Last Friday…I cannot believe I have been putting my journaling off so much…Sam and I drove to South Bend to pick up Max and Savannah from Grandma and Grandpa camp. While they were gone, we did the “Princess Room” for Savannah. It was a blast to make it over. When we got home, the first thing we did was “THE BIG REVEAL.” She was so surprised. She said thanks a million times. Mom and Dad were so great to keep the kids one more day so we could get it just how we wanted. It is awesome…the pictures below don’t do much for what it really looks like in person.

I went and worked on my classroom a few days last week and pretty much all this week…plus we had two professional development days. I was excited to get someone’s leftover desk at Memorial. I did not have a desk at that building…and there is little space for one, so I had to rearrange some shelf units and tables to make it fit. I am doing a space theme in my classroom this year. It looks pretty cool. Today I spent from 7:45 until 4:15 working on my classrooms and doing last minute preps. We start with kids on Monday.

Last Saturday I spent a few hours helping Cyndi with Andrew’s room. She is redecorating his room as well. She decided on a sports theme. It was a great time to do it too. Andrew’s birthday was on the 15th so he got all kinds of things for his birthday to accessorize his sports room. Anyway, Cyndi wanted to do baseball stitching in stripes on the top half of the wall which is now white on top, red on the bottom. We tried to figure out a way to make it so we wouldn’t have to do it by hand…like using a stamp or something…but nothing we tried really worked well. We ended up drawing lines with a level, painting them with a size 2 paintbrush and stamping the v shaped stitching on top of the lines about every 2 inches or so. We used a box corner for the v stitch…but it didn’t work really well, and needed touching up after. By the time we finished about 6 of the lines (maybe a quarter of one wall) it was 12:30 am…and we were seriously thinking about just doing two walls instead of the whole room. Later I went back to see how it came out (because I left around that time) and Cyndi had decided to just finish that one wall and not do the others. Good choice, I say.

Tonight Cyndi and I went to Ladies night out…it was a church event…at the Ganton’s. They had pontoon rides, and other outdoor sports set up, stamping stuff, the pool was open (indoor), and glamour shots where we could get makeovers, get our hair done and have our pictures taken dressed up in Judy’s clothes, jewelry and hats. There were college age girls up to 70 year old women. They had a blast. It looked like a lot of fun. Cyndi and I made the books described below, walked around, ate dinner, then skipped out on the glamour shots to go see a movie. We had a free ticket for GKC so we went to see Collateral. A good movie…a tad violent though…interesting however because the main character’s name is Max Durocher. Cool huh? You gotta wonder how they come up with names for the characters in the movie scripts…wouldn’t it be weird if they actually did get the name from Max’s birth announcement or something. That would be cool. Anyway, I illustrated the directions for assembling this cool little book…it doesn’t have to be for coupons, but I think it is a practical function for it. Maybe it could be a gift, or even a journal.

Last night we went back over to the fair. We went to see Aunt Susie and Uncle Kris…Erin and Ruby were there too. Max, Savannah and Ruby had a blast rolling down the hill behind the Nagle’s food trailers. While we were there we decided to get the kids’ picture taken at the Old Time Photo Booth. It turned out so cute…but took so many tries because Karson couldn’t keep his hat on. It was pretty funny…to us…not the lady taking the pictures!

Last night Cyndi came over and we carved stamps. I recently found out about letterboxing and am excited about getting into it. I think it sounds like a lot of fun. We are planning a letterbox adventure at McCourtie Park soon. But before we go we have to have some stamps of our own, so that’s what we were doing. I decided to do a stamp of Cooper…I am not sure if it is the one I want to use for my letterbox adventures…I might carve a different one on the other side. Hopefully we can get some letterboxes placed around Jackson as well. There aren’t any at all listed in Jackson.



Cooper was our dog. He died last summer after several bouts with cancer tumors. He was the best. Sam and I got him the day we got back from our honeymoon. He was our buddy. Before we had kids, we would celebrate his birthday, take him with us in the car on trips, we did everything with him. He was supposedly a shepherd/collie mix, but I think there were maybe some other breeds mixed in too. Wherever he came from, he was so cute…and cuddley for a big dog. He loved to shake hands, get his ears scratched, watch for cats out the window (he even caught a couple). We have lots of good memories with Cooper. Last summer we took him to the park and had a special time with him before we had to say good-bye. It was a hard thing to let him go. And even though we have a houseful, there are times that it still seems like someone is missing.

HOW TO MAKE MUSHY POTATO SALAD

Bravely, I volunteered to bring potato salad to Greg’s today. We are having a potluck with our journaling class and meeting at his farm to draw. I have never made potato salad.

FIRST, MAKE SURE I HAVE ALL THE INGREDIENTS…NOPE…OH WELL, I CAN RUN TO WALMART LATER.

Cyndi came over and we worked on our business venture and constructed a few boxes as templates.

2. HARD BOIL THE EGGS…AND FORGET ABOUT THEM.

We got so busy making the boxes, I forgot I was boiling eggs. I kept hearing a strange noise..and I finally realized it was the eggs. Who knows how long they had boiled. So I immediately turned the heat off and covered them…and forgot again to set the timer…later, guessing it had been about 12-15 minutes, I took them to the sink and ran cold water into the pan I had cooked them in. Surprisingly, they turned out fine.

3. PEEL AND CUBE THE POTATOES. PUT THEM IN WATER. TURN HEAT ON HIGH AND GO TO WALMART. Sam was here, but I forgot (again) to tell him that I had set the potatoes on the stove to boil…when we got back (45 minutes later) there they were, boiling away.

4. BUY CELERY, ONIONS, VINEGAR, GRAPES, SHAMPOO, BAKING SODA, BREAD, 3 BOXES OF CEREAL AND DORITOS. I cannot believe how many kids were at Walmart after midnight. We got there around 11:45. We saw whole families…little babies all the way up to high school age walking around Walmart with their parents. What is the deal with that?

5. COME HOME, CUT UP CELERY, ONIONS AND EGGS. MIX 1 CUP OF MAYONNAISE, 2 TBSP OF VINEGAR, 1 1/2 TSP SALT,

1 TSP SUGAR, 1/4 TSP PEPPER, THE MUSHY OVERCOOKED POTATOES, 1 CUP CELERY, 1/2 CUP ONION, AND 3 VERY LUCKY HARD BOILED EGGS. MIX CAREFULLY SO THE POTATOES DO NOT MASH UP TOO MUCH.

6. PUT IN THE REFRIGERATOR AND CHILL UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING. Actually, it tastes really good. Hopefully it won’t be too bad and everyone will still like it. We’ll see. I am off to enjoy a great day of sketching at Greg’s farm. It’s rainy this morning…it should be GREAT fun!

It was a long drive out to the farm. On the way I stopped to deposit my paycheck and then stopped at a little store and got a grape Crush and a Twix bar. It’s my time…I can indulge a little can’t I? It was a nice drive…I was first to arrive but Pam and Sandy pulled in behind me. We met Greg’s new dog, Bob…an English Shepherd – if I remember right. He was so cute…just a little puppy. And of course, Fanny was there to greet us enthusiastically! Greg gave us a tour of his home…He grew up there, when his mom passed away, he acquired it and moved in. He’s been fixing it up…but it’s a big project. After everyone had arrived we ventured out to the barn and to see the chickens…very cool. Greg hopes to have his studio in part of the barn eventually.

Later, we forged our way through the overgrown field full of Queen Anne’s Lace and across the road to Eileen’s Log Cabin. Eileen is Greg’s neighbor, a kind lady who keeps a beautiful garden of herbs, vegetables and beautiful flowers. In her log cabin she has things she has made from dried herbs and flowers. I was very impressed by the unique herb and flower weavings she had hanging around the cabin. What a cool idea. The flowers and herbs smelled so good. I loved the chicks-n-hens plants she had planted in some old boots. It was so cool. I drew one of her scarecrows too. She (the scarecrow) had a lovely gourd head.

I didn’t get to draw as much as I wanted. I want to come back and draw some things at Greg’s farm. There were so many neat things like an old rusty lawnmower, the chickens, a door latch, the barn and it’s stone foundation, the sunflowers…but I had to leave at One to get back to Ella Sharp for the open house/art show we were having for the kids that attended the art camp this week. I ate a quick (and delicious) lunch, we all signed each others journals, packed up my stuff and headed for Jackson. Today was our last class…Greg will probably teach another class in the fall, so hopefully we will all see each other again. I have grown attached to our little journaling group. It is nice to be with other artists on a regular basis. I hope that when school starts back up in a couple of weeks I will be able to continue to meet with my creative friends and do creative and inspiring things.