And a couple more cards

The love card is a wedding card that I made last night, and the other two are for Haiku (my brother) and Treehugger which I made tonight before doing my layout. (See below.) But now it's time for bed!

Slowly getting in the mood for fall

Challenge accepted! And the best part about this? I got another layout from last year done! I'm just a tiny bit closer to being caught up. (Ha! Caught up? What's that?!)

Pumpkin font is Jack O and journaling is Viner Hand ITC. Patterned Paper square is by Design Originals. And of course, Bazzill cardstock.

So as my title says, I am slowly getting in the mood for fall. Maybe it's the cool weather we've been having lately. Or thinking about the Great Glass Pumpkin Patch coming up at MIT. I love this event. It's on my calendar and I'm planning to get another pumpkin. Slowly my patch will grow. And this year I'm thinking I may go check out the show on Friay just so that I can see all of them. And I'm definitely taking my camera so that I can get some pictures. There are some really neat ones.

This will be our third year attending. The first year we went pretty late in the day and the pumpkins were pretty picked over, especially for those on the lower price side. I ended up getting a purple one that was flat. It had a really cool stem though. Until Tony fell on it.

Then last year I knew that I wanted to get there at the beginning. Chris didn't want to leave too early though because he didn't think there would be a lot of people. We drove past it about 5-10 minutes before the sale opened as we tried to find a place to park. He was very surprised to see a large line of people. We got there a few minutes after opening and realized what we needed to do in the future. Even though the signs say no hording, the key is to bring a box/bag/basket with some packing materials to protect the pumpkins. Rush around and collect as many as you can, or at least those that catch your eye, are in your price range. Then, once you're done collecting, sit down and look through your stash. People will gather around you. As soon as you discard a pumpkin, someone will grab it up. (This is what we were doing last year.)

So, On September 30th, be prepared to see some pictures of pumpkins.

Creative juices flowing tonight...

Two of the three cards I made tonight. I put a crackle glaze on part of the third card (another wedding card) and it's drying. I've been meaning to make these since Sunday, so it's nice to finally have gotten them done.

The blue/copper card is for my friend Jessica who is getting married on the 15th. Their invitations were copper, so I knew I wanted to tie that in. Have no idea if they have any other colors or not, so just picked something that I liked. Then as I ws putting the invitation away (which I had taken out to check color shades) I noticed that the envelope was lined in red. Oh well. Hope they like blue.


The anniversary card is for Chris' brother Michael and his wife Rebecca. This will be their 7th anniversary. Got to use my new QK font and dies and stamps from the QVC kit. Yes, this is further proof of the QuicKutz addiction. I'm selling the Hand Tool that came with the kit on eBay, so hopefully I'll be able to get some money to help pay for my addiction. No bidders yet, but still a few more days. Unfortunately there are a bunch of purple Squeezes on eBay from everyone who bought the QVC kits who don't need it.


One thing about the kit that I'm not sure how I feel about it. It came with the stamping kit so that you can use your dies to stamp, as I did for the flowers and "anniversary". I think this is a great idea to be able to get extra use out of your dies. However, what I hadn't realized is that you need to remove the ejection foam from your dies in order to cut out the stamping foam. For shapes that it doesn't matter which way they face it isn't necessarily necessary, (flip the foam the other way around and it just doesn't cut all the way through the liner) but the ejection foam has to be removed in order to cut out alphabets. I guess this way they constantly have you buying new foam. We'll have to see how much I use the stamping feature.

So someone from work just asked me if I was at the Seaport Hotel on Saturday. He was there for the wedding. Shows what a small world we live in!

But since there is more to life than CKU, here are some amusing pictures that I took last week. This car was parked in Belmont center and as I drove past I knew that I needed to pull over and take some pictures. Unfortunately all I had with me was my camera phone, but I suppose it's better than nothing. As you can see, it is covered with splatter paint, action figures, and small toys.

******** Edited to mention that I went home for lunch today, and as I was coming back I saw this car again! I'll have to start carrying my camera with me all the time in the hopes of getting some good pictures.

Home Sweet Home

Back at home. Here's a quick picture of some of the loot that I got. This is all of the goodie bags and prizes that I won, but not all of the supplies from the class kits. I have a bunch of homework to do, so don't want to divide up the kits and then not be able to find anything.

Scrappin' With Fire did not win any prizes. :( Would have been nice, but I'm ok with it. I guess I'm not destined to win any dorm contests.

They did not announce any new CKU locations, but when I had mentioned to Chris that Detroit and Nashville had been announced so far, he said that he would come with me to Nashville. Now I'm trying to ocnvince him to actually attend CKU with me, but I don't think that will happen. He doesn't want to be singled out and have attention drawn to him, and I know that people would single him out. Oh well.

Here's another pic of all of the dorm- this one taken at commencement. (Christy, as you can see, I was a scrappalicious gal today!)

And now for a couple of other pictures...
Amy Totty with Chief CKU. I love tihs picture because you can't really tell that it's a cardboard cutout. Oh, and while I'm thinking of it....
So we were supposed to have smoke coming out of our centerpiece house, but as soon as we turned on the fog machine, the hotel manager came over and made us turn it off. He was afraid that it was going to set off the smoke alarm and then all of us would have to leave. :(

And this picture is of "Wally," the centerpiece that won. It was for the Little Crop of Horrors dorm, who also won for best song.

Greetings from the Seaport Hotel!

So for some reason I really haven't taken a ton of photos. Really only these two and maybe a couple others of our dorm. Also, the whole vibe has been odd. Not many booths for the make 'n takes, no really long lines for them either. Only 9 or 10 dorms competing. And the line for the crop wasn't crazy. We got there really early to get a good table and it wasn't overly necessary. We took a table in the back because it was close to power and to not block views, and we had no problems seeing at all. Just very strange.

Because it's not like I had nothing else to do tonight...

What I should have been doing instead of making this LO.

1. Finding pictures to use for my classes, especially Emily's class.
2. Gathering all of my supplies together.
3. Cutting out fabric for pink striped Toolbelts (of which I currently only have one "in stock").
4. Making said pink striped Toolbelts
5. Um, not sure what, but there are plenty more things I probably should have been doing.

Oh well. I had fun anyway. I was looking through the kit from Christy and looking through the pictures that arrived in the mail, and I was inspired. And it's always fun to play with new supplies. Just means I'll have to do even more work tomorrow night to get ready for CKU.

Awesome mail day!

Here's a rundown of what was in our mail today. Except for the last bullet point, it was an all around good mail day!

• Kit that I won from Christy. - I can't wait until I actually have some time to play with this. Those jeweled frame things look really cute!
• Package from Andrew. - Ok, this one isn't really all that exciting. He mails me things of his from the trail so that I can hang onto them for him. This one includes what I think is a sleeping bag (I didn't take it out of the box as it has a bit of funk to it.) and a ziploc that I'm sure if opened would really smell of hiker funk! It contained shoe insoles, socks, a bandana, and I think something else. Also a postcard for me, but it was really short, so not that impressive.
• Order from Shutterfly
• 2 of my eBay orders. Interestingly, still waiting on the one that I won and paid for first. It supposedly was shipped, so hopefully will arrive soon.
• Postcard from my aunt.
• Bill, banlk statement, catalog, assorted junk mail.

I have a problem.

Hi. My name is Chris, and I'm a Quickutz Whore.

This week ordered from eBay:
Wheelbarrow
Apple Mini's
Pie
Tractor
Cow
Barn

Bidding on:
Oven Mit

Want to bid on (and possibly will in the next 24 hours):
Tent
Campfire
Nativity Set

Would REALLY like in the near future:
OLD Corn on the Cob. (Have the new one already, but not prepared to pay over $60 for the old one, which is the going rate on eBay.)
Tudor Rose
Britannia font. (Almost bid on it this week, but was waiting and then computer malfunctioned. It went for a good price, too.)

So Mel, are you happy now? I've finally admitted that I have a problem.

Took a look at the calendar...

So it hit me last night that CKU is next week. Eeek! When did that happen? I knew it was soon, but it hadn’t hit me that it was THAT soon. I would like to enter the poster contest, but of course I haven’t done anything to start getting ready for that. Maybe that will be this weekend’s project. It will have to be if I want to enter. Also need to start gathering all of my stuff together. Making sure I have the necessary supplies for my classes. Maybe take a whack at getting some pictures together, but I know that probably won’t happen. So much to do, so little time!

Derby and Baseball

So the other day I posted a pic of all the cars, but here are some more pictures from the Derby. (Some of the photos were taken by me, others by Mel or Dan.)

Xavier putting his car on the track. He had a speedy little car, thanks to Daddy.

Mel's and my illegal cars. We just couldn't get the cow or Sox down to legal weight.


Ground view of the end of the track. Dan was poised to get a picture of his and Mel's cars as they came to the finish line.

Mel vs. Flower Power. Yay, Mel's car won some races this year! (Last year she had the slowest car.)





My pink car vs. Trout's car. We made the mistake of originally racing Trout in the legal category. Trout had whittled too much of his car away to use the axels (nails) provided in the kit. As a result we gave him a solid brass axle which made him super speedy.

The finish line. This picture of a bare track is something that Mel and I took many pictures of. It's hard to time the picture correctly to get cars in the frame. As a result we have empty tracks or just a corner of a car in the picture.

And then after the normal races they put a ramp on the end of the track, piled up some cars, and started jumping other cars. As a result of this, my cow lost a horn. :(









So, now on to Wednesday night. Chris and I took my mom to a Lowell Spinners game. My mom is a big baseball fan and listens to the Red Sox games on the radio. Some of you may not know, but my mom has MS (Multiple Sclerosis) which has left her legally blind as well as affected her energy, balance, walking abilities, etc. She uses a walker to get around.

Anyway, a few years ago I had taken her to a Red Sox game. I had taken her in a wheelchair since I knew there would be too much walking. Unfortunately the handicapped seats are all in the backs of the stadiums- no stairs. This meant that she couldn't see a thing. I'm lacking in baseball knowledge, so me trying to explain what was happening didn't go so well.

Well this year Chris and I thought maybe she would like to try a Spinners game. Tickets are $7, so no big deal if it didn't work out so well. We got there as the gates opened so that we could more easily get into our seats without crawling over people or blocking the stairs. It was hot when we arrived which always zaps my mom's energy. Plus, going down stairs is always harder than going up, so getting her into her seat was a challenge.

As to visibility, we were in the 6th row, just past 1st base. She said she could see that there were people there, but couldn't see what was going on. Luckily Chris was there to explain what was going on- to both her and to me.

And here are some pictures...

Just so you know, I know that there's a tree in your driveway...

Those were the words spoken by our landlord when she called Chris earlier. His response, "what tree?"

If we had been home, Chris wouldn't have a truck. Or it would have been a bit flatter. My car might have had some damage. Hard to tell.

Our poor neighbors- both of their cars are stuck in the driveway. Luckily unharmed, but they can't get out.




My garden? We'll see how bad it gets when the tree gets removed. At the moment it has squished some corn and beans and some herbs. The corn and beans weren't doing so well, so no worries. A branch also grazed the cukes, but I think they'll be mostly ok. For now anyway. When the tree gets removed though, a branch may end up falling on them. Depends how careful they are. And the same thing goes for some herbs, flowers, etc. At least my peppers and tomatoes are safe.

It's also very lucky that the house wasn't hit. Very lucky!

Photo Swap

Got my page back today from the photo swap. This is the page that Rachel did. Now I just need to get my butt in gear and do a layout for her! Thanks Rachel, I love it!

Derby Preview

More to come later, but just thought I'd start with a picture of all of the cars.

***Edited to say whose is whose***
Cow- Girl Chris Illegal
Red Sox- Mel Illegal
Mel- Mel
Black and Green- Kristin
Pink- Girl Chris
Green w/ washers- Dan
Purple- Mom Tedford's from 2 years ago. Nothing has been able to beat it!
Whittled- Trout
Weiner Mobile- Boy Chris
Black w/ white stripe- Jeff
Home Depot- Rosita
Red w/ bolts taped on- Jeff's illegal rocket car (The bolts were added to keep it from flying off the track)
Arrow- Emily (made in 1 hour)
Pink w/ Flowers- Annaliese (I probably spelled her name wrong)
Logging Truck- Xavier

Garden update

My tomatoes are now taller than I am! The corn that I photographed for "knee high by 4th of July?" is now actually knee high, and I also have a stalk that is thigh high.
















My cukes are also doing spectacularly. I got 2 plants, and they are climbing all over the trellis. And Chris informed me that I now have gherkins. :) I also have baby peppers. Lettuce- not so good. Although it has gotten huge, should have picked it sooner and it has now gotten bitter. Beans are also producing, but should have planted lots more. 6 plants doesn't produce enough to pick and actually fix for a meal. It's more of a snack amount.

CKU Dorm overload!

14 new posts on the dorm blog today! And about half of those are from this evening. Also, probably about half of them are from me. Hard to keep up with it all.

Interestingly, we have two people in the dorm who don't post all that often. I wonder if:
a) they're too busy working/ with family
b) not so interested in dorm activities and just got roped into it
c) not highly computer technical

Lots of ideas floating around, some action. Really need to start nailing down ideas and get busy!

Recycling

So I try to be a good environmental citizen and recycle. Ok, well I try to recycle if it's not too much of an inconvenience.

When we moved in, I asked the guy who used to live in our apartment about recycling and he commented that yes, there was curbside pickup, but that someone had stolen their bin.

It took me two months, but on Monday I finally stopped by the Highway Department and paid $5 for a recycle bin. Tuesday was pickup day, so I put it out on the street filled with newspapers and a couple of other things (bottles and jars) that we had hanging around.

I came home late from work last night and the trash barrels had already been brought back to behind the house where they are kept. I asked Chris where the recylce bin was and he didn't know. (We figured the neighbors might have moved it. Sometimes our neighbors will bring back all the trash barrels back and sometimes we do. Really just varies on who comes home first.)

So this morning, before I left for work, I checked behind the house where the trash cans live. No recycle bin. SOMEONE TOOK MY BRAND NEW RECYCLE BIN! Why would you take that? I'll ask the neighbors when I get home if they know anything about it.

Part of me almost thinks that they took it, but why would they take it? Why would anyone take it? It even had our address written on it. And I'm really not in a mood to go pay for another bin just so that that one can be taken.

Just needed to vent about this one. I'll try to post an update after I ask the neighbors.