My First Altered Canvas

Today I decided to share the canvas frame that I altered as a gift for a friend who is graduating this Sunday. This was the very first time that I have altered a canvas frame (actually that I have altered anyting canvas) so I was quite happy with the results. I was going to paint it but did not feel like dealing with paint and brushes at the time so I used my distressing inks to do both the back ground and to stamp the images. I think I need to get my hands on some more canvas stuff. I love working with it.

Happy Birthday Francine and Sheryl-Ann!

Today is my sister Francine’s birthday and my best friend (who is like a sister) Sheryl-Ann’s birthday as well. Happy Birthday to both of you.

I met Sheryl-Ann went I went to university in Canada and later she and Francine became friends as well. The neat part is that it turns out that Sheryl-Ann and Francine were born on the same day and same year so I call them a “twin” – hee hee hee.

I hope you both have an awesome day on your birthday. Love you both.

Oh and on other news, I got a new modem yesterday. I was trying to hold out for as long as I could with this one but on Friday it finally gave up and died completely. We were able to find one that we could squeeze into our budget yesterday so I am a happy camper. The way I look at it, it was either buying the modem or paying the medical bill that the shrink would have sent – hee hee hee.

Laughter the best medicine

Sunday night Sheldon and I watched “Fun with Dick and Jane”, that comedy with Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni. I have not laughed like that at a comedy in a very long time. We were both in stitches. I mean I laughed until my stomach hurt. I had tears running down my face and we had to stop the movie a couple times to compose ourselves. I am sure the neighbors thought we had gone completely crazy. I remember seeing the original of this movie at the Drive-In in Grenada when I was a child but I did not remember it being this funny. But then again I am sure that I can now appreciate the humor in the remake much more, plus Jim Carrey is a very funny man and Tea Leoni is an awesome actress. It felt so good to laugh like that, especially being able to share it my dear husband.

I really needed a good laugh to lift my spirits. It has been really blah with all the rain we have been getting. It has been raining or overcast since last Tuesday and we don’t expect to see sun until maybe tomorrow. So watching this movie on Sunday put me in a really good mood and I have been able to ignore the lack of sun. I guess what they say about laughter is true…it really is the best medicine.
So if you get a chance to see this movie I hope you enjoy it as much as we did

Catching Up!

Oh where oh where did the week go. I can’t believe that it is Thursday already and I feel like it was just weekend. I have been busy this week though so maybe that is why the days have seemed to fly by.

I have been busy making mothers day cards and gifts and mailing them out. Yes I procrastinated left everything to this week of course. Why would I have started like a month ago when leaving it to the last minute is so much more exciting?! Also I have been having some internet connection problems. We think it may be that we need a new modem as Comcast came out and there is nothing wrong with the connection on their end. So I have been losing connection off and on all week.

Oh I also just checked Splitcoast Stampers to see if they had announced the winners of the Virtual Stamp Night and guess what…I won for one of my cards. I will post it later as it is one of the Mother’s Day cards that I mailed out. I am so excited. This is the second time that I have won. The last one in March I won for my black and white card. I must be doing something right.

So now that I have gotten through National Scrapbook Day, VSN and got my Mother’s Day stuff all finished and mailed out I can go back to concentrating on doing stuff for me.

National Scrapbook Day

Yesterday was National Scrapbook Day and I had great plans to get so much done. But as they say the best-laid plans....

I was only able to get 6 cards finished for the Virtual Stamp Night at Splitcoast Stampers but I am quite happy about that. Here are a few of them. I also was able to get a layout finished for a sketch challenge on Classy Coordinates and everyone who finished it got their names entered into a hat and guess what...I was one of the three names pulled. Yay me!!! I never win anything. So I am all excited. I had planned to also do some of the challenges on Creating Pages but I never got back to check them out.

Of course after yesterday, today I had to take a break but surprisingly the break has done me good because I think I am motivated to get going again tomrrow. So all in all I guess National Scrapbook Day was a success for me.

This and That

I know that I seem to be obsessed with the weather but hey I live in New England. Anyway today was an absolutely gorgeous day. The high was actually 81 F. Can you imagine? Of course I was inside with my windows opened because 81F is just too hot for me to be outside LOL. I have turned into such a New Englander.

The funny thing is that I went to open one of the windows a bit wider and there on the lawn on the side of my apartment complex was this guy lying on the grass with head phones on sleeping. It was so funny. I hope he did not get heat stroke because he looked pretty red to me.

On another note tomorrow is National Scrapbook Day and like many scrapbookers out there I will be spending the day doing some online crops and challenges and hoping to win some prizes. I told Sheldon this week that Sat is National Scrapbook Day and gifts are welcomed, his response was that he would leave alone for the day. Hey can’t ask for a better gift than that.

And my last random thought for the night – Happy Cinco de Mayo to anyone who celebrates (celebrated) it.

1 tequila, 2 tequila, 3 tequila, floor. hee hee hee!!!

Writers Block

I seem to be having writers block. When I started this blog I thought I would have tons to write about everyday but now that I have actually started it I seem to be having writers block. I look at other blogs and I am like why can’t I just write like that. Maybe I am over thinking this whole blogging thing.

I am hoping that as the days go along I will get better at this because I really have a lot to say and a lot to share. I just need to get out of this funk and get my mojo back. Maybe I need to spend less time on the internet bouncing from forum to forum LOL!!

So keep checking in to see if I can unclog my block hee hee hee.

You have to live...

...each day to its fullest. Francine told me some bad news today. One of her friends that she went to university with, her 15 year old son passed away. He had a rare form of cancer that got diagnosed last year. :-( That is so sad.

It just got to me to thinking that you really have to make the most of each day that you are blessed with facing because you never know when it will be your last. You need to stop putting off for tomorrow what you know you can do today. I know we all have our bad days and we bitch and complain about stuff and that's just part of life. But I really think that we need to take some time each day to count our blessings and find at least one good thing that happened that day.

This news, as sad as it is, actually comes at a good time. I had made a promise to myself after my Dad passed away in 2004 and I heard his eulogy and realized that he had lived a full and enjoyable life, that I would take the time to make each day count. As time has gone on I had lost touch with this promise to myself. This news from my sister just made me think about that again and made me realize that I need to re-commit to that promise. So if you see me complaining too much on here just give me a friendly reminder of what I wrote here today.

Now go out there and LIVE LIFE.

Its All Relative

It is so funny how we all react differently to temperatures. I was taking to my friend Sheryl-Ann on ym today and told her that it was actually hot here in MA today. She lives in TX and we are always trading weather stories. Of course my hot is not TX hot LOL. It was actually in the 60s today (15-17 Celsius) and I was out in jeans, slippers, and a t-shirt and I was sweltering in the car.

I remember when I still lived in the Caribbean that I use to think that anything under 80 degrees (about 26 Celsius) was cool. Now when I go home I absolutely dread the heat and spend as much time as I can in air conditioned places. I laugh when my mum calls and says that the nights are cool at home - Caribbean cool maybe.

So you see it really is all relative. Your body and mind adjust to where you live without you even really realizing it.

Here's to more "hot"days in MA.

Rain, Rain Go Away

I knew it was too good to be true…the weather that is. Last week it was sunny and warm and I was loving it. I am definitely a sun girl and I am always in a better mood and have more motivation and energy when the sun is shining. Well the weather has done a complete 360 and it is cold (well relative to last week) and dark and cloudy and wet. I just feel like curling up in bed with a good book, some hot chocolate and warm toast slathered in butter (yummy).

I guess I should have headed out last week to take those photos of spring that I wanted. But I was sure the weather would be nice again this week. I mean its spring after all no way is it going to be cold and damp again. Of course I should have remembered that age old saying, “If you don't like the weather in New England, wait five minutes”, or in this case a few days. Well I hope this saying stays true and the weather decides to corporate with me as the week goes on.

So to quote a popular children’s song:

"Rain, rain go away. Come again another day"

Love Hate Relationship With Spring

Every winter when the days are dark, short, and cold I look forward to Spring. I can't wait for it to start getting warmer so I can open my windows and enjoy some fresh air. After all I am from the Caribbean and we only close our windows when it rains and then only the ones that the rain will come in through.

And then Spring hits and my allergies swing into full gear and my love hate relationship with Spring starts. I love that the days are longer and that the birds are singing and that the trees are budding and that the flowers are blooming and then my noise starts to run, my eyes start to itch and I start cursing all the flowers and trees - LOL!

I guess as human beings we are always wishing for something else. In Winter I beg for Spring. Spring comes and I want it to be gone and Summer to be here. Summer comes and its too hot and on and on it goes.

Maybe I need to just stop and count my blessings that I get to expereince all of this.

Now if I can just get my nose to stop running an my eyes to stop watering I may actually be able to enjoy all the wonders of Spring :-)

I finally did it

I have been planning to start a blog for the longest time and just kept putting it off. My sister Francine has her blog here and she has been behind me to start one since I saw hers and loved it. Then one of my best friends Sheryl-Ann started hers and kept asking me when I would start mine.

But starting a blog is a lot harder than it looks. First I could not think of what I wanted to blog about. Then they kept asking me what I would call it. Call it?? Oh I am supposed to put a title LOL. Ok, ok - I know I had to. So finally last night Sheryl and I started to kick some titles around and the idea of starting this actually seemed real to me. Then morning hit and I sitll had not finalized my title. Francine tried to help me come up with one and then it just came to me - Ole-Talk. So I looked it up in my Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage to see the definition. Ole-Talk (Old-Talk): Idle chatter; gossip; social chit-chat, mere rhetoric. And then it hit me - that's the perfect title for my blog.

So here I am finally - my very own blog. I hope Francine and Sheryl-Ann are happy.