I'm still here!

Sorry I haven't posted, it's been a little nuts around here. 

We went to Texas for a few days to help my Father-in-law, Don, celebrate his 80th.  I'd say he had fun... what do you think?

 The RV park had a huge party for him and it was a blast.  Since it was on St. Patty's day there was a corned beef and cabbage dinner, VERY GOOD food!  The woman in the picture lives at the park and was convinced to do a "Marilyn Monroe" style birthday song for Don.  Looks like he's enjoying himself!  Don's four brothers, their wives, and a couple of nieces and nephews had surprised them the day before, but he had no idea we (all three of his children, plus me) were coming down, or that the dinner was really a big party for him.  I have photos of both him and my Mother-in-law when they first saw us, but I'm not posting them today.  I'm saving those for blackmail!  Let's just say there was some screaming and crying.

The next day some of us sat here:

for a few hours, and it was a very good day.  I learned that I need to be MUCH more careful to cover all exposed skin with sunscreen or I end up with bright red "sun tattoos" that last a few days.

The last full day we were there I had the chance to do something I've wanted to do since I first heard about it:  attend the belt sander races!  I can't tell you how much fun this was, and it afforded me more opportunites for "sun tattoos" as well!  I had no idea there was a Belt Sander Racing Association, and it still makes me laugh. I bought a hat and tee shirt to commemerate this day.  Here is a shot of some of the sanders, with the track in the background:

 

There are two types of sanders that race, stock and modified.  The sanders in the foreground of that picture are some of the modified racers we got to see.  The sanders on the further table are some of the stock racers.

Here are a couple of racers getting ready for the big race.  Our friend John, another resident of the RV park is the racer in the tan tee shirt, on the right:

 And here are the sanders, mid race, neck and neck!  Although John lost this race it was so fun to watch!

 The races were at the Pelican bar and grill, and they mix those drinks STRONG!  Add that to no lunch and sitting in the sun for hours... I'm glad we were within walking distance to the hotel!

Sunday we headed home.  Tuesday it snowed.  I'm ready to go back to Texas!

A special birthday

My father-in-law is turning 80 this month so I made him a special card, using one of Ileana's files. 

The inside says "But the engine runs like new!"   I LOVE the Oldometer file and I hope he does, too!

Big news!!

Starla (my daughter) and her husband, Wyatt, stopped by the house last night.  Starla had emailed me earlier in the day that she had made a card she wanted DH and I to look at before she posted it to her blog.  It's ADORABLE, see:

And on the inside it says "Congratulations Grandma and Grandpa."  I told her the card is cute (she knew I'd like it, I love elephants), but it took me a minute to get it... she's pregnant!  YAY!  I'm so happy for them!  You can see her post here.

Share the love!

I won the HappiLeigh Scrappin' challenge AND the Iheart2stamp challenge!   YAY!  New digis for me!

AND Starla at YouCouldBeWishingOnAStar gave me an award:

and here's the rules...

This award is to highlight lesser-known blogs of worth!  When a person is presented with this award, if they choose to participate, they post saying they accept this award and present it to 3-5 blogs they deem worthy of following.    Since this award is for lesser-known blogs, please try to pick ones with few followers.

I have discovered numerous blogs that I enjoy, I chose these for the award:

1. Ileana at I Scrap Designs
2. Leigh at HappiLeigh Scrappin'
3. Brenda at Brenscraps

Check them out!!

Anita Be Stampin' Challenge 10

ABS current challenge is here.  It's a color challenge this time.  We are to use the colors dark blue, light blue, cream, brown, and a neutral color of our own choice as shown: 
We were to use denim as an inspiration.

This is the card I created, using ABS digistamp Aspen:

I cut up an old pair of jeans to make her coat and used cotton balls for the fur hat, buttons, and trim.  The headband of her hat was also cut from the jeans.  It reminds me of an outfit I used to have in the 70's!

So... that was the card for the challenge.  Since the outfit reminded me so strongly of the 70's I removed Aspen from that card and made THIS one:

It won't work for the challenge, but I'm more likely to use this one!

Which one would you rather receive? 

How was YOUR day?

WARNING:  Long story!

You know how some days are really good, and some are really NOT good?  Today was a mixture of really good AND really not good. 

I worked my normal half-day (gotta love Friday) and was going to pick up my mother for lunch.  Since I was about an hour early I stopped at the local discount store to putz around a bit.  Last time I was there I got this GREAT sweater, feels like cashmere, not too heavy but still warm... LOVE the sweater.  They were on CLEARANCE today!  WOO HOO!  I picked up 4 of them in assorted colors because I loved the sweater at $20 but I ADORE the sweater at $4. Great day, right?

Then I went to pick up my mother.  We went to lunch at Friday's where they were having a promotion that if you ordered off this little menu you would get a $10 gift card.  Since we eat there regularly we decided to splurge today in order to save tomorrow.  We each got the flat iron steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli, and it was perfect. Great food and two gift cards! Good day still!

We did a little shopping and on the way back to her house, ***POP*** my Rodeo's muffler fell off and started dragging on the ground.  Suddenly a really good day is a BAD DAY.  I made it to her house and called my husband, who told me to go ahead and drive the car home... with the muffler dragging all the way.  I took as many back roads as I could, but still ended up driving on some main roads (no highways, thank God) making an AWFUL racket.  It's noisy enough without a muffler, never mind dragging the stupid thing along with me!  The kids along my route had a good time though.  Every one of them, without exception, bent way down to the ground to watch the show underneath my truck.

So I guess my day was mediocre, if you average it out.  How was yours?

He rang that bell!!

I made this card for a couple of challenges, but also because after reading this young man's story I wanted to make a celebratory card for him.

Andrew is a 10 year old boy who has been fighting brain tumors for the last year.  He just recently had his last chemo treatment (YAY!) and there is a tradition and many cancer treatment centers that when a patient finishes their last chemo they get to Ring the Bell.  This is to celebrate a huge milestone, the one Andrew recently reached.  You can  read Andrew's story. Or visit his Caring Bridge site.

This is the card I will be sending to Andrew:

The bell is a digi by Leigh at the HappiScrappinStore.  I colored the bell gray as that is the ribbon color for brain cancer.  The girl and her dog are a digi by the very talented Mo Manning at digitalpenciltoo.

I will be entering the card in these challenges:

HappileighScrappin' - Cards for Andrew  (thank you, Leigh, for the opportunity to do this for him)
and
Digital Tuesday - Celebrations

Green with envy

The name of the current Bugaboo challenge is Green with Envy.  You are supposed to incorporate the color green in your card, and use the following sketch as inspiration:

Here's my card:

The patterned paper is from the DCWV Blossoms & Butterflies stack, the image is, of course, Bugaboo!  Isn't she sweet?  I decided to go monochromatic (excluding skin and hair) as an added challenge.  I'm happy with how she turned out!