Love this kitty!

What is wrong with some dog owners?

Ok, so I am driving home from work yesterday on Greenway and just before I have to turn onto Dysart I see a cute little puppy running around in the busy street. This always sends my heart into my throat, but it was so little it seemed worse with this cutie. He/she made it out of the street so I kept driving. Get to the intersection of Dysart and Greenway when I see a man in a red truck stopped in the turn lane trying to corral another one of these little guys! I stopped, got out and tried to call the dog to me.......it ran in the other direction. The guy just stood there, not chasing, not calling, just telling the dog not to go in a particular direction. All this time I am wondering where the dogs came from (his truck? the neighborhood--not likely as all the developments are fenced in with block fences here?), why they run in the opposite directions when called, and why this yahoo is not making much of an effort to get his two, yes, two, not just one, dogs back. I would have been frantic, but then again, my dogs would have come when called! This is the second time in as many days where I have seen dogs in the street on my way home.
People! Take care of your pets! They can't do it on their own, thus the term DOMESTICATED PETS! They are not wild and certainly cannot survive in a city of millions on their own. Hell, some people can't survive here!
ARghhhhhh............................

I love rats!

Love LOLCats!

Senior Moment

Duh! It helps if I upload the pictures of the journal from the previous post! Here's the cover with a transparency that Jane gave me:

The cheesecloth is some that I got clearanced at WalMart for 25 cents a yard and dyed with instant coffee. The back:

The pen pocket on the inside front:

A top view of the two signatures:

New Journal project with Jane

Yesterday was our "play date" at Jane's house after the Inchie swap over at Frenzy Stamper. After we made bags for an ATC swap we played with a fabric journal design. I never totally finish a project when we get together on Saturdays, but always have most of it done............I actually got my journal done this morning, I wanted to show the finished product to April before we went shopping. The pages are a combination of plain pages and scrapbook paper. I think I may have to make another this weekend with April! We found some really good deals on discounted fabric at Joann's and WalMart this afternoon so we will probably be using them to make the journals.
Only three days of work this week! Wahoo!
Update on Pack N' More (see previous rant!): I tried to send an email to the store/company but SURPRISE, SURPRISE (as Gomer would say) it was kicked back to me. Now why am I not surprised that the email address on their website is no good? Could it be a reflection of their business practices and fabulous customer service? Well, being the stubborn .......... person? that I am, I printed the email and added a nice little note to the bottom about the email that didn't go through and then sent it in the mail. They will get it, won't they? After all they ship packages don't they? Well, only if they feel like it that day...................

Thank you! Blog Candy!

Thank you to my readers! Since adding a counter to my blog I have received over 1,000 visits! I should have anticipated this and had some blog candy. I am overwhelmed that that many people have read what I have posted.
I have been busy this week back at work semi-full time (which means every day, but at sub pay) so I have not had as much time to create or blog.
So......... I would like to give away some blog candy (don't know what yet, but it will be something I create here in my tiny room!), so here's what I need from you, my faithful bloggers:
Leave me a comment about what lucky number my counter should reach next to give away some blog candy. If I choose the number you suggest I will send you a goodie. Please leave me some way to contact you when you comment so I can reach you when you win! If you are not able to leave a comment please email me at: penney.klaproth@cox.net with your counter suggestion.
Good luck to all and thank you!

WARNING: RANT AND LANGUAGE AHEAD!

Ok, so this afternoon I needed to mail several (as in over 20) small boxes for a swap I participated in. The boxes all had stamps on them and we wanted to check that we put enough so the recipients wouldn't owe postage. Thinking about how I don't like to get in line behind someone with a buttload of stuff I thought it would be best if I visited one of those independent mailing stores. I know of one close by the house and there are never people waiting in line. After getting a couple of personal packages ready to mail with the swap boxes I toodle down the road and have to detour a couple of miles out of my way because they are working on the train intersection a mile from my house. For those of you familiar with the Phoenix area this involves the dreaded Grand Ave. intersection (could possibly be fall out from the two old people who got in the way of the train last week?). So.........down Grand way out of my way to get to this store at Bell and RH Johnson Blvd. Figure out how to get all 20+ packages in in one trip (it's still way too hot here!), ok, so far so good. I troop into the store and the woman behind the counter sluffs out, looks at the bags of boxes and says to me: "What do you have there?" Jesus! What the Fuck does it look like? Let's see..... I'm in a store called Pack and More that deals in sending mail, packages, etc. ..........I probably have LOTS OF PIECES OF DOG SHIT FOR YOU TO CHEW ON LADY!. But instead of saying what I was thinking (see above) I said "I have packages (duh!) for you to check the postage on." She looked at the boxes, looked at me and said "I suppose you want me to stand here and check all of those?" NO! STAND OVER THERE AND CHECK THEM, DUMB SHIT! I said: "Obviously, you don't want to." To which she replied: "Oh, I guess I can this time." Please feel free to imagine at this point the martyred heavy sigh that accompanied this statement from her. I looked at her, picked up the bags and said: "No, don't bother, I'll go to the post office where they won't give me a hard time about it." AND LEFT! OMG! What the hell does she do in there? Read The National Enquirer and drink prune juice? I wanted to beat the shit out of this indifferent, offensive bitch! I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO PACK AND MORE AT RH JOHNSON BLVD. AND BELL IN SUN CITY WEST, ARIZONA. Yes, if I knew the asshole's name I would print that, too!
Yet, the saga continues, because now I have to reload the boxes into my trunk and now go to the PO which is on the other side of the detour and hope there aren't a ton of people in the little po manned by just one clerk. She was VERY FRIENDLY! Yes, this would be THE POST OFFICE FOR SURPRISE AT GRAND AVE. AND DYSART IN SURPRISE ARIZONA! There were a few people on and off that came in so I let them do their business in between boxes.
On the way home just one more reason I hate the big city -- had to go another mile out of my way in S-L-O-W T-R-A-F-F-I-C in El Mirage just to get home!
Anyway, the packages are mailed, the postage was enough and I made it home. WITH THE AIR ON IN MY CAR BECAUSE IT IS WAY TOO F****ING HOT HERE IN NOVEMBER! Did I mention how I don't like living here anymore? I thought so, but thought I would say it again!
OK, done for now! Have to go breathe...................................

Last day of Freedom

My "year off" from teaching is quickly coming to a close. No, it has not actually been a year off from teaching. The only substantial breaks I have had from subbing have been the two vacations back East. Tomorrow begins a 6 week long term position for my good friend Alyssa who just recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. When that job is finished in January I will be accepting a full time position in 7th grade Language Arts.
However I have made good use of the time I have had to work on projects such as the swap below. The chunky book contains pages from Art Unraveled 2008 participants. Each contributor gets a set of pages and one book will be auctioned off at AU 2009 for charity. Jane and I sorted and bound books yesterday. My book does not sit flat as I chose a page with a spoon in it and the spoon extends below the page. Side view (love the dangling pearl!):

Top view:

Front cover made by Jane (this is the view where you can see that my book does not sit flat, that's the charm of chunky books!):

Here is the main reason I have been restless and "out of sorts" lately:

I really, really, really don't want to be in Arizona any more......... I want to be in our house in the woods! It is extremely peaceful there and I miss it (especially in the lingering heat here and all the city noise that we tuned out until returning and realizing just how much noise there really is here!).
So, today is my last day to play (of course after running errands like the doctor's office and the bank..............) and I will be finishing Christmas inchies for a swap at Frenzy Stamper and then I would really love to work on the canvas book that I started at Jane's last month. She has completed one of hers and it is absolutely fabulous!
One of the things I MUST do today is cancel my subscriptions through Scrapbook Trends magazines.......... I am really annoyed at their less than honest way of doing business and plan to cancel all three of their magazines and getting my money returned to my account. When I first subscribed to Cards, Paper Trends, and Bead Trends I loved the issues, however my tastes have changed and I barely look at them now, so when my account was charged for over $150 for the renewals...............................not good! They have been dishonest with me (telling me I had a gift subscription then charging my account anyway in the next two days) and I refuse to do business with them any more. Furthermore, April is canceling her subscription as well since they told me SHE was the one who gave me the gift, which she had not. What a mess......... long story short, I WILL get my money returned!!!!!!!!!

Back from Virginia

We left for Virginia very early on Saturday, Nov. 1 after carefully packing the car with the few things we could fit and felt we would need to live for a week in our home there. Toodling along I 40 we stopped in New Mexico for lunch and while I was using the facilities Dave decided to check how much room we had in the trunk. Come to find out we had LOTS of room because neither of us stowed the two suitcases that contained our clothes!!!!!!!!! Crap! It was out of the question to go back 500 miles just for that, so.............. we found Wal-Mart on the way and bought just enough to get us through a few days and found a laundromat in the nearby town. Duh! We both assumed that the other had put the cases in the car and neither of us noticed them sitting in our bedroom ready to go! All I could think of is how on the reality shows like Project Runway when Kenley left her tulle at Mood and the camera zoomed in as she went on her merry way designing until much later she noticed it missing. That's the image I had when we discovered NO CLOTHES FOR TWO WEEKS! As we say here: there's always a story! Here is our lonely luggage right where I left them Oct. 31 in the bedroom!

The picture below is taken from the gravel road a bit from the house. The green building is the barn located behind our house so we actually live somewhere amongst those trees in the center of the picture behind the farm:

The Maple trees had shed their leaves, but the oaks and elms still had theirs interspersed among the pine trees. Our property has four types of oak trees, pine, and a few maple and elm. We could hear quite a few squirrels running through the dead leaves looking for acorns on our property. One afternoon I got close enough to one in a tree eating his lunch! Dave had a stare down with a couple of deer while raking the leaves from the street and we saw a buck (and heard him snorting) after dark at the edge of the "lawn." Here is one of the smaller critters we saw. I used to know the adage about figuring the strength of the winter according to the amount of brown on the caterpillar, but that was sooooooo long ago. If you can help jog my memory I'd appreciate it. Hopefully when we return in the summer we will see some of the beautiful Monarch butterflies:

This is the same signpost in the slide show above however the oak tree is much prettier now!

This next picture gives a pretty good idea of how tall the trees are surrounding the house.

One of the great things about being at the house was the quiet! We don't really have any neighbors per se (we don't count the deer, squirrels, crows, and the black bear one of the "neighbors" saw in his backyard), we are the only house on Laurel Ridge Lane. Our street intersects with Millstone Rd. (gravel) and there are several houses on this road, but they are all set back in the woods. No traffic, no neighbors' crappy music, no air force jets, no train whistles, no dogs barking, no kids walking by bouncing basketballs......... just the wind rustling the leaves at the tops of the trees, crows cawing in the distance, squirrels running through the dead leaves....... it is so quiet there that we could actually hear the oak leaves hit the ground when they fell from the trees!
The weather was in the 50s-60s and not much sunlight in the early morning and late afternoon because of the tree cover, but it was really nice to be in the cooler weather. The previous owner for some reason had not put registers in the bedrooms so it was a good thing we brought a portable heater and a warm blanket (for our air mattress!).
We really found out how much stuff we DID NOT NEED back there. We had two bar stools for the kitchen, bought two camping chairs to sit outside in, an air mattress on the floor, a refrigerator, and a range. We DID NOT have any couches, microwave, toaster, TV, computer, more than 3 days worth of clothes, etc. But, we made do for a week with what we had!
Next trip will be at the end of May next year where I will be staying for as long as possible before I have to go back to work!