Things are going okay

Well, yesterday wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I called the insurance company, called the auto body shop, called doctors and scheduled appointments, and called Chevrolet to report that the driver's airbag did not deploy as it should have. I was amazed at how smoothly calling the insurance company went. They opened my claim right away, the adjusters started calling shortly after, the tow truck came when it was supposed to. My oldest son, who we previously thought was uninjured, came home from school complaining that it hurt across his chest and on one side of his neck so I guess I'll have to take him to the doctor today so he can have an official diagnosis on record. I'm sure it's whiplash, too. DH is doing alright, considering the circumstances. I thought for sure he wouldn't be mobile, given his previous experiences, but he has actually been able to move around. Thanks, everyone, for all your well wishes and prayers. I know they have been helpful.

So late last night I realized I had neglected to get a birthday card out to my long time friend's daughter. I wanted to use up some cardstock I had laying around and knew just which image I wanted to use. I pulled out my Whipper Snapper stamps and inked this cute guy right up. Can you believe I've had him for months and have never inked him up? At least I don't think I have, except to maybe give images to someone else. Well, it's all about procuring, isn't it? Who says we're supposed to use the stuff?! LOL. Anyway, I'll leave you with this little guy. I hope she likes it. I have another one to make today for a college friend who now lives in the Portland area. I think I'll use the same guy.

Accidents do happen

Well, I had a great holiday weekend until yesterday. I had a Stampin Up party at my house which was just getting underway when my husband called to say he had been rear ended right in front of his mother's house. One of his sisters called a few minutes later and said I'd better get down there because the aid car was on the way and they think my youngest son was hurt. I left everyone at my house to continue the party without me and zipped down to my MIL's house. She lives right off a very busy main road so I'm not at all surprised that an accident like this happened. Basically, he was stopped and waiting to turn into her driveway. Several cars in the opposite direction had passed him when he got rear-ended. That pushed him into oncoming traffic and into an oncoming car. Luckily my husband drives a big truck because I'm sure it saved them from serious injury. He was carried out on a stretcher, strapped to a board with a neck brace on due to his previous issues with his neck (he had surgery 2yrs ago). Once they got the area under control and I talked with the police officers I took my youngest son to the hospital with me to be checked out and to check on my husband. After 2hrs of being strapped to the board, hanging out in the middle of the hallway, then Xrays and a CT scan, they have determined he has whiplash. I'm actually thankful for this because it could have been so much worse. My youngest is okay, too. Just a bit of whiplash for him but nothing too bad. He bumped the back of his head when his head flung back against the back window of the truck. We were also lucky that it happened right in front of his mom's house because they got to him quickly and were able to hang onto the kids and help calm them until I arrived. The youngest one won't admit to being scared but he did say "What if Dad dies?" I had to tell him that it looks much scarier than it really is because they just have to be careful of his neck since he had surgery before. Poor little guy....

Anyway, we were at the hospital for several hours due to the backup of people there. It was crazy! People laying on stretchers in the middle of the hallway for a long time. The picture is of the car that rear-ended my husband. I took it with my cell phone, standing in my MIL's driveway. Yikes! As far as I could tell, that driver was okay with just a bandaged hand. The driver of the car my husband got pushed into also appeared to be okay. Thank goodness! Now to deal with the insurance mess and to call Chevy since the driver's airbag did not deploy at all. Our truck is only about 3-4 mos old.

Wear your seatbelts, everyone, and keep your kids in their carseats!!

Ramblings

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. My husband was going to be out of town but managed to get home in time to celebrate with us. We were invited to a friend/neighbor's who knew he would be gone but she just set out an extra plate for him. I brought my mom and sis, too. It was a lot of fun and something different from celebrating with his huge family or my small one. Do you all go shopping on Black Friday? I do it every year and love it. I managed to get most of my holiday shopping done, plus a few extras for me! Gotta love deals at the Gap Outlet store. Plus, my friend Joyce and I met up at Ben Franklin and picked up some rustic stars. We are going to make some projects with them. I told her we have to set a date to actually get these done or else they will just become another procurement to sit in the closet for 'someday.' haha

My camera is not talking to my computer right now. I'm not sure why. I finally decided to just scan in some cards I created over the past few days. The Dirty Girls over at Splitcoast were all challenged by Jami to create cards using the Elzybells image 'A Winter Song.' They could not use patterned paper, however, all their beautiful images (click here) inspired me to create with my stamps. Now I challenge you to create some cards using yours! These girls are just too cute to sit in a drawer and not be put to use!!! Get stamping! If you don't have any Elzybells images and want some, click here

We are the Champions!!!!!!

It has been crazy busy around our household this past week! We finished up soccer for my oldest son, then both my boys had their Flag Football playoffs on Saturday....ALL DAY!!! Both boys' teams were in first place in their divisions going in, but sadly, my youngest son's team lost in the first game so they were out right away. My oldest son's team, though, KICKED SOME SERIOUS BEHIND!!! They won all three playoff games, then won the 'Superbowl' by a 20 point margin. It was not an easy win as it had been raining hard off and on all day so the grass field was muddy and slippery. My son got injured in the latter portion of the first half and was out the rest of the game. Another boy was off getting sick in a corner somewhere..I think he has a stomach bug cuz it just kicked in at dinner, I guess. Both boys are integral parts of the 10-man team but it's a testament to the coach to be down two kids and still pull off a huge win. Every single boy on this team does an equal share...it's a rare thing to find. I'm so proud of them all!



If you recall, I recently made an appearance at a local stamp store called Monkey Love Rubber Stamps. I did make-n-takes for 2 hrs for their Annual Holiday Open House. It was so much fun. Saw some familiar faces and lots of new ones. As promised, here are some more samples of what we made. I still have yet to take a picture of one of them. I hope to post some sneak peeks to my next class later today. I will have a class at Stampin In The Rain, at Bothell Country Village on Dec 8, doing gift tags.

Altered Items

This weekend we lost a not-so-beloved family member. It was our goldfish, Squishy. We actually got Squishy and Squirt at the same time, around the time Finding Nemo came out (hence their names), but Squirt died early on. We could tell Squishy was dying. He was hardly swimming and just gulping air. It was his time to go. RIP, Squishy. I'm sorry to say, you will probably not be missed.

Today I will leave you with two things. One is an altered CD holder that I made last year. As with most altered things I make, they go into a drawer or box, and never come out again. I thought it would be fun to give it a breath of fresh air by removing it from the box and taking its picture. Back into the box it will go, I'm sure. The base of the CD holder is from Pine Cone Press. I covered it with designer paper (Basic Grey) and some embellishments. I think the rub-ons were left over from some other project. The snowflake image is a stamp from CTMH.

The second thing I will leave you with is a card. I used a flat gold embossing powder for the sentiment but if I were to do it again, I would use a shinier gold. I couldn't take a very good picture so the colors of the buildings do not show up quite right but you get the general idea. I used Prismacolor pencils to color in the images. The actual colors I chose were from the original Elzybells UK site . I love anything nativity-ish.

Whopper Cake

On Tuesday I met some co-workers at Northlake Tavern in the U-District for some pizza to celebrate a birthday for one of them. There are only a few of us in our 'division' so I designated myself the cake provider whenever one of us has a birthday. For this one, I created what I call the 'Whopper Cake.' It's true name is 'Deep Chocolate Cake with Double-Malt Topping' and the recipe can be found in a Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publication called Simply Perfect Desserts 2001. I would post the recipe but it would be copyright infringement so the best I can do is tell you where it is published. This issue is full of absolutely fantastic desserts! You should try to get a copy....

Don't pay attention to the fact that the cake is lopsided. I was in a hurry as I hadn't realized the frosting needed to have chilled for 3 hours before it would be ready for use. I made it, threw it in the freezer for a quick chill, then had to slap it all together and run out the door. I was late to lunch but in time for the pizza to appear on the table. That's what counts, right?!

I also can't leave you without a card sample. Elena made a really cute card using a Mexican theme for Christmas. So, I dragged out my Mexican themed A Muse stamps, too, and here's the result. Hope you like it. At this time last year we were getting ready to leave for our trip to Puerto Vallerta, Mexico to celebrate my mother-in-law's 70th birthday. It was so sunny and warm there while everyone was flooding here at home. I'm so glad this November has been much drier so far. The little bobblehead thingies were purchased from a beach vendor. You can find these all over the place in P.V. and my kids collected many of them.

I'll be at Monkey Love Rubber Stamps this Saturday from noon-2pm for their Annual Holiday Open House, doing some make-n-takes with Elzybells images. If you have a chance, come on by and check out the store, do some shopping, and go home with a cute card or two. The store will be celebrating their open house from noon to 5pm with Make-n-Takes, food, and a BIG sale!

Monkey Love Rubber Stamps is located in lower Queen Anne at
613 Queen Anne Ave. N., Seattle, WA 98109
Phone: (206)283-7897

Welcome!

I've had several people comment that I need to blog. I wasn't sure I needed to blog. I'm still not sure I need to blog. Here I am, though, blogging. I've known for some time what I'd call my blog but have had such a hard time just jumping into the blogging world. Don't get me wrong...I love to read blogs. I just am not sure I can handle the pressure of maintaining one. That, of course, assumes any of you have any interest at all in what I have to say. haha.





Thanks to my fellow AMuse buddy, Jenn Shurkus, for allowing me to use one of her photos for my blog banner. Thanks to my fellow SCS Buddy, Dorinda, for the fabulous name for my blog. So appropriate for my shopaholic tendencies.....