Nothing Crafty, Just a Good Day

Actually, a good past week.  It's been extraordinary and I had to share because I've never had a streak this good which is making me start to look around every corner.  Big trip coming up and I don't want to jinx it.

First I was one of the lucky people that was picked for the Unibind challenge.  I can't wait to see what it is and I am starting to follow fed-ex trucks to see if they are going to my house!  It's so exciting AND mysterious!

Then my boyfriend and I did the Relay for Life walk on Friday night.  We put in our names for a couple of raffles and on Saturday we received a call to let us know that we won a beautiful handmade quilt and rack!  We tried to win one the year before and it was the first thing we put our name in for this year, so that was really awesome!

I was offered a new job yesterday and I took it.  I interviewed last Thursday afternoon and when I left there were two others that were sitting for the job, so it was anyone's guess.  It's lower pay than what I'm getting right now, and it looks like it's going to be a lot of paperwork too, but I'll be working in the legal system and that is so exciting to me!  I'm going to miss my co-workers so much, they are more than that to me- they have been my friends and family and I must dedicate myself to staying in touch with them.  I'm just so tired of what I'm doing and there was no way they were going to let me move on to anything else because I'm so good at what I do!

 After I handed in my letter of resignation to my job of 12 years I ended up going to lunch with one of my friends and bought two lottery tickets.  One is a Mega Million and one is a Win for Life.  I forgot about it when I got back to the office but today I had another job interview and while I was waiting to go in (I showed up too early), I found the scratch-off in my purse and played.  I won $40!!! I've never won $40 on these tickets before.  The funny thing is I usually buy them in threes and don't win anything, but this time I only bought the one.  I know that $40 is for something.  God's earmarked it somehow.

Plus, today was my anniversary.  Twenty four years ago tonight I almost died.  I was a stupid kid hanging around with a bunch of people that were drinking and I got on the back of a motorcycle after a party.  We were on an old dirt road and apparently hit a rock and I sailed 60 feet through the air into a boulder.  Luckily I was wearing a full face helmet, I believe it saved my life.  I ended up popping my lung with a rib, fractured my pelvis, cracked some ribs, and I think I fractured my arm or clavicle.  Not sure, but I was one hurting unit.  If it hadn't been for a couple who decided to leave their camp and go home that night I would have died on the side of the road.  I have no idea who they were, but their decision saved my life.  There's a reason I'm here, although it eludes me.  But I'm glad I am. 

So that's my big news that I had to share.  I'm sure things'll get back to their normal every day way again.  Until then, it's a wonderful life! 

New Matchbook Album

Two weeks ago, as I was drifting off to sleep, I suddenly thought of a great project for my grandaughter-by-proxy, Hannah.  No, not for her to do, although it would be easy enough for a seven year old to put together.

No, this was for me to do for her.  You see, her birthday is in July.  The poor kid has never been in one place long enough to make friends, much less have a party with all of them.  She is, however unlike me, a social butterfly and is dying to have a birthday party.  I told her she needed to get all her friends addresses and phone numbers so when summer came we could get those invites out.  Well, that's easy to say to a seven year old, but without the tools - where does one start?

So, as I was drifting off to la-la land and not really getting there, I began wishing for a cigarette - totally smoke free for over two years now, but still crave, especially on sleepless nights - when I thought of matches, which made me think of matchbook, which made me think of my Cricut, which made me think that I could super-size the matchbook option and make an autograph album!

The mind DOES work in mysterious ways!

Well, I cut one out but it was way too small, so I just crafted one out of a strip of 6" x 12" peice of cardstock.  I used Blossoms & Butterfies by DCWV.  I ended up cutting the pages for it out of textured cardstock and then punching them with an office page puncher.  I used a hand punch to put holes in the album cardstock because the other puncher wouldn't put them where I wanted them. 

I then used some pink and green ribbon from Oriental Trading Co. to hold the autograph paper in the album.  After some refolding, I ended up with a pretty cool little album. 

I thought of adding some embellishments and some glitter glue, but I think she'll want to make it her own.  I was also wondering how I'm going to get complete addresses from seven year olds, but I'm hoping the teacher will help her with that.  Oh well, mema can't think of everything!

I hope you like my project. I'm going to do a few more for her and her brother for the sports they're playing this summer.  They'll have something to show their friends in the fall - kind of like a brag book!  I'll post those as I get them done.

Thanks for stopping by and keep on crafting!  As always, comments are most welcome!

Blog Candy Alert!

Hey my crafty friends - you need to check out this cool blog candy!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Tim Holtz and this girl has some candy that's so tasty you're going to be spinning if you win!  Check it out right here and tell her that CraftyDivaLounge sent you over!

http://scrap-it-girl.blogspot.com/2011/06/blog-candy-tim-cosmo-maya.html

Senior Pranks

In the last two days our local on-line newspaper has had articles about school pranks that the seniors have played for the end of the year.  Here's one:

http://www.mpcourier.com/article/20110603/DCO01/306039905

And here's the other one:

http://northcountrynow.com/news/ten-clifton-fine-students-charged-padlocking-school-doors-shut-placing-key-around-neck-rooster-

As it goes for pranks, they're pretty harmless.  I'm sure the rooster didn't like being in the school, but it is the time of the year when bugs start infiltrating homes and other buildings and chickens are great for taking care of those things.

A day or two of detention would have been the ideal punishment for these kids, but the officials are letting their fear make more of it than it is.  The parents of these children, the people of these communities, should stand up and tell the school that it is their school, they support it, they pay the bills with their taxes, and tell them to chill.  No one brought in a gun.  No one held a teacher hostage.  No one was threatened.

THESE ARE KIDS.  THEY WERE HAVING FUN IN A LAST HURRAH.  BE THANKFUL THAT THESE KIDS ARE HAPPY.

I know that adults are fearful.  It's a scary world.  But when something scary doesn't happen, should we punish people because it could have been scary?

That's all I've got to say about it.  Let kids be kids, and enjoy the articles - they're pretty funny!

Garden Art

I don't know what the weather's been like where you are, but this has been the strangest spring I have ever seen.  The folks that debunk global warming are, in my opinion, without a clue.  That said, between raindrops I've been trying to get some gardening done. 

Because we've gotten so much rain we haven't planted the backyard garden yet.  The last few days have been extremely sunny and HOT, so maybe we will get it in this year after all.  I wanted to show you my latest project.  My boyfriend found some sinks at his friends house and brought them home.  He's good at that.  As soon as I saw one of the sinks I knew what I wanted to do with it.  I told him to build a stand that it could sit in, about counter top height. 

After he was done with that we took a trip to the local greenhouse.  I was looking for flowers that would cascade over the sides in colors that I love.  I put a coffee filter over the sink drain so water could drain out, but so that we wouldn't lose potting soil. 

Then I planted our flowers.  I also threw in some vinca vine too, just because it looks cool.  I threw some chives in the back of it too.  I like the way chives flower and it will add some height to the composition.  There's spearmint and ferns growing underneath, so once they reach mature height and the flowers cascade down it is going to look AWESOME!

As a side note, I'm always looking for interesting, sturdy peices of trees to put in my yard.  I call it yard art.  My boyfriend always laughs at me when I find one that I want to bring home.  We went down to the river one day after the rain to see how high the water was.  While we were there I saw a peice of wood in the water that wasn't too far off shore, so I stepped in and pulled it in.  He looked at me and groaned.  It was so soaked it took the both of us to carry it home - thank God we're only two blocks away!  I haven't decided where to put it yet but I thought I'd show you the piece.  I think it's beautiful.

Notice the twig lodged in the tree? It's still there. I'm pretty sure the force of the water placed it there.  Cool huh? Nature is amazing!