).

The giant flower is made with the KI Memories alphabet soup paper. It's pretty bold, so I cut another one with polka dot vellum to diffuse it a bit. Added a couple more flowers and a giant brad for a center... and voila!

Can I say, I am LOVING the white pen? I have a white Signo Uniball pen and a Zig Opaque Writer in white. Theresa thinks I'm crazy ever since the clear gelly roll pen. (Emperor's new clothes for scrapbookers, anyone?) So wait til she finds out about my love for the WHITE pen!

Anyway, to finish the box, I accented the designs with "greetings" you might put on homemade cards. This box is for my sister-in-law Jen who makes cards. But, shhh, it's a secret! ;-)

new yard art

gnome with binoculars
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We had a new lawn ornament this morning when we got up. Apparently, he's the nosy sort. We were pulling out of the garage to go to church when we spied this mischievous little gnome.

I have a few guesses on where it came from. What are your thoughts?!

:-)

it's psychological.

We got pedometers at work as an incentive to get healthy. We are challenged to walk 10,000 steps each day. O.m.g… I was out walking last night when I really wanted to be crafting. Every step thinking, “am I there YET?!”

The pedometer plays mind games with you. You know you don’t HAVE to… but the pedometer is on your hip sitting at 1500 steps for the day and you think, “Wow, I got VERY little activity today.” So off you go. Walking every street, every court in your neighborhood until well after it gets dark.

So if you need incentive to go for a walk. Get a pedometer and set a goal. You will either rejoice or rue the day that you started. :-)

See more progress on: take more walks

tomato mozzarella salad

tomato mozzarella salad
Originally uploaded by brungrrl.

Here is a lovely summer treat. Tomatoes are a summer favorite around here. Cut 'em up in a bowl, add mozzarella balls, fresh basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

We had this last night with corn on the cob, grilled chicken, and iced tea.

meal plans

The other night the hubby and I planned out meals for the next two weeks. The idea is twofold: (1) we take turns making dinner and (2) we each learn to make something new once in a while.

Of course, there has to be some competition. So John thinks we should rate each other on taste, presentation, etc. This could be fun…

Last night I made a Pampered Chef Florentine Garden Ring. I’ve had it before, but hadn’t made it myself since I got my baking stone. It was delicious. John loved it.

The oven is a disaster now… guess I will clean it this weekend.

:-)

See more progress on: learn to cook more things

the power of a minute

The other day I was listening to my iPod and I heard (really heard) about one minute of a great song. My whole mood changed. It made me think, what else can change your whole outlook in a minute or less? So I made a list of things that do it for me:

The best things in life that last a minute or less:

• a kiss
• a hug (and I mean a genuine HUG)
  
• the best part of your favorite song
• seeing a hummingbird
• a piece of chocolate candy
• lightning (from a distance!)
• a "hello" smile/wave/honk from a stranger
• voicemail from a loved-one
• smelling a flower
  

Speaking of hanging onto the little things for cheer... here is something else that got me thinking: Melody Ross of Chatterbox (who doesn't love Chatterbox?! Journaling Genie, anyone?!) blogged about dealing with depression this week. It's an insightful post. Check it out. Scrapbooking is usually about the sunny side of life. So it's insightful to hear another respected scrapper shout out on life's challenges.

And that reminded me of my friend Johnny Mac's post about community and isolation. His post made me think of our friend Erin and how she suffered so in the midst of SO MANY friends and people who loved her. It made me think, "I'm getting what I need... is there someone who needs ME right now?"

So ANYWAY! I'm having a crappy day and I'm hanging onto those little things that last less than a minute. What turns your day around (or just keeps you going) in a minute or less?

poke salad annie... gator's got your granny

Ah yes... vacation. It seems miles and light years away now. But to fill you in... (and so I don't soon forget it...) here 'tis.

So we made the stop in Charlotte on the way down. We just sort of meandered our way there on Saturday. It was nice to take it slow and not rush to relax (seems contradictory, right?). So on Sunday we got up and had breakfast and headed the rest of the way. We figured on a 3 hour drive, but it ended up being 4 hours, no biggie. We didn't get caught in any traffic, so that was nice. And we went off the highway to go around Columbia on a very nice 2 lane road. It was perfectly straight, and since everyone was at church, the road was ours.

We got to Huntington Beach with plenty of daylight to spare. Since we were guests to my aunt and uncle's camper where there was limited space (with 4 adults, a pre-teen, a dog, and an odd cat), we were living out of the trunk of Mom's car. So nothing to unpack. We just found our swimsuits, lathered on the sunscreen, and flip flopped to the beach. I think we did some body surfing that day, walked the beach, and took a nap. I remember the nap because I was sort of in and out and it was sunny AND it was sprinkling. And I remember thinking, "It's raining. No, it's sunny. No, it can't be sunny if it's raining. Well it is. You must be dreaming. Ok, night, night." STACE! You wanna go for a walk? "Uh... what? who? Ok..." I was awake, no more rain in the sun.

The next day was QUITE eventful. We got up at 5:30am in order to be on the beach at dawn. We took our cameras and headed for the jetty. The jetty is in Murrell's Inlet, about 2.75 miles up the coast by way of the beach. It's just out there in the ocean, beckoning. Ok, truth is, my mom won't shut up until we walk all the way there and back, no matter how much pain it causes us. It was nice to go at sunrise. Few people on the beach. The light was spectacular for photographs. It was quite the memory.

After the walk we had breakfast and I took a nap. (Do you see the pattern yet?!) Nothing like waking up from a nap around 10am. We called the kayak company to see if they had added an additional excursion that day... we were in luck! It was on like donkey kong at 12:30pm. Mom and I headed to Oyster Landing just north of the park. It's a saltwater marsh filled with oysters, crabs, swamp grass, and part time sea water.

Our group had to wait for a couple chics in swim skirts and flip flops before we could get started. One introduced herself as SPARKLES. We thought, "Grrreat... she's gonna hold up the whole trip." Our guides gave us some instruction, and we shoved off. The group started paddling after the guides... while Mom and I paddled the other direction in our tandem kayak. We exchanged a few words with each other and then paddled in yet another direction. And then back around in a circle before we got headed anywhere near our group. Luckily,one of the guides stayed back with us. We caught up to the group once or twice when they were stopped. Only because once we were going fast, we couldn't stop and we'd just crash into them.

We spent two hours rowing like crazy through the marsh. Mostly, we were working against each other... it was pure torture. Great scenery... never riding tandem with my mother in anything, ever again! (Sorry, Mom.) We got a divorce as soon as we got out of the kayak.

Camping with my aunt and uncle isn't like real camping. The RV is air conditioned and my aunt whips up gourmet meals lickety split every night. We were mere steps from the ocean. A boardwalk path leads from the campground to the beach. Only other campers were on our beach during the day. It was MUCH less crowded than the public beach. And there were stretches of beach where there wasn't a soul in sight.

On Tuesday we watched fireworks from the beach after dark. There were fireworks south and north of the park. The moon was out, there was a breeze, the waves crashing... it was fabulous. A wonderful 4th of July!

Let's eat.

Ah, our friend Jenny. What will she think of next? She constantly torments us with stories of her OTHER friends. You know, her work friends... the classy friends. The smart friends. They go to fancy restaurants and read books... while we, the down-home, barbecue-lovin, movie-goin friends cry on each others shoulders.

Don't worry - we always tease her about this. She likes to pit us against each other... if we compete for her favor, it can only work out well for her. And you know what? We like her other friends. So maybe we will just add them to our group...

Muhaha! Jenny is providing us with a way to do just that. She has organized a monthly dinner outing for friends and friends of friends. Anyone is welcome, you just have to be a chic... no boys allowed. One person in the group selects the restaurant, date, and time. We meet up and chow down and chit chat about anything and everything under the sun. Dianne won the contest for naming the group. It's called FORK. That's it, just FORK. And as you can imagine... there are rules and competitions, just as with all things Jenny...

Check out the FORK blog at http://forkclub.blogspot.com.

vacation

Here's the beginning of our vacation stories.... Mom and I just returned from a week at Huntington Beach with my aunt & uncle...

Saturday. July 1, 2006.
6:30am. Hit the highway headed for Charlotte! Mom drove the Ohio and West Virginia portions of the trip. We made a stop in Ripley for breakfast and in Beckley at Tamarac for some shopping. Tamarac is such a good time... GREAT shopping. I got a ceramic wall pocket for our house. (Just in case the perfect souvenir eludes me at the beach!) It has a maple leaf on it. It should go nicely in a grouping with the photos and pressed leaves I am working on putting in a collage at home.

We made a stop for lunch somewhere in North Carolina. We went to a flea market that was about as horrible as horrible gets. But to save that stop from being a complete waste of time, we had lunch at Arby's, where one of the employees entertained us in a chicken costume. Not every day you encounter a life-size chicken.

Back on the highway, we were in Charlotte before 3pm. We checked into the Doubletree Guest Suites, which was indeed right next to the Symphony Park. Folks had already covered the park with picnic blankets saving spots for later that night. We got hot chocolate chip cookies at check-in. Yum! Incentive to stay at Doubletree more often!

It's amazing how tired sitting in the car makes you. I was so zonked! We napped for an hour or so and watched tv in order to pull ourselves together for a night out. Then we hit the mall. Ooops. It was a great mall... one store after another full of cool stuff. We each bought a couple clothing items. And we kept on shopping right through the start of the symphony concert. So we swung by the car and put away our shopping treasures and picked up our lawn chairs.

The park was jam-packed! The stage was in the middle of a pond in the center ofthe park. There were people sitting on every side. We squeezed in just behind the stage on the back side of the park. We nestled in between some shrubbery. The music was fantastic. It was a beautiful moonlit night. And then... fireworks at the end!

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.