Bunny Card

Now this is a cute card...I CASE'd it (copy and share everything) from someone on www.splitcoaststampers.com - actually it's a combination of a couple of different bunnies I saw on there. SCS is a wonderful website for those of us who like to make cards - there are lots of ideas! This will go to one of my granddaughters, since it's definitely a little girl bunny!
Tomorrow I'm showing a group of ladies how I made this card and 2 others. I'll share the others later - maybe tomorrow. Should be lots of fun. These ladies are such avid card-makers that it's fun to share something with them.
Right now, since the sun is shining, I'm going to try to get a couple of landscape pictures for my class. I still haven't done that! More later...

Painting Again

This was a beautiful, but cold, day! Yesterday we had snow again - yuk! Today the sun shone and a lot of the snow melted away, but unfortunately there is still some left on the north lawns. Dave and I went to church this morning, came home and Dave decided he was going to paint the foyer and upstairs hall. When he decides to do something, watch out! We got the border down from the walls and then stopped for lunch. After lunch he taped off and started painting. It's now about 6:00 and we're all done with one coat. He did most of it, but I helped a great deal when it came to the stairway. Anyway, I'm glad that is done for tonight. I have a meeting tomorrow night so he'll probably put the second coat on while I'm gone. Darn - I so wanted to help!!

Oh, by the way, I'm on Facebook now. One of our ex-softball players emailed me and asked me to join. This way I can see pictures of her beautiful daughter almost daily. Since I joined, I've found several classmates of mine, Jami, Bryan & Deanna, and a lot of the IHCC athletes are on FB, so I've added them as friends! This might be a lot of fun! More later....

Circles in Nature

One of our assignments last week was to take a picture of circles in nature, if we could find any. These are the ones I found. I think it's funny how they almost look like a face of some creature. Our lessons this week are to take pictures of flowers and trees AND 3 landscape pictures. I can't even think of where I'm going to go to get landscape pictures...or for that matter, flower pictures! Our instructor suggested we either go to a local florist or greenhouse, or go buy a bouquet of mixed flowers and bring them home to shoot them. I guess I'll probably have to do that! I do have a question for those of you out there were read this: Are we north of Washington DC, or south of it. I've always figured we were south of DC, but the news has been showing pictures of the cherry trees blooming in DC - we don't have trees blooming here. I guess I'll have to get out an atlas!

Dave broke his glasses last night and he's running around on this gray, gray day with his sunglasses on. He looks pretty funny! He has another pair of glasses, but we can't find them anywhere! The glasses he broke are titanium frames, so we didn't think they could possibly break - so much for that theory! Gotta run...more later....

Pretty Heron

Isn't he beautiful? I took this picture in Sarasota on Lido Beach - DH and his father were fishing and feeding this guy any shrimp pieces that were left after the fish had taken part of their bait. I just think he's gorgeous. I was able to get within 10 feet of him, but as you'll notice he's really watching me!

My brother and sister-in-law are in Clearwater, FL this week taking a few days of vacation. He just called to let me know how warm it was down there today - the old coot! Well, I've got to run. More later...

Sunset in Iowa

I've been taking this online course from www.ed2go.com - it's photographing nature with your digital camera. The last assignment was to take a picture of the sun at either sunrise or sunset. Well...first of all, we haven't have sunshine for several days now. Secondly, anyone who knows me knows that I don't do sunrise! So, tonight I was finally able to get a picture of the sun setting over a farm. I think it's pretty good - we'll see what my instructor says. The next lesson's assignment is to take 3 landscape pictures, keeping in mind point of view and aperture openings. This is starting to get a little complicated!

It's 9:31 and I just got home from choir practice about 20 minutes ago. DH just drove in the driveway...he's been at work since 7:00 this morning. I think he's burning the candle at both ends! Gotta run - more tomorrow!

Tuesday already!

I can't believe that it's Tuesday already. I don't know why I didn't post yesterday. I was working on getting the information together for our taxes and that took longer than I thought it would. This morning I had to go to a funeral for a lovely woman who will be missed by many people here in Ottumwa, She was quite a lady! Her daughter is my P.E.O. sister and she's quite a lady also!

I wish I had something new to report. I've been working on some cute Easter cards for our grandchildren. Hopefully I'll get them done in time to send them! Actually I have 2 of them done and need one more really cute idea...back to www.splitcoaststampers.com I guess!

Today is a rainy day. We've got water standing everywhere in our yard. The robins are sure enjoying it! Another nice thing about the rain is that the grass is getting green! It's been a long winter and green grass is certainly a welcome sight! However, since it's such a gray day, all I feel like doing is curling up with a good book! More later....

A Good Day!

Aren't these beautiful? They were growing on the sidewalk in the Los Olas area of Fort Lauderdale. I love hibiscus, and I especially love pink ones. I can't take credit for this photo, though. Our friend, Howard, took it. I didn't have my camera with me the day we walked by these! Thanks, Howard. Speaking of Howard, tomorrow is his birthday and Sudi is having a party tonight for him. I won't say how old he is, but let's just say it's a 0-birthday and it's somewhere between 50 and 70! Couldn't resist, Howard! I'm sure you'll get even somehow!!

Today, DH and I went out looking for a fountain for my perennial garden. We love hearing the water when we're near the ocean, or even at a lake, so I decided we needed a fountain to replicate that sound. I sure hope it makes sound - it's a cool fountain. It's called "playing by the water" and has a little child kneeling by the water looking at fish. I know I have to wait for it to get warmer to get it going, but I'm ready now! Today is a pretty good spring day - it's 62 degrees and mostly sunny. We even went out to our friends and got our '56 Chevy out of their shop. I got to drive it back - there's nothing quite like getting into a classic car on a warm day, especially when it's been a long winter!

I've got to run for now. More later....

Watercolor Cards

Yesterday, in between sitting outside in the sun and working on our taxes, I put together these cards. They are both stamped with the same stamp from SU and I used the watercolor technique on them. They both have a SU top note behind the flowers (one is a decorative paper from DCWV and the other is white paper, Cuttlebugged, and chalked with pinks, purples, and a touch of yellow). I think they're both beautiful!

I said I was sitting outside in the sun yesterday, well today there is no sun! Yesterday we set a record with 79 degrees - today it's 48! I got up this morning, put on shorts and a sweatshirt - that wasn't smart! It's cold in this house today! I guess I'll have to put on long pants again before I go out this afternoon.

Yesterday I said I would put an update on here about the election of officers at last night's meeting. Someone else agreed to take the Presidency! I am so happy! I was getting overwhelmed - just too many things to keep straight! Today my online ed2go class started. I'm taking a class called Photographing Nature with Your Digital Camera. Hopefully you'll see some cool pix as I complete my assignments. My assignment for this lesson is to shoot 3 nature photos, focusing on a particular detail that I've never noticed before. I think I'll wait until it's a little warmer outside to go looking for nature! Stay tuned...

Cool Tree!

Isn't this pretty? This is a tree near Hillsboro Beach that I photographed the first day we got to the Fort Lauderdale area. I love taking pictures of objects that are truly different - most of the trees here in Iowa have one main trunk, not a bunch of small ones like this!

I don't have much time to blog - I've got a Beta Sigma Phi meeting tonight. We have election of officers - what do you suppose the chances are that someone else would like to be President? Since I'm also President of my P.E.O. Chapter, I'd like to turn this Presidency over to someone else! Stay tuned.....

New Cards

Here are a couple of cards I made this past week. The one on the left is totally CASE'd from Lori at http://byloridesigns.blogspot.com - she does some absolutely beautiful cards! This is a woven card, so I used 3 different SU papers that I thought looked good together. Actually everything about this card is SU except for the "middle" of the flower top left. I'm sorry, I don't know where it is from - I've had these for a long time and have never used them.

The card on the right is made with SU stamps and scrap paper. I colored the flower with SU markers and I added a brad in the middle of the flower. The top note shape (the dark brown layer) is something I'll be using a lot. In fact, the other day I cut out probably 80 of them - all different colors of the rainbow. I cut a lot of them out of Diecasts With a View Sweet paper mats. I love the colors and patterns they've used in these mat packs!

That's all for now. The thermometer says 63 degrees so I'm going outside to see if I have flowers peeking through! More later....

Good Saturday

This is the view from our balcony at our first condo. It was truly magnificent! Just imagine waking up to this every morning. The ocean is so relaxing - I love the sound of the breakers coming in.

We had a great day today. DH dethatched the yard - it looks really bad right now because he didn't have time to get the waste picked up...that's a tomorrow job. Then our son was here in the afternoon and hooked up our TV to a new receiver with surround sound. Hopefully we'll be able to hear it better now. He kept telling us how out-of-date our TV is - maybe one of these days we can get a new one - one that isn't so heavy...this thing probably weighs 150 pounds. I know I can't lift my end at all! When we get a new one, we'll get a flat screen LCD so that it won't weigh much at all. Besides, we're soon going to need a bigger screen - those football jersey numbers are sooooo small! Our son was here for supper and we had time to visit after eating. Our daughter-in-law was visiting her family, so she came over for a few minutes and off they went to Waterloo. Now Dh is sleeping in his chair and I'm getting ready to go read for a while. Nothing much on TV now that we have the sound working again - oh, well! More later...

Michelle's Blog Candy

Michelle is offering some blog candy over on her blog. If you're interested in paper crafts (card-making, stamping, etc.), be sure to check it out. If you're not interested, check out her blog anyway - on Saturdays she posts the cutest pictures of her donkeys!! Her blog is http://donkeysmiles.blogspot.com - enjoy!!

Pondering Florida

When we first got to Sarasota, my father-in-law wanted me to come outside to see the orange blossoms. I'd never seen orange blossoms before, so I took a picture. I wish I could have captured the smell of them - they are awesome! You can double-click on the pictures and they will enlarge.

We stayed in Sarasota for 4 days and on Thursday we left

for Fort Lauderdale. When we first got into town, we called our friends and asked them to meet us at Aruba's. The next day we picked them up and took them to the water taxi, where we enjoyed a leisurely boatride down the intercoastal. We got off at stop #9 (there are 11 stops) and met our daughter at Mango's for lunch. Then, after that we boarded the water taxi, rode down to stop 11 and then all the way back to stop #1. It was a long day, but very fun! Our friends hadn't been on the water taxi and we couldn't wait to share that experience with them! What a wonderful concept - you get on a boat any time of the day between 10:30 AM and 10:30 PM, you can get off and on any number of times, and you get a cutesy tour commentary too! I wish I'd thought of that!!

On our way down to Oakland Park, we stopped at Hillsboro beach and took some pictures. Isn't this a beautiful sight! It was early enough in the morning that there weren't many people on the beach yet - plus it was a little windy for sunbathing! Look at that surf! One of the most incredible things about Florida (especially southern Florida) is the color that you're surrounded by. The ocean is the most gorgeous blue-green, the sky is a beautiful blue, the greens of the palm trees and the blooming plants - it's sensory overload for those of us who left a brown and gray winter for the shores of the Atlantic!

More later...

On the way down to Florida DH asked me if I wanted to stop at Graceland. Since we'd already been there, I said I'd like to stop at Tupelo and see Elvis' boyhood home instead. So we did. Here's the "shotgun" house that Elvis grew up in. It's only two rooms and around the house they have a sidewalk in the shape of a circle with important dates for the Presley family, like the date Elvis was born, when they moved to Memphis, etc. There's also a museum there and a chapel. Along with all of this is the actual church where Elvis started his singing. DH and I were the only ones there that morning...it's very interesting hearing about his early life. Here's a picture of us in the church.

To get us in the mood that day, we listened to XM radio - the Elvis Channel - all the way from north of Memphis to Tupelo. Pretty cool!

Southern Missouri Ice

This is a picture (taken at 70+ mph) of ice damage in southern Missouri, around Cape Girardeau. It truly looks like a war zone down there. They had a big band of ice come thru before Christmas and this picture was taken in early February on our trip down to Fort Lauderdale. My heart goes out to these people.

I'll be sharing quite a few pictures from our Fort Lauderdale trip, including some of the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. I finally got all my pictures uploaded to Photoshop today, so now I can resize them and share them on my blog. Stay tuned...

Whew! Busy Weekend!

I still haven't gotten any pix uploaded from my camera - hopefully will get that done tomorrow. We've been super busy this weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner with our friends and then attended the IHCC vs SCC basketball game. SCC won :( and by winning won the right to play the winner of the North Dakota Region on Tuesday night. We'll be pulling for them, because the SCC head coach is a good friend! Whichever team wins that game will then advance to the Juco National Tournament. Then Saturday I went to stamp club and made some wonderful waterfall cards! The rest of Saturday was spent trying to get our c0stumes together for the 1776 Pirate Council meeting (a murder mystery dinner). Of course, I didn't take my camera, but some friends took pictures, so hopefully I'll be able to post pix of us as Lady Chastity Morgan and Blind Pew, the Black Widow's right hand man! The ladies who hosted the dinner did a wonderful job - we all had a great time. Today was church, a nap, and a Vintage Crusier Car Club meeting. Tonight DH and I are both trying to get caught up with our "daily" responsibilities!

Tomorrow is my youngest niece's birthday...she'll be 39! I can't believe she could be that old - she still looks like she's about 16!

We're Back!

We're back from Florida and glad to be home! Today it is 75 degrees in Iowa - we set a new record high today and everyone in town is out enjoying the weather. I've seen lots of people out walking, jogging, riding bikes, or just outside hanging out - what a nice respite from winter! Too bad it won't last!! I went to see my 102-year-old aunt today. She looked so nice; she knew who I was right away and introduced me to the other ladies as her niece. I always ask her how old she is today and she told me she was 102. I was happy to see her so alert. Before I left, however, she was talking about her children (she didn't have any) and about her grandchildren. She is so much more animated now that she's in "The Gardens" area...I think it's because she actually has people she can visit with. They do a lot of group activities and she's not so isolated. It was a good visit.

I've got pictures to share, but I haven't had time yet to upload them from my camera. Hopefully I'll get time over the weekend. Tomorrow I'm being installed as the President of my P.E.O. Chapter and tomorrow night some friends and us are going out for dinner. Then Saturday I have card club and we are going to a Murder Mystery Dinner that evening. Sunday, of course, is church and getting ready for the week ahead! Wow, I'm tired just thinking about all of this!! More later....