What a lovely wedding!

I am a sucker for a wedding and today's was just lovely. I was up at 5:15 a.m. just in time to watch Princes William and Harry leave St. James palace for Westminster Abbey. Over the years I've gotten up early to watch Princess Anne, Fergie and Andrew, Princess Diana and now her son, Prince William get married.

A long, long time ago Norman and I got to go to London and I've been in St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey and traveled many of the streets seen in this morning's celebrations. I loved it there. I remember just arriving and wanting to see something famous. We watched buses pass and finally one passed that said 'Whitehall' and I remember thinking, that's somewhere important so we got on. The ticket taker asked us where we were going. We looked at each other and looked back to the conductor and asked, "Where is this bus going?" Once we established that we were literally just off the plane and were generally clueless, we found out you paid by how far you went and that eventually we would end up at Whitehall (houses many government offices and official departments) and would be just a short walk from Parliament and Westminster Abbey. This was one of the first of many helpful and considerate Brits who helped us get around and answered our questions during our stay.

When it was time (Whitehall) the conductor told us it was our stop and wished us well. I remember walking past these buildings and thinking that this was an entirely different world from the U.S. - you could just FEEL the history. I remember thinking some of these buildings were here before our country was even established. I had that feeling many times as we walked around London.

I long to go back. So, today on such a joyous and hopeful occasion, with my own wonderful memories coming back to me, I wish both William and Kate a future of happiness and wonderful memories of their own.

My Weekend...

Here is what I did this past weekend... 1. Abandoned my sick family for a weekend of rest and relaxation - for me ;-) 2. Learned what pudding shots were... 3. Learned I liked pudding shots... 4. Had some seriously good food, made by my fabulous scrapping friends...(loved the artichoke dip, chocolate chip cookies, soup, baked potato and two fabulous salads - and the recipe for the corned beef reuben dip!) 5. Actually got out of bed before 11:00 a.m. - one day by 9:00 a.m.! 6. Still missed a hot, just made, fab breakfast (but a microwave will heat up in a pinch)... 7. Learned my friend Penny has the cutest cock - named Robbie (who has his own harem)... 8. Discovered gray is beautiful - gorgeous Colleen! 9. Had a lemon drop or lemon shot - didn't like it :-( 10. Had the best &%$#* time with my peeps, gals, mental health counselors, buds - whatever, in the world! Thanks, Jess, Lynn, Colleen, Laurie, Penny, Suzanne, Mary, Chris, and Jen - you ROCK!

Cards, cards, who's got the cards...

I've taken my life in my hands and started to try and come up with card classes for the store. Sharon, Debbie, Mona, Linda and Laura can come up with cards in 30 seconds flat - me, more like 30 days if I'm lucky...

First they want me to stamp. I DON'T STAMP!! Maybe it I say it often and loud enough I may begin to believe it. I have the largest collection of stamps of anyone I know who doesn't stamp! So I decided to stick with what I think I can do - again, a stretch, thinking...

So here are photos of the samples of my March/April classes at Buffalo Stamps and Stuff.

I wish the photos were better. Above are three cards done with Tapestry peg stamps and Versacolor inks. I've always been intrigued with these stamps so I thought I'd try and give it a go.
My first favorite stamp company was Lockhart Stamps. I loved the simple style and coloring these stamps. They have a series they call 'windows' and I made a set using transparencies, popping the feature in the window and cutting out the window to view the inside of the card. The coloring was easy, the rest - OMG! It took me forever and I had to use inspiration and hints from the Lockhart design team.
These are also Lockhart images. Again, coloring was a piece of cake, but making the card...Each time I tackle a card class I say "never again!" In this class there is a cute bug in a jar - Caught a Bug? A comfy easy chair with a throw blanket, a cute little teddy bear and a bunch of ducks walking in a row. They are really cute, and with a little help from my friends - Thank you Debbie! I got the colors right.

Is it Spring yet?????

I've been working hard at maintaining the fantasy that I'm a sweet, cuddly black bear hunkered down in my cave sleeping away the winter - ahhhhhh. Well, not so much. Heaven knows I can sleep! but the baby bear, MIL bear and papa bear keep insisting I wake up! If it's spring I've got no problem, but if not - then leave me alone! I've got claws remember....

So much for my fantasy life. It's mid March. We've done the day light savings thing but our backyard still looks like a swamp and the grass is a sickly yellow-brown. Alexa is finishing up her last semester of middle school and then it's off to high school in September.

We had to attend an assembly for all incoming high school parents. I figured it was your usual sex, drugs, drinking kinda thing and boy was I right. The school system has officially put the fear of drugs, drinking and the law in us! Norman and I have been in education for the past thirty years or so and we are aware of what goes on in college, but we got a huge eye opener about the 12-20 set. Something that rattles me is that I know all Alexa's middle school friends and have met and spoken to all the parents. Next year she is going to a different school than all her friends save one. So all new friendships will be made and we're going to have to make an effort to know these kids and their parents if possible. It is a scary world out there.

On the good side, Alexa and her friends are responsible kids and I think she will seek the same kind of kids at her new high school. As far as Alexa was concerned this meeting was a must attend by us because if we didn't -- she wouldn't be allowed to go to Homecoming, Prom and other school activities - the only perks of high school...

Back to spring. My Hillside Scrappers will meet in a week or so for another relaxing, contemplative soul searching, bonding, creative weekend - yeah right, bring on the Country Pub II! No, seriously, I missed November's retreat because I went to New York for a a fabulous weekend with some Buffalo and around the US friends and I'm so looking forward to getting back with my peeps, posse, rick-rack pack!

So as I stretch and yawn and try to stay out of bed...Spring, here I come!

Alexa's 14th, LaBoum, The Melting Pot - Oh My!

I was so looking forward to a relaxing, quiet, let's hibernate like the bears January and February. Did I get that, NO! I mean what is this deal with having to provide birthday parties, party dresses, tennis lessons, and pantyhose for your teenager? Was that written in the orders you got when you went home from the hospital or in our case in the adoption documents? What happened to my nap time, weekends watching old movies - having money! All those are distant memories now...

Alexa's birthday was the 8th. It finally ended yesterday, the 19th. On her birthday she made me make her breakfast - breakfast! I never make her breakfast, unless it's for dinner! All right, I was a good mom and made her french toast for breakfast. Then came dinner - Olive Garden, here we come. It's Alexa's favorite (until she finds the most expensive restaurant in Buffalo that she can't live without). Then the day with south. I made the horrific mistake of buying Alexa gray tall Uggs on that web site that looks just like the real thing but is not... As soon as she opened the box, Alexa looked at them for less than a minute (I do not exaggerate here) and broke out in tears that the Uggs were not real! Meltdown followed. Long story short, we owe her REAL Uggs. I may have to take out a second morgtage...

Then it was time for Alexa's first fancy dance, LaBoum! This dance required a few important things and was missing a few important things. Requirement #1: A fancy party dress:

I have to admit, going dress buying was fun. Alexa looks good in almost everything she tries on. She's a size 1 - ONE! I've never been a size one in my life! I've been one size fits all, but never a size 1.

Requirement #2: Sparkly Shoes! these puppies cost almost as much as the dress! Must be strappy, must have bling and must have heels, CHECK!

Requiremnt #3: Have a BFF to go with! Alexa went dress shopping with her friend Grace and they went together to the dance and met up with their friends there. Don't they look so grown up!

Now for the the things that are NOT required for your first fancy dance- BOYS! It was my understanding (although information was very limited in coming) that boys and girls do not go together, don't dance together (with very, very few exceptions) and they have very little contact. Her father is thanking is lucky stars...

Since we've now started the dress, dance, possibly boy thing, can't we drop the birthday extravaganza thing? How many years more do I have to come up with birthday ideas? I'm voting for "I'm done!" But, not this year... Alexa looked at a variety of options and finally decided she wanted - The Melting Pot restaurant. We had never been there, but it looked expensive. As always, Alexa had done her homework and had the web site memorized. It turned out we could have her core group (plus mom and dad) and have a very nice time for what I probably would have spent for Alexa's usual birthday bash.

From left to right: Sarina, Laura, Grace Brenda, Alexa, Melissa, Haley and Frannie.

As the steam rises the girls get ready for the cheese fondue. they had apple pieces, veggie pieces and bread pieces to dip.



For desert Alexa had three types of chocolate. Mom and Dad had the Ying/Yang choice, dark and white chocolate in a ying yang pattern - sooooo good!



These were the dipping pieces, banana, strawberries, marshmallows, rice krispie treats, brownies, pound cake and cheesecake! The girls had a really good time and it was a new experience for several of them.

Another birthday year for Alexa is over. It's snowing outside as I type so maybe there is a chance for a little hibernating nap yet.

Yikes! It's been a month...

It's been a month since I blogged! As Sarah Palin would say, "WTF!" - That is my only and LAST reference, quote, mention and thought from Ms. Palin (not that she has an intelligent thought in her head that's worth repeating).

ANYWAY...It's been a busy kind of a month. Big doings at the store - Sharon is out in the land of fruits and nuts - and SUN - stuck at CHA, yeah, right... So I've been helping hold down the fort at the store. It's been keeping me pretty busy. I've also got two card classes I'm teaching at the store that took me forever to finalize because I'm so nervous and insecure in my card making abilities. Good news is that they are going well, at least the first one. We'll see about the next.

Alexa's birthday party has been finalized and while we thought about inviting Prince William and his fiancee, Alexa decided that may be just a little too much... She is having a small, select group for dinner at the Melting Pot. Mom's happy - no dishes, no cleaning, no clean-up and her father and I get to eat too since we're footing the bill! I'm still trying to remember what I got for my 14th birthday. I think socks...

Snow. We finally got some sizable snow but not as much as we expected and certainly not as much as my downstate family has been barraged with this winter. We have a very nice neighbor who goes up and down several houses on either side of his house AND across the street (us) up and down several house with his snow blower to do our sidewalks. Thank heaven for retirees!

The good news is that the trees are almost down. One is completely down the other is devoid of all decorations, which are boxed up but the tree itself is still sitting in the center of the living room, along with all the packed up boxes of decorations. Super Bowl Sunday is this week so it will probably take me until then to get DH to help get everything back in the basement where it's stored.

Lastly, I get to do one of the time honored joys of motherhood with a teen aged daughter - dress shopping for her first fancy dance. La Boum, it's called. This is the 8th grade winter dance. Mind you, boys go with boys, girls go with girls and I've got no clue as to why this means she has to get a fancy dress. She has no intention of dancing ESPECIALLY with a BOY! I'm liking her friend Brenda. Brenda isn't even going - she refuses to wear a dress...

Oh well, pictures to follow...

No Photos, Please!!!...

I'm thinking of becoming a horror movie star. Yeah, really...You oldsters might know of Lon Chaney, especially if you stay up late and watch TCM or AMC. Anyway, Lon Chaney was known as the man of a thousand faces (also the name of a movie about his life) because he used make-up to create so many characters - many of them horror quality - think the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Well, I think I can out-do him (at least this month) without any make-up at all! My face is falling apart. Not to be un-done by my body, my face has decided to become it's own horror mask. From the top down:

My Hair - don't look too close or you'll see my beautiful gray hair mixed with my drab dirty blonde hair. Of course, it's tipped with my 'wish it was natural blonde' that is growing out way too quickly. To top it off, my hair has decided to go to sleep and is straight as a board and does not want to curl, hold a curl and laughs in the face of styling mousse and a curling iron.

My Eyes - Paul Newman is so safe...(God Bless) I never had his baby blues to begin with, mine are a drab gray blue. But my real problem - let's just say John Paul Jones couldn't have said, 'Don't fire until you see the white's of her eyes!" Mine are redder than Santa's suit! I had pink eye a few weeks ago and I looked like something from Twilight and just for fun the deep red keeps recuring, just to make me look weird!

My Ears - My ears itch like crazy! I cannot leave them alone! Nuf said...

My Nose - I've had a rash like dry skin on both sides of my nose for it seems like forever. Last week a friend told me she thought it was eczema! The good news is now I have a handle on WTF is going on, the bad news is how do I get rid of it?

My Lips - Welcome to winter! Chapped lips rule!

Put it all together and you have a horror mask that would do Lon Chaney proud! Everyone else, I don't think so and I'll apologize now. Well at least it's another good reason not to have my picture taken...

Another Year...

I've been itching to write a new entry but have felt obligated to come up with something witty. It's not quite happening so I'm just going to tell it like it is...

My New Year's Resolutions for 2011

1. To make a sincere effort to be on time! - (It's January 3rd, how's that working out...)

2. To get up in the morning at a NORMAL time! - (I was up at 7:00 to get Alexa out, basically telling her to hurry up while I sat at the kitchen table with an Oreo or two. I digress - I also went back to bed and since Joyce went out shopping, I stayed in bed until - 2:43 p.m.)

3. To put away our Christmas decorations before Easter...(How about SuperBowl Sunday, unless the Patriots are playing! GO PATS!!

4. To never, never, never, never, never, NEVER!! watch - 'Bridalplasty' - This one will be easy. I'll have Snooki and The Situation over for Jello shots before I watch this show!

5. To make a sincere effort to finish projects on time! Including scrap projects, organizing, cleaning, etc. Notice how time is a recurring theme in this post? Opps! Time to watch PTI so I'll have to get back to this later...

Merry Christmas - 2010

Here are my belated wishes for a Merry Christmas to everyone who stops by my blog. We had a really nice day and were joined by two Medaille students from China. Bella spent Thanksgiving with us this year and was able to join us for Christmas. She is a delightful young lady and we really enjoy spending time with her.
Here are Bella and Jon who joined us for the first time. Jon was very interested in Norm's book collection and ended up borrowing a number of books and DVD's. We had a combined Chinese and American meal. Ham for us traditionalists and some Chinese food (don't get excited, it was take-out) for Alexa, Jon and Bella.
I never get into my pictures so I thought I'd include these with me and the kids.
Both seemed to enjoy the tree and the decorations. Santa brought them both a gift and stockings. Jon loved Christmas Peeps! Alexa was happy with her Juicy charm bracelet and charm, Norm liked his customized Browns jersey, I was ecstatic over my Vagabond and 'Hip, Hip, Jorge!' t-shirt, but the winner this year was Joyce's hubcap for her 1996 Chevy Geo!


My day after was made even better by a win by the Patriots, unfortunately at the expense of the Bills, to secure a first round bye and home field advantage for the playoffs.

Scrambled Eggs...

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I rarely watch Jimmy Fallon, but I couldn't resist when I saw the promos for the show a day or two ago. Fallon was all googly about having McCartney on the show. You could just see it in his eyes, he was like every 15 yr. old kid that got a ticket to a Beatles concert back in the 60's.

So check out this video of Sir Paul and Jimmy singing Scrambled Eggs - you'll recognize the tune as soon as they start. According to Paul this is how he remembered the melody to this song that we all know by another name.