Carnations were her favorite...

Red carnations for love and affection.  Pink carnations for gratitude.  Sending a big virtual bouquet of both to my dear friend on her birthday.  I miss you still.  Save me a seat next to yours.  xo

Eleven random thoughts on the 11th...

1.  Holy guacamole!  It is June 11th, and it's been over a month since I've blogged anything!

2.  Occasionally I make rash decisions that I stubbornly have to follow through on.  My mother called it cutting off your nose to spite your face, and I've long been prone to it.  This time I was dissatisfied with Sonic's app never working, and resentful about paying full price for drinks when you could get them half price if the damn app would work.  So I sent them a dissatisfaction survey and added that I'm was a really good customer but I won't be back, and I cancelled my account.  Yeah.  I miss you, magic ice!

3.  Since #2 will save me some serious change, I felt free to spend some.  I ordered a gallon-size stainless steel, insulated cooler to take to work for ice water, and a pitcher to filter the water before filling the cooler.  Our fridge at work is only large enough for a dozen or so bottles of water which we keep for clients.  I hate all the plastic waste those bottles mean, so I needed another way to have my own cold water.

4.  We've all heard that we should drink 8 (8 ounce) glasses of water a day, but the Mayo Clinic recommends 15.5 (8 ounce glasses) for men and 11.5 (8 ounce glasses) for women.  That seems rather generalized to me.  Other sources say to take your body weight, divide it by 2, and the result would be the number of ounces you should drink per day.  So let's say a person weighs 200 pounds:  200 ÷ 2 = 100 ounces that they should drink per day.  FYI there are 128 ounces in a gallon.

5.  Deer love to have their babies in our yard.  Right now we have a pair of twins here.  Yeah, they're cute and all, but they still drive the dog to distraction!  They are so tiny, and the mother jumps the fence and leaves them.  She always comes back, but in the meantime any activity panics them, and they can't figure out how to go through the open gate to get to her.  Carey was trying to quietly and calmly heard them toward the gate the other day, so they could get to mama, so that he could mow the yard.  Our neighbors took offence (no pun intended) and stopped their car and started yelling at Carey to stop scaring them.  Carey never said a word, just waved them off and continued about his business.  But the car and the loud voices frightened them so much they were jumping headlong into the fence.

6.  We don't really know any of our neighbors well.  I may be paranoid, but I think they gossip about us.  Carey saw a different neighbor outside the other day, and stopped to say hello.  The guy asked Carey why we trap deer in our yard.  Oh, geez.

7.  I seem to be spending a lot lately.  I may have to bring back the Frugal Friday File.

8.  Tomorrow is Friday!  YEA!!!

9.  Weekends are too darn short, and this weekend I have a long list of to-dos.

10.  One thing on the list is to make Rudy a new toy.  His 'baby' is a paw from an old stuffed toy.  Yes, it's played right down to just a paw left.  He still loves it.  :)

That's it between his paws.

11.  I overslept on Tuesday and was quite late to work.  I'd better go to bed.  G'night.

Saturday snail mail...

These were Nurses' Day cards for our clients who are nurses.

A 'Thinking of You' card for my cousin.  It doesn't look like much in the photo, but better irl; very simple with just the embossed tree and small tag.

And then it got a little out of control.  When I'm not satisfied, I start adding 'just one more thing.'

Yowza...this one had a LOT of just one more things.  :)

This one is a nod to a favorite artist.  It's not nearly as beautiful as Polly Jones' art, but her work does use mixed media, it often has jars, sometimes has a fish or two, and almost always has flowers.  I highly recommend Polly Jones' Etsy shop. 

And, because I let time get away from me this year, a very simple Mother's Day card for my m-i-l.  

Hope everyone reading this has a Happy Mother's Day...or if you aren't in the US, an all around happy...and healthy...day!

Uh-oh...

Look what I forgot to do before I left on Friday afternoon.

"He's dead, he can't talk."

"Whoo-hoo-hoo.  Look who knows so much, heh?"

"Well, it just so happens that your friend is only mostly dead."

 

"There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead."

 

"Mostly dead is slightly alive."

I'm not a big fan of house plants.  They need attention, watering, dusting, feeding, moving...I can live without all that work, when I would rather spend my time reading, sewing, and making cards...the payoff isn't worth the trade-off for me.  Thus, I haven't invested much effort in learning about them.  But peace lilies are smart enough to let people like me know when they need help before it's too late.  Watching them come back from the brink makes me feel a bit like Miracle Max.

I won't be going through this one's clothes looking for loose change any time soon.

                       ☙❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❦❧

postscript:  This is my work plant.  I put up with it for a few reasons.  It makes my desk not look so bare.  It is good for the air quality in the office.  But mostly because I can't read, sew, or make cards during work hours, but it's perfectly acceptable to take care of a plant during work hours.  ;)

post-postscript:  I may not be a big fan of houseplants, but I am a big fan of the movie the above quotes are from.  So extra points for you if you know the movie without clicking the link that takes you to a clip.

This pandemic thing, April's end...

The tools of my trade.

And a cowbell...because sometimes you just need more cowbell.

At work I think of things I want to say here.  I get home and I'm too tired or distracted to put them down.  

I'm thirsty.  I need to make masks.  I want a hot bath.

I can't think of words lately...I pause in my speech thinking that they will come, but the pauses string out interminably...embarrassingly.

The other day I had to call our home office for some instruction on an issue I was having.  As I was explaining the situation, my voice sounded funny to me, and I blurted out to the home office associate I was speaking to, "Do I sound hoarse to you...do I sound like a hypochondriac?"  He said, "You sound fine to me.  I think we're all imagining symptoms."  LOL

I have birthday and Mother's Day cards to make this weekend, so maybe there will be a Saturday snail mail post.  I also need to make a week's worth of masks for each of us; but if I could get a few made this weekend I would be happy with myself.  And I need to trim Rudy's nails.  Those are my only plans for the weekend, and I will be ecstatic (and surprised) if I complete them all.

Saturday snail mail...

I had hoped to spend the day at my desk organizing and making more cards, but I woke up this morning with a headache, and have only managed to read and binge watch Finding Your Roots.  So I will show you what I've made over the past couple of months.

We served as a drop-off location for a local club's diaper drive this year.  I made this thank-you card to send to our clients who made donations.  (Colors seem to be off a little in the first couple of photos.  I think it was the light on the day I took them.)

This was a sympathy card I made for a coworker who lost her father recently.

This one was my mother-in-law's birthday card.

I made this card for a friend and told her I call it my pandemic card, because the materials are kind of a strange mix, and the sentiment says, "Take care of yourself."  The layers of the card used pretty folders that I received from Stampin' Up!   The floral design was exterior of the folders, and the coral design bottom layer was the interior.  I've had them forever and was never going to use them as folders, so I cut them up to make cards.

This one I CASEd (Copy And Share Everything) from a Bruno Bertucci YouTube demo...all scraps.

This is from last month's Paper Pumpkin kit.

I CASEd this one from Lillian Withers from craicandcrafting.com.  I love the symplicity.  This one is going to my cousin who just lost his wife.  I am so sad that he is alone at this time and not able to have the nearness of loved ones and a service to comfort him.

Another CASEd card, but I can't remember original artist.  This one is going to a former coworker just because it kind of reminds me of her.  She will like the colors.

That's all I have to share.  I haven't been making many cards lately.  Oh, wait!

I turned this photo of the girls into a postcard with the TouchNote app, and had it mailed to my mother-in-law.

Okay.  Now that really is all I have for Saturday Snail Mail.  :)

Seven random thoughts on the 7th...

1.  A couple of months ago I subscribed to Freshly meal delivery service for six meals per week (two individual servings of three different meals).  Their meals are fully prepared, and never frozen, and they are pretty healthy (lean meats, spaghetti squash and zoodles [zuchini noodles] instead of pasta).  I was happily surprised when Carey didn't begrudge the expense; he's just happy to have meals ready at a reasonable hour that we don't have to go out for.  I did it because I hate grocery shopping, and don't relish coming home at 5pm just to cook every night.  Now that groceries may or may not be on the store shelves, and neither of us want to pick up the virus from other shoppers, we are both SUPER happy to look forward to the Freshly box at our door.

2.  Yesterday I uninstalled three games from my phone.  They were ones I liked, but I was wasting way too much time, so I just ripped off the bandaid.

3.  We found out that two of our clients have Covid 19.  They are recuperating as I understand it.  We are expecting some forms back from them in the mail.  I know the virus isn't supposed to live on paper for long, but still.  I'm the one that opens all the mail and packages.  (Note to self:  retrieve that box of latex-like gloves that have been languishing under the laundry room sink for years and stash them in my work desk...and put some in our cars too.)  

4.  I need to make masks.  

5.  The social isolating hasn't been a big adjustment for me.  I understand how it is for a lot of people, but for me life isn't all that different.  I still go to work in my essential-industry job...our two-person staff in a large office means we have a lot of room for social distancing...and we are having appointments (but only by phone or web-conference)...so my life isn't drastically impacted.  What is hardest for me is that Carey and I are choosing to keep our distance from the kids.  I did go over yesterday just to take the girls' photo in the bluebonnets in their front yard.  No hugs!  :(  

6.  I can't say that there is no stress at all from current events.  I do think a lot about people losing loved ones, and jobs, and meals, and homes.  The idea that we can't bury all the victims seems straight out of Forever Amber.  And even in areas of low virus occurrence, families who are losing family members from other causes are unable to hold a service to say goodbye and feel the love and support of friends.  No weddings.  No graduations.  People dealing with heartbreak and disappointment.  

7.  And all I can do is make another donation to the food bank.