June Monday Mailer

This is the last card I received from Tammy Howell for my Monday Mailer. We had to do cards using our punches. She outdid herself on this one! She used SU's 5 petal flower punch to make the flowers and the Word Window punch for the trellis. Then to make the base of the flower, she used the 1 1/4" square punch. Isn't she clever??!!

I love it!!

Sharon

July 4th in DC

Finally back home!! We had a great vacation, but I am worn out!! We were on the go from sun-up until sun-down! Seriously, we boarded the metro about 10 a.m. most mornings and returned home about 10 or 11 p.m. too tired to do anything other than hit the bed! After Day 1 of touring DC by bus (and our feet!), we headed to the Spy Museum and Holocaust Museum on Thursday. If you have never been to the Spy Museum, you need to go if you're ever in DC. It is really fun. When you first go in, you are given a few minutes to memorize facts about a new identity and at the end of the tour, you are asked questions about your identity. If you cannot remember the details (name, destination, birthplace, reason for visit, etc.), it is recommended that you be detained and not allowed to leave! I didn't do too well - even though I "cheated" and jotted down some of the details. I wouldn't make a very good spy for sure!! After being in the Spy Museum for about 3+ hours, I grabbed a quick hot dog as we headed to our next destination, the Holocaust Museum. Ashley was able to meet us there and take the tour with us. What a moving experience. How could humans treat other humans that way? It is inconceivable to me, but alas, it is going on all over the world in many ways I think (Darfur for an example). Hats off to the survivors of this atrosity. Another must see for DC.

Friday, July 4th, was much more laid back for us. We started the day off with breakfast at the Pancake House - Sonny's favorite restaurant in DC!!! Yum .... strawberry crepes with whipped cream and fresh strawberries for me!! Then, we gals were able to get in some shopping at A C Moore!! Finally bought a little sewing machine for sewing on my cards - now, let's see if I use it!! Ashley had to go in to Bethesda to check on one of her patients, so the gang rode in with her to take a quick look around Bethesda Naval Hospital (at least, the grounds - not inside the hospital). Later in the afternoon, we went to Walter Reed Army Hospital and toured the National Museum of Health and Medicine. This was very interesting - much more than I would have thought. I particulary enjoyed the exhibit of embryos showing fetal development (showing actual feuses!). There was also an interesting exhibit on leprosy in America that I didn't know about. Did you know there is a national leprosarium in Louisiana known as “Carville,” a refuge for leprosy patients from all over the world? I didn't. There was a PBS documentary about Carville which aired in March (I didn't see it) but I would be interested in seeing it.

After leaving the museum, we dropped in on a July 4th BBQ at some of Ashley's friends; had a quick bite to eat and visited with old friends for a while. Then, we were off to catch the Metro for downtown DC and the Fireworks. Of course, by this time it had started to rain!! Luckily, by the time we got downtown, it had changed to just a drizzle. But .... oh so many people! We had just found a spot on the ground for our chairs when the fireworks began. They were spectacular but I don't think they were as impressive as I have seen before. Because of the rain and the heavy atmosphere, they didn't seem to be as high up as they should have been. So, instead of being over the Washington Memorial as they are pictured, they were actually beside it. But, it was fun anyway and a great experience! After they were over, we wandered around the streets of DC trying to find our way back to the Metro. We had hoped to be able to view the Korean Memorial at night but they had the area to the statues roped off for the fireworks.

Independence Day

Thank you to those who are serving or have served our country and have made sacrifices on our behalf whether here at home or in far off lands.

THANK YOU and LET FREEDOM RING!

Happy Independence Day!!!

HAPPY 4th!!

Walking the streets of DC

Just a quick post before we head out this a.m. I am in our nation's capital - Washington DC having a wonderful time. We arrived about dinner time on Tuesday and have been going non-stop since we arrived. We had dinner at Stomboli's - yummy! and then headed to an Irish pub for a game of trivia. We were respectable at least - came in 4th I believe, thanks to Ashley's knowledge of random stuff! Wednesday we took a tour of DC. We have friends with us who have never been here (and are originally from England) so it was fun to show them the sights. We did a LOT of walking and our feet were tired last night. We met Ashley at the National Cathedral and headed to Georgetown for more walking and a visit to a few historic pubs and .... pubs!! In order to get to one of them on the edge of Georgetown Univ. campus, we went straight up a set of 75 steps! Thought I was going to need help at the end of that. We found a better route down though. That bed sure felt good last night - even my husband's who is sleeping on an air mattress on the floor!!

Today we are headed to the Spy Museum this morning. Then a quick lunch before we walk over to the Holocaust Museum. Sonny & I have been to the Spy Museum and really enjoyed it, but have never experienced the Holocaust Museum.

In the meantime, have a wonderful day and I will try to post again tomorrow.

Roomie Card

Since I am not going to Stampin' Up's convention this year (boo hoo), I joined VCRocks. We do swaps, etc. in the summer while others are at convention. They even have a make-believe hotel and assign roomies. You're supposed to send your roomie cards each week and during convention, send her a package like you would if you were at convention. My roomie is Clara and she lives in West Virginia. This is the card I am mailing to her today. I actually CASE'd this idea off another blog, but isn't it cute???? I'm also trying to use up my Designer Paper instead of hoarding it!

Lost in the mail

I've been stamping like crazy this weekend! We're going to DC to see my daughter for the 4th - leaving Tuesday - so trying to get everything caught up before we leave. I did 2 cards for my Monday Mailer since we will be gone all week. I'll be ready to put the second one in the mail when we return.. In July, we are supposed to use Bold Brights. They used to be my favorite color combo, but I think Rich Regals have taken their place. Anyway for next weeks card, I used yellow and red. Wow, is it bright. So bright, you might need shades!! I used the Enjoy stamp. I'm loving this set - don't know why I waited so long to buy it.

Last night I found out that one of my swaps that I did for VCRocks arrived in Washington empty!! She said all that was in the envelope was my return envelope. Someone must have opened it en route because I used a kraft envelope, licking the seal and securing the fastener PLUS I ran scotch tape over the seal. The swap hostess said it looked like packing tape was put over my scotch tape. I should have said just forget it and dropped from the swap. But .... no, not me. That would have been too easy! This afternoon I worked on making another card for the swap using my Boho Blossoms punch and the One of a Kind stamp set. I only had to do 11 so they went pretty quick once I figured out what I wanted to do (the hardest part for me!) The card that was lost was the blue Riot of Petals one that took me forever to color (you can check them out in an earlier post). Anyway, here is my new swap.

Our new couch!!

Yippee!!! We got our new couch delivered this week!!! It is so nice. It's looks so different in my living room. You have to understand, we've had the old couch as long as we've been married - actually longer (and we've been married 35 years!!) It was Sonny's couch when we were dating (yes, it probably saw a little action in it's day!!). So it is really great to have something new and totally different. When we found out it was arriving on Thursday, we had Stanley Steemer come out on Tuesday to clean the carpets. So I've been busy all week moving stuff out of the room and then today, spent the afternoon moving everything back. Now, I just have to wait patiently for our new end tables to arrive - hopefully in about 2 weeks. Just in time for our Texas friends who will be staying with us a few days in July, along with our daughter.

Check out this blog for mitering corners! Great tip!!

Enjoy - going to miter some corners!!

Sharon

I've been tagged by Linda - a Texas gal! (Linda - I lived in DFW area for about 20 years!!) Check out her blog - you'll love the pictures of her daughter jumping off the Macau Tower in Asia!!

Seven random/weird things about me ..... guess I should be glad I'm the one coming up with these and not my family!!

1. I hate to exercise - even though I'm a member of the "Y" - probably wouldn't go if my guilt didn't kick in when my hubbie goes!!

2. If I lived alone, I would probably always eat all my meals standing at the kitchen sink or at the computer!!

3. I hate to clean!! Especially, the bathroom.

4. My favorite childhood memories include trips to Lake Waccamaw and the ice cream truck driving through the neighborhood on hot sticky summer nights.

5. I don't like confrontations. (although, I've had more than my share in the past few months!)

6. The toilet paper roll HAS to be pulled over the top. I go crazy when I visit my daughter because she does it the other way!! So wrong! LOL

7. Me and a posse of friends once followed (while in college) a couple of bands who had backed up the Beach Boys at a college (ECU) concert from Greenville to Raleigh (they invited us to a party!). It was the Strawberry Alarm Clock (Inscense and Peppermint ...) and Buffalo Springfield (Neil Young & Steven Stills). We got to Raleigh only to join them while they were eating in a motel restaurant. That was the extent of the "party"!! So we headed back to campus only to find the whole town locked down because of Martin Luther King being assassinated. We were stopped by the National Guard!! A whole other story!

Well, that was a trip down memory lane!! I am tagging:

Lisa - http://glitternfool.com/
Jackie - http://shortwizard.blogspot.com/
Beth - http://papertrailz.blogspot.com/
Brenda - http://tappstampers.typepad.com/tappstampers/
Jan - http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/
Roxy - http://stampingwithroxy.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Kim - http://kimevans.typepad.com/stamping_with_kim/