Wordless Wednesday, a day late

Talented Tuesday

I'm starting a new feature on my blog today called Talented Tuesday.

Every Tuesday I will feature someone I see as Talented-someone I know or found on the Internet, a local artist or business, etc. Anyone with Talent is fair game and if they let me, I'll feature them!

For my first Talented Tuesday, I think it is appropriate that my Aunt Mary should be the first to be featured. She is Talented! She is a beautiful person, makes beautiful stamped cards and never fails to make me feel great with the words, "Suzie, you are so talented!" Seriously, how can you not love a person who says that and means it?

The debut of Talented Tuesday features some of my Aunt Mary's stamped/handmade cards-she loves polka dots, layers, ribbons and classic embellishments. She even decorates the envelopes they are mailed in (and it kills me to even open them!). I've saved every single hand stamped card she's made for me, so it was a little tough to narrow it down. Here is a representation of about every occasion...enjoy!

An Xplosion over the weekend

Xplosion, a local girls fast pitch softball team had their annual Chuckwagon Fundraiser on Saturday night and I was invited to MC the event.

What is a Chuckwagon Fundraiser? It's a tasty BBQ, old time cowboy singers with silent and live auction to raise funds for the the softball team to travel to tournaments all over the U.S.

Since it is the middle of winter, this was the indoor, traveling version of the real event. I had never experienced a Chuckwagon Supper and Western Stage Show before and it was a real treat! If you are traveling in the Western United States on your summer vacation and want to experience the old time west on a real ranch-Chuckwagon Suppers and Western Stage Shows are located in South Dakota, Colorado and Arizona. The cowboys from the Flying W Ranch (http://www.flyingw.com/) in Colorado Springs, Colorado came to entertain us.

We all had a good time and good amount of money was raised...thanks to all who donated and bid!

I turned our studio into a kindergarten classroom

Which is appropriate because us radio types are about that mature, ha! http://www.bigcountry979.com/

Actually, in a effort to be more creative this year (a real New Year's resolution), I've decided to make "door decos" for each season/holiday/special occasion to welcome our DJ's and guests into our studio. Although we have a beautiful brand new facility with 6 studios/stations along a hallway, it's all very "corporate cookie cutter" and easy to get lost finding the right studio. Thus the "door deco" concept was born.

If you scroll back through my posts you will see my Christmas ones. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, here is this year's Valentine

It's the doily that makes me think of kindergarten-remember how cute those kid's handmade valentines were and how the classroom was always decorated so sweet? I think I've recaptured some of that!

How I made them: This was a "recycle/use what you have" project. Cost: $0

1. I didn't do a lot of stamping on these-just the wings (Stampin' Up!) and I used red Distress ink (Tim Holtz) to color the doilies.

2. Although you can't see it, old CD's are used as the base behind the doilies..

3. The circles you can see are recycled coasters covered in leftover scrap booking paper.

4. alphabet stickers for names, handmade papers for depth, colored card stock for layering

5. wooden hearts, paper hearts, glitter on the wings, mounting tape for added dimension

6. corner rounder punch and 3 hearts punch (Stampin' Up!)

So...this week before Valentine's Day, I challenge you to make a Valentine from what you already have around the house. I'd love to post it here, so send me a pic and details. Have fun!

A philosophical question really...

Not really, but this question often reminds me of the "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

It has to do with my sleep schedule and it's been going on so long that I don't know which came first: did I start waking up before the sun first or did I fall asleep early first to get myself in this pattern? hmmm.

I've never had "normal" jobs-resort, restaurants, retail, radio-so I've never had a normal sleep schedule EVER. Early morning shifts, late night and overnight shifts, weekends and holidays, 2nd jobs, no day ever the same...my lack of schedule is my schedule! I'm not sure I'd know how to act if I had to be 'normal.'

The upside of this waking up early? I must be a morning person because I like it-I make my coffee and play on the computer for about an hour before anyone else gets up-I like having this extra time alone in the dark before I have to be mother, wife, housekeeper, income earner. It's not incredibly productive-can't vacuum or do anything noisy in the middle of the night, but I do my crossword puzzle (http://www.yahoo.com/), blogging, Facebook, Etsy, other paperwork and the ever addicting Bejeweled Blitz (http://www.popcap.com/)

The downside of getting up before the sun? I can't keep my eyes open past 8pm and the ever present crick in my neck from falling asleep on the couch. Just for the record I have tried to stay up later and change the pattern...nope, my eyes still fly open at 5am!

So, like the chicken and the egg question, there is no answer nor do I spend a lot of time thinking about it. Just enough to post it here...early and in the dark. Besides, who wants to miss this sunrise sky?

Saved by work?

So...when is a person happy to go to work instead of staying home? When she's been deep cleaning each room of the house a day at a time and today is bedrooms day!

I have two teenage boys who don't appreciate what a dresser is for, when to do laundry or change their sheets, so this is not a job I look forward to! There is no eating allowed in rooms and yet candy wrappers, glasses, etc abound. Ryan's closet looks like it barfed out everything he owns onto the floor and Kyle's dresser looks like a lava flow of t-shirts and jeans flowing out of it! Every drawer is open and I'm not even sure how it stays upright.

Most of the time I ignore how unkempt their rooms are because they are good kids:, they get good grades, don't get into trouble, have extra curricular activities. etc. This is a "fixable/trainable" issue in the big scheme of things and if pressed (which I do every few weeks) they will clean up.

We got a reprieve because someone got ill and I got called in to work. So...Dear Jennifer, I'm sorry you are sick, but THANK YOU! for calling me in to work for you today-not sure I was up for the challenge just yet.

Comfort food in the dead of winter

It had been a beautiful few days with the sun shining and snow melting. But, yesterday afternoon you could tell something was different in the air. Clouds were coming in and bringing snow back with them...dang...getting kinda tired of the snow and cold!

Time to dig out some comfort food to combat the mood of the day, so I wandered through some old magazines to see if I had marked anything to try. As luck would have it, I did actually remember to flag a couple of items from the November 1st, 2008 issue of Family Circle magazine http://www.parents.com/family-circle-magazine/. (why I still have magazines from 2008 is a whole different issue!)

The recipe is for the greatest comfort food of all, MEATLOAF! We had it last night and it's simple ingredients, easy prep and good taste (that even picky teenagers like) made it a winner. here is the recipe if you want to try it yourself: