Adventures with Arlene

Lisa Houston is having a workshop

2012-02-18T18:08:00.000-08:00

My friend, Lisa Houston, is having a Stampin Up Workshop on Saturday, February 25th. She asked for 2 cards and a cello bag topper as her Make and Takes.

The first photo shows our cello bag topper. I went to Target and found some Easter candy this morning for the bag. I used a bunch of punches to create the bunny. I told Lisa that the small oval punch was retired, but she wants this bunny. I inked the edges of all the white with Pretty in Pink. Decided to use wiggle eyes instead of drawing eyes - my fine motor skills aren't that great after a chemo session. Of course I used a Top Note Diecut folded in half and stapled it to the cello bag. You don't see the staples because the bunny is on one side and the sentiment is on the other. The sentiment comes from the stamp set Everybunny on page 48 of the catalog.

The second photo has 2 cards - we decided to go ahead with the Melon Mambo background instead of the Pink Pirouette background. The dotted paper comes from the Hostess set Cheerful Treat on page 11 of the catalog. I used Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment came from Sincere Saluations, which is one of my go to sets. I used the 2 oval punches for the sentiment.

The neatest thing about this card is something I read on Splitcoaststampers. I stamped the Melon Mambo flower on a 3" x 3" piece of Whisper White. The flower is from the stamp set, Mixed Bunch in the Occasions Mini. Then I cut out a 3" x 3 " piece of Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets (look on page 216 of the catalog). I peeled off the side with the words Sizzix and covered my flower adhesive side down. Then I punched out the flower using the new punch Blossom (page 17 of the Occasions Mini). After I punch both layers out (the Whisper White cardstock with the flower image in Melon Mambo and covered with the Adhesive Sheet, I peeled off the top of the Adhesive Sheet. I turned the adhesive side down into my tub of Dazzling Diamonds and then shook off the excess. Added some dimensionals to the rear and placed it on my card. The Dazzling Diamonds stayed on the flower this way. How cool was that!

Oh, when I mention my tub of Dazzling Diamonds, let me describe it to you. I take all my embossing powders and my Dazzling Diamonds and my Heat and Stick and place each in a sandwich size plastic tub (like from Gladware). I label all 4 sides of the tub with the name of the contents (that way I can always read what is in the tub). I keep a plastic spoon in the tub too. When I want to emboss or add the powders, now I simply open a tub and shake the excess back into the tub. I never could do a good job with shaking back into those little bottles. I find I am wasting much less of my product this way.

Okay the final card is the St. Paddy's card.I stamped the Shamrock from my stamp set Got Treats in Garden Green on Whisper White. < I did cut off all the sentiments in this set. I do have them all in the box, but don't always use the sentiments -- I was more interested in the images.> Then I ran the card thru the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Folder. This gave me my quilted look. I cut a mat out of Silver Glimmer to mat my quilted look. Added some Garden Green grosgrain. Stamped the sentiment from the stamp Happy St. Patrick's (found on page 43 of the Occasions mini) in Garden Green. Punched it out with the Decorative Label Punch. I also cut out a piece of Silver Glimmer with the same punch and cut it in half to add to the back of my sentiment. Used a few dimensionas and viola!

In every card I make, I always add an insert. In these 2 cards, I choose Whisper White cardstock, cut 4" x 5 1/4" inches as my inserts -- gives you a smooth place to write on a neutral color. Hate trying to find a pen that writes over some of my colored cardstocks.

I have Lisa's workshop all prepped and ready to go for next Saturday. Whew! Off to prep for another workshop for the following Saturday.

Have a great weekend!
Arlene

A fabulous opportunity awaits you

2012-02-14T04:44:00.000-08:00

Joining Stampin' Up! is Easy and Fun!

Joining anytime is great, but joining now is fabulous!

Join for Just $125!

Choose from our Starter Kits and join during Sale-A-Bration for just $125 (regularly $175)! You'll receive product and business supplies valued at over $340.

Free Products for the Rest of 2012

Besides an amazing price on your starter kit, you'll also get a free pack of Designer Series Paper (excludes Specialty Designer Series Paper) or a digital download every month for the rest of the year! Simply place a demonstrator order each month and you'll be able to choose a qualifying paper or digital download for free! (does not include shipping and handling charges).

Our starter kits are created exclusively for new demonstrators, contain Stampin' Up! essentials you'll need to get started in your new business. You can choose between the standard Starter Kit and the Digital+ Starter Kit. Both Starter Kits are customizable allowing you to choose products that you want to run your business your way.

The standard Starter Kit includes

•Four complete stamp sets (including a clear-mount set and clear-mount block)

•A Stampin' Around wheel, handle, and ink cartridge

•Assortment of Designer Series Paper and card stock

•White envelopes (40)

•Four Classic Stampin' Pads

•Two Stampin' Write markers

•VersaMark Pad

•Whisper White 5/8" satin ribbon

•Always Bird Décor Elements and applicator

•Adhesives

•Blender pen

•Color Coach

•Cupcake Punch

•Stamping sponge

•Stampin' Scrub and Mist

•Box of Idea Book & Catalogs

•Business forms and tools

The Digital+ Starter Kit includes

•My Digital Studio digital designing software

•His & Hers Digital Content Collection DVD

•One clear-mount stamp set (including a clear-mount block)

•Assortment of card stock

•Note cards and envelopes (20)

•Four Classic Stampin' Pads

•Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

•Brights Designer Buttons

•Always Bird Décor Elements and applicator

•Adhesives

•Blender Pen

•Stampin' Scrub and Mist

•Box of Idea Book & Catalogs

•Business forms and tools

Plus, if you'd like to add scrapbooking, home décor, or digital designing to your business, we also offer three optional add-ons: the Stampin' Memories add-on, the Definitely Decorative add-on, and the My Digital Studio add-on. These add-ons give you a great sampling of products you can use to showcase Stampin' Up!'s Stampin' Memories, Definitely Decorative, and digital designing lines. I would love to talk to you about joining my team!

Arlene

Our February Class Project

2012-02-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

We made this notepad/case project at the February Stamp Class on Saturday. It is a very simple project to do and leaves your with a product you can easily use. I hate when my notepad paper has curled up on the edges or tears while in my purse. And I am one of those who needs paper often for notes. By making myself one of these, I no longer have problems with my paper curling. It is safe inside my case.

Photo # 1 gives you a close up of the entire insert. If you are like me, I like to see a visual, as well as have written directions. Photo # 2 shows the inside of the clear stamp case. I placed a calendar on the left side of the case. I order my calendars from http://www.vippies.com/ On the right side is a notepad. I simply went over to Office Depot and grabbed 2 packages of 5" x 8" notebooks. My local store sells 12 pads in a package for about $ 6.50. Then I went to their customer service department and had them cut the pads into 7" lengths to fit inside the clear stamp cases. That was another $ 1.50 for the 24 pads I purchased. Finally, Photo # 3 shows the two different color choices that were given for the class. I cut out 12 of each color choice (Soft Suede or Lucky Limeade). I had 6 of each color choice for the morning class and then 6 of each color choice for the afternoon class. Let me share the recipe with you! They make wonderful gifts -- remember that secretaries day will be here later this spring. Or maybe a special thank you for a friend?

EVERYDAY ENCHANTMENT NOTEPAD CASE RECIPE

# 101650 Very Vanilla Cardstock
# 126154 Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper (SAB item!)
# 122384 Lucky Limeade striped paper from the 2011-2013 Paper Stacks
# 117157 Soft Suede striped paper from the Neutrals Collection Paper Stacks
# 122713 Lucky Limeade (SAB item! this is an assorted pack) cardstock using the Label Framelits
# 115318 Soft Suede cardstock using the Label Framelits
# 125117 Fresh Vintage Stamp Set (SAB item!)
# 122935 Lucky Limeade Classic Ink
# 115657 Soft Suede Classic Ink
Sponges
# 123002 2011-2013 Stampin Write Markers (I used Pool Party, Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade from this set)
# 123002 2010-2012 Stampin Write Markers (I used Poppy Parade from this set)
# 101610 Stampin Sponges
# 119105 Clear-Mount Stamp Cases
# 125598 Label Collection Framelits
# 113439 Bog Shot Die-Cutting Machine
# 104294 Sticky Strip (In my part of the USA, we call it Red Line tape)

Directions:

Very Vanilla Cardstock - cut one (1) piece at 7" x 10 5/8". This is the base material for your insert.
Very Vanilla Cardstock - cut one (1) piece for the size Label Framelits you decide to use.
Everyday Enchantment DSP - decide on the pattern you want to use. I found that one print lended itself to using Soft Suede accents, and the other print focused more on Lucky Limeade as the accent color. Cut the Everyday Enchantment DSP paper of your choice at 6" x 10 3/8". I chose to cut at 6 inches for the width so I could get 2 inserts from one page of DSP. Since the striped paper would cover the rest of the Very Vanilla cardstock, I did not worry about having a gap.
Striped DSP from either the Neutrals DSP Paper Stack (Soft Suede) or the 2011-2013 DSP Paper Stack (Lucky Limeade) cut at 1 1/2" x 10 3/8". <Just a note -> I find it easier to put the 12 x 12 paper on my cutter and simply move the left edge of the paper to the 10 3/8" mark -- that way I cut 1 1/2" without trying to balance all the paper on my right side of the cutter>.
You will adhere the Everyday Enchantment DSP paper to your Very Vanilla base, leaving a 1/4" space around the top and sides. There will be 1" of space on the bottom to be covered by the striped paper.
Then adhere the striped paper from whatever accent color you chose (Soft Suede or Lucky Limeade) to the Very Vanilla base. Match the sides of this paper to the sides of your Everyday Enchantment Paper. This stripe will leave a 1/4" space around the bottom and sides of the Very Vanilla base. The stripe will cover 1/4" of your Everyday Enchantment Paper.
Now cut out the Label Framelits using the Big Shot Die Cut Machine. You will need a smaller Label Framelit from Very Vanilla cardstock and the next size Label Framelits from whichever accent color you chose (Soft Suede or Lucky Limeade).
Mount the design stamp from the Fresh Vintage stamp set onto a clear block. Color in the image using Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade and Poppy Parade markers.
Huff on the image and stamp onto your Very Vanilla Label Framelit. Don't know what it means to huff? It simply means to breathe over your stamp, exhaling across it. The moisture from your breath will keep the ink wet.
Sponge the Very Vanilla Framelit and the Accent Mat Framelit with a sponge and the color Classic Ink you chose as the accent.
Adhere the labels together. Then adhere them to the right side of your cover insert.
Slide it in carefully between the cover film and the actual clear stamp case (look at your other stamp case inserts -- works the same way). One word of warning -- DO NOT make the length longer than 10 5/8" on your base cardstock. Otherwise you will rip the film off. I am speaking from experience! I tore two off my cases. Ugh....
Now onto the inside of the case. Attach a calendar to the left interior.
Take a strip of the Everyday Enchantment DSP paper and cut it to fit the top of your notepad. I wrapped my paper around the top of the notebook.
Finally, the last step. Add a strip of red line tape to the back of the notepad. Peel off that red waxy film and adhere your pad to the right interior of your case.
DONE!

Optional Ideas:

Ribbon along the overlap area of paper.
Create a pocket to place below the calendar for notes.
Use MDS to design a mat instead of the Label Framelits.

Today was a wierd day. It rarely snows around here. And we had a weather forecast for 100% snow. Too bad it started as I was heading to work. I seriously thought I would have a snow day today. Shucks. We got snow, then freezing drizzle and then rain as the temps climbed. Right now, if it freezes tonight, we will get have a sheet of ice. Depends on how low the temps go tonight, whether I have school tomorrow or not.
Remember this part of the South does not have snow ploughs. They salt the roads but that is about it. Tomorrow afternoon the winter weather will be a thing of the past, since our highs tomorrow will be in the mid-50's.

I was so ready for a snow day too! Yes, even teachers need one occasionally. I had laid out my work clothes and stuff to carry to school today. But I also laid out some comfy clothes and some scrapbooking to do if I got to stay home. Will do the same tomorrow. Best to be prepared both ways. Thought I would get to write on my blog this morning, instead I was teaching. So at the end of my work day, I came home to post this tutorial.

Enjoy it. If you happen to make it, please leave me a comment about the directions. Want to make sure that they are clear and concise (and I did not skip a step).

Have a great night!
Arlene

February Stamp Class - Razorback Country

2012-02-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

I have a dear friend, Lisa Houston, who pinned the top card to her Pinterest site. She really loved the card and I saw sooo many possibilities with it. I am sorry but I am not sure who made the original. Lisa's Pinterest shows the words "Uploaded by User" and not a website so I cannot acknowledge the card artist.

While I loved the original card, I really wanted a brighter card. So I played with it. The Arkansas Razorbacks colors are red and gray. I decided on a white design mat and a gray mat behind it on a red card base.

Another reason I made this card for class is that I needed a birthday card for my big brother, Bruno, on March 3rd. Bruno has 3 major things in his life that loves: his dog, Roxie; the Arkansas Razorbacks; and golf. I never even call Bruno after the Hogs lose a game. That is asking for problems. I always call after a win -- he is such a good mood! LOL...

Razorback Card Recipe -

# 122737 Button Buddies

# 121958 Bring on the Cake (sentiment set used inside the card)

# 102482 Real Red Cardstock

# 121044 Basic Gray Cardstock

# 100730 Whisper White Cardstock

# 100712 Brushed Silver

# 119251 1/8 inch Real Red Taffeta Ribbon

# 119747 Brights Designer Buttons

# 122361 Petite Pennants Builder Punch

# 120906 2 1/2" Circle Punch

# 123126 Perfect Pennants BigzL Sizzix Die

# 123128 Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

# 113439 Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

# 104430 Dimensionals

# 103683 Mini Glue Dots

Toothpicks

Wiggly Eyes

Directions:

Whisper White Cardstock - I ran Whisper White cardstock thru my printer to print the words Woo Pig Sooie! I printed 4 per page and then cut the page into 4 pieces at 3 3/4 " x 5 ". Use the Stripes folder to emboss all of the card EXCEPT the printed words. Cover the area between the end of the embossed design and the words with a piece of red taffeta ribbon. I wrap the ends to the back side of the white cardstock.

Whisper White Cardstock - Stamp up the cute pig from the Button Buddies stamp set with Real Red onto a 3 x 3 " square of Whisper White Cardstock. Use the 2 1/2" circle punch to punch out the pig. I attached the button nose and wiggly eyes with glue dots.

Whisper White Cardstock - Cut a piece at 4" x 5 1/4" inch for the inside side of your card. I stamped a birthday greeting from the Bring on the Cake stamp set in Black Stazon on my insert.

Whisper White Cardstock - I also printed off a page of Go Hogs! on my printer to use for the pennants. Take the Petite Pennant Punch and punch out the sentiment using the plain edged pennant.

Real Red Cardstock - Punch out a scalloped edge pennant using the Petite Pennant Punch. Add your plain edged sentiment punchie to this and attach to a toothpick (you need glue dots!).

Real Red Cardstock - cut out a cardbase 5 1/2' x 8 1/2" . Score at 4 1/4" on the long side to create the cardbase. Add the whisper white insert inside the card.

Basic Gray Cardstock - Cut a mat at 4" x 5 1/4". Adhere it to the front of the Real Red Cardbase. Then add your Whisper White design mat (with the Wooo Pig Sooie! and Stripes Embossing on it) to the top of the gray. Because I use 1/4" changes in measurement, you will have that much showing around the edges of each layer.

Brushed Silver Cardstock - can easily be done with Basic Gray too. I chose the Brushed Silver to give it a slight pop of shimmerness on the central point of the card. Cut a piece of Brushed Silver (or Basic Gray if you prefer) at 3" x 3". Place the cardstock on the Perfect Pennants BigzL die (I chose the larger of the decorative circles) and run it thru your Big Shot. Now place the Pig design onto the Brushed Silver Decorative Circle. Use dimensionals to the back of the silver base and place it on your card. Placement depends on if you do the small GO HOGS! pennant. If you do use the pennant, place the pig just above the red ribbon. Then place your pennant to the left of the circle. If you chose not to use the pennant, then place the pig in the center of the Stripes Embossing.

OPTIONAL IDEAS - If you are not an Arkie or a Razorback fan, simply skip printing Wooo Pig Sooie! on your card (also skip the Go Hogs Pennant) . Instead stamp a greeting you like -- my suggestions are:

# 122892 Perfectly Penned

# 120651 Word Play

# 115070 Smarty Pants

Yesterday was my February Stamp Class. I held 2 sessions - one from 9 a.m. to noon, and another from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. There were many new faces in the class (Alysha, Alex, Kaila, Frankie, Lise, Sandy, Abigail, Kay and Enda) and many of my friends/regulars (Kalen, Michelle, Nana Jenny, Laura, Amber, Micki, Charlie, Nita, Lisa and Melissa). We had a wonderful time!

I will be posting all the cards and our project from class this week. Stayed tuned! If we get the snow as expected tonight, then tomorrow I can easily post in the morning, otherwise it will be in the evening after work.

Sorry for being away so long, but last weekend was a nightmare. I hate it when I get the premeds, the nuclear medicine, the contrast dye and then all the 3 chemo drugs. It makes me so sick all weekend. In fact, I even stayed home on Monday because I was still super nauseous. You know it is bad when you pray that you can throw up! That rarely happens -- in fact, only once in 4 years of chemo has it happened. But oh goodness! I get so nauseous after all the extra drugs - it is like your tummy took a ride on the EXPRESS roller coaster. Normally I get only a mild rollercoaster. So I spent alot of time on the antinausea + sleep aide meds and slept and slept. Being awake was not fun. By Tuesday, I was back again. Don't have to take that ride again until May for my next scans.

Have a great day !

Arlene

Leaving a retired scrap page for you

2012-02-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry about not posting early today. Been running like crazy and was at the oncologist in the wee hours this morning. All is great but I am pooped.

Just drug up a layout I did at Christmas with retired paper. I love to scrapbook and my friends know it. My good friend, Stacy does not do any crafts at all. She asked me to make a page for her hubby's boss so she could put it in a 12 x 12 frame. Her only request was Western.

This is the page I designed. I know the patterned paper is retired and right now I am not sure of the name. There are 2 stamp sets used, 1 current and 1 retired. The current one is OUT WEST. The retired one was perhaps WANTED? Can't decide right now. You know the punches are the small and large tag punch and the rope was made with SU linen thread. I am sure that the alphabet is retired but don't know the name tonight. There are 2 mats to hold 4 x 6 photos (mats are 4 1/4' x 6 1/4") so it is just a matter of selecting and adhering 2 photos. The boss' wife loved her layout!

Am in a chemo fog and the names of those retired sets are difficult to think of right now. Will let you know at a later time.

Was more concerned that I give you a post tonight and knew I was not up to typing alot of details on the Leadership card swap. Will get back to that this weekend.

A few of my Leadership Swap favorites

2012-02-02T04:19:00.000-08:00

I have 80 cards that I got in my organized Leadership swaps, and then about 80 more cards from the general floor swaps. What is the difference in these types of swaps? Well an organized swap is one you sign up for in advance with a swap hostess. You are committed to make "X" number of card fronts or full cards for this swap for each group you have joined. For example, in Lyssa's Convention Quality Swap, I joined 3 groups. So I had to do 20 cards for each group and each group was a different stamp set. On the other hand a general floor swap is what it sounds like -- a free for all. You walk around asking people if they are swapping and you swap cards as you wish. You get better quality in organized swaps as a rule, but there are a few exceptions!

Today I am starting a series of 3 or 4 days of some of my favorite Leadership swaps to share with you. After that I plan on showing you the 6 x 6 double page scrapbook swap.

The photo shows 2 cards. The one on the left was made by my roommate, Deb Mueller of New Hampshire. Isn't it lovely? She used Pear Pizzazz as the cardbase and cut the top edge of the card with the Adorning Accents Edgelits. The ribbon is Blushing Bride pleated ribbon. The stamp set is Bordering on Romance. Note she used the long row of flower stamps from this set to do the bottom inside of the card, as well as added tiny pearls. For the design itself, she cut out 2 Label Framelits - one in Daffodil Delight and the other in Whisper White with the image stamped on it. She watercolored her design and added 3 pearls to the hearts of the flowers. This was placed on dimensionals and then attached to her card.

The card on the right was made by Patti Gress. I am so sorry that my photo does not do this card justice - it is simply stunning in its simplicity. Patti used a neutral (and I am not sure it is Crumb Cake or Sahara Sand) as her base and as the punch accent made with the Pinking Hearts border. She ran some Blushing Bride pleated ribbon over the punched out area. Her mat and her strips are made out of Pretty in Pink cardstock. Her strips are embossed with Vintage Wallpaper and then cut and notched at the bottoms (remember a square punch is an easy way to do this banner design). Her heart is stamped on Pretty in Pink cardstock and then shimmers with Dazzling Diamonds. The heart stamp is from the stamp set, P.S. I Love You. Then her image is punched out with a Heart punch and adhered to a Silver Glimmer heart. They are mounted with dimensionals onto the card.

That is all I have time for today. I need to scoot, take a shower, dress and get onto to work. It is already 6:40 and I have to be in my classroom in 1 hour. Thankfully I only live 10 minutes away and traffic is going the other direction! LOL... Have a wonderful Thursday!

Swap - Lyssa's Convention Quality Swap

2012-02-01T04:17:00.000-08:00

I joined 3 groups for Lyssa's Convention Quality Swap for Leadership this year. This swap was posted at SCS (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/) on the demo side of the site. I happen to follow Lyssa alot on her blog (http://www.songofmyheartstampers.com/) . I chose to use 3 stamp sets that are in the Idea Book and Catalog instead of the Occasions mini. Many people had signed up with stamp sets from the mini - but we are still selling sets out of the Idea Book.

The first card photo was made with Greenhouse Garden and En Francis background. I stamped the EnFrancis in Soft Suede onto Very Vanilla Cardstock. Then I sponged it with Crumb Cake ink. Over that I stamped the flowers with Calypso Coral and the interior of the flowers with Poppy Parade. Notice I did stamp off some of the flowers. The ribbon is Calypso Coral. The cardbase is Soft Suede with a Poppy Parade mat. Sentiment comes from Blessings from Heaven. I used my Early Expresso and Poppy Parade markers to ink the sentiment on Very Vanilla cardstock. Then I used an Oval punch to punch it out. The mat is Poppy Parade cut from the Scalloped Oval punch.

Card 2 is one stamp set that I don't think gets enough ink. That stamp set is Courage. I stamped the image with Black stazon onto Whisper White cardstock. Then I cut it out with our new Label Framelits. I also cut a Night of Navy mat with the Label framelits. The red mat was ran thru the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing folder to give the card some texture and depth. Then I used a white mat to make it more eye-appealing (and not overly a dark card) and put it all on a Night of Navy base. Coloring was done by markers. Sahara Sand for the uniform, Real Red for the stripes and Night of Navy for the background of the stars. Believe it or not, this is the only card of the bunch I forgot to color the shoulder of the soldier. When I saw the photo I went back and remedied this problem. Because we had to add an embellishment, I colored 4 rhinestones with a red Sharpie permanent marker and added them to the card. I love that Sharpie marker trick on the clear rhinestones (and my pearls) to achieve the color I want for my card. The sentiment was stamped with Night of Navy on Whisper White cardstock. Then cut with the Word Window punch. It was matted with Night of Navy cardstock and cut out with a Modern Label punch.

Card 3 uses the stamp set Everybunny. The background paper comes from the Hostess section of the catalog. It's on page 11 and it is called Cheerful Treat DSP. I stamped that cute bunny in the balloon using Stazon black ink onto Whisper White cardstock. Then colored it in using Pink Pirouette, Concord Crush, Lucky Limeade and Bashful Blue markers. The mat and the card base are Wisteria Wonder. Then I got creative and used the Word Window punch to cut out 3 white strips. Matted them onto 3 Wisteria Wonder punches made with the Modern Label punch. Attached them to my image base and then started adding embellishments. As you see, I chose 3 flower buttons and placed rhinestones in the center of each button. The sentiment was stamped in Concord Crush and cut out with an Oval Punch. It was then matted in Wisteria Wonder using a Scallop Oval Punch.

I made 20 of each card for my 3 groups. So I came home with 19 new cards (or new to me in trade!). My 20th card in each group I used for open trading when it was returned to me.

I will be back to show you some of the cards I got in this swap.

Card Candy swap from Leadership - Part 2

2012-01-30T18:01:00.000-08:00

Card Candy Part 2

1st photo - features a Masculine theme or a Western theme. These lovelies were created by Robin Greer. She used several different Stampin Up stamp sets including: In Wilderness, Out West and an SAB set. Notice her eagle has an antique brad in the lower right corner; love the two toned cowboy too! I can see making all kinds of male cards with these lovelies.

2nd photo - features the new set from the Occasions mini, Bordering on Romance. and the sentiment is from Blessings from Heaven. The creator of these pieces of card candy was Adrianna Benitez. Notice her flowers on the right top tag. She actually stamped the flowers on a blue printed paper, and then hand cut it out to paper piece over her stamped image. She used a marker to give dimension. The sentiment is a beautiful sentiment found in Blessings from Heaven -- and it is so true! Notice she used the new edgelits to create the nice trim on the left side of this photo.

3rd photo- features an assortment of card candy items for various times. This was created by Susan Finn of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I just love the bright summery colors she used. Her mother tag has pearls on it. The thank you tag has a Fire or Ice Brad. The cute yellow rosette bears a banner that reads congratulations. Each of her items has a depth to it, either by using embellishments, dimensionals or layers.

4th photo - features Valentine's. These sparkly items were created by Linda Haupt of Rapid City, SD. She embossed the doily with white embossing powder on red paper and then aded a red glimmer heart (plus a few extra hearts too!). I really like her rosette made with the Twitterpated paper - and check out that tiny jewelry tag punch! One of my favorite Valentine stamps this year came from the new Occasions mini, P.S. I Love You and my favorite stamp in the set is the silhoutte of the boy and girl on the bike.

5th and final photo features a Baby Theme. I made this set. It would work better for a scrapbook than a card. This card card stamp set is also in the Occasions mini, Baby Prints.
I just could not decide to whether to do a baby girl or a baby boy... finally I gave up and drug out my Blushing Bride and Bashful Blue and went to town. While I doing the letters, BABY, I decided to add some glitz to it all by adding the Silver Glimmer paper. I took an extra of this with me and hung it up for the Leadership contest. Much to my surprise, I actually won a prize with it! Woohoo! And many thanks to basketballmom (Gail) from SCS (Splitcoaststampers) who hunted me down to let me know I won a prize. I came home with a roll of Blushing Bride pleated ribbon and the Twitterpated Paper. I gave the buttons to Gail for her notifying me!

While I had never participated or heard of this type of swap before, I am in love with it. I see so many possibilities for card candy. In fact, I showed these to our scrapbook site, The Crop Room (a private group on Ning). We are going to have a card candy swap beginning in mid March. :>

That's all for tonight!

Arlene

Card Candy swap from Leadership - Part 1

2012-01-30T17:34:00.001-08:00

Card Candy - I was reading a post about a Card Candy swap, and I was clueless. So I wrote the hostess of the swap, Bobbie Ganley, and asked about it. Basically card candy is either for cardmaking or scrapbooking. Most people give these as a gift to the hostess who holds a party. I think of them as "homemade, creative Jolee's" done" with stamps, tools and embellishments I already own. Just think of the possibilities to customize them in the colors you need. Perhaps you are sending blank cards/envies to someone with a package of card candy. That way the recepient can make their own cards or use the designs on a scrapbook page.

The first photo is of Card Candy featuring the Fancy Flower Punch. This was created by Candy Rattray of San Antonio, Texas. I really love how Sandy used her Fancy Flower punch. Her accessories include a Hershey kiss, buttons, rhinestones and Fire or Ice circle brads, and punches on dimensionals. Just a note for you -> Did you know you can color rhinestones with a permanent marker (Sharpie or Bics for example) to create the color rhinestone you want to use? Easy, peasy! I purchased a huge set of permanent markers and now I can color rhinestones in any color I need for a card or a scrapbook page. I simply buy the SU clear rhinestones and I am set to go!

Card Candy # 2 features Birthday Card Candy. This was created by Bobbie Ganley (our Swap Hostess) . I think she did an awesome job one these creations. Love the little cupcake with the cherry on top! She has a layer at least on each of her items. Nothing is flat and static - instead each have depth and dimension (as well as some nice colors for birthday items). Among the Stampin Up stamp sets used are: Bring on the Cake, Create a Cupcake, and A Word for You.

Card Candy # 3 features the new stamp set in the Occasions Mini, Tea Shoppe. It was created by Carol Siers of Wilmington, Delaware. I admire Carol because she hand cut that large teacup, including the inside handle. That is something that is difficult for me to do these days with my fine motor issues from all the chemo. She displayed many of the stamps from this set in her card card treatment.

Card Candy # 4 features flowers - made from stamps, punches, and our Paper Daisies. It was created by Gail Beezley of San Antonio, Texas. I just love the top left flower from the Stampin Up stamp set, Flower Fest . Doesn't that flower have a springy feel to it? Another favorite in this set, is the flowers with the IN COLOR Glimmer brads and tiny pearls (looks like they were colored with a sharpie too!) on the flower in the bottom left corner. Those flowers come the Stampin Up stamp set, Vintage Vogue.

Card Candy # 5 features a kid theme. This was created by Stacey Tomkowiak of Aurora, Illinois. Among the Stampin Up stamp sets represented are: I Dig You, Little Princess, and Easy Events. I just love the little brads on the construction equipment on the top left side. Makes it have a more realistic look. The water really sparkers on the baby duck at the bottom. And of course, our little princess has a rhinestone in her tiara.

That concludes part 1 of the Card Candy swap. Stayed tuned for the other 5 swap items in the next post.

All these ladies mentioned are Stampin Up Demonstrators. If you live in their area, I am sure they would appreciate you contacting them about their clubs, classes and events.

Arlene

Roommate gifts at Leadership

2012-01-30T03:42:00.000-08:00

The top photo is a silk scarf that my roommate, Deb Mueller, hand stamped with the

Awash with Flowers stamp set. Isn't it beautiful? I wore it last week to school with a pink sweater and gray slacks. Got soooo many lovely comments on it. She delivered her gift inside a SU stamp case that she had decorated and added a pen/notebook inside of it.

The bottom photo is a pin cushion made with Deck the Halls fabric that my roommate, Sandy McFarlane created. Love that Victorian look and the hat shape itself.

Leadership was an awesome experience. I highly recommend if you have the opportunity to go to the Leadership Conference in 2013, that you go! I admit this time I went, not because I had the opportunity, but because of a carrot that was dangled in front of me.... Anyone with a Manager or higher title got to attend the Manager's Reception and then see the Chinese Acrobats of Heibi perform. I ran across another Arkansas demo at Leadership, Elaine Accord of Jacksonville. Elaine and I sat together for this reception and then the performance.

We were served drinks made of ginger ale and grenadine and then waiters/waitresses wandered around with trays of food with a Chinese theme. I saw noodles, wontons, egg rolls, marinaded beef on a stick and marinaded chicken on a stick. I loved the chicken and its flavor!

The Chinese Arcobats were awesome. I held my breath many times during the performance when one gentleman was building a structure and performing off of it... it was stacks of chairs going from the stage floor to the bottom of the stage valance curtain. He certainly had my heart pounding! These young acrobats were certainly talented!

Welcome to 2012!

2012-01-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

SHOCKED ? AMAZED ? Yes, I still have a blog. So lets play catch-up!

Okay, I realize I have been away from my blog for over 1 year. It was so hard to come back and post things. I kept reading about my final trip to see Zio Corrado and it made me sad. Now, I can look back on it, and am comfortable with it. I am so happy I did have the opportunity to see him again.

Healthwise, you know I relapsed last January 2011 and had to have more surgery and then chemo every week until mid-July. I went to every other week chemo in August.I was allowed to return to work in August, although my doctor would have preferred me wait a few more weeks/months. This Friday, I have my 3 month scans and chemo again. I don't expect any bad news. Frankly, I am waiting for the May scans. If those are good, chances are I will move to having chemo once a month instead of weekly. That would give me more stamina, energy and normality.

Personally, I have been working hard on my Stampin Up Business, as well as my personal cardmaking and scrapbooking. I went to the Leadership and Regional Conferences and had a wonderful time scooting around in an electronic chair. The convention center was tooo big for me to walk, especially with low blood counts.

This spring I have 2 stamp clubs, will be doing monthly card classes, and starting a beginner and an intermediate scrapbooking class. Am so excited about doing more classes with my friends and customers. I so love my crafts!

The photo aboveis a "cased" (means I used someone else's design and modified it) card that I will be teaching at my BRING A FRIEND Card Class on February 11th. I offered my friends and customers the opportunity to bring a friend to class and it cost $20 for both of them together, instead of $20 per person. Then I also opened the class to a morning and afternoon session. Out of 24 seats, I already have 18 seats filled and there is still a week to go before the signups close! Woohoo! So I cased a card at the Leadership Make and Take and put my spin on the card. The original was done in greens, and I did mine in blues instead. Take a look at both cards. Not sure why blogger makes all the photos go to the top of the post, but that is okay.

I will be back in a few days to show you some cards I swapped at Leadership and some cards I received in the swaps.

Arlene

December 2, 2010 -- I know it has been forever!

2010-12-02T03:58:00.000-08:00

Just a few random photos of Lucia and Stefano's trip for you to view.

This is Stefano coloring an art sheet in my classroom on November 30, 2010. He was coloring with a student (Patrick). This photo was taken on Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas on Saturday, November 27th. We were at the Automobile Museum. You see Lucia and Austin on the left and Jenny and Stefano on the right. It was a beautiful day!

This closeup of Lucia and Stefano was taken at the top of LOOK OUT POINT on Petit Jean Mountain, Arkansas on Saturday, November 27th.

Bruno and Cody preparing the pork loin with garlic and rosemary on Thanksgiving Day in my kitchen.

I have few photos of the trip so far. Jenny and Lucia seemed to be the ones taking the photos, but I did want to share a few with you.

July 10, 2010 Still moving

2010-07-10T03:22:00.000-07:00

A WORK IN PROGRESS
As you can see, the new gas stove is finally here. I need to take a new photo of the kitchen/dining room now that the corner hutches, the dining room table and chairs, and the refigerator are in the house. I had Miss Tish put my apple themed items above the kitchen cabinets. That stereo to the right is NOT staying there. It is there for the week so I have something to listen to while I work. All the cabinets are filled now with my household goods.

You can see I have all my pots and pans in this fantastic shelf cabinet. Love that the shelves pull out so you can see them all. Also love the tile floors!

This cabinet was empty when I took the photo last week. Now it is full of all my can and box food goods. The upper cabinet has the canisters and lots of other stuff. That box to the left is residing where the refrigerator is NOW. It is full of things I am taking to my classroom kitchen.

My pride and joy! My scrapbook work area in the sun room. It has also slightly changed. The small cabinet with paper on the left is gone. I added 4 more of those white cubes for paper. The stamp bookcase on the right is now filled with all my current stamp sets. The retired stamp sets are going to be in my office (the smallest bedroom) on four bookcases. Also my computer is moving to the office. This room above will have my big worktable in front of that chair with the paper wall behind me. Then it will have a round table for people to come and sit and play/scrap. Also I am going to put Bruno's cabinet he built for my Mom's old alterations store in this room. It will store the Big Shot, and all my dies as well as the Cricut and all my cartridges.

All the photos were taken last week on Saturday, July 3rd. I had signed the papers for the house at noon on the 30th, so this is only 3 full days later. I will take more photos today. The kitchen furniture is all here and most of my bedroom furniture. The actual headboard and footboard to my sleigh bed has not arrived. So the bed is on a frame for now. Then the couch, loveseat and recliner are in the living room but not in position. Have to wait until after the movers come with "Luica's bedroom" and my office desk. They will need room to move items to that side of the house.

Speaking of movers, they will arrive here at my rental house on Thursday, July 15 at 8:00. I think we will be out of here and fully moved into the new house by 11 a.m. I have to still do the following:

* Pack the remaining scrapbook room. My friend Lisa is coming today and helping me move the storage drawers in the scrapbook closet to the office closet in the new house.

* Pack the breakable items in my bedroom.

* Pack the little remaining items in my kitchen pantry.

* Pack the last items on my kitchen counters (the toaster, can opener, knife block, crock pot, that sort of stuff)

* Clean off and pack the kitchen table.

* Pack the videos in the video cabinet

* Take the shelves off the entertainment center and store the hardware in my ziplock bag so I do not loose any pieces.

* Finish the laundry and move the clean items to the new house

* Get the luggage out of my master bedroom closet (that is all that is left in there)

* Pack down the master bath on Thursday morning after I shower.

* The garage .... oh my goodness.... the garage. I have to pack the shelf with the tupperware, pack what is in the old metal china cabinet of Mom's, and pack the school items I had UNPACKED.... at least most of my garage is still packed (including all Mom's alterations shop materials). That is my Monday and Tuesday job.

* We still have 8 bookcases, an entertainment center, a recliner, an end table, 3 nightstands, a queen size bed, 3 chest of drawers, a cedar chest, a computer table, many many table chairs, a computer, my tv's, washer, dryer, my old refrigerator (Bruno will get it), Mom's old metal china cabinet and her old metal desk (both going in my new garage for extra storage), Bruno's cabinet he built Mom for her shop (now going in my scrapbook room), 3 plastic bookcases, my Christmas boxes (and there are several of them). I have plenty of work for the movers! Remember I moved here with 2 - 26 ft. moving trucks.

I have given alot of things away -- like 6 boxes of books of mine, a set of Mom's Understanding Human Behavior books, a set of Mom's art books, and a set of Mom's History books. Gave those all to 3 teachers I work with who can use them. I gave away my old couch, corner chair, ottoman and piano to Miss Tish. She loves the idea of new "hand me downs". God bless her soul!

Okay I will get some new photos today, but don't expect a post until Sunday morning.

Have a great day. It is 5:49 a.m. here on Saturday morning and I got to go get busy packing in the scrapbook room.

Arlene

June 30, 2010 Today's the day

2010-06-30T05:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new home! I sign the papers and take delivery of the keys at a 11:30 closing this morning.

This is where I will be busy working today. Got all the shelf paper already loaded in the car. After closing, I am heading to deliver my 30 day notice letter to the landlord of my current house rental. Then off to my ****NEW HOUSE**** to unload my car. Then back to the rental to load some kitchen boxes, a radio and a chair. Then back to the new house to unload and put the shelf paper on the shelves, so I can unpack my kitchen stuff and re-use those boxes again. :)

Prior to all this occurring before closing today, I still must:

* Finish packing the kitchen this morning

* Take a shower and dress

* Load the SU catalogs in the car (they are all in envelopes already addressed and ready for mailing)

* Head to the post office to send out the catalogs

* Head to the furniture company to check on the scheduled date of the bedroom furniture delivery.

* Head to the bank and empty out my savings account in order to have my cashier's check for the closing of the house

* Be at the title company prior to 11:30 for the closing.

It is going to be a very long day today. LOL.... In fact, it will probably be the first of MANY long days in the next couple of weeks.

Have a great day!

Arlene

Monday, June 28, 2010

2010-06-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

It is getting to close to closing on the house. Today I went with the realtor and did a walk thru on our "fix it list" that the seller has to complete. There are 3 items left on this huge list:
1. Put new seals on the front door --- it is cracked and not airtight.
2. Spa tub in the master bath needs cleaning. Apparently it was wiped out only. Tonight we filled the tub and turned on the jets. Still needs cleaning. More gunk appeared (not as much as when the inspector tested it) so it still needs to be addressed.
3. The master bedroom carpet to be replaced (which will happen after closing on Wednesday).

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I will get the time for the house closing, which we are asking for Wednesday morning. I am so ready for these details to be completed.

Wednesday at an unknown time we will do the closing, and I will hand over a HUGE check and get the keys to my new and first home. :) :) :) :) :) I have the first load in my car and my trunk to be unloaded. Hope to move 2 more loads on Wednesday.

Thursday morning I have to be at the new house by 8 a.m. The man is coming to install my gas stove (which you have to have a licensed installer to do). Then after he leaves I am coming back for yet another load of boxes. I have to be at the house from 1 to 4 p.m. on Thursday to have the new refrigerator delivered. So I plan on unpacking a few boxes and putting together the white cubes for my paper storage in my scrapbook room.

Friday through Sunday, I will move several loads over each day. Monday I will pack more here. On Tuesday, the man is coming with my 2 storm doors for the new house. I bought one for the front door that is very decorative (glass with a nickel finish arch in the glass) and the back door is a full glass storm door with a screen at the top only. My furr balls will love laying at the back door and watching outside. That door is reached from the sunroom/scrapbook room to the deck.

Tuesday morning I also have my new bedroom suite coming. I broke down last week and bought a California King size sleigh bed, a set of mattresses for that bed, a dresser and 2 nightstands. I also bought 2 corner curio cabinets for my kitchen to put all my china/crystal and the beautiful things Mom got for her wedding years and years ago.

Wednesday and Thursday of next week I will be back and forth between houses and packing. I want to carry as much with me as I possibly can before I call the movers to come and get the furniture and appliances. I hope to have the truck and men here to move these items either on Thursday, July 8th or the following Thursday, July 15. Whatever day I have the moving men and the truck, then my babies have to go the vet the night before until we get all the furniture moved. Can't have them going outside at either place. So they will go get their shots, an overnight stay at the vet and their nails trimmed. Then when I pick them up, they will go directly to the new house.

On Friday of that week I have a chemo cycle, so I will not be doing alot of packing or lifting. I figure I will stay at the new house and unpack and set up a few things.

So much to do and so little time!

Arlene

June 1, 2010 The House

2010-06-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, the seller rejected my offer. They counter-offered. I accepted the counter-offer. I get all closing costs paid, new bedroom carpet, and a home warranty. I spent more than I wanted, but I got $8,000 in concessions (which is great since the $8000 tax credit is no longer applicable).

The home inspection will happen by the middle of next week. Closing is set for June 30th. Will keep you posted. I am still not believing that this happening.

Went by the house today and took measurements of each room. Marked them and the locations of each phone jack, cable outlet, electrical outlet and light switch throughout the house on my house plan. That will help me determine what will go with me and what gets donated to Civitan (it is an agency that works with the developmentally disabled and they have a resale or thrift store).

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

2010-05-29T14:32:00.001-07:00

As you know I have been out house hunting. I have seen over 35 homes. Today I went back out and saw my top picks again. This is the one I have decided upon. It has 1,719 square feet of liveable space. This afternoon I wrote a contract for the house. My offer is much lower than the asking price. So I am betting that the seller will counter-offer.

It is a brick home with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It has an electric stove in it now, but it DOES have gas hookup for a stove! That makes me a very happy camper. I love a gas stove. Above you see the front of the house. The two windows you see on the left are the two extra bedrooms. The master is to the rear of the house behind the 2 car garage.

This is the living room (or great room). It has a gas log fireplace. It is about 16 ft. x 20 ft. The double doors open onto the sun room. To the left you see the bar of the kitchen and the dining area.

Notice the bar in the kitchen to the left? You saw it from another angle in the previous photo. I will have to replace the electric stove with a gas stove, and purchase a refrigerator. Those cabinets on the right are a pantry storage. The bottom cabinet has deep drawers that pull out that will make it easy to find what you are looking for. There is a dishwasher that you can barely see on the left close to the sink. This room (the dining area, the sunroom, and both bathrooms) are ceramic tile. The rest of the house is carpeted.

This view was taken from standing in the kitchen at the sink looking into the living room. That is a gas log fireplace. The sunroom is off to the left through the French doors.

A view of the sunroom. The plans suggest it be used for a sunroom, a formal dining room or a study. This will be my scrapbook area to work. I plan on using the smallest bedroom for scrapbook and stamp storage. There is a bank of windows across the back wall of this room to view the sunlight and backyard.

There is a small deck out back (you go out thru the sunroom to the deck) but if you know me, I don't stay outside long. But I love, love, love windows. And this has windows!!!!! I can work and actually get alot of natural lighting. I can already say I want to plant some gardenia bushes outside that set of windows! LOL

Will let you know next week what they counter offer..... I have a bit more breathing room to use for this house.

Arlene

Sunday Morning, May 16th, 2010

2010-05-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

Finally! This is my new classroom area in the NEW Middle School Building. We were given the keys on Friday. I can now come and go in the room and begin to get organized! The students will begin the new school year in this building. What you see above is the massive amount of room for my classroom space.

On the wall with the red fire alarm will be a SMART BOARD.... it is an amazing piece of technology where I can show students lessons from the Internet. It makes the lessons enlarged for the entire class to view. That gray rolling computer stand is for my *hopefully* digital camera and new laptop. Off to the right you can see one bulletin board... further down that wall is a wipe board to write on in class.

Now this side of the room is opposite of the WHITE BOARD. As you see I took the photo before moving tables or the rolling computer stand. Will take more photos this week to share. My desk is now in the middle of that bank of windows. Behind it and centered to the windows is my black bookcase. Makes it easy for me to turn around and grab something and then turn back to my desk. My computer will rest on the right side of the desk and the printer will be on a computer stand next to my desk (can't move these until school is out!).

Ahhh! A kitchen! We can finally teach a few simple cooking skills to the students. It is a galley kitchen style. Love the buttery yellow walls. Floors are concrete and then stained. There will be no tile to deal with in this building. That door you see at the end of the kitchen opens into my storage unit.

Now I love the fact the storage unit came without shelving. LOL... Yesterday, Wayne, Laura and I took 7 sets of bookcases to the school. Wayne assembled them and we got them placed inside that storage unit. I am moving one more bookcase in that room from my current classroom. But finally I will be able to properly store, organize and find materials! Each bookcase is 31 inches wide and 76 inches tall with 5 shelves. So I have 40 shelves!!!!! I already have my plan on how to fill these shelves. One bookcase will be strictly for Science books and materials. Another for Social Studies books and materials. The next is for Independent Living materials (Life Simulation, Drivers' Education, Independent Living books). Next is the Reading/Language Arts bookcases (yes need 2 of them!)... and so on. Am excited that I will be able to walk into the closet and grab the right book without having to drag out boxes and check out each one. My current storage closet is smaller than my kitchen pantry.

Now the other side of the kitchen. The wonderful bank of windows! I am going from a tiny, tiny room to this wonderful room. Going from a single window to 2 huge banks of windows. For me it is great because I love natural light.

Today I am cleaning the scrapbook room (and currently as you see taking a break). I have to stamp some images for a trade I did with a lady. Then I have to begin prepping for my June 5th card class. Today I am going to work on the Father's Day card, which is so cute. I saw an idea on the web and then have played with it and changed it a bit. I am going to use that stamp set called Totally Tools. Can't show you until the 5th of June because my class gets to see it first!

So I better go put something into the crock pot for dinner tonight, and get back in here to finish cleaning. I have alot of stamping I want to happen today. Yesterday was a dud day for me. After I got back from the middle school I ended up propping my feet up all day.

I went out to dinner with Tawanna and Lisa on Friday night. I know better than eat Chinese food, even though I love it. The sodium kills me. My ankles were sooo huge. They were much much wider than my feet. Oh and they ached! I was walking (or rather shuffling) because it was so painful. Thought that I better keep them up and not stay in a sitting position any longer. Went home and took a fluid pill and of course, drank water by the gallon and was constantly in the bathroom.

But today, they look more like ankles. But am taking another fluid pill ..... something about the combination of heat, humidity and then add sodium and my poor ankles and legs fill with fluid. The doctors call it "idiopathic (unspecified) edema" --- basically they cannot find out why this occurs and it has been happening since my late teens. My ankles look like elephant feet.... ugh ugh ugh... that is why you NEVER see me in dresses..... and I only wear shorts around the house.

Hate people seeing my horrible legs. Now add the psoriasis that the chemo gave me.... I look like a patchy, scaly set of elephant legs.... Even have almost quit wearing short sleeve shirts for the same reason. The psoriasis is bad in red scaly patches on my legs, but both elbows are hard white patches and sometimes it appears on my hands and face.

Yet, I cannot complain too much. After all the chemo is also what has kept me alive. So it truly is a small price to pay. Life with psorasis versus death without psorasis.... hmmmmm rather be alive. I think my mission in life or on earth is not finished. So here I am!

I will get off my soapbox now. You all have a great day!

Arlene

Wednesday morning, May 5, 2010

2010-05-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Here is the 4th and final card from Saturday's stamp camp. The stamp set is called Sweet Scoops. The cardbase is the retiring Pixie Pink. The first mat is the retiring Green Galore. Then I took a 1/4 sheet of White cardstock and ran it thru my BIG SHOT with a wooden rectangle frame I purchased at Michaels. By putting this frame at the back of the Square Lattice Embossing folder when going thru the Big Shot, I created the negative rectangle on the white mat. The rest of the mat had the embossed design of the Square Lattice. Then I trimmed it to be 1/4" smaller than my Green Galore Mat.

I used a More Mustard Marker and my stampin-ma-jig to center the ice cream cone on the rectangle space. I stamped 3 ice cream scoops on White cardstock, using a Pixie Pink marker, a Green Galore marker, and a YoYo Yellow marker. Then I came back with the striped stamp (looks like ripples in the ice cream) with a Pink Passion marker to overstamp the Pixie Pink ice cream scoop; a Garden Green marker to overstamp the Green Galore ice cream scoop; and a Summer Sun marker to overstamp the YoYo Yellow ice cream scoop. Then you cut out all 3 ice creams scoops. In any order you like, place 2 scoops on the cone using adhesive. On the top or 3rd ice cream scoop, add a dimensional to it to make it pop up!

On the inside I added a white mat and stamped the cherry using a Chocolate Chip SU marker for the stem and a Real Red SU marker for the cherry. I chose to stamp in the lower right corner. Then I inked up the sentiment, "Have a sweet celebration!" with the Chocolate Chip marker. I centered the sentiment in the remaining space at the bottom of the card to the left of my cherry stamping. Viola! You are done.

Today is supposedly my next to last chemo session. I go back May 26th for a supposedly final chemo session and my 3 month scans. I say supposedly because until we get the results of those 2 scans, I will not know if this is over or not.

Supposedly we are moving into the Middle School building this week. All we are waiting for is the occupancy certificate. We already have a OPEN HOUSE scheduled for Tuesday night, May 11th from 5 -7 p.m. I won't be around work for the remainder of the week during the move due to my chemo cycle. Now I did not plan this. We have been supposedly gonna move several different times for over a month. This time I believe it because we were given the Open House date.

Okay I must get moving.

Have a great day!

Arlene

Monday morning, May 3, 2010

2010-05-03T02:25:00.000-07:00

Yet another card that I taught at Stamp camp on Saturday. This one makes me think of Micki, who loves Hawaii and Lucia who loves the beach. It is a double flap card. On the top flap I stamped the palm tree from SU Tropical Party in Chocolate Chip and Old Olive ( I used the SU markers). I made a mask with a torn post it note and then sponged in Close to Cocoa for the sandy beach/island. I took a dauber in Tempting Turquoise to create the water. This was matted to a Old Olive mat that has a 1/2 inch scored flap (it fits under that white base; between the white and turquoise cardstock).

Now the inside flap. First I stamped the coconut with SU markers in Close to Cocoa, Yo Yo Yellow and Rose Red. Later cards I changed from Close to Cocoa to Chocolate Chip for the coconut and liked it much better. This is matted on a Old Olive Mat and it hides behind the upper flap of the card when close.... sort of a surprise treat. The inside flap is So Saffron cardstock. I used Versamark ink to stamp the tropical flowers over it to give it some texture/depth to the card. This flap is also scored 1/2 inch from edge to be attached between the white and turquoise mats. I used Old Olive Grosgrain 1/4 ribbon for the bow.

Now the inside, which has a sentiment from Sincere Salutations in Old Olive Ink centered on the mat. The DSP (Designers Series Paper) Island Oasis are strips 1/2" x 4" placed at the top and bottom of the white mat (which is 5 1/4" x 4"). This is mounted on a piece of Tempting Turquoise cardstock (5 1/2" x 4 1/4").

Here it is Monday morning and I am up at a strange hour..... it is only 4:35 a.m. Well I am going to go do a load of laundry and wash a few dishes before I go shower and dress for work. I seem to have most of my energy between the time I wake up and 1:00 p.m. After that I slowly go downhill.

Tonight I am going out to dinner with my family. Today happens to be a special day... ssshhhh ... it's Wayne's birthday and we are going out to steak dinners at Colton's Steak House.

Happy Birthday Wayne!

Sunday Evening, May 2, 2010

2010-05-02T17:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! Two posts in one day! Here we are again with another card from Stamp Camp. This one features a motorcycle stamp. I used Stazon Black for the motorcycle, then used Basic Black, Sahara Sand and Real Red SU Markers. I cased this coloring from a card I saw created by Melissa at http://www.thestampdoc.typepad.com/ I used Crystal Effects over the red part of the motorcycle to make it shine! Makes me think of Gas, Ilaria's hubby. Maybe I better send this card to him.

Now Melissa also used the texture plates with aluminum foil, but I changed the design to suit me. She deserves all the kudos for the design, I just took it and went a new direction. The real kicker to this card is the lower front. It is alumimum foil that I ran thru my Big Shot using a textured plate. Don't you love that metal effect? Just a word of warning.... always apply the adhesive to the cardstock and not the foil (you will rub out the embossing otherwise).

Hope you enjoyed this peek at our May 1st Stamp Camp cards.

Sunday Afternoon, May 2, 2010

2010-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had the May Stamp Camp. This is one of the cards that we made. It is a gift card holder. On the front of the card we used the stamp set GO GRADUATE. The cardbase is Brilliant Blue, which is sadly retiring (still got to stock up more of it because it is the school color for sis's school!). The mats are Basic Black and Whisper White. All designs were colored in with SU markers. The black ink is Black Stazon.

Now the inside of the card. The upper part of the inside is a single SU stamp called Graduation. Again on Whisper White and matted in Basic Black. The bottom of the card used more stamps from Go Graduate. Again on Whisper White and matted in Basic Black.

The opening of the gift card holder is made with the Word Window punch used 2 times. Then use a circle punch to create the opening. You can slip in a gift card to anywhere using this trick.

The base of the card is 4 1/4 x 11. Score at 3", 5 1/2" and 8 inches on the 11 inch side of the paper. The center fold is a "peak fold" and this is where you create the actual pocket for the gift card. You do the punches along the center fold. After all the punching is out of the way, turn it where you can add a thin strip of red line tape to the outside of the punch area. Do both sides. This prevents your card from slipping out and also creates the final pocket. The other folds at the 3" and the 8 inch positions are called "valley folds". Just think about a mountain going up (that's the peak fold) and the valleys going down.

I have 5 more cards to post from Stamp Camp, but am going to do them one at at time, so I will start blogging more often.

School, home and medical life for me is very hectic right now. We are moving into the new building this week at school. I have chemo this week. House is a disaster and I have started packing a few boxes in anticipation of actually moving out of this rental in June or July. My mortgage is to be approved in June. So late May, I am going out house hunting. On top of all this, my teeth are giving me fits. The chemo has damaged the bones.... and I already had a course of action/treatment planned with my lovely dentist before I started all this chemo. I have not been able to do any of it since I have been on chemo (basically 3 years). Anyway, about a month ago a tooth fell out.... simply fell out. Long story short, I am going to have to have all the upper teeth removed and a denture only on the uppers. Now get this, I cannot have any work done until chemo is finally over (and probably a month out from the last chemo). So I am getting many toothaches and earaches (from the tooth issue). GRRRRR......... life on antibodics and on pain pills as necessary.....

See you later! I have a pile of housework to do. I started deep cleaning the living room this morning. Three hours later, it is immaculate. Now off to the kitchen/dining room. That is my limit for today. Hallway bathroom gets done this week. Next weekend I am hoping on my closet. And finally the following weekend the master bedroom and the master bath. That will leave me only my scrapbook room that is in constant flux between clean and messy.... LOL

Toodles,

Arlene

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Hello Little One

2010-03-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

This is the cover page for a chipboard book I made in a chipboard book swap. Mary (the girl I was making this for) asked for something feminine, soft and with pinks, and purples and a baby theme. Well I finally got it finished a week or so ago and now was the time to share it.

Well I hit feminine, pink and purple as well as the baby theme in this chipboard book.

First thing I did was use my BIG SHOT to cut out the chipboard in this square scallop shape (although the die says rectangle scallop -- it looks square to me). Then I took 12 x 12 white cardstock and my old retired stamp set ROSES IN WINTER and made one sheet wonders.

A one sheet wonder is simply a page of stamping in any direction. Later you cut it apart to use as you wish. I needed a floral, feminine background, so I created my own with the one sheet wonder.

I used the retired Pink Pirouette ink, then added Regal Rose to create the roses. The smaller flowers are Lavendar Lace and Almost Amethyst. The greenery is Certainly Celery.

I used Lavendar Lace, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and White cardstocks to create all the layers. As you see, I sponged all the edges (I did go back and remove that baby bottle and sponge the edges there too!)

I used sizzix dies, quickutz dies, several punches (ovals, oval scallops, circles, lace edge, etc) as well as many, many dimensionals (pop up dots). I stamped many, many images from various Stampin Up baby themed stamp sets I own.

I even used vellum on this final page for the title PICTURE PERFECT.

I tried to make each page unique and in this book. There are hidden pockets, tags, and various mat styles. Even added some bling to a few of the diecuts (like the baby rattles on one page, and the heart on the Princess page) as well as letter beads to spell out PRETTY.

I also sent along some embossed butterflies to add to the pages. They were cut out of Lavendar Lace cardstock. Figured that would give some embellishments AFTER the photos were placed in the chipboard book.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Arlene

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 Goodbye Zio

2010-03-09T16:22:00.000-08:00

At 11:30 p.m. Italian time (4:30 p.m. Central Standard Time) our Zio Corrado (also known as Zio Qua Qua, and Zio Diablo) left us. This photo of him at Christmas 2009 is most appropriate. Beside him is his nephew Fabio Taddei. Fabio was with Zio in his final moments.

Zio Corrado found out in late December that he had terminal brain cancer. I got the pleasure of going back to Marina di Pisa and staying with him for 12 days. The hardest thing I have ever done was to say goodbye to him that final morning. I knew I would never see him again on this Earth and here he was telling me he loved me and in June we would travel together to Assissi

In January, he received radiation treatments for his cancer. It did reduce the brain tumors, but it was also found that the cancer had spread to every organ but his heart. I guess his heart was just too strong for something like cancer to take root in it. I know he shared that heart with us all.

Two weeks ago he went to hospice with pnuemonia. He managed to survive thru several crisis with his breathing and his lungs. His body may of been willing to leave but his mind was determined to stay. Finally in the past 2 days, it got to be too much. He was given morphine to take the pain away and be able to slip quietly away from us all.

Goodbye Zio until we meet again. I love you.
Arlene

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

2010-02-24T03:57:00.000-08:00

My sister, Jenny, is anxious that I post a new blog post. She says it "spooky opening up the blog and seeing a photo of herself!" I really ought to leave her photo at the top just to play with her, but being a good sister (okay only THIS time) I am not going to be mean. So let's get going on this post and get Jenny off the top of the page.

This is a photo of the card we did at Stamp Camp on Saturday. This one is of my own design. I used the following cardstocks: Old Olive, So Saffron, White and Chocolate Chip. We used the scallop edge punch to create the cute scallop frame. The DSP is Tall Tales Designer Series Paper. Then of course, it is Well Scripted for the font and Animal Stories for the elephant design. Inside the card (which you don't see) is a white mat with another little chocolate chip elephant.

By the way these neat plastic cases came from OH MY CRAFTS when sis ordered a bunch of embossing folders. She saved them for me and I use them to display cards in my Stamp Camps. That way each table gets one to refer to and I can keep my card clean.

This is a card that we did at Saturday's Stamp Camp. I saw it on Gretchen Barrron's blog. So I want you to know that I DID NOT design this card and those honors go to Gretchen Barron. She has a wonderful blog that I visit often. Please go by and check her blog out at http://www.gretchenbarron.typepad.com/ I love how she used Soft Suede with Bermuda Bay. She used a strip of Thoroughly Modern DSP, Well Scripted, Garden from the Heart and the new scallop edge punches. Now I did not do her trick with DSP paper on the ribbon of the hat, instead I watercolored it instead.

Now at camptime, we all had problems getting the punches to work. Not sure why. I told the girls I would work on the problem and we could try it again free.... So while I am out from work (got chemo today) for the next 3 days, I will tackle this problem.

I am having a bit of trouble typing today. Seems Mr. Socks (my tuxedo cat) has decided to sit his big fat butt on my left wrist and then the matter of his tail brushing my hands occasionally. So today blogging is an interesting and challenging thing to do.

I hope to have some layouts to post this week. I just have been so busy at work. The State Department of Education comes to my school today. It is time for a Special Education Monitoring of the programs and student records. This will continue for the next 3 days. I turned in my paperwork, records and the student files they requested from me yesterday. They sent out a list last week (maybe Tuesday?) of whose files would be monitored. Thankfully I do not have to be there during the stress of the monitoring. Instead Dr. Baltz has me scheduled for my 3 month scans to see if I am still in remission and also for a round of chemo. We are doing monthly chemos for my uterine cancer until May, as an insurance policy. I have been doing this since August 2009, when I got my 1st scan back showing I am in remission. And this was schedule on Feb 3rd, well before the SpEd Monitoring was announced on Feb 16th. So it is NOTHING I personally pulled together to miss this visit. Let's just say the ladies at work will have their stress slung over 3 days, and my stress will be today (as well as the chemo roller coaster for the next few days). All and all we have alot going on here.

There are 2 more weeks to finish our alternate assessment portfolios too. I am going to throw a pizza party for my students when they are completed! The kids have been so wonderful as I work with them on portfolios, either with work samples or captioned photos of them doing the SLE (Student Learning Expectations). This is hard on them and myself. It takes away alot of precious teaching time for me -- I end up having to do review for some skills while I work on new ones for a certain portfolio group. Then it will be Spring Break time and I can regroup.

This year we will do Annual Reviews in late May for the next school year. While it is alot of work at the end of the season, it will be best in the future. At least next school year I will only have to come in and set up the room and teach. I have had to come in and also get new Annual Reviews and IEP's completed the first month of school. Whew!

Then also the week before Spring Break we are moving! There was a room designed for me at the new Middle School, which is adjoining the High School. So my class is getting a really large classroom, a bathroom, a nice kitchen and a huge storage closet for ourselves in the new area. It is simply a walk out the door on this floor (3rd floor) that opens directly to the High School building across the street. And this street is closed to thru-traffic, so going back and forth is not a problem. They do that now with the PE complex and the Middle School is beside that. So my older kids can go back and forth to classes easily. I will still have the 7th to 12th grades, although I may pull a 6th and 5th grader for this coming year. It is hard when there is only one self contained program (and it came into existance 4 years ago when I arrived). In the future there will be a need for one in the lower grades, but we do not have the population to support it yet.
That is changing.... our little school is getting bigger and bigger.

Okay, I need to go and shower/get ready/etc. for the morning. Aunt Chuck is coming to take me because I had to have some pre-meds for today and driving over to sis's house and her picking me up there is not a good idea. I try to avoid driving situtations when they give me premeds --- one of them is benadryl and I get sleepy fast on it. So for YOUR SAFETY, I do not drive...lol

Have a good day. After my scans I will take a nice nap at the beginning of chemo (I get another shot of benadryl and for about 1 1/2 hrs, I tend to sleep/or at least am so groggy I cannot keep my eyes open).

See you later!
Arlene

Sunday, February 21st, 2010 Stamp Camp

2010-02-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

Jenny with her WANTED SIGN!

At the table in the foreground are Angie (in gray), Lisa (in yellow) and Trish (in white). In the background, Micki (in the burgundy), Aunt Chuck (in black sweater) and Ann (in beige).

Foreground is Micki eating HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES that Kathy made for class. In the background is Trish (in white) and Aunt Chuck (in black). I have a tiny tiny classroom as you can see... it even has 3 doors to my 2 lane bowling alley of a room! We are moving to the new room in the new building in less than a month!

Jenny (in blue) and Amie (in pink) working on their cards.

Kim (blonde hair) and Kathy (brown hair) working on their IN THE GARDEN cards.

Laura (in blue) and Ann (in beige) working on their IN THE GARDEN cards.

Angie (gray who is also one of my 2 downlines) and Lisa (yellow) working on their WANTED cards. Can you tell SONIC is a favorite drink place for all the ladies. Heck, yesterday I was given 2 Route 44 cups of ice (I prefer water over soft drinks) and that meant I had one there and one to take home! It lasted thru the evening for me. WOOHOOO!!!! Thanks Aunt Chuck and Jenny.

Yesterday I had 11 people at my February Stamp camp and 4 of them were new stampers for me. Thanks for coming Kim, Amie, Trish and Ann! Then I had my regular ladies: Laura, Jenny, Kathy, Micki, Angie, Aunt Chuck, and Lisa. Nita and Tanya had other committments and could not be with us.

We have been meeting in my tiny classroom. That will change really soon. Right now my room looks like a 2 lane bowling alley with a door to the hallway and 2 doors adjoining the other bowling alley rooms. They are tiny! We are wall to wall full. During mid March I am moving to the new Middle School building (even though I teach 7 -12 grade self contained) because they built me a DREAM ROOM! I have never had a new room in a new building before! My classroom will be a bit larger than a regular classroom and in addition I have a full bathroom, a decent size gallery kitchen and a huge storage room attached to my room. Just cannot wait to be able to spread out and not be all boxed up in this tiny room.

We made 4 cards yesterday and a project. I designed 2 cards for the class using Abundant Hope and Animal Stories. Then I surfed the net and found a lovely card by Gretchen Barron using Garden of Hope and cased it. I also cased Lisa Sommerville for her Wanted card and I modified her 2 test tube candy box to fit one LARGE 1 1/4 inch test tube. We used speckled jelly beans in the test tubes , Tea Party DSP paper and the Curly Label sentiment in Eggcoutrements.

Turns out sis was talking to her table about scrapbooking and I have 5 people wanting to have a once a month scrapbooking camp like our stamp camps. Wow! So I have to work on that for Jenny, Laura, Kim, Amie and Kathy. I need to also talk to the the other girls and see if anyone is interested in joining us. I have 4 more scrapbookers that I know of in the group.

Okay it is raining cats and dogs here. Thank God for such a nice day yesterday as I had to move things from home to the car; from the car to my classroom; from the classroom to the car; and from the car to the house again. It made a world of difference. Hate getting drenched.

News regarding my uncle. Time grows shorter and shorter. He was conscious in the morning ICU visit but not on the afternoon visit. Please say a prayer for his soul. Thank you.

Arlene

Saturday Night, February 20th- Zio's Cards

2010-02-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

I do not know if I showed you these cards or not. I made them for my Zio (Uncle) Corrado. They are somewhere sitting in a box in Italy right now and the box has not been delivered. I am not sure he will even ever see these cards.

This morning he had an epiletic crisis.... he is in ICU now. His brain cancer tumors did get smaller thanks to the radiation, but the cancer has spread to all his organs but his heart. His time on Earth is very short now.

He is beloved by many nieces and nephews. It is a shame he never had children of his own, because he would of been a great father. I am so sorry that my time with him was very short. I had 8 months at the beginning of my life with him. Then I did not get to see him again until July 2008, and I lived with him at Marina di Pisa, Italy for 3 weeks. He was supposed to spend Christmas 2009 with me here in Arkansas. But the illness struck in November and his plans had to change. As most of you know, I went there for Christmas and started this blog to record my travels. So I got the additional 2 more weeks.

I often wonder how he could of stolen my heart in 5 weeks. Although I met my other aunt and uncles too, he is the one I refer to as the Beloved Uncle and the Uncle of my Heart. I call him many names... Zio Diablo Qua Qua (Devil Duck) since many of the cousins call him Qua Qua for the duck sounds he makes to babies... he calls me Diavolina (Devil) Arlene or Angelica (Angel) Arlene and sometimes Regina (Queen) Arlene. What a great cook he is too! I love his spaghetti carabone (I probably misspelled that).

He even scrapbooks! Well he scrapbooks only photos of naval vessels and aerial (planes). He has a separate book for each. It is his hobby. I use photographs of families and he does the boats and the planes. That will explain more about why I made him the boat card. He has a big fat cat (think Garfield on red meat and not lasanga!) so I made a cat card. He was telling me in December to plan on returning to him in June, once he got the "frogs" (his term for the tumors) out of his head. Thus a frog card. Finally, I see him as a playful monkey... so a monkey card was appropriate.

We carried on a many a conversation in broken Italian on my side, broken English on his side, and lots of gestures and drawings. Oh how he makes me laugh and then makes me cry. He is so funny with the biggest personality you could ever imagine. And he loves to hand me something special and watch me cry over it.... Once it was a set of small expresso cups and matching saucers and he knew I do not drink coffee. It was a set of his late wife's. He wanted me to have it. I want to get it put into a shadow box to hang on my wall. At Christmas he gave me 3 beautiful items: a leather purse, a pair of gorgeous earrings and my most treasured is a jewlery box with a plaque in it... the plaque was to commemorate his trip to the USA. I cried buckets of tears when I read the final 4 words, With Love Zio Corrado.

Tomorrow I will try to finish a layout of the two of us I started on Thursday.

If you can, please say a prayer for our Beloved Zio. Just pray he goes quietly without pain. He will be sorely missed by those of us who love him. The most important thing I can say is that he is a good man, who knows Love and gives Love.

Goodnight,
Arlene

Saturday, February 20, 2010

2010-02-20T03:07:00.000-08:00

Okay here is card 2 for today's Stamp Camp. It was designed by Lisa Somerville and I spotted it at www.splitcoaststampers.com under the stamp set gallery WANTED. I just love how she did this card. I needed something that was more masculine, so this is what I decided on doing. Lisa is very talented and has some great cards and gift ideas. She also has a website www.lisasomerville.com so go visit her! In fact, I duplicated two of her ideas for today's class - this card and a test tube project. When I wrote my directions down, I gave her all the credit for the designs.

Here it is 5:10 a.m. on Saturday morning and both of my furr balls (the cats) have already been fed. Socks is in his normal position on my computer desk as I type. His motor is running on a loud speed. He loves to mess with me in the morning. He just talks and talks (meow meow meow) and then when he gets settled the talking stops and the motor sounds begin (his purring).

Julie sticks close by for her food, then she eats and goes back to her perch on the back of the sofa (or my bed pillow) until she thinks it is time to mess with me. She is more active later in the day. Socks loves to announce it is morning Mom! Time to feed me! Time to love on me! LOL

Apparently I am lucking out today. The rains that were scheduled for yesterday and today will not start until this afternoon (the weatherman says after 2 p.m.) That is good for me. I can get my Stampin Bag and my 2 plastic boxes into the car and they will stay dry. Then I can move them into my classroom, have class, and move them back out without getting rained on . Heck, if I come home directly after class, then I can also unload them without getting wet.

Already plotting and planning my March class. Know I have a card organizer box for the main project. Saw a viewmaster card I want to use too... Now 3 more cards or perhaps 2 cards and a scrapbook page. Going to ask the ladies this morning which they prefer. Also got to remember to take my camera. I want to get some photos of the ladies at work! Would make a great scrapbook page for me.

Well it is time for some breakfast for me. Hope you enjoyed today's card image (designed by Lisa Somerville) as much as I do.

Have a great day!
Arlene

Friday, February 19, 2010

2010-02-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

It's time for Stamp Camp again! I have 4 cards and one special project all cut and ready to pass out to 12 ladies tomorrow morning. I have 8 returning campers and 4 new campers. Going to be a fun day. So tonight I start posting all the cards and the project -- but only one per post. This way I am sure to post more this week.

The above card is made with Abundant Joy. It is an easel card, so it stands up when you open it. This model does NOT have the sentiment HAPPY EASTER on it. I left 2 of my 4 models without sentiments. Have something else in mind for them.

Speaking of models. I have prepared 4 model cards for each card that I am teaching tomorrow. That means I come home with 16 finished cards too! I will have one on the board and then one at each table of ladies (three tables with four ladies each).

It has been a very busy week. I am in the last few weeks of my Alternate Assessment Portfolios for my students. And of course each grade does it differently per State Department of Education rules. I have one 7th grade portfolio in Literacy, Math and Science (and I lack the Science to be finished). Then print her captioned photos and ALL her entry sheets.

I have three 8th grade portfolios in Literacy and Math. For one child I need to print off a sheet of captioned photographs for the SLE (Specific Learning Entry). I have to print one more entry sheet for this student and am finished with him.

For the other two students I have to take photos of them working a Geometry activity on angles. Good thing I found my Geo board and just need to grab some yarn to get finished. Then print them. Also need to type out 3 more entry sheets each for this pair.

I have completed the entire portfolio (all entry sheets and work) for the 9th grade Math portfolio (only have 1 of them).

I have completed the entire portfolios on both 10th grade Biology portfolios! Woohoo!

Then the 11th grade Literacy portfolios.... I have to print entry sheets for one child. Then the other transferred into our high school 3 weeks ago... On his, I still need to take one more set of photos, and then print 2 different sets of captioned photos. Afterwards, I still have to type out the entry sheets for him.

Plus, since I do not have enough paperwork, I had to do an Annual Review Conference and then a Transfer Conference in the past 2 weeks. I am simply drowning in paperwork! Still have to teach, take grades, make lesson plans, etc.... LOL

To top it all off, we were told last week that the State Department of Education - Special Education Unit is coming next Wednesday to monitor our Special Education Records. Thankfully only 2 of my folders were pulled and both are in good condition. They will be around Wednesday through Friday. But I will NOT be there. I have my 3 month scans and my chemo round on Wednesday. So I am out the rest of the week.

Okay I am worn out tonight. Got all my things packed and double checked for tomorrow's class. Plan on getting there between 7:30 - 8:00 a.m. and set up. Then I will work on some of my paperwork til the ladies arrive at 9 a.m. I just hate to be rushed when I am presenting a class. Rather be all prepared, set up and ready to go... then I can relax and enjoy it too.

Have a good night and expect another post tomorrow afternoon or evening...

Arlene

Monday, February 8, 2010 - My Dear Cousins

2010-02-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

Amazing that I even make 2 posts in one day. Been forever since I have done that. Since it is a snow day and I am at home, I decided to try the February Challenge Layout sketch at the Crop Room. I dug into my photos for photos of my wonderful cousins. I am sorry that Nikolas is not in the photos, nor is Gabby, Renzo and Luca (whom I did not get to see this time).

I used a patterned paper with the words COUSINS written in many languages as part of my base. I cut it to 11 1/2 x 11 1/2 and then mounted it to 12 x 12 SU Always Artichoke Cardstock. The photos are (3) 4 x 6 inch photos with SU Really Rust mats in 4 1/4 x 6 1/4 and (3) 3 x 4 photos with SU Really Rust mats in 3 1/4 x 4 1/4. I used the computer to write all the names using SU Naturals White Cardstock and then punched them out with a small oval punch. Then matted those names with SU Really Rust cardstock using the large oval punch. I mounted them using stamping dimensionals (pop dots) to give the page some depth. My journal is computer generated onto SU Naturals White Cardstock (4 x 6) and then matted in SU Really Rust cardstock at 4 1/4 x 6 1/4. I used a 3d diecut of the Leaning Tower for an embellishment and it picks up the tower in the photo below it. Finally I used my Cricut Cartridge POOH FONT SET (yes, as in Winnie the Pooh) and selected letters in 1 3/4 inch Marker style for the SU Really Rust and then letters in the 1 3/4 Marker Shadow style for the SU Naturals White Cardstock to get my title, My Dear Cousins.

It is a very simple layout and I cannot wait to go hang it up in my hallway. This way I can view all the cousins as I walk thru my house. Love my 12 x 12 hanging frames. I keep 3 double spread layouts up at all times. Occasionally I simply remove a double spread layout and add a new one to the frames. Talk about easy decorating! LOL

A whole hour after my last post and it is STILL SNOWING! Wow. At least I do not have to go anywhere today. I have a warm place to be, good food already prepared (I used the crock pot alot over the weekend) and supplies to make more layouts or cards.

You stay warm ,

Arlene

Monday, February 8, 2010 - Is this really Arkansas???

2010-02-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

Jenny woke me at 5 a.m. this morning and told me to go check the weather stations. So I did... amazing! Sometime during the night, either my house was transported to a movie set and someone turned on the snow machine on the highest setting OR it was moved to Vermont. We never get this much snow! There is a layer of ice/sleet under the snow. This photo was taken about 10:15 a.m. (about 15 minutes ago) of my front yard. The snow is coming down in huge flakes and very rapidly. The weathermen are calling for 2 to 4 inches of snow HERE today!

At 5:30 all schools in this area were closed. The main roads were getting too slick. And of course, it might melt some later today, but it will refreeze tonight. So I am betting no school tomorrow either. WOW.....

In a few minutes I am going to post another blog post of a layout I completed this morning of all my wonderful Italian cousins (well those I saw at Christmas). I just noticed I am missing little Nikolas... sorry.... he was not in these photos I used.

Stay warm,

Arlene

February 7, 2010

2010-02-07T06:59:00.000-08:00

This is a layout I made for Austin this weekend. He has a letter he wrote to Santa and a letter Santa wrote to him. There is a pocket on each page to add these letters. Nothing really fancy, but how else do you showcase letters? The Santa stamp is one I got at Patti's shop in Prato. It is made by Improne D' Autore in Milano. The other stamp of the toys is from a Stampin Up set called A Merry Little Christmas.

Sorry I have been away from the blog. Between the blog, work and chemo cycles I have been rushed. This chemo cycle on Wednesday, did not go well. The first needle into my IV port hurt something terrible. The 2nd needle did not hurt as much. Then I got sent over for an X-ray. Well the X-ray shows everything is in place. So off to the chemo lab I went. Ginger, my nurse, started the saline drip IV and I started having problems. There was a heavy burning right under the skin around the IV Port. So it looks like I have a leak somewhere. Saline burns if it gets in the skin. Ugh.... now we have to have a IV Port study with a radiologist. Ginger put an IV in my arm and away we went with the chemo treatment.

I experienced alot of nausea this time. Mostly of the roller coaster variety, but I feel like I have wasted 3 days at home doing nothing. You know me, I want to do something and fill my time while I am off work. I am simply not a good sitter. I have to be busy. Well I was busy alright, but with my nausea drugs instead. This layout took me 3 days to complete. Something unheard of for me. I could only do a bit at a time. An hour and then back to bed. Several hours later I was up and tried a bit more. Ugh.So far today, the nausea is low key. Let's

hope it stays that way. I have laundry to be done and dishes in the sink that need my attention. Plus I have another layout I need to do for Sandy.

This will be a short week at work. The students are there only Monday through Thursday. And on Thursday, we are going to the Area 10 Special Olympics Basketball Tournament at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, which is 75 miles away. On Friday we have CAP conferences, where the students/parents help decide what courses to take the following school year. No students at school that day. On Monday, the students and teachers are off for President's Day (It used to be Mid-Winter Break). I have oodles of CAP conferences to do, 2 IEP conferences and then got to get my portfolio's completed! Time is flying by.

I go back to see Dr. Baltz on Feb. 24th for my 3 month scan of the head, chest, abdomen, and pelvis as well as a full body Bone Destiny scan. Then I have chemo afterwards. Every 3 months I get the scans to show if I remain in remission or not. The following chemo cycle will occur during my Spring Break, so my poor paycheck can get a rest. I get 3 days taken out of it each time I have a chemo cycle. I ran out of sick days back in November, so this is getting a bit high in cost.

Lucia, if you are reading this, I sent a box for Zio yesterday. It should arrive in 7 to 10 days. Jenny took me to the post office since driving was really not a good idea for me to be doing while I have so much nausea.

Have a good weekend, or at least what is remaining of it,

Arlene

January 24, 2010 Stamp Camp stuff

2010-01-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

Here are 3 cards we did in Stamp Camp yesterday. We also did 2 projects (a calendar and a little girls' purse with Faux Alligator Skin). The first card is a Valentine's Day card with LOVE BANDIT (new in the Occasions Mini). I used Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstocks and the new DSP (Designer Speciality Papers) called Sending Love.

The second card is a Birthday card using Whisper White, Soft Suede and Rich Razzleberry. The stamp sets are Vintage Vogue and the sentiment set is Well Scripted. I saw this card on a blog and knew I had to try it out. I saw this at http://www.cardscraps.com/ I did change some of her measurements, but this lady (sorry do not remember her name) had a winner in her design.

The final card, I purchased a tutorial from http://www.stampingmoments.blogspot.com/ Of course it was written in centimeters and I am too lazy to convert the measurements. So I followed her directions on HOW to stamp, but used my own measurements. This card was the hit of the stamp camp!

Sorry I have been away from the blog. I had my chemo on Wed., Jan 13th and then got a terrible sinus/ear infection. So was off work for several days. Then busy catching up at work, trying to prepare for Saturday's stamp camp and also go to a scrapbook class. Whew... glad the weekend arrived.

Today I have to clean house and do laundry. It is piling up again. Then this afternoon I want to work in the scrapbook room some more.

See you again soon!

Arlene

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

2010-01-14T20:28:00.000-08:00

The photos tonight are of 2 cards I made yesterday during my STERIOD phase. That is when my brain is racing from the steriods I am given at chemo and cannot sleep. This is a period you want to avoid me because I turn into a ADHD (Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder) personality. I CANNOT SHUT UP for the life of me and Lord can I talk up a storm... let's say you don't need truth drugs on me then... I will talk and talk and all sorts of things spill out while in my brain I am screaming SHUT UP ARLENE! LOL

Anyway back to these cards. The one on the left with the red mats/ribbon is for a SUDSOL SU Demo cardswap in which I am participating. I have to make 11 of these and then I will get different cards back for my sample book. SUDSOL is a group of Stampin Up Demonstrators. The card on the right with the pink mats/ribbon is a card I am teaching at my January 23rd Stamp Camp. Everything is the same with both cards except the mat/ribbon colors of red or pink. I used the Sending Love Speciality glitter paper and the new stamp set LOVE BANDIT from the SU Occasions Mini Catalog. Love that stinkin' little raccoon. The sentiment (which is small) reads You stole my Heart.... awwwww....

Today was a wierd day. I finally went to bed at 4:30 a.m. from my steriod phase. Slept until 7 a.m. WOW huh! Then around 9 I went to town to do a couple of errands, first taking a dose of anti-nausea drugs. An hour later I was back home with the bills paid. Then I sat up in the scrapbook room with Aunt Chuck (a friend of mine) and made 3 birthday cards. Finally I started getting that chemo flush and nausea again, so we stopped. Aunt Chuck left with her goodies and I went to take more meds and eat a bit of lunch. I stayed up longer... then at 4:00 I went to take a nap and slept to 7:30.. got back up. Fed the furrballs their dinner, and then grabbed some fruit. Came back and finished the last of my birthday cards I needed for a swap on the Crop Room (a scrapbooking and cardmaking group) for the January Card Queen. We all sign up for the card queen each month, and if your name is drawn you get lots of cards to use. Say there are 10 people in the swap, and one person is named the winner. The winner then gets 4 cards from each of the 9 other players, resulting in 36 cards ready to use. Great way to get your card stash to grow if you win. If you lose, then you are only making 4 cards. Normally I would do 2 of each design so I can keep one in my stash, but not today. Got too much on my desk.

Soon I go back to bed. Hope to sleep a decent night sleep tonight. Brain is back to normal, so I should be able to get a good night's rest. This cycle is going okay. Lots of mild nausea but the meds control it. I get a bit done, and rest as needed. If seems if I try to do too much, then I get the full blown out of control nausea. Then it is Phenegrin time, which I hate. That stuff makes me sleep for 12 hours and then I feel drunk for another 6 hrs. It does stop the nausea but I hate the price. Rather take the Zofran for the mild nausea and call it quits.

Tomorrow I will post more cards. I made several to send to Zio and they came out really cute. There is a boat, a frog on a lilypad, 2 different cat cards and a Sock Monkey card that I love. Will share them tomorrow.

Have a good night.
Arlene

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

2010-01-13T04:20:00.001-08:00

It is hard to imagine that I took this photo only 2 weeks ago today. Stefano, Lucia and I were wandering around Miracle Square (home to the Leaning Tower). Stefano is not paying attention because there was a man who was bothering us trying to sell stuff to the tourists. This fellow and one other I saw, did not have vendor areas. They simply walked with merchandise in their hands and tried to harass you into purchasing. Stefano had already told him to go away once. The second time he did, the guy left in a hurry. Imagine that! LOL... In the background there is the Bascilia, the Catherdral and the Leaning Tower. In this direction you cannot see the Camposanto (cemetary building) nor the walls of Pisa from the medieval period.

I just noticed that 2 days have slipped by without a post. Sorry, but this is my hectic week. I worked only on Monday and Tuesday and have to prepare for the entire week with my assistant. Today is Chemo Day again. So I am off work the remainder of the week. Sometimes I do okay on Thursday thru Sunday after chemo, sometimes instead I have mild to severe nausea. You never know what will happen.

I have started the paperwork finally to become a houseowner. Not sure if anything will happen or not. Yesterday I completed a mortgage application, but found out I do not have a credit score. LOL... I have not used credit at all for over 8 years or more. I have operated only on a cash system. If I had the cash, then I could buy. If I did not have the cash, then I could not get it. Works well for me and I stayed out of debt. So time will tell if I get approved for a mortgage.

I did see a house near Jenny's that I really love. Does not mean I am getting that house at all. Just means I viewed it personally and it would fit my needs. What it does have that I do not need is a in-ground swimming pool. That is a luxury item that is not on my list. I like the house because it has a great kitchen, warm living room with a fireplace, and it has a sunroom area that would work great for scrapbooking / cardmaking classes. Plus it is completely fenced in with a wooden fence that is about 5 foot or higher. Behind the house is timber (a wooded lot) that will not be built upon. So I would have nature at my backdoor and not another house. Best of all it has NO STAIRS!!!! It is a simple one story house with 3 bedrooms (that way all my cousins can come visit!).

So I should hear from the mortgage company sometime this week. If this does not go thru then they will open me 2 lines of credit for 3 to 6 months to build a credit report for me. Sigh... Or my realtor says he will find another way. So I simply sit back and put it into God's hands. I have done all I need to do, and now it is HIS will whether this is where HE wants me or it is not. There are always other houses - getting the mortgage is the important factor.

I am going to go make my Dr. Baltz beam this morning! Thanks Paolo for getting the Ferrari book for me in English. I am bringing that and the lovely red Ferrari shopping bag with me to the clinic this morning. Can't wait to see his face.

Have a great day!

Arlene

Sunday Morning, January 10, 2010

2010-01-10T03:10:00.001-08:00

Good morning! Yesterday I worked in my scrapbook room with my friend Lisa. I was helping her to figure out the dimensions on a layout she loved and wanted to copy. So I used this time to create the above layouts that Lisa loved but in bolder, richer colors that I love. Hers in pastels.

The layout is titled, Uncle of my Heart, and have photos of dear Zio Corrado. These photos are all from my trip in July 2008. The first long photo is when we were touring the buildings of Miracle Plaza. I have him sitting outside of the Catherdral for a few minutes. The 3 small photos are fun too. They show his personality! The day he wore that blue shirt, he was walking with Gus and myself in Livornio and I cropped us out of the photo to focus on Zio. Then the 2 other photos are in his home as we played Scopa. One of them he was telling me that he earned 2 points and Arlene earned 0 (zero). The final photo is of him sticking his tongue out at me when we were playing Scopa. LOL.... On the 2nd page, this photo is taken on the same day as our trip to Miracle Plaza. It was taken in the restuarant garden of Il Turista, where my cousin Lucia works. Her bosses invited us to have lunch there as a gift. It was a beautiful outdoor garden and we were sitting under an olive tree sipping wine, eating and enjoying the meal with Lucia and her colleague Sarah. Lucia is a translator for the company. She deals with the tour groups and reservations for many countries.

In my photo you see a small piece of my scrapbook room. On the table is my Cricut Expressions machine. I used it to cut the brackets, the florishes and the lettering on this layout. Everything else I used from the stamps to the paper to the punches was from Stampin Up. In the background of the room you see one of my 4 bookcases of RETIRED Stampin Up stamps. I have another bookcase of the current stamps (which is overflowing!).

It is my dream this spring that I find a house and get approved for a mortage. I have a hefty hefty downpayment ready. I need to find a 3 bd and 2 bath because I will be having company alot. But I want a room with a large den that I can turn into my scrapbook room. I would love to have my Stamp or Scrapbook classes in my house, instead of dragging everything across town. Maybe by Spring Break I will be on the way for moving into my own house. Just got to get across town to visit Jerry to start the ball rolling.

This morning Bruno and Cody are coming for a short visit. I brought them back a huge garbage bag full of gifts from Italy and their uncle and cousins. The gifts are truly is sitting in a white garbage bag in the living room. I had to have space for them and had no available boxes to pack it all in.

I am going in a few minutes to start the base of a stew. Got to go chop the trinity items -- celery, carrots and onions and get them ready. A little Knorr beef bouillon, some water and the beef itself, to form the base. It will take several hours to do it all. But my house will smell good and by lunch time I will have a hearty and hot meal. After that a quick shower before they get here (bet by 7 cause Bruno likes to start his day early!)

After Bruno leaves, I am goingback to my scrapbook room. I have some papers to put away from yesterday. Seems anytime I am creative that I create a whirlwind of chaos around me. LOL Then got to get moving on the cards for Zio, which must be mailed by tomorrow. Then work on my class samples for my upcoming Stamp Class on the 23rd.

In between all this I have to wash at least one more load of laundry to be set for the week. Be glad to get that dreaded chore off my to do list. LOL I hate doing laundry. Well, no, let me refresh that. I hate folding and hanging and putting away the laundry. I have no problem with loading the washer or the dryer. It is that last step... ugh...

Okay time for me to go start my day! It is 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning here. Plan on being back in my scraproom in an hour to play until Bruno arrives, and then back again an hour later. Got to try to get a photo of him today with Cody.

Take care!

Arlene

January 9, 2010 Everyone needs hair

2010-01-09T16:52:00.000-08:00

Oh Zio was in a good mood on this morning -- it was Wednesday of my first week, so that means it was Wednesday, December 23rd. Zio Mario, his daughter Sylvia and her daughter, Ylenia had come to see me at Zio Corrado's home.

We were all talking and Ylenia was interested in my turban. I took her to see my wigs (I had taken three with me). Anyway she ended up wearing one, and her mom wore one back into the living room. Then Zio demanded his turn, so I popped this curly one off my head and he put it on. What a character! Reminds me of photos of him in his younger years, but as I remember it, his hair was not this loose wavy stuff.... I think it was a tighter wave or curl.. lol I will have to hunt down an old photo of him.

As you can see it was still very cold. He is wearing thermal shirt, flannel shirt and a jacket in the house. This is how we dressed my first 3 days, then later we got to loose that 3rd layer, and occasionally the 2nd layer too!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

2010-01-09T03:11:00.000-08:00

I bet you wonder what these photos are? LOL Well, Jenny requested a scrapbook layout that was interesting and unusual about Zio Corrado. He, of course, was to come and spend Christmas with us this year. And as you know, that did not happen and I ended up going to him for Christmas.

Jenny is a special education teacher, who teaches only Math and Science classes at Bryant High School. She requested that the layout have 2 parts. Part 1 it was to be of Zio Corrado, and Part 2 it needed to have a Venn Diagram on it. Hmmm... okay.... that is going to be different to accomplish.

A Venn Diagram for those who have been out of school a long while, is simply 2 circles that overlap. The outer parts of the circle shows differences between 2 things. The inner overlapping area is the where the things they have in common are placed.

Okay I started with Stampin Up Brilliant Blue 12 x 12 paper as my background paper. Jenny calls this Bryant Blue because it is her school color. Then I took my Creative Memories circles and cut out circles in various sizes and colors (Pixie Pink, Only Orange, YoYo Yellow, Elegant Eggplant, and Green Galore). Then I inked the edges and some of the insides with a sponge and the same color ink as the paper. I wanted to give the layout some visual interest (what do you do with a Venn Diagram I ask?)....

Then I used my Creative Memories circle again to cut 4 circles out of black cardstock to create the 2 Venn Diagrams. I cut the inner circles first, and then the outer to get them all the same size.

On the completed left layout, I placed Jenny on the left side of the page with her differences in the outer circle. Then I placed Zio Corrado on the right side of the page with his differences in the outer circle. In the overlapping area between the two I listed things they had in common.

Well I liked this so well, that I followed the same plan for the right layout (sorry, I did not capture a photo of it completed!) and this time placed photos on the outer circles of Jenny and Zio Corrado. In the overlapping are between the two I listed the MAJOR thing they had in common -- FAMILY. Then I placed this Venn Diagram on a completed background like the left side of the page. Oh and I fixed Jenny's picture so she was not laying sideways or leaning sideways... lol The title of the page was cut out of Real Red Cardstock with a black shadow letter. I think I put FAMILY CONNECTIONS as the title. I will have to ask Jenny, since this was about 3 months ago. She wanted to have it hanging up in her hallway when Zio arrived.

Both Jenny and I have 12x12 frames hanging in our hallways. In these frames, we put up some of our scrapbooking layouts. I have 3 sets of the frames which means 3 two page layouts. In one set, is a vintage layout I did of my mom. In another set, there is a layout of me in the 1970's to the 1990's with my high school best friend, Angela Trotter (who I saw at Thanksgiving!). And finally in my final set of frames is a 2 page layout of Christmas ornaments I made over the years.

Sorry I did not post on Thursday (was way tooo busy) and then that night I got sick. I even stayed home from work yesterday. Feeling better this morning. Must of been something I ate or a virus. I am betting on the food side. There are certain things that make me ill these days. So far I know one must be a cream sauce..... everytime I get something with a cream sauce I get sick. Not sure what the other kicker is.... But you know when you have 2 intensine surgeries and then they remove 10 inches of intensines, things are never the same again. Even my belly is not the same. I call it the ALIEN BABY.... and told Dr. Gilbert (my surgeon) that. He laughs at me. But heck it is lopsided. One side is a good inch higher than the other, plus it pushed more to the left. Dr. Gilbert tells me that when you have this type of surgery he can repack the intestines, but cannot do the great job that God does to begin with.... so I am stuck with the ALIEN BABY belly.... Too bad too... without it I would wear 2 sizes smaller in slacks I think....

Today my friend, Lisa Houston, is coming over to work on a scrapbook layout. In fact she will be here around 8:30 this morning. Yes, I got up early again, but at least on my own timezone -- this is normal. Here it is 5:30 in the morning and I have been up about 30 minutes. Funny how I age, how early I rise.... I am awake between 4 and 5 each morning without the alarm. I rarely use an alarm. In fact, when I am on heavy meds I have Jenny call me in the mornings to wake me. It is our habit to meet in IM (Instant Messanger) each morning before work between 5 and 5:30. If we do not hear from the other by 5:45 a.m. then a phone call is made. Neither of us want to oversleep and be late for work. That just ruins the day.

Okay time for me to go do a little housework like make the bed and finally put all my luggage away in the closet. I think it sitting here for a week is enough. Then got to drag 2 boxes of Stampin Up items down the hall to my scrapbook room. Finally need to get another load of laundry going. Only have my work slacks and towels left ! WOOHOOO!!!! When the sun rises, then I will take out some trash bags I packed up last night from the kitchen and scrapbook room.

You have a safe and warm day wherever you are.

Arlene

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

2010-01-06T04:11:00.000-08:00

Okay I am thinking about making cards again. These 4 cards were my card class I taught in November. I had to skip December - just too much happening that month. Am trying to get my ducks in a row to have a class in January. I will have the date, time and cost completed by tomorrow (especially since I figure we will be out of school due to the weather).

Weather all over the US is cold. For Arkansas, it is bitterly cold. We rarely get this kind of weather. In fact, I think someone moved the state of Arkansas close to Canada for the last few days.... I want it to come back to the south. LOL.

Tonight we expect snow and single digit temps. I plan on staying nice and warm in my house. Got my sweatpants all washed and in the dryer now to get ready for the next few cold days. Brrrr.......

Think it will be a great time to pull out my crock pot and make some soup. Then I can settle in the scrapbook room and make cards for my January class. Plus I have to make Tawanna's desk calendar (See I did remember). I have some cute ideas in mind with four of the new sets in the Stampin Up Occasions Mini. I do love teaching classes. It is fun to show the girls how to create a new look.

I am a lucky girl. I have 2 Stamp Clubs that run from January to May completely full (that's 10 ladies) plus I have a Marker Club of 4 ladies that runs from January to April. Then to top it off, I already have one downline, Angie, and about to get another one, Tanya. Then I will also have to have downline meetings for them perhaps once a month to 6 weeks. Poor Angie, has been floating alot on her own this year. Due to my poor health and all that chemo I was not alot of help to her. Hope that will change for the better now.

Speaking of Chemo. I have my January treatment next Wednesday at Dr. Baltz's in Little Rock. He is going to love me. I brought him home a book on Ferrari from Italy (yes it is in English). It is his favorite car.

I am currently in remission from my 3rd bout with endometerial cancer. I have been in remission since August. I have a very aggressive oncologist, which I love. After 14 weeks of chemo (yes every week) from March to the end of July, I was placed on monthly chemo treatments and allowed to return to work. I had missed from December 17, 2008 to August 10, 2009. I was biting at the bit to return to work. Now I have scans every 3 months (August, Nov, Feb, May) to check on the remission status. In addition, for extra insurance, I am having a 4 1/2 hr. chemo treatment monthly until May. After May, if all is well, then I come off chemo.

Considering that at New Years 2008, the doctors were discussing sending me to hospice, it has been a miracle. I owe many thanks to Dr. Gilbert, who did my 2 surgeries, Dr. Baltz (my new oncologist - not the one who almost killed me) for being an aggressive fighter, and to Jenny, my loving sister, who was my nurse and advocate when I could not manage it. Bless her soul. I frightened her alot with my 18 hrs a day of sleeping and then that month that I could only tolerate 3 glasses of milk a day for food. It has been a long journey.

Frankly, Dr. Baltz told me (maybe a month ago or so) that when he met me in January, he thought I was a train wreck and there was no hope. He tells me that I was so insistant that we fight and make a game plan that he decided to do that. So miracles and spunk and a desire to bother you all a few more years does make a difference. LOL

Tomorrow I should have photos of snow to share with you. Stay warm my friends. I must go prepare for work. The kids will be waiting for me!

Arlene

January 5, 2010 - Just thinking of Mom

2010-01-05T04:13:00.000-08:00

This is a scrapbook layout I created in December for the Pine Haven Scrapbook Group. It was my month to design a layout. I finally chose to use photos from Mom's last Christmas in 2005. We were celebrating it at Jenny's house in Benton. It was a bittersweet Christmas. Mother had just been told not a week before that she was in Stage 4 Lung Cancer. We had understood if she took chemo then we would have her 12 to 18 more months. If she did not take chemo it would be as short as 6 months. Well Mom took the chemo, and we lost her before 6 months was gone.

If you notice the left side of the page starts with a double matted photo of Mom and Mark (Jenny's husband). I decided they needed to be the focal point of the layout since neither of them are with us anymore. Mom passed away in June 2006 and Mark passed away in June 2008. Mark died of complications of MS.

On the left page on the bottom left side is a photo of Mom with Laura. Laura is Jenny's daughter. On the bottom right of the same page is a photo of Bruno, Mom and Cody. Cody is Bruno's son.

On the right page of the layout there are 3 photos of us with Mom. Across the top right is Jenny and Mom, and then Bruno and Mom. I am in the bottom photo on the right page. I cut out 2 circle ornaments and then stamped them. One is stamped with a red cardinal, which is a family symbol of our Mom. Notice that Mom and Jenny are both wearing cardinal sweaters. Even the china on the table is decorated with cardinals. The other is a small house with a sentiment that reads, " Though far and wide on earth we roam, at Christmas time our hearts come home."

Okay my shower beckons me. Or I will be late to work this morning. I refused to get up at 2 a.m. and curled in my bed until 4 a.m. So I did not have time to do all I have been doing in the morning. Only 1 load of laundry this morning, then a big order at Stampin Up since today Sale*a*Bration started, and finally gathering items necessary for work today (plus a big container of hot chocolate powder for my kiddos!).

Have a great day and stay warm.

Arlene

Monday, January 4, 2010

2010-01-04T03:34:00.000-08:00

This photo is an old one. It was taken in April 2009. But it is the last one with the entire family in it. Front row is Austin, his mom Laura Jill, Isabel (who was my mother's dearest friend for over 40 years), Jenny. The back row is Bruno, his son Cody, and then me in my turban. This photo was taken in front of Jenny's house.

I try hard to get photos of Jenny, Bruno and I together when we do see each other. Love to see how we are the same, yet different over the years.

Today is January 4, 2010 and I return to work at Bauxite High School. I am going to like seeing my kids and hearing all the goodies they got for Christmas. It is 5:41 a.m. and I have been awake since 2 a.m. I managed to get 2 loads of laundry washed and dried. I also finished coloring or inking up some images for Zio's cards. Tonight I will put the cards together. I need to send 3 or 4 immediately. That way, Lucia can give him one a day from me.

I must go to take a shower in about 15 minutes. Then prepare for work. I have to make my lunch to take too. Then gather some little trinkets I got for a few friends. I will deliver these this morning. I am going to stop and get a large hot chocolate and a breakfast sandwich at the corner store.

Have to get back on track with my portfolios. I lack only a few photos but must check my list to make sure what is left. Today I will simply double check the list and plan when I will complete the photos.

I also want to see how the new school building is going. We are supposed to move into it in February. I am excited about that. A true classroom with a kitchen, a huge storage room, and a bathroom. No more being in this bowling alley or rather the 2 lanes of the bowling alley. LOL.... I will miss many of my friends who are not going with me, but I need room!

I will try and take photos of the building this week, and perhaps I will finally get to go visit the new room! No one has wanted me to climb the 3 flights of stairs to see it. But before Christmas the crew had completed the concrete sidewalk that joins the 3rd floor (where I will be) and the main road level. I plan on going in and out this door alot!

The snow yesterday never appeared, but the weathermen are calling for it again on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. So we shall see.

Take care and I will see you later.
Arlene

A cold Sunday morning..... Jan. 3, 2010

2010-01-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

My crazy cousin Paolo is sitting on my lap. Then there is Zio Corrado, who hates a camera (unless he is taking the photo) and Paolo's mother, Zia Adriana. Paolo and I are very good friends and chat often in IM. In this photo you get a tiny view of Zio's kitchen. Behind Zio is his stove and to the right of that is his sink. It is very low to me. Behind me is the hallway to the bathroom and the 2 bedrooms.

I slept alot again on Saturday. From about 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. I am slowly returning to Central Standard time. Yesterday I went to Jenny's house for lunch, then Laura and Wayne arrived for a visit. I stayed a little bit, but came home after a short visit.

I had intended to do some stamping and make some cards for Zio. Instead I curled up on the bed and napped. Ugh..... Today is going to be a cold cold day. The high for the day will be 36 degrees (if it gets that high) and the current temperature is 27 (which is -3 C). It has come up from 24 degrees. We have a 30% chance of snow this morning and again on Wednesday. Apparently winter has come to stay. I can even tell a difference this morning in my house. I am sitting here barefooted with sweatpants and a short sleeve t-shirt. As soon as I finish my blog, I am heading for socks and a long sleeve shirt to go over my t-shirt. I feel the coolness ..... the wind must be blowing too..... brrr....

I have been indexing stamps this morning. It simply means I have been stamping an image of my stamps onto an index card and then placing them in the stamp box. Trying to do this with all my stamps. This way, I can tell if all the stamps for a certain set are in its box or if I have a loose stamp it is easier to find where it belongs.

Then I worked on my Stampin Up clubs for January thru May. They are a 5 month committment. I have 2 stamp clubs for this period and 1 marker club. Just trying to get organized for this time period.

School starts back tomorrow morning. Today I must wash clothes and get prepared for a week of work. I will work Monday thru Friday this week and then only Monday and Tuesday next week. I have chemo scheduled on Wed., Jan 13. So I am off work on that day and the following 2 days -- that is when I get the worst nausea. Ugh.... this time I have had mild nausea off and on for 2 weeks. I think it is because of all the travel and the nerves/emotional situations. So Zofran has been my friend. LOL.... a short nap and a nausea pill makes a world of difference.

Time for me to go eat something. Last time I ate was over 12 hrs ago, so I am a little hungry. LOL.... suddenly cinnamon toast sounds good with a cup of hot chocolate. Wonder if I bought regular bread or only the philly subs.... Toodles for now!
Arlene

2010-01-02T03:33:00.000-08:00

The family! Well quite a few of the family together. On the front row from left to right are: Rita (Paolo's wife), Arlene, Zio Corrado, and Zia Adriana. On the back row from left to right are: Lucia, Paolo, Genny (wife to Maurizio), Maurizio, Ilaria and Gus. We are missing Ilaria and Lucia's brother, Fabio and his family (Analia, Gioelle, and Malia) and Stefano the husband to Lucia. Also missing Paolo and Maurizio's sister Gabriella or Gabby and her family (Renzo and Luca). Then we would have Zio Corrado's family (just him), Zia Adriana's family (Paolo, Gabby and Maurizio) and Zia Tina's family (Ilaria, Fabio and Lucia).

The photo was taken in Zio Corrado's kitchen by Maurizio with a time delay camera. I am so happy he took a photo of all of us together. It is a rare event. A very rare event.

I am in contact with Lucia and Paolo the most. In fact, the three of us have been talking in IM for many years now. We often speak in Instant Messanger. I speak with Ilaria, Gus and Maurizio occasionally on Facebook.

Two Very Happy Furrballs

2010-01-02T02:44:00.000-08:00

While the photo is an old one (taken when I lived in Mississippi) the furrballs are the same ones. Walking above the computer on the shelf is Socks. Laying on an old computer monitor is Julie. Both are so glad I am home. Socks is being very vocal in his opinion.... lol... he keeps coming to me and MEOWING and MEOWING.... Julie just comes to me or sticks close by me.

At present, Julie is laying down on top of my small 13 inch television, here in the scrapbook room. She can follow me whether I work on the computer or make some cards or a scrapbook layout. Socks, is underneath the computer table resting his head on my feet. LOL

I went to take a short nap yesterday after I got home and it turned out to be a long long sleep instead. Socks was laying beside me on the left side and Julie was under the covers beside me on the right side. Both were very pleased to get their pet human back. You do realize I am owned by 2 cats right?

This morning (it is about 4:45 a.m.) I have been up nearly 3 hours. I have worked on catagorizing my new stamps, and labeling the boxes. I have surfed on the net and ready both emails, the Crop Room and facebook, as well as many Stampin Up Blogs. I did some shopping online for Ilaria and Zio Corrado. I have wandered thru ebay, and the demo site of Stampin Up. Next up, I plan on doing some stamping. I have a few cards in mind for my uncle that I want to get sent in Monday's mail.

Funny thing, is I am ready to take another nap! LOL Got to get back in the right time zone soon. At least I still have today and tomorrow to readjust.

Take care,
Arlene

Last post from Italy.... Wed night.

2009-12-30T11:18:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of Ilaria, Nico and Gas (pronounced Gus) at Zio Claudio's home on Christmas Day. When I get home I will load my photos since I have been using Lucia's.

It has been a very long day and Zio Corrado did not have a good day. He woke tired and it effected his balance and walking alot today. We did all go (Zio Corrado, Gus, Ilaria, Nico, Lucia, Stefano and myself) to McDonald's outside the wall at the Miracle Square. So odd to see this wall from the Reinassance and then McDonald's. Sort of glad I went. It was totally different. You could order a small hamburger or cheeseburger, Big Mac, a Deluxe CB, a Bacon Cheeseburger or Chicken Nuggets. The children's meal came with a hamburger, drink, carrots not fries, and a drink and a toy. The toy was Snoopy in a long car. What surprised me that is you can order either water, a soft drink, coffee or a beer in the McDonald's. There was a separate counter for the coffee which is served in cermanic cups not plastic or foam. You could also have cappecino. But what totally amazed me was the dessert case. Most good restaurants at home do NOT offer the quality or quanity of choices in the deserts. There must of been 15 types of desserts including cakes, cheesecakes, pies and cookies. Too bad I was full or I would of tested some out. LOL...

Afterwards Gus and Ilaria took Zio back to Marina di Pisa. I foolishly went shopping outside of Miracle Square and also inside Miracle Square and also at the shop Lucia works at. There we stopped to shop, visit and have a drink (I had water okay? Was exhausted from all the walking. We took many photos of the Leaning Tower from this new direction. I had taken them all from another direction the last visit. I took one with Lucia, then one with Stefano and then I had them go together for another photo.

Then we walked forever .... Lucia went to get the car, so I only walked about half the distance she did, but I can tell you it was over 10 blocks. That is why I am so tired. Just no dang stamina anymore.

I came home to find Signora Giovannia waiting to tell me goodbye. It was difficult. I like her so much. I even began to shed a few tears. Imagine tomorrow morning when I have to kiss and hug Zio goodbye. Oh Mama Mia! I have 2 packages of kleenex in my purse already for this.

Okay I leave you now, and then next post will be from Arkansas. The church bell is ringing 8:30. I must sign off....

Arlene

Mercoledi (Wednesday) December 30

2009-12-29T22:37:00.000-08:00

This is my cousin Fabio with his baby girl, Malia, who is the youngest in our family. It was taken at Zio Claudio's home (Fabio's father) on Christmas Day. She is a happy little baby. I never heard her cry the entire afternoon. Fabio is the brother to Lucia and Ilaria.

I noticed that I did not post on Tuesday. Sorry but it was a busy day with much traveling. But before I discuss Tuesday, let me go back to Monday afternoon.

Signora Giovannia, Zio's next door neighbor, invited us to a small afternoon snack. I am not sure what it is called here, but we might call it an afternoon tea in the US. I must digress and tell you a story here, then continue with the doings of that afternoon.

When I was last here in Marina di Pisa, in the summer of 2008, someone came by with a bowl with a pate or a dip in it for Zio. Now remember I had already been to the grocery store where he bought horse steaks (yes horse) and I should of known to take my time in the translating. Anyway when I asked what this pate or dip was, Zio Corrado told me it was fige (pronounced figgy). Okay what would you expect? I expected it was some sort of item made with figs... WRONG!!! And much to my dismay I did not figure out that I was WRONG until after I ate some of it. YUCK! PHEWY! Fige is not made of figs. It is a liver pate.. gross....

Okay now back to our story. Signora Giovanna served us fige and tuna sandwhiches, chips, crackers and a bowl each of a shrimp salad. Then for desert there was a special Italian Christmas cake called Pandone (Pan-doe-ne). It is delicious. It is a yellow sponge type cake with raisins. She also served some type of wine liquer that was very strong. Believe me it took me a good 45 minutes to drink the small full glass she gave me. I normally only take a fourth to half of a small glass of wine. We are speaking about 2 to 4 ounces. Here she gave me more like 6 ounces. Yikes. I was full upon returning to Zio's two hours later. Then he wants to know what would I like for supper. OMG... who needed supper? I convinced him I would eat a slice of salami and a piece of cheese. Whew! I could not have another full meal.

Yesterday Ilaria and Gus took me to a parking lot near Miracle Square to meet Lucia. The area where the Leaning Tower, the Baptisry, the Catherdral and the Camposanto (cemetary) is called Miracle Square. I transferred from their car to Lucia's. Then we went to Prato a good hour and a half away. We had to first take a small highway over the mountain to Lucca because the Interstate as you would call it, because the North Pisa Interstate section is closed to to flooding of a local river. Then at Lucca we got onto the Interstate. Prato lies beside Florence, so it is a good distance away.

Lucia was taking me to her favorite scrapbooking store run by Patty. It is a small store in comparasion to those in the States, but for here it is large. I would bet I have more in my own scrapbooking room at home. LOL. But she carries many things I am familiar with like Metric ScorPal, sizzix dies, Big Shot, ribbons, scrapbook paper, ink pads and stamps. I got several Italian wooden rubber stamps, then went for some clear stamps for Jenny. Sorry sis, the clear stamps are all from France.

Afterwards we returned to Pisa and went to Carrefour. It is a grocery store and shopping center similar to Walmart on a smaller scale. I scoured the aisles looking for things and found 3 zip up sweatshirts for Austin, Cody and Bruno. Today I will hunt for a shirt for Wayne and a Pisa souvenior plate for Laura in Miracle Square.

Zio wants to eat at McDonald's for an American hamburger so we will go there to eat. I cannot deny him anything he likes.

Okay speaking of Zio, he is calling me to the kitchen. It is time to prepare his morning shot. He cannot do this alone.

You take care and I will try to post again this evening. Remember I leave here early early tomorrow morning to arrive back in the States at 3 pm EST time in Cincinatti.

Arlene

2009-12-28T23:50:00.000-08:00

This young man is Gioelle (Joel). He is sitting on my lap eating a French fry. You can also see Ilaria with her son Nico on the right. Aren't these boys just precious!

Today again there is no sun. The skies are very overcast. We have had breakfast. Zio has already had his morning shot and medicines. The medicine for the shot comes in a glass vial and you must break the top off. Then load the medicine in the syringe. I have alot of trouble doing this. I cannot imagine when Zio must do this alone. In the morning his hands shake much. Right now he is in the bathroom getting washed and dressed. I am sitting here in my gown posting. Soon he comes out and then I do my morning chores. I make both beds and wash the breakfast dishes. It is our deal that he cooks and I wash. He tells me when he comes to see me in November 2010 (I told you he is making plans totally unaware of the situation) then he will still cook and I will still wash the dishes. LOL

Then I must go fold my clothes that Gina, his housekeeper who comes weekly, washed yesterday. Here in Italy the washing machines are front loaded and appear to be the size of our dishwashers. But the difference is you can only load about one third of what you could put in a washer at home. There are no dryers at least in most homes. Things are hung up to dry on drying racks or laid over the radiator vents. I have already folded a few things and I thought I better come post soon.

Today Zio will be using the computer to go to a naval site in the US. He had me go to www.atlanticfleetsales.com last night for him. He loves naval and aieral photographs.

At 2 Ilaira will pick me up to transport me to Pisa to where Lucia works (which is 1 block from the Leaning Tower in the tourist section). Then I will go with Lucia to Prato to her favorite scrapbooking store. I am really not sure how far away is Prato, except that it is close to Florence.

Tomorrow's game plans are that Stefano and Lucia will come to Marina di Pisa and collect Zio and myself. They are taking us out to lunch at McDonalds. Can you believe I fly half way around the world and here I am going to eat at McDonald's? LOL I even avoided it all costs on my last trip. But Zio wants an American hamburger, so we go.

Already wondering about the flight home. I see that many American airlines are now asking international travelers to arrive 3 hours early. This is because of the failed bombing of that Delta flight from The Netherlands to Detroit. I followed it on the Italian news and finally came to the computer to CNN to get a better understanding of the attempt.

I leave here from Marina di Pisa in the early hours (3:30 a.m.) to travel to Florence with Stefano and Lucia. I must arrive 2 hrs before my flight (Florence to Paris). My plane departs Florence at 7:20, so boarding will be around 7. Florence is the tiniest airport I have ever seen. It makes Little Rock look huge. LOL.... even the parking lot is smaller than one of them in Little Rock! Amazes me. I just wish I could of gotten a cheap ticket to Pisa, but they all sold out. It was a choice of Florence, which is close by, Rome which is 4 hours away, or Milan which is up in the mountains and thankfully I avoided it: Milan got much snow and ice and I think it would of been a week stuck there. Yikes!

Okay I must go off to do my morning chores. See you later.
Arlene

Lunedi, (Monday) December 28, 2009

2009-12-28T02:25:00.000-08:00

This is photograph of Lucia. She is in her home on Christmas morning. She lives in Collesalvti, a town near Pisa. You are viewing her living room and her pretty Christmas tree. She is showing off some of the gifts we sent from the US. I see her HELLO KITTY stuffed animal that Austin sent her. There are a pair of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer pajamas, and the Crop Bag I brought her from Jenny and myself. I used it as a suitcase coming here. She could not believe the size of it! It has 3 outside zippered compartments and then a huge inside area with dividers. Now she is ready to pack it for any stamping or scrapbooking class she attends. All will fit inside this massive bag. It has rollers on the bottom and a handle to pull it.

Today is a very cold day. I am already wearing a tshirt with a sweatshirt and thinking about adding a zippered fleece jacket to boot. Hate that it got so much colder today. Brrr.. There is no sun to view just ugly clouds and rain. A dreary day.

This morning we played Scopa and Zio is far ahead of me again. At one point in the game we were only 4 points apart. Then Lady Fortuna departed from me and went to sit with Zio. The current score is 111 to 96,. So I am getting my tail whipped. I keep telling him this is not good. Not good at all.

Today is a quiet day. He sits and thinks in his chair, while I sit here and keep myself occupied. He is going to start reading a book Ilaria brought him. I guess I will go soon and get my Clive Clusser book and begin re-reading it. I only brought two books with me. One was Living Dead in Dallas, a Sookie Sackhouse book (Makes me think of Melissa!) I read it again and then gave it to Lucia to read. Now I have only 1 book in English with me. So I must re-read it. I happen to like Clive Clusser, so it is not much of a problem.

I have surfed the internet on Facebook and the Crop Room (a scrapbook site) and my email. Now doing the blog and then off to visit and read. Seems all I do is sit and sit. My hands are idle, but my mind is busy creating card ideas for when I return home. Maybe I will also go surf some Stampin Up Blogs too.

You stay warm and have a good day.

Arlene

My sweet little cousins

2009-12-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

These handsome young men are my 2nd cousins. That is Gioelle (English is Joel) in the gray jacket. He is the son of my cousin Fabio and his wife Analia. The little boy in blue is Nico (English is Nick). He is the sone of my cousin Ilaria and her husband Gas (pronounced Gus). Aren't they just precious! Gioelle was taught my name by Stefano and he was walking around the house saying Ar-lay-neh (the Italian pronounciation of Arlene). It was so cute in his little sing song voice. Later someone told him I was his cousin and he was just repeating MY COUSIN (cugina)? LOL These two are so much fun together. They got into the Navity scene playing with the animali (animals). What one had, the other wanted.... and vice versa.

Today I was typing away in an email, when I saw a lady walking down the sidewalk outside the front glass doors. I thought how much she favored my Zia Adriana. Then thought how silly. Zia Adry is several hours away on the Island of Elba. A few minutes later the doorbell rang and went to open it. Imagine my shock when it was my Zia Adry along with her son Maurizo and his wife Genny; her son Paolo and his wife Rita. I was just amazed to see them all. Lucia knew last night that they were all coming this afternoon. She was laughing at my facebook note that it was a very quiet day, knowing all along this was going to happen.

A friend of Maurizio took Zia Adry to the ferry to ride to the mainland. He and the rest of the gang were waiting for her to arrive on the mainland. Then they drove here from the ferry (about 1 and half hours) to surprise us. Later they had to drive to Bologna and Modena which is almost 4 hours north of Pisa.

Rita and Paolo brought me a lovely doll. Rita is a doll collector. Genny and Maurizio brought me 2 cookbooks, one from the Verona region where Genny is from, and one from Tuscany. Now I will need my Italian-English dictionary because the recipes are written in Italian. LOL

Paolo also did me a favor and brought me a biography on Ferrari the carmaker for my

oncologist, Dr. Baltz. Dr. Brad is nuts over Ferrari. So I have a gift to bring to him on my next chemo on January 13th.

Within minutes of this arrival, came Gas, Ilaria and Nico. Soon after Lucia appeared. Maurizio has a good camera that has a time delay on it, so he got a family photo of everyone! Yes I mean everyone: Zio Corrado, Zio Adry, Lucia, Ilaria, Nico, Gas, Maurizio, Genny, Rita, Paolo and me. This will be a very special family photo for me.

We had a lovely visit. Genny brought a special cake from Verona for Zio Corrado. He ate a huge piece of it tonight and declared it good. I am full right now, but plan on trying it later.

While the sun was out, Paolo captured me and we walked to the seaside. This afternoon the sun appeared and I took advantage of it to take photos of the Meditterrean Sea. The sea was calm. There were so many people out walking too! A portion of the road is closed on Sunday, so the street was full of people out walking and enjoying the sun.

While I was away, Lucia, Rita and Genny went to the store to get Zio Corrado his daily newspaper and a hot chocolate or cocoa.

It seemed that everyone disappeared at one time. I enjoyed seeing them all ! What a pleasant surprise. I understand that they had a long trip ahead of them and by now they should be home. Glad I did not have to go up north. The weather is not my friend in the north. Too darn much snow and cold air for me. I will remain at the seaside instead.

All is well tonight. Hope all is well with you too.

Oh by the way, the Christmas dinner photo I loaded was NOT after dinner. I got to looking at the photo (double clicking on it) and saw it was prior to dinner and many of the appetizers are shown. Look too at the lovely plates. I have never seen decorative plates like this in the US. Too bad.

See you tomorrow

Arlene

Stefano

2009-12-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

This sideways photo is of my cousin Stefano, the husband to Lucia. He is holding his gift from me. Stefano is crazy over the tv show DALLAS and the Dallas Cowboys. I had purchased a watch with the Dallas Cowboys on it a couple of months ago for him. At one time, Stefano, Lucia and Zio Corrado were to come to Benton for Christmas. This of course did not occur. But I had already prepared some of their gifts.

Tawanna, I am sorry I cannot figure out how to make Mr. Studly's photo the correct way instead of sideways. But I followed your orders....lol..... Lucia remind me to tell you why he is called Mr. Studly.

This is a short post because I have another photo I want to load tonight. Be right back!

Sunday, December 27

2009-12-26T23:18:00.001-08:00

This photo was taken by Lucia after the one of the courses at dinner. Notice the tree in the corner with the Nativity scene underneath it. That is my cousin Ilaria holding her son Nico, who has a head of blonde curls. I am sitting beside Zio Corrado.

Today is Sunday and I awoke within the last half hour. Already I have helped Zio prepare his shot. This is a difficult task for both of us. The medicine is in a glass vial and you must break off the top, then load the small syringe. I have difficulty with those type of very fine motor skills, and for Zio it is even harder since he shakes so much in the morning. It takes a little time then I get it accomplished. I am not sure how he will do this alone. Then he has a slew of pills to take. I took my antibodics and came to the computer to write just a short blog this morning. I can tell you that between the two of us, the kitchen table looks like a pharmacy.

Lucia was here last night and prepared a fish dinner with potatoes, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes that I love. It was wonderful. She had a very long day yesterday. Her husband's family had their Christmas dinner together then. Her mother in law, Signora Carla, is also undergoing chemotherapy. She had a reoccurance of ovarian cancer this fall. She is recieving chemo every 3 weeks and is weak. So Lucia and her sister in law had to do much of the tasks. Then my sweet cousin drove 30 minutes here to prepare a dinner for us. Bless her sweet soul!

Today Gas, the husband of Ilaria, is coming to do some type of plumbing work for Zio. I did not understand it all. But I did understand that after this work is done, then I can wash a load of clothes. Remember here there are washers but you hang up the clothes to dry. Dryers are very rare. Here you see the front loading washers in the kitchens of most homes instead of a dishwasher. Only at Zio Claudio's have I seen a dishwasher.

Okay this is enough information for this morning. Later I will post again with another photograph and more information. For now, I think I will go eat my breakfast and prepare for the day.

Arlene

Saturday, December 26, 2009

2009-12-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

This is a photograph of Zio Corrado, Lucia and myself on Christmas Day at the home of her father, Zio Claudio.

We took photographs after the dinner. Zio said he was tired of all the photos and would we stop please.

Lucia brought her card reader over tonight and we loaded all her Christmas photos to Zio's computer. Now I have a few photos to share with you. Of course, I must upload them each day and sometimes I get the written Italian words confused, so we shall see.

Today we went to Ilaria's for lunch. She served the appetizer course with a shrimp in a cream sauce, salmon on toast, sliced boiled eggs, capers, sausage, 2 types of cheeses, and finally OLIVES! I had some wonderful black and green olives..... yummy. The main course was a pasta with a crab sauce. It was good, but since I am not that found of crab, it was not my favorite meal.

After we ate then we played Scopa. Ilaria and Zio were partners and Gas and I were partners. Not sure how that happened. The two novice players versus the experienced. Needless to say, they won. But it was good for me, because Ilaria explained to me how the game is scored. I knew you got a point for each Scopa (clearing off all the cards from the table) and a point if you had the bella diamonte (the 7 of diamonds). I did not understand how you got the point for total cards, total diamonds or the family of 7's until today. Nothing like playing with only half the rules. LOL

I was not feeling well this afternoon and went to rest for thirty minutes. I ended up falling asleep for over 2 hours. I woke and went to the kitchen to find Zio sitting with his scrapbooking. Or that is what I call it. He takes his photographs of the naval ships and puts them in an album. Then he takes a Dyno LetraTag machine and creates a label for each ship. He writes the name of the ship on each page. To me, it is another form of scrapbooking. He told me he had a nice, calm and tranquil afternoon working on his photos. I think it the first time he has been alone doing anything he wanted to do since I arrived.

I had only been up about 5 minutes and Lucia arrived. They are both in the kitchen now visiting. Lucia is preparing fish for dinner. She wanted me to come and put the new photos on the blog, so here I am!

Today is cold and cloudy with no rain. I hope for better weather tomorrow. I want to go out walking and the weather has not cooperated with me. Today the sea was calm with little waves. Yesterday instead the waves were very high and crashing fast against the beach. The wind was bitter off the water.

I am feeling much better now than I have felt most of the day. That nap sure helped me alot. But now I need to go back to the kitchen to visit with Zio and Lucia.

I will see you later or tomorrow with other photos.

Arlene

Christmas Evening

2009-12-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

It is already nearly 9 p.m. and I have now time to write a little before bed. Lucia came to visit this evening and we chatted forever.

Today was a long day. The day began with rain and winds. The sun finally arrived with blue skies in tow. The sea today was very angry with huge waves. I hope tomorrow it is nice enough to walk over there. I still have only seen it from the car driving back and forth along the marina area.

We went to Zio Claudio's for a very wonderful but long Christmas lunch. There were so many types of food served today. First were the appetizers. There were plates of proscuitto (ham), salami, salmon over a toast, shrimp in a sauce, and a wonderful quiche type of food with ham cheese and eggs, 2 types of cheese (parmasean and talllegio), olives, pepperoni, bread, tuna, and the fruit of the sea (squid). That was only the appetizers. Next came either a cup or bowl of broth. Then came ravoli with meat sauce. After this platters of meats were served. There were 3 choices of meat: lamb, pork loin and turkey fillet. Also there were potatoes with this course. Finally it was the desert course. There I saw 5 things. There was a cherry cake, a cream type pastry similar to cream puffs, a banana and chocolate confection, cookies dipped in chocolate on one end, and coconut cookies. There were 2 types of wine served: either white or red. I choose white today. Then 2 types of water: aqua natural and aqua frizzante. The first is what we drink at home and the second is water with carbonation. Then there were fruits and nuts too. Just sooo much food. I did not even try to sample all of it. I had 2 slices of salami, 2 slices of tuna, a slice of the quiche, some tallegio cheese (I prefer parmasean), and the shrimp during the appetizer course. A small half cup of broth that I could not finish and a few ravoli. Then in the meat course I had a slice of pork. I skipped the potatoes. I had a cream puff and a piece of the banana confection for dessert. In addition to all this bread was also served. No wonder it takes a couple of hours to have a traditional meal!

I got a lovely Christmas ceramic house from Zio Claudio. Lucia and Stefano gave me a beautiful silver necklace with a cross. Ilaria and Gas gave me a cute pink and white photo album. I came home and Zio gave me more gifts that I cannot mention because Jenny has some of the same. Sorry, I will give those details later. One gift I got that Jenny did not get is a joke gift. The first words that Stefano taught me was PISA MERDE which means PISA STINKS... so Zio Corrado gave me a red shirt with the white emblem of Pisa on the front. On the back it reads in Italian, THANK GOD I AM A PISANO (from Pisa) NOT LIVORNESE (not Livorno). Stefano is from Livornio. They are coming to dinner tomorrow night and Zio has already given me instructions that I am to wear that shirt to dinner. He is teasing Stefano. LOL

Jenny, one of the gifts Zio gave me had me just simply bawling and bawling. I could not stop crying for a long time. It will touch your heart. But that is all I will tell you at this point. Zio Claudio's house was decorated for Christmas. In the corner on a table was a 4 ft Christmas tree with some tinsel, lights and many ornaments. Under the tree, sitting on the tree skirt was a nativity scene. The doorways were covered with tinsel or flashing lights and a bag with mistletoe hung in the center. The tablecloths were gold colored out of paper not linen. In fact, except for the bowls and glassware, the plates (and there were 4 of them per person in various sizes for different parts of the meal) were disposable. They were not paper but a type of plastic but very decorative with a Christmas theme of poinsettas.

I took many many photos. I just cannot explain all I saw or heard today.There were so many voices and I picked up bits and pieces around the room. Just so much activity and so much happening all at once. Many cameras were taking many photos. Lucia, Zio Claudio, Fabio and I were all taking photos. I am going to get copies of them all.

We left around 3:30 or 4 coming home. I rode with Nico and Ilaria and Zio rode with Gas. We got here and Ilaria had misplaced Zio's house keys. So we had to wait for Lucia to arrive with her set of keys. She was about a half hour behind us. It was very windy outside as we waited.

Ilaria visited with us a little while and then she, Gas and Nico went home. Lucia and I sat at the kitchen table and had a long visit for at least 3 hours. It was lovely. We left Zio relaxing in his chair watching tv.

Tomorrow for lunch we are going to Ilaria's house. Then Lucia and Stefano are coming here for supper. Lucia is going to prepare a fish dish that I love.

Zio and I played Scopa this morning and already he is ahead of me. Score Zio 14 and me 10. He skunked me in one hand with 4 pts and me zero. Typical. He can count cards and lets me know it. LOL.

I am extremely tired tonight, so I am closing with a shorter post for you to read. I want to check my email and facebook and then I go to bed.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas.
Arlene

Venerdi (Friday) Dicembre 25 Natale

2009-12-24T23:58:00.001-08:00

Buon Natale!

Here it is 9 a.m. on Christmas morning. The sun is starting to peer thru a mass of clouds. But the rains have stopped. It is a peaceful morning.

We have had breakfast. I had my bottle of water (go figure huh?) with some sugar cookies. But these sugar cookies are not super sweet like the ones in the USA. In fact, most of the sweets here are mild and taste better to me. Zio had a bowl of barley, his mini toast and jelly with his coffee. The barley is prepared with boiling water and has the look of coffee to me.

Speaking of food, supper was good last night. Zio had crab that was sent especially for him and a peppered perorino cheese (tasted like it had anise in it to me) and hard bread. For me, I had a typical meal I would eat in the US but with better flavor. For most of you, it would not be your meal of choice, but I grew up eating this combination. I had hard salami, parmasean cheese, hard bread and green grapes. It was soo good! Oh Melissa, I am having wine at the table but not here at Zio's. I had it with each meal at Ilaria's and then I will also have it today. One evening when I return we will sit and have a glass together.

Right now Zio has gone to prepare for the day, starting with the shaving of his face. I am in the living room typing in order to give him his privacy. It must be difficult for him too, to share a house when he is used to being alone.

I woke this morning to find him already at the table with Tex, his cat. He spoils that cat rotten. It has gotten as big as Garfield. But not off lasanga! He is spoiled by Zio with real fresh meat daily. Zio cuts a tiny steak into small pieces and feeds it by hand to the cat. I have photos to share of this with Zio and the fat gatto. Then Tex demands to be let out the door and he takes off for the day. In the late afternoon Tex will return and paw the door demanding entrance. Then he gets regular cat food. Afterwards he sits under Zio's chair and they play for awhile.

We had a great misunderstanding that Ilaria cleared up yesterday. He told Ilaria I did not want to play Scopa with him this time. Instead I was simply waiting to see when he wanted to play Scopa again. He seemed too tired and not interested, so I never asked. I figured when he was ready he would tell me. He figured when I was ready I would tell him. LOL.... Talk about 2 stubborn mules in one barn. So after we both get ready for our journey today, I will sit and play Scopa with him. This makes me smile, even though that cardshark will beat me!

The church around the corner rings its bells each hour and half hour thru the day. It is such a comforting sound, plus I do not need my watch. LOL. Since it is winter and the doors are shut, it is a muffled ring, but wonderful too.

I am excited for Zio to open his gifts. I had already purchased 2 for him earlier in the fall and had expected to take him shopping there at home for others. So I brought the 2 I had previously purchased. One is a book on airplane-jets he loves to see photos of airplanes and naval vessels. In fact he scrapbooks them. He has many scrapbooks of them. Okay I call it scrapbooking. He actually cuts out the photos and puts them in an album and labels them. He was showing me a book of American naval vessels.... the USS Tennessee and the USS Colorado and the USS Arkansas were all there (those I remember). His other gift would make many hog loves happy. I got him a super thick sweatshirt with the Arkansas Razorbacks on it. It is very heavy and deep red with lovely embroidery of the hog and the words ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS.

He gave me a pair of earrings already. They are beautiful. It is a special crystal maker, that I do not spell well.... but you will recognize the name. I will tell you it later because I need the box to spell it. Even in English that word is hard for me to spell.

In fact, I have many Arkansas Hog tshirts for the male family members. For Stefano I bring his Dallas cowboys item, for Lucia and Ilaria more scrapbooking tools that are hard to find here or very expensive. I think my luggage was one third of scrapbooking items. I brought few clothes. 4 sweatpants and 2 hoodies and a pile of tshirts.

I will be going home with many things. Already it is piling up in my bedroom. Lucia brought Jenny 2 large wedges of true Parmasean cheese, some European chocolates and a few other items.

I have only purchased a few Christmas ornaments to bring home for my tree, but then again I have hardly left the house. One day next week, Lucia will take me to do a small shopping. Jenny has a little list for me to bring back. But this was not a vacation and shopping trip this time. This time was a family trip. It was time to be here and enjoy Zio's companionship. This is a memory storing trip for me. Between my photos and the blog, I am capturing the moments to savor.

Okay I think I have spoken long enough (and probably strange enough too?) for all. Zio already accuses me of writing a romance novel on the computer. I cannot help it. The first paragraph is always difficult and then the rest seem to flow from my brain to my fingertips.

Have a blessed and Merry Christmas.
Arlene

Jovadi (Thursday) Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-24T05:05:00.001-08:00

Buon Natale! Merry Christmas to one and all.

This morning Zio Corrado awoke in good humor with his vibrant personality! He was laughing and joking around with me. Such a change from yesterday. This is the Zio I remember. The problem now is he was making plans for the two of us for June 2010- He told that he wanted me to come spend 2 months of the summer with him. I told him it was impossible. A month at the most. Finally he settled on having me for a month. He has great plans where we go visit. He tells me Volterra and Assisi for starters. Then he tells me of the good food he will prepare for me. It was heartbreaking to sit and listen and make these plans which will not happen. On the outside I am being funny and strong and making these plans with him. On the inside, my heart is just breaking.

Today Ilaria and Nico came to get us. We did go out to the town square in Marina di Pisa. Zio went to do his banking. Then Ilaria went to the pharmacy for Zio. While she and Nico were doing that, Zio and I went walking down the street. We first stopped at the pet store so he could greet his friends. Then onto the bookstore or newspaper store where he got his daily paper. I, of course, did a small amount of shopping but very little. A few ornaments for my tree at home. From there we went to a small grocery store and I was the cart to hold all the items. LOL... he is so funny. I got Zio Claudio a bottle of wine for tomorrow's meal, and some lemon pound cake for us. He really loved the pound cake at lunch. Then we came home.

Signoria Giovannia, his neighbor lady, came for a short visit. She is a lovely lady with a generous heart. She and Zio act like brother and sister. They are good friends. She brought me a gift. Really it was several items. One is a wedge of Grana Padano cheese (it is a very good cheese) because knows I love the Italian cheeses. Then a bag of peanuts in their shells, a bag of little cookies and the last is a candy called torroncini (it is a nougat with almonds and fruit). How sweet was that! I had brought her some Christmas dishtowels on this trip. I really like the Signora Giovannia because she takes the time to talk to me and gives me time to comprehend what she is saying. We would go daily to her patio to visit on my last trip. She reminds me of someone but I cannot place who it is. Anyway she is a lovely lady who I enjoy visiting with when I am here.

We had a nice lunch today. It was spaghetti con burro. It simply means spaghetti with butter or buttered noodles. It was topped with Grana Padano cheese. Simply delicious! Then a slice of lemon pound cake. Now this makes me think back to the 1st time I had this dish. We had been at the grocery store and Zio had bought horse steaks (yes I said horse!) which is something he loves and I avoided. So when he told me burro I had to go get a dictionary to make sure we were not eating a burro or a donkey with our spaghetti. I draw the line at some meats and fish! laughed when I saw that burro simply meant butter.

Now Zio is taking his afternoon siesta. I am updating the blog while he does this. He tells everyone I am writing a romance novel. LOL.... If it is not raining when he wakes, we will walk to the corner tobacco store (less than a block away) for his cigarettes. Today is very cloudy and it has rained off and on. This I like much better than the snow I found on Monday.

I think all I am doing is sleeping, eating and talking. I wish I had brought more to occupy my hands. But I carried so many scrapbooking items for Lucia and Ilaria, that there was no room for me to bring a project along with me.

Ilaria bought Jenny and I a gift today, but I am not going to spill the beans right now. Jenny will have to wait and see. Lucia already brought 2 wedges of real parmasean cheese and good European chocolates for me to bring to Jenny. Plus a bag full of other things to boot. I hope I can pack it all.

Ilaria will return in a little while. She was going hunting for Christmas paper for me to wrap gifts. I have to wrap 2 more for tomorrow. Then I have some small items for other cousins who will come next week. Cannot say what it is in case Paolo or Genny or Maurizio are reading the blog...instead I tease them.

Maybe when Zio awakes he will want to play cards. Maybe not. When he is ready, I will play. He always beats me at Scopa. After all it is his game and he has played for years. I am a novice and I get the Jack and Queen values mixed up. In this game the Jack is worth more than a Queen. Sometimes I get confused and do it the American way where the Queen has more value.

A friend (hi Kathy!) wanted to know if this blog is for me or for all. It is both. Basically I am journaling what occurs day by day for me to remember the details. Then when I add photos for my scrapbooking layouts I can refer to my journaling. I simply do not want to forget a detail and we all know how easily that can occur.

It is simply a quiet day here. People are preparing for Christmas. Tomorrow night I will probably have yet another book to write. After all this is my first Christmas in Italy. I am curious to the customs and traditions observed. Later today, Lucia will arrive with Stefano. I hope to get her to go with me around the corner to the church. I would like to go light some candles in memory of Mom and others that are now gone. I think it would do my soul some good to be able to do this.

For now, I end my mini novella. Off to see if I can find my sorella (sister) Jenny on Instant Messanger. Also I must email Paolo.

To each and everyone of you, have a Merry Christmas with your families.
Arlene

Mercoladi (Wednesday)

2009-12-23T04:38:00.000-08:00

Wednesday arrived with wind blowing off the sea. It is chilly but not bone chilling cold. Today at least I can sit without a 3rd layer of clothing. The sun came out for a visit too! There are blue skies, so later today it will picture taking time. My cousins, Lucia and Ilaria, and I will walk over to the sea (about 2 blocks) to take photographs.

This morning I woke and sat with Zio Corrado. For breakfast we had toast and jelly. He had his expresso and I had my water. Typical. Here you purchase toast already made in a package wrapped similar to our crackers at home. These are mini toast or bread toasted. I would say slighty larger than a saltine cracker. Signora Giovanna (the neighbor lady)came by for a short visit. Then Ilaria and her son Nico were here to pick up Zio's grocery list. Later in the morning, Alessandro, the bread man arrived. He comes by in a van with breads and breakfast items like danish (but not as sweet). He brings your order to the door. I was amazed that he recognized me and told my Zio that he remembered the neice from the USA.

Around 11, my other Zio, Zio Mario arrived with his daughter, Sylvia and her daughter Ylenia. We visited together. Mostly Sylvia and I talked together. It is difficult because she speaks no English and my Italian is that of a small baby or child. But we always manage to chat well. Zio Mario spent his time showing me that he carries my photograph (an old one at that from maybe the early 1990's and one I do like) in his wallet and "guarda" (look at or stare) at me. He is difficult for me to understand simply because he speaks too softly. It is almost a whisper. Ylenia played with my wigs and then Zio Corrado wanted one of my wigs. We put it on him, and of course the joker had to have his photo taken in my curly wig.... made me laugh. I can't wait to share this photo with you. You too, will laugh at the model and his antics.

Then Ilaria returned with the groceries. She did not stay because Nico had fallen asleep in the car. Sylvia and Zio Mario left shortly afterwards, promising to return to visit again next week. Lucia called to say she would be late arriving, and not to expect her until the afternoon. So we went to have lunch.

I am not sure exactly what the meat was, except to say it was a type of sausage I am not familiar with at all. It was okay, not one of my favorites but okay. I had parmasean cheese, grapes and hard crusty bread with mine. Zio had pecerino cheese (a softer cheese) and bread with his sausage. He tells me for supper he is making carbonara, which is a pasta speciality of his. I also like this very much. Yummy!!!!!!

I am surprised how much Italian I have remembered. I am not fluent by any means, but I am following the conversations pretty well. The news was on earlier and I was actually able to translate alot of it to follow along and understand. I have to focus on some conversations because of the speed of the speaker. Those are the most difficult. If they speak slowly, then I understand much. Now do not ask me to answer in Italian. LOL That is the hardest thing.

Yesterday, Ilaria took me to the bank and the grocery store. I forgot to tell you about the bank this time. I find the bank interesting; it is so different from USA banks. First only one person at a time can enter the bank. The door is like a vacuum tube (makes me think of George Jetson). You have to touch the green light button and a door swings open. Then you step into this area. The door closes behind you. A few seconds later, the door in front of you opens and you enter the bank. Several customers can come into the bank and stand in line, but only enter the door one by one.

One of the things I love to see in the bank is that God is recognized. There is always a crucifux on the wall. Why can't we be that open in the USA, especially when our money even states IN GOD WE TRUST. Strange huh?

The grocery store is very similar with produce sections and meat sections and canned and frozen food sections. What I like is in the produce section. You must put on a glove to touch the fruits and vegetables. Ilaria purchased the grapes I requested. First she put on the glove, then opened a plastic bag, then selected a bunch of grapes and placed them in the bag. You take the bag to the scales and enter the code for the food (it is listed above the produce) and weigh it. The scale prints off a price tag that you adhere to the bag. Viola! Ready for the checkout.

I also notice most people bring their own bags to the supermarket. Ilaria had a large blue plastic bag that had hanging clips on both sides that snapped to the grocery cart. She filled her bag with the groceries and then at the checkout, she put them on the counter for the clerk. She moved the grocery cart to the end of the counter and packed her items back in the blue bag to carry home.

Also here the grocery carts are rented. You have to pay some coins to unlock them to enter the store with them. Or you get a large plastic bin with a handle (like our hand held baskets at home) but these have a long handle like a wagon handle and wheels on the basket. You pull it behind you as you shop. When finished with the shopping cart, you lock it back in the row of carts. Interesting idea. No shopping carts are taken away or loose in the parking lot this way.

I remembered many places from my last trip. It is different to see the area without the abundance of flowers and sunflowers everywhere. Winter is not a beautiful season anywhere, I suspect. But it is a part of life. The winter is the dying and the spring is the rebirth (or that is how I always have viewed it).

I got my tailed whipped last night playing Scopa with Zio Corrado. He is a cardshark. LOL Scopa is an interesting game that has cards Ace (1) thru 7 and then the Queen (worth 8), Jack (worth 9), and King (worth 10). The object of the game is to capture the 7's, especially the Bella Diamonte (the beautiful 7 of diamonds) and to clear the table creating a Scopa. At least this time I am remembering that the Jack is worth more than the Queen. That mistake cost me alot last time we played. LOL....

Right now, Zio Corrado via a letto (he has gone to take a nap in bed). This is common here. A short nap of 30 minutes to an hour after lunch. He says respoto (I think I spelled that correctly it means to rest). I am here instead fighting with the keys of the laptop. My hands are too big I think for a laptop. I prefer my regular keyboard.

Ilaria brought me gift wrapping paper so I can wrap my presents. On Christmas Day, I go with Zio Corrado to Zio Claudio's home. This is the father of Ilaria and Lucia. There will be also Lucia and her husband Stefano; Ilaria, her husband Gas (Gus in English) and their son Nico; their brother Fabio, his wife Analia and their son Gioelle (Joel) and their baby daughter Maila. So I want their gifts wrapped from Babbo Natale (Father Christmas).

Cousin Paolo, if you are reading this, I want you to know I am glad I did not fly into Milan or Bologna. My goodness the amount of snow and ice you got! Over 18 inches is wayyyyy tooooo much for me. I hope you get a chance to come to Marina di Pisa where there is NO SNOW (no Nieve!).

I have given you a short book to read for the moment. For now, I think I too will go rest a bit. First I go check for Tex (Zio's cat) who went outside, and then I rest.

Arrived!

2009-12-22T05:12:00.000-08:00

No photos today. I did arrive safely to one of the COLDEST days I have ever spent.

I arrived in Paris at 6:15 a.m. to snow and sleet. The airport Charles DeGalle is enormous. I had a wheelchair waiting for me. We went from my gate to customs to a train ride to another side of the airport and it took 1 hour 15 minutes. Can you say large? Then I was wheeled outdoors to a waiting handicapped van. I was taken from the wheelchair to the van. Then we drove to the other side of the airport. Oh my goodness how cold it was! The wind, the snow and the sleet were bone chilling. Eventually in 45 minutes I was near my gate for the next flight.

There I sat for nearly 2 hrs waiting for the flight to Florence. I was very lucky. My flight was the last flight to Florence that day. Paris cancelled 40% of their outgoing flights due to the weather. Now getting onboard was another story. Oh my! I was taken in a wheelchair lift to the ground level and moved outdoors again (can I say I am still cold cause there was not much heat in the airport). Then a truck pulled up, and lowered a lift from the tail gate. I was placed on the lift in the wheelchair and then moved up and into the truck. I then transferred to a seat. The wheelchair was removed and I was left alone. This area was like the inside of a box van with windows and seats. Then I was driven across the tarmac to the plane. My fellow passengers were coming down the ramp to the outdoors to load onto a bus and then taken to the plane. Everyone loaded on the tarmac in the foul weather. I waited and waited a good 20 minutes, then the rear door of the jet opened. The man moved a walkway from the truck to the jet door and I had to walk across to enter the jet. I am now a frozen popsicle! Finally I get my seat and curl up as tight as I can to get warm. Impossible!

Two hours later we landed at Florence. I saw nothing but clouds the entire flight. The area was so heavy with cloud cover. My cousins in Bolgona and Modena have much snow. I think I understood 18 inches. Florence had ice and snow. When we landed there my fellow passengers were taken from the tarmac to the airport by bus. I was the last off and walked slowly down the steps to the tarmac. There was a car waiting for me to take me to the baggage area of the airport. The high school building (main building) at Bauxite is about the size or larger than the Florence airport. It had 3 baggage claim areas- Lucia hit traffic and a wreck and arrived about 30 minutes after I landed.

We loaded all my luggage in the car and went to get a bite of food. I had lasanga and she has a sandwich (proscuoitto). Then we drove to Pisa. We arrived and parked the car within 5 blocks of the Leaning Tower to go to the hospital. Then we walked the 4 and a half blocks there. She went into Zio Corrado room and handed him a card. The card had a photo of us together. It said that since he was not coming to me for Christmas, I was coming to him. Afterall, it was promised. He kept asking what????? Then I walked in... he looked and me and I looked at him and then the tears started for both of us. He kept hugging and hugging me. It took him a good 15 minutes before he could joke around with me again. The he asked me if he looked the same. Was he still handsome? LOL.... we sat and laughed and spoke more.

After we left the hospital off to Hotel Golf we went to visit Lucia husband (sorry cannot find the apostrophe on this Italian keyboard to add an apostrophe + s) Stefano. There I had some nice hot chocolate. We visited a little bit and then came to Ilaria house.

Several hours later, all bundled up in my sweatsuit I curled up in bed. Slept hard and long. I woke this morning at 9 a.m. ( 2 a.m. Arkansas time). I got up and visited with Ilaria. Then we went to the bank to exchange dollars into Euros and went to the grocery store. We came back and had lunch. I watched a DVD of Ilaria and Gas wedding in Albania. Very beautiful. Next I must gather my luggage to move to Zio Corrado house. We go in the next hour. Just wanted to tell you a few things first.

Stefano is here so I must close now. See you later!
Arlene

SURPRISE ZIO!!!!

2009-12-20T04:32:00.000-08:00

This is my Zio Corrado. I took this photo of him in a restaurant garden where Lucia works (she does international reservations for some of their other businesses).

By this time tomorrow, his Christmas present (me) arrives to his hospital bedside. He is coming home the following day to his house in Marina di Pisa.

It will be so good to see him again. I expect I will be soundly beat at Scopa, an Italian card game we play. It is hard for me to remember a Jack is better than a Queen in that game. So different from other games I know.

So tomorrow I will be there with my Zio Diablo Qua Qua Corrado (Zio Devil Duck Corrado -- that's another long story). He calls me Diavolina (girl devil). Or laughs and calls me Frito Bandito (another long story).

Off to Pisa

2009-12-20T04:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a great shot of the Leaning Tower that I took in July 2008. Funny thing is I got the top of Zio Corrado's head too...See the man with the sunglasses.

It is now 6:25 a.m. Central Standard time in Arkansas and already 1:25 p.m. in Pisa. They are 7 hours ahead of us. I have been up and moving since 4:30 (just woke up is all -- my sleeping habits are strange these days). Jenny will pick me up in a little over an hour. We are going out for breakfast together before we go to the airport.

I leave Little Rock bound for Atlanta on a 11:35 flight. There I hit my first time change to Eastern Time - one hour ahead. The flight lasts about 1 1/2 hrs. When I arrive it will be 2:10 p.m. EST. I have an hour and a half layover. Then my flight to Paris leaves at 3:35 p.m. It arrives in Paris at 6:15 a.m. their time. That is 11:15 tonight Arkansas time. Another layover of about 3 hours in Paris DeGaulee Airport. At least I will get to my gate in time! I leave Paris at 10:15 a.m. and arrive into Florence (Firenze) at 12:10 p.m. Monday (or in Arkansas time that will be 5:10 a.m. Monday morning). So today will be a very long day for me.

Jenny asked that I post before I left. But I think I will do 2 posts == this one and one more. Have a great day!

Zia Adry of Capoliveri

2009-12-19T16:22:00.000-08:00

Meet my Zia Adriana (Adry). This is one of my mom's two living sisters. She lives on the Elba Island off the coast of Italy. I keep seeing parts of my mom as I talked to her. By the time I met Zia Adry, Mom had been gone for 2 years. While they are not identical, there were several similar things. Both their smiles and turn of the head was alike. Their eyes were alike. But not their other facial features. It was like Mom was peeking out at me from Zia Adry's face.

Zia Adriana has 3 children: Paolo, Gabriella (Gabby) and Maurizio (Dr. Monster). They all live north of Tuscany near Modena and Bologna.

Zia Adriana lives in the town of Capoliveri on the Elba Island. You will remember Elba as where Napolean Bonaparte was prisoned. It is a beautiful tourist island about an hour off the Italian

coast out in the Mediterraenean Sea. Another aunt, Zio Luciana, also used to live on Elba at Portoferraio. Sadly, Zio Luciana died of lung cancer a few years before my visit.

Lucia, Stefano and Bruno

2009-12-19T03:49:00.000-08:00

This is a slightly older photo taken at Bruno's home in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Lucia and Stefano were in the USA for their honeymoon. They spent 3 days in Arkansas with us. As you see we already had them wearing the RAZORBACK clothing! LOL.

It was really funny that night too. Stefano finally realized that Lucia's mom and my mom were sisters. I don't know who he thought he was visiting. But there was a look of shock on his face when we were discussing Zio Corrado and he wanted to know how each of were related to him. Lucia and I simply looked at him and then explained that our mothers were his sisters.

Bruno had prepared a major fest for us: Steaks and Shrimp! It was really good too. Lucia wanted to go see his 18 wheeler truck. So Bruno took her and then took photos of her pretending to drive it!

Earlier that day I had driven Lucia and Stefano to Memphis, Tennessee. They wanted to see Graceland and the Mississippi River. We had a really rainy spring and the Mississippi River was well over its banks and up to the levees in most places. Our Nonna Elsa (Grandmother) always had her photo taken at the gates of Graceland on all her trips to the USA. So naturally, this is one site that had to be seen personally. We rode the mini bus to Graceland (a long ride --- across the street!) and toured the manision and grounds.

Meet Paolo Santini

2009-12-18T15:51:00.000-08:00

Meet Paolo Santini

This is my cousin, Paolo Santini. He is the son of my Zia Adriana (Zia Adry). He is the oldest of 3 children.

His sister is Gabrielle and she is married to Renzo. He works for Ferrari. They have a son named Luca. I am still unsure how anyone can be as slender as Gabby. She has a model's build.

His little brother, Maurizio, I affectionately call Little Monster (now it is Dr. Little Monster since he got his PhD). Maurizio married the lovely Genny this summer in Venice. She is soooo much fun! They live in Bologna.

Paolo lives with his wife Rita, in Modena, close to both Gabby and Maurizio. Unfortunately, they have no children together. They do have a large menagarie of animals, especially birds. Rita collects dolls and Paolo is an electrician.

Paolo and I have been doing email and Instant Messaging for several years. I was very surprised to see him this day. He met me at the airport (he had to drive several hours to be there too). The photo was taken at Zio Claudio's house. The sign read WELCOME ARLENE. Note the food spread being put out. That table and another table was covered with goodies.

There were so many people there that day: Zio Claudio, Signora Lucia, Zio Corrado, Fabio, Analia, Gioelle, Lucia, Ilaria and Nickolas. Stefano and Gas were at work. I was overwhelmed with all the people, the sounds, the imagery, and I was sleepy to boot. I had been awake over 24 hours by this time.

Paolo left later that day to return to Modena. He came back about 2 weeks later. He took me to the Elba Island to see his mother, Zia Adry. We stayed overnight there. We went and saw some other cousins that also live on the island. Then we packed up and went back to Zio Corrado's the next day for lunch. After that we took off for Modena and Bologna for a couple of days. I toured the Ferrari museum; spent the afternoon with Gabby and Renzo; and on Sunday went to Bolonga to see the sights with dearest Genny, Dr. Monster and my Paolo.

I remember taking a very winding road up the mountains and when we reached the top, I made Paolo pull over so I could relax some. I sort of had clawed my nails thru the seat of the car.... lol there were no siderails on my side of that mountain. When we stopped in this parking area I looked at the signs around the town square.... oops when I saw the sign for Skiing Lessons I realized that I was no longer in Tuscany!

The cousins who speak English are Lucia, Stefano, Paolo, Ilaria, Genny, Dr. Monster, and Fabio. The rest of the adults do not speak English.

Ilaria, the youngest of the cousins

2009-12-18T01:56:00.000-08:00

Meet my BEAUTIFUL cousin (cugina) Ilaria. She is a stunning beauty with a sassy personality. She has so many interests that I share with her. Among them a fascination with Stonehenge, and a love of Marion Zimmer Bradley books.

Ilaria is the youngest of our cousins. I think she will be 30 in January. The oldest of course, is my big brother Bruno, who turns 57 in March.There are 21 of us in this cousin grouping with a 27 year age range between the youngest and the oldest.

Ilaria has 2 siblings. She has an older brother named Fabio. He is married to Analia and has a son and a daughter. She also has an older sister, our LUCIA, whom many of you know. Lucia is married to Stefano (who is crazy over the old tv show Dallas and eating chicken in any form).

Ilaria married Gas (it is pronounced Gus in English) who is from Albania. In fact the wedding took place there. They have a son named Nickolas.

Often I am asked how we are related as cousins. It is simple. My mother, Franca was the oldest of 8 children born to Elsa and Guiseppi Redini. Ilaria's mother was the baby of the family, Zia Antonietta, who sadly has also passed away. Between my mom, Franca and Antonietta there were 3 more sisters: Adriana who lives on the island of Elba at Capoliveri; Luciana, who sadly passed away from lung cancer; Alicia who lives somewhere near Lake Como and removed herself from the family. Then there are the 3 Redini boys: My Zio Diablo Qua Qua Corrado, who lives in Marina di Pisa; Zio Mario who lives with his daughter Sylvia in the northern part of Pisa; and Zio Luciano who lives about 5 blocks from the Pisa airport!

I hope to introduce you to some of the main characters of my adventures before I leave town, so you get a feel for them in my later posts.

2009-12-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

This is a scrapbook layout of my Zio Diablo Qua Qua Corrado. That simply means my Uncle Devil Duck Corrado. It is a pet name for him.

This was taken my last night in Marina di Pisa, Italy in his living room.

He had promised me for years that we would dance together if I ever visited. Now this is from a man with bad knees and his niece who has even worse knees! I come complete with 4 left feet.

We had such a wonderful time together. The last time we had seen each other, he was holding me in his arms. I was only 8 months old. He was 18. Fast forward to July 2008.... I am now 50 and he is 68.

Zio Corrado speaks as much English as I do Italian... okay that means very, very little. LOL. We lived together for 3 weeks and got along fabulously. We spoke with sign language, visual cues, in English and Italian, we drew pictures, etc. BUT WE COMMUNICATED! Turns out I understand about 80% of what I hear in Italian, I just cannot form the sentences from English to Italian fast enough to speak Italian. I get the point ! This is a layout I did of the two of us simply called THE DANCE.

A new beginning

2009-12-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

I am setting up this blog first to record my trip to see my Zio Corrado in Italy. I leave the USA on Sunday, December 20th and return on January 1, 2010. I wanted a place to record or journal my thoughts. pictures and my adventures with my Italian family.

Secondly I want to use this site later to showcase some of my creative skills in cardmaking and scrapbooking.

So hats off to a good beginning!