thursday thoughts

don't you just love a little alliteration in the morning?

ok i decided i'd post a few random things

i love dictionary.com : it stems from that annoying habit my mom had, all the while we were growing up, to say "why don't we look it up?" if we had a question on spelling or about a topic -we had a nice dictionary at home and 2 different encyclopedias that got a lot of use. nowadays kids (and grownups like me) just go online. But when i was a kid i would always wonder - how can i look up a word if i don't know how to spell it?

i love my rapidograph and my kneaded eraser: both of which can be seen in the picture below. for that matter i love my mechanical pencil. how does one love a pencil, mechanical or otherwise - a musing for another day.

i love american idol on thursday nites: hopefully that new jersey girl (antonella) will bid a fond farewell. normally i'd be a new jersey girl's biggest fan but this one needs to go home.

i love that i got some more scrapbooking done: i'm picking things from my ready-to-go file (its a plastic milk crate filled with very large ziplocs that have pictures etc in each one. when i have the makings of a page, i put them in a bag and put the bag into the crate til i have time to do the page. i have oooscoobs* of bags in that crate - its about time i'm getting going on them. The page i did is about my daughter and her braces. duh....She has had the first stage of her braces on for months now. During her spring break they're going to put on the front braces. I had the pic i took the day she got the braces and i had the paper - so i decided to set up the layout with the picture i have and leave spaces for the other 2 pics i know i'll take. No fancy page with a bunch of embellishments. I did however use my favorite Purple Onion Designs stamps - Garamouche - for the titles. taking a picture was a whole lot faster than all that scanning and merging blah blah.

i love seeing pictures of peoples desks/creating spaces - whatever you wannacallit:take a look at donna's blog - a link is on your right. Care to share a pic of yours?

blogger is giving me a fit right now so i'll go gold some laundry (that, for the record is something i don't love)

***oooscoobs - i read that word in a book i'm reading - very descriptive isn't it?

Eloise philosophy and Crusade #6

First i should say i'm enjoying the challenges on the GPP Street Team http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/ and this newest one - about collections.

i have a few things i collect. Ok i have a lot of things i collect. For today i'll admit to my love of eggcups.

When i was a little girl it seemed everyone owned eggcups. i think people ate more eggs. Maybe they still do, but not soft boiled eggs- who knows. But eggcups are just this wonderful little thing for me - brings on a wave of nostaliga i suppose? Sweet simple times? I can remember my mother and me having breakfast by ourselves (or maybe it just seemed that way as my younger sister was just a baby -she's almost 6 years younger than me). My mom would put that egg in the eggcup in front of me, crack off the top, add a little scrap of butter and a sprinkle of salt - it was just delicious. And we'd sit and talk and eat our eggs and it was a nice little mom/daughter time. My little sister was too good of a baby to interrupt us. Yup, those eggcups bring back lovely memories. And they made the breakfast seem just oh-so-special. I wish i knew what happened to those eggcups. They no longer exist. So i look for eggcups when i am out and about - usually when i'm in an antique store, the china department of various stores or even gift shops. Over the years i have found a few that i've bought (translation: within my means $ wise) and i've been given a few. here are a few pics:

I went on a little road trip on Monday morning - up the road to the little (self-described) hamlet of Lucketts. Don't you just love how that sounds - Lucketts. Anyway, therein lies The Old Lucketts Store. Big old house with all kinds of rooms stuffed with all kinds of things. This trip i wasn't as enamored with the store as i'd been on previous visits. It's gotten too hip - its got loud music playing, cool tags on the merchandise, and well - one lovely tallboy dresser was painted pink. see what i mean? too hip. too now. i like the shabby stuff but not when its manufactured ok? i like it to be more "found" if you will. However, i did indeed come home with 2 treasures. A postcard (i'll post at another time) and an eggcup. i was playing in my sketchbook yesterday. I painted with acrylics and watercolor crayons and prismacolors and the receipt from the store and i printed off a scan from one of my favorite childrens books "Eloise". Eloise holds a special place in my heart and for that of my sisters. We first came to know Eloise in the early 1970's when my baby sister received the book as a gift from my cousin. She also sent my sister an Eloise postcard from The Plaza. We lived in New Jersey and my cousin lived in NY. Although as a child I'd been all over NYC I had never been to The Plaza. Anyway, when I included a scan of the drawing from the book as it says "an eggcup makes a very good hat". I've been thinking on that a lot - i need a little more Eloise thinking in my work.

I'm not obsessing - I'm scrapbooking

I really wish I could display these better ie side by side. In real life they look so much nicer and the color isn't quite right however - you get the idea.

My mother recently gave me the original professional portraits of me as a baby. I was wanting to get started on this mile high pile of stuff i want to scrapbook and this was on top of the pile. Along with it i decided to include a photo of me and my Dad as well as the label card that was on my basinette in the hospital nursery. Isn't that card the most wonderful thing? Of course my mom had saved it and knew i would want it. I hope you can see that my last name, Fisher, was rubber stamped on the card. Makes you think i was destined to rubber stamp right from the start huh?

In case you were wondering the paper is Anna Griffen - i have had it forever and when i looked at the nursery card i thought "i know that color pink". I went to my paper stash and sure enough, it was the same pink as the AG paper. The AG paper is an unusual shade of pink. Not a traditional pink - more of a vintage pink is the best way i can describe it. Anyway a little cardstock, some grosgrain ribbon and my sewing machine and i was done.

I'm keeping to a promise made to myself - i'm not going to obsess - i'm going to scrapbook. The journaling is addressed to my children. While i am saving the memories for them, the actual activity of scrapbooking is for me. But i want to enjoy myself instead of making myself nuts. And i am happy to say this was pure fun for me.

there should be a law & theresa anne

the day finally came - i cleaned my refrigerator. it isn't that i hadn't noticed it was dur-tee.
its one of those jobs that takes all morning.
or in this case, part o'the mornin and part o'this afternoon.
baruther
to even bother with it - its gotta be dirty in the first place - check.
then it has to be saturday - check
(why saturday? for some strange reason it was the day my mom always gottaroundtuit - so i guess it just sorta is our thing - we theresa's - more on that in a minute)
this is not a fancy refrigerator. i was looking through a magazine of my mom's recently and saw some lovely refrigerators in some ad and thought now would i want that? hmmm. No, she replied. i guess not. for various and sundry reasons it wasn't for me but it sure was purty.
Back to the cleaning - it you're gonna bother you have to take the whole thing apart. Of course, one wipes up the spills as they happen but to really clean it - you gotta disassemble. hence the all morning event.
there should be some kind of law about not cleaning on saturday is all i was thinking. course, no one made me. just the filth in the bottom of the refrigerator screaming my name is all.
I'm telling you -- you can eat off the thing now, its so shiney.
Now Theresa Anne - i'm a junior. Really. Actually once in school, for Valentine's Day a boy addressed my Valentine that way. Theresa Jr. bee-zar huh? Anyway, i'm named after my mother and i suppose it fits. When you name your children you just never know do you - if their name will really suit them. In this case, however, i'm as nuts as my mom. who knew? Now i'm happy to report i'm workin on the crazee everyday. Being a little less anal retentive as the days go by. Perhaps its my age or my exhaustion or my laziness finally coming to the fore. Whatever - i'm not quite so nuts about every little thing and that is something for which i'm grateful. I was working on a scrapbook page yesterday and decided i'd like to use some of my lovely Purple Onion designs stamps - the Great Circus ones. So beautiful and i thought they'd look just perfect on the pages. I stamped them and it's not quite perfect but you know, it looks good - see what i'm talking about:

There was a time when the lack of perfection woulda driven me up the proverbial wall and back again but not anymore. Aren't they just the prettiest stamps ever? I will finish up the layout and post it shortly.

Equal time, photography and kids

okay so i mentioned my other furry child, Frankie, the other day and felt it only fair to show you his handsome self. He was helping me do some laundry (thankfully staying out of the dryer today) and he looked just too darn cute.

Frankie is difficult to photograph. I hold no special photography skills. Every now and again i wished i had taken photography in college. At the time i had too many other things i wanted to do - classes to take like every drawing class, every printmaking class, painting, and a class in ceramics (to further the skills i already learned in high school and at the kick wheel of a family friend) and a silver jewelry making class. i have to be honest here and say i don't really have a burning desire to take better pictures - i don't want to be a photographer. i do fine and isn't that what this lovely digital camera is for? I don't have any fancy schmancy camera. It is a HP R927. It does have a lovely large screen - i love that. gone are the days of squinting thru those little peep holes - now there are big screens on these wee cameras - its just so wonderful to see what you're capturing - and in an instant knowing if you got the picture. Call it instant gratification if you want - i call it - i got that picture. now in years to come i can look at this and remember this - how cool is that? The pictures are a reference point for me. The only reason i even floated the idea of taking the photography class way back then is that i like to have that reference point. I draw. Sometimes i see something and i want to remember it clearly. i want to recreate that moment in a drawing or use that picture as a stepping off point.

Now, when lizziebelle said she was interested in taking photography in school (she's a high school sophomore) my reaction was YES... DOIT. Interesting huh? But i see its potential for her. Lizziebelle did indeed take the class last semester and i have to admit i was fascinated by it. (Just as i was fascinated by it when my other art major friends in college took it - but life is about choices and i'd made other, happy ones.) The stuff Lizziebelle came home with - most cool. She even had her dad and me helping her - we were subject matter for her assignments on a number of occasions. The girl has not been without a camera around her neck since she started that class. Now that the photography class is over she has moved on to a graphic design class. This time she is borrowing a digital camera from school and that camera has taken permanent residence upon her neck. i really am in awe of her most days. She has so much talent and dedication. It is just something to see.

And speaking of kids - furry and non: my other non-furry child is coming home today for his spring break. We are so excited to see him. We miss him while he's at school. He is a funny one that joseph. We called him last night as we hadn't heard from him and were wondering: a. if he needed a ride home and b. was he still coming home for the break. He sounded so happy and was filled with tales of how he was "destroying" his classes this semester. Translation: he's doing really well. He had a rough semester in the fall so this was good to hear. He and the girlfriend (whom we adore) will be heading out around noon - they'll be back here mid-afternoon. Of course we know we'll see him only for small moments during the weekend. Home friends will get most of the attention - he'll run in and out - eat probably one meal with us and borrow my car a lot. But that's ok. We just want to hear his funny self (he has a most amazing perspective on things LOL) and see his face. I'll probably take a picture. Or two.

coffee with friends and crusade #5

When i'm feeling not the greatest, my usual modus operandi is to hide out. i don't like to inflict my moody behavior on people if at all possible. I've been sorta up and down the last few weeks. On one hand i'm enjoying some of the benefits of not working - on the other hand I'm feeling a little without direction. Not sure what i should be doing - what i want to do. That kind of thing. Its hard to go from being crazy busy to having time on your hands - and knowing you need to make a decision and get on with life. Anyhow... a few weeks ago i made a date to meet up with some friends. Last nite i was thinking - what was i thinking when i made that date. I wanted to see them but i didn't want to talk about whats going on with me. My mother has throughout my life always said - just go - you'll have a nice time. Of course she is always right in this regard. So i said to myself, go - you'll have a nice time. And of course this time, I was right. These are good friends. Friends who didn't grill me about what was i going to do now or what have i been doing. They just wanted to see me. Talk about nothing important. It was the nicest 2-1/2 hours i've spent in a while. And the coffee was pretty good. We made plans to do something next week and the week after. Which is good.
Yesterday when i was having a moment (or two) i hauled out my sketchbook which i've been lax about keeping lately and starting playing with some things. i had seen a challenge on Michelle Ward's website - http://michelleward.typepad.com/how_cool_is_that/
Crusade#5 and thought i'd work out some of what has been going on in my head and do that challenge. some stamps and some pearl ex and some tissue and some watercolor crayons. it felt good. not sure about the results but it was good to do.

wednesday whatever

i'm still getting used to this not working thing. of course it won't last long but it still is a little odd. I'm trying to enjoy it. I'm doing things when i want to for the most part - which is pretty nice. For example, i could run a bunch of errands this morning and not have to stop on the way home from work. In those last few months working i rarely had a day off - which is when i would normally do all those things that need doing dontchaknow.
Now - well i'm a lady of leisure - well sorta. I've taken up knitting as i mentioned previously. That's fun.
And i've been able to read more - a lot more. When i was working i still read. Picture me cooking dinner and my book on the island (centrally located in the kitchen natch) - reading whilst i flipped a burger or mashed potatoes. Ok. I was a little crazy but i love to read and it seemed like a perfectly fine time to fit in a chapter.
I like to read in chunks. i cannot read a few pages then go to bed. I have to read maybe 50 pages at a time to fully digest the information. If i only read a few pages i seem to have to go back and reread it all.
So, one of those errands this morning was to go to the library. Drop of 2 books i finished and pick up another. I still have yet another book i haven't begun. The pick up book was one i'd been on the waiting list for: Plum Lovin by Janet Evanovich. I love the Stephanie Plum books. If you haven't read them you should treat yourself. They're laugh out loud funny. I like funny. The main character, Stephanie, is a bounty hunter but she gets herself involved in all sorts of trouble. And then of course she is from New Jersey. SOLD :-)
I would suggest reading the Plum series from the beginning - the first book is called "One for the Money" followed by "Two for the Dough" and so on.
So i will be reading Plum Lovin today. its a pretty thin volume so i doubt it will take too long.
Then i will get back to reading that other book i have by one of my other favorite authors, Rita Mae Brown. Rita Mae writes some fun stuff - she has just the most wonderful wit. I started to read the books she co-authors with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown. What i love about them is that the animals in the books are characters as well - have wonderful little personalities and are very endearing. The Sneaky Pie books are mysteries - i love a mystery. They are all set in a town in Virginia - not really all that far away. She mentions my town occasionally due to the fact its has a very famous equine center as well as being the center of county government. Rita Mae also has written some other wonderful novels - my most favorites are named "Six of One","Bingo" and "Loose Lips" - get them if you want a fun read. I just brought back two books called "Outfoxed" and "Hotspur" and last week i returned "The Hunt Ball". All three of these are part of a series she's written where the setting is once again, Virginia but it is all set with a backdrop of fox hunting. Wonderfully entertaining mysteries and interesting as i knew little about fox hunting.
ok... i've bored you all enough. Go read something.

tuesday mishmash

mish·mash /ˈmɪʃˌmɑʃ, -ˌmæʃ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mish-mahsh, -mash] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
a confused mess; hodgepodge; jumble.

one of those words we liked to use when i was growing up. we were big on words 'round our house.

ANYWHO~

we're getting back to normal after an unexpected snow on Sunday. About 5 inches of nonsense which yielded a winter wonderland really. Here are the two trees in front of my house. This is their positioning if you are inside looking out - just imagine a big space of grass in between.

The pear on the left and the maple on the right. It was all very pretty and then came Monday morning. School closed here in this county and not in the county where daughter attends school. Translation - no bus. She needed a ride. Not the worst thing in the world but its an hour each way. Husband took her there and i brought her home. The gods must've known it was my mom's birthday so the beltway traffic wasn't too horrendous. We swung by my mom's on the way back and picked her up. Had our little birthday celebration for her. It was very nice. I'd made a cake - natch- on Sunday. Here it is as it came outta the oven. ...... and all frosted and ready for candles.

We decided to just use a few candles - not the full 78. And she was thrilled that she blew them all out on the first try.

And yes, i always take pictures of the birthday cakes. It's all part of the celebration dontchaknow.

I had spent the last week making cards for my mom as one of her gifts. She sends a lot of cards to friends and family and when i'd given her a gift of a batch of them (all different kinds) she really loved them. And of course she makes sure everyone knows i made them. That's a mom for you. This batch turned out pretty good. I only wished i had scanned them. I always scan my cards - what was i thinking?!?!

oh one last picture or two for the mishmash - my kitty - Miss Holly.

Isn't she the cutest? (well, she and her brother are the cutest. I'll show Frankie another day - he's tougher to photograph - he is a handsome black cat). Thats also Holly in the 2nd pic- she has her tummy up against the vent that is under my kitchen sink. All winter long she can be found there. Note to the right of her head is our dishwasher - i have to lean over her to get stuff from the sink to the dishwasher. She is like lead when she is warming her tummy - she is not to be moved. Sometimes i have to just slide her whole self outta the way. (the mean way is to let a few drops of water accidentally sprinkle upon her... oh she moves quickly then LOL)

You gotta double click

on any word - try cheesecake - scroll down and double click on the word cheesecake.
this is too awesome for words
you will get this wonderful pop up thingy (oh my technical prowess.... daughter would call this - my geekiness) thanks to a wonderful widget i added for Answers.com
ok so you double click on cheesecake and check out the 2nd definition....
photographs of minimally attired women.
(are you reading this will?)
as if

Blast from the Past

or Now for something completely different (you Monty Python fans will take note)
When i was a little girl, a hundred years ago, we didn't have much TV - there was some but it was pretty limited. I loved what there was and have many fond memories of shows like the Mickey Mouse Club, Leave it to Beaver, The Patty Duke Show. Well i could go on and on.
What we did have - at least in my home - was a lot of records. We listened to a lot of records. Most were just music. My parents had a great collection. Sad to say most of those wonderful 78's were lost in a flood in my parents home years later. I did manage to save a fabulous Billie Holiday record of my Dad's. He was a huge Billie Holiday fan.
Anyway - we also listened to a lot of story records. Whole books on records with songs if they had 'em. I still remember 2 favorites - Pinnochio (with Jimmy Nelson, Danny O'Day and Farfel) and a recording called "Long Name No Can Say" narrated by a man named Paul Wing. I would lie down next to the stereo (it was a piece of furniture - a console) and listen to these over and over again.
I've been searching for those records for years. I am like that.
It took me years but i finally found a record, then a cd, of Christmas music by Mitch Miller. It was part of every Christmas in my childhood and i was determined to have it.
So last night i got a notion to go looking for those records again. Through a series of searches on ebay and google I happened upon a wonderful website that actually has the recording of "Long Name No Can Say' right on it! I couldn't believe my ears. Here's the website:
http://www.kiddierecords.com/
and here's Long Name No Can Say

http://www.kiddierecords.com/2006/archive/week_44.htm

It is terribly un-PC but back then - well they didn't think about those things. And it doesn't change the fact that i listened to it and loved it and had a huge blast from the past when i heard it again. Totally transported back - well a lot of years!

I emailed the man about Pinnochio - that recording was just thee best thing ever. I hope he has it. Anyway take a look at the website and see if any of your favorites are there.

It is a well known fact

that bra shopping is theeeee most dreaded type of shopping there is on the face of the earth. It's evil when you must do it for yourself and more evil when you have to take your daughter. Fortunately today I only had to go myself. (did i use the word fortunate in conjunction with the phrase "bra shopping" ? yes i spose i did - don't worry it won't happen again).
I am not a big shopper in the first place. I hate, despise and loath clothes shopping. Shoe shopping runs a close second but the winner and still champion most hated shopping of all is for brassieres.
I do of course love shopping for anything paper, fabric, book, craft or food related. Natch, right? I will admit when i was a few pounds lighter i found shopping tolerable but i still didn't find it enjoyable. I just have never gotten it. My older sister looooooves to shop. She is also - on a fat day - a size 0. (Really) She's always liked to dress up - I, on the other hand, have always liked to be comfortable. Wherein lies all the trouble with bra shopping - bras just are never comfortable. Even when they fit delightfully well, and are made of lovely soft, silky fabrics, i would love to go without and I cannot.
So I've been saying for weeks i need to go bra shopping. My current bras need replacing desperately. I've found all kinds of things to do in order to avoid the bra shopping. But today was the day - lets go and get it over with I said.
I talked with my younger sister today before i forced myself into the car and over to the mall. She agreed with me that the main reason bra shopping is so annoying is that once you find a bra you like - its comfortable (as its ever gonna get), it fits properly, its in the colors you need namely white and maybe off white or cream (sorry but who really needs purple, pink, or blue bras?) - once you find the holy grail of bra-dom - they discontinue making it. It is a major slap in the face (or lower). They do the same thing with makeup (think about it - lipstick, eyeshadow.. c'mon you know what i'm talkin about).
Okay so i head over to the lovely Dulles Town Center (yes, not far from the Dulles Airport) and decide to try Macy's. I don't know what i was thinking going to a shopping mall on a "hoiday" however i was able to find a parking space and i made my way to the "intimate apparel" department.
Have any of you been bra shopping lately? Does everyone want a push up bra or something? its just ridiculous. I actually do own one - the last attempt at bra shopping maybe 2-3 months ago - it was the only thing i thought was remotely comfortable. After i got that thang home i found it is only comfortable for maybe an hour. After that you're trying desperately to keep the girls in check.
I will end the suspense and tell you I did indeed find 3 bras - all the same, cotton, Bali. It was a buy two, get one free - total bonus. (oh i forgot to mention - the darned things are not cheap - the slap on the other side of the face).
Whilst i was shopping i meandered through the rest of the department and came upon some lovely pajamas. I love pajamas. Why i never buy them for myself i do not know. The husband has bought me pajamas before (he's bought me the other silly stuff which is more for his enjoyment than mine but i digress) - and they've been the nicest things - all soft and comfy. Well i found 2 pairs of pj bottoms and one set of pajamas (top and bottoms) all from that wonderfully fluffy soft material (i cannot think of the name of it - sorta fleecy). So i treated myself - they were majorly on sale so why the heck not. I deserved it - i bra shopped!
I absolutely cannot wait to put on those pj's.

Crack me up and other cheesecake queries addressed

Okay - here's a picture of the cheesecake sans ze cherries. Yes indeed there is a crack - i'm all cracked up in fact. (course they were all covered with cherries - which may've been the reason the cherries on the top came to be? c'est possible ) I think this is the most cracked out cheesecake i've ever had - usually there's one. And, yes Will i'm sure it is due to the lack of either a bath or a pan of water in the oven. I really should try at least a pan of water in the oven to see the effects on this particular recipe - positive or negative. With the amount of egg white in the recipe I am also curious what that water effect might have. (Baking is so interesting due to the chemistry involved dontcha think?)
As far as the density of the cake - ah - that is what makes it so unique. It is the lightest, fluffiest cheesecake you've ever tasted. More along the lines of a souffle or a mousse. It is realy delicious and anti-diet. Normally you would feel very full after a small piece of cheesecake. This recipe creates a considerably sized cake for starters - a 10 inch pan is large (not the largest one I own mind you). Then imagine the cheesecake being 10 inches instead of the more commercial sized cake - around 8 inches. Then the height of the cake - I'd guess it to be approximately 2 inches. Now slice said big cake up - and put a piece on your plate - your plate is rather full. You'd look at that slice filling up the plate and think - I'm going to be sick if I finish that piece. I'm here to tell you not only will you not be sick, you may ask for seconds. An Aunt Florrie piece perhaps (Aunt Florrie will be a post for another day - suffice it to say for now Aunt Florrie was stingy with the cake ok?) but seconds are not unheard of with this recipe and you'll have enough to go around for a small gathering. It is a great recipe for a nice sized dinner party.
The only drawback to the recipe (other than the cracking) is that it does not slice very cleanly. Refrigerating over nite is practically a must. And when you're slicing, you could have a glass of water nearby to dip your knife into to get a clean cut each slice.
The benefits outweigh the small drawbacks however :-)
Everyone enjoyed their cake last night. My mom had 2 pieces! The woman can eat. My nephew was still full from dinner but i packed him up a piece to eat late last night (as well as some extra for my mom). We have a little less than half the cake left. I will be indulging again tonite fershure. The husband will be returning from his trip tonight. He has been in Delaware at the family beach house doing the yearly cleanup and repair work with his siblings. After all his hard work I am sure he could use a slice. You should have seen his face when he saw that cheesecake in the "2 hour let it stand" stage - it was the - "you made cheesecake and i'm going away and will there be any left for me?" face. Of course I'd make sure there was a piece for him. Silly man - he knows better - after 22 years of marriage I'd leave him cake-free? not happenin' - not no way. not no how.

All dressed up and ready to eat

Okay, i'm ready!
Going to have to wait a few hours. We're going out to eat at a very nice restaurant and then back here for some o'this :-)

Cheesecake Recipe

Okay here goes
Preheat oven: 300 degrees
Crust:
1 cup of zwiebach or vanilla wafer crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Mix that together and line a 1o inch spring form pan

Filling:
1 lb cream cheese (2 pkgs Philadelphia regular)
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tblsps lemon juice (fresh is best you know)
1 cup sugar
1 lb. sour cream (the real deal - no lite stuff)

Mix cheese and yolks (one at a time), vanilla, lemon juice, sugar until smooth.
Add sour cream, mix until well blended.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold in to the cheese mixture.
Spoon filling into spring form pan
Bake 1 hour
Turn off the heat and let it stand in the oven for 1 hour
Remove from oven
Cool in pan 1 hour on wire rack
With spatula, loosen sides and let it stand 2 hours.
Refrigerate :-)
Ok now what you need now is a can of Comstock Cherry Pie filling for the top.
When you're ready to bring this to the table - spoon the cherries on top.

FYI - i use the vanilla wafers not the zwiebach- i throw the wafers in my food processor and mash them to smithereenies! one could do this with zwiebach as well i'm sure. My mom's original recipe was with the zwiebach but hey... i don't have any babies in the house munching on zwiebach - not that i ever let them have one in the first place but i digress.... as per u-s-ual.
also today when i made the crust i ended up doubling the recipe just for the crust. it didn't seem thick enough and i wanted lots o'crust. not necessary but not a bad idea if you kwim :-)

I'm sure Gourmet or Bon Appetit or The next Food network star (will) or Top Chef Chefs will say - oh how could you put that gosh darned awful Comstock Cherry Pie filling on top - you MUST put some fresh fruit on top. (i love both magazines and both reality chef shows. they are wonderful however ~)
This chef sez fuggedaboudit.
I'm sorry but the cherry pie filling is AWESOME in combo with the tartness of the cheesecake and the sweetness of the crust. You really won't be sorry i swear - its just scrumptious -
truly :-)
i will post a picture with the cherry pie filling on top tomorrow -
bon appetit!

Company is coming

My sister, nephew and his girlfriend are coming down to visit for the weekend. It will be nice - it's been a while since they've visited. Last time we saw them it was for my nephew's 30th birthday party. That was in the fall. So we're all due.
Course company coming has always meant cleaning and food preparation to me (therefore exhaustion). Since i was little whenever we'd have company my mother would go into a frenzy. The house that was already tidy would be practically scoured. Everything was shined up and vacuumed and by the time the company would actually arrived we were all sick of the idea of company. My mom would have gone a little nuts with the cleaning and then there would be some very involved cooking that would just make her seem a little crazy to those of us around her. I mean what was the big schmeel anyhow? People come over to see you - not your house and we'd eat anything right? Well not to my mother - it meant putting on ze dog. Actually when i think back on it - she wanted to just make them feel very special. Making the house look nice of course was a reflection on her - but also for the comfort of her guests. And making something special to eat - just another way to make her company feel they were honored people in our home. And let me tell you - my mother could cook - she still can but now its a little much for her. But the woman is known far and wide for her wonderful food. She can take a box of tuna helper and turn it into fine cuisine - swear to God. And even if she didn't actually cook the food (now and again we'd get things catered) the woman knew how to make it look beautiful. I remember one occasion - it may've been my grandparents golden anniversary party? Whatever - a pan of lasagna disappeared. It became a long standing joke about that pan of lasagna - what happened to it we never did find out but we knew someone was eating pretty darned good is all. Cos Theresa made that lasagna. And she could make lasagna. The Irish girl made better Italian food than any of my Italian uncles families - no arguments from anyone.
So, one would expect that one of my mother's children would inherit her love of cooking, right?
That would be moi. I do love to cook. The sister that is visiting doesn't have the patience for cooking, The other sister is a fine cook as well except she's a vegan so her repertoire is a little limited for the rest of us. So, while i do some mad cleaning on occasion (like today - i vacuumed and cleaned and shined - so much so the cats went to the far corners of the house for fear of getting sucked up by the hoover) i do enjoy cooking something fun for company. On a day to day basis, at least lately, i have fallen into a boring routine of dinner fare. With company coming i try to think up something yummy to serve my guests (i am not named Junior for nuthin - yes, I'm a Theresa too).
Of course the first thing that pops into my mind is dessert. We must have priorities you know. i haven't come up with anything to serve for dinner yet but i do know we're having cheesecake for dessert. Not just any old cheesecake neither. My mother's recipe is the only thing i'd bother making. If you're going to do cheesecake - this is what you want. No Jello Cheesecake for us PULEEZ. That is not cheesecake kids. I'll be back later with the recipe. it is, without a doubt, the best cheesecake ever.

Valentine Rakarama

well since most of you have received yours i feel i can post this years edition. I've been sending my dear girlfriends valentines the last few years and i just couldnt let this year be the year i didn't. Yeah i had other crap going on (i always have some nonsense going on that keeps me from making things!) - but these ladies - well you all mean so much to me. I have been the recipient of many lovely cards and gifts from them. I had to do it. I was dying to do it :-)

Other years i usually had something in mind when i made my valentines. The first year i saw a darling fabric in a local store - looked like vintage valentines. I didnt keep a picture of those unfortunately but i do have some of the fabric left. The next year i made these

and last year i made this one
This year - well i wasn't sure what i would do. I was looking online at a cute project made by Michele of Purple Onion Designs - check it out here - http://www.purpleoniondesigns.com/vintagestamps3.html - scroll down to the wonderful slide mount hanging with her faboo vintage calendar stamp. The papers or stamps she used on that made me think of this lovely stamp from StampinUp! - floral background stamp. I added Purple Onions script stamp as well as the mini-sentiments stamps - and voila - i had my card.

I should mention the valentine gods were working against me - i ran out of clear embossing powder while i was making these. (amazing - do you really ever run out of ep? i swear i didnt think it possible but i'm here to say - yes you can use it all up!) I should qualify that. I ran out of my pristine clear embossing powder (my pristine jar - has no other ep's mixed into it. early on i found that when you emboss sometimes you get little bits of powder stuck in your ep tray - and it taints the stuff you put into it on the next ep adventure. My solution to this problem was to get another ep tray that i only use for clear ep'ing. yes that's just how anal retentive i can be!) so i had to use my less than pristine jar on the last few cards. i cringed on the last few cards hoping no bits of silver ep would get into it. nothing seemed to really show - especially since i did a white wash of acrylic over the ep... did any of you notice the white wash? anyway... i had an extra little heart with bow and decided i'd add a little card to my son's valentine box (i made him his favorite cookies - oatmeal chocolate chip) here's that silly monkey again
if i get back to this blog later today (two posts already and i'm considering a third.. yegods!) i will post a little cd holder i made for mdv for his gift (a cd of our songs)

Greetings from the frozen south

The frozen south (that is sorta like frozen hot chocolate isn't it? i'll have to talk about that another day) - yup its a frozen valentine's day here in northern virginia. The county i live in has already called off school for tomorrow - and it wasn't even noon when that email was received. Sorta gives you an idea of what the weather is like - we had a lot o'sleet yesterday - all day and night. My darling valentine went out this morning to survey the situation - he thought he'd be heading out to a meeting he had in Baltimore (which is approximately 1-1/2 hours from where we live) - and said he was going out to clear off things and be ready to leave when the time came. Well he returned about 5 minutes later - with a chuckle he said there is 5 inches of sleet with a nice layer of ice on top of that - i'm not going anywhere. He's been working from home all day which i find quite nice on this Valentine's Day.

Normally we get up at 5:30 and get the daughter on the bus at 6:25. Her school lies in the next county over and, as they refused to make a declaration last night, her dad (previously called my darling valentine :-) - we'll refer to him as mdv for the rest of the day) woke up early to check the closings and found EVERYTHING was closed. So mdv let me sleep in - i woke up at 8:00 am! Ok - thats enough on the weather folks...

I have been keeping busy. That closed door opened a new one that's for sure. My time seems to be taken up by chauffeuring these days. Not my favorite activity however it is what it is. I took up a new little hobby - Knitting. Actually i have knitted before - i believe i was perhaps 5 or 6 and my grandmother taught me. I know that seems young but i'm sure that must be correct given my memories of that grandmother and where we lived at the time. (i was always a precocious little crafter LOL) Anyway, i'd be thinking about trying my hand at it again and the opportunity jumped up at me in the form of a butt ugly hat. .... Of course i'll explain ;-)

My mom is undergoing radiation treatments at the moment (benign tumor reappears - no film at 11). She went to the center beginning this month. It has been particularly cold here lately and the kind ladies at the center asked my mom if she had a hat - to keep her warm and also because she might, in time, lose her lovely red hair (yes, it's still red. she does enhance the red a bit but redheads don't grey young. she's got only the tiniest bit of grey around her ears... ) My mom said no, she didn't have a hat. She says she's always had trouble with getting hats to fit -big head. My daughter also has this problem. She says big head - big brains - touche lizziebelle. So the lovely center ladies presented my mom with a knitted hat, made by some good kids who make them as community service projects for the center. Enter butt ugly hat. "how ugly is it?" Well, its a concoction of colors - black, green, yellow, orange, red. It is a primary colored collection of hideous yarns. However, it fits and it is warm - so says the wearer - although she agrees it is one U-G-LEE hat.

So there was my opportunity - in the form of that hat. I looked online and found what promised to be a delightfully easy pattern. I went to a few local craft stores and found needles and yarn (a lovely deep wedgewood blue that would enhance my mom's pretty hair and match her beautiful blue eyes). I watched a few online knitting videos and off i went. In the meantime i found i also needed some double pointed needles. These were not so easy to locate locally - the size eluded me wherever i went. So i ordered those online (Joanns.com is having 40% off everything - check it out people) and they arrived yesterday - just in time for me as i'd gotten to that point in the knitting. If i had a yarn needle I would be done with this today but i'm gonna post my hat now - with the double pointed needles still on it. I have to say this knitting was most relaxing and fun. I love doing projects that make me feel capable LOL. If you have any inclination toward knitting - give it a try - its not hard at all and look at the cute hat you can make!

One door closes, another one opens

seems life is all about this huh? one door closing and another opening. endings and beginnings.
well this week i closed the door literally and figuratively.
Most of you know i worked at a scrapbook store. One of the few chain scrapbook stores. And on Wednesday i finished packing it up and closing the door forever. Yes, it was a little sad. And i was glad i had the last hour there to myself to look around (yes, and take pictures :-) - i always take pictures right?) and say goodbye. Close that door on this chapter in my life.
I started there a little over 4 years ago. I was at yet another crossroads in my life then. My brother had passed away unexpectedly in April of 2002. I needed to get back to work - i'd left another job right after he died. It wasn't for me. Had nothing to do with what i'm about but it did provide a paycheck and sometimes life requires you to do that right? I decided that life was passing me by - i could be dead tomorrow - siblings passing away kinda hits you in the face with facts like these. A new scrapbook store opened and i decided why not apply there and do something i actually like - what a concept huh? I did and got the job. I appeared for my first day of work at the end of November 2002.
Over the years there i met some wonderful co-workers and some wonderful customers. I could tell a million stories about the people. The good and the bad but i won't bore you with all those. Maybe one day - cos there are some tear jerkers and some jerks :-) I went through 3 managers and ended up becoming the manager for the last few months (i'd avoided being the manager like the plague as i have a very full life outside of work and being a manager wasn't going to fit in with my priorities - my family first).
The last month i will say was absolutely on the list of most difficult experiences in my life. (and as many of you know i've had some pips... 2 brain surgeries for my mom, my brother passing away... ) Both physically and emotionally.
Fortunately i had some really wonderful co-workers - they did their best to assist me in all ways possible and i really couldnt thank them enough.
My family stood by me - and believe me that was tough cos i wasnt in the best shape many days. Out of 31 days in January i stayed home for 3 days. I was exhausted (heck - i still am).
My husband - well he is just the best man in the world - i knew it before but he reaffirmed his superman status once again -his love, support and assistance - Imagine this - in his suit and tie with a hammer breaking down some fixtures that i didnt sell. I wish i'd had my camera that night but it will be indelibly etched in my memory. Never complaining - just that letsgetthisdone attitude. After a full days work of his own.
My son is, as you know, away at college but i know if he'd been here he'd have been right next to his dad :-) My teenaged daughter - every night i'd get home and she would ask me how i was and i just would look at her and she'd hold her hands out and give me a huge hug and kiss. I'm a lucky woman - aren't I? i mean most people are complaining about their teenagers - it is the time of life when one is most self-involved right? Well - not this kid. She is just amazing my lizziebelle. :-)
Onto the customers. I have to say i got a little exasperated at times. I guess its just my way but i dont think i would be asking employees of a closing store "where are you going now?" "are you going to work at that other store". It's just not something i would ask - it isn't any of my business - but i guess that's just me? Oh i'm not talking about the customers i knew well - i understood their concerns - and genuine interest in my well being. I'm talking about the people i barely ever saw shop in the store. I just thought it odd. whatever.
I heard the question "why are they closing" a ba-zillion times. What could i say - and really what would it matter? In the grand scheme of things - to their lives - what would it matter? Bottom line is we were closing - it really doesn't matter what their reasons were - they are a corporation and this is - simply put - business.
Of course for me - it was more than a business and more than just a store :-) And for some of the customers i know it was also more than a store. How do i know? well - this is the part where i'm gonna get all teary eyed again. So many wonderful customers - nay - friends - i made. Well i guess i just didnt realize. There are the special customers - the ones i would looked forward to seeing when they came into the store. Well apparently they felt the same way and took the time to let me know it. They came in and made sure they talked to me - and it was a crazy place the last two weeks - but they made sure i knew how much they'd miss the place - and me. We exchanged phone numbers, email addresses. They gave me their cards. They hugged me and cried and made me cry. :-) The good kinda cry. These women I will see again. I have no doubt. The one that really sent me over the edge was totally a surprise however. And so i will end this with that little story.
The store closed on Saturday. It was Monday or Tuesday. (it's a big blur now but the store had to be vacated on wednesday so i was definitely frazzled). I was working by myself at the time and was near the front of the store and i could see a woman walking through the parking lot towards the store. I thought "oh no.. someone coming to shop again" - this had happened since Sunday - people who apparently didnt know we were closing coming up and finding the store closed. Well as she got closer i recognized her. A lovely woman who had been shopping at the store probably not long after i began. Her oldest daughter was then 2 (now 6) and she was pregnant with the second. When i first met her she was just so very pleasant and wanted help with a few things - I recall her wanting these premade pocket pages we sold. We were out at the time and she wanted more - she was the kind of customer you just love to help. Anyway as i recall i told her we'd order them for her - she was concerned about picking them up by the time they came in as she was due with that second baby pretty soon. Anyway it all worked out just fine and i'd see her periodically throughout the years. Sometimes she'd bring a friend with her and they'd shop. As with many customers in the store, i watched her girls grow up. :-)
So - there she was at the door - and i mouthed through the glass - we're closed. She mouthed back "i know". I opened the door and she said to me "i just wanted to say goodbye and to thank you for all the help you've given me". Well i broke down there and just cried. She went on to tell me (while giving me a hug) i wanted you to know that - you were always so nice, with a big smile on your face, and you always helped me so much. You helped me save my memories for my girls. You made a difference."
So with that i'll end this. I should mention one other customer (another favorite) saying to me "where are am I going to go now? This was the place to go". And so it was.

Ok Tawk like this

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

and i'm darn proud of it. You gotta take this quiz - it has me pegged perfectly!

ok that one was fun so i took another quiz

Your Christmas lights are glowing 100%.

Awesome! Your Christmas tree lights up the whole room! You are a true lover of all things Christmas, and a joy for those around you!

Christmas Trivia
Make Your Own Quiz

i doooooooo love Christmas!

happy birthday mista P

yes i've been gone a few days... well more than that but life gets crazy. i'm doing a newish job at work and its taking some getting used to is all i'll say.

i'm tired.

i'm also having computer problems. my darned Norton AntiVirus is a piece of garbage. And since i've been having these problems i've found i'm not the only one who thinks Norton AntiVirus is garbage - its all over the internet. If you have anti-virus software i don't think you should get a trojan - i'm just sayin.

but enough on that nonsense. its too aggravating for words.

My superman - computer-wise - is arriving home from college tomorrow and he will put forth heroic efforts i'm sure to rectify my problems.

(translation: hey if you fix my computer problems - now THAT would be a great Christmas present - to which superson replied - cool!)

Today is my dear nephew's 7th birthday. I priority mailed his gifts the other day and i hope he likes them. (two shirts - he actually likes new clothes - and one of my all time favorite books Charlotte's Web. I have to admit i had a hard time mailing that book off. I wanted to re-read it right then and there. Such a wonder of a book. If you haven't read it - i guess that's possible- do yourself a big fat favor and get to the store or a library this weekend. You won't be disappointed.) It's so difficult to shop for him and his brother - who will celebrate his birthday one month from today. Difficult because it is so close to Christmas. I have to set my mind on gifts for both occasions for both children. I would never combine the gifts - i grew up with a few Christmas babies - they always said they got gyped. And there will be no gypping these two special boys!

I did manage to make my nephew a silly little birthday card - i think he will love this!

made with my quickutz happy frog die and Purple Onion Designs alphas and some string.

I've been also fooling around with some stamp carving. i've had cute little birdies on the brain for a while - i haven't been able to find any stamps i liked so i decided to make my own

these are just some quick stampings i did of them to see how they looked when inked and i may just use one on something soon.

i don't know if you've ever carved your own stamps but i have to say that carving is probably one of the most relaxing things to do ever. I highly recommend it. When i was done carving them out i was thinking how i missed that feeling - just being totally in that zone - so focused and concentrating completely on what i was making. it's a wonderful feeling.

(as opposed to the peri-menopausal crazy feelings i've been having lately... but i digress)

i also made this cute little glittered up star the other day - i must upload a picture of it. It is just a silly paper mache star i painted with glue and threw glitter all over but you know - its beautiful.

Finally before i forget, i see that i've been tagged by Barbara http://smith411.typepad.com/my_weblog/ to list 6 weird things about myself. Well miss B - i'm a thinkin on it. I shall probably post them a little later!

tag class

I'm teaching a class tonite called Holiday Tags. The classes i teach at the store have prescribed items i must teach. But in addiition i always try to include my little spin on things. How i'd change things using the same supplies - that kinda thing.
this is one of mine.

what is that noise?

http://www.wavelit.com/popup/playerAfricam.asp#
Link courtesy of Annie
ok click on that link and turn up your speakers. this is so cool.
I have my speakers turned up and
my dh comes up the stairs and sez "what is that noise?"
i said "it's Africa"
he said " oh, i thought a bird was stuck in the dryer vent again"
he's a funny one
then my dd came up the stairs and said "what is that noise?"
i said "it's Africa"
she said "oh, i thought a bird was stuck in the dryer vent agan"
Yes, they are a pair.

Tryptophanning

thats about how i feel just about now... tired.
It's been a long Thanksgiving but a truly lovely one.
It started out .. not so good.
Unexpected guests last night.
Ordinarily i don't mind guests.
In fact i enjoy guests.
Planned- for- in- advance- guests.
Unexpected guests - well about a month ago i had an unexpected guest. My dear niece was stranded at Dulles (we are a hop, skip and a jump away) and although i was wakened out of a dead sleep, had to put my clothes on and venture out into the dark and stormy night (even Snoopy woulda hid in his doghouse) , and get up 3 1/2 hours later to take my daughter to school - I was happy to do so for this sweet niece who was stranded.
These guests however - also family - invited themselves to stay overnite on Thanksgiving eve. I could go on, but i won't. It would spoil what became a lovely day.
We had a lovely brunch, followed by a quiet leisurely afternoon as I basted the bird. We talked, we ate, we laughed a lot. It was so nice. Only thing that could have made it nicer would have been if my sisters and their families could have been here. (But i wish for that every day!)
i was thinking during the day about Thanksgiving. What was I grateful for? There are too many things to count really. We're fortunate. Not everyday is a holiday that is for certain. But for every not-so-great thing, i would say there are two great things to outweigh it. For every uninvited unexpected event there are too many happy times to count.
Today was one of those.

Crackled Scallops

nope. it's not a fish recipe. its this frame i just finished making. i put the thank you in it just so you could see:

i was on a hunt for a frame to put the thank you in (oh thank goodness grammar doesn't count, huh?) I looked in several local antique stores but nothing the right size. I then hit M's and came upon a frame i think will work (black and gold) and then saw some clearanced frames. Then i got a little brainstorm - adding this scallop trim to one of them. Yes, it involved a miter box and saw - but it took no time to do. Painted it up with some gold and antique white acrylic paint with a crackle medium and voila: cute little frame. I am quite pleased with it. Now i'm thinkin i'd like to try another - this time with black and gold. Oh and here's another frame i painted up:

this one had the prettiest shell pattern on the inside of the frame edge. I really like how that came out too.

So,what are you making?

pretty new stamps

i probably shouldn't post this yet here but heck - i doubt the recipient is checking this blog. i just wanted to show off the new Purple Onion Alpha stamps i got - are they just beauteous?

so here's the darn tree

it's a pear tree. no partridges yet... but soon

i may lose my grip

i wanted to upload a photo of our beautiful tree in the front yard. To make a long story short i am having some kind of problem with my camera software and have spent tooo much time online in chat sessions with the mfg of the camera and its still not working. Mind you i have uploaded photos to my compuer from this same camera several times already with no problem. all of a sudden i'm having issues. i may have to uninstall and reinstall yet again and i may need to throw something in the meantime cos i'm gonna lose it big time.
i think its time to stop and try again tomorrow.

the cure for what ails you

busy doing a variety of things - cleaning this past weekend (not my original intent but i plan to make up for that tomorrow when i have a day off) doing hospital (my mom) last weekend. in between a variety of things. making some stuff which i think i shall show perhaps later today - or tomorrow pretty much for sure. did spend some time during the week cutting out new stamps from Purple Onion Designs - which i have begun to use (hint, hint).

tonite i shall be baking some cookies - mostly for the college son. i'd already decided to make some for him - just needed a few supplies purchased on yesterdays weekly visit to the grocery store. but yesterday i received an email from him - sounding a bit down.
the mom in me knows his favorite cookie (oatmeal chocolate chip) won't fix everything - at the same time it can't hoyt
(channeling my grandfathers accent... he said turkey - toykey.... hopefully you get the idea).
And it reminds him despite everything - we are thinking of him and love him more than we did yesterday (if that is possible :-)
And tomorrow i shall be making some more things - nonfood related - playing with new stamps, some ink, paint, glitter - although a cookie has often cured my problems (and added a few to my hips) making stuff is often my personal cure-all.
now i'm off to work- cyalata

happy thank you

happy card - lousy scan. its the 3d-ness - oh well. i needed a thank you for the friend who gave me the yummy bread the other day. i have been in a mood for glitter - but can't find mine (note to self: get to the store for glitter!) but i did have some of this sugar dust. then i found a button in my jar o'buttons that had sort of a dip in it - creating a perfect little well for the sugar dust beads - using a little diamond glaze to make'em stay put. quickutz the leaves. use some cute felt flowers from i think its american crafts. some chatterbox paper and some ribbon i had. top it off with garamouche alphas from Purple Onion. Its definitely cuter in real life cos the sugar dust just is very fun.
well i gotta run... talk soon

The Answer and Deluxe accommodations

What is that?
It's a loaf of bread
But you guessed that didn't you.
We have yet to eat it. I'm trying to think of what I can cook for dinner that would compliment such a loaf (a nice vegetable soup comes to mind.)

Anywho
I was surfin and came across these Deluxe Accomodations
Don't you just want to bake a bunch just so you can take them somewhere?
This looks like such a great product. Where was it when I was the cupcake-totin-queen (when my kids were in elementary school - the land of all things cupcake)?
I thought i was livin large when i found a tupperware cupcake carrier I still love it but this courier - well thats just amazing.

Post Halloween

ok so here's a picture of the
fastest-carved-jack o'lantern-ever

I'd hollowed him out before I went to pick up DD at the bus. We got home just as it was getting dark. Usually here in Leesburg, trick-0r-treat doesn't start until at least 7pm. Why you say? Well- the Leesburg Halloween parade is the longest running largest parade east of the Mississippi - that's why! And they're mighty proud of that fact. Anyway i'd say anyone who is new to town does the parade - hence the trick or treating starts later. Or i should say started later in our neighborhood until last night.
I carved that pumpkin as fast as i could (maybe 10 minutes) and brought it out to the front step. Ran back in for a tea light to put inside and was just lighting the candle as my first group of kids arrived. They waited while i lit the candle and ran inside to grab the candy. Phew!

Now we'll have a little post Halloween guessing game.
What is this? Can you guess? It was given to me by a customer - well she's also become a friend. She came to the store yesterday with this little surprise for me.
I'll come back later to tell you what it is :-)

Happy Halloween!

here's my card. the stamp is Memory Box and the sentiment is from Purple Onion Designs

anticipation

i love that carly simon song.... anyway
Last nite we were "ghosted". the doorbell rang, the dh answered to find a cute little tin bucket decorated for halloween, filled with candy and stickers and a little poem and a picture of a ghost. We were instructed, via the poem, to copy the poem and the ghost two times then post the ghost on our door - so no one else would ghost us. Then we leave a little something for another 2 neighbors - of course after dark - making sure not to be seen - ringing the bell and running. Very cute. the one who was most excited by the whole prospect - the biggest kid in the house - DH. He couldn't wait. My part - i got the goodies. No problem there - totally my department. After we ate our dinner, DH and DD (a teenager whom I normally wouldn't expect to get into this - but alas, she is her fathers daughter..) set out into the night to deliver their goodies. They were so excited when they returned - got both houses - good neighbor friends of ours with kids. Because of the way their windows are situated - and lights being on in the house - they even saw the little boy bringing the basket into the family room - all big smiles and excitement. Ain't Halloween the best?
we're anticipating tomorrow nite. Big time. i was thinking earlier how i buy the candy. It would be smart to pick stuff i don't like - but i couldnt' bring myself to give out lousy candy.
And there is that anticipation factor.
I anticipate some leftovers...
Anticipation... is making me wait (for my twix, milky ways, butterfingers, pb cups, snickers........)

card for a good old friend

i've been playing around with all kinds of stuff the last few days. Making my ATC's for a swap, the aforementioned Halloween cards, playing with kitchen cleaning products on cardstock (more on that soon) and attempting to get something going with my christmas cards. today i finally decided nothing was happening with christmas cards - so forget it for now and move on. so i did. i made this card for a friend of mine from college. She recently lost her husband. Pretty devastating to say the least - not something we'd expect at our age. Anyway I've been trying to send her a card just about every week to 10 days just so she knows i'm thinking about her. When this kind of thing happens the initial response is to crowd around the person for the first few weeks and then the crowd thins. The person is at the point where they need people more - when the reality of it all starts sinking in. Since i can't be around for her in person - she doesn't live next door- i figured keeping her mailbox busy is something i can do. And i know she appreciates it which makes me feel pretty good.
Anyway gotta run...

good e-vening

the last few days i've been busy making Halloween cards. some for family, some for friends. I just kept making them til i'd had enough (well enough stamping and embossing til the point i said to myself - tracy you won't wanna finish these - mat, attach to card backs, stamp the inside - if you don't stop now- hence some friends will probably get cards for thanksgiving or fall or even christmas at this rate - its more about the saying - hi - i'm thinking of you - than making sure i get one to every single person for halloween. i make myself crazy. but i digress)
Amidst this stamping and embossing i'd been emailing back and forth with my oldest child who is away at college. this child - well he is a character. an original if there ever was one. And of late he has a greeting - which he uses when answering the phone, sending emails, or talking to you in person. Whether it be in the morning, the afternoon, the middle of the night or in the evening - he greets you with a "good evening". Like i said he is a bit of character. You cannot help but laugh.
So i was stamping... and i decided he needed his own special Halloween card.

now its not much of a "card" - i was going more for a-muse-ment. I know when he opens it he will laugh. And that, of course, is the point. I used Purple Onion Designs "lizziebelle" alpha stamps (oh... what a surprise.... ) colored them in with a zig marker and put a shadow on them using another zig pen. i'll have to post the other halloween cards on tuesday - Halloween - when i'm sure the recipients have gotten them.

Every Grampa was once a little boy

One last thing for today - i wasn't gonna post it but heck.. why not
its a layout using that Signature Suite line from My Minds Eye. Pictures are of my Dad as a little boy. The most wonderful thing, i think, about having these pictures of my father is that you can see the face of my son in one, my nephew in another and my brother in another still. It is really quite amazing. Daddy (and my brother) would be so happy to know it - the living reminders of them.

Books to read, Books to make

Okay so i've been absent lately. I'll bring a note from my Mom soon.
What have i been doing? Working, Mom-ing, Wife-ing
Today i am home as I'm teaching a class this evening. Its a Christmas Planner. Yegods. Christmas you say? Well if you're a planning type person, this would be just the ticket. (And if you're not - well its can be viewed as another reminder of your lack or organization or an excuse to make something cute :-))
I don't have the actual class sample here to scan for you - I do, however, have 2 versions i made to show my students. The class will be making the planners using composition books - covered in Basic Grey Fusion papers:
specifically Mesmerize http://www.basicgrey.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=314
and Chartreuse http://www.basicgrey.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=324
then add some ribbon, some faux Dymo label letters and you get the picture in general.
I made two - one for each of my sisters (who love Christmas as much as i do).

this one is for my older sister. I used Wild Asparagus papers cardstock stamped with Purple Onion designs Paisley stamps (its hard to see - I versamarked them). The alphas, tabs, and holly and berries are made using Quickutz (the font is Zoe).



This one is for my younger sister. I used papers by Doodlebug. The tabs, tree and alphas are all by Quickuts (font is CK Handprint).

Oh and i modpodged over the entire cover. Each tabbed page uses the same line of papers and cardstock and features a pocket.






Now books to read.
a few i've read recently i've been meaning to share:
Miss American Pie by Margaret Sartor
Very interesting book - its the diaries of the author from the time she was about 12. I suppose i found it interesting because she is approximately the same age as me - although she lived a very different life. But its like a time capsule - brings me back to the same era.

After This by Alice McDermott
A novel about an Irish-Catholic Amercian family living on Long Island - the husband/wife and their 4 children. It spans the 40's thru the early 70's - and the effects really of 2 wars on their lives (WWII and Vietnam). It is like nothing i've ever read. I'm a big "scanner" when i read. I know i don't read every word - but with this book - you must read every word. And it is incredible writing. The story skips back and forth - time wise. One minute you are reading the present - and the next moment the author drops a little bomb about what happens in the future. It is really something to read.

Well enough now. I've got a few things to do before i go to work in a little while.

Happy Birthday Dear

(the aforementioned card - stamps by Purple Onion Designs)
I hope its a wonderful day Annie! Don't forget to wear your crown :-)

i'm getting ahead of myself

and i actually made a card for my sisters birthday - and its not for another week! scarey i know. its been on my brain since i saw that pig. the same pig i used on the card below.
When i saw the pig it reminded me of Green Acres. Remember that show? if you don't check this out
http://www.tvland.com/shows/greenacres/
well my sisters and I loved it. We were particularly fond of Arnold Ziffel. (how could you not love Arnold?) Anyway there was one episode someone was selling greeting cards - i can't recall who - probably was Mr. Haney. Anywho - EVERY card started out with the same phrase - with the recicipient reference changed to suit. Example: Happy Birthday O'Sister O'Mine; Happy Birthday O' Uncle O'Mine; Happy Anniversary O'Wife O'Mine... (the inside of the card would alwyas say "I hope this card finds you well and fine") get the idea? Well, it was hilarious and this has been a running gag for my sisters and me ever since. Hence the following. Having the pig - well it just reinforces the green acres thing for my sister - i know it will make her laugh and, of course, that is the whole point.
The stamps are Purple Onion Designs and I MCPT'd the background and used a pen to draw in the border line.
I have another birthday card to post but I need to wait til the recipient has seen it :-)

a little card

for a dear friend - hope it was a happy one miss B

i've been gone all weekend - so i'm catching up. things have been busy between, work, home, blah blah. hoping to write again soon.

oh the card - the alphas are Purple Onion (natch), the hat was stamped using Michelle Ward stamps, and the paper is MME and Basic Grey and the pig - courtesy of the washington post (an ad i cut out)

talk to you soon