Venting

   I saw a clip last night from a movie or TV show that Vanessa Williams is making, and she was fighting with another woman. I thought to myself that we are going to see people acting up worse and worse because of all the sleazy behavior and brawling that is shown on TV and in the movies. And then today I saw a blog post (Kayla Aimee) about an incident in a post office:
"Rude Lady told the postmistress that her mailbox key wasn't working and she needed the mail from box 28. The postmistress brings it to her. Rude Lady says "You had better fix my key now." To which the postmistress politely asks her if she has another key they can try. Rude Lady responded by THROWING HER MAIL AT THE POSTMISTRESS." Then they discovered that she was trying to get into the WRONG BOX! I think we are going to see more and more of this kind of behavior because it is on TV all the time. Books, movies and TV used to protray the finest and best, now it's the sleaziest and worst.
   Another peeve: I am sick and tired of the way people in the entertainment media inundate us with sex, sex, sex, and then they criticize men like Tiger and Jessie unmercifully because they reacted the way you would expect someone to react who sees this stuff all the time. If they want people to behave, then stop pushing the sex on them.
   Hmmm, I need to forget this stuff and go stamp something!
Blessings,
Janis

   What a great day! My stamping buddy, Tammy, and her friend Vicky came over and played this afternoon. I was working on lunch bags because The Stamper's Sampler has a bag challenge that is due by May 15th. I had made a couple back in January, but I used them for gifts, so I had to make some more. Tammy and
Vicky stayed up until three one night last week making shaving cream backgrounds. You never saw so many backgrounds in your life! So today they punched a lot of hearts, birds, etc. out of them. I made three bags and Tammy made one, because I throw them together and she is more careful, and hers look better too, of course! I took a picture of hers, but I will have to put mine on here later. I also took a picture of the two of them.
   Please pray for Tammy's husband, Orville, who had a bone marrow transplant last week. He is in the hospital at Chapel Hill, and Tammy is traveling back and forth to see him. When he gets out of the hospital, they will be living in an apartment for awhile while he recovers. He will have to stay there all the time and be very careful not to pick up any bugs or viruses. He is doing really well, and hopefully will be out of the hospital soon.
   So here are Tammy and Vicky (Tammy is standing):

We won't talk about how messy this room is; it does have a lot in it!

l

I just love this bag! Wish I could show the details; I still have it here so maybe I can get a picture that shows the buttons. She stacked the buttons and tied them together. It looks fabulous!

   I will try to get my bags on here later tonight. I hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday (Easter) . We met with our "church"  group in the gazebo at the park, and then had dinner at my mother's. Three of our group were going to eat out, so we invited them to eat with us. We had so much fun! The grands were so pretty, and had a great time hunting eggs, eating candy, and playing with all the stuff their Aunt Beth got them at the dollar store. We had gotten their dresses Saturday at Belks, and it took four of us to do it! I said, 'How many people does it take to buy an Easter dress?" At one point I was chasing Amelia around the dressing room trying to tie her sash. She must have tried on 10 dresses. We picked out a coral one, and then realized that that was not going to look good in pictures with Cara's hot pink dress, so it was back to the drawing board. But it was fun!

Blessings,

Janis

  

Envelope Samples

   Ok, I am making another attempt to put a post on. Hopefully this will not take several HOURS like the last post. ARGHHHHH! I have signed up for an online tutorial on blogging that I hope will teach me all the things I need to know to do a decent looking blog. It doesn't start until the middle of April; I can't wait!
    I made these envelopes a couple of weeks ago. I also made some altered envelopes using some that came with bills. The first 3 I made, and the last 2 are altered. I am enjoying using the altered ones for coupons and deposits.
   I cropped this and it is crooked. Don't know how to fix that!

The altered envelopes look kind of crummy, but they were meant to look this way, believe it or not. I distressed a piece of  printer paper with the new distress ink colors, stuck them to the envelope, and stamped them. I crushed  the paper before distressing to give it the veins. The stamps are from one of my favorite Stampin' Up! sets, Watercolor Garden. I have a lot of ideas for my new bird punch from SU! and paper bags, and I am planning to work on that next week, so stay tuned!
Blessings,
Janis

Easter Samples

I made some little boxes for the kids, Beth and Daphene and my mother, and  put a Cadbury Creme Egg in each one, and finally found my camera and took pictures of them today. They were more work than I thought they would be, but they turned out to be pretty cute. My mother loves Jordan Almonds so I made her a basket for those.

These are some hearts that I did recently.

I wanted to put some envelopes on also, but it has taken me hours to get this far. Everything I tried to do went wrong, so I'm quitting while I'm ahead. I also have some pictures of Cara and Amelia (my granddaughters) washing my car. Hopefully I will get them on tonight. Have a great holiday!

Blessings,

Janis

My Food Adventure: The Beginning

 I have been meaning to put these old blog posts on here, and today is the day that I am finally getting around to it. These are from over a year ago, when I first realized that I had to make some BIG changes.
  
My Food Adventure

OK. So the doctor wants to put me on insulin, and I don't want to do it, of course. So I am going to change the way I eat drastically, and that means I have to learn a whole new way of cooking. Just as this happened, I found out I could get 15 channels added to the basic cable service that we have for about $21 a month more. I wanted DIY and HGTV, and they were included in the package. But then I found out that the shows I wanted to see were no longer on these networks. As my granddaughter would say, Bummer! But God was in all this because now I was getting the Food Network. I discovered Rachael Ray and Paula Dean, and a few others. Now I could see people actually cooking, and I have learned so much. It is hard for me to try something new without seeing someone do it. Rachael Ray is my hero now, and I went out and bought a pepper mill, cutting board, fancy oil dispenser, and sharp knife. I finally got around to trying one of her recipes tonight, and what an adventure that was! First, even though I had spent a week trying to get the ingredients for the Black Bean Stoup together, (yes, it is "stoup"), I discovered that I still didn't have everything. But I improvised so it was still a go. I heated the pan on medium high heat as the recipe said, knowing that wasn't a good idea because my pots are different from hers, and when I threw in the garlic, it burned to a crisp immediately. So I had to dump it out and start over. That meant I didn't have enough garlic because my garlic bulb was going bad, so I made do with what I had left that was usable, put the pot on a different burner and started over. I noticed as I was chopping the vegetables that the ones in the pot weren't cooking, so I kept turning the burner up. As I was chopping the onions, the knife slipped and sliced my finger. I knew that was going to happen when I bought it! I ran in the bedroom and put a band aid on real tight, and started chopping vegetables again, but they still weren't cooking. I couldn't figure it out, and then I realized that I had turned on the wrong burner. So I finally got things going, but I had thrown in the bell pepper and it wasn't supposed to go in until the other veggies had cooked some first, so I started fishing them out. I finally got everything in it and cooking, and it was delicious, but I had a mess all over the stove and counter. I came in later to clean up and put the leftovers up, and dropped one of the containers when I was putting it in the refrigerator. Now I had a mess all over the floor too. Rachael Ray I ain't!

    
The Food Adventure, Day 2

I should have mentioned last night that when I bought the cutting board, etc., I saw some gloves that are reinforced with steel but I decided to buy them later. Wrong! I am really kicking myself for not getting them; I wouldn't have a cut finger now.
The "stoup" was really delicious today; even better than last night. I think I will try Paula Dean's Broccoli Casserole next, and throw some chicken in it.

    
My Food Adventure: Part 2

So I finally got together the ingredients for my next adventure with cooking, thanks to my daughter who ran all over Wal-Mart, God bless her, to get my groceries. I made Chick Pea/Fire Roasted Tomato Soup by Rachael Ray, and I didn't think I could top my last attempt to cook one of her recipes, but I did, unfortunately. First, it took me a long time to print out the recipe, which I think I had already printed out, but I didn't know where I put it. Then I couldn't find the manual for the food processor, so I finally figured out how to put it together. Everything was going okay, even though the garlic was browning a little too fast, until it was time to put the chicken stock in. I had the stock that comes in a carton, and I had frozen it. I had put it in some hot water and then the microwave, but when I needed to put it in, it was still frozen. So I microwaved it some more while I ran to the laundry room to turn the dryer on to air because I didn't have time to get my clothes out. When I came back to the kitchen, the microwave made a loud noise and it looked like lightening going off in it. I quickly took out the carton, opened it with a knife, which slipped and cut the edge of the counter, got the stock out, cut the top of the carton off and discovered that it was lined with foil. I put the stock in a bowl and put it back in the microwave, but it started making a noise again, and when I opened it, I discovered that something that looked like a cardboard label on the side was smoking. Obviously, I have ruined the microwave. I finally got everything in the pot and cooking, and it was good although weird because of the strange spices I used (Turmeric and Cardamom). In my last food adventure I made a mess; this time I ruined the counter and the microwave. Obviously I should not be in the kitchen at all, but since God hasn't dropped a fortune on me so I can hire a cook, I must persevere and soldier on. Next week I am going to try Chicken Provencale Stoup. Pray for me and my kitchen.

MY Food Adventure, continued

I forgot to mention in my last post: I HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE!

New samples at last!

   Well, just one new sample and one in progress. Two weeks ago when my stamp group got together I started a card, and I just now finished it. Big sigh! Obviously, I won't be invited to be on anyone's design team anytime soon. Those girls turn out a card in an hour or two! We also finally found some marbles and were able to do some rolling marble backgrounds. After I did a few, I mopped up the ink in the bottom of the container with a piece of cardstock, and I punched a butterfly out of that and covered it with my favorite Stickles: Stardust. I think it will be a nice card; hopefully I will finish it a little sooner than the last one!
Actually, I think I really hate this first card! If you are looking at my blog for the first time, please scroll down to see some other samples. They are much better!

There are some problems with this card, but I am not going to worry about it. It is what it is! The picture really stinks! I used the new distress inks: bundled sage, spun sugar, and victorian velvet. I love these new colors!

I think this is a pretty cool background. The butterfly is just lying there; it isn't stuck down yet. Who knows, I might not even use it.
   Well, that's it for today. Maybe I will get some more stamping done this afternoon, after my hair appointment.
Blessings,
Janis

What a week!

  My daughter Beth drug me to Avatar, the 3D version, and it was a good movie, but very violent. It was visually beautiful, and I am glad that I saw it before the Academy Awards. I can't believe they gave the Oscar to a stupid war movie, but in a way Avatar was a war movie too. Afterward we went to Panera Bread for the best soup in the world: their broccoli and cheddar. Then she wanted to go to New York and Co., and I thought I would be safe, or rather my pocketbook would be safe, but nooooooooo. I ended up buying a really nice top that actually fit.
   On Thursday I met some friends for lunch. I hadn't seen one of them, Judy Leiner, in a long time. I really enjoyed the lunch, and it was great catching up. Then the next day, I pulled into the driveway at 11:00 after eating breakfast at McDonald's (I know, my bad!), and realized that I was supposed to be at my mother's house in one hour for lunch with my Mom, Beth, Daphene and the kids. I had to shower, wash my hair, pick it into place, put on my makeup, and dress in 40 minutes. I grabbed the stuff to fix my hair later after it dried, threw everything in the car, and got there at 12:00 on the dot. We had a really nice lunch, well they did, I had just eaten, and then I went home, welcomed Andy home, and helped him rake the yard. The next day Andy, Beth and I went to IHOP, I ate like a pig, we visited my Mom, and then we came home to rake. At least, that was the plan, but we ended up on the sofa with the remote and the laptop, and we didn't do another thing the rest of the day. I was exhausted!
   Today we went to Jim and Cynthia Stephens house for church, and then we met Beth, Daphene and the girls, and old friends Brad and Adriane McKoy for lunch at the Olympia Restaurant. We were there most of the afternoon; I know the waitress was glad to get rid of us. We had such a great time!
   I guess I should have labeled this post "Ho Hum", because this probably isn't all that interesting to read, but if you think this is dull, wait until you read about this week. Dentist Tuesday, hair appointment Wednesday, need I say more?  That reminds me of a preacher we had years ago who looked out at us in the middle of a message and said, "Need I say less?" He was such a hoot! I will have to share some of his stuff with you: he would say the funniest things and I would grab a pen and write them in the back of my Bible. He was preaching hot and heavy one Sunday, and he banged his fist down on the pulpit and said, "If I'm ringing your doorbell, honey, PICK UP THE PHONE!"  I thought I was going to fall in the floor!
   Well, enough of this nonsense. I will try to find something more interesting to write about this week. Not that my friends are boring, I just don't think you want to read about all these lunches. Oh, one more. Someone told us about the funniest thing he had ever heard a preacher say: he was talking about a new expository book on the Bible that he had gotten, and he said that he had gotten one of  those "suppository books"! Said it right from the pulpit! I WOULD  have fallen in the floor on that one!
Blessings,
 Janis