Happy Birthday...

To my bestest cyber-buddy Chris! You don't look a day older than you did yesterday. I sent her birthday gift early since I knew I wouldn't have time to get it mailed with all the last minute Convention crap I had going on. I made her an accordian photo frame that she can use at home or at the office. And I found the cutest T-Shirt for her. I found it here: SnarkyMommies: Personalized Apparel for the Family : CafePress.com Great customer service too! Hope your birthday is fabulous girlfriend! The first drink tonight will be a toast to you and Flip Cole Sue!

Just a song...

before I go. Yep! It's finally here. A year and a half of waiting has come down to a few short hours. I will be leaving in three hours to head over to Orlando for a week for CTMH Convention. Oh, had I not mentioned that before?! Any. Way! I'll be posting here and there. Maybe give a sneek peak or two. So stay tuned!

We had a nice rain yesterday afternoon. We were beginning to think we weren't gonna get any. It seemed to split and go around us. But an outflow storm formed from the one that split and we ended up getting another 1.5" in the rain bucket.

John's got plenty of food to eat. I spent the better part of yesterday making Dolomates and chicken pasta salad. Also made him some Edamame. That's soy bean pods. You boil them in salted water and eat them like boiled peanuts. We love 'em. I bought a watermelon and cut up for him. He's got 2 types of plums and grapes. Hot dogs and pizzas in the freezer. He was making fun of me yesterday. Said I didn't think he could take care of himself. @@ He's such a man!!

Same old

crap. Different day. I have been such a bum all week. I need to mow the yard. It's rained every morning (and NO, I'm not complaining!) and by the time the grass gets dry, it's too flipping hot to go mow. House needs to be cleaned (today is my "normal" day to do that) but I don't want to do it til Sat or Sun since I won't be here next week. Want it to look good for when John entertains the dantcing girls while I'm gone! I did go to the grocery store this morning, so he's got food to eat while I'm gone. I'm gonna do dolomates (Greek stuffed grape leaves) and chicken pasta salad for him on Monday. I got him a couple of frozen pizzas and hot dogs, so he'll be good. I've not packed the first thing. Tomorrow is my nail, ped and hair appt and I've got the full work-up happening, so I'll be there the better part of the day.

My friend Debbie's father-in-law passed away this past Sunday night. Today is his funeral. Deb, you, JP and Evan are in my thoughts.

I figured out all myself how to program the DVR! And re-play! I DVR'd Deadliest Catch for John the other night. We got hooked (haaa!) on it the very first season.

DVR Update

One thirty Monday afternoon. Doorbell rings. It's UPS with my DVR. That wasn't scheduled to be here til next Tuesday! So I call &%*$(# Verizon trying to get in touch with the lovely Christina that I talked to last week. I get the song and dance that they have no way to track who it was I talked to, blah, blah, blah. And of course the guy I'm talking to can't figure out how to schedule a tech to come and install it. So he transfers me. This guy can't figure it out either. So he says he's transferring me to their "problem solving" unit. But he can't. They are all tied up on other lines. So he puts me in for a call back. Two hours later, I get a call. And she tells me she can talk me thru the install. No, you people don't understand. I have no idea what I am doing. Not to mention the fact that our Entertainment center weights eleventybillion pounds and I can't move it. So she tells me she's going to call someone and see when a tech can come out. Good. You do that. An hour later she calls me back. She tells me that because Stoopid Cory (it KEEPS going back to that piece of crap!) wrote the initial order up as a self-install, that she cannot change it to a tech install without charging us $79.95 for them to come do it. WTF????!!!! It's their product, not some knock off I got at Billy-Bob's Discount DVR and Fishing Worms Place. So much for customer service. So then she tells me she's gonna call Cory and see if he can change it in the computer so they can install it and not charge us and she'll call me right back. I told her no she wouldn't because Mr Cory doesn't answer his phone, screens his calls and takes his jolly-good time returning your call. And guess what? She never called me back. But John got home from his folks about 6:30 and he pulled the Entertainment center out once we had eaten dinner, and got the DVR hooked up. Then we had a special 1-800 number to call to activate it. It took an hour for everything to load, then we had to re-set the remote to "play" with the new box. So by then, it was way past his bedtime and I was too pissed to mess with it to see if I could get it to record anything. I have the old Set Top Box in the box and have to take it to the UPS store later to send it back. Then I'll play around with the new DVR and see if I can get it to work.

Week 28 Marjorie's color challenge

Marjorie, Mommy Scraps, is feeling "beachy" this week. Her color choices are Bamboo, Crystal Blue, Dessert Sand and Buttercup. My mind didn't go to the beach, but to the woods in fall! I used my waterbrush and picked up Crystal Blue and Garden Green out of the lids of the stamp pads for the sky and grass. The went back into the Garden Green and made some grass tufts. I used Bamboo for the trees in the background and Desert Sand for the ones in the foreground. Then I took a piece of Desert Sand cardstock and weaved it in and out just to give a bit of visual interest.

OCC Challenge Week 6

This week's challenge on OCC, Our Creative Corner ,was to use dry embossing. Either with Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, brass stencils, or whatever form of dry embossing you wanted to use. I used a bunch! I first used my flamingo brass stencil, then used my stipple brush and added CTMH Desert Sand, Olive, Chocolate, Pink Carnation and Black to the flamingo and palm trees. Then I used my scalloped Nestabilities for the frame. The Cuttlebug Mesh embossing folder was used on the Pink Carnation strip. The small flower Petal B&T from CTMH Paper Garden was used for the card base. A few flowers, brads and bling from my stash finish it off.

&%$#@*% Verizon

So my DVR is not installed. Nor will it be until at least the first week of AUGUST! Back story:

Monday, John and I were at the mall. We'd been kicking the idea of DVR around and lo...there was the Verizon kisok. The God's had spoken! So we go to the kiosk and the very helpful young men tell us that they can't schedule a tech to come out and install a new box. We have to call our Personal Assistant Manager (PAM!) to schedule any upgrades or changes. This is to "streamline" the ordering process. They give us a card with Cory's name and phone number. I call Cory when I get home. He doesn't answer his phone. He screens his calls. Forty-five minutes later he calls me back. I tell him what I want and he tells me he will "get the ball rolling" and call me to let me know when someone will be here to install the new DVR. He does not call me the next day. I call him. And leave a message. Because he doesn't answer his phone. At 5:45 PM. Oh, didn't I tell you, he says, it can take up to 48 hrs for the order to process. Ummm, no Cory, you sure didn't. Now before they had PAM's you were told when you called or placed the order when someone would be at your house. So their theory behind "streamlining" is out the window as far as I'm concerned. Cory calls me Wed morning and tells me the DVR will be delivered to my home via Courier on Tue July 29. So then I ask him when they will be here to install it. Oh, you wanted it installed he says. Grrrrrrrrr! Yes, I tell him. Neither my husband or myself is qualified to install YOUR equipment. If we install it wrong, you are then going to charge us to come and fix our mistake. I thought I made myself clear when I talked to you on Monday about this. Ohhhh, well, I don't know what I have to do about getting someone there to install it. I'll have to call someone and see what to do. Fine Cory, you do that. Oh, and by the way, I will be leaving for a week on the 29th, so they will have to come after the 5th of Aug to install it. So he calls me back about a half hour later. He's got a very nice lady on the phone that he thinks can help me. She can't. She cannot get her system to let her schedule a tech because of the way that Cory wrote up the order. So she transfers me to a very nice young man. Who also can't change the order. So he overrides it, tells me a tech will be here with a DVR box between 1-4 Thursday. He will install the DVR box, take our old Set Top Box with him. When I get back from Orlando, I am to call the Courier service that delivers the DVR that Cory ordered to come and pick it up. Fine. Problem solved.

Not so fast! Four o'clock comes and goes yesterday. 4:30, I call the 1.888 number for Verizon. Frankly Scarlett, I'm done with Cody! All he's managed to do is screw everything up. I talk to another nice young man. Who says there is no record of anyone supposed to be here to install the DVR. And he can't change the order that Cory placed either. So he gives me to a Supervisor. So for the eleventybillionth time, I have to 'splain the whole sordid story again. She finally determines that the DVR was shipped on the 15th. From Pennsylvania. And it's not gonna make it to Florida til the 29th?????!!!!! I could walk to PA in a week and a half. And I don't walk fast! She does not know if the Courier service requires a signature to leave the package. I sure as hell hope so, because if they just leave it on the doorstep, I'm sure not gonna be responsible for it. So what she finally determined she would do is, call me on the morning of Aug 5. IF they left the DVR and IF no-one stole it off my doorstep, the nice Verizon tech that she will schedule to come install a completely different DVR will take the boxed DVR AND my old Set Top Box with him when he leaves. And when he will be here is anyone's guess. I am sooooo unbelievably pissed at Verizon. I'm just about ready to tell them to rip their equipment out and we'll go back to DirectTV. All I can say is, this DVR better be the best thing since sliced white bread once it is finally installed.

...And with the rain...

comes the 'skeeters! Did you know that the mosquito is Florida's State Bird?! We got another 1.25" of rain yesterday afternoon. The center of the low pressure area that has been bringing all of our rain was almost parallel us to the east, so the rain yesterday was coming in sheets. Reminded me of the Summer of '04 when the 4 hurricanes hit Florida. So the back porch is soaked again! The weather guy says the low is moving away from us, so by tomorrow we should feel like the sauna that FL is known for in the summer. Quadrupled because of the rain! I was slapping and swatting mosquitos while I was on chicken and pond rounds this morning. They are horrendous! It's like you've got a blinking neon sign on you "Fresh Blood!" One even got into the garage and decided to make me it's breakfast this morning when I was loading the washer. Last meal she got! Did you know that only the females bite? It's thunderbooming out in the Gulf again now. So we are probably in for at least a few more showers. We'll take all we can get. The "Skeeter Beaters" will just have to work overtime!

Tagged

Kim, Random Thoughts tagged me, so I guess I'll play. I assure you, it's pretty boring stuff!

10 Years Ago: I was slaving...err...working for Winn Dixie.

5 Things on today's to-do list: Most are already completed! House is vacuumed. Laundry is going. I've been to the PO to mail back swaps. The Verizon guy is supposed to be here between 1-4 to install the new DVR. As soon as I finish this, I'm heading to the (s)crap table to create something!

Snacks I enjoy: Chocolate, dry cereal (Cheerios and Rice Chex) right out of the box, Chili Cheese Fritos, Puffed Cheetos.

Places I've Lived: Florida. My whole life. No-place else!

I'm not tagging anybody. If you're reading and feel like playing, have fun!

Latest Project

And surprise! It's for Convention!!

John lurves those Shoestring Potato snacks. I don't buy them often and this is why. I bought a ginormous can on Fri. He polished it off Monday night! When he went to throw it away, I yelled to him, "Don't throw that away!" And of course he wants to know why. Well, because I'm gonna alter it and put candy in it to take to Convention. So I used Boom-Di-Ada paper pack and Cottage Floral stamp set. There's some CTMH Big Pink flowers that I used Spot On background stamp on. Also some new Prima Collage Flowers that I just got. Garden Green My Accents and Autumn Terracotta Ribbon Rounds. The little dangly on the one side says "Sweet!" I thought that was appropriate! I filled it with Life Savers Sweet Mint and Starlight Peppermints. I'll set it on our table when we are working and anyone who wants one can help themselves.

Another good soaking

We got another good soaking Tue afternoon. Came from the east and blew half way across the back porch! Good thing there's indoor-outdoor carpet out there. There was 1.5" in the rain gauge this morning. It thundered so loud and so close the whole house was shaking. The kitties made sure under the bed was protected! They hate the thunder! Chris called right at the height of the storm and I answered the phone in case something was wrong. She said there wasn't, so I quickly got off the phone. John says I can't get hit by lightning if I'm not on a land-line, but I'd really rather not test that theory! It may be his sly way of trying to off me!!

Cyber Auntie!

I'm gonna be a cyber Auntie again! My best cyber-friend, Chris and her hubby Mike are three months pregnant! I've known about it for a couple of weeks now, but have held off blogging about it until I was sure Chris had told everyone. I am so stankin' excited for them. They are gonna be the BEST parents! The baby is due sometime around Valentine's Day, but we know how babies have their own schedule and timetable!

Glorious Rain!

I had not checked the rain guage since Saturday morning. We have had just over 3" since then! And it's still raining. Not hard, a very light mist, but the ground is wet now, so even a light mist will soak in. There are still lots of storms out in the Gulf, so i'm sure we'll get more rain as the day progresses.

John took the motorcycle to the shop yesterday. The guy told him last week that he thought it was the battery, so it's been on the charger here at home for a week. John tried to start it yesterday, no go. So he loaded it up on the trailer and took it to the shop. Turns out it is the starter, just like John thought. So it will be next week before he can get it back. He doesn't get home in time to go get it if they get it fixed before next Monday.

We are gonna upgrade to DVR with Verizon. I'm tired of taping! That's soooo 20th Century!! We called yesterday and they are supposed to call me today to let me know when they will be here to install the new converter box.

Two weeks from today, I am heading to Orlando for Convention! I'm in "pile" mode now. Making piles of things as I think of them so I don't forget anything!

Marjorie's color challenge week 27

Summer colors for Marjorie this week! Bubblegum, Kiwi, Sunny Yellow and Watermelon. Her inspiration is the color of spring and summer flowers.

I pulled out Thoughts of You stamp set and used first and second generation stamping on the flowers. Then stamped the stems of the flowers. Pulled my Cuttlebug out with the Funky Squares embossing folder. I inked up one side of the embossing folder with Watermelon ink so it gives a little more dimension! Used my Fiskars scallop punch on the Sunny Yellow cardstock. A pretty simple card that went together in ablut 15 minutes!

OCC week 5

This is my entry for week 5 of the Our Creative Corner challenge. Our Creative Corner This week, participants were asked to take their inspiration from a photo of a dining room table setting. The stripe paper I used I took from the backs of the chairs. The flower is from the vase of tulips on the sideboard. And the yellow from the colors of the walls.

Big storms...

Moving in from the Gulf this morning. I just finished up doing chicken and pond duty. We had a good soaking again yesterday afternoon. Another 1.5" in the rain guage today. I dumped it so I can get a good measure since they say we are in for off and on showers and thunderstorms all weekend and even into the first part of next week. Chris and I were talking last night on her one hour commute home from work and I was telling her about our Chief Meterologist apologizing to "all the husbands out there for the rain ruining their golf games this weekend." Earlier in the week he was saying that our total rainfall for this time of year is supposed to be 19.50" and at the "official" rain guage at Tampa International Airport, they've had almost 26.50" year to date. Big flipping deal. Too bad we all don't live AT the airport. Kim, who is about 15 miles from me as the crow flies has been saying how little rain they have been having. So the drought's not over for her! Grrrrrrrrrr!!

I did find a few pretties blooming while I was on my appointed rounds this morning! The Passion Vines are going hot and heavy. Even found one with a wasp in it having breakfast! Then is my spider lily in the front bed. And finally a beautiful butterfly enjoying it's breakfast on the Firecracker Bush.

My hero!

T!m Holtz that is! No other designer "speaks" to me like he does. I get him and what he tries to teach. My friends Debbie and her son Evan know this! Deb is participating in two different swaps that I am currently hostessing and I recieved her swaps in the mail yesterday. In addition to her swaps (which are snot cute!) she also sent me on of T!m's latest releases from the Winter CHA, Game Spinners. As soon as I saw that they were on the release list, I knew I had to have them. But the last time I was at Ruban Rouge they did not have them yet. And so I waited! But Deb found them and she bought them and sent them to me!

So of course I had to create something with them! The logical choice was Make It Count stamp set, so that's where I went! I created a title topper. And I have 23 more Spinners left to create more things with!

Passion....

Flower that is! Found this pretty blooming this morning on my chicken and pond duties run. We got another 1.5" of rain yesterday afternoon.

Today is trash day and when I took our trash out to the curb, there were 2 other cans sitting there! Huh?! So I called John to ask him if they were there when he left for work. He said yes, that the trash was strewn all over in front of the hedges and in the street, so he picked it up and put it back in the cans. He said all the people who had put their trash out last night had it dumped. Stoopid kids. Nothing better to do with their time. Hopefully the owners of the wayward cans will claim them!

Loose ends

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth weekend. It was pretty quiet around here. John worked very long days all last week, Fri and Sat included. Oh the beauty of retail! There is no such thing as a holiday when you work retail. But he did have Sun and today off. He napped off and on all day yesterday. We had a pretty nasty round of thurnderstorms roll thru about 7 last night. Vibrant (and close) lightning and booming thunder. But most important, another 2" of much needed rain.

We had a maple tree die in the front yard and it was pretty close to the power lines. So we decided we needed to take it down before the wind did and it took lines with it. John got the chain saw out this morning and while he took it down and cut it up into manageable pieces, I started mowing. Once he got the tree cut up, I hooked up the trailer and we hauled all of the little stuff back to our burn pile. The bigger stuff, our friend Charlie will come pick up to burn in his fireplace. There were a couple of sand pines that had fallen across the back fence, so while John cut them up, I finished mowing. The yard always looks sooo good when it's freshly mowed.

He's off now getting his hairs cut and hopefully finding a place where he can take the motorcycle to get the starter fixed. The shop he generally uses is closed on Sun & Mon and he doesn't get home in time to take it any other time. I won't pull the trailer with the bike on it. Won't take that responsibility! The bike is his baby and I don't need it getting damaged on my watch!

My new CTMH Keynotes magazine came today, so I'm fixing to go read it cover to cover! We can read it online, but there is just nothing like having it in my hot little hands!

Everybody have a great week!

Color challenge week 27/OCC challenge week 4

Taking a cue from Sparkle My Life, Creations, and Tribulations... and combining challenges!

Marjorie's Mommy Scraps color choices this week were Sweet Leaf, Buttercup and Honey with one additional color choice of your own. Mine was Petal. I used Seed Packets and Adorable Backgrounds. Decided to mix things up a bit and make the front part where you could open it as well and put the sentiment in there.

For OCC Our Creative Corner I added a couple of extra layers, but I like the way it makes the card look.

A new challenge/begging for votes!

I posted this card when I made it. CTMH sister Heidi W has a Fourth of July inspired challenge going on her blog. Voting is now open. If you are so inclined, I'd appreciate your vote. And if you are an AOL user, you will probably have to use Internet Explorer to vote. The polling website she uses does not play well with AOL! Thank you ever so much!

Luckybug Creations

Happy Independance Day!

Happy 232nd Birthday to the United States of America.

Holy Toadstools, Batman!

Wouldja look at the size of these bad boys?! I went out to get my yearly boob smooshage (AKA mamogram!) this morning and these had sprouted up under the oak tree. See what happens when it rains! @@ I have no idea what kind they are...I've never seen any like them. But they are huge! The biggest one is almost 5" in diameter. And I did find one pretty blooming. The purple-y colored rose has one bloom and one bud on it.

Couple of swap goodies

First is for three lovely ladies who I know will be joining me at Convention. I kept hearing how we needed a tablet and pen to take notes, so I decided to make the three of them and myself an altered journal and give them so they could have to use at Convention. So Liane, LA and Melan, you now know one thing you will be getting from me!

Also, I decided I might want to do a few things in case someone had something a bit more than a card to swap. So I decided to alter some of CTMH's Creative Clips. These were very easy to do and I'm very pleased with the way tehy turned out.

Now I'm working on Christmas gifts!