This Post Is A Little Out of Character

I saw this quote today: "That awkward moment when you're not sure if you actually have free time or you're just forgetting everything."

Lately I find my family staring at me as though they don't understand what I have just said. Then I realize I said a lot of stuff to myself in my head, it just didn't all come out of my mouth. The family just shrugs and answers what they thought I meant.

Once when my granddaughter was in the second grade or so, she was playing in my guest bedroom. I kept hearing something tearing. I went in the room to check on her and she was writing page after page and laying them on the bed.

"What are you doing? Playing school?" I inquired.

"Oh, no. I am letting people out of detention," she replied.

Amused, I asked, " What have they done?"

"Oh, all sorts of stuff."

I became a little concerned and bent over to read their sins. Each paper had the name of the offender, their offense (example: talked out of turn), their reprieve and her signature, The Prity Quen of Inglin. Formally translated that would be The Pretty Queen of England. (This is the grandchild you read about in another post who once asked me (loudly and with great clarity) in the checkout of Big Lots, if I had remembered to wear my underwear that day. Another story for another day.

Now I am NOT a princess much less a queen, but it seems to me that if you've tried to lead a decent life you deserve a certain amount of respect. I have followed the old adage "A place for everything and everything in its place." I tried to make my parents and Home Economics teachers proud. So as I come to my twilight years, I've decided to cut loose a little. The queen thing brought to memory times when I didn't do what I really wanted to do but did what I thought was expected of me. Do I deserve a crown, certainly not...but at this stage of life I feel I can divulge certain activities in which I participated now that a number of years have passed.

Today I admit that once I swigged directly from the Pepto Bismol bottle. (It was an emergency, there were no clean spoons...another story.) But I have to further admit that I hid the bottle like an alcoholic hides his whiskey. I was afraid someone might get up in the middle of the night and double swig...that would be a catastrophe. As soon as school was over the next day I drove straight to the drug store and bought a new bottle for the family. I kept mine hidden and nipped at it when necessary. This began my downward spiral from Goody Two Shoes to what I have become.

Another case in point...I have been practicing getting into and out of the bathtub (no small task when you have a trick knee)...fully clothed except for my socks and shoes. As I was trying my exit the other night I realized that the bath mat had been kicked aside and I was barefooted. So? you ask. One of my cardinal rules has always been...No Bare Feet...anywhere except the tub. Well, I had no choice...so my bare feet actually touched the floor and NOTHING HAPPENED! I even used to prefer that if Coach had to exit the bed during the night, that he wash his feet before re-entering. He complied for over 3o years and then one night he snapped. He did it quietly. He acted like he didn't hear me. I didn't say anything. We really walked on the wild side with that.

This morning I was dressing and Facebooking at the same time when I was faced with a challenge of epic proportions. At the appointed time in my makeup ritual of 50 years, my mascara was gone. I looked in the cabinet...no Maybelline. Then my eyeliner and my blush. The "big three" were all missing from my arsenal.
I began to perspire. I retraced my houseshoed steps. How could three things just vanish? I had never gone outside to work without makeup and I was not beginning today. That's just TOO WILD! Then I remembered that I had to go to my grandchildren's school yesterday and I took a change of clothes and my makeup to work (wouldn't want to embarrass The Prity Quen of Inglin and her brother by being in work clothes.) I located all the items, did a reasonably good job of applying every item and hurried to work.

Now the reason for this post has totally escaped me. Normally, that would upset me greatly but for some reason it doesn't really bother me today...I have decided to loosen up. You should, too. And if you are already too loose, then tighten up. Whatever..
Angela

Fun For Kids...Texture Collage

When summer days begin to stretch waaayyy too long, take a walk around the yard, or better yet, take the kiddos to a park where there is some new ground to explore.

Our grandchildren love to go to a little waterpark (not the kind with slides, etc.) just a natural water hole with trees, running water and large rocks to splash around. We took a lunch and lots of pictures and came home happy and NOT BORED!

We named our resulting artwork..."Textures".

I copied the pictures from my camera to the computer printer. Using regular copier paper we cut each pic to 3 1/4" x 2 1/2". I used a 16x20 canvas and painted it dark gray. I scuffed the edges to give more dimension. The margin between the 28 photos was pretty small..about 1/4". Margins were: top, bottom, left side=1/2" and the right margin was 2".

Using Word, we selected a font and wrote the word TEXTURES....copied it, cut it out.

At this point we selected the pictures for our composition. Some pics looked better next to others...good lesson in composition, varying textures, spacing, etc. Then we got out the Mod Podge and modpodged away. We used Flat MP.

Guess what these images are!

Lichen, mimosa leaves, algae, oreo type cookie, grass, rust on garbage can.

Shoestring, gravel in concrete, pine, top of picnic table (ugh), spiderweb with cedar needles and raindrops, plant with water droplets.

Surely you can guess these!

In addition, tops of nails, chainlink fence, pinecone upclose are all good pictures to add. They had great fun trying to get others to guess what each thing was. Fun and quick little project for a summer day that went from boring to a blast!

We also did a smaller collage of pictures I took of them during the day!
Same thing...just smaller! Their daddy got that!

I am joining the Big Blog Party over at The Picket Fence. Please, join us!

Hope every summer day is filled with fun,

Accordian Cards & Paperbag Summer Scrapbooks

I completely forgot about these two simple summer projects! You might enjoy one or both. Both are items that scrapbookers have been doing forever so you might have already seen them. In case you haven't....the first came about several years ago when #1 Grandson had to make a little scrapbook about himself for school...old Grandmother loves these challenges...so it was off to the scrapbook paper stash and photo boxes!

Assignment: Make a book all about yourself!

Finished project...starting with 1st birthday. There are some other pics on the back of the accordian.

Above is our Last page...a remembrance that even though we may suffer here on earth..there are surely better days ahead.

Sides are closed by red eyelets that I pounded in and tied with ribbons & beads.
The next accordian project was a Father's Day card for the Hubster.

It features old photos of his father who was lost in the Korean Conflict.

This card was shorter, but as meaningful.

Below is the Condensed (mercifully for you and me)..Tutorial for Accordian Cards

For the school assignment: I measured scrapbook paper and cut the "pages" into 8 1/2 inch long strips by 5 1/2 inch high strips. I cut 8 different colors of cardstock to make the pages. (I used white here for demo purposes.)

I folded the strips in half...so each page was about 4 1/4"x 5 1/2". "Martha" introduced me to the bone folder. I used it to make the creases very crisp. (Crisp creases are "a good thing".) You could use something else but they don't cost much and are great to fold cardstock.

Next, I glued the right front side of page one to the inside of page two. See above.

Page three was glued in two places, as pictured above. Does this make sense? I think the pics are easier to understand than my directions...BTW: I am directionally challenged. So it is with great effort that I do tutorials.

Make your accordian as long as you like but end as pictured above. I cut eight strips which gave me 18 pages...you may need more or less. Just begin and end correctly no matter what the length. The shorter Father's Day card had 3 strips of 6"x 12 1/2" strips. I ended up with 8 pages.

A reminder of what we were doing here!

Tutorials are NOT my thing!! Moving onward and upward....Brown Bag Scrapbooks are next...I used smaller bags than lunch bags and got the colored ones at Michaels or Hob Lob.

I have made several of these for new mothers for their hospital stay. I went ahead and added all the information so that all they had to do was "fill in the blanks"...for instance, I made a caption on one page that read, "This is the hospital where I was born". All they had to do was snap a pic and glue it in the appropriate place. I made a page for people that visited or were at the hospital for the birth to sign. All kinds of little bag books can be made for a special occasion...this isn't taking the place of a larger scrapbook...it's just a fun memento for something like prom, summer camp...drivers license, first date, etc.
After stapling the number of bags needed together on the left end, I covered the spine of the "book" with a piece of cardstock and scrapbook paper. I glued it heavily, clamped it and let it dry overnight. You may want to do this step at the very end...if so draw yourself a little pencil line on the left end of each bag to remind yourself to not cross over the line so you will have room to staple and glue.

This little book is our 2005 Summer book of memories. You may wish to turn some of the bags so that the bag opens to the right. I added pictures, tickets, other reminders of our days together in the bags for safe keeping. You will tie all the bags together at the end, so there's not much danger of losing anything special.

Pictures were taken all summer and then we took one afternoon to compose the book. I was once a Creative Memories Scrapbook rep...so I have a motherlode of stickers.

First trip down the hill by herself!

Summer baseball and MS Braves tickets from games with Gu.

I made holes in each of the end bags and attached eyelets. I threaded twine through the two bags and added beads to both ends of the twine. I made the twine very long. When the bow is untied, you can pull the book's pages apart without having to unthread the twine.

I could kick myself for not doing this every summer....life gets hectic....things happen...and all of a sudden you blink and everybody's grown and you think..."What was I thinking not to savor the moments? Why didn't I write down that funny quote that someone said?" When it's quiet and dare I say, lonely...it's those moments that you'd have the time to look back and remember that summer that grandson got his driver's permit or the time granddaughter asked me for all the world to hear in Big Lots if I had on my underwear?

I don't know what's holding you back...but carve out a little niche of time...to savor and preserve. Someday somebody will thank you...you might even thank yourself!

Preserve those memories,
Angela

* Grandson Gets His Driver's Permit (and I live to tell about it)

I vaulted out of bed. Friday was the culmination of weeks of testing, reading, studying and gathering information for the REALLY BIG day for Grandson...I couldn't be late. We were meeting his mother at 7:15 (am) to pick up his birth certificate. I didn't have to call him twice for breakfast...he was ready in a flash.

Out the door we flew, met his mom, secured the document and then it was on to the Drivers License station. We jumped out of the car (in order to stand in line for 25 minutes) and were positioned third in line. We were behind a young man in a demonic shirt of some sort and in front of two Bikers for Jesus.

It looked like an after Christmas sale at the mall when the door opened. Taking a number, it wasn't long before they called us to the desk. Boy, had I outsmarted everyone in the county...this would be a piece of cake. AND I could make the funeral I was supposed to attend later in the day...it was a GREAT idea getting to the station so early... we had all our paperwork... but wait...WHAT?! This lady said we were missing a document from the DRIVERS ED TEACHER! Now, for those of you who don't know it..that DE instructor is no less than MY Hubster...grrrrrrr. Out of line, back into the car, up to the school to get said document.

Arriving back at the testing station, we took another number...NOT #3...I might add. As I took the number (#104 I might add) the lady at the desk casually offered, "Oh, the testing computers are down...would you like to come back another day?" "Another day? Surely you jest," I proffered. Nope I was determined...this was a BIIIGGG day. Come back another day...please...Not on your life, lady. We sat....and sat....and sat. Finally our number came up and all the testers were civil servants.... except ours...we got the highway patrol lady. She peered over her glasses at me...a date was missing here. Oh, help me...I thought I'd checked everything a hundred times...there were reams of paper here...just fill in the date and be done with it. (Somehow she knew I was his grandmother. I think she sensed my panic and determination to see this thing through to the end.)

Then we got the lecture about the man who didn't wear his glasses and got a $200 fine. Grandson had his new glasses perched strategically on his nose, so he was all ears (and eyes). Then she said it...the computers had come up but they were down again...did we want to wait? Sure we do...we've only been here since 7:30 and it's now 9:15...yes, yes, we will wait. And wait, we did...and waited and waited.

Suddenly we heard his name called and the lady shouted, "Hurry, the computers are up. Go!" I was standing, yelling for all 1,000 people in the place to hear, "Don't hurry! Take your time!" The testing lady said, "Go, go now!" He turned and looked at me perplexed, did he hurry or take his time? He hurried. (I meant take your time on the test.)

I changed chairs so I could position myself to watch him take the test in the glassed in testing room. ( I am sort of a hoverer.) All the computers had phones attached...what in the world? All of a sudden everybody who had been waiting filled the testing room with Grandson. Most picked up the phone, but not him. Oh, no...he doesn't understand he's to pick up the phone. He was working like a trojan...you can't miss but 5 questions and still pass. Another day at this place loomed large in my mind. I don't think I can come back here again...it's rather depressing. After what seemed like an eternity, he picked up the phone! And just as quickly, he was through. He only used the phone for a second. Oh, no! He walked over to me and said, "They cut me off at the 27th question."

I was hot under the collar, "WELL, that's not our fault...they are going to have to do something about this!" I rose and went to the desk. "They cut him off at #27...that's not his fault...what now?" I questioned. The lady looked at me and very courteously said, "That means he passed."

"Oh, well, um, thank you." Another picture was needed (he blinked three times before...it's the glasses or maybe the camera I think) and suddenly, he had the golden card in his hands! We were finished and it was only 10:25. He read every letter and line on that card.

I whipped out my camera and took celebratory pictures, much to his chagrin and then as we were pulling out of the parking lot, I asked, "BTW, what was with the phone? Why didn't you use it?" He said, "That's if you need somebody to read you the questions. At the end, I just wanted to see what it sounded like." Oh, in that case....

And that was that....Go, Grandson!!!....you are now officially "permitted" to drive with a DE instructor! You have a very good one!

Being a grandmother is a lot like eating a box of chocolates (if I may borrow a phrase)...you never know what you are going to get on any given day...THIS day was chocolate with caramel inside! :)

May you arrive early for all your appointments,

Visiting The Mighty Mississippi River

The Hubster, Grandchildren and I went to Monroe, LA yesterday afternoon. We wanted to see the Mighty Mississippi River at its highest level, so off we went to Vicksburg. My pictures are not something to behold...the river, however, is! Hub was driving like Dale Earnhart Jr. across the bridge, and Granddaughter and I were having a very difficult time snapping shots.

Heading over the bridge on the MS side.

If you will look carefully at the picture above, you can see nothing but water...there is a little slice of land in the upper right area. But that is mostly trees.

Blurry photo, but normally several feet of sand can be seen in the pic above; not today.

Up we go into the wild blue yonder...he won't slow down for anything!!! Help!

Coming off the bridge on the LA side...water, water everywhere.

Look very carefully on the right half way up and you will see lots of water...it was truly everywhere. See just above the concrete barrier on the right.


Heading home from the LA side.


Again, very blurry, but you can get an idea of the width of the river.

Welcome home....thank goodness!


The hills were covered with blooming white oakleaf hydrangea...beautiful.

Remember those who've lost their memories in this flood.

The power of this river was something to behold.

Yard Sales with Grandson

A few housekeeping notes before my post:

1. I LOVED the Royal Wedding...just bought a magazine about thei couple's lives...don't care if anyone thinks I'm nuts...I LOVED it from start to finish!

2. Neutrogena DISCONTINUED my Healthy Skin Rejuvenator machine and pads! I popped off a "hot" little email letting them know exactly how I feel about them and their new replacement, The Wave...horrible little waste of money machine! I just cannot take another discontinuement of anything!
3. Back to CVS Drug Store...still trying to replace discontinued Revlon #110 Blush Chrome lipstick. Have moved on to another brand...will report result in several days.
4. Sephora has told its clerks that it plans to DISCONTINUE my Sephora Primer. Is this a vast worldwide conspiracy? What is this world coming to?! Bought Bare Minerals Primer...was so disappointed...will NOT pay $38 for Smashbox.

Now................. I feel better. This hasn't been a great week...I felt in great need of encouragement and guess who came to my rescue?! My 14 year old grandson....what a wonderful young man!

Do you have any idea how great it is to have your grandchild ASK to spend the night with you?! I told him that if he'd go with me to a few yard sales, that I'd give him some "seed" money and he could put some things in my Flea Market Booth...well, I taught him a few tricks and guided him in the direction of his first acquisition, a Fiesta platter, and he was off to the races!

Here's our haul for the morning...we each spent about $25. We can't wait to see if we can at least double our money...I seized on the teachable moment...re-counting your change to make sure it's correct...the art of negotiation on an item...the correct placement of price tickets on an object...and the arrangement for maximum exposure in the booth!! Oh, what a fun morning!

Some of our fun plates...Great Smoky Mts. ; Tennessee; 2 cute Dog Plates; Fiesta and a wonderful woven basket that is now residing in my basket collection area!


An ET glass (1983) and a Mississippi glass!

This little rocking chair was put together with NO NAILS...like a puzzle. A friend rescued it from the garbage and gave it to me...3 Gail Pittman Valentine's Mugs and a precious angel Bear...


A Miss Bunny dummy board...to set by the front door next Easter!

His big purchase, a perfectly good electric Black and Decker hedge trimmer.

He also found hedge clippers (which needed a little de-rusting, but he decided to keep the price low and let the new owner "fix them" up himself and a child's bench and tennis racket.

Cute wooden molds...

A coconut owl with rope eyes...love it...

He remembered "old grandmother's" advice...anything with horses or dogs...

Then we hit the Motherlode...our piece de resistance....two rocking horses...that nayed and clippity clopped when you squeezed their ears...they retailed for $100 each!! Oh, happy day!

He bought the black and white one...I, the unicorn (which had never been used...not ridden once!) We were in Yard Sale delirium!!

After a Root Beer and some chocolate chip cookies baked by the ladies of the church where we were shopping, it was on home. We priced in a frenzy to get things to the FM by noon!

A nutritious Sonic Chicken nugget lunch and we were finished for the day!

Can't wait to see our earnings next week!

Hoping you had as great a Saturday as I did,