AGING

This is in honor of my birthday last week and my partner and best friend telling me that I am ALMOST 50! I'm fighting it with everything I have, but I love this!! He has nailed it right on the head.



George Carlin's Views on Aging
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the key! You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. 'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . You become 21. Even the words sound like a cere mony . YOU BECOME 21 YESSSS!!!

But then y ou turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60. You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

Magnetic Bookmarks

I bought one of these magnetic bookmarks a while ago from a local store and used it for a while before it hit me! I just had to try to make my own using stamps! Duh! They are so fast and easy and sooooo useful! Everybody needs at least one bookmark, right? The cardstock is 2 1/4" x 7 and is scored and folded at 3 1/2". The "friendship quote" is colored with markers and then spritzed lightly with water before stamping. The dragonfly bookmark is stamped using a multi-colored pad (like a big and juicy).

Mount on coordinating cardstock/paper and staple ribbon on before attaching to bookmark. Round corners (make sure you do this BEFORE you attach magnet!), attach sticky back magnet strip about 1/3" from bottom on inside and Voila! Ready to use! Comes in handy when I am in the middle of two or three books at the same time...... ;) You slip it over the top of the page and the magnets hold it in place. GREAT idea, don't you think!

Website Card Gallery

Here is a link to our fun new card gallery. All of the cards are handmade by Gina, me, and our daughters Ginay and Stacy. They are created with stamps and other supplies that are sold at our online store Crop and Stick. Come and check it out!

Card Group

Just got back from one of my card groups that meets once a month for lunch and a card swap. We had a great lunch. We ate at one of the gals homes. She had made several different quiches, orange rolls and had fresh fruit and homemade ice cream! And just look at the darling cards! Such pretty colors and cute ideas. It is always so much fun. Can't wait for next months!

St. George and Les Mis

Over the weekend, I went to St. George, Utah with 2 of my favorite people: my sisters, Susan and Nancy. We had such a great time. We ate, and shopped, and watched movies, and ate, and swam, and ate, and went to an outdoor theater called the Tuacahn to see Les Miserables, and ate, and giggled like crazy the whole weekend. It was so much fun! The play was incredible--very well done. Unfortunately, it looks like my camera lens was dirty and I didn't get very good pictures. It was over 110 degrees the whole time we were there. The hotel we stayed in didn't have the air conditioner on in the hallway on the 3rd floor (where we stayed) and the candy bars in the vending machines were all melted and flopping over! Needless to say, we were warm! Thank goodness the air was working in our room!

Water Bottle Tags

Ok, I said this was going to be a blog about paper crafting too and I haven't yet....so, here goes. I cased this idea from Nancy Riley a fellow blogger and stamper. Check out her blog for some really great cards, etc. I think it would be a fun gift to give the girls at camp, or maybe a visiting teacher gift. Anyways, I couldn't wait to try them. The cardstock is 2" x 7 3/4", and is scored at 2" and 6". I used the coordinating paper as a wrapper around the water bottle to cover the label. The hole is made with a 1 3/8" circle punch (which fits over the lid of the water bottle) and the pocket is made by folding up on the bottom score line and attaching with brads. The small crystal light packets fit perfectly! Now, I just need to buy some that match my paper, right? Like strawberry or something more along the lines of pink!? I have also seen these made larger and attached to a 2L bottle of pop with stick-like candies in the pocket (pixie stix or something similar!). (Cardstock, paper, brads, stamp and punches all from Stampin' Up.) *just a note: crystal light have shorter packages than Wyler's or some of the other brands. If you use another packet of drink mix, you may need to adjust the size of the cardstock to 2x9, scoring at 2 and 7 inches.

Chicken Fajita Recipe

Todd, my dh and myself, love a good mexican meal. I found this recipe while I was making my weekly menu and decided to try it out. It's a little spicy for wimps and children, but we loved it! You could adjust the spices (less tabasco or chili powder for instance) and make it milder. Looks pretty too!

FAJITAS

1 lb. chicken breast (I sliced thin while still partially frozen)

1 med. onion, sliced

1 jalepeno, sliced

1 red or green pepper, sliced

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 Tbsp. Worchestershire sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp. Vinegar

1 Tbsp. Chili Powder

2 dashes Tabasco sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lemon

Mix up Worch., soy, vinegar, salt, chili powder, garlic and Tabasco and set aside. Heat 3 Tbsp. olive or canola oil in a wok (or big frying pan) and stir fry chicken until no longer pink. Add seasoning mixture and veggies and cook until tender crisp. Squeeze lemon juice over chicken just before serving. Enjoy with sour cream and cheese.

Timpanogos Caves

My family and I went up American Fork Canyon and hiked up the big Mount Timpanogos today to tour the caves. It took us just under an hour to get to the top (they allow 1 1/2 hours) and about 45 minutes through the caves. It was just us and the tour guide so we had a pretty personalized tour and got to probably spend more time than normal looking at things. Did you know that any pool of water found in a cave is called a "lake"? I didn't know that! We saw 2 lakes in the caves and there was another bigger one that we couldn't get to or see, that she told us about.

The stalactites (from the ceiling of the cave) and the stalagmites (from the floor up) are pretty cool and have taken thousands of years to form. I think cavers must always be thinking about food because formations in the caves are often called food names: cave bacon, cave popcorn, and they had one area that looked like (and they call it) vanilla ice cream with caramel topping. Pretty amazing!
My littlest girls were kind of afraid to go in, but 1/2 way through thought it was pretty exciting. There is a story about how one of the caves was found by the guy (Hansen) following mountain lion tracks that went into the cave....I think this is partly what scared them. They did not want to run into any mountain lions!

Owee!

Ok, talk about an accident ready to happen! While I was merchandising (a fancy word for "stocking") at Costco yesterday, I sliced my finger open on a piece of steel shelving.

It cut pretty deep and started to bleed immediately. I cupped my other hand underneath it and RAN to the bathroom. I couldn't get it to stop bleeding and it HURT like the devil! One of my managers used to be an EMT, so he doctored me up a little bit and they sent me to the hospital with Worker's Comp. papers in my hand. After a 2 hour experience in the emergency room, I emerged with 7 pretty little stitches on the back of my index finger, and a very subtle bright RED bandage.

I don't know if you have ever had stitches in your finger before, but the worst part of the whole ordeal was definitely the shot! They stick this long needle into the side of your finger at the base...then she poked around a little bit to see if I was still feeling anything! I think she kind of enjoyed it! I returned to work (I was still on the clock by the way!) and helped finish cleaning up before the warehouse opened. Somehow (amazing how news travels!) most of the employees had heard of my mishap and I had to explain several times what the doc had done and how many stitches I had! Thank goodness I have the next 2 days off work, so I can hopefully heal a little bit. At least it wasn't a self-inflicted wound with a box-cutter (I've done that before, too!).

Summer time boredom busters!

I just wanted to share a great idea one of my neighbors has done for the past several years. She has organized a weekly summer field trip. She chooses a weekday and sets a time, say 10:30 a.m. She passes out a schedule at the beginning of summer and anyone who is able and wants to come shows up at a central meeting place (usually our church parking lot)...then we caravan to the activity. Most of the activities are free or low cost and close by. We usually have a bike ride/picnic, visit museums, animal parks and zoos, etc. and end with a water party in August. It gives the kids something to look forward to and mom gets to feel like the good guy for entertaining everyone!

Happily Married?

Found the funniest site today as I was "surfing". Here are a couple of my favorites of her products!! Anne Taintor has taken vintage photos and added messages to them (what she thinks they might be thinking) and made them into magnets, etc.! She has a great sense of humor! For a great laugh, look here.

What a fun lady!

Kind words...

This is a posting from a gal who ordered from us and has nothing but wonderful things to say! It made my day! Maybe I should hire here for PR or something!!http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9897636#post9897636

Girls, girls, girls!

Here is a picture of 5 of my 6 girls! Aren't they beautiful?!! The 3 in the center are the ones still at home. I remember when all of my kids were small and I used to think that life was hard with toddlers.....those of you with little ones, my advice is just ENJOY! It only gets harder. :) My mom used to say enjoy every day, before you know it they (the kids) will be gone. It's so true...in the past few years I have gone from having all my kids home to feeling like an empty-nester! I must be getting old.

Life in the Fast Lane

I have dreamed of owning a business for years and it has finally happened. In April, my partner Gina and I, got our scrapbook supply website http://www.cropandstick.com/ up and running. We just assumed that we would be able to carry whatever supplies we wanted...our main one being the ATG 714 and 700 (thus the word "Stick" in our name.) We were disappointed when it didn't happen. Finally after months (9 to be exact!) of fighting and jumping through all kinds of hoops we finally got a 3M Account so that we are officially 3M Distributors and can carry our favorite adhesive for scrapbooking and card making (and posters, and home repairs!! etc., etc.). If you have never used an ATG tape applicator, you are really missing out! It takes a little getting used to, but I will never go back...It's easy, inexpensive and all the rage! We had a customer post a comment in a forum on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ (one of our favorite card idea websites) about what great customer service we had, and we have been busy ever since. Now if I could just quit my day job... :p