Thursday, May 31, 2012

busy doing nothing.....

You ever had one of those weeks that you feel you've been running your legs off, and you have nothing to show for it?

It's been that kind of month for me..... I feel like I have no time to breathe, but I look around the house, and nothing get's done.... I sleep thru the night, every night, which is a welcome improvement over 2 months ago, so it's not that I'm dragging for lack of sleep..... It just feels like everything is an emergency and needs dealt with NOW, and so, whatever plans were made for that time, get pushed back... W A Y back!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I had to drop Mike at work, and take the car for errands that would not take another "push back", got lost because I misinterpreted Mikes directions and decided that after I got "sorted" and was done with errands, I was going to visit the castle in Hoensbroek and have a cup of Hot Chocolat, since it was pretty much miserably cold and wet. And so I did!
We'd been there last summer during the jousting weekend, but you really don't get a good look at things if the line of people wanting to see the same thing you do, is 4 rows deep. So..... I took my time, sat and reflected, checked out the odd stuff, like wall-paper, curtains and fireplaces, took pictures, and as a whole... took the afternoon off! LOL. I made "my kind of pictures" as Mike calls them... floors, locks, reflections, eaves, doorways and some from normal things, like these of the castle.

Kit used is Star Song Studio's  Nymphea.
I pasted the swans from the kit in the pictures, because the ones that were actually in the mote while I was there, kept wandering off!  I ended up with 3 different pictures with tail-feathers as the only proof that they were in the water. LOL

I played with the template from the template challenge over at the studio, where, incidentally I discovered that I HAD NOT posted the challenge AND when I tried to, also discovered that I flubbed up on the month.... so. There will be no challenge this month, and before I can post it next week, I have to redo the add for it, since it states that it's for April......  BUT...
I made this page for the template challenge. I like it. I took some liberties with it, replacing some of the elements and all, but the page came out the way I hoped.......

Photo's were taken in Pella. The kit used is Booland Designs' Dalliance I picked up in the Buy my store bit a couple of years ago.

I just can't help it, but I just can't get enough of flower pictures, somehow. These pictures were taken at Keukenhof last year..... We missed it this year. Too much going on. It closed last week. HOWEVER.... Every 4 years they have an international flower show, the Floriade.... and guess what. It's being held this year, about an hour and a half from here, and it runs till October. I'm going to make a very HUGE efford to make it up there. If I can't find anybody to go with.... I'm going to have to go alone. I checked out the guide for it, and it looks awesome!

Kit used is Booland Designs' "May Day" She's still the featured designer, until the end of May :-)

The following pages are made with Ivy's Mega. It's still available. It's called "Let's get moving"
I specially like the licence plate... Took me a while to figure out what it meant though.... My brain is not all there yet. A couple of years ago, that wouldn't have taken more than a glance to have me roaring!

Mississppi River Museum and river front in Iowa

Perky's overseas adventure

Bailey Bridge at Overloon War Museum


one of the "Pauli pictures" taken at the castle. Kit is Booland Designs ILLUSION

The unexpected snowstorm in Cedar Rapids. City Hall is on an island in the river. It looked sooooo lonely.
Kit used is Booland Designs MAMA DEAR

Wolf and Wolverine pictures I took on my trip to the zoo last month. The Cheetah I took on  Sisterday  last year.
The kit used is MOTHER MINE by Booland Designs

During the free World War II record search at Fold3, I found ships records for Mike's dad. It was a gap in his records which got explained :-)
Kit used is SAVVY by Booland Designs.
It has pirates , but I didn't think that they fit the page.... But, the Tuffree tree will need them!  I just couldn't find the right picture to scrap LOL

SUNSHINE by Booland Design.

So, this post turned out to be an essay..... sorry about that. Hope you enjoy the pages. Even if it is half as much as I enjoyed putting them together, I will still have made you smile :-)

Hope to talk to you later this weekend, and in the meantime, try to stay out of trouble, and hug a loved one!  If the "staying out of trouble" doesn't work, just give in and enjoy! LOL

Hugs,
Pauli

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Trip down memory lane

I found the cookbook I learned to cook "the american way" with when I first hit the States. And no, nowhere in it does it state that brownies are NOT a breakfast item! LOL. That must be one of the unwritten rules only natives know about so they can make fun of unexpecting foreigners :-) Anyway, I was thumbing thru it, and found a recipe I had all but forgotten..... the sweet memories came streaming in, and made me homesick. (I know I'm considered home, it just doesn't feel that way much.) The recipe was for "sunshine muffins". I used to make these and blueberry muffins if we were going away for a daytrip or camping, to eat on the way. I'm going to bake some, as soon as the stores open after the holiday and I can get some flour. I used to make batter for a dozen, split it up into 2 batches before adding the berries and pineapple, so we would have 6 of each...... And after a couple of times doing this, I made a full batch of each, and kept 2 each out and froze it for breakfast on Mike's day off, usually known as "sun up at Tahoe". We would get up at about 2 in the morning, because we has a 2 hour drive, and would be perched on the waters edge, on a rock, with a cup of coffee and a muffin before the sun came up..... The quiet and beauty were amazing. We would pick a big flat rock, and sit in a bearhug, just enjoying eachothers company and the surroundings. Depending on the week we'd had, we would either spend the day in the area, or get breakfast at a casino around 10, drive home and crash for a couple of hours, before getting the groceries in for de week. I though I share this with you, maybe inspire you to check out some recipe you haven't made in a while..... I hope you are enjoying your weekend, and don't forget to hug that loved one!

Friday, May 4, 2012

Perfect day......


 Last Saturday was World Tai Chi Day and it was celebrated 30 minutes away in Heerlen, among A LOT of other places.
I thought I had taped the form we are learning, as well as the warm up excercises but I guess I should have figured out HOW to, instead of just knowing that the camera could... I have exactly one second of each! Bummer. I took a bunch of pictures, including some of my teacher while he was performing different ways of TaiChi. 
I learned a lot. Some I knew, but didn't understand, until talking to people who have been doing TaiChi for a lot longer than I have, but also that there are a whole bunch of different "forms" besides the one we are learning, which is the basic of all others and is called, oddly enough, 24 :-)
Besides ours, all the different forms/excercises are also done with swords (straight and broad) and with fans..... and that's just what they showed Saturday!
There is also a less "restful" version of TaiChi, which is called the Shao-Lin. This really shows a lot more of the energy, power, and the combat character of Tai Chi. I don't care for it much, because it is a lot less smooth in movement, but I can see it being very effective :-)

China, is still available at The Studio.
I used the alphabet, clusters, masks and kit.
They're still available as a bundle or separate.

I've loved Boo's designs long before I became a "Blossom", and the kit CHINA was part of a buy-my-store from 2010 over at The Studio. I loved the colors of it, and the fact that I could use it to scrap our pictures from our trip to Singapore to visit my sister..... well, THAT hasn't happened (yet) but I found a way to use the kit ...... :-)

Also, Boo is Featured Designer over at The Studio this month! Go take a look at her special kit called MAY DAYS.......


I have finally remembered to put my Point in Time challenge up for the month......

I used Boolands kit "ILLUSION"


OH, before I forget again.... International Scrap Book Day is this weekend..... Keep an eye on your favorite shops.... There's usually A LOT of goodies around this time of year .....

Don't forget to hug a loved one :-)










Wednesday, May 2, 2012

OH BOY, OH BOY, OH BOY!!!!!

My head is spinning.....
I made a plan, shit happened, I made a new plan, the fan received more stuff, and here I am, on my 3rd plan for the week, and it's only wednesday!!!!!!

I will not bore you with the first 2 plans, but the third plan is..... making a schedule and sticking to it, if it kills me!

Perky went to the vet yesterday, and I thought he had lost weight, but he's turning into me.... He needs exercise and a better diet. He also received stuff to help him get rid of hairballs.... Believe me when I say that this is a good thing... there's just nothing that brings home that point better than stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and stepping in it! LOL.
His fur turns out to be extremely long for a siamese, even a mix, and with the weather.... well, lets just say, we have the heater on one day, and the windows open the next. I can dust-mop followed by vacuming followed by, wet-mopping every inch of the house and 2 hours from now, there's clumps of hair in pretty much every corner, but he's not going bald, so he replaces as much as he looses..... 
Ive' been taking him for short walks , and he has his Ivans he runs in the middle of the night, or late evening, depending on how many hours he napped in the daytime, and since he's real finicky when it comes to food, we pretty much let him eat when/how much he wants....... some days that's almost nothing, and some days he keeps his bowl pretty empty, no matter how many times we fill it up. Obviously, the snacking still outweighs the moving. The walks will get longer, playtime will be twice a day and his snacks will be diluted with "weight management" food..... He's had it before, you know, one of those little snackbags you get when you buy a big one, and he liked it, so.... that's one hurdle taken. Vet said he's not FAT, but just a little overweight, and it is a good time to start keeping him trim, and a lot easier than losing the weight if it goes up a lot..... just like me... Only, I'm in charge of my own food bowl/shopping, and there in lies the rub! LOL.

Mike is on full duty, and he is soooooooo tired when he gets home. I usually don't catch him walking up to the house, just hear the door, but yesterday I did.... He walks like every bone and muscle in his body hurts. Around the house I don't notice it much, since I try to have him sit down as much as he'll let me, and we haven't really been going out on his days off, so I haven't watched him walk more than a couple of steps..... I feel so bad, I can't do anything for him. The chiropractor we found seems to relieve the pain in his back only temporarily, so far, so I'm hoping for the longterm benefits to start kicking in soon.  Meanwhile, I'm taking him off the "I cook, he does the dishes" chore division, which prompted me to make my third plan of the week.

So, since today is a total waste, between taking him to chiro (poor guy couldn't even move enough to get his shoes tied this morning), dropping him off at work, do groceries so he won't have to, coming home, doing chores, go back and pick him up, I decided to take the "doing chores" time and decide on what things need to be done, when/how often, how long it takes to do, what I want to do except the "have to's" and put it all in a time schedule, leaving a little room for incidentals like last minute, "crap I ran out of food" moments LOL. Right now, I'm at lunch :-)

Just wanted to share..... thanks for listening!

Hug a loved one sometime today. Life is short, and you never know what tomorrow rolls your way :-)