Way Too Much Fun

I got home yesterday afternoon from one of the funnest activities I've ever participated in. I attended the "Tim Holtz Extravaganza" in Roswell, New Mexico. "Imagine That Scrapbook Store" hosted the event and I'm still surprised Tim agreed to visit little Rosberg! Having lived there for twelve years I'm familiar with the sleepy little town.




The event was kicked off by the mayor as he presented Tim with the key to the city and proclaimed August 26th 2011 "Tim Holtz Extravaganza Day".

We got right to "work" at creating shortly after the hoopla, and didn't slow down the entire two days. Tim filled the two days with so many projects it felt like bootcamp by the end of the evening Saturday night.



There were forty happy women who were blessed to attend the two day marathon and I'm sure not one left unhappy after all the creative fun.


Tim is not the least bit haughty. A sweet spirited young man. Along with his helper/partner Mario Rossi we were well attended to. We came home with so many projects and Ranger and Tim Holtz products we should be busy for months creating and remembering the fun!


What a blast! I'm not sure if I'll get to attend another Tim Holtz workshop, but for all who get the opportunity I recommend you do what you can to attend!

Love never fails.

Three More Days

I don't normally count down to special days. I stopped doing that a while ago (except for vacations with hubby and cruises), but I am looking forward to my next road trip and "girl's days out" with my friend Vicky. I have to blame Vicky for this whole thing. I was an innocent bystander until she introduced me to the altered art stylings of Mr. Tim Holtz. Now I find myself quite happily enjoying everything he does and copying a lot of his style when I create.

My little sister got me hooked on scrapbooking. Actually I've been hooked on it for years, but never allowed myself the luxury of partaking in the hobby. I knew if I ever started it could be a time consuming, thought provoking, art expressing thing and anything that involves those three things has my full attention. My sister sent me an adorable scrapbook that set fire to the totally dry kindling of this passion. The little spark she sent my way caused a huge bonfire and I don't see too many signs of it cooling soon.

Three appears to be the number of the day for me. In three long or short, depending upon one's outlook, I will be on my way with Vicky to Rosberg, NM (My name for Roswell) to attend a two day seminar/workshop instructed by the a fore mentioned Timothy Holtz. We will be learning techniques and using a lot of the Ranger Ink products he promotes. We will also be in one of my all time favorite haunts; Imagine That Scrapbooking store!!! Yay! I've been saving my Visa Gift cards for this event and am basically on pins and needles waiting for the time to pass.

For now I'm filling my time with what else but scrapbooking. Our grandmunchkins came for another week's stay and we scrapped our trip to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. Zee and Zip each went home with their own photo album and their own scrapbook. We took well over 600 pictures and that meant we could pick the best of the best to CROP.

I'm still quite a novice to the whole scrapbooking thing, but I'm a weathered veteran to crafting. I love using all my other craft skills along side of my scrapbook work. Whether embroidery, painting, drawing, or a myriad of other gifts I love blending them in the pages of our memories.  Soon I'll be able to add this latest adventure to my scrap arsenal. I never thought I'd long to go to Roswell after living there for 12+ years, but I do. I get to spend time with a dear old friend. Play with a new friend and learn from a skilled artisan. What more could a girl ask for? I know a cruise with hubby on one of Tim Holtz's altered art cruises! That HAS to be next.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H

I constantly see my farm animals stretch, but they pretty much do it because they are either growing or age is causing them some pain. Here I am in my fifties and the Lord and situations around me are causing me to stretch. I guess if I compare one sort of stretching to another, I too follow suit with my critters. God is causing me to grow and situations cause pain which makes me stretch as well. 

Today I'm considering the stretching I'm going to have to do because my grandkids are coming for a week. I love them and we have a blast together, but their youth makes them a lot more active than I'm accustomed to participating in. It's just a week before school starts and gpa and gma are going to take the munchkins on a shopping spree for school clothes and backpacks. Los abuelitos already purchased all their school supplies (sans facial tissues). Grandkids don't typically enjoy naps, so gma will have to be creative in filling time slots with things they enjoy while she steals forty winks (fifty if she can finagle it). 

New technology is causing me to stretch as well. I've managed my personal website: http://www.proverbialwoman.com for ten years with Microsoft Frontpage. Now I'm on a new laptop and have to use something else. I've been experimenting with another program, but my old favorite was a whole lot more intuitive and I miss it dreadfully. I'm half tempted to just use the old laptop for the managing of my website, but I know that is simply putting off the inevitable. STRETCH!!!

I've heard the old boring cliche, "No pain, no gain" until I'd like to put it's author on the rack for a week or so and help him gain a whole lot of pain. Ok, so I really couldn't do that. Talk about stretching the truth.

I've also come to the conclusion that my chosen line of business isn't profitable and with the economy in shambles, folks aren't interested in the superfluous nature of scrapbooking in the retail persuasion. I know we're all going to have to be more creative in our finding and using our resources in the days ahead. So I'm rethinking the way I approach my girlfriends. Saving and recycling will be the way of our future. STRETCH.

I have been studying goal setting and achieving and I've been avoiding DOING the steps it takes to achieve a couple of my goals; lose 50 pounds and learn Chinese. One goal is a personal health goal and the other is a spiritual goal. I've done little to achieve either. Ignoring them sure won't help me achieve them and spitting tiny pathetic efforts is mediocrity and I won't put up with that in myself. So STRETCH is on the agenda. My first step toward both is to set a deadline. I believe a year for the 50 pounds and 2 years to be able to carry on basic introductory conversation in Chinese is acceptable. So there, I did it. I put the deadline out there for me to see and for the world to see. The world will do little but mock me as I head towards the goal, but being accountable is one of the steps in achieving goals. And to think I actually bought the books that laid out the steps towards goal setting. I could have procrastinated the whole thing forever had I just let it go, but that just isn't my way. STRETCH.

Can we all say, "OUCH". Time to break up both goals into bite sized pieces. Why did I use a cliche involving food? No time like the present to address that question, but for now I need to think about averaging 2 pounds of fat loss per week. STRETCH and bend and STRETCH and bend.