Whew...

HOT...HOT...HOT!!! I am SO done with summer and it has just barely started. Lisa's bridal shower was yesterday and despite the 101 degree temperature we had a very nice turn out. I failed in my plan to get a picture of the piles of gifts. :( oh, well. Lots of family, friends and co-workers attended. Lisa picked some very nice gals to become "real" friends with in college. They all met when they were working at the OSU Bookstore. I hope they all have a long lasting friendship. I am attaching a picture of the bride and her "maids". The two maid of honors are at the ends, Natalie and Sarah. Then to Sarah's right is Sierra then Julie. Lisa was Sierra's maid of honor last summer. In case you might be wondering about the sombrero, the shower had a "Fiesta" theme. You can't see the bridal tulle that is attached to the sombrero. Aunt Lisa, once again did a wonderful job making the "ribbon" bouquet.

They are done!!!

I finished my cards late last night. I took the pictures of them this morning and mailed them off to Bud. So now all I have to do is decipher my handwritten instructions and get them typed up and printed. All while washing clothes, and getting my list together of what food I am supposed to bring for Lisa's shower on Saturday. Oh and wouldn't you know it we are having it at her house and she has no air conditioning! The weather people keep saying it will be in the mid-nineties. Just great...
ETA: a peek at one of the cards I made for my next card class.

It's a boy!!!

Sarah found out today that she is having a boy. We are super excited!! Wow, I don't know how to shop for little boys. This is so out of my area of expertise. I guess I will have to ask my mom, sisters-in-law or mother-in-law for help. :)

Tight schedule...

The month seems to have passed in a blur. I need to have my card samples done by the twenty-fifth and I haven't started them. I have my concept drawings done but I hadn't picked out the paper or the products I would be using for my kits. Gee. I ran down to the scrapbook store this morning and did that and now I am in full on card mode...

Another class...

Yesterday was my June card class. I had another new student, Marianne. She is long time customer but has never taken any of my classes. Then I spent the rest of the day scrapbooking with Camille. I started work on a guest/advice gift for Lisa's shower and finished three pages when I ran out of cardstock. I didn't want to buy anymore since Sarah had a bunch left over from the invitations so I had to put that aside and work on another project. I will be working on the book tomorrow when we get together to scrap with some more of my friends. Here are the pictures of the cards we made in class.

Summer may be here???

According to the weatherman it reached 81 degrees here today. And it did feel warm but more than that it felt humid. It was a bit cloudy but it cleared up real fast and stayed warm till late this evening. But sitting here at my computer with the fan in the window I noticed the distinct dampness in the air which has made it feel humid again. I am guessing to really feel the coolness of the night air I will have to go outside and stand on my porch. Not likely to happen since I am already dressed for bed so I will settle for opening the bedroom window to cool down the room. I have yet to go and get some strawberries so that is on my agenda this weekend. Along with working on a guest book for Lisa's shower, teaching a class tomorrow afternoon and then scrapping into the evening with Camille. I will continue to work on the book then and on Saturday when we scrap at the church. We will of course miss Angie, Meg and Janet who are as I write this in Utah at the Stacy Julian event.

Car is home, thank goodness.

Though they didn't call me till after 2 this afternoon. Yea, they were supposed have it done by closing last night. I called at 5:15 and was told it should be done by 5:30 so Mary gives me a ride in to town to pick it up. We are just a half a block away when someone from the tire place calls and says they ran into a problem. They had the wrong struts and it would be an hour and half by the time they drove out to the other store picked up the correct struts and put the car back together. At this point I just told them to keep it over night and finish it in the morning. So today Mary and I went to the store, lunch and then drove by Les Schwab's to see if my car was ready. It was on one of the racks and it looked like they were getting ready to do the alignment. So we came home to work on trying to figure out her blog. No sooner had we pulled into to her driveway and off loaded groceries they called me to tell me the car was ready. So back to town. Sarah suggested getting a new car. That would really be nice but I would rather pay a big amount at one time then a smaller amount every month for car payments for four years. So this little puppy is going to have to get me through the rest of the year as Steve is in a bigger need for a newer vehicle than I am.

All things "car"...

I know I have an older vehicle so I can naturally expect it to have aging problems but do they have to be all at the same time?!! A few months back my check engine light came on. I called my mechanic and explained that it had been going on and off for several months should I be concerned. He said it was probably a sensor of some description and that if my car was running good not to worry about, so I didn't. Then Sarah's Honda started acting up and she borrowed my car. I forgot to tell her about the sensor light. Her day started with hers not running and then mine tripping a light. Nate said she got into the apartment and was literally sobbing saying she was jinxing all cars she drove. She called me when she had calmed down a bit and then I explained to her that the light had been doing that for awhile. She was not a happy with me because I didn't tell her in advance. Geez.. Well a couple weeks back the car started over heating so I took it in and he replaced my thermostat and the sensor that was bad. So a couple a hundred dollars later and with instructions to have my tires rotated and balanced I was on my way home. To say the least I have been fairly busy and just got around to taking my car in to Les Schwab this morning. A mere ten minutes after being there the tire guy tells me I need to replace one tire and suggested two. Then he heaped more bad news by saying I need to replace the struts in the back as one was completely blown and they recommend doing both when they replace one. And my brakes are going to need work pretty soon. Okay this is the cloud, where is the silver lining for crying out loud??

Viral junk..

I have been not feeling so good for a bit now and thought it was my allergies. It may have been to start with but it isn't now. I went to see the doctor and he told me it was some viral thing. Great. And as we all now they don't give you anything for viral infections. You have to ride it out he tells me, drink lots of fluids and get plenty of sleep. Again great...

Baby Crawford book

This book turned out so cute I don't want to give it up. I have been working on this off and on for about a month. I would work till I hit a creativity wall and then worked on something else. Sarah said she is seventeen weeks now and isn't feeling that whole "love being pregnant" thing. She isn't getting as sick as she first was but still has her moments. She is eating almost normally, for her, again which is good. She is still adjusting to the "alien-esque" baby movements in her body and loves the elastic waistband pants she is now wearing. Who knew that you had to get pregnant to wear "really" comfortable clothes and shoes? Her blog is hysterical. At times it is all I can do to continue reading without my sides hurting from laughing so much. We are off to Party Depot tomorrow for bridal shower stuff, which is only two weeks away. Ahhh.....

ETA: Here are a few of the pictures of the book I made for Sarah.

One down, one to go...

My class went well last night. One of my students didn't show but that happens sometimes. But the other ladies were as usual lots of fun. It was really neat to see the layouts come together so quickly too. Maybe it was my students. I know it didn't take me and hour and a half to do the store sample! My card class is next Friday from 1-3 in the afternoon. I will be scrapbooking at the store all day too, so the whole day should be lots of fun. We are on the home stretch with wedding things. Lisa and Buck picked out the tuxes. And it looks like she may have decided to have a cake topper after all...

Whew...

All my kits are done!! Yippee!! Part of the reason it has taken me so long is that I haven't been feeling all that great. I thought it was my allergies but I now have a low grade fever and I just feel "poopy" as my friend Julie says. So I think I will dig up a book and sit on the couch and do some reading. Speaking of which, Janet Evanovich's latest "Fearless Fourteen" goes on sale Tuesday. I will be at Borders first thing that morning.

Busy, busy, busy...

I spent last night finishing the book I have been making for Sarah and her baby. It turned out real cute. I will take a picture and post it before I give it to her. Today I spent all day putting together my kits for my Thursday class. There were a lot of pieces to put in the kit thus the reason it took me all day to do. I usually put the finishing touches on the instructions at the same time and that is what takes awhile. If I don't do this I land up finding errors while giving my class, not a thing an instructor wants to have happen. So it means I put the project together and measure and do handwritten notes at the same time followed by making typing the instructions. I usually wait to take the sample in till I have done this part but I didn't this time and now I will have to go in tomorrow and measure a couple of things on the sample to make sure my measurements are correct on my instruction sheet. I need figure a way to do this design stuff and get the instructions done while I am designing or I land up spending more time on the class kits than I need to. Here are pictures of the class layout we will be doing. This coincides with our up and coming Oregon strawberry season...

When??

It seems to be the question that is asked of me lately. Anything from when am I going to the store to have you heard from the flower lady? I don't seem to have the answers my family wants but oh well. We are just ten weeks away from Lisa's wedding and I am starting to feel the crunch. I haven't gotten my dress yet, Steve still has to get a suit, I need to do the alterations on Sarah's dress and possibly hem Lisa's too. I am hoping to be able to get someone else to do this. I have two classes to teach this month and then I will only do my card class next month so I have plenty of time to do wedding stuff. We are doing low key on birthdays this year. With Sarah expecting there was no alcohol for her 21st, Lisa will be thirty and my mother-in-law Norma will be seventy and we are looking at going out to dinner to celebrate those. So much to do and yet so little time; just sounds like life in general...

My baby is twenty-one!!

Sarah turned twenty-one today. Something is wrong here, as it can't possibly be twenty-one years since I gave birth to my baby. I know she is going to hate all this mushy stuff but too bad it's my blog not hers. Steve has been waiting to complete his mission as a dad and carry on tradition by buying her first legal drink. Sarah doesn't get the tradition thing but I think it is because she doesn't know about Grandpa doing this for all his boys and Steve's desire to do this for his daughters. Though till the baby is born she will still be the "designated" driver for those of us who choose to drink...

My choice...

This is the picture I think should go into the paper but then if I don't pay for it I don't get a choice. Mmmm... Anyway, today we had dinner with the girls and Nate as Buck was finishing up at the swap meet in Rickreal and didn't get done in time to meet us. It was the best day to go to dinner with them for Sarah's birthday. Her birthday is tomorrow but with everyone's work schedules it is easier to do this on the weekend. She loved her gifts we gave her; the recipe box by Elsie Flannigan and the cherry denim purse by Betsy Johnson. She needs to post a picture of her purse so everyone can see how cute it is!!