A Productive Day!

I stuck to my guns on Saturday and stamped all day!  Oh what fun!  Of course, I had to take a little time in the morning to chat with Ashley.  Skype is such a wonderful thing!  We probably talk to each other as much now as we did when she was state-side.  Although this week, we have both been busy and haven't chatted in several days.  We made up for it yesterday though!  She is doing well and making the most of her life in Iraq.  She went to a "Hail and Farewell" one day this week.  All the companies put on skits where they make fun of something (or someone) there and the company who does the best gets to reward the "prize" to the person who was the butt of the joke in their skit.  Ashley's group won this time.  She says they never win and usually end up getting the booby prize.  In their skit, they did it all about the Captain who is in charge of the dining facility.  It seems that she practically strip searches the soldiers as they are leaving because you can only take 2 items out of the cafeteria.  If you can't make it to a meal (which in the doctors' case, is quite a lot since they are on call every other day until 8 pm), you can't have someone bring you a meal.  UNLESS, you have filled out the forms - a month in advance - and presented them to the captain in advance AND she hasn't lost them (which is the case for this month!).  Crazy, huh??  The forms have to be signed by a LT. Col and a couple of others.  Ashley said a couple of days ago, she & the the LT. Col. were at dinner and tried to take a meal back to one of the medics.  They were not allowed to because their forms had been lost - even though the LT. Col. who would have signed the memo was the one making the request.  Needless to say, Ashley eats a lot of her meals in her room - things we have sent her like mac & cheese, pretzels, with mustard, popcorn, etc.  Another problem with the mess hall is she has to be dressed in her uniform in order to go in to eat.  The gym is right next door and Ashley does Yoga there several times a week and doesn't usually want to get dressed again just to go in the cafeteria.  They are not allowed to go in with just their work out clothes (shorts & tee) on.  You would think this was some fancy restaurant - not an Army Mess Hall!!  One of the drawbacks to Ashley eating in her room (in my opinion!) is she is eating way too many carbs.  Even she remarked yesterday about it.  It is hard to think of things to send that she can microwave in her room that are not carb-packed.  Any suggestions out there?  I am sending a stick of pepperoni this week and suggested to a friend to send a stick of summer sausage.  I actually sneaked a few oranges in her box last week.  I forgot you can't send fruit overseas and was afraid it would get stuck in Customs.  But she received the box in the usual time.  It is great that it only takes about a week to get a Priority box to her!  Her birthday is December 22 so I will be getting a birthday box together this week.

While I was working away, my DH hollered up to me to look out the window.  To my surprise, this is what I saw:

 SNOW!!  We had a few flurries - mixed in with sleet off and on for about an hour.  Nothing stuck of course but it was sure fun to see!

Now - on to my creations!  I actually did several Christmas cards AND several Valentine cards!  During my blog reading last week, I came across one of my favorite designers, Gretchen Barron's request for Valentine cards for From Our Hearts who are collecting Valentine cards for the troops in Iraq and Afganistan.  You can read about it - and Gretchen's contest - HERE.  So before I got started with my Christmas cards, I whipped up a few Valentines.  They are pretty simple - using some DSP I had in my stash and/or some embossed cards I have had for a long time.

 This Hugs & Kisses card uses some DSP that I found in a pack.  I just added the Hugs & Kisses sentiment.

 This is an embossed card that I have had for over 5 years  - I made two of them and finally have used up those cards!  I used markers to color the LOVE and chalked the background in pink.

 Another of those embossed cards.  I stamped "miss U" with a retired SU set (All About You) and punched out some little hearts and glued them over the embossed hearts.

Another piece of DSP from a pack I found.  I stamped the boat onto cardstock and colored it with markers.  This is another SU retired set - Boatloads of Love.

Do you notice a theme?  I have my SU stamp sets on shelves in loose alpha order.  I started with the top shelf (A-D) and pulled stamp sets that I could use in Valentine and Christmas cards.  I am trying to use some of my neglected stamp sets!  Tomorrow I will share the Christmas cards I made so come back!!

Gotta run so I can decorate my tree before I attend an Open House Tour in my neighborhood.  There will be four houses in the tour all decorated for Christmas with different themes.  There will be appetizers and wine at each home.  The proceeds will go toward a Palliative CareCenter & Hospice that will be built soon in my town.  Then back home to get dinner ready so we can eat in front of the TV tonight while pulling on our Steelers in a TOUGH game!!