Inspiration Alley

Crowns

I have crowns.

The kind on your teeth, not the gold ones on your head, although that would be kindof nice if I had one of those considering the market value of gold - but that's another story.

My first crown was when I fell off my bike in 4th grade and broke my front tooth off (on Labor Day weekend no less), and it's pretty much been the story of my life.  Anyhoo ... one of mine has come loose.  I called for an appointment and they wanted me to come in right away.  I said I'd wait until his next Saturday appointment (the 19th).  

She said, you can't it's "dangerous".

I said "dangerous, how so"

She said: " You might swallow it"

This being said to the girl who HAS swallowed one before and knows what happens once you do (don't ask ... you do not want to know).  

I also once lost one in the Atlantic Ocean (Ft. Lauderdale Beach) within hours of it being cemented in - wen't down with a wave, and I came up with no tooth.  I'm pretty sure it was that same front tooth.  

When we lived in Ft. Lauderdale (a time I don't remember), our family dentist was our neighbor, so when we moved to Miami, we still drove up to Ft. Lauderdale for our annual office visits.  It would be an event.  After the dentist, we'd go to the beach.  My mom would pack up 5 kids and all the beach supplies in the car, we'd drive the 45 minutes to the dentist office and all get our cleanings and any work done, then we'd spend the rest of the day at the beach.  I know many people are afraid of going to the dentist, but I've never seen it as a "bad" thing, for me, it was a fun day at the beach and the dentist was just something you did before you could have that fun.

No Caramel Apples for me at the moment, and in a week I'll be fixed up good as new.

 

 

Schedules and Scheduling

Do you keep busy.

Do you have to keep track of your schedule, your husbands schedule, and maybe even some kids ?

Do you have a smart phone ?

If you do there is a very cool app called Cozi.

It's a Calendar/Schedule.  It's a To Do List.  It sorts by person.  It sends you message alerts.  You can keep your shopping list on it - in fact, several shopping lists.  You can work from your phone, or work online.  If you do FlyLady (it's a housecleaning thing), you can import your FlyLady Zone tasks and create daily lists.

I've been working with it for several months now.  I don't remember how I found it, I might of been playing around and downloading apps just because they sounded cool.  It doesn't really matter.  If you coordinate lots of appointments and schedules for yourself and or your family then check it out.  

Right now I've got the scrapbooking weekend crops for 2012 loaded (just the ones I'm pretty sure I can attend), plus birthdays, holidays, doctor appts, pretty much everything I need (although I haven't added daily work stuff yet).  I've always worked with a planner, so it's taken me some time to transition from paper to smartphone, but it's almost the same and now I don't have to carry my day planner with me.  

Check it out - the best part ...it's a free app.  (you can upgrade later if you want)

( for the record, I'm in no way getting paid for this - these are unsolicited comments - I like the product, it works for me, so for what it's worth, I pass the information on to my family and friends.)

Blogging Once Again

It's been awhile since I've posted, and I do miss blogging. 

Facebook is great but only for short snippets of life, but blogging gives the in depth version. 

With summer almost coming to a close and the holiday season fast approaching, it's time to begin again.  I've got a couple of scrapbooking retreats coming up this month so I'll have some crafty stuff to share, plus I'll be starting with holiday cards, gifts, and home decor projects.  I've got some swaps to finish up too, and then there are the weekly car cruise ins and a couple of car shows on the horizon as well.  Not to mention, we've been househunting in central Florida  for a place to buy now and then retire into - so as usual, I keep very busy.

Even with the long hiatus, a couple of you have stuck by and checked the blog periodically which I really appreciate.  I plan to stick around for a bit.  I'm glad to be back.

Twenty Eleven

Happy New Year everyone.

Another year has come and gone.  It seems like only yesterday we were worried about Y2K.  Why is it that as you get older time seems to go faster and faster.

Had a quiet evening at home, then the traditional Champagne and Sardines.  I'm not really sure what exactly the sardines are supposed to do for you (health, fortune, happiness) but it's a tradition we've done going back to when my grandmother was with us.  I still do it today and make sure hubby has a taste even though sardines are not really his thing. 

Monday, it was off to work which was a rude awakening considering that I've been off every Monday since Feb 10.  I had to use up all of my excess vacation time, as use it or lose it scenario and you know there was no way I was going to lose it.  To make it easier on the folks at work, we opted to take off every Monday instead of 9 full weeks.

I don't even bother doing resolutions anymore ... I never keep them more than 24 hours anyway, but I have the same resolutions that most people do ... be healthier, be wealthier, be happier.  You know how it goes.  I'll get there eventually, but plan to have a whole lot of fun along the way.

Honeybaked Ham

Yesterday we had a company lunch at work with HoneyBaked hams and turkeys.  Every year, we get a free lunch to test out the ham and turkeys and decide which one we like, then for Christmas the company gives us either a ham or a turkey.  Man, I love those hams.   I'm pretty sure it is loaded with salt (because I am always thirsty the rest of the afternoon), not to mention whatever they sugar it with, but they are mmmmmm so good.  I am not usually a ham lover.  I like Boars Head maple glazed ham cut very very thin, but other than that ... ham is not my first choice.  But the Honeybaked hams at Christmas are just like a special occaision.

Sorry, if I got your mouth watering some.

I'm trying to arrange a little shopping day with my mom - probably will go to the Florida City outlet mall on Monday.  So ... I'm down to just 3 more Mondays off and then it will really suck having to work 5 days a week.  Not that I've been slacking mind you, I've still been putting in over 40 hours a week, but I've just had every Monday off since February in order to use up my vacation time on the books.   Sad to think it is quickly coming to a close.  I really think I'm going to check w/ the boss and see if he'll let me keep the schedule and do 4 - 10 hour days.   Hmmm - gotta catch him in a good mood for that one.

Well, you see that I'm talking of hams and work, so there's nothing all too exciting going on here.  I'll be in the scraproom this weekend, so I'll have some projects to post.  I might even wrap a package or two - imagine that.

 

It's been awhile ...

I hope you've missed me, or at least kept up with me on Facebook.

To catch you up ....

August - Had 4 cards published in the ReadySetCreate Cards issue.  Employee quit - life got a million times busier.

September - Labor day with family.  I turned 50.  Went to a great car show in Sebring and got to drive on the Sebring Racetrack.

October - Car Show with Pontiac Club, Went to CreepOver, Had fun, Had 8 kids come by for Halloweeen - which paled in comparison to my brother's house where he had (no lie) 100's.

November - Washer Broke, Vacation in New Mexico for a week.  Went to 2 Diners/DriveIns/and Dives restaurants while there.  New washer.  Thanksgiving at Moms.  Turkey Rod Run.

See you didn't really miss that much. My life is mostly work and car shows with a few scrapbooking events thrown in for good measure and of course some time spent with family.

I just wanted to touch base and get started off on the right food for December which I know will be another whirlwind.

C'est la vie

which loosly translates into ... Such is Life!

I was on a good roll and I will be again, but life just gets in the way sometimes.  I guess it's not "life" but "work" that gets in the way.  One employee on vacation another AWOL, so I pick up the slack and since I'm on salary, I get to work more hours for free.  Yay Me !

But the up side is -- I'm going to a crop this coming weekend.  Get this ... I'm even packed.  Not too excited eh!

I haven't quite packed up my basic tool kit yet because I've been working on Halloween type cards. But clothes are packed, and some kits I want to work on are packed and since Linda called me out for not uploading my Utah pictures to Picassa, I guess I'll be doing that while I'm in Sebring too.

I think Friday, will be a day just to decompress.  I'm working half a day, then the 3 hour drive with a stop here and there, so I may just chill Friday evening and catch up with everyone.  I know the rocking chairs on the front porch of the Kennilworth are already calling my name.

Story of Wii

So several months ago I broke down and bought a Wii.  I need to get in some exercise, and I thought that I'd have a greater chance of success playing games that didn't really seem like exercising instead of going to a gym.

Well, I finally got it all set up and working (after a little mishap with something being backwards so it couldn't read the disc). So there is this soccer game (Wii Fit) where you have to move and bounce the soccer balls off your head.  The first night, I think my score was 3 - and they throw shoes and panda bears at you and if you hit one of those you lose points - I just couldn't do it, but I'm improving each and every day.  Hubby and I are competing against each other for high score (well ... right now I'm practicing since he's under the weather - better for me).  Right now I'm in the lead.  The other one I like is the hula hoops, brings back some of those childhood memories.

So I'm having fun figuring out just how to move and I'm getting some exercise into my day so it's all good.

Taking Stock

Two weeks ago hubby and I were in an accident.  It was in one of the classic cars (the 1964 Olds 442 conv). Other than a few bumps and bruises, we were/are fine.  In a nutshell, we had the right of way, an idiot made a left turn right into us.  He was trying to be slick and gun the light before the oncoming traffic started to take off.  He couldn't see us because we were in the outside lane.  

It's been weird.  My thoughts keep focusing on how grateful I am to still be alive.  Every time someone asks about the accident, it's the first thought that pops into my head.  "How are you doing?"  "Just happy to be alive".  

A second one way or the other would have done significantly more damage.  If he was a second faster, we would have broadsided him - he had a small child in the car, so the kid would have been injured, and we would have hit with more force.  If he had been a second slower, he would have hit my husbands door injuring him for sure.  If we were in a different classic car (we have several to choose from) we might not have had seat belts, or the the car wouldn't have been as substantial.

So dealing with the aftermath is a royal pain.  We may not even be able to fix the car because this one is only one of 436 made. The drivers side was pretty much wiped out and the frame is bent.  The insurance company couldn't find any of the parts we need, so now we're looking and will send what we find to them.

Back to my point of taking stock.  Over the past two weeks, I've connected through Facebook with a old friend from the neighborhood that I grew up in, another friend that worked at Miami Children's Hospital with me some 30+ years ago, and another friend that my husband grew up with called and we're meeting him for dinner Monday, I've got the Utah trip details almost finished, and tomorrow we'll be spending time with both our moms.  All of these things would not be possible, if the accident had ended differently - so again, I'm still in the mindset of thanking God that I'm still here and able to enjoy life.

Always just a little behind

Behind again ... probably should have posted this by yesterday but trying to get back into the routine of blogging.

So Sunday was my anniversary - 18 years.  I wanted to go to brunch.  It's been a very long time since I've done brunch, so I started the day looking to see what was still in the area.  The Biltmore Hotel has one, but it is now $75.00 per person (Yikes), then I checked the Rusty Pelican I hadn't been there in probably 18 years or so - the last time I was there was when my dad was still alive - checked those prices and it was better than the Biltmore but still $35.00/person.  Quickly doing the math, I didn't think I could eat 3 pounds of shrimp to justify the cost - LOL - those days are gone forever I'm afraid.

So I decided to start the day with brunch at Cheesecake Factory which is an ala carte menu, but items they sell only on Sunday mornings.  Last week when hubby was doing a car thing, I had treated myself to breakfast there and had the crab hash (yummy - I highly recommend), and this Sunday I had the Baja Chicken Hash which was a mexican style hash with poached eggs on top.  It was delish.  It had chicken, and turkey sausage, with potatoes and spices on a couple of crispy tortillas with the poached eggs on top.  I ended up having to bring half home.  While at the mall with the Cheesecake Factory, I did talk hubby into taking pictures at a photo booth.  Exciting for two reasons ... one - I've been wanting some photo booth pictures (you know the ones you took as a kid where you pose and it takes a strip of four black and white photos) and second - my husband never agrees to having a photo taken (I think he only did it because it was our anniversary).  Anyway, I have my photo booth pictures - should mention that the price has gone up, I seem to remember them being a dollar back in the day, and now their $5 - a little steep, but I really wanted them.  The rest of the day it rained and rained so we didn't really do much else.  All in all it was a good,quiet, relaxing day.