10 am ... 100 degrees, nice round numbers, huh?

What would I expect in the middle of June in the middle of the Arizona desert?  Yeah, it's gonna be a hot weekend.  Two things will be happening today, okay two fun things and lots of other not so fun things... Time in the studio....working on three invite projects, almost done with one.  Mandatory time in the swimming pool (with a nice cold drink).  Already set up the umbrellas for shade otherwise the patio is way too hot to walk on barefoot.  The not so fun things...housework, cooking, laundry, etc...yeah it's the weekend...who cares about a dirty house or having clean clothes, not me!  Eating, well that's a fun thing, just not in the mood to cook.   Yesterday, I watered my outdoor plants and they were talking to me, okay, yelling at me!  Get us the out of the sun!  I feel so bad, so I'm gonna move them, again.  Don't know where cuz the sunshine and heat is everywhere.  Maybe the courtyard, more shade there... only I forget to water ... outa sight + outa mind = forget to water them!  This happens to me every summer.   I don't know how other people keep their plants so nice...maybe automatic watering systems? 

Laptop, cont....

Tech was here yesterday and he tried his best to get the Dell people to replace this laptop.  No go, surprise, surprise.  So, instead he replaced the part they sent and clicked and clicked there and click some more..whoo laa I think he fixed it!  So far so good.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.  Oh and by the way, the smart techie people at Dell are sending a gillion more parts to replace, you would think by now they just would of been ahead of the game it they just would of replace the whole thing. 
Anyways, I'm spending my day with some friends and then in my studio.  As my friend said this morning on Facebook if you're happy and you know it....get up!

Laptop, cont...

Oh by the way, my laptop still isn't fixed!!  Surprise surprise you say.  The smart people at Dell emailed me to inform me another part will be replaced on this laptop....the touchpad thingie area.  Which by the way, yes it's been replaced before!!!  I'm like whatever I gotta do to fix this piece of crap ... the touch screen is what needs to be replaced you fools...you f***king fools!  So the on-site tech called me this morning to tell me he has the part and will be here to switch it out.  He laughs and says what happened?  Thought we were done with replacement parts and then he laughs again.  He mentions again, you might consider giving your laptop to someone you really like and buying a iMac....really  really  really.  I don't have iMac kinda money ... I'm retired you fool.  He laughs, again.

Craft studio cleansing

Since I've become a stay at home in my studio kinda royalty my studio seems claustrophobic to me.  When I was only spending a few hours at time in there I never noticed all the things I have in my studio space.  I've begun to move things around, organize with containers and to purge, purge, purge and purge some more.  When I was on my Texas family trip I realized I come from a family of creative people so I decided while I'm reorganizing I will begin a box of treasures for my cousin SueAnn.  Then I had lunch with a good friend and she mentioned how she donated all her scrapbook stuff to a friend's daughter, who's a creative soul.  Light bulb.... I put together a box for Alexis.  I'm pretty organized so while purging it didn't take me long to sort through scrapbook paper and supplies.  I added some small treasures, markers, embellishments, stickers, beads, ribbons, buttons, magazines and a card making book.  I put it all in a box and was lucky enough to deliver it to her mom yesterday.  And believe me I have plenty left over to send off to cousin SueAnn.

Thank You cards

 I printed up one of my paintings on card stock.  I added glitter  and "thank you", which was a tedious thing since the letters were so small.  

I used my chalks to add depth and color.

I made three sets of three cards and tied ribbon around them.  Nice thank you gifts.

I used another piece of my artwork and made my Thank You cards to send to my Texas family for all they did for us on our trip. 

Recycling t-shirts

My friend, Kathy showed me a rug she knitted out of old t-shirts.  I loved it and what a great idea.  Coincidentally, I had just empty out my closet of stuff to donate.  In my pile I had a number of t-shirts & tanks.  Funny how I noticed my color choices in clothes, very color complimentary to each other.  I had about 10 or so and I decided not to use any of the dark colors.  I cut the t-shirts into 1 1/2 inch strips.  I got a big sized crochet needle...I don't know how to knit!   

The look of the rug is so cool.  I used up all the strips but I need more because the rug, 18"x48" is not big enough.  I'll have to dig in my closet, again... Tom has tons of white t-shirts I recycle, just not sure I want to use white.  

Thank you Kathy for the great idea!

Bowling Pin Photo Book

I told you how Tio Tony gave me a bowling pin he got from the bowling alley on Norton Air Force Base, California.  I decided to have the bowling pin travel to some cool places and to photograph the adventure.  The next thing was to figure out how I was going to put the photos together and how to be able to add photos over time.  I remembered watching some YouTube videos in the past on how to make a hard cover book.  I found the videos and watched them, again.  There are a number of steps but not difficult steps.  

Here's what I ended up with....

 Get paper for pages and glue them together on one end.  

 I decided to save paper and cut strips instead of using full sheets.  Kinda a mistake because it was a tough job fitting the strips to glue.  The proper way was to use double the pages and trim out every other page to make room for thickness the photos make.

Set aside to dry.

I found some muslin fabric to print the cover photo on.  I used freezer paper to stabilize the fabric for the printer.  Iron the fabric to the waxed side of the freezer paper.  

Ta Da...it worked out perfectly.  I heat set the ink.  By the way, the photo was taken pool side.  I like the way the colors coordinated with Mr. Bowling Pin.

The next steps took some patience and time.  I cut book boards, glued the fabric as neatly as I could.  I also made added the protector pages to the book pages and then put it all together.

 I make two photo books...one for Tio & one for me.

I printed my photos & got myself a cup of coffee and began the process of putting the photos in our books.  I used old fashion photo corners and made all the photos the same size.

I need to add a few local Phoenix and Arizona photos before I mail this off.  Both books will hold 50 photos.   This is a very fun project and I can't wait for my Tio Tony to have it.

Laptop cont.....

The smart tech people at Dell Support said no to replacing the whole laptop.....hummmm

So what next you ask, I have no idea.  I turned the laptop on and it seemed fine at first.  I haven't downloaded all the software it originally came with...I guess there's a website to go to do this.  But, the mouse started to act up again.  So now it's an off & on issue, not a continuous issue.  Here's an example I was at Starbucks meeting with a friend to show her font styles for her wedding invite and the start menu kept popping up over & over & over & over...couldn't get anything done!

I kept putting off calling Dell Support back cuz I think I'm gonna say the F word a number of times as I describe the problems for the millionth time.  I did read somewhere cussing relieves stress, especially saying the F word.

In the mean time, I've been busy in the craft studio and have many photos to post.  Goal for today .....

Post them F***king photos!  Oh I feel so much better!  (smiley face).

By the way, did I mention summer heat has arrived in Arizona?   It's in the 100's in the shade. (not smiling)  oh yeah....in the F***king shade....wow, it's really working...less stress is always good.

Ugh....

As I mentioned before my laptop has been acting up...well it's possessed.  Hard drive was replaced and it came with a mind of it's own!   I can't control the mouse/cursor at all.  Was on phone with Dell support for two hours, mostly on hold.  I think they just didn't want to deal with me and all my complaints.  Finally, when I was off hold I asked to speak with the supervisor, so Aaron, the supervisor, gets on the line and I'm talking over him and he so kindly asks me to listen.  I didn't and said I have heard it all and I'm done listening.  I want a new laptop, not a refurbished piece of crap.  He finally figured out there was nothing more he could offer and agreed.  Of course he has to submit, talk to, beg or whatever to get the next level of command to agree and send me a new laptop.  So far the motherboard, fan, video card, usb ports, keyboard, hard drive and software have been replaced...I'm asking him what more is left to replace?  Not to forget all the time I've wasted.  Now I gotta wait, again.  I told Aaron, the supervisor how disappointed I am in Dell and this may be the last product I ever buy from them and I will certainly discourage anyone else from ever buying a Dell product.  I don't think Aaron the supervisor could care less but you know the conversation is recorded so I could tell it was a challenge to give the appropriate responses.  The computer tech told me he hates working with Dell Support, I agree.

This morning Tom handed me his laptop, knowing I was gonna have laptop withdrawal issues.  haha

I think today is a good day to spend in the pool and craft studio.....

Dear Blog, I'm sorry I've been neglecting you,

You would think someone like me, retired and all, would have nothing but time on her hands to devote endless hours to her blog....but as it turns out I haven't of late.  You may remember back in March I was having problems with my laptop, anyways the problems continue.  It's like this laptop has a mind of it's own.  I've been spending time backing up all my photos, music and misc files.  What a big job.  I need to go buy another external storage drive.  I'm pretty organized but good organization takes concentration, too.  Computer people told me today we'll be replacing the hard drive, so that means I'm gonna be backing up a few more things!  I'll be starting over with a brand new system...ugh!  But I like my system the way it is.  That means, making lists of software and information,  reinstalling software, setting up my Favorites, on & on.  But on the positive side....no more laptop problems!!! (keep your fingers crossed).  Because of all this I haven't been downloading or playing with any photos of the things I've been doing.  Today for example is the first day of Sweet Salvage sale!  I'm heading over there to check out the goodies.  I'm going to a happy hour for another person who is retiring, yeah!  I have lots of goodies to photograph that I came home with, fun fun...  I've been to the movies and watching DVD's, some good, some not so good.  The Avengers, thumbs up.  The Vow, ummm,

So, Dear Blog, I hope to be back soon with really cool stuff to write about.  Promise.

Bowling pin update.....

Leaving Nebraska....

what an adventure it's been so far.....

Re-connecting

This is Diana.  We graduated high school in 1975 and haven't seen each other until that day.  It was so funny how neither of really remember too many classmates, but we remember each other.  We did some catching up in our brief visit, but there's more stories and laughs to be had.  She's making some big changes in her life and I wished her well.  We promise to stay in touch .... why not, I say...she's way cool.  I love it when good things happen.

Arizona

It's nice to be home, even it means unloading MINI Lula, unpacking suitcases and boxes.  It took me a couple of days to get back in the groove of things.  Laundry, cleaning and endless dusting.  Already met up with some friends and got caught up some on what's been going on.  It's warm out and the pool is inviting, once I cleaned it.  Love being home.

I've been dying to get into the craft studio.  I so many ideas and gifts to make.  I think I'll make it in there tonight.  I need to sort through photos and post them soon.

Enjoy your day....

Heading west, heading home,

I don't like goodbyes, but I do like heading home.  I'll be stopping in on a friend in Colorado that I haven't seen since high school.  On a whim I contacted her and asked if I could stop in and visit.  She gladly said yes.  I'm excited to see her.  I'm also meeting up with Tom in Denver, yeah!  We'll be meeting up with some college friends and I'm really excited to see them, it's been way too long. 

I did some really cool things on this trip.  I was able to find a good high school friend and her husband who live in the middle of nowhere.  I did get a treasure from them, too.  haha   Good thing I MINImized my luggage because MINI Lula is packed full with all kinds of goodies and treasures.  I decided to wait until I unpack in Arizona to share photos.  I have stories to share and photos to show you.  I plan to get busy in my craft studio as soon as get home...I have tons of ideas!!!

Happy May Day!

I remember making May Day baskets, fill them with candy and the funnest part was leaving them on a boy's door, knocking and running...just hoping they would run after me.What's so weird is most of my friends in Arizona have never heard of this fun tradition.  They haven't ever herad of May Day fun, period.  They have no idea what they missed out on.

Internet Photo - Will Merydith