Things to make you laugh...

As I was looking through the pictures on my computer one of the funniest things on our vacation was the packets of butter in the formal dining room. Each night we would dine there, and each night I caught the kids giggling about something. So finally I asked..."what gives? What is it about the packets of butter that you two find so darn funny?" Once I looked at it, I instantly knew what was making my children laugh. Call us silly Americans but we find it funny- check out the name of the town where our butter was made...You'll say Middle what? Yes it's what it says...Middlefart. I"m sure that the Danish people don't find any humor in it, but lets face it Middlefart is a pretty funny name for a town.

Shopping for sunglasses in San Juan P.R.

I finally located the photo's of Hannah shopping for sunglasses in San Juan. The ones her Dad bought for the trip broke and she needed a new pair, so here they are shopping for a new pair. Funny thing is that she came out with 2 new pairs.

Quote of the Day

My theory is that if you look confident you can pull off anything - even if you have no clue what you're doing.
Jessica Alba

Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
Lucille Ball

116

That's the number of photos that I picked up from Walgreen's after my dental appointment. I don't know about you but Um, that's a lot of photos to scrap. The funny part is that I didn't print out ALL of our vacations photos either, LOL!

So with the number 116 in mind, I'm going to get working on them. I've sorted them into their respective groups and now to assess what I want to do with each group of photos. I do this with a huge smile on my face!

Lets get back to...Scrapbooking!

I know what makes me truly happy- it's being creative... be it with paper or food.

But seriously, I've poured out my heart this morning about my woes and am now feeling a little better about it. Now I feel the need to do something with my hands! I'm going to sit here and print out some vacation photo's and use some of the terrific sketches from over at Blue Print Sketches. Some of the best stress relievers for me (besides Tylenol) come from working on scrapbooking layouts- working with those smiling faces and reminiscing on what happened in those pictures- well it's sort of like therapy for me. And if that doesn't work, I'll take a long soak in the bathtub later, LOL!

Stress...

I like to think myself of being a generally positive person, that I'm normally a happy person in the morning but right now I find myself in a bad mood. I'm feeling frustrated, angry and depressed all at the same time, not a good way to start ones day. As you guessed it, that's why I'm up so early this morning- 3 am is just such an lonely time of day too. My eyes are puffy, my nose is stuffed up and lets not even talk about my hair, LOL! All of my frustration stems from 3 different entities all of which are related to OSC in some manner.

Doing all of the various volunteering jobs that I do is not easy. I know that to some it must look as if it all just falls into place on it own- let me tell you that it doesn't. It's a lot of behind the scenes hard work that no one sees or really knows about - heck, besides my husband and a couple of close friends no one has any idea as to how many hours go into the behind the scenes work I do for a function. From picking out menus & table linens, negotiating menu prices, and staying within a budget plus there's dealing with the wants of my OSC President and the general membership- it's nerve wracking to say the least. I'm down to the last 2 programs I have to plan and my brain hurts. It's tying up all of the loose ends, making sure that everything comes off looking like it took no effort while all the time you were pulling your hair out in clumps. In the end...it's about putting on the high heels and the little black dress and acting as if it all went so smoothly in front of 30 or more people. I feel like such a phony acting like it was easy to put on a function walking around the room smiling asking everyone if they're enjoying themselves- while at the same time giving a sigh of relief that the function came off without too many last minute "issues".

I'm skipping the OSC board meeting and going to a dental appointment today- I'd rather have my teeth scraped & cleaned than have to be in that room today presenting a board report.

Quote of the Day

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), speech prepared for delivery in Dallas the day of his assassination, November 22, 1963


Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.
Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

Up before the birds...

It's another early day for me, woke up at 4:30 am (that's when the alarm clock went off). My husband had to be at work early today-ugh!

So far this morning...I've had 2 cups of coffee (okay make that 3) read the news on line, fed the cat, got the kids up for school and checked on our weather. Hmmm, looks like snow.

Go ahead and call me sarcastic today, what is sarcasm but a little bit of spice to ones daily life. It's supposed to snow today up to a couple of inches. That means that people will drive like maniacs throwing all caution to the wind. I can't tell you how many people I've seen drive like they're king of the road when the weather turns the least bit foul. It's the same off base as it is on base. People sliding into the parking lots at the Commissary, BX, Thrift Shop and the Base Hospital. And what is it that suddenly has folks parking like dorks? Taking up 2 spaces or parking so darn close to your drivers door that you have to get in through the hatch back- that is if you're lucky enough to have a hatch back, LOL! Someone did this to me yesterday, the person took 1½ parking spaces and gave me 3 inches of clearance space for me drivers side door- the funny thing was that the person had over 4 feet of clearance on their drivers side door- what's up with that? I mean really? LOL! Some days I just shake my head and laugh.

I need to figure out what non-itchy winter apparel I will be wearing today. As I mentioned in my quote of the day- what is it with winter weather that makes it synonymous with itchy clothing?

Quote of the Day

I can't tell you how much this quote fits me today, LOL! What is it with winter weather that makes it synonymous with itchy clothing?
I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch.
Gilda Radner (1946 - 1989)

Life would be boring without girlfriends

For me, having lunch with friends is always fun! It's a great way of getting caught up on what's been going on with everyone. I had such a great time and I hope that my girlfriends did too :-)

I've got my programs nailed (picked out) for the next 2 months and have now to wait for the catering people to get back to me with prices. This is a huge deal as getting prices in a timely manner have been a major issue since I started being Programs Director.

Tomorrow is our Thrift Shop manager Heidi's birthday. We're doing a surprise potluck kind of lunch thing. I'm making my yummy zucchini bread, someone else is bringing a cake another is bringing homemade salsa. I'm sure that others will be bringing items to share. It's going to be fun surprising Heidi with this little potluck luncheon:-)

The zucchini bread smells heavenly, dinner is in the oven-it's simple food, baked potatoes with all the trimmings! That's always a hit with my family and easy on me when I have other things going on. Did I mention that I love the whole double oven thing? Oh yeah! I don't know how I got along for so long without one!

Is today special for you?

This morning my husband asked me what day it is...my reply (with a small chuckle) "the day I put the summer clothes away from our vacation?" he said "um yeah that AND something else". I gave up guessing...he told me that today is the kick off for the AFJROTC clothing drive. I immediately said "Andrew can take my minivan". You see, the utility room is jam packed with clothes that our son has been collecting since last August. I've been wanting my storage area back for months!

Another way this day is special for me is that I decided to have a "girls lunch out" and my girlfriends can make it :-) I'm going to plan more of these kind of small get-togethers with my girlfriends. With 2 of the ladies in our little group moving in June, another has just begun the long separation from her husband due to an 8 month deployment and there's me- not knowing when my husband will be leaving or where he will be going but knowing that some time this year he will be leaving on a deployment. Yup I say that those are as good of reasons as any for getting together with my girlfriends, don't you?

Now for me to have some more coffee...it's chocolate coffee today and it's just extra yummy! For the most part today is as good as any day -but to me it's just extra special!

Jaycie West Benefit

Please check out my friend Pegs' blog for more information on how you can help a local girl. I believe that one of Pegs daughters is heading this up. This reminds me, I've got to get a batch of handmade cards to Peg for this benefit.

Quote of the Day

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
~Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)

The words that enlighten the soul are more precious than jewels.
~Hazrat Inayat Khan

today's quotes have to do with beauty- My wish for you...may you be able to see the beauty in everything and everyone!
~Sandie

North by North West...wind that is

It was so deliciously warm yesterday- getting up to 72º and now look at it...it's 32º the wind is blowing NNW at 32 mph with gusts to 40 mph and there's that wind-chill thing making it feel like it's 18º outside- brr! Can you say knit turtle necks & wool sweater weather? So after the "hint" of Spring weather" yesterday we're back to having winter again.

So what does one do on a cold blustery day? After we get back from church I'll be brewing a pot of tea, making some yummy scones and then finish up the other card I was working on. The paint had to dry on the chipboard and now all I have to do is to stick it all together :-) I'll also print up some photo's from our vacation and get to work on a layout of two then start cutting the fabric for the cheese & crackers quilt.

Quote of the Day

Sometimes it seems like God is difficult to find and impossibly far away. We get so caught up in our small daily duties and irritations that they become the only things that we can focus on. What we forget is that God's love and beauty are all around us, every day, if only we would take the time to look up and see them.
Matthias, Correction Weblog, 11-01-03

2 Peas in a pod greeting card

Here's what I've been up to today...I saw this "idea" in a recent mini catalog from Stampin Up. I've changed the colors and have used a rub-on instead of a floral stamp. The card just spoke "peas" to me :) and here it is. I cut part of the card, stuck the ¾ inch punched circles down and then sewed it back together. Used the whale of a punch circle punch in white and then placed the rub-on over the large circle. Rub rub rub and there it is....pretty darn cute eh?

The 1st day of March

My day really doesn't start without me having at least 2 cups of coffee and today is no exception :) The day is supposed to be a delicious one with temperatures reaching 65º- woohoo! Maybe my husband and son will wash my kid mobile -as it's rather dirty and reminds me greatly of a potato that's been freshly dug out of the ground.

I've got the cleaning and organizing bug-again. I started with my closet, refolding sweaters and rearranging handbags. I've decided that it's time to cull the handbag heard, so far I've only been able to part with 3 of them, but hey-that's a start right? Ones that I haven't used in ages are outta here! There are some that are truly seasonal and others for formal occasions. It's the everyday bags that I'm going through and am donating. Women in general tend to hang on to old handbags- like they're some sort of lucky charm. I think that my mom and my m-i-l have every handbag that they've ever bought in their life time- then again I know women who are my age and younger that do the same thing.

So it's some early spring cleaning going on here at my house. The AFJROTC clothing drive is about to kick off (and I'm going to get my utility room back). I've got to go through the clothes and see what other items I can donate to the clothing drive.

I'm going to start on another quilting project- I've been itching to get working on the "Cheese and Crackers" quilt. I started on a new counted cross stitch project while on the cruise and it's something that I like to work on when winding down my day. I find it relaxes me to do something productive at the end of the day. So I'm off to get some more coffee and to be tooling away in my scrapbook nook. I'm bringing the camera with me and will take pictures as I go along cutting up pieces for my quilting project.

Quote of the day

You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.
~Ronald Reagan, quoted in Observer, March 29 1981

Leap Year Trivia

A leap year is a year in which one extra day has been in-
serted, or intercalated, at the end of February. A leap
year consists of 366 days, whereas other years, called
common years, have 365 days.
***
The vernal equinox is the time when the sun is directly
above the Earth's equator, moving from the southern to
the northern hemisphere. The mean time between two suc-
cessive vernal equinoxes is called a tropical year–also
known as a solar year–and is about 365.24 days long.
Using a calendar with 365 days every year would result
in a loss of 0.24 days, or almost six hours per year.
***
By adding a leap year approximately every fourth year,
the difference between the calendar and the seasons can
be reduced significantly, and the calendar will align
with the seasons much more accurately.
TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS
A tradition was introduced many centuries ago to allow women
to propose to men during a leap year. This privilege of pro-
posing was restricted to leap day in some areas.
***
Leap day was sometimes known as 'Bachelors' Day'. A man was
expected to pay a penalty, such as a gown or money, if he
refused a marriage offer from a woman. The tradition's
origin stemmed from an old Irish tale referring to St.
Bridget striking a deal with St Patrick to allow women to
propose to men every four years. This old custom was pro-
bably made to balance the traditional roles of men and
women in a similar way to how the leap day balances the
calendar.
***
It was also considered to be unlucky for someone to be born
on a leap day in Scotland and for couples to marry on a leap
year, including on a leap day, in Greece.

Being creative...

I went to bed with this feeling...I need to make something today :-) I'm not talking about dinner, because that's already been for chosen for me - we're having a soup supper at church. It's a Friday during lent and that means "meat without feet" and Stations of the Cross.

Anyway...I'm going to go hang out in my scrapbook nook and make something fun! I'll be back a little later to show you what I've made.