I've decided that my life is a comedy...

and should be considered for a new sit com. I would say reality show but I want the choice of who will play my character. I'm going with someone much younger and thinner! Why do I feel like this? For starters DH (Rick) and I have been married for 9 years. In that 9 years various relatives have come to live with us. The visitors have stayed anywhere from 3 months to 2 years to the present live in who has been with us for hmmmm 4 years! DAM (dear Aunt Myrna) came to live with us because she fell and broke her hip. For most people that means a trip to the hospital and a hip replacement. Well, not for DAM! She stayed home, lived in pain, and paid nurses to be with her 24/7 for 3 months. After seeing how expensive that was she decided that it was time to come and live with us. I'm sure DH offered at some point but never in a million years did we think she would ever leave CA. This is where the sit com begins. We insisted DAM go to the doctor which she did. It went sort of like this...Dr. "you'll have to get your hip x-rayed." DAM "that's fine". X-ray tech "you're hip is broken, you'll need surgery." DAM "no, I will never have surgery." Dr. to us "if DAM doesn't get her hip fixed she probably won't live 6 months." Receptionist "that will be $100". DH "that was cheap". DAM "cheap hell, I could have told them my hip was broken!"

We took DAM home and told her that if she wasn't going to get her hip fixed she would have to find somewhere else to live. We were attempting to change her mind. There was no way I was going to have DAM live in my house for 6 months and die! DAM said fine, she just wanted us to help her find a place close to us. So, of course we caved. Well, so much for the Dr.'s prediction. DAM has been with us for 4 years and nearly every day there is some sort of crisis. To the average person these are very dull events but in DAM's world they are huge.

Let me introduce you to my cast of characters...

Meet Maverick. Maverick is my DD Cristine's dog. Why is he with us then? Oh, that's right, we run a boarding house! Mav is about 12 years old which is like 84 in dog years! Wow, he's older that DAM I think. He's slowing down and having hip problems too. Seems to be a trend in this house. I took him to the vet a few months ago and he is now on steroids. How is that comical you ask? His appetite is insatiable. He is on a never ending search for food. Be it from the trash (most recently a jar of peanut butter), the barbeque, or the greatest spoiler of dogs ever, DAM!






O.K. this next picture is pretty gross as DH blurted out, but this is a look into my EVERYDAY life. Almost everyday I make DAM breakfast. If I don't she would maintain a steady diet of butter and peanut butter on toast. God forbid she stand at the stove and cook. Never has, never will. The microwave is only used for heating coffee (long story), or heating the dinner that we have cooked the night before and put in her fridge. So, after I have made her breakfast and delivered it on a tray this is what happens...




I know, gross...but this is what really happens. Note the dogs are strategically positioned at DAM'S feet. I would have loved to get a straight on shot but DAM would never allow that! And yes, that's her tray, I believe it's Barney! A small portion of her breakfast is delivered to the dogs even after repeated begging for her not to do it. I don't think dogs like cantaloupe but tell that to a steriod driven dog. The other character to the left is Abi. My overweight Golden Retriever. I say mine, but she really belongs to DAM who again, spoils them rotten.

This is DAM's beloved scooter. Occasionally she takes short trips around the neighborhood, typically dressed like a bag lady, or she goes to Walgreens for some extravagant purchase.

This is just about the extent of my decorating for Halloween. I really need to get busy! To us this is just a cute scarecrow. To DAM this is the SCARY LADY! Now, how could that be a scary lady? Keep reading...

Meet my alarm clock. How could this be an alarm clock? DAM gets up anywhere between 3:30 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.

The first thing she does is heat up one of her "saved" cups of coffee from yesterday. See where I'm going with this. She heats the friggin coffee in the microwave...beep, beep, beep, beep. Remember we live in a small house that was built in 1915. While DAM isn't living in our living space her space is just off of the kitchen which is just around the corner from our room. I've contemplated ear plugs, trust me! So where am I going with this...

Let's recap...DAM gets up super early, heats coffee, wakes me up, gets on scooter (Walgreens opens at 6:00 a.m.) She navigates scooter past parked trucks. The driveway is narrow ...

Scarecrow used to be about where the flamingo is. It's dark and DAM trys to scoot between the truck and the wall. Scarecrow falls on DAM (who is easily startled) and she starts screaming bloody murder. Hence, Scary Lady! I start running to find out what happened and that's how my day started. Scary Lady has been repositioned but DAM will never leave the house again unless I reassure her that Scary Lady is not out there!

Is this sit com material? I think so. I have to laugh about it or bury my head in the sand! I think DAM will out live me!

We're back...

Back in the house that I literally hated. Notice that I say hated and not hate! That's a switch. When we bought this house and moved in it was in need of much renovation. We tried living in it while DH remodeled but it was going so slow and it was so hard to live here without just a few modern conveniences like a dishwasher, garbage disposal, normal kitchen cabinets...you know, not alot, just a few things. So fast forward 11 months and here we are. This is the front porch. It's hard to tell, but where the beautiful leaded glass window is there used to be a door that didn't open. On the other side of that is the tiny dining room. The previous owner had built some sort of shrine of bits and pieces of wood that was enormous and well, hideous. I know it meant something to her but so much not our style. Down it came. Now we have morning sunlight through this beautiful window. It's such a pleasure.

This orchid tree was once super overgrown and while I loved it DH decided to cut it down along with a few (no alot) of overgrown trees and bushes. It has since resprouted and we are going to trim and shape it into the beautiful tree it should be. These trees are also called butterfly trees and the hummingbirds just love it!

This is my dog Abi who loves the backyard. It is huge and lush. I'm not quite sure what these plants are but I need to learn.

These purple flowers just recently popped up. Again, I have no idea what they are!

I do know that this is a pomegranate tree and boy is it full. Ellen made jam with them last year. Hmmm...maybe she'll do that again!

This is the only rose bush on the property. I think it needs some attention but for now I'm loving the flowers that are on it. Again, I need to learn!

This huge frog came with the house and I will make sure he stays. Isn't he cute and froggy! Should we give him a new paint job?

This is a picture of the backyard. Isn't it big! And full of fruit trees!

So there's a little tour of the house that I once hated. We are very happy here now and plan to stay for a LONG time! Still some work to do since DH is never done remodeling. Next time I'll show you the remodeling that he did in Myrna's little apartment. She too, hated this house but is now very comfortable. I guess you say "all's well that ends well!"

Business Section...

of the Mesa Tribune today, there's an article about keeping scrapbooking alive and guess who was featured? US!
The article if you would like to read it is linked below.
Sidebar: I would like to point out the paragraph about our prices compared to the M store. In the article he does say that we sell some permanent adhesive for 20 cents less, but what he didn't say is that we also have a Bare Elements item for $1.00 less and yet another Bare Elements item for $4.50 less! So if you purchased the same three items here instead of the M store you would save $7.20. That's a huge savings. -jw

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/96532

I hate pictures of myself....but

When Carlene Federer comes in the store I can make exceptions! I was so excited. I have lurked (not stalked) her blog for quite some time now and I am constantly telling Jennifer "I can't believe Carlene has never been in our store." Well, guess what? She came in today! And she told us she had been in before. Note to self: check your customer data base every once in a while. What a fun fun person! She probably thinks I'm the biggest dork ever. One of the first things that fell out of my mouth was "your cousin is hot!" If you have read her previous posts there is a yummy picture of her cousin on horseback. And if you know me, you know that I have a weakness for cowboys. Is that bad? I'm married not dead...that's my philosophy!

Anywho, back to Carlene. She is the most talented artist. I love her work! And she lives right her in AZ. And I got to meet her...today! Totally made my day! Thanks Carlene! -kj

Thought I'd post something that I made for my daughter. It was inspired by the picture her husband sent to her. He knows how much she loves sunflowers (right down to the tattoo) and he found a field of sunflowers in Iraq of all places. So sweet of him to send it, just too bad it's in Iraq of all places! I hope she likes it, but I told her if she didn't it's o.k. Keep in mind it's like 120 degrees there!

Last picture...

Let me know what you think.

Sometimes you just gotta...

take a day off and that's exactly what I did today. I forgot just how nice it is to be able to spend a day at home. Clean the house, do the laundry, clean up the scrap room! Rick was very impressed with that...now I'm tempted to go in there and get it messy again he he! I got some reading in (lovin the new Somerset Studio). Even took a tiny nap. We had the best seat in the world for fireworks last night. Right in our own front yard. We thought we would be able to see them but not as good as we did. We had a great Independence Day, I had a great day off, life is good! I'll be back at the store refreshed and ready to go tomorrow.
Have a great evening!

An amazing weekend

Don't you just love the days when it just seems like everything is connecting? That's what it was like at Mystic Paper this weekend. We had the most awsome class ever. Our new teacher, Mike Putman brought his amazing talent to our store and taught a class that left everyone saying WOW! This is an example of what was completed in class. Collage, beeswax, alcohol inks, and freedom. Not one collage looked like another. These students were given the freedom to create, explore, and stretch their artistic abilities and they all were fantastic. Now we just need a bigger classroom so everyone can experience a class with Mike Putman!

This is Mike...one of the most humble artists you could ever hope to meet. His talents are amazing and he loves what he does. He CREATES. His teaching method is amazing. Wash your hands of any artistic inhibitions you may have, you are here to create!

The other thing that made this weekend amazing was all of the people that we got to meet. So many women here for Sparkle Bella. I was fortunate to meet Karla. She came in from Southern California, by herself (so not something I would do), to attend the classes. She found our store, and instantly fit in. She even helped with sales when needed. We'll definitely be keeping in touch! Your paper fasteners will be sent right away Karla!

And these ladies. Gosh, what can you say... Michelle, Helle, Mendy, and Lilia thanks for coming in and hanging out! Loved seeing what you created this weekend. Thanks for sharing. Mendy and Lilia, how much fun to see you guys finally meeting in person after being on line buddies for all these years!

That's it for now, I have more pictures to post tomorrow. So much fun to meet people like DeDe! I knew who she was instantly. Aren't blogs wonderful...