I know better

Two days before Halloween, I tripped on a keyboard cord that I hadn't tied up after buying a new keyboard the previous Thursday.  I even remember thinking that I needed to tie up the cord before I tripped.  But, apparently, I didn't listen to myself.

I'm okay, bruised, but okay.  Because the bruise was continuing to grow and my blood sugar was elevated yesterday (November 3, 2013), my husband wanted to take me to the ER.  I suggested Urgent care instead. When I saw the doctor I was told I'd been doing everything right, elevated and cold compresses, and I was healing as expected. He also said that the bruising travels down and this morning it had reached my foot.  I look like I should be in a wheelchair but I'm walking okay.  And yes, the cord got tied up shortly after I got back to the computer (about half an hour later.)

Sept 02

The card is from the original edition of Becky Higgin's Project Life cards.

"Technical" Data:

Heading font is Borealis, 16 pt, color #b06308

Prompt font: Garamond, 14pt, color # eb3512

List Font: AR BLANCA, 14 pt, color # 132ef8

Day Nbr font: Impact 19.25 pt, color # f8e9de

Last week, PaperWishes, a Scrapbooking+ store had their annual Week-of-Webisodes Christmas Card event.  Once again I've decided to make my own Christmas Cards.  So far I have finished two.  My intention for today is to work on one or maybe two depending on whether I have the supplies needed (forgot to order some) and the degree of complication in the instructions. That's two down and probably 60 to go.  I'll be making more cards than I have a need for - but the left-overs will be good next year.  And they are all unique.

Next Monday is my first photography class at UNM-LA.  I've decided it's time to get out of Auto mode on my DSLR camera that I've had for several years. 

Sept 01

This is the start of another round of 30 Days of Lists put on by Kam of Campfire Chic and Amy of Lemon and Raspberry.

The card is from the original edition of Becky Higgin's Project Life cards.

"Technical" Data:

Heading font is Borealis, 16 pt, color #b06308

Prompt font: Garamond, 14pt, color # eb3512

List Font: AR BLANCA, 14 pt, color # 132ef8

Day Nbr font: Impact 19.25 pt, color # f8e9de

On the Naming of Pets

When we get a new pet, I usually pick a name that starts with an 's'. I had a cat when I met John and I had named her Princess.  She was a stray and I coaxed her in. I didn't realize that she was old enough to come into heat and ended up with her and five kittens.  I was able to give away three of them and kept two that I named Shadow and Storm.  Princess was hit by a car when she was only 3 years old and that solidified the naming with 's'. 

As a child the first cat our family didn't lose to coyotes or cars was Sud-sa-Ming and the next one was Sak-da (both Siamese names "Ghost of a Tiger" and "Fierce in Battle")  

After Princess was killed,  we adopted Sarena (a half-Siamese) and an Illinois barn kitten named Seasar (I frequently change a soft C to an S to meet my superstitious naming routine.) 

Once we got a black kitten in Illinois that I named Merlin - he didn't even make it to a year old - he got into some blending filament I was using in embroidery and I didn't realize he was sick due to stressful times at work. I took him to the vet who operated (the filament had punctured his intestines all over.) He survived the operation only to die during the night. That taught me not to bring my work worries home at night (but didn't stop the stress.)

Then I found a cat that a little girl was trying to take to school (afternoon kindergarten.)  I put up signs but nobody called or anything so we had another cat.  She was long haired and black-and-white.  I named her Sugarfoot because she had white feet.  

Later, after we put Sarena down (at something like 16 or 17 years) we got two more cats at a PetSmart in Albuquerque.  We renamed them Shitani (a clan of African Demons) and Shiriki (Pawnee for coyote.) Shiriki lasted for 8 or 9 years but developed kidney failure and we had to put him down. But after we adopted Shiriki and Shitani, Sugarfoot was gone and we got another black-and-white cat. This cat had been returned to the shelter several months after her original adoption because the owners "we allergic".  Those people had named her Panda.  I immediately changed her name to Syche (Psyche - but the 'p' is silent so I just dropped it.)  Sometimes we call her Sycho - She and Shitani have a hate-hate relationship, or maybe I should call it a hate-ignore-avoid-hate relationship.  

Over the years we've had several dogs - John had Duchess, a Malamute-Shepherd cross (which he said made her a Malerd.) Then we had Keshond-shepherd mix we named Sassquash but called Sassy, followed by Mollie, one of my daughter's friends' dogs. Then we got Sisco (rescued with a sad background of her master dying, the master's son dying and a friend rescued but had 4-5 dogs of her own so she was giving the dog to a new home at the local Smith's. The mistress was in a nursing home and passed away the day or day after we adopted Sisco.) Sisco was a smooth-hair prick-eared border collie. Sisco developed cancer after being with us for 5 years or so.  We treated her for six months and she was declared cancer free. Then we went on a vacation for a week, came back and week later she was sick again - the cancer can come back with a vengeance so we had her put down.  

Then we got a golden retriever mix named Peaches - we officially changed her name to Sweet Peaches but call her Peaches. The only thing golden about her is her color.  She's about as crazy as they come but was very subdued when we met her at the Fetch-a-Palooza in Albuquerque.

Finally John found out about another dog with a sad story. (Master died 4 years previous, mistress had a stroke 4-6 months previous and moved to Santa Fe from TorC into an assisted living place that said she could have her dog but she felt she couldn't properly take care of her. Son took dog in but then had to move to Santa Fe to be near his mother but he had a wife, three children and another dog and they moved into a rental.)  The dog, named Daisy, broke house breaking and they needed to find a home for her. John asked if I was interested and I said we'd try her out for an afternoon.  We did and the following day we adopted her. We haven't changed her name and she has fit in beautifully.  She's a small standard poodle, black, and 8 years old. she took to me immediately - so much so that two weeks after we took her in when I went to California for two nights she developed vomiting and diarrhea.  Since we were going to be boarding all our pets in two days I called the vet and they prescribed canine immodium and probiotics.  That took care of the vomiting and diarrhea.  Now i can't leave for long or she starts getting worried again.  But that's okay. We love her and no trips are planned for the next 8-10 months. 

North Central New Mexico: Thompson Ridge Fire

These pictures of the Thompson Ridge fire in the Jemez Mountains. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported June 7 that this fire is about 10% contained but that they were close to completing a line around the fire and will focus on containing it while letting it clear out the understory. It has burned 13,000 acres.  Another fire in the Pecos wilderness has burned 10,000 acres and is 34% contained.  Both were started by trees falling on power lines which is spurring a push for greater easements for power lines running through wooded areas.  Considering the Las Conchas fire in 2011 (the second largest in NM history) was also started by a tree (on private property) falling on a power line, greater easements sound like a good idea to me.

We've had a few days, 3-4, of higher humidity (higher meaning higher than the 6-17% it's been running most of this year) and lower temperatures but that will all change starting today with temperatures climbing into the 80's and reaching the 90's on Saturday and continuing to climb through Monday then a slow drop (to 91) by Thursday. The humidity is to drop to around 6% by Wednesday. It's supposed to 31% at noon today and 39% tonight. By our hygrometer it's 30% on the outside sensor at 9 a.m.

Update:  As of June 10 the fire is more than 20 square miles and 40% contained (Santa Fe NewMexican newspaper).

Sorry -  Can't credit the photographer. I didn't take them either. I have no desire to get close enough to a wild fire to see the flames.  In that respect I'm quite sane.

LOAD513 - Successfully finished.

I successfully completed all 31 days of the LayOutADay challenge by Lain Ehmann.  The notes below the layouts are the comments I put on Flickr to describe it. If you click on the layout, it will open another window and you can see a larger version - which also makes the legend(?) easier to read which tells you the date and what the clue was for the day.

The way I operate - i.e. do my laundry. I usually do my laundry on Sunday mornings. Every week I wash a load of whites (with blue jeans) and a load of coloreds. On alternating weeks I add one load each of sheets and towels. I'm usually done by noon, but this week the sheets and towels didn't get folded and put away until Monday morning. So the question is, have I changed my routine, rut, or Modus Operandi?
Supplies came from many different designers, most of the kits were for members in 2011 or 2011 of The Daily Digi. Included designers are Lindsay Jane, Sweet Shoppe Design Collaboration, and the template is by Little Green Frog Designs Cinque Template Pack # 5.

This is another "Get a Clue about me." Who loves dragons? DragonsLady, of course. But why do I call myself DragonsLady? Two reasons, 1 - I have almost all of the Peacock colored Windstone Dragons and 2 I wrote a book about a witch who ended up being the champion of dragons and, of course, I patterned my heroine after me. (I look a lot better in my imagination and I'm much more physically fit and capable, too.) It took a while to cut my

dragons out of their photos to put on this layout. 

The blue background is by Alessandra Designs, Ethereal Fantasy kit, and the border/frame plus sparkles and moon are by Create Wings Designs, Into the Night kit.

I went with peacocks. There are only two photos on the page, the male crossing in front of a small train and him with his mate and offspring. 

The background is by Kristen AAgard kit SunshineandRain paper 09 which I got through The Daily Digi. I used two masks of Anna Aspnes: Original FotoBlendz8_5 and Original_FotoBlendz12_6
Title Font is Italinate color 0e52fa, and the journaling is font Blackjack color is a brown 543b04.

A different kind of wrench - a wrench to the pocketbook to pay for new siding, sofit, and gutters.

No template used. All supplies are by Lindsay Jane Designs at PickleBerryPop. The kit is Days of Our Lives.

I could have scrapped me doing Zumba on a cruise ship, but, instead, I hunted up our wedding album, scanned two photos, and made a layout of our Square Dance Wedding. My background is just a plain layer that I colored the color of my dress. the Frames are from SBasic Designs from a collaboration kit with Pink Reptile Designs call Take Note (new this week.) The border and flowers are by JumpStartDesigns from the It's Raining Flowers kits.

Title is Rosewood and the journaling is Giddyup.

Note: Once I had the layout completed, I really looked at the pictures.  I can't believe how skinny my legs were back in 1981.

I don't know that I'm jealous of anyone, nor is anyone in my family jealous (the kids are gone and I think they're human now.) So I went with another green-eyed monster. Yes, you've seen this cat before but he is my little demon (with green eyes.)

I used an Anna Aspns' Original FotoBlendz and everything else is by Jump Start Designs' kit Tribals and Tribulations.

Okay, I listened to today's clue and the quote (Oh what a tangled web we weave) ran through my head. Then I remembered the Zentangles I've done. So I found some appropriate spooky papers (both by Valerie Randal (SG) her Boo kit) and two Fonts - the title, "Oh what a web..." is in Pirate, and "I have no alibi I just did it" is in Potter Harry.

I went more for the terror aspect of suspense, the suspense of going to the dentist. The cartoon is by Cherischatter.blogspot. The black/gray herringbone paper and Frankenstein head is by PolkaDotPixel (All Hallows Eve kit), the journalspot is Becky Higgins, Holidaymini, the hardware is by Valerie Randal (Hardware kit.) Title font is RAGE, journaling font is Vintage. I had to get this done early as we'll be out almost all day so I won't have much time later on. (BTW - I've got a tooth that needs to be pulled - that also was a factor in my choice of subject.)

I had the perfect subject for this prompt. The picture is a restaurant that the owner decided to close when she bought a new restaurant that she put a fancy, expensive menu in. Although she said she brought over menu items from this one, there weren't enough brought over and the plates (added sides) weren't the same. So we don't spend our money with her any more.
Everything except the Aqua Swirl paper under the picture are by Syndee Nuckles (Kitchen Chic kit). the Aqua Swirl is by Jessica Sprague from her Home Away from Home kit.
The title Font is Another Typewriter, and the journaling font is DJB Digi Kim

No Miss Scarlett, no red faces, just a new dog we might be adopting. Daisy is a poodle who is 7.5 years old. Her master passed away ~4 years ago and her mistress had a stroke 4-6 months ago and is now living in an Assisted Living Home but doesn't feel like she can take proper care of the dog. So the word was put out about this dog and DH asked if I was interested. We're having a short (4-5 hour visit including the regular dog park session) today. If things work out, we'll go pick her up (for real) tomorrow.
Peaches and Daisy have done the sniffing thing and are both lying down in the living room. One cat is not sure about a second dog and the other, so far, has ignored the dog. So far, so good.
All supplies are from Ziggle by Kami the Puppy Love kit.
(We did go ahead and pick her up the next day.  She's been to the vet and started her heart worm medication, has a dental scheduled, and has had a grooming session in Santa Fe at PetSmart. She's fitting in well.)

I really couldn't come up with anything related to a candlestick within my life at this time. So, I decided to do something with the Art Journal Caravan 2013. This month our travels take us to Atlantis. Most of the supplies are by Tangie Baxter either related to the ArtJournal Caravan Parcels or other of her kits. The candle and candlestick is by Jan Ransley and the flame is (digitally) cut from a camp fire by Valerie Randall - both are (or were) ScrapGirl designers. (The layout is deliberately hard to see - it's supposed to be underwater looking at things buried in sand.)

I found a simple template from The Daily Digi by Erin Ink (I think that's her name.) I also took a picture of our hallway. Down this hall is where I go when I want to create, be it scrapbooking related or card making or, soon, I hope, sewing.  You can see Daisy in the doorway to the "office."

Day 25 - reminds me it's getting closer to Christmas every day and I really need to get started on my Christmas cards. Paper is by Paula Wright (SG) Kit: ToYouFromMe; Chipboard discs are from Katie Pertiet - Designer Digitals. The two cards are from 2008 - now I give different cards to everyone instead of doing a mass production marathon. I like variety, not same ole/same ole. But it takes longer. That's why I need to start early.

In one way this was easy, but getting all the parts together the way I wanted took some work. The background is from the October Moon collaboration by PickleberryPop. The tombstone journal spot is from Miki Ferkul's Samhain kit. The lightning bolts are from Thunderstorm collaboration by PickleBerryPop , the triple-black frame and meow word strip are by Britt-ish Designs - Miss Kit. The journaling script on the tombstone is Pristina and Psycho-Kitty is written in a font called Unquiet Spirits. (Our other cat, Syche.  The center picture is her licking my husband's head.  Guess she likes the salt.)

I used lots of different products on this page - KatytheScrapbookLady's papers and overlays, Marnie Adam's LoveBirds, Samatha Walker's Hoot-Owls-n-stuff and Kristen Aagard's Sunshine'n'Rain Bird and sun. Then I threw in AWolff's Paperstrip (which I recolored, twice.) The moon is from CreateWingsDesign's Into-the-Night.

His font is RowdyHeavy and the Together We're Love Birds is Stencil Standard. I rasterized She's an Early Bird so I can't figure out what that font is. But I think this displays conflict but at the same time that opposites attract making conflict something good.

Very Simple today. Just a list of the places (states or countries) that I've been to in my life and how I got there. France we actually took a hovercraft so I guess it should be a ship/boat color. Papers are by Katy The Scrapbook Lady. Font is Sylfaen. (As you can see, I did change the color for France and if you notice,

I also recolored Canada but on reflection, it should be orange and green. Haven't flown into Canada but I have arrived by car and TRAIN (by way of a ship.) Not that it really matters; there's no test on this.)

I went the teacher aspect of Professor Plum with a nod to the color plum as well. the paper is by Katie, the ScrapbookLady, her Pinks/Purples cardstock. All of the journal boxes are from Becky Higgins' Rain Edition. I don't know if it's been released now, but it was part of The Daily Digi for April. The other embellishments are all from Amber Clegg's LovinLife Trims. The journaling font is Gautami and the Title font is Plantagent Cherokee.

I really couldn't think of anything to go with a lead pipe but I thought of other types of piping. Unfortunately the only real picture I had of any was the relatively new piping we got when we replaced our old disposer.

The only picture that is mine is the last one, the other three are from the web. The frogs and cat tails are by Gina Miller - Froggy Garden Party. Title font is Trajan Pro, journaling font is Toledo.

LAST ONE

The word "Billiards" reminds me of England; they call pool, pocket billiards. So I did a layout of our trip to London the last week of 2012. There is a picture of Parliment in the rain, the Tower bridge at night, the Shard (one of the most recent new buildings in London), a distance shot of the London Eye and one from our observation pod looking at the one ahead of us, a raven on the Tower of London grounds, a statue (from one of our tours), the Dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, and, yes, a New York City cop car - it was there for the London New Year's Day Parade which was the real reason we went when we did - our granddaughter marched in the parade as one of four groups of All American Cheerleaders (over 1000 cheerleaders plus many with family.)

The very back paper is by Jan Ransley from her I Love London kit (it's a union jack.) The background for the title is by Maya deGroot - her Travel Treasures Box and the decoration on the title square is by Katie Pertiet from her Double Decker Corners kit. The title font is Roundhand Bold.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at my layouts.  Lain's next LOAD challenge will be October 2013 and I'm planning on participating.  Hopefully I'll blog my layouts more frequently.  I'm sure it will make it easier to go through.  If you missed the first 12, there are 3 other posts just before this that show my layouts for the first 12 days of the challenge.

LOAD513 - Day 12

Today's clue was a movie title, The Usual Suspects.

We don't have children living at home any more so we can't blame them for anything but we do have fur-babies.  Those we can blame.  Both our dog, Peaches, and one of our cats, Shitani, have a fondness for tissues.  If we leave Peaches alone in the house, she'll get into things and shred and chew them up - tissues especially.  Shitani, on the other hand, just likes to dip his paw in and see what he can grab.

I didn't use any templates this time.  The background paper (recolored to go with the tissue box) is by Micheline Martin Designs - her Mischief Maker kit, paper 13.  The two word arts are from Mari Koegelenberg's Little Critter kit, wordstrips 002 and 006. The cateyeglasses (on the cat) are by Britt-ish Designs MissKit kit.  The Journal Card (recolored also to go better with the tissue box) is from Becky Higgins' Project Life Amber Edition kit.