Oh the things I do in my spare time...

I'm leading a very boring life these days... wake up at 5 am, get daughter off to school, go to the gym, tidy the apartment blah blah blah. So to stay sane I read. I read a lot these days (I mean a lot a lot) . My Kindle is my new BFF. There are sites like Kindle Nation Daily and Pixel of Ink where you can see the latest great deals on e-books and even pick up some great freebies to read! Get this- there are even some FREE cookbooks to be had for your Kindle! I've found a lot of "new to me" authors and have discovered that there are types of books that I like to read other than murder mysteries or Jane Austen spin off novels. I've been reading a great deal about cowboys of late and before I knew it, I was hooked. Strange but true, I find them rather fascinating. And after consuming the entire Twilight Series of novels in a matter of less than a week, I'm completely hooked on vampires and werewolves. Of course I still enjoy historical romances- if that's your thing I recommend Georgette Heyer, her work is awesome! It's not the modern kind of romance novel that has the characters having mad crazy sex all over the place stuff- it's historical stuff that gets into the theme of the period the romance is from.

If I'm not reading, then I'm working on a needlework project. The one I'm currently working on is a reproduction sampler. Nothing uber fancy, just something nice to occupy my time.

Still no word on our household goods - no idea if they're here in country or not. I'm not trying to say that I've got higher standards than others, I'm just growing rather rather tired of us dining on a card table is all. Okay that and sleeping on the floor on an air mattress is not the way to get a restful nights sleep. Okay, I'll say it- I miss my stuff. Now for me to work some more on my needlework project before I die from complete and total boredom, retirement is begining to be rather boring.

quote of the day

Stiletto Heels-

"people say they're bad for the feet

but they're good for the mind.

What's more important?"

-Terry DeHavilland (UK shoe designer)

quote of the day

Character is like a tree

and reputation like its shadow.

The shadow is what we think of it;

the tree is the real thing.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Lincoln's Own Stories

quote of the day

Don’t cry because it’s over,

smile because it happened.

–Dr. Seuss

Moving Day

It's day 2 of part 3 of this crazy move...the final part. Am I ready for it? Yes and No. I'm sad to be leaving so many wonderful friends here in England, but I'm also ready to get on to living this next part of my life called retirement. Sure it's retirement from the Air Force for my husband but it's also retirement for me as in all of that volunteering that I do.

Just a couple more days until the retirement ceremony, then we have the weekend here with my husband's family (some are flying out for the ceremony).
w leave this aea on Monday, fly back to the USA on Tuesday. I'm sad that my friend Renee wasn't able to make it out here, I think that she would have really enjoyed England. HOWEVER...that does not mean that she and I could not come out here together for a vaction in the future! I'm all over that idea! Heck, i Hannah and I can plan a trip to Paris and fly out from Boston, then why can't Renee and I plan a rip to England? Anything is possible and nothing is written in stone. The future holds so many possibilities! Many advntures are waiting right around the corner :-D

I'm drinking my last cups of coffee made by this coffee maker as it's about to move to a new home this afternoon. Oh to many sad toughts,I need to get happy thoughts going on in my head!

quote of the day

Those who speak most of progress

measure it by quantity and not by quality.
- George Santayana

Stylish Blogger Award!

I want to thank Karen at ScrappyKSue for this award. Karen has some great ideas going on over at her blog, please stop by and take a peek at her scrapbook room, scrapbook layouts, cards and more!

In order for me to accept this award, I have to spill the beans on eight things about myself. Here goes...

1- I'm an avid collector of china tea cups and tea pots, I started collecting when I was 8 years old.

2- My favorite fruit is ...the Apple. There are so many things you can do with apples and all of them are YUMMY!

3- I have this constant drive to always be creating things. I really can't explain it other than I've got to keep my hands and brain busy. Be it cooking, sewing, quilting, gardening, scrapbooking or card making.

4- I enjoy making special things for my family and friends- be it sweet treats, gourmet picnic lunches or crafty handmade gifts.

5- I'm writing a cookbook - I really am!

6- I have a true aversion of ground beef.

7- I jokingly call myself a professional volunteer as I put the same kind of dedication to volunteering as I would to a paying job. Then there's the part where it sometimes feels as if my volunteering is a full time job.

8- Before anything else my family comes first!

Here is a list of the 8 creative persons who I think deserve this award as well. Visit their blogs and see what kind of creativity they've got going on and hopefully you'll be regular to their blogs too!

Kim's Scrappy Space

Through My Eyes

Stamping Ideas with Peg

Stetler Arts

My Life and Creations

With this Life I shall Live

Kat's Scrappy Bloggy Life

Heartfelt Balance and Handmade Life

quote of the day

I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
- Robert McCloskey

Wow, what a week!

To say that my life is busy these days is a bit of an understatement!


Wednesday- The shopping trip to the antique shop ended up not happening. Simply put, the heat went out in a friends house and it she was waiting on repair people to come over and fix it. Long story short- I packed up all of my ingredients and cookware and made lunch for us at my friends house. When life gives you unexpected bumps, adjust your plans! Needless to say I was able to turn a very possible bad day for my friend into one where we sat around the table having a delicious lunch and fantastic conversation. When I left her house several hours later my ribs ached from laughing so hard and so much! These are the people and the times I treasure and value so much. I will miss my girlfriends (Alisha, Jackie and Sunny) more than they will ever know!


Thursday- Okay the same ladies from lunch on Wednesday pulled off a MAJOR surprise on me today! I thought that it was just Alisha and I having "Tea" at this wonderful Inn in Aylesbury. Just me and Alisha- we have such a shared history here at RAF Croughton and we arrived here around the same time and we were instantly thrown into the insanity of this place, LOL! Both of us having teens attending Kingham Hill School, both of our husbands being commanders etc. So just Alisha and I hanging out together didn't seem odd to me at all. As we wander through the Inn, I'm looking at the rich furnishings, the art work was exquisite, the fireplaces were enormous (with fires burning in them). The place was historic and romantic and just plain wonderful! Then I turn a corner and SURPRISE! There's Sunny, Jackie and a whole lot more! I was very touched by the show of friends there. They were all in on the surprise, even my husband was...they all get an A+ in being sneaky! The "Tea" was wonderful. You could not have asked for a better place or better food or better company!

Now for the surprises...Lisanne gave me this platter. It's by Peggy Karr Glass and it's handmade in the USA. I have always admired these and have secretly wished to receive one as a gift some day. And now I have one- I am one happy girl! Now for more surprises...

Jackie, Sunny and Hope are sneaky! They know my love of Burleigh Pottery and bought me these canisters-

I almost cried right there on the spot! Talk about some VERY thoughtful friends! I can hardly wait to use these in my new house! Every day these will serve as a reminder of the wonderful and thoughtful friends I have made while living here in England.

Now here is where the tears started ...Alisha, what can I say about that woman. She is kind, thoughtful, generous, compassionate and best yet she lets me vent, LOL! She is the most amazing friend I've had in quite some time! Alisha gave me the most amazing Bracelet by jewelery designer Judith Ripka. I had a hard time choking back the tears. This bracelet represents my husband and myself- both of our birthstones not to mention the Fleur dis lis and my husbands French last name. Friday- That was the Hold Baggage pack out day. It was a 2 man crew and they were in and out in under 30 minutes! Damn! Husband and I got to spend the remainder of our day together- I can get used to that very quickly! Had lunch out, did some shopping and back to the house to work on the next part of our move.

Saturday- My husband's 44th birthday! It was a sad little birthday as his present is back in the states and his mother will be bringing it with her. I bought my husband a kindle. At least he'll have it before our trip back to the states. We spent the majority of the day going through things for the non-temp storage
pack out.

Sunday- went to church and did more sorting for the move

Monday- more sorting

Which brings us to today...

The moving company sent only 1 guy today. All I can say is what were they thinking? The poor soul will be so sick of seeing dishes he'll be eating take away for the rest of his life, LOL!

Now for me to get on with cooking up these cheesecakes! I've been busy this morning and to relieve my stress I had to cook something. So what's better to bake than New York Cheesecakes? Seriously, I've got 14 mini cheesecakes to put into the oven!

quote of the day

Vanity and pride are different things,

though the words are often used synonymously....

Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves,

vanity to what we would have others think of us.
-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1811

The beginning of the end...

...has begun. How so you wonder? This week is the week of the real kick off to my husbands retirement from the Air Force and our move back to the US of A.

Our reason to be at Lakenheath was for Hannah. You see, Hannah got her braces off yesterday! Oh my gosh that girl of ours was smiling and laughing and just being so her...beautiful and funny! When I told her last night that she's smiled more since getting her braces off than she has since Christmas she denied it. But to myself and her dad, it was clearly obvious that she was happy to finally be done wearing braces.

The Corvette has started it journey back to the USA. We left it with the moving company that will put it on a ship and it will be ready for us to pick up by the 28th of March (or there about). This is my husbands "baby" so to speak. He loves that car! He loves me even more since I gave him the kitchen pass to go to Denver to buy that car on Mother's Day. AAahhhh, the things I do to make my man happy.

Now today...I had plans to go to the antique cellar with my girlfriends and then come back to my house and make lunch for them all. BUT...life being what it is, it's not without things happening unexpectedly. Some days when things don't go according to plan...it's time to come up with a new plan! Knowing that you can change a dear friends outlook on what could have been a bad and rather disappointing day...priceless! So with the boiler being out at my friend J's house and her still waiting on it to be repaired- lunch has moved to her house! I'm all about my friends and I'm not about to worry about where I cook this lunch for them! Lunch today is about letting my girlfriends know that they are special and if moving it to one of their homes is an example of the love that I have for them then so be it!

quote of the day

Let the wife make the husband glad to come home,

and let him make her sorry to see him leave.
-Martin Luther

quote of the day

Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth,

it hasn't changed who I am.

My feet are still on the ground.

I'm just wearing better shoes.
-Oprah Winfrey

Did you know...

I will once again be designing and creating yet another Scrapbook Nook? Kind of unfair isn't it. To go through all of that work only to have to take it apart to be packed up with the very real possibility of not seeing my crafty stuff for months on end. Thinking about it makes me ill. AT least I'll be able to find an Ikea in the part of the USA where I'm moving to.

Once again I will take what I have and transform yet another space into my creative habitat. I hope that others will find my scrapbook nook transformations as being a means of inspiration. I will share pictures from start to finish in order to be helpful in the organizing of other creative spaces.

quote of the day

Love is a gift of one's inner most soul to another so both can be whole.
--Tea Rose

another busy week passes on by...

I'll say it, I've been sick all week- yes, I have yet another head-cold... again. I seem to be a magnet for head-colds. I wonder what country this latest one started in because obviously I've not had "these" germs in my system before. That's what you get when your child attends a boarding school with loads of children who all travel internationally. But I've refused to let it knock me out of my game so I persevered! With a box of anti viral tissues in hand I trudged through the week!

So to keep you all up to speed (and for scrapbooking purposes in the future)...

Tuesday- this was my last time to attend a Croughton Spouses Club function. I had a lot of fun with the card making class. I had everyone make 3 cards and there were many oohs and aahh's. I pulled all of the items out of my personal stash and was planning to just donate the costs to the club as my fare well gift to them. But then an idea hit me... One of our ladies is doing a fun raiser for a worthy cause (Hospice House) and when I was asked about my "fee" for the class I asked that the CSC donate money to the charity instead. Really, what's a worthy cause without some "seed money" to get the donations rolling in. It was a night that left me feeling good about oh so many things!

Wednesday- I was pretty much a spud all day long until my appointment at Pummel and Pamper for a pedicure. Not just any kind of pedicure, a Minx pedicure. If you haven't tried Minx you must! I look forward to finding a nail salon in MA that does it this treatment! It's like a sticker made from Mylar that's adhered to your nails. It lasts for forever! This time I got green and blue plaid, sure it's a little off the wall, but it's on my feet and I don't ahve to see it all of the time so it's not a huge distraction.

Thursday- I had lunch with my dearest friends here at Croughton. I finally got to go to Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant in Oxford. If ever you get the chance to eat at one of his dining establishments- DO IT! Clean fresh tasting food that's not doused in tons of sauce- simply delicious! Great atmosphere, excellent wait staff too! Lets not forget the friends...Alisha, Jackie and Sunny- all three are the best friends that I have made here. All we were missing was our friend Linda and the circle would have been complete! These ladies are all heroes in my book! They go above and beyond what is required of a military spouse and it's women like them and their endless volunteering and giving of themselves that put us (RAF Croughton military volunteers) on the map as a VERY supportive unit! I hope to spend as much time as possible with them before I leave. These are the kinds of friendships I encourage others to make...the ones that will last a lifetime!

Friday- Cooking Club!!!! I chose the Tex-Mex theme. We've all done it before and it was such a huge hit that I wanted to do it again! The food was awesome, the conversation was truly one that made everyone laugh out loud and it is something to be treasured! I've got the best neighbors and I'm going to miss them all oh so dearly! I just may try to start a cooking club after I get a house in New England.

Now for my good news of the week...my thanks goes out to my sister in law "L" who has helped us find an apartment. So now we have a place to live, albeit a temporary one. We're not rushing into buying a house, we want to take our time and see what there is out there on the market to find that "perfect house" just for us. Soon there will be a rash of new listings for spring and well we want to see what's available to us. We'll be living in the same town as my husbands brother and his family. We pretty much know which school our daughter will transfer into after we move stateside which as also another HUGE plus for us. It's all falling into place a little at a time.

So here I am, my family sleeping in like usual (even the cat is having a sleep in today), me with coffee in hand surfing the internet having a look see at what's going on in the world around me. Life is Good!

quote of the day

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.



William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

quote of the day

The first step to getting the things you want out of life

is this:

Decide what you want.
-Ben Stein

Livin' la Vida Loca

Living the crazy life...that's me! So here I am making up card kits for tomorrows spouses event. Making up card designs and prototypes- easy! Making up 20 card kits for ladies whom I do not know what their crafting skill levels are- not so easy. So far I 2 different card kits. Keep in mind I'm doing this all by myself, so it it a lengthy process. Then of course there's that other thing...limited funding and of course the ever so popular limited resources for art supplies. I've raided my "stash" and have a couple of really good paper crafting projects with limited stamping. I may decide to do a third card kit- it's something that I'm going to ahve to give a wee it more thought to doing before I commit myself. Look for pictures tomorrow.

quote of the day

I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch.
- Gilda Radner

I know that I've used this quote before but I can't help it...it's so perfect for today!