Monday, June 18, 2007

Father's Day...


.... there are times that we think everyone must think we are BAD daughters. That we don't love our parents ... and that's because we aren't a gift giving family. Never have been--never will be. Yes we do Christmas presents although never in the extreme and usually birthday gifts but that's it. No Mother's Day, no Father's Day, no anniversary, no anything else. And we get the strangest looks sometimes....

BUT what we have are great memories of vacations out west every summer as children, shared trips to Europe over the last fifteen years, hundreds of weekends at the mountain house, and time spent together. SO guess what I'll take the memories over the stuff anyday.

We did light the new grill (that was our Christmas gift from Mom and Dad) for the first time yesterday and did Dad's favorite, bratwurst. Just a nice Sunday evening on the back deck--Dad really tries to avoid being photographed but Sandy managed to get one!!
LOVE YOU, DAD!
Janet

Saturday, June 16, 2007

New Toy....



...every now and then it's fun to get new scrapbook toys. And that's what we got this week. Sandy and I had been talking about getting a Wishblade ever since they came on the market about a year ago BUT.... the $400 price tag really made us stop and think: would we use it enough to justify that kind of investment????


Fast forward to early May when good friend Kelly posts on her blog that she's bought the new pink model and is selling her "old" one for half price!!! We decide that it's perfect--we know it was well taken care of and if she's willing to ship it here from Nebraska---

It arrived on Wednesday!! Now all we have to do it rearrange the space around the computer so it will fit. And of course figure out how to use it--hope there's a good tutorial.
More later,
Janet

Friday, June 15, 2007

Reading....

there's that old story about the cobbler's children having no shoes--well that's how I seem to be with books. I see all these interesting titles to read; get advance reader copies of some, etc. and still can't seem to take time to sit and read. I guess it's because I haven't figured out to read and scrapbook or read and sew at the same time. And forget about reading in bed--I usually get through about 3 pages before I'm asleep!! Well, this is the current challenge: as the big posters at work proudly proclaim: YOU'VE READ 3440 PAGES, ONLY 784 TO GO!! That's my challenge--I borrowed and read the first 4 Harry Potter's before #5 came out (which I bought) and then got busy and never read it. Bought #6 but of course needed to read #5 first. And I just bought the first 4 so I'll have a complete set!

Now my goal is to read them all, all 3440 pages, before #7 arrives on July 21st.

Today was one of those catch-up days--had the car serviced, got propane for our new grill, did the grocery shopping, made the sample bodice for the wedding gown I'm altering, went on an old building photo shoot, and now I'm going up to the studio to scrapbook!

Enjoy the weekend,
Janet

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Sleeping Beauty...



last night was the last of our Pennsylvania Ballet subscription for this season. We love going; I guess it's been at least 10 years now--- we were trying to remember the last time we saw Sleeping Beauty and well, we remember trying to stay awake through it 10 years ago whe we went within a couple of days of coming home from Hong Kong (can we say heavy duty jet lag).

I really think this was a different staging of the ballet--it was absolutely beautiful! And afterwards we went across the street to Ovations for dessert. They have a great chocolate fudge cake!

Today we're trying to get lots of odds and ends done. You know, all those wonderful things that never seem to get done!


More later,

Janet

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Feeling Overwhelmed...



that's because I've been "slugging" lately. And I've all the sudden realized all the things I have to do and the deadlines. AARGH!! Want to get some summer clothes made--spent the evening at Mom and Dad's trying to match patterns with fabrics; got a couple of things cut out, some others matched up. You see my stash of garment fabrics is as big as my stash of quilting fabrics which is as big as my stash of paper. I'm trying to be good and work through them all but somehow something new always calls my name. :)

Then there's the 2 wedding gowns I'm working on for clients--I'm redesigning my boss' mother's gown for her sister and I'm "jazzing up" an Old Navy gauze dress for one of my staff whose having a very informal wedding.

And of course there's Secret Sister gifts, Let's Escape gifts, CE page swapps to design and order supplies for, RAKs and other fun gifts....

And the JDRF signature quilt.... and all those fun fabrics I bought for purses... and exciting stuff like getting the car serviced, making a dentist appointment, refinancing the mortgage, renewing my passport....

How am I supposed to find time to work 40 hours a week??? And when can I scrapbook or sew???


More later,

Friday, June 1, 2007

Sandy is Sad...



well, we're all sad because Sandy's BFF and family left this afternoon to return to their home in Germany. They've been here in the States for the past three months, visiting family, attending a couple of ministry-related conferences and connecting with supporters and potential supporters. And we've had fun with their now 18 month old daughter. We all had lunch with them yesterday and then Sandy went up to the house where they have been staying and helped transport them and ALL their luggage to the airport today.

So I made sure we had "comfort food" for dinner and of course we've checked the flight status several times. By the time we get up in the morning, they should be back home. It will be at least a year until we physically see them again---and Sandy is already counting the days and figuring out ways to get there cheap.
More later,
Janet