A Day at the Zoo...

.... is a lovely thing and yesterday we took along Sandy's girlfriend, her husband, and their almost 4-year old son. Dad and son had never been to the Philadelphia Zoo before, so we had a grand time checking out all the animals. It's so much fun to go with little kids---their awe, wonder, amazement and curiosity about the animals is SO great. So here's some of my favorites from the day; loving the long lens for these kinds of shots!

Actually think I'm going to the studio to do some scrapping, then eventually to Joann's to pick up a few things, and sometime after 8pm we'll figure out what to do for dinner!

Enjoy,

Janet

Back from Becca's

We had such a good time at Crop for a Cause!!! And it's SOOOOO good to see all our Nebraska friends!

Got picked up at 4:50 am {otherwise known as O-dark-50} and were checked in and through security by 5:45am for our 6:30 am flight. Had to pay to check luggage which is a real bummer since we thought we had checked Northwest's baggage policy BEFORE we booked the tix. Slept part of the way to Minneapolis, had a great breakfast at Ike's in the airport, and then it was on to Omaha. We first went to the Quilted Moose in Gretna, then to find our hotel and check in. Decided we needed a nap before heading to the church to help out. Got to the church about 4:30. Lots of fun catching up with everyone and checking out the garage sale. Ended up with a box full of stuff to purchase; dinner was homemade soup and pumpkin bars for dessert.



It's Saturday!!! Time to crop and shop and chat and eat! We actually got pages done! We took the page swap from Scrap Etc. and that made the whole process easier for extra paper, embellishments, etc. We shared a table with Nancy and her friend Julie and got to sit next to the "Bagels". Had a great time talking with Kelly, her sister Tami, Becky N., Lisa {aka Glue}, and Denise. And we got to eat Becca's mom's cinnamon rolls and pie! We were all cleaned up and out by 9:30 and went back to Becca's until after midnight.




Slept in on Sunday {at least for us}, met Becca for lunch, and then hit Archivers, Hancocks, and another quilt shop they recommended before heading back to the airport. Our bags just made it on weight. On the way back we changed in Detroit---had some serious hiking to do between gates. Grabbed some cinnamon buns to eat on the plane since it had been a long time since lunch and even longer until breakfast! Got back to Philly at 11:00pm and home before midnight.

Monday was a long day----worked 7am until 12:45pm then back for 7pm until 12:15am. Gotta love inventory!

Enjoy,

Janet

Jury Duty

What could be more exciting than spending quality time in beautiful downtown Camden at the Hall of Justice???? Could it be all the morning talk shows and the soap operas??? There was a time when I enjoying watching all that stuff --- now I'm glad I'm at work during the day!


Anyway my day went something like this:

• 8:13 am -Arrive at courthouse, go through security, get scanned in the jury assembly


• 8:47 am -Announcements about jury service and a 15 minute video about what a juror does, etc.


• 9:10 am -THE Waiting begins--I read magazines, did Kakuro puzzles, did some stuff for work


• 12:10 pm -"We're not going to need to call anyone before lunch. You're free until 1:30 pm."


• Enjoy lunch in the courtyard in front of the courthouse.


• 1:32 pm- A group of about 35 are sent upstairs to a courtroom for a civil case. The rest of us are roll called. WAITING around resumes. I write some journaling copy for last year's Christmas journal.


• 2:35 pm-"We need to send another group upstairs." Palatable groans. "Just kidding-- you're free to go. The county thanks you for your service."


• 2:40 pm - Pick up letter for employer verifying service. Can't be called for another 3 years. I'll get a $5 check in the mail.

Getting ready to head to Omaha early Friday morning!!

Enjoy,
Janet

I am {NOT} a Jet-setter....

it just seems that way. My vice: airline tickets. I can only go so long without needing to go somewhere to see someone or something. Could this be GYPSY blood??????

Anyway, after returning from our NE weekend, the everyday rat race {which the rats are winning, by the way} took over and work and church activities filled up the time and one week ran into the next. But we were playing around online one night and found great fares to both Atlanta and Omaha!

We went to Atlanta to support Abany's big idea, Brown Linen Market. Since we hadn't seen her in quite a while {she never made it up while her brother was in Audi school} , we really felt we needed to go down and encourage and help her in whatever way we could. She was SO excited that we were coming and of course, Claudia was thrilled!!! And it ended up being a real God-thing since about a week before we were scheduled to get there Claudia's mom went home to be with the Lord and the memorial service was scheduled while we were there.

My job for the Market---key lime tarts, lots of them. And help in the kitchen. I ended up being a sous chef for one of Abany's friends who was making all the hors d'oerves and running the wine-tasting.

Brown Linen was actually a gently-used clothing boutique set up on the main floor of the house several of her friends rent in Atlanta. For $25, you got 3 pieces of clothing, the food, the wine-tasting and the live jazz. All the clothes were donations from friends and lots of her friends were there to help and shop!

TOP ROW: Tart shells for the key lime tarts, the kitchen in the house where Market was held, doing my thing---making everything in the kitchen look like Martha Stewart on a Waffle House budget, during the Market.

MIDDLE ROW: The main room of the house set for Market, Abany with flowers her girlfriends brought her, Jared, Abany at the memorial service in their backyard for Grandma.

BOTTOM ROW: Claudia and Abany at the end of the service, the Collingswood bonfire and reception for 100 years of football.

The first weekend in October was the BIG Collingswood 100 years of HS Football event. Can we say poorly organized???? They invited everyone--past players, band, color guard, cheerleaders, etc.--- for a march-along parade on Friday night to the HS where there was a bonfire and refreshments in the cafetorium, then a big reception/luncheon before the game on Saturday afternoon. OK, the parade: kinda silly, the bonfire: where was the band and the pep rally part??, the refreshments--sandwiches at 8pm???. The reception/lunch on Saturday was good and we did get a personal tour of the new addition built to link the middle school and high school. Unfortunately, they kept moving the game time back so I had to go to work before the game ever started and we're going to miss "band night" because we'll be in Omaha.

So, tomorrow I have jury duty. It's off to the hall of justice in beautiful downtown Camden. I'm packing my bag full of magazines to read and puzzles to do. And lunch and snacks.

Enjoy,

Janet

Time in New England....

and other places, many other places have made me a BAD blogger. But I'm back!!!!! Anyway, some more photos of some of our fun adventures. In August, we spent Sandy's birthday weekend as well as another one at the Pocono house. So quiet, so peaceful, so much scrapbooking time. It's a weekend crop for FREE and Mom does the cooking {well I HAVE to bake}. We loaded down the car and actually left a bunch of stuff there for the 2 weeks between trips.



The weekend in between was a choir-sing weekend {Saturday night @6pm, Sunday morning @ 8, 9:30 and 11:15 am} and the Schroeder cousins reunion. Mom and her cousins, at least most of them, get together once a year since all their parents, the Schroeder brothers and sisters, are all gone now. The next generation isn't generally there unless their parent is the organizer which Mom was this year, but Sandy and I always get an invite since I have become the keeper of the family genealogy. That's the cousins and their spouses in the upper left photo.



After the excitement of getting to Alaska and the whole "we've been in all 50 states" thing, we got to thinking and remembering when we'd been to this state and that state, we then we ran into a problem. We couldn't remember being in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine so we decided that a weekend in New England was ABSOLUTELY necessary. So we zipped off on a Friday morning to Manchester, NH and spent the weekend driving through the states and hitting some highlights.



The photos: TOP ROW: The King Arthur Flour Baker's Store in Norwich, VT; me in the seat of honor in the lobby, the Cabot Cheese visitors center--lots of fun including a tour of the factory and cheese tasting.

MIDDLE ROW: Famous Perry Sisters Ice Cream--the newest Ben and Jerry's flavor! -- again a tour of the factory and ice cream samples, the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe (we didn't stay here but as a Sound of Music junkie we had to check it out!), a traditional New England covered bridge, a really cool pool about 5 minutes back a walking trail in Franconia Notch State Park.

We drove down to Lake Winnepasaukee and had lunch in a great turkey restaurant and hit Keepsake Quilting. The weather then got very cloudy and more dismal so no great lake shots, in fact the lake and the sky all blended together. By the time we got to Biddeford, ME it was foggy and raining. YUK!!!!

BOTTOM ROW: Portland Head Lighthouse--the traditional Maine coast shot, Walker Point at Kennebunkport {yes, this is the Bush family vacation house}, Nubble Lighthouse.

Found all kinds of great local restaurants, and lots of great backroads for scenery.

The last picture, the Scrap Etc. Pink, Brown and Teal Quilt finally finished and mailed off to its proud owner.

Coming next: off to Atlanta!

Enjoy,
Janet