Playtime

Sometimes I just feel an overwhelming need to run away. Not from my family or my home, but just run away and escape real life. Well, we got word late morning yesterday that Mom was being released from the hospital late in the day, and Dad was taking care of the details. Also it was the 4th snow day in a row for Kyle...no school again. It took us about an hour to get the ice off the windshield and the frozen snow berm out from in front of my car. But, we were determined.

We spent the afternoon yesterday in the magical land of disney. It was cold there and uncrowded and a perfect place for our escape. We rode Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, Star Tours, and Thundermountain Railroad at Disneyland. We went to the Bengal BBQ and ate things on skewers...lots of things. We stopped by the Golden Horseshoe Theater and watched the silly Blue grass music show. Then, we ran over to California Adventure and Soared over California, rode California Screaming and the Hollywood Tower of Terror. We stopped by the tortilla factory and ate warm tortillas.

We laughed and ran to rides and ate churros and pineapple spears and played all afternoon. It was just the right medicine in the midst of what felt like a bleak day. We turned it right around and grabbed life by the hair. It's good to do that sometimes. Just run away for an afternoon of playtime. It's good medicine.

~Kyle took this pic on our last trip to Disney in December. He has a good eye. We didn't bother with the camera on this trip.

My muse is hiding

I don't seem to have the mojo today. I'm trying to create, but not much is happening. The yellow card is for a thank you card swap with my card stamping club. The red and gold ATC is for my February ATC swap. I'm hoping it represents the chinese new year. I'm thinking they need ribbon or something. Any suggestions are welcome.

Mom is still hanging out at the hospital. The docs like her too much to let her come home just yet. Maybe tomorrow they say. I got out of here on Friday and Saturday so I could see her and stayed over with my dad. It's so much better to be able to visit in person. I also ran away to the rubber stamp show on Saturday with Heather and Debbie. What a wonderful time we had playing and shopping and chatting. Kyle is home today again for his 3rd snow day in a row. He is loving hanging out in pj's and sledding as much as possible. He's not nearly as fond of shoveling, but he did his fair share. Oh, and for those who are wondering, my sweet hubby made it home for his birthday. We all ate too much chocolate cake.

And, just looky what came in the mail for me.......


I'm so excited, I nearly peed my pants. LOL

Happy Birthday Sweetie

Today is my hubby's birthday and I haven't seen him all day. He had to stay down the hill last night because of this storm. I sure hope he makes it home tonight after work. Kyle and I have been working the snow blower and shovel overtime to clear out a parking place for him if he makes it. So this is his card. (I hope you aren't peeking at it, honey.) The gifts are wrapped and the cake is in the oven.

Here's a bit of what it looks like around here today:

This is the view out of my craft room sliding glass door. The snow drifted high.

Here's Kyle working hard at the piles of snow that keep coming down.

And finally, Mom is in a real hospital room as of last night. They are still battling to get her kidneys working and her red blood cells are really low, so she is taking new meds to get those up hoping she doesn't need a transfusion. It seems when one part of the body gets wonky, it all goes wonky. I'm still breathing.

Breathe

This is the second half of my arch from yesterday. I decided it needed a back. These lyrics have been in my head all day, so here they are.

Mom spent the entire night in the emergency room waiting for a bed in the hospital. She is still there, waiting for the specialist who was supposed to see her this morning. Such a terrible healthcare system we have here. Something really has to change. I wish I had the answers, but I don't. So, I'm trying to breathe, just breathe.

What's Up

My good friend Jan made this bubble background and sent it to me some time back. I needed to make this quickly today, so I used her beautiful background. This song by 4 Non Blondes seems to be my anthem lately. So, here it is for the song and lyrics challenge over at gothic arch blog this week.

Mom is in the emergency room awaiting a hospital bed because her kidneys are not working. I'm stuck up here due to snowy weather, and so it goes. Making this helped a little.

Summer Art Camp

So, what are you doing the first week of August? I think I'm going to summer camp in Phoenix. Art Unraveled will be putting up the list of classes soon and registration begins next month. It's my kind of summer camp...art all day and into the night at a beautiful hotel. No camping allowed. Love that part. If you join the yahoo group, you can peek at pics of projects from last year and the list of 50 instructors for this year. Now, I have to research all these artists to see who I want to take a class from. Does anybody want to go to camp with me?

Sunday Rest

It's a nice stay at home Sunday around here. Even the dogs are happy to be soaking up a little sunny spot in my craft room. Mabel seems to be feeling much better today.

I spent the whole day yesterday out treasure hunting. I hit a wonderful estate sale and a few of my favorite thrift shops. So, today I'm sorting out what goes in the etsy shop and what needs to stay here and live with me. Among the wonderful finds were some old maps, S&H green stamps, and a whole box full of sewing notions. I have mixed feelings about estate sales. I love to dig through a whole house of goodies, but the reason behind them always gives me pause. So, I always stop to say thank you to the person who left behind their years of accumulated treasures.

Oh, and I always seem to buy something that everyone else thinks I'm nuts for. Like yesterday, I used the last of the dishwasher detergent before I left the house. Well, there under the sink was a 1/2 full box of good dishwasher detergent, so I bought it. But, you know I have clean dishes today.

I haven't created anything, but I'm giving lots of thought to the gothic arch challenge this week....gypsy. Hmmmmm, back later with something for that.

Valentine Card

We made this card at our stamp club this week. I love that it uses so much pretty ribbon. It's a 6" x 6" card with a diagonal cut across the front. If you want to give it a try, just measure up about 2 1/2" from the bottom and then cut the front off diagonally to the corner. I think this would work on any size or shape of card. The holes are punched using the large punch on the cropadile. I did one in the middle first and then went out from the middle to both ends. The ribbons are cut to 3 3/4" and then tied on. All products used are CTMH. We are having so much fun at our monthly stamp club. My only problem is finding enough things to buy. I must have too much stuff...nah that can't be it.

Things are pretty quiet around here for the weekend. Mabel had a bit of girl surgery. She's recovering and I'm running around cleaning up and holding her. She is trying very hard to feel better, but egads they made a big incision on my poor little dog.

Guardian Angel

I've been busy running the last two days with little creative time. I was at my parents yesterday and played bunco last night. Today was my stamping club and valentine card exchange and back to my parents late this afternoon. In between all of that and the regular drop off and pick up at school, I just had to make this arch. The theme this week is guardian angels. It was such a perfect theme for my word this year. I do believe that I have a guardian angel, but I'm pretty sure it's a guy. I couldn't find a male angel, so this pretty lady will have to fill in.

The angel is stamped on a tranparency with stazon and cut out. I colored her with alcohol inks using a cotton ball to get color where I wanted it. There is stickles for sparkle and I adhered her to the background with crystal effects. I left her wings unattached so she can fly. The background is made with alcohol inks and edged with krylon gold leafing pin. The letters are some stickers that were waiting around here.

Birthday Wishes

I am 45 years young today. It's the beginning of a new year. I take the week between new years eve and my birthday to re-assess, re-evaluate, and dream about the year ahead. I read some posts this week about finding a word to define the year ahead on Ali's blog. A sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, if you think it then it will be. There were lots of words that others used that I considered. Vitality, Joyful, Embrace, Journey, Delight, Flourish. I wrote them down and have been thinking on them all week.

I read a book called It's Not About the Hair by by Debra Jarvis. She is a cancer survivor and a chaplain at a cancer center. The book was spiritual and uplifting and very insightful. After the health struggles I faced last year and that my mom is still facing I thought it might help me gain some perspective. It did and I'm so glad I read it, but the word still eluded me.

This morning we woke up to over a foot of freshly fallen snow that is so beautiful and allows us to have a snow day with no school. That was just what I was hoping for. I opened my lovely gifts from my family with our morning tea and coffee. My husband gave me a beautiful green freshwater pearl bracelet and earrings made by a local artist. The word was right there in my gift. Attached to the clasp on the bracelet is a charm with a word on it. It's the word for this year.

mir·a·cle (mr-kl)
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin miraculum, from Latin, a wonder, marvel, from mirari to wonder at
1: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs
2: an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment
3. One that excites admiring awe. See Synonyms at wonder.
4. A miracle play.

I think miracles come to us in all sizes and forms, and sometimes we miss them. You have to be in tune with the moment to recognize them. I'll be looking for the everyday miracles in my life this year. It's a hopeful, joyful word that makes me smile. I hope you have miracles ahead in your life this year, too.

This is the card my family gave me this morning. Kyle took the picture of Mabel that inspired Curtis to carve this image and stamp it for me. They also gave me the rubber block so I can use it to make cards. I love my guys.