Challenge

My dear friend Tracy has challenged me or "tagged" me to list "7 Lovely things about Life right now" ... Well, you know me. The glass is half empty not half full in my mind so coming up with 7 things has taken me awhile. To be honest, don't know if I have seven things right now. Let's see what I can come up with.

1. The trees and flowers are starting to bloom. After our winter, this is nothing short of a miracle and considering I think Mother Nature is one of our true miracles, this is such a good thing! (I even snuck across the street to take pictures of the tulips and daffodils in our neighbor's front garden!)

2. As trying and exasperated as I get with her, I have the most lovely daughter in the world! Here is her spring school picture. Her last picture for elementary school as she starts middle school in September!

3. As awful as the world is now, I still have hope for the future. I know there are good people doing good things, selfless things, kind things for people they don't even know about just for the sake of doing for others.

4. NBC cancelled the Apprentice! Hopefully, no more Donald Trump and that hair! (Although "the Donald" said he quit, they can't fire him.

5. It's basball season. Time to go to the "park", where the object is get "home", where getting a "hit" is a good thing. (Thank you, George Carlin) Seventh inning stretches, fireworks after the game, hot dogs and frozen lemonade, sitting in the sunshine on a weekend or watching the stars come out at an evening game. No other sport has players saying "Let's play two!" Thanks, Ernie Banks

6. Opening the windows and having the breeze come in and the heat OFF!

7. Seeing "wildlife" in our backyard. OK, it's just the bunnies, but we have the cutest bunny family that lives in our yard and the adjoining yards. Sometimes one is out front, watching as Alexa gets on the bus.

OK, I did it, seven things. Have a LOVELY week if I don't talk to you sooner.

For Our Moms...

I got a very unexpected surprise for Mother's Day. My BFF Barbara sent me a lovely bouquet of flowers. At first I couldn't imagine why Barb was sending me flowers on Mother's Day. Yes, I have a child, but so does she - two, matter of fact, Tom and Laura. Then I read the card, "Happy Mother's Day and in honor of our moms. Love, Barb"

Barb's mom passed away last September and I spent three of the best days of our friendship with her at her mom's apartment as she prepared for the funeral. It was where I wanted to be, to do what I could to help her the same way she helped me when my mother was dying several years ago.

We've been friends for over 40 years and I consider her my best friend. I think of her often, don't call often enough, and wish we could be closer geographically so we could see each other more often. As the fates would have it, we've never lived close together since we graduated from high school.

Both of our mothers were exceptional women. In many ways they both were a bit non-traditional for women who married and started to raise families in the 1950's. Neither of our moms were the traditional 'June Cleaver' or 'Donna Reed' types. Both our mothers worked outside the home, both were women in their own right - not just our father's wives or the mother's of their children. They saw and understood the need for a woman to have her own identity, to have her own interests and to create their own happiness instead of relying on someone else to make them happy. Neither Joan Scandurra or Zada Kenzie were perfect, but they were our teachers, our inspiration, our comfort and our much loved mothers and we miss them everyday. So to Joan and Zada - Happy Mother's Day from Barbara and Donna

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my mom friends and readers out there. Here is the cutest cookie bouquet Alexa made me at the store yesterday.

Monday Morning Catch Up!

I am so far behind I thought I'd procrastinate even more and do another blog entry! Couple of things going on. First, had a great weekend at the 'Store'. Robin Beam from Ranger Industries spent the weekend teaching classes and doing demos. She is a pip! Very funny, lots of 'Tim' stories and very patient with me, the non-stamper! She also was very patient with Alexa who wormed her way into spending a good portion of Saturday at the store 'helping'... Here are a few photos. (The cute lady on the right is my boss, Sharon Klima, owner of Buffalo Stamps and Stuff).

It was Derby weekend and since Alexa had me chained to the store I missed Queen Elizabeth at Churchill Downs and the race. The good news is that I had Street Sense as one of my picks along with Curlin so I did OK on my fantasy Derby contest. This may not sound good to you but I finished 4000 something out of 21,000 participants - I'm happy!

I also promised a few photos of the altered stuff I've been doing at the store. Here it goes, hope the photos post BELOW and not above like the last batch!

Lastly, Elisabeth tagged me to list seven quirky things about me. Now, there are a lot of quirky things about me...but what don't you all know...again, not much but here it goes.

1. I'm superstitious about numbers. I won't do important things on odd numbered days if I can at all avoid it, hence my wedding day - 6/26/76.
2. I buy the same calendar every year, '365 days in Italy'. I've been doing this for going on 5 years now. Love a little glimpse of Italy every time I look up at my calendar.
3. Batman is my favorite superhero.
4. I have my own personal astronaut! His name is Scott Parazynski, M.D. He's the cutest guy you'd want to meet, has flown in space several times, once as John Glenn's physician! He is also a mountain climber and an emergency/trauma M.D. When we met at a speaking engagement he made at Keuka College he told me that he "looked forward to flying with me". His next mission, STS-120 is scheduled to lift off on October 20, 2007 - WoooHooo!!!
5. I read Harlequin Intrigues every month - I know, me bad, me bad...
6. I won't buy Exxon/Mobil gas - been boycotting it ever since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
7. I eat escargot (snails).

That's way too much info for now. Not sure who I'm going to tag to continue this. We'll see next message. Gotta get back to my disorganized life!

Ocular Proof!

I really do scrapbook, really...Well, all right, maybe not in the traditional sense lately, but I do scrapbook. I also like to do altered items. Everything from paint cans to clipboards to frames. Here is a frame I did after seeing a sample at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff. I'm also working on a series of pre-made albums for a wedding shower. These are the Creating Keepsakes albums that were sold on QVC a year or so ago. I thought they would be great for a newlywed couple starting out. All they will need to do is add photos and journaling. Lastly, I'm going to try a project for the store, BSS and if I can figure out how to scan 12X12 layouts, I've got a fantastic layout designed by Elisabeth that I did last weekend at the store. Gotta get busy!