Clearwater Beach

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I assume there are as many varieties of palm trees as there are pine trees, for instance. These line the driveway to our hotel. They look very cool but I've come to the conclusion these are "regular" palm trees, manicured to look like this. Anyone? True?

Arsty shot of the back side of our hotel.

The hotel's fountain, pool and hot tub. We haven't used them but walked around them an evening or two. We're such goobers, we didn't know the hotel provides towels, all rolled up nice and neat on each chaise lounge. Good thing we didn't show up with our cheesy beach towels. This is a pretty classy joint, as I've said. But I have to say, they make the valets dress like little organ grinder monkeys. Boxy hats, long shirts and all. I'd feel sorry for them except with tips, they probably make more than I do.

This is the view from our room. Steve had the brilliant idea last night of leaving the curtains open because we enjoy looking at the lit up skyline. We had just turned off the TV at 11:00 - and fireworks appeared over the skyline. How cool is that?

There's a nature preserve on the property, where one can walk down this boardwalk to this gazebo.

Roseate Spoonbills seen from the boardwalk this morning.

We spent most of the day at Clearwater Beach. Just beautiful, as advertised! This is in the afternoon, after the crowd thinned out. Getting that hunky, tan, tall drink of water strolling down the beach in the picture was almost totally coincidental.

This is how the beach looked when we got there. I'm amazed we found an unoccupied umbrella and chairs. And I can tell you that no chair and no shade was going to make for one cranky Stefani.

This is what 18 bucks will get you for 5 hours. I'm referring to the umbrella and two chairs, not Mr. McStudly. Worth every penny, I say. As it was, I burned my legs to a crisp. I try to work the right balance between sensible sunscreen usage and admittedly want to return from vacation, looking like I'd be on vacation. One day of sun is all I needed. I even set the alarm on my cell phone so I wouldn't stay in the sun too long. The rest of me is fine, my legs are on fire. Time to go lotion up again.

Epcot

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The billboards in Tampa about the Flower & Garden Festival caught my attention, so we went to Epcot today. And walked around for 6 hours. I'm beat tonight!

It was a beautiful day. And not all that crowded. Towards the end of the day, it seemed more crowded but not unbearable.

We'd hoped to stick around until 5:45 and see Gary Puckett perform. But we were done about two hours before that and just couldn't do it. He's there as part of the Flower Power series at the America Gardens Theatre. I'm sure I've mentioned this before - Gary Puckett and the Union Gap is the very first concert Gretchen and I ever saw. I think I was 1968; I was 12, Gretchen was 9. Mom and Dad took us. Do we have great parents or what?

Had we been visiting here on May 12, we definitely would have stayed for the concert. Davy Jones. Yes!! Mom and Dad took us to see the Monkees in concert too - but the Monkees didn't show. I don't know if we ever found out the true reason. Probably money. (I no longer even remember the reason they gave for not showing. Mom? Dad? Gretchen? Fill in the gaps of my memory?)

The thing I loved most about the stuff we saw today - everything is soooo colorful!

We went on the Spaceship Earth "ride" - very cool. I had no idea the animatronics were so good. (Do they still call them that?) But it was audio overload for me. There's a speaker in the headrest of each car, narrating constantly. Most of the displays you ride by have sound too. It didn't bother Steve but I'm sort of sensitive to sound, I think. We loved it though.

Our timing was exquisite as we walked through the World Showcase, we happened upon a drawbridge just about to go up. We had a front row view of the three barges that went through. It turns out they were for use in the fireworks display for tonight. The first barge was painted totally flat black with all kinds of contraptions. We had no idea what that was until the next two came through with all the firework cannons (?) lined up. Pretty neat!

These types of topiaries are all over the place. This was by far the most dramatic and colorful, as evidenced by the many people who were taking pictures in front of it. Not easy to get a picture that wasn't full of tourists.

I love this photo - how lucky I was! This is Tinkerbell, who resides in the Fairy Garden (I think that's what it's called). Peter Pan and Wendy were there running all over the place, playing tag with the kids. Too bad I didn't catch one of the characters but this running kid is cool too. Note the little chairs made out of tree trunks in the background.

This is sort of a before and after shot. The right figure is the armature that's inside the ostrich on the left.

We rode the monorail, which was fun but kind of a disappointment. Mostly the view was of trees and parking lots. Seems it would have been better if it went through other parts of Disney World to entice us to visit there. I'm sure there are reasons why that's not done - expense?

More flowers!

These stamps were in the Flower & Garden Festival building - all made of flowers. I felt very at home in this building. This is where various garden-related artists were set up selling their wares.

While this piece isn't strictly garden-related, lots of Cheri Riechers' other work is.

The Egg Man, Alan Traynor, confirmed for me that Gretchen did indeed order cooler weather for our visit. (Seriously, we wondered what all the fuss was about - didn't seem all that hot & humid to us - and Lord knows I'm always hot these days!) Anyway, he paints wooden eggs in any subject under the sun. Nice work.

We ate dinner at Petey Brown's, one of the restaurants in the hotel. This is the "casual dining" restaurant - still pretty fancy. I had lentil chili and the salad bar, so I could save room for the ice cream sundae bar. Delish! And the ice cream dishes were so cute I wish I'd taken my camera with me so I could show you.

Tonight is a veg-in-the-room night. I can't believe how stiff my legs still feel! I have some questions for Floridians and seasoned Florida travelers but I'll save those for another entry since this one is pretty long, with the pictures and all. I'll probably have more questions tomorrow anyway.

It was a full, wonderful day!

Tampa!

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Needless to say the last few days have been a whirlwind - mostly trying to get work stuff caught up at work. Finally I reached that point, like everyone does - where it just is, what it is. The world will continue to spin on it's axis just fine.

Steve worked a ridiculously long day, 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. That's just wrong.

Our plane left at 6:00 AM so we got up at 3:00. I was working on 5 hours sleep and I have no idea how little sleep Steve got. This would explain our 3 hours deep sleep nap this afternoon in our lovely hotel room.

We ate breakfast at JFK, then fired up our laptops in a wireless hot spot, looking like the power couple we were meant to be. I caught up on reading some Yahoo group emails, which I've been saving for days for just this occasion.

We flew Jet Blue, which provides a TV for every seat. Between Rochester & JFK, my headphones worked like crap, so I watched VH1 Classic without sound. (I barely recognized Keith Richards, from back in the day - wow!) Nothing else interested me at that hour. Between JFK & Tampa, I received every channel just fine - except for HGTV. Life just isn't fair, is it?? I did find Martha Stewart, but proceeded to sleep through it anyway. I did wake up once to see Martha boogying to The Temptations. I think it was the Temptations.

Both flights were uneventful. Steve loves to fly so he gets the window seat. Which means I get stuck in the middle seat. What I do for love.

We reserved a compact car but naturally they wanted to upgrade us for $5/day and we went for it. Good thing, because instead of a Yugo (I kid) we're stylin' in a sporty white Monte Carlo. I hadn't even started the engine when I said to Steve this new car was going to spoil me very quickly. I'm very happy with my 11 year old Saturn but gotta love the remote access thingy. It's a nice ride, for sure.

We're staying a hotel that's way too ritzy for us, but it's kind of fun. I was expecting the folded-into-a-point toilet paper - but a fluffy flower tissue?? How cool is that?

Steve and I were saying this is only our 5th vacation together - not counting staying with family in the Adirondacks - but going out of town vacations. Five vacations in 13 years? That sucks. We're getting closer and closer to getting rid of the last of the two pesky kids - so we're thinking we can do more of this in years to come.

Since we hadn't eaten since breakfast, we thought we'd have an early dinner but that three hour nap threw us off schedule. If we had a schedule, that is. Over the years, we sort of accidentally created a pattern of always eating one meal on vacation in a TGIFridays. So that's where we ate dinner tonight - we had our choice of 4 in the Tampa area. I had a version of my standard pasta & chicken favorite kind of meal - Bruschetta Chicken & Pasta - that was outstanding. We were even good and didn't have dessert. Feels good to be satiated but not overfull.

We went for a nice walk around the hotel campus after dinner - it's mid-70s I think. Nice!

I have to go check the Hyatt website - thought for sure this hotel offered free wireless access in the rooms. It's not free as it turns out but I was willing to pay for it. I actually bought a month's subscription - it made the most sense financially. Besides some day trips, one of the things I really wanted to do on vacation was, as I mentioned, catch up on email. Catch up on my blog reading - I miss my friends! During the drive to find the Fridays, Steve and I realized how Internet-dependent we are. I want to see if there's an Ikea around here. We're going to go to either Epcot or Busch Gardens tomorrow so we'll check them out online first.

Vacation? So far so good! (And Simon remembered to feed the pets - my biggest concern. He's promised no parties and I believe him. Having said that, I've still asked Gretchen to swing by Saturday night and make sure things are nice and quiet.)

Vacations rock!

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Framed

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Framed art for the May 4th show at Casa Larga. I have more frames to fill as I continue to make more pieces. I'm making cards too.

One day I'm all, "I'll never have enough stuff, my booth will look pathetic, why am I thinking that I can do this?"

Another day I'm all, "Oh my God, I love this stuff! I'm going to sell out in the first hour and be a millionaire!"

Obviously, the truth is most likely somewhere in the middle.

I'm really, really looking forward to going to Tampa with Steve on Thursday but the timing is not what I would have picked, had I known about the May 4th show when we booked our reservations. I'm feeling very stressed - between the day job and Pine Tree Designs, I sort of don't know which way to turn first.

I'm having lunch with friends today (hi Nantz!) so I'm going to get a few things ready to take with me to work on there because we always gab for a few hours. Maybe I'll just relax and forget about all this for a few hours.

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Simon arrived home from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, this morning around 5:00 am. I went to bed around 10:00, expecting he'd be home around midnight or 1:00 by the time he took everyone home. So when I woke at 4:45 and he wasn't home, I was a little nervous. I text messaged him, "You okay?" He called me and said he was in Fairport, had one more kid to drop off and would be home within half an hour.

He actually smiled when he walked in a saw me! Yes! My teenager smiled at me!!

He drove almost all the way himself (they had left at 9:00 AM!) because the other kids were too tired. He listed for me all the types of caffeine in his system. He wasn't ready to go to sleep right away, of course, so we talked for a while. I went back to bed and he started doing laundry. He crashed shortly thereafter it seems; he's probably going to be comatose for most of the day. He'll be plenty cranky tomorrow, having to go back to school. It's tough ending a vacation. I'll probably be singing those same blues the week after, when we return from Florida. We return Monday and we're both taking Tuesday off. That was just supposed to be a "transitional" day - but now it will be a scramble to get-ready-for-the-craft-show-two-days-later-day.

It's all good.

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Pop-Up Cards

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I still have some Up with Paper Pop-Up Cards on the sale page at Pine Tree Designs. These very cool cards sell for $5.00 most places; I'm selling them for $3.50 each to clear the inventory. Lots of the cards come with multiple messages you can insert in the card, therefore making them appropriate for several different occasions.

Here are my favorites!

Play Ball!

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I opened my big package of frames last night and this is the first thing I framed. This is that poster of Camden Yards, a promo by a printer company, that I snagged at work. You can see a bit of the ad copy in the lower left and upper right corners, if you look hard. But no one does that, they just enjoy the overall effect. I didn't want to cut off anymore of the picture, in order to remove the words. That bright green frame worked out just like I envisioned. It's on the wall above Steve's desk - and he's thrilled.

It seems I've fixed the rss feed thingy. I don't have a button but you can now paste the http://www.stefanitadio.com url into Bloglines or your preferred method of capturing feeds and it will subscribe you to the current page. If there are any problems let me know and I'll take another whack at it. Or more likely plead for help because I barely know what I'm doing when it comes to this rss stuff. I sure do love my Bloglines set up though!

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Happy Birthday, Verona!

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Verona (top) turned 2 years old yesterday!

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Check out these Top 20 Strangest Gadgets & Accessories. Saw that on my friend Maria's blog.

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Simon's still having fun in Myrtle Beach - checking in with his mama every day like a good boy. They went to Club Kryptonite a couple of nights ago. They took a cab, so no driving involved. Expensive, but smart. Then one of my friends at work had to go and ruin it all by asking how Simon liked his lap dance. What?? She was kidding but I had already jammed my fingers in my ears, "La, la, la, I can't hear you!"

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Little green quilt pieces, ready for assembly. That's a dime.

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I have just four styles of Note Quotes left. I just confirmed on two other sites that most places sell these for the recommended $10 each. I always thought that was way too high so I priced mine at $7.99. They are now on sale for $6.00 each. Such a deal.

Pine Tree Designs

Webster Village Days

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Single white female seeks:

EZ-Up tent
Professional product photographer

A co-worker gave me a flyer yesterday announcing that Webster Village Days is looking for artists for their August event. I emailed the co-ordinators and they emailed me an application. The entry fee is $95 for a 10' x 10' booth which makes me a little nervous, but not totally.

It's time to go big or go home. This has fallen into my lap to help me fulfill my 2006 goal of doing craft shows.

But.

I'll need a tent. (Dad, you sold yours long ago, right?)

Just the night before I was reading in my new book, Crafting as a Business by Wendy Rosen, how important it is to have a professional photographer who is familiar with photographing product, take your slides, that are to be submitted to juried shows. The quality of your slides can make or break your chances of being accepted. I briefly Googled photographers in my area and they all seem to be geared towards weddings and portraits. But I'll find one. Preferably a one-person entrepreneurial type. Maybe we can even barter services a bit.

The first step is finding a photographer. I suppose it makes sense to see if I'm accepted into the show before investing in a tent. But I need to start looking now (will start with eBay) because sooner or later, I'll need a tent anyway. I will be doing outdoor shows.

I know I want to do this. I just have to see some numbers for these investments. I'm posting this here because you guys are always full of good advice. Bring it.

I'm cutting green shapes now - had enough purple for a while!

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Purple Quilts

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I need a professional scanner & photographer on staff. Maybe it's just me today - I had no patience with this stuff this morning, as you can tell. I just wanted to show you what I've been working on.

I'm very happy with the top one but there are a couple of scuff marks on the frame so I'll mark that one down a bit. The bottom one is in an inexpensive plastic frame that either I bought at Ikea or Gretchen gave me or something. The bottom quilt block in that frame is just a hair wider than the others so I'll have to see if I can save that. I can't trim it anymore or it will look like I've trimmed it. I may cut them apart for cards. I made it as an experiment anyway. I have 3 or 4 frames like that. If I get them looking decent, I'll try to sell them at the show.

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This week's feature at Pine Tree Designs:

Note Quotes! Just five styles left.

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Pink Card

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It was 18 years ago today that sweet Simon arrived in my life. He's celebrating it by hanging with his friends at Myrtle Beach for Spring Break. I talk to him every day and he's having a blast. Apparently it's Cool Car Central and he's there with my Sensible Saturn. Life goes on, son.

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Note Quotes

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Trying to unload, um, I mean find good homes for the last of the wholesale product I have in inventory. Just a few Note Quotes left.

Each 4" x 4" notepad contains 120 pages with 8 repeating messages. The handmade paper covers and hand-engraved metal embellishments are crafted in villages in Thailand.

The vendor, Pilgrim Imports, says this about that:

Our Company Motto is "working together for good". We are committed to non-exploitation: making sure that the people who make these products are given a fair and living wage, and that, in the making of our products, the environment is treated with respect.

Framed Quilts

.Two down, lots more to go. I have some leftover deep purple frames I'm going to use next. The quilt blocks for those will be three shades of purple, I think. I have to grocery shop this weekend, otherwise, it's all crafting, all the time. The yellow background on the right one is a lighter shade than the corner blocks so I think it looks better in person than it does here.

I had hoped my frames order would arrive today but I received an email this morning that it shipped yesterday, due to be delivered Tuesday. Oh well, I've still got plenty to do, making stuff to put in the frames!

I had not received my contract for the May 4th Casa Larga show so I emailed the promoter the other day and she called me Wednesday night with answers to my questions, like how much is the entrance fee? how much space? includes a table? chairs? what time does set-up begin? All looks very do-able - and set-up begins at 6:15 am that morning. This is very good news because that means Steve and Simon can move my big card rack in for me. It's really the focal point of my booth. I have smaller card racks, both floor and table, but they aren't as impressive as the big wood one. I'm feeling much better about it now.

I can't wait to break the news to Simon about getting up extra early and moving that card rack before school! I've been rehearsing my all-I-do-for-you speech.

I think she said the show hours are 10:00 - 7 :00. I hadn't thought about it running so late but that's excellent because we can catch people on their way home for work or after dinner or something, since the show is a one day, on a Thursday.

Driftwood Horses

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Unfortunately, I was unable to find anything online about these artists. I'd love to give them credit - publicity if they sell these pieces. I received these pics via email. Isn't this amazing? Such creativity to even be able to envision this possibility! The last two photographs are my very favorites.

Edited to add: My friend, She-Who-Stays-Up-Too-Late, (thank you, Ann!) found this link: Driftwood Horses - interesting reading.

Edited further to add: Driftwood Horses. Thanks Gretchen. I admit I only looked for online information briefly when I wrote this entry - I needed to scoot into work early. I appreciate the research assistance!

Envelope

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An envelope I stamped tonight - to mail tomorrow!

Bits & Pieces

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Each square is one rubber stamped image in black ink on red cardstock, topped with another stamped image on blue cardstock that I cut into the center piece and the little points. Those are some teeny tiny pieces - the whole thing is only 3-1/2" x 5"! I tried putting some red diamonds along the lattice strips but it was way too busy. Sometimes less actually is better. "Stefani, step away from the paper! I mean it!"

I don't know why it scanned with the top strip looking cropped like that. And I don't care enough to re-do it. It's just a prototype, for stuff I'm working on. I made this to be mounted on light blue cardstock, in a red frame. It's definitely the look I'm going for, but I learned some things in making this piece so I'm redoing it a bit better - and another one in yellow & red, also to be framed in red. In preparing for the May 4th show, my plan is to make a couple of framed pieces and a few cards in each style. Good to have product available at all price points, as they say.

I made another mandala I'm pretty happy with that's 8-1/2" square in shades of gold and black. I ordered a black frame for that one last night - and a few shadow box frames to spare, some black, some white. I ordered a rasberry frame for the card I made for Gretchen.

I also ordered some frames for a couple of posters I promised Steve long ago I'd frame for him. One is lime green, which will frame a poster of whatever stadium the Baltimore Orioles play out of. It's actually a print ad by a printer company that I scarfed off someone at work. I hope the frame works with the bright green ball field. It will have bits of two corners of ad copy showing after framing but I don't care - it will still be cool anyway. Lime green frame on bright orange walls. (Steve took over Lizz's old room as his new office.)

The other poster is a satellite shot of the Finger Lakes - a group of lakes here (shaped like fingers, duh) in upstate New York. I picked a lapis blue frame for that.

Yep, I loves me some color.

I'll say it again, I highly recommend Frames by Mail for all your framing needs. A artist friend turned me on to MTS Frames for wholesale frames but I just didn't find their website or catalog as helpful so for now I stuck with what I know and love. I may give them another look for my next order.

What I'd really like to do is find some inexpensive (but decent quality) frames at garage sales and thrift stores. But there are two problems with that scenario. Most of the stuff I've made (so far anyway) requires a square frame, not commonly found. And secondly, I don't really frequent garage sales and thrift stores. But maybe I'll try harder at that.

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I was on a roll this weekend accomplishing tasks. I placed the aforementioned frame order. I hated to spend the money but hopefully I'll make it back in a few weeks. Gotta spend it to make it, right?

I finished my income tax return this past weekend. April 9. So much for getting that finished in February. I always strive for February and have hit it just once. Usually I finish it late March.

I ordered a couple pairs of shorts, two pairs of shoes and a new swimsuit & coverup online. Man, buying clothes, shoes and spending money - that's the trifecta of agony for me. Beats going to a store I guess.

My old swimsuit is pretty old and looks it. I wear it just about weekly in the hot tub and it's a two piece (a modest, looks like a one piece) and the top of the suit fills up with air from the jets in the hot tub. Bubble Chest, that's me. So I wanted to find something better for the hot tub and maybe to wear in Florida, if I dare. In the privacy of my deck is one thing so I don't know if I'll wear it in FL or not but at least I'll be prepared. This will be the 3rd suit I've ordered in as many weeks. I liked the last one - black, one piece with lime green trim (seeing a pattern here with the lime green??) - but the shoulder straps kept falling down. I swear I have the roundest shoulders in the kingdom. Being overweight certainly doesn't help but I've always had this problem. Can't carry a shoulder purse and my "foundation garment" straps tend to slip a lot too.

Yep. Too much information.

Small Spaces

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I spent some time on my lunch hour today catching up on the Live Journal community, Saucy Dwellings. The place runs the gamut from tacky to artfully unique, depending on the eye of beholder, of course.

But it was there that I learned about The 2nd Annual Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest. Which reminds me of one of my favorite HGTV shows, Small Spaces, Big Style.

I love the feel of this place. The colors especially. The cubes on the bathroom wall? Love them! I read through a few of the comments and there's one that appears to be legit (how would I know??) from Small Spaces, Big Style, asking the owners to contact them. Cool.

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For any quillers reading this, I highly recommend Quilled Creations for all your quilling needs. I placed this order online yesterday morning and it arrived today. I just glanced over at the back of their catalog - they're in Penfield! We're literally about 1 minute from the Penfield town line. Anyway, their website, service, products, packaging - all are fantastic!

I finally got around to writing an introduction to post to all these paper-related Yahoo Groups I belong to. I've gotten a lot of nice feedback about my work. The first email I received though, requested a recipe I'd posted somewhere in here. My two favorite hobbies - paper and baking!

Good Samaritan

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Simon and I were on the phone today during the lunch hour. I was in the Fairport post office parking lot and he was in the Penfield Monro Muffler parking lot. While we were talking, Simon witnessed a car accident right in front of him. A car was driving from the parking lot Simon was in, to a parking lot across the street, across 4 lanes. A van, traveling down the 4-lane road, crashed into the side of the car, spinning it around.

We hung up and Simon went over to see if he could help. The driver got out of the car and Simon asked him if he was alright. The guy fell to the ground and started having convulsions! Thank goodness, other people were running to the scene to help him. I wouldn't have known what to do either! ("That was intense, Mom!")

Simon stuck around to give his eye witness account to the police officer. He kept calling me back, he was pretty shaken up. "Mom, there were little kids in that van!" I think he said there were two firetrucks, two ambulances and 5 cop cars. They ended up taking the little kids to the hospital too. The police officer said Simon will probably have to give a statement tomorrow. I'm not sure what that means.

I just thought of this too - this was good, in a way, for Simon to see this - the fragility of life and big scary flying thousand pound pieces of metal. He and I will be having a little chat about that later today.

I'm so proud of that boy. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I even would have gone over to the accident. Maybe I would, seeing as how it just happened. I guess you don't know until it happens.

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Oh Kenny Rogers, what have you done to yourself ??

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Sachets now 30% off,
just $.88 each -
with $5.00 minimum purchase.

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Chocolate Sheath Cake

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This is the cake Gretchen requested for her birthday Sunday. It's our grandmother's recipe, and as Von said, these older recipes don't skimp on the "good stuff". I bet the original recipe called for Oleo, which I changed to shortening, which I buy in stick form, rather than the large can, like back in the day! Von - you'll also like this recipe for all the coffee in the frosting - I know you loves your coffee. (I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the cake! I guess I didn't think about posting the recipe until later. I didn't use nuts in the frosting because I decorated the frosted cake with colored sprinkles, or dingleberries, as Gretchen likes to call them. It was quite festive looking.)

Chocolate Sheath Cake
Helen Stahlman

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup water
4 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Bring butter, shortening, water and cocoa to a rolling boil and pour over the sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth.

Add the eggs, buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla. Beat well.

Bake in a greased & floured 11" x 16" pan for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons cocoa
6 tablespoons hot coffee
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts

Beat well and add nuts. Pour over the cake as soon as removed from the oven.

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Krissie - As I was making Gretchen's birthday card I actually thought, "I should be making this in red." But like I said, I've been using up leftover Christmas card parts. Gretchen - if you want me to make a different one to frame for you, I'd be happy to do that. And I'm not sure that red is your favorite color, other than that whole kicky red shoe thing. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to say what your favorite color is. I think we both love color - lots of colors! Please advise.

Happy Birthday, Gretchen!

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I can't stop making these mandalas. Not that I want to, but it's thoroughly addicting. This is the birthday card I made for Mom & Dad to give to Gretchen. It's 5-1/2" square. She wanted it framed so I'll do that, after layering it on larger paper so the frame won't cover the design.

Never did get to the bill-paying, paper organizing part of my day. Oops. (Did get the grocery shopping done. I do have some standards.)

Kathy - in answer to your question, I use punches and die cuts for the little pieces. The big circle was cut with a circle cutter. It's almost impossible to cut a perfect circle by hand. The spirella in the center was cut by hand. I have a bunch of those left over from my Christmas cards which is why these first three designs center around them. I am working on a new one - new colors, new design.

I think I've gone and done something pretty silly. I joined two more paper-related Yahoo Groups. My email really is out of control. It's all filtered into folders, but still. Here's the list, for other paperphiles or paperholics. (What do we call ourselves?)

Die Cuts
Embossing
Fold It
Kirigami
Paper Embroidery
Paper Craft Techniques
Quillers
Scherenschnitte


Egads, I never listed it like that. Must stop joining.

Mom, Dad, Gretchen and Paul came over for birthday cake tonight. Gretchen specified what cake she wanted, one our grandmother used to make. I'll post the recipe later in the week. A fine time was had by all.

Happy birthday, Gretchen!

Mandalas

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Framed Mandala, 7" Square, $36.00

This, my friends, is what I've been dreaming of creating, for about 3 weeks now. I think it was bubbling around in my brain for longer than that, but when I saw

this piece by Marietta Ganapin at the Extreme Materials exhibit at the Memorial Art Gallery on my birthday, I knew this is what I was born to create!

Framed Mandala, 5" Square, $22.00

It's thread, beads and lots of teeny, tiny pieces put together symmetrically. It's so me.

This is my new spring line, which will be featured at the May 4th Casa Larga Show. Which means I get to make bunches more between now and then. It will be featured on my postcard mailing 2 weeks before the show.

Since I spent most of today having fun with this, tomorrow is grocery shopping and paperwork organizing day. Typically I make Saturday a "work" day and Sunday a Pine Tree Designs day. A little switch-up never hurts however.

I'm just tickled.