Mt. Washington

Here I am at the summit of Mount Washington. As you can see, we were in the middle of a cloud. It was about 50 degrees with 55 mph hour winds. Visibility was 50-100 feet. Behind me is the actual summit where a few people were standing taking pictures. On the ground it was in the 80s and sunny.

Into the Woods

Into the woods,
It's time to go,
I hate to leave,
I have to, though.
Into the woods-
It's time, and so
I must begin my journey.

Perhaps posting this a little prematurely as we don't leave until tomorrow morning, but the song popped into my head so I thought I would post it now while I was thinking of it.

Chris and I are off for a weekend camping trip to Mount Washington, NH. We'll do some outlet shopping, some cooking over a campfire, some walking/hiknig, some AT trail magic... We're back on Sunday and I'll be sure to post a full report and some photo highlights.

Introducing random posters

So I just saw that Kate posted on my last post. Yay, Kate! However, none of you know Kate. Also, Darlene has posted a couple of times, and only Mel knows who she is. So, it's time for some introductions.

Darlene: I've known her since 6th grade. I suppose some might argue that we've known each other since 3rd grade since we were in ballet together (and we have the picture to prove it), but I have no recollection of her from that time. Anyway, in 6th grade we were teamed up together to work on a LIGHTS project. (That's Learning for the Intellectually Gifted and Highly Talented Students.) We wrote a story called "A Ghost in the LIGHTS Room". Somewhere I still have my copy. It's really bad. We took turns writing sections and then we couldn't come up with an ending so we asked the rest of the 6th grade to do it for us. Anyway, I think it was in high school that we became better friends, all because of Spanish class and Odyssey of the Mind. She's pretty much the only friend I keep in touch with since high school.

Kate: I met Kate the summer of 2001. She was working at Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company with Chris. By the way, never think about taking employment there. I'm sure Kate is full of plenty of horror stories! Anway, Kate's a letter writer, and I'm a letter writer (or at least I used to be) so we ended up corresponding for the rest of the summer after Chris quit and then we continued to correspond. She understands my wackiness and appreciates a good Pinewood Derby challenge. I sent her the blog link to show off the start of my Derby Cow. Kate was also the first brave soul to get up and sing at our wedding reception. (To get us to kiss, we asked guests to sing a song from a musical.)

Coincidentally they were both seated at the same table at my wedding. That's when these pictures are from. We had placed disposable cameras with a list of photos to take on each table. One of the items was to get a picture of everyone seated at the table, so they passed the camera around taking self portraits. So do you guys hate me now for posting these pictures?

Version 1 or Version 2?

Ok, so I joined a second CKU recipe swap and decided to tweak this recipe that I had previously made for our July swap. I had to tweak it because the rules of the CKU swap are that there have to be 3 different embellishments. Version one only has diecuts and ribbon. Originally I was going to just do a different flower and add a rhinestone center, but then I decided to play around and make ribbon flowers.

So now I'm undecided as I like that ribbon flower better and would rather use that for the July swap. So, those of you in the swap, do you have a preference? And if you would prefer the ribbon, any suggestions on how to add an easy third embellishment to version 1?

Some weekend photos

This is my cat Brit. This picture makes me laugh. A lot. I was in my scrap room scrapping (well, what else would I be doing there?) and I looked over and saw her in my chair. I continued scrapping. I looked over again, and she was still like this! Well, of course I then had to go get my camera. What I also love about this picture, aside from her pose, is that her eyes are open. This never happens! However, this was taken without the flash, which I think is the trick. She always blinks when the flash goes off.


Next up, here is the start of my Derby Cow. It's going to sit on a base with the wheels. Not yet sure how I'm going to paint her. (I'm open to suggestions.) I think I'll worry about that once I'm done shaping her. Unfortunately, I couldn't work more on her today because one of her legs had broken off (I dropped her) and had to be glued back on. Also, she weighs a lot. She's currently at 4.4 ounces, but the base and wheelse are 1.7. I don't think I can take enough weight off of her to make the whole thing within the legal limits (5 ounces) so I decided to make another car. It's all shaped and sanded smooth and ready for painting. Chris commented that it's my best car yet. Personally I like the General Lee better. This is such a cop out car. Mel, it looks exactly like Mom Tedford's car from the first year. Anyway, that's how we spent about 5-6 hours today. Making Derby cars. Remember, only 2 more weeks until the Derby, so get busy making your cars if you haven't started yet.

What is "Early"?

So we were having some gravel delivered today to put down where we park our cars. Apparently when the driveway was put in umpteen years ago they didn't anticipate that 4 cars woudl be parkign on it, so it's not nearly big enough. As a result, we park in a dirt area, which, in the rain, is a mud area. Hence the decision to put gravel down.

Anyway, Chris calls the company yesterday to confirm and find out what time they would be coming. He was told "early". Um, ok That's a little vague.

So this morning we're half asleep in bed. It's 7:10 am. (I get up around 7:45/ 8:00 to get to work by 9:00) All of a sudden Chris sits up and says he thinks the gravel guy is here. He had heard the truck on the street. My response, "well, it is early." Chris throws on some jeans, I put a sweatshirt on over my PJs, and we go outside to move our cars onto the street.

And then Chris proceeded to spend the next couple of hours spreading gravel around. It takes a while to move 3 tons of gravel! Now if only we could find a better place for that snowblower, the back area would look better. (This is actually a bit of a bitter point. The owner's son, who used to live in the apartment we're renting, still has a car in the garage. He knows he needs to move it, and we've asked for it to be moved. It's been almost 2 months now. He also still has stuff in the basement.) Anyway, at some point we want to put the snowblower into the garage.


And since I was up, I figured I would take some garden pictures. Here I have a couple of my baby cherry tomatoes.

Finally done with Aug 05!

Two layouts from the past couple of nights. Finally done with Chris' parents visit from August of last year!



Not 100% thrilled with the Lowell Spinners layout. THe papers just don't "go" with the baseball theme. They're from the June Jenni Bowlin kit (which I bought just for the stamp) and I know if I don't use the stuff soon I'll forget all about it and then it will be a waste of money. So, I pulled them out and figured they would work here.

In other news, I have a story to share about the definition of "early" but I think it will be best enhanced with photos, which are forthcoming.

New Blog Alert

For all the nosy folks (said in the nicest I could care-less way possible) I've now started a blog for our dorm. So feel free to check it out and see what we're up to.


***Edited to add***
I removed the link due to some concerns from other dorm members. Personally I don't mind my former Luau Ladies and Croppin' Commandoes, Recipe Swap gals, etc checking it out, but some of the other folks in the dorm are concerned about "random people" posting, stealing ideas, knowing what we're doing etc. So, if you saw the link and remember what it was, feel free to lurk, but please no posting.

Drool...

Check out all the rainboots. So many to choose from!

So, to back up the story a bit, last spring I had decided I wanted a pair of Wellies. I had to do a bit of walking to work and it was particularly rainy and I thought it would be nice to have some nice waterproof footwear. However, I couldn't find any fun ones at a price I liked. And then I kind of forgot about it for a while. Now apparently my obsession has returned. But I no longer have to walk to work, so not sure if I need to be buying myself rain boots or not.

Recipe, not for you!

Sorry Recipe Swap Ladies, this one isn't for you. I'm participating in a recipe swap for CKU and this is what I made for that swap. The bottom half with the ingredients folds down and the directions are underneath.

More cows...

Got into Boston at 11 yesterday and left Cambridge after the final cow around 6:30 or so. It was a hot humid day and Chris and I were both exhausted and very glad to get home.

I have now seen almost all of the cows. There were two on my map that we couldn’t find, and the map doesn’t have two of the cows that are listed on the website. However, I would say that seeing 115 cows is still pretty impressive! Now how do I go about scrapping these?

Also, could someone please explain to me what screaming primates throwing bones in the air and Native American chiefs have to do with “Spirit of St. Louis”? I really didn’t get that one.








Here are some favorites.
Cowlander
Cowbot

Make Way for Calflings
Bovine Moosic (The music on it is "Torreador" from Carmen.)


Also, was amused by the very precise cleaning time on this sign.

And some funky architecture.

CKU Rundown

Christy asked what we were planning on doing, so here you go. There are 6 of us in the dorm. I was in the same dorm as one of the other ladies in Boston 2 years ago.

Theme: Fireman

Name: Scrappin' with Fire or Rescue Scrappers

Song: Parody of Our House

Centerpiece: House (one of those kids cardboard deals) that is scrappified. Inside will be dry ice so that the house in "on fire". Barbie outside having just saved her scrapbooks. Also firetruck outside house.

Costume: White t-shirt, balck pants, suspenders made from ribbons, boots that we've decorated with scrap supplies, helmets. On helmets will be "chief" shields and we will each be the chief of something, ie Chief of Primas, Chief of Chatterbox, etc.

Nametag: Our name done in flames, with a mini firehose putting water out on it.

None of these are completely set in stone yet, but all are ideas we've been tossing around. Will also have a cardboard cutout of a fireman that people can have pic taken with.

And in my searching for cheap rubber boots, I found these. I love them. I think we probably won't be using them a) because not everyone wants pink (couchmelcough) and b) they are not available online and none of us live in the South. However, if there's an Academy Sports near you, I'm a size 10. :)

Photos from past Derbies

Here are a few pictures from the past two Derbies. As you can see, it's a mix of simple cars and more fancy cars. We have the plain block of wood that has been colored with marker and glitter added, boats, fire engines, wedges, etc.





I'm also posting a couple of pictures of the track so that you can better see what it will be racing down.

As promised

As I promised yesterday, here's a picture of Trout's car.

Derby Cars are Rolling In

We got our first mail-in entry for the Derby last night. It's... special. I'll have to update later with a picture. I had mailed a kit to my brother. Well, he didn't make the car, but apparently a hiker named Trout whittled it. I'll have to put the wheels on and maybe bring it up to weight, but yay for getting an entry! I had half expected my brother to mail me back the kit untouched, so was pleased to see this. And I don't even really mind that Andrew wasn't the one to whittle it.

Cow Parade

So Chris has been working on Boston Common since Thursday, loading in Taming of the Shrew. So yesterday I went down to join him for a picnic lunch. I was then thinking I would lay out on the grass for a bit, get bored, and go home. However, the library wasn’t open when I left, so I couldn’t pick up the book I had requested. And since I knew I would get bored just lying there, I decided to walk around for a bit. Boston is hosting a Cow Parade this summer, so I went in search of cows. I found 68 of them yesterday! (There are over 100.)
I walked a lot! And my body is complaining a bit today. To give you an idea of how much I walked, here was my route. (I’m sure Mel will definitely understand how far this was.)
Started off in the Common at the corner of Charles and Beacon. Wandered through the Public Garden for a little while and then walked down Boylston to Mass Ave. Walked On Mass Ave over to Huntingdon, then down Huntingdon to Dartmouth, then over to Newbury. Left on Newbury back up to Mass Ave, and then back down Newbury. Was then going to go up and down Comm Ave, but my flip-flops had been rubbing the skin on my toes a bit raw, so headed back to the Common to get some band-aids from Chris. Got there a bit before their afternoon break, so sat around for about 45 min-an hour.

Then after their break, I walked through the Common towards the State House. Then down Park Street and into Downtown Crossing. Through Downtown Crossing over to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market and then on Long Wharf and the Aquarium, and then over to the North End. From there, went to Government Center, and then back to the Common, down Tremont, and over on Charles back to Chris.

To give a sense of timing, I started my walking adventure around 1:30, and ended up my day at 6:30. Probably would have been up for even more walking had it not been for the pain in my toes. Next time I do this (and I’m thinking next weekend I may need to find more cows) I’m wearing better shoes.

Here are some of my favorites





Vincent’s Cow
Street Cow Named Desire
Moo-rathon Runner on Cow-moo-nwealth Ave.
Cow of Many Colors
Hey Diddle Diddle

I scrapped last night. I was thoroughly inspired. Ok, I was inspired even before we took the picture since the picture was taken with the layout in mind. Layout

And in other news- hiker gossip. So my brother is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (goes from Mexico to Canada). I’ve been his support person and he emails me journal entries that I then post to his blog. When I update (usually about once a week or so) I then send out a message to his distribution list letting people know that the blog has been updated. Same with pictures- he mails me his memory card and I upload the pictures for everyone.

Well, he’s been hiking with this girl named Treehugger. (Oh yeah, that’s the other thing. All the hikers take “Trail Names”. Andrew’s name is Haiku.) And when I say they are hiking together, I mean they’re doing more than just hiking together. But my whole point is that everyone (well, about 3 or 4 people) seems to email me to check in on the situation and to see if more is going on between them, commenting that they want to see pictures of her, being glad that she’s back on the trail with him after being injured, etc. I emailed Andrew once to comment that “everyone” was asking me about them and he couldn’t figure out why they would do this. He thought people should just read his journal and figure it out for themselves. Well Andrew, that’s all well and good, but people like to gossip! But why must I be the one stuck in the middle!

***Edited to add, if you want to check out Andrew's blog to read all about his adventures, go to www.breecher.com.

Knee High by the 4th of July

So I grew up always hearing the expression from my mom that corn shoudl be "knee high by the 4th of July." Technically this picture was taken on the 5th, but that's irrelevant. The point is, as you can see, the corn is no where near knee high! I guess we'll just be having some late corn. I guess that's what happens when you plant it on July 1st.






As you can see in this second picture, we have a serious weed problem! So many of these little buggers. I've pulled out some of the bigger ones, but there are so many of these little ones, I really have no idea where to start.

July Recipe

It's July 2nd, and I'm essentially done with this month's pages! Unfortunately, I only had enough ribbon for 3 pages, but otherwise they're done. So in the next day or two I'll get the ribbon (or maybe Chris will be nice and pick it up for me- I gave him a scrap) and then finish them up. Unfortunately, I have no idea where my ribbon came from. Luckily I don't care if it matches perfectly or not, but there are 4 or 5 stores it could have come from. And of course not all of them carry the same ribbon selections.

I also have some other recipe ideas, so depending on how motivated I am, I may make a bonus page for the month. And to round out my creativity this weekend, I also made a card and the covers for my recipe album. Really simple, but I'll spiff it up with some ribbons on the binding. I'll try to get a picture of that soon.

And in other news, the garden is finished! All the walls are in, dirt is more or less leveled, a few trellises are up, and all the plants and seeds are planted. Being that it's July, not sure how everything will do, but we're hoping for the best. And next year it will just be that much better. Now I just need to get out there and start doing some weeding already.