In case you wanted to know.
Still love me some Santa-trackin' on Christmas Eve.
Ben is fascinated this year :)
Some stats (check passenger weight before and after his flight...hee)
Sleigh Technical Data
Designer & Builder: K. Kringle & Elves, Inc.
Probable First Flight: Dec. 24, 343 A.D.
Home Base: North Pole
Length: 75 cc (candy canes)/150 lp (lollipops)
Width: 40 cc/80 lp
Height: 55 cc/110 lp
Weight at takeoff: 75,000 gd (gumdrops)
Passenger weigth at takeoff: Santa Claus 260 pounds
Weight of gifts at takeoff: 60,000 tons
Weight at landing: 80,000 gd (ice & snow accumulation)
Passenger weight at landing: 1,260 pounds
Propulsion: Nine (9) rp (reindeer power)
Armament: Antlers (purely defensive)
Fuel: Hay, oats and carrots (for reindeer)
Emissions: Classified
Climbing speed: One “T” (Twinkle of an eye)
Max speed: Faster than starlight
Note: Length, width and height are without reindeer.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
All Things Tim
To keep me from thinking about the huge flame war/phone call fight I'm in the middle of with family (Merry 'effing Christmas, eh?!), I'm over at Tim Holtz's blog, enraptured by his 12 Tags of Christmas tutorials. Oh, and I've posted some holiday music, which you can turn off if it makes you crazy.
Speaking of going crazy, I had to go to special notice at the All Things Tim Yahoo group, as there are about 900 members and over 200 emails a day coming off of it. But it's a fun place for swaps and ideas and talkin' Tim.
Here's a bit of Christmas knitty goodness for ya...I'm halfway through Mom's Noro armwarmers...luckily I think my brother and I have kept her out of our happy holiday battle (it's been a long time coming, is all I can say about that).
I'd better go cast on arm warmer #2...peace out.
Speaking of going crazy, I had to go to special notice at the All Things Tim Yahoo group, as there are about 900 members and over 200 emails a day coming off of it. But it's a fun place for swaps and ideas and talkin' Tim.
Here's a bit of Christmas knitty goodness for ya...I'm halfway through Mom's Noro armwarmers...luckily I think my brother and I have kept her out of our happy holiday battle (it's been a long time coming, is all I can say about that).
I'd better go cast on arm warmer #2...peace out.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The "Ice" President
Seriously.
Funny.
GO!
Oh, and I totally forgot about Shannon's Welcome party and our assault of Tim Holtz in yesterday's entry. So I've added it to the bottom there. Fun stuff, go look!
Funny.
GO!
Oh, and I totally forgot about Shannon's Welcome party and our assault of Tim Holtz in yesterday's entry. So I've added it to the bottom there. Fun stuff, go look!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Ready for a Rant? (and a Really Long Post)...
Since Ben turned two, I realized I no longer have claim to postpartum anything. I realized the same thing when Tess was two; I felt better, more myself, still connected to my child in that mysterious way (you're tired when they're tired, still...but now once you put them to bed, you get your second wind...things like that).
So before I go into how wonderful CE was (and it was...the energy is still vibrating around me a month later), I have to get something off my chest. For once, it's not about the kids. Sorry if I've been boring you silly with their antics in the past two years (mostly over at Flickr...my Project 365 seems to be mostly ProjectBen365).
I met so many spoiled women at Creative Escape that it started to piss me off (then I stopped paying attention to them). If I heard one. more. woman. tell me that "oh, my husband sent me off to my first CE, and he just keeps sending me!" or, "I just dropped $400 at the on-site store!" or, "They really should let CE alumni have first grab at registering, everyone else can wait!" I was going to bitch-slap someone.
Luckily the classes were all fast-paced, and I naturally gravitated towards more laid-back, sweet people, who -- like me -- knew how lucky they were to be there, had worked really hard in the past year saving up money for the event, knew they were getting tons of swag, and didn't have to hit every. scrap. store. in the greater Phoenix area.
Somehow I missed the worst of the bitchiness (yes, I've heard there was worse...but I didn't ask for details) and unfortunately, whenever you get a group of women together there is bound to be that cattiness out there in the open for the rest of us to gape at.
'Nuff said. On to the good stuff.
Wednesday, September 3rd
Tess started school Tuesday, so I barely had time to wave her off on the bus before I turned around and left for the airport (Ben was up north with my folks). This was my first time packing for a scrap event that required air travel, so I made sure to hop on my scale at home to double-check my Giant Bag Full of Really Heavy Tools (seriously, Crop-A-Dile? Ten pounds right there). "We" weighed in at 37.5 (well, my *bag* did, haha), so I knew I was safe to check it and not pay the extra fee (of course, the airline weighed it in at 38 pounds even, so I was glad I was not close to the 50 pound limit...two words: ball machine. We've been there).
On the plane, I managed a first even for klutzy me -- I spilled an entire can of tonic water in my lap. Luckily, it landed only on me, because the girl sitting next to me was watching Lost Season 1 on her pretty white Mac laptop -- thank God I didn't splash her. Also, mom was right...you should always have a complete change of clothes (and by complete I mean Including Clean Underwear) in your carry-on. Saved by a Momism!
On the shuttle to the resort, I met the most interesting person...an 85 year-old man, VERY talkative, who was heading back to his condo after ferrying an old 747 around the world...literally. He rattled off the places he had been in the last week of "work" (he's actually a volunteer) -- including Turkey and Singapore. He told us his life story, from when he first learned to fly at age 13, to his military training during WWII, to the fact that he could ferry planes now due to the fact that he was the "last of his line," thanks to all the radiation he was exposed to during his military career (a little TMI, but like I said, VERY talkative). I'm one of those strange people who could listen to stories like that all day; older people fascinate me. One of my roommates, Renee, told me later that there is a whole group of older retirees who ferry these hulking, ancient aircraft around; they're called the Confederate (or Commemorative) Air Force. I got goosebumps just talking to the guy. Made my day!
When I got to CE, I checked into my room and called Julie (my SIStv angel), who lives in Phoenix. We were hoping to meet up, but unfortunately we got the day we were to meet mixed up and she was without a ride, bummer. Later I sent her the Little Miss Chatterbox magnetic notepad I found for her at Target's dollar spot. Yup, I attract the talkers, hee.
As I walked around the resort, I kept *thinking* I recognized people from a tiny 100x100 pixel photo at the Yahoo group site, but alas, no one had name tags yet and I was too shy to approach anyone. I wandered around by the pool in that wonderful "dry heat" of Arizona, which I usually relish, but since it was the end of monsoon season there were mosquitoes bigger than crows out there, and they were going for jugulars.
There was a treasure/scavenger hunt going on, sponsored by Oriental Trading Company, but I didn't even have to get out my map -- I just followed the crowds of women gathering around styrofoam treasure chests. You had to sign the book inside to be entered for prize drawings on Saturday night, so I did my thing and went back inside before getting eaten alive.
I realized it was 5:30 p.m. local time, which meant 8:30 p.m. *my* time, and all I'd had to eat was a box "lunch" (Snacks of Doom) on the plane (I ate dried sausage...that's a first) almost 4 hours prior. I had dinner scheduled with my Circle Journal gals at 6:30 p.m., but knew I couldn't wait (until 9:30 p.m.) to eat dinner. I also realized some alcohol would loosen me up a bit; I was wound tight with anticipation and shyness. Sure enough, a beer and a chicken enchilada or two later, and Josiane (of the CJ group) came right up to me; I was able to smile, relax, say hello, and act like an adult, not a middle-schooler.
This also helped me keep my expenses down at dinner; we were given all meals with our registration for Friday and Saturday, but I was on my own the rest of the time. I split a salad with Susan ("in NY" -- there were no less than FIVE Susans on the Yahoo board...also a lot of Michelles...it was hard to keep everyone straight without a face for the name). The salad had an amazing creamy garlic dressing that I was hoping would keep the mosquitoes at bay, but alas...I did not venture outside again that evening to test my theory.
It was fantastic to meet IRL all of the ladies whose journals I had worked on in turn over the last year; I'm so glad I got in on the first round Circle Journal right after winning my "Golden Ticket" last October. I knew from CKU-Detroit to find & join the complimentary Yahoo group (I even joined the 2007 CE group, waiting for the 2008 group to form!).
The artwork that rolled by as each more complete album crossed my desk was increasingly inspiring and each journal really challenged me as a scrapbook "artist." I can only hope that my work was up to par!
picture courtesy of Shannon Coyne.
Back row: Susan (in NY), Elsa (Canada), Shermala (Kansas), Shannon the Great (organizer of all CE swaps, Arizona), Carolyn (my "mailer" from Maine), Keri (Texas); front row: me!, Josiane (Texas), and Shari (another Michigander!)
After dinner, I headed up to Shannon's welcome party...60 women, even in a suite, was too dang hot for me, so I ran downstairs with most of them to stalk Tim Holtz and see his reaction to Shari's T.I.T. (Totally Into Tim) buttons. Hee!
I will say this about Tim...I don't think that guy ever has a bad day. Here come 35 women charging at him and he stood up with a smile and had us all laughing about his fear of heights (discovered suddenly when he was taken to a hot air balloon ride...and couldn't get out of the car) in about five minutes. Must be all that grungeboard he sniffs, or perhaps his alcohol inks. Whatever, he is one cool dude. His project was the only one we finished in class. Okay, from now on I am dotting the "i" in Tim's name with a heart whenever I can.
Exhasuted, I finally retired to my room around 11 p.m. (still calculating the time change, that made it 2 a.m. for me...soon, I would have to stop doing that) and met Renee, with whom I shared a room for 4 nights, and we each settled into our full- (not queen, as touted) sized beds, after watching a bit of the (ugh) RNC and discovering Tina Fey's double running for VP with McCain. Spooky!
More on Days 2-5 as I have time...thanks for reading so far!
So before I go into how wonderful CE was (and it was...the energy is still vibrating around me a month later), I have to get something off my chest. For once, it's not about the kids. Sorry if I've been boring you silly with their antics in the past two years (mostly over at Flickr...my Project 365 seems to be mostly ProjectBen365).
I met so many spoiled women at Creative Escape that it started to piss me off (then I stopped paying attention to them). If I heard one. more. woman. tell me that "oh, my husband sent me off to my first CE, and he just keeps sending me!" or, "I just dropped $400 at the on-site store!" or, "They really should let CE alumni have first grab at registering, everyone else can wait!" I was going to bitch-slap someone.
Luckily the classes were all fast-paced, and I naturally gravitated towards more laid-back, sweet people, who -- like me -- knew how lucky they were to be there, had worked really hard in the past year saving up money for the event, knew they were getting tons of swag, and didn't have to hit every. scrap. store. in the greater Phoenix area.
Somehow I missed the worst of the bitchiness (yes, I've heard there was worse...but I didn't ask for details) and unfortunately, whenever you get a group of women together there is bound to be that cattiness out there in the open for the rest of us to gape at.
'Nuff said. On to the good stuff.
Wednesday, September 3rd
Tess started school Tuesday, so I barely had time to wave her off on the bus before I turned around and left for the airport (Ben was up north with my folks). This was my first time packing for a scrap event that required air travel, so I made sure to hop on my scale at home to double-check my Giant Bag Full of Really Heavy Tools (seriously, Crop-A-Dile? Ten pounds right there). "We" weighed in at 37.5 (well, my *bag* did, haha), so I knew I was safe to check it and not pay the extra fee (of course, the airline weighed it in at 38 pounds even, so I was glad I was not close to the 50 pound limit...two words: ball machine. We've been there).
On the plane, I managed a first even for klutzy me -- I spilled an entire can of tonic water in my lap. Luckily, it landed only on me, because the girl sitting next to me was watching Lost Season 1 on her pretty white Mac laptop -- thank God I didn't splash her. Also, mom was right...you should always have a complete change of clothes (and by complete I mean Including Clean Underwear) in your carry-on. Saved by a Momism!
On the shuttle to the resort, I met the most interesting person...an 85 year-old man, VERY talkative, who was heading back to his condo after ferrying an old 747 around the world...literally. He rattled off the places he had been in the last week of "work" (he's actually a volunteer) -- including Turkey and Singapore. He told us his life story, from when he first learned to fly at age 13, to his military training during WWII, to the fact that he could ferry planes now due to the fact that he was the "last of his line," thanks to all the radiation he was exposed to during his military career (a little TMI, but like I said, VERY talkative). I'm one of those strange people who could listen to stories like that all day; older people fascinate me. One of my roommates, Renee, told me later that there is a whole group of older retirees who ferry these hulking, ancient aircraft around; they're called the Confederate (or Commemorative) Air Force. I got goosebumps just talking to the guy. Made my day!
When I got to CE, I checked into my room and called Julie (my SIStv angel), who lives in Phoenix. We were hoping to meet up, but unfortunately we got the day we were to meet mixed up and she was without a ride, bummer. Later I sent her the Little Miss Chatterbox magnetic notepad I found for her at Target's dollar spot. Yup, I attract the talkers, hee.
As I walked around the resort, I kept *thinking* I recognized people from a tiny 100x100 pixel photo at the Yahoo group site, but alas, no one had name tags yet and I was too shy to approach anyone. I wandered around by the pool in that wonderful "dry heat" of Arizona, which I usually relish, but since it was the end of monsoon season there were mosquitoes bigger than crows out there, and they were going for jugulars.
There was a treasure/scavenger hunt going on, sponsored by Oriental Trading Company, but I didn't even have to get out my map -- I just followed the crowds of women gathering around styrofoam treasure chests. You had to sign the book inside to be entered for prize drawings on Saturday night, so I did my thing and went back inside before getting eaten alive.
I realized it was 5:30 p.m. local time, which meant 8:30 p.m. *my* time, and all I'd had to eat was a box "lunch" (Snacks of Doom) on the plane (I ate dried sausage...that's a first) almost 4 hours prior. I had dinner scheduled with my Circle Journal gals at 6:30 p.m., but knew I couldn't wait (until 9:30 p.m.) to eat dinner. I also realized some alcohol would loosen me up a bit; I was wound tight with anticipation and shyness. Sure enough, a beer and a chicken enchilada or two later, and Josiane (of the CJ group) came right up to me; I was able to smile, relax, say hello, and act like an adult, not a middle-schooler.
This also helped me keep my expenses down at dinner; we were given all meals with our registration for Friday and Saturday, but I was on my own the rest of the time. I split a salad with Susan ("in NY" -- there were no less than FIVE Susans on the Yahoo board...also a lot of Michelles...it was hard to keep everyone straight without a face for the name). The salad had an amazing creamy garlic dressing that I was hoping would keep the mosquitoes at bay, but alas...I did not venture outside again that evening to test my theory.
It was fantastic to meet IRL all of the ladies whose journals I had worked on in turn over the last year; I'm so glad I got in on the first round Circle Journal right after winning my "Golden Ticket" last October. I knew from CKU-Detroit to find & join the complimentary Yahoo group (I even joined the 2007 CE group, waiting for the 2008 group to form!).
The artwork that rolled by as each more complete album crossed my desk was increasingly inspiring and each journal really challenged me as a scrapbook "artist." I can only hope that my work was up to par!
picture courtesy of Shannon Coyne.
Back row: Susan (in NY), Elsa (Canada), Shermala (Kansas), Shannon the Great (organizer of all CE swaps, Arizona), Carolyn (my "mailer" from Maine), Keri (Texas); front row: me!, Josiane (Texas), and Shari (another Michigander!)
After dinner, I headed up to Shannon's welcome party...60 women, even in a suite, was too dang hot for me, so I ran downstairs with most of them to stalk Tim Holtz and see his reaction to Shari's T.I.T. (Totally Into Tim) buttons. Hee!
I will say this about Tim...I don't think that guy ever has a bad day. Here come 35 women charging at him and he stood up with a smile and had us all laughing about his fear of heights (discovered suddenly when he was taken to a hot air balloon ride...and couldn't get out of the car) in about five minutes. Must be all that grungeboard he sniffs, or perhaps his alcohol inks. Whatever, he is one cool dude. His project was the only one we finished in class. Okay, from now on I am dotting the "i" in Tim's name with a heart whenever I can.
Exhasuted, I finally retired to my room around 11 p.m. (still calculating the time change, that made it 2 a.m. for me...soon, I would have to stop doing that) and met Renee, with whom I shared a room for 4 nights, and we each settled into our full- (not queen, as touted) sized beds, after watching a bit of the (ugh) RNC and discovering Tina Fey's double running for VP with McCain. Spooky!
More on Days 2-5 as I have time...thanks for reading so far!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Lil update
Well, after my 3rd day of wearing pink (I'm a black, brown, grey fan, myself) I caught this sp as I headed out for more classes at Creative Escape. Seems I've come home with quite a bit of pink to wear, and little by little it is sneaking into my wardrobe...dang that pink!My computer has been sluggish (since before I left, actually) and I caught a cold on the airplane home (that's why it's called Airborne, right?!), then I was swept into the frenzy of school mornings, getting Ben from my folks, getting him back into a routine at home (thought he might be giving up naps, like his sister did at 2 years, aaaaccck!), so I haven't had the computer time I dreamed of in the last week or so. I've even had a couple of days without 365 photos of any kind...sp or otherwise!
Seems my priorities have changed up a bit...that's what happens when you give yourself a luxurious creative retreat in Arizona for 4 1/2 days. It's a good thing. I might even give it a try next year...(pssstt...you can sign up for the CE09 registration lottery already...go go go!)
Have to run in a few minutes to meet the school bus...will try to give you a day-by-day Creative Escape update soon!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Catching up before taking off...
E just came up to compliment me on this photo, and I realized it sums up our travel experiences of late.I haven't been posting for several reasons. First of all, our summer was deathly quiet and boring until about 2 weeks ago. For some crazy reason, we decided we could travel about 2000 miles in the space of 2 weeks...first, to Cincinnati and back, then to Camp Michigania and back. What were we thinking?
I'm going to blame it on my sister...she "took" our usual Fourth of July time at our folks', stretching it into a two week visit so that we could get no time in before (bad weather) or after (folks off sailing for a month).
Then perhaps I'll blame Camp Michigania. That's easy. Well, really it's our fault, for not deciding to go until after their annual lottery (in January...who's thinking of summer vacation in January?! Not us...) We were put on the wait list for Week 10 and Week 11 (the last two weeks of camp).
We got in for both weeks...but couldn't take Week 10, as we'd already planned our trip to Cincinnati, to see friends in from California we'd hadn't seen in 3 years. We were #9 on the wait list for Week 10, we'd never dream we'd get in. Being that we were #1 on the wait list for Week 11, we had a sinking feeling we'd be called up for it, and we were.
Add in the complication of getting Ben to my folks after camp (for my jaunt to Phoenix later this week), and a bout of flu (yes, while at camp) for three of us (Ben, Egor, and me, not all at once, thank God), that left us stumbling into town late yesterday, tired, sick, not ready to unpack and repack and shop and cook for my week ahead.
Look at that countdown clock! Whoo-hoo. I'm hoping to share more pictures soon, but probably not before I take off on Wednesday. Phoenix, here I come!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Guess what his favorite new word is?
Ben, say bottle.
Bot-tle.
Ben, say orange juice.
Orng-jus.
Ben, say supercalifragilisticexpialdocious...
No.
Ben, can you say yes?
No.
The boy is spent.
Busy preparing for CE. Went to look for new luggage today...my rolling carry-on is so small, and the next size up in our luggage collection is HUGE (will weigh 50+ lbs with paper supplies stuffed in there upon my return...), so I need something medium-sized but I want something cUtE, KWIM? God, luggage is ugly these days.
Maybe I'll borrow Tess's cupcake suitcase...
Bot-tle.
Ben, say orange juice.
Orng-jus.
Ben, say supercalifragilisticexpialdocious...
No.
Ben, can you say yes?
No.
The boy is spent.
Busy preparing for CE. Went to look for new luggage today...my rolling carry-on is so small, and the next size up in our luggage collection is HUGE (will weigh 50+ lbs with paper supplies stuffed in there upon my return...), so I need something medium-sized but I want something cUtE, KWIM? God, luggage is ugly these days.
Maybe I'll borrow Tess's cupcake suitcase...
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