Here’s A Chair For You

Hi! Thanks for visiting my cyber coffee shop! Please have a cup of your favorite beverage and cuddle in for a few paragraphs!

I wanted to mention my cyber-recipes. Usually if I post something tasty you can make at home I’ll either include the recipe (look for “Davlicious” in the key words at the bottom) or I’ll include a link to a recipe page if it’s a recipe I find on the web. Most of the time when I offer up a piece of black forest cake, or recently tiramisu, it’s cyber-cake; completely calorie free, but not something you can replicate at home. This is an ages old Naniism. Time for a “Little Nani Story.” In this case two.

For the beginning of the story, let me offer you a comfy chair in my cyber coffee shop.

Here’s a couch for a couple of guests

And maybe we have someone joining us who’d prefer a kitschy chair!

I have always loved pretend imagery. One of the first TV shows I loved when I was a child was “The Friendly Giant,” one of a few CBC kids’ shows I watched with my mom. One of the spoils of being a border-baby is that, even before cable, we got CBC in from Windsor, Ontario, Canada; great kid’s shows and Hockey Night in Canada! Mom always watched a few episodes of any shows I watched. I guess I figured out when I was an aunt to very young girls that she did that as a responsible parent to make sure she knew the content of the shows I watched, but I remember it as just getting to pick the show that we were watching together. Parents watching the shows the kids are watching at least a little is important. I even remember my dad complaining that “they should be learning Italian, not Spanish” on Sesame Street. Of course my dad was still only about 10 years in this country and wanting a little of his roots to make him feel a little more welcomed. (It was only a year or two after we started watching Sesame Street before he chose to become a citizen and stopped complaining about the Spanish segments on Sesame Street.)

But back to The Friendly Giant. It was basic kids content. Friendly was a giant who had animal friends; a puppet was one and watching a clip on YouTube I remembered the giraffe that visited his window. The thing is I remembered those characters watching a clip from the show. What I didn’t need a clip to remember a few years shy of a half century later was the beginning of the show when he set up the little living room for us.

He invited the viewers into his castle and set out chairs in the little living room so we had a seat while we visited. That imagery and use of imagination has always been part of me. So when you choose a chair, imagine you're really relaxing with your coffee for the read!

Now that you see where my brain learned how to get comfy in a pretend chair, the next “Little Nani Story” will explain the “scratch ingredients” that go into making cyber-cake!

My brother, Dave, and I were pretty normal kids in that we often had to be nagged about cleaning our rooms and occasionally mom came in with the big garbage bag and “helped” us clean our rooms. One of the list of things she didn’t know or understand until I was an adult was why, more than once, she was throwing away a cardboard sheet or box with pictures of food taped on it.

Well, Star Trek came out the same year I did, in 1966, and my mom was a huge Trekkie. That meant Star Trek was one of the shows we watched together that she picked. One of the things I played often was that my closet was a space ship or shuttle and I was the captain. I had a control panel that mom never wondered about because it looked like a spaceship panel a kid would draw. But those boards with the pictures of food on them were my replicator. Thinking back they were sort of a cross between a vending machine and a replicator because if I touched the picture it created the food I touched, well, I pretended it did. If I wanted something that I couldn’t find a picture of in the grocery sales papers from the newspaper, I’d ask for it. I imagined the taste and looking at the picture enjoyed my meal on the spaceship.

So, now I serve all-grown-up replicated desserts, or cyber-food, in my cyber coffee shop. As an adult I can still pretend the wonderful flavors but I appreciate the calorie-free more.

Have some black forest cake…and don’t ever let you inner child grow up!

Happily Frosted (Hodge Podge)

Click photo to visit "Recipes, Recipes, Recipes" blog for the original post and recipe!

1. What's the best thing about growing older?

It’s better than NOT growing older.

Every year I have more knowledge, more experience and more people in my world. I can look back every day and realize I am richer for every year, every day that I have added to my life.


2. When did you first feel like a grown up?

That assumes I already feel like a grownup. ;)

Really, I’d have to say out was the day Grandma died. She was my last grandparent and there was no one left to cherish me like a grandchild, nowhere to run to and shed my adult side. I’m the matriarch on Mom’s side of the family now.


3. Chocolate cake with white icing or white cake with chocolate icing?

Chocolate cake with white (buttercream) frosting!

What made our wedding cake so perfect; David had his chocolate frosting on the bottom (With chocolate cake) and I got my white buttercream on top (with cappuccino cake) The cake flavor wasn’t the big thing. David and I agree that cake is just a frosting delivery system. But a quality cake with the same quality frosting is THE BEST! Our wedding cake was divine, even after we cut it!

4. What's the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

As a disabled person, strangers do nice things for me all the time. From the little girl who stayed in the bathroom so she could hold the door for me when I left to the fellow customer who threw my garbage out for me at Panera, I don’t weigh one deed from a stranger against another. They don’t have to but they are all part of making me a little less disabled.


5. What's something you learned from your grandparents?

Hehe.. From Noni (paternal grandmother); “Don’t show too much bosom,” as she buttoned one more button on my shirt. From Mums (maternal-maternal great grandmother): “You have to leave the boys just a little ‘to think about’” as she Unbuttoned TWO buttons on the same shirt that same day.

I think they taught me that I’d learned a lot about balance from them. In between the “suggestions” from Noni and Mums was where I’d buttoned my blouse to anyway!

I was blessed to have known all four of my grandparents, two of my greats and one great-great. To say I learned a TON from them is still an understatement.


6. Wednesday marks a sad day in the history of planet earth-9/11...what's something you do (or can do) to bring peace to your little corner of the world?

Never really thought about it. I try to be kind to everyone and not take advantage of people; I really do think that world peace starts with mutual neighborhood respect and grows out from there. Yes, that’s a bit pollyanna-altruistic and we have a LONG way to go to even get started, but I try to do my part every day.


7. Share a favorite quote, scripture, or song containing the word peace.

Let There Be Peace on Earth

I don’t know why it’s considered a Christmas song now; it was an everyday church hymn when I was a kid.


8. Insert your own random thought here.

It’s anniversary time at The Studio again and I’m playing along with the Layout Artist Challenge. Each week we get a full kit and instructions for creating 2 different layouts with it. In addition to the four free kits during the contest, there is a bonus for completing all four weeks and a random drawing from those who do all four for an EHD. I need to buy a new extended hard drive, but I am putting that off until the beginning of next month, y’know, just in case.

Here are a couple of the layouts I’ve done for weeks one and two:

Credits: Morning Memories Collaboration by Nibbles Skribbles, 

The Urban Fairy and Jilbert’s Bits of Bytes

Credits: Holiday Hoopla by Snickerdoodle Designs and Kimberkatt Scraps.

Journaling:

She’s a CAT TV addict! When she hears the squeak of the door in the morning that means her Daddy had turned on the tall screen in the front room, she rushes to sit right in front and wait for her favorite show, Chipmunk.

She loves all the shows; Wild Birds of Ohio, Robin Fights, the Falling Leaves Special and she even watches when the screen looks black to catch Midnight Bunny. But she doesn’t watch alone, that one, she’s an enabler! She wakes her sister up to watch Nut Wars, starring the Squirrely Brothers. She’s even taken to introducing her baby brother to Kitten’s Programming, although he didn't quite get the point of the show Patience which promised a guest appearance from Chipmunk at the end.

It could be worse than a CAT TV addiction though. She uses catnip in moderation and isn’t beating anyone up for their tuna.

I do wish it hadn’t been called a challenge, because it’s a competition. One layout artist for each week is going to be asked to join the Studio's store creative team. I didn’t realize that until the contest had already started. I really don’t have the time to be on a site creative team, but I also don’t ever do well in contests where your layouts are “judged” against others.

I am NOT dissing my own work by any means! I think my pages are great; they are personal and I spend time working on them. I’ve also been digi-scrapping for 6 years and that experience shows, but for store CTs they want layouts that focus more on the kit, after all, you get the kits to add to the advertising value, not just for your own personal layouts. I don’t have time to NOT be scrapbooking for me right now. Maybe next year when I’m more caught up. Anyway, a simpler layout with a small nice cluster might sell ME a kit, but they generally want more of a kit focus on the layouts for CT work.So, I really am doing it for fun, but if you visit the Studio there are some really great professional-looking layouts with these kits!

Nani Is A Happy Little Princess!

I’m posting my first post of the day a little later than usual today. Pop was over this morning to see what could be done with our crashed bookcase. It took him about an hour to go from shattered pieces to shelving unit anchored to the wall! It took me the better part of the day in 2007 when I assembled the other identical bookcase and David constructs with words, not wood! Assembling a unit from a kit, even a unit that had splintered a few screw holes and taken a chunk out of the bottom of one shelf when it fell was very simple work for my Dad, who has worked in construction since the early 70s. He’s already said that he’ll come back when I get the rest of the kit-furniture. I’ll prepare a nice lunch spread to say “thanks!”

After Pop finished putting the shelves in and put away his tools in his car, we had minestrone. I was both anxious and a little nervous about Pop tasting my first try at minestrone. I thought it was good, just a few tweaks away from great, soup is my specialty, but the opinion of the senior minestrone maker in the family was the true test. He liked it! He really liked it!

After lunch he wanted to make sure he had the directions to Sofo, MY Italian market, so he could stop before he went home. I enjoy the fact that both Pop and my brother feel the desire to stop at MY ethnic store when they visit. I have the edge there!  Sofo is a truly awesome place for Italian groceries!

So far, the popcorn popper is the only thing on a shelf, since that was the tallest appliance and it was used to place the first shelf. After a couple of serious moving, bending, lifting and stretching days upstairs, I promised myself, and David, especially David, that I was going to relax today. Just like working out, rip, then heal to build muscles, I rip then heal to restore strength.

Happy Chocolate Day!

Today is Chocolate Day!  Chocolate Day is celebrated on the third day of Valentines Week. So I think I’ll eat my rose tonight.

David has been bringing home little gifts when he finds ones that just scream me. At this time of year, there are lots of those! At the end of January, he brought me a Dove rose. I know the rose is 3 Weight Watchers points. I figured it out right away, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to opening it. It’s so pretty and so sweet and romantic and once I eat it, it’s gone! I think official Chocolate Day is a good day to finally open it. There WILL be more chocolate, likely even more chocolate from David!

The past couple of nights we’ve had another treat he brought me.

He knows me well! That little black forest cake was the perfect size for us to share for dessert for two nights.


Last thing I’ll share for now is a vintage thing for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

I have three peach-tone glass dessert plates from Grandma’s. You don’t really see the peachiness until there are a few stacked together, but they ARE peachy!

I confess that it was a set of four, but I lost one to a knock off the counter that also claimed one of my dollar-store glass plates. Obviously the peach dish was a bigger heartbreak!

I don’t know exactly how old these ones are. What I do know is I hadn’t seen them before we found them in the back of the cabinets that had many other old dishes. I spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house and did a lot of foodie things with her. So, I’m fairly sure they pre-date me! I do know they are pretty and totally match my peach and green kitchen future!

See more Vintage Thingies at Suzanne’s blog, The Coloradolady, every Thursday!

Links

Chocolate Day

Sofo Market

The Coloradolady

Happy Half-Birthday To Me!

 Under the yummy frosting, it's a Blaforca! 

(Half a Black Forest Cake!)

It’s January 29 and at 7:45 this morning I reached the half-way point of my 46th year.  Many friends will start to grouse at me until my birthday in July now because when someone asks my age, I’ll say “46.”  It’s been that way since I was 21.   I could be getting myself in trouble if I’d have said I was 18 when I was still technically 17, rounding up a year before I was 19 in Canada and of course accused of SO much trouble for saying 21 when I was 20 years and 364 days at home. 

I can’t say I’m 45 and a half.  That sounds so immature!  I was “and a half” until I was about 11.  Then I was “almost” the next number up until 21.  On January 29, 1988 I was, in my own mind, 22 and at some point in the month or so after that I switched over to saying I was 22.  For the couple of months right after I say both ages depending on what enters my head first.  I just feel dishonest saying I’m 45 now.  When I became legally 45, I had completed 45 years.  It was the first day of my 46th year.  Past the half-way point, am I not closer to completing than just starting my 46th year?  So, from today forward, I’ll call myself 46 when someone asks, but the papers will agree with me in July.

To celebrate my 45-1/2 birthday, David and I are going out for breakfast.  Well, okay we’re going out for breakfast; he’s not celebrating my half birthday.  Then I think we’re buying a new toaster. That’s not a half birthday present either, but maybe I’ll make myself an afternoon snack of a PB2 and jelly on toast for my half-birthday.  After all, what’s a birthday without something sweet and presents??

Speaking of presents, here's the present!  It’s the last template set in my Project 366 templates!

 Click preview to download

If you use the templates, I’d love to see your layout!  You can leave a link in comments or drop me an email.  If I have your permission, I’ll post your layout and link back to your blog!

So, now I’m off to enjoy the rest of my half birthday.  The number isn’t important, hasn’t been since 35, when I was old enough to be elected president, and it won’t be again until I get my AARP card and discounts!  But it’s fun to look forward to birthdays and half-birthdays and keep my inner child smiling and laughing.  David may not like the whole rounding up thing, but he always says he does like my smile!

Meet Me on Monday Mug Shot

Welcome to Monday – Kick off the week with a Black Forest Cake Pop!

Yes, a before and after title! I’m combining a new meme with an old favorite, bringing back a popular feature at The Chronicles of Nani and inviting new regulars at my Coffee Shop on the Information Superhighway to grab a mug of their favorite web surfing beverage and stay a moment.

What do you think of the cake pops? I've been really thinking of getting a cake pop pan to either make cake pops or cake balls, same thing without the sticks, for Christmas Davinities this year. I love the Starbucks Cake Pops. Just enough for a treat at smaller amounts of sugar, fat, calories & Weight Watchers points, At Christmas it means you can sample more things without filling up or feeling the slightest bit guilty! Still just thinking about it, though. The cake pop pans are NOT cheap!

Okay, let's get this post started!


5 Things Monday

1. Are you excited for the holidays or are you dreading them?


Golly, that’s an interesting one this year. I love the holidays and I’m always excited. I do my Davinities Holiday Baking and host UNO and the Fabulous Dessert Bar, so it’s an exciting, but there is much work, cleaning, putting up the tree etc… The last couple of years I’ve been progressively less mobile and it’s harder and harder to be able to do it physically. But, I utter a prayer for strength and find the things necessary to accommodate me and with David’s help, I know I’ll be fine. So there is a little trepidation, but all in all, I’m as excited as I always have been.

2. Do you hit the snooze button or get right up?


More often than not, I get up before the alarm.


3. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes

4. What was the last piece of candy that you ate?


Mellow Crème Pumpkin, last night

5. Do you shop at thrift stores?

Not really. I went a few times with my Mother.







Monday Mug Shot


The mug reads: “It takes a long time to grow an old friend.” This was the mug that I bought for my BFF, Kelly, last October when she spent the better part of a week with me. This particular mug is the one she bought for me! Kel and I trade identical mugs whenever we get together. With her in Missouri and me in Ohio we don’t see each other all the time, but when we do get together, it’s an event, one that’s always worthy of a mug. We make it a point to pick out our mug together. Then we both buy the same mug and trade them. The mug trading ceremony is half the fun!

We found these ones at The Andersons in Maumee. We went there to buy flower bulbs. Kelly is my platonic soul mate. We’re the same in many ways, but where we are different, we really do balance each other. Kel has the green thumb I’ve never even come close to.

I wanted to dig up and get rid of most of the flower beds on the side of our house by the side door and driveway. They had a few crocuses in the spring and a couple gladiolus and a ton of weeds with a couple of the nastiest out of control roses. With the exception of those few mighty blossoms that thumb their stamens at winter and the long stemmed blooms that occasionally adorned the vase on my desk at work the summer before I moved to Toledo, I hated those beds. Kelly explained what needed to be done to save them and off we went to get the supplies.

We got plastic lining to cut down on the weeds and mulch. After digging up the ton of weeds and getting those awful rose weeds out, we aerated the soil and laid down the plastic and mulch. The idea was to cut through the plastic where the bulbs would be planted.

On our trip to The Andersons when we got our mugs, I picked out more crocuses, tulips and daffodils. I opened and put the bulbs in piles where I wanted them planted. There were TONS of bulbs. I wanted my side beds to be just full of color. It took pretty much all of Sunday to get the beds ready. I had a chair, so I could, while not falling over, work on the weeding and digging. We broke for the day and had homemade soup that I’d made before she got in. Kel told me she’d start the planting while I was at school on Monday and we’d finish it when I got home. Except that when I got home from school, she’d already finished!

When I drink out of this mug, even in the middle of winter, it makes me think of how beautiful; and full of flower that side bed is through the beginning of summer now. That makes me think of my beautiful sister, Kelly, our beautify project in October 2010 and how blessed I am to have such a wonderful bond that knows no limits to the love we share as best friends!

Nani & Kelly October 2010

Happy Naniday!

Perfect black forest birthday cake, huh?

Original photo and recipe at Ahaar Pleasure and Sustenance

Happy Naniday, everyone! I am officially 45 today. My Twitter message said that I was 45, even to a newspaper reporter. Yes, that’s directed at that guy who shares the same last name and address as me. For the last 48 days we’ve been calling ourselves the same age, but he has insisted I was 44. I think when I’m 48 days away from 45, I‘m much more 45 than 44, My always cheery honey, reminds me that if I dropped the day before my birthday, the obituary would call me 44, not 45. Okay, so I made it to 45. Told him so! :P

Last weekend David and I kicked off Nanifest XLV with baseball in the Motherland, specifically in Lansing. I hadn’t been to a Lugnuts game in a few years and when I lived in Michigan I went to a couple Nuts games every year, so I really missed seeing them. I’d been to a couple Lugnuts games on my birthday or during the Festival. We kinda copied the first Saturday off Nanifest XL, stopping in Hell on the way to Lansing. The ice cream in Hell is great! This year, also just like when I turned 40, David bought me a Hell T-shirt! The new one is a Screams Ice Cream shirt! It’s cool! The lettering is in glow-in-the-dark green on dark purple! The shirt is a “goal shirt” right now. It is a size smaller than I usually wear and just a bit snug. By Halloween, it’ll fit great!

After ice cream at Screams, I had chocolate fudge wrapped around cherry in a waffle cone, black forest cone, baby, we went to the Lugnuts game. Finally the streak of losing home teams is over! The Lugnuts won 3-1!! I’m feeling better about upcoming games at home in Toledo and in Cincinnati to see my Reds! The Lugnuts celebrated my festival with fireworks after the game. I love birthday fireworks!

On Sunday, we took our buy one get one coupon to Baskin Robbins with us after dinner. I had two scoops of Baseball Nut in a waffle cone. I like waffle cones because they hold the ice cream all in the cone instead of on it, better for avoiding dropped ice cream! I’m using the Weight Watchers Points Plus system to help with my diet goals and the coolest part of the program is how real it is. There are weekly extra points that allow for an occasional treat on plan. With the extra points I was able to have ice cream twice. Okay, that uses almost all the points, but hey, it still working, slowly and safely! Best news is the weekly points reset on Thursdays, just in time for the Festival weekends!


Last night, David took me out to Mancy’s Bluewater Grille. I had the Pretzel Crusted Flounder, a dish with Nani written all over it! We shared a flourless chocolate cake for dessert, truly decadent! Tonight the Mud Hens are having fireworks to celebrate the actual day again, just like last year and we’ll be there. I know the Reds really wanted me to come to Cincinnati tonight, they’re doing fireworks set to music from the 60s, the decade in which I was born, but my Dad is doing a barbecue for me tomorrow in the Motherland and Tori and Rina will be there too. So, my Reds game will be later in August. I still love the Reds for hosting a Naniday party!

After dinner at Pop’s tomorrow, which will be chicken kebabs and teriyaki pork with grilled veggies, oh my mouth is watering already, Pop is the king of the grill, Tori and Rina are coming home with us. They’re having lunch with me and Sheri Sunday at our favorite Toledo restaurant, Ya Halla. Sheri likes Middle Eastern food and this will be her first time at Ya Halla. Then we plan to visit Cold Stone to use my birthday coupon for dessert. Sunday evening, the girls and I will meet Dave and Laura for dinner and they’ll take the girls home. Both of the girls have their drivers licenses now, so I’m thinking I can get by with only having to drive home from dinner this weekend!

I’m trying to set up some travel to the Motherland for next week. Maybe the Farmers Market with Scotty and then lunch with Heather H and Tracy. Still working on that plan.

I’ve had some interest in doing the Photo Walk in Frankenmuth in October, so maybe I’ll gather a modest group, maybe I’ll even sign up for it being an official Photo Walk. Edna, when I posted about Photo Walk, I SO had you in mind too! Anyone reading can either form an informal or solo Photo Walk or check that website out to see if there’s an organized one in your area. It’s definitely something to which I’m looking forward!!

My birthday wish is that I hope everyone has a great Naniday, do something that makes you happy and eat ice cream!

Wrapping up Monday

A little taste to kick off the week!

The first bit of business I need to address to start this week is a “fix” from last week. I got several points wrong in my early rant about how Sally, the mother goose from our post office, died. I didn’t correct the mistakes or take down my original post because I don’t want to delete the comments and my demeanor hasn’t changed. It’s settled now after a few days, but the anger about it is a little fueled. The stupid mistakes were made by people who should know better, WAY better. The people who moved the family were from a center for the “rescue” and rehabilitation of wildlife. When they moved the goose family, with three goslings and two un hatched eggs, to a “better” place across the street, they were caught by surprise that geese are territorial and the incumbent geese in that area would threaten the new geese and try to drive them out.

Yanno, I just don’t get how you can work for a wildlife center in an area where there are a lot of geese and not know that. They said it was a “no win” situation because Sally was nesting in an area where there was so much traffic. How about carefully move the family to somewhere that there aren’t geese already living? I mean, if you’re moving the geese and have already invaded them, why not put them someplace safer than where they already are? Sure, a busy parking lot by a busy road is not ideal, but it’s not like no one knew they were there. Putting them in an area where not only is there the human factor but also territorial other geese sounds like a “maybe lose” or “lose big” choice and they chose lose big.

You can read the story on the Toledo Blade’s website here: Blade article



I SO don’t want to be all doom and gloom n a cloudy Monday, here in northwestern Ohio. We’re still on the lookout for that arc! ^The rain was hard and nasty Friday night into Saturday morning. The tulips took quite a beating! In the front half of our side bed, there is a lot of petal litter! That’s from the blooms that just exploded from the driving down rain on them. I’m glad I got my photos when they were strong and healthy! There are more exploded tulip blooms in the front section than the back, so there are still flowers, just not as many. The smaller tulips seemed to fare better than the taller ones, but they weren’t as open. David reported this morning that the absolute las6t of the crocuses, a couple of the stripey ones that bloomed later and stayed a little longer, had finished for the year now. That ups my resolve to get some bulbs in the ground for summer and fall. Now if we can just get a day that doesn’t rain. Our forecast for the beginning of this week: today was “cloudy with a shower or two,” we got three or four, then “mainly cloudy, showers around,” and on Wednesday,“ warmer with showers.” Hey, at least it’ll be warmer! Just give me one weekend day that’s cloudy, but no rain, so David can help me, and I’m good!


There are things that make me happy. The Reds swept the Cardinals out of town over the weekend and hold first place again and they beat up the Cubs in the sixth inning tonight for another win. I like this kind of roll!

David and I got out to the grocery store yesterday and left with many bags of groceries and a lighter pocketbook for the effort, but we saved BIG TIME with coupons, careful sale shopping ahead of time and a good buy ten and get $5 off deal at Kroger. I also got my almond milk supply refilled and Dannon Greek Yogurt comes in peach now! This morning I made a cup of warm cocoa with almond milk and a scoop of Splenda-ized dark chocolate. MMM!!!! I let David try a sip and he was impressed too!

Okay, it was a little bit of a mundane Monday, but it wasn’t a bad Monday. I still really do like Mondays, even if the telling of them is really just wrapping up the weekend. It’s a fresh start to a new week.

Now if we can just get it stop raining or get passage booked on that arc…

This One’s For Edna

Bring your own coffee, I have the black forest cake!

I’m sorry that I’ve been so scarce lately! Edna is a sweetheart for looking in on me. Thank you for missing me, my friend! :D

Okay, truth be told I’ve been crazy-busy yet at the same time, there’s not been much to talk about.

I finished 2007 in my scrapbooks and those pages are uploaded and ready to print at Inkubook. I’m nowhere near staying kept up with 2010, but I’m really trying to get a page a day in the evenings to get that back on track.

I’m working on a project for Rina’s and Tori’s Sweet 16 party. Can you believe how OLD they have gotten?? It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in a production truck on Labor Day with a beeper on a chain around my neck waiting for the page to call to get the news that I was an Aunt!

Okay, just the fact that I was using a pager kinda screams of a LONG TIME AGO, doesn’t it?

They’ll be celebrated with a Hawaiian Luau at the end of this month! It’s before they’ll actually be 16, but with the promise of warmer weather for a pool party. My brother just moved to a new house with a pool, so that has now become part of the Hawaiian theme! I’m happy it gave me an excuse to buy the safari shirt with the palm trees I was strangely drawn to in a catalog. I’m also kinda happy that I had to return the Capri pants I got to go with it and get them in TWO sizes smaller!

My house is making me insane! I have to get the clutter of boxes sorted out and organized. I have major cleaning to do! I feel like half of Grandma’s house ended up here and I’m in great jeopardy of not being able to do anything for Christmas this year, which honestly, will devastate me!

See? Crazy-busy with uninteresting stuff!

School starts this week with an on campus class and test prep. There is another thing that keeps me from blogging too often! I am hoping to start my regular features up again in September. Kaline has also been bugging me for some computer time because her blog is behind. (Her Daddy has been bugging ME about it too!)

So, I’ll be back more often soon! I have a few things coming up that require my attention, but I really hope to have things organized in some semblance of useful order for the fall. Then I’ll be back with apples and pumpkin spice and a look back at WOW I really did do a lot this summer!

.

The last Day of Nanifest XLIV

Nanifest - AKA National Black Forest Cake week!

Happy August! This is the last day of Nanifest XLIV. David and I have plans to go out to dinner. The plan was a sunny day would be railfanning and a casual sit-down at the end of the day instead of a fast food stop on the way home. A cloudy day would be a day at home and a little nicer dinner. Right now, it’s a little gloomy, but the weather forecasters are calling it as a supposed to be sunny day. Not like they’ve never been wrong before, so we’ll see!

Yesterday was an awesome day! I met Sheri and Heather for lunch at Cracker Barrel. Heather got me a card with a cute puppy with sunglasses hanging out a window on it, totally adorable! They split my bill, which I told them they totally didn’t have to do! My birthday present was them having lunch with me! Then Sheri told me there was no discussion to have so just say, “thank you,” and shut up. I smiled and said, “thank you.” I have GREAT friends! After lunch we sat on the porch and talked. It was a little humid, but not too hot and pleasant for sitting outside.

In was meeting Scott at 4:00 so he could follow me to Pop’s for dinner. I was really thinking I’d go to Pop’s and then go meet Scotty at the designated time. When I got in the car, eeks! It was 3:58! Time to meet Scotty first – late!

I was really only about 15 minutes late and we went to my Dad’s.

Pop made marinated chicken with grilled veggies and green beans. YUM!! I was originally going to have coffee with Scotty after lunch and then come back for dinner. Pop told me that was silly and I should invite Scotty. He hadn’t seen Scott in a long time and wanted to have him over for dinner. They have a little barky dog who would not stop barking at Scotty. I think she thought this new guy was replacing her half-brother-in-law! David had to work, or I would have brought them both!

Dad got me a totally awesome birthday present that will save me a weekly trip tot the produce market! I got a big bag of zucchini and an equally big bag of green beans – my favorite veggies, along with a bag of tomatoes and white peaches. Pop often sends fresh veggies home with me, but this market trip was one to pick out my favorites! I also got a card from him, one my Aunt had nothing to do with picking out, she hadn’t even seen it. Pop chose the card and this time he chose a mushy one. It made me cry. I think he was getting even for the Father’s Day card that got him all misty this year, but the card was so awesome! I just love those magical little pieces of paper that hold a wish, a smile or an emotion forever! I have a box that I keep all my cards in. That’s the one thing that will NOT leave when I start my anti-packrat clean sweep in September! Those cards through the years are the pick-me-ups when I’m feeling down, reminders that I am and have always been loved, and they are sweetest reminders of those who aren’t with me any longer, their own writing and things we have both touched.

Next year, the actual Naniday is on a Friday, so I’m back to 2-week festivals for a couple of years. As for this year, today is the last day of Nanifest, so if you haven’t already, you can celebrate with me by having an ice cream and treat your kids, or a child who is close to you to have one with you!

Thanks for reading and being part of my world, part of what makes that world great and Nanifest worth celebrating every year!!

Happy Pi Day!

Mmmm! Black Forest Pie!
(click image for the recipe!)

Yes, Pi Day is a geek holiday, but geeks know how to party!! We’ll need 3.14 of those for the holiday dessert! Hehe

It’s been a pretty good weekend for me getting a few things done. It’s college basketball tournament time! Yaaaaayyyawwwnnn. Oh nothing at all against the college athletes playing. I know that there are a LOT more college basketball players who use the free degrees they got to make a honest regular living like the rest of us and these tournament games are part of the road to the highest basketball high they’ll ever have a chance to receive. It’s just that I don’t find NBA basketball to be much of a thrill either. That being said, the TV is in plain view from the table where I usually park to scrapbook and I’ve seen lots of basketball whenever I look up and the endings of some of the games have been pretty exciting. Still, it’s a good thing the tournament will be over before Opening Day or the next new episode of Degrassi!

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I’m about half way through the rough drafts for the Journal Camp text. There is no way I’d do something that lasts for more than one blog entry without having at least the first draft done on all of them. That’s why I haven’t announced a date yet. I’m still on plan to announce the dates and start promoting it by the end of the week.

I’m finding out that there IS a method to my journal madness after all. That makes setting up a program a lot easier and I really think I can provide some tips and lessons that can help others. If anyone reads this has trouble journaling or considers it the most agonizing part of scrapbooking, you should come to Journal Camp! Even if you journal well, come for the challenges and the freebies!

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David is feeling better after a nice relaxing day yesterday. I did some extra cooking and kitchen clean-up with him home and not feeling so well and, like I pay to have the driveway plowed once in a while to do my share where I can, since he wasn’t really up to helping out yesterday, he took me out to breakfast this morning! I had a spinach and feta omelet made with egg beaters at our favorite local family restaurant and he had eggs and sausage.

After we got home, I pulled out the box of photos in the treasures I brought back from Grandma’s house. Yes, that box is FULL of photos, most black and white and most I’ve never seen before. There are a lot more pictures of Papa in his Navy uniform than I thought there were and so many pictures of Grandma at 15-18 years old! That shouldn’t surprise me. My Great-Grandfather, Dad-dad, was a big photography hobbyist! There are pictures of both of my great-great-great grandparents on my maternal all the way down side. One that was especially cool was a picture of Baby Grandma sitting on her paternal grandfather’s knee. That would be my maternal-maternal-paternal great-great-grandfather, a man of whom I’d never even seen a photo before today. Pretty cool!

Okay. I need to get my minimum layouts for the day done…and get over this incredible craving for pie!

Let The Shopping Begin!

I hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving and those who are into it had a successful Black Friday! Ours turned out pretty well, cooking the meal at Dad’s and transporting the whole thing 20 minutes north to Grandma’s apartment. I had fun with my turkey hat too. The family dining area is private in that the door is closed, but all glass walls in front so people can see in. I joked that it was like we were the Thanksgiving zoo exhibit, but we weren’t bothered and people who walked by smiled and waved. Okay, maybe some of the smiles were at my hat, those ones where they pointed at me and smiled. I smiled back, said Happy Thanksgiving, and it was usually followed by a wave and a wish for the same. It was pretty cool. The turkey hat is very me, but I also knew that wearing it would get some laughs or smiles at the senior apartments by residents and workers alike. That’s my selfish side of giving. Sharing a little joy and making people smile when they are residents in the memory care unit or working on a holiday just feels good!


On the meal front, everything tasted so good! The stuffing was exceptional this year, if I do say so myself. At one point, Grandma asked me if my Mom was coming to dinner. Pop was great as he seamlessly got her immediately on another subject, but I was thinking to myself, “Grandma can’t you taste that she was touching the stuffing when I made it?” That was the hardest part of dinner, when Grandma asked if people were joining us who only could in spirit, but there was enough good food and conversation that she didn’t dwell on those questions before another topic came up. It really was a very nice and special dinner.

Now after that recap, I’m wanting some cranberry relish. Is cranberry relish okay for breakfast on a weekend during the holiday season? (Someone please leave a yes in the comments so I feel better about it because I’m gonna do it!)


Now that Thanksgiving is done, I’ll be officially adding the Christmas music. I’ve been listening to some hit and miss for a while with those all Christmas all the time stations that start the first of November, but it’s now officially Christmas Music season! As always at The Chronicles of Nani you can click the off button on the iPod to the right. I always make sure it’s high enough on the page that it can be easily turned off if a visitor doesn’t want to listen. Just think, if this were a real time coffee shop, you’d have to BUY your coffee and listen to whatever is on the overhead speakers, which means Christmas music even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, or if your taste in Christmas music is just really different than mine! So, I welcome you all once again to enjoy the sounds of the season or enjoy being able to NOT enjoy them when you visit my cyber coffee shop!

And to go with that cyber coffee, here’s some festive calorie-free black forest cake! (Festive because black forest cake makes any blog entry a party!)





A Freebie With A Twist!

Actually a freebie with several twists!

I have so many attempts at the photo in the center of this layout that I wanted to include a couple to document my struggle and eventual success! 2007 was my first Christmas Day in Toledo and I wanted a Christmas Day picture of Baggle and Kaline together. It was almost 20 shots before I got one where they were both looking at me and there were no glowy eyes!



This was originally a layout for a challenge at Designs In Digital, but that challenge required several things and there was to be no journaling. The finished product was not to my liking, although it fit the challenge criteria. I loved the template I made for it and decided to strip it down and redo the layout with the same pictures but different everything else, including journaling. Now I like it, but it wouldn’t have fit the original challenge. It did qualify for the Out of the Box challenge at Digital Freebies, though!

So the freebie is that template, with the twisted mats and photos that don’t quite go in the frames! I call it Twists! I usually use a mish-mosh of colors that don’t really go together when I make a template for my layouts because it’s easier to tell which layer is which in the layers thumbnails in Photoshop CS. I’ve even recolored traditional shades of gray templates when I’ve worked with them for that purpose. It’s especially handy when it’s a template with lots of layers, like this one. If you have a strong opinion on the colors of the layers in a template, one way or another let me know in the comments. I could have taken the color out, but that takes extra time and, like I said, I think it makes it harder to work with. Feel free to chime in!

Click preview to dowload
Passwords is kitties

Of course, I love to hear from you if you have a moment when you download. The comments here are pop-up style, so you can comment and download at the same time. I hope you enjoy the template and I’d love to see what you make with it!

Okay, I’m really craving some coffee and that cranberry relish now! Bye!!

Nanifest 43 Has Begun!!

Nani-forest Birthday Cake!

I have a few things to share today as my last couple of days of being the answer to life, the universe and everything draw my celebrated year to a close.

First off, I have found in my 42nd year, that the answer must be getting married and going to school, as those have been the two major accomplishments of 42 for me. I think I’ve actually better answered the question of what the question actually is than “what is six times eight?” I think Douglas Adams meant that the ultimate answer and ultimate question never will match, not the way we’d expect them to, anyway. So, life, the universe and everything is simply, not ever what we expect. I’m okay with that, it’s sort of what I expected...which means even in that assessment, I’m wrong! But maybe it’s just that the question and the answer to the ultimate everything is different for everyone.

Of course, maybe Douglas Adams was just a brilliant science fiction humorist and not a philosopher at all! Suffice it to say that in my humble opinion, life itself is like the Bible - the answers you seek are there if you keep an open mind and look for them. But beware, those who look for evil will find it they really want to as well! Have faith and don’t leave that faith completely up to someone else, always use the brain you were given in following the path that faith puts before you!


Okay, sermon part of the blog is done, let’s move on, shall we?

Nanifest 43


So, as of 5PM Friday, Nanifest 43 has begun and it will go through the actual holiday, Wednesday this year, until the midnight that ends this coming Sunday. Those of you that have been reading the Chronicles of Nani for parts of the past few years have heard my celebration format before, but as a refresher and for anyone stopping by for the first time, let me tell ya about it!

When I was a child, my birthday was always a special holiday just for me. Well, it was a special childhood holiday for Martina McBride, who was also born on July 29, 1966, too, but I didn’t know about her and hadn’t met friends Pat and Jerry, who also share my date. In fact, when I was a child I didn’t want to know anyone who dared share my birthday, same as I didn’t want to hear about anyone who shared my first name. I was a good little Leo, it was all about me and no one else was allowed to be like me. Then I grew up!

It didn’t happen all at once. Growing up doesn’t happen over night. I mean, when I turned 18, the banks all closed and church parking lots were full! Coincidentally, July 29, 1984 was a Sunday. I understand this same phenomena was true in Kansas for Martina.

One thing I did note as got older, my friends and family were growing and moving on too. That’s not sad. I had a license and a car and an income at 18 that I didn’t have as a child. But my birthday was evolving now. It wasn’t my day to be given cake and presents anymore. It became my celebration of the years I’d collected. It was the experience, the knowledge and the people who’d become the base of who I am. My birthday had become my time to celebrate everything I had and the people who have made that possible. The gifts I want every year to commemorate it are time with my people, the people who have made me who I am and to celebrate them and thank them. It was no longer something I could do in one day!

So, Nanifest was born. I celebrate my birthday from 5PM on the Friday before my birthday until the end of Sunday after my birthday, for a full 9-day celebration. For years where my birthday falls on a weekend, I extend that to 5PM Friday of the weekend before until the end of the weekend after, for a two-week extravaganza. For the years of weekend birthdays I travel more and see more people, but on every birthday I try to see as many people as I can. I never ask for gifts, although I love getting cards, but it’s time that’s the greatest gift to me. Even if it’s a phone call or a few words in an an email or text, it’s the people who’ve made the years behind me great that make me excited about the years ahead! Just a little reconnecting makes me all warm and fuzzy!

I will be 43 years old on Wednesday. I don’t try to hide my age, I’m proud of all that I’ve earned, loved and accomplished. It puts an exclamation point on the optimism I have for the future. I’ve heard it said, “Getting old sucks.” Getting old doesn’t suck. It’s NOT getting old would be bad. Age is a gift, one that renews itself and is better and more abundant every year.


Break Time!

Yeah, just like Baggle does it!

Well, I’m officially getting an “A” in my first Networking class. I’m kinda torn about it. I worked hard to earn my grade, but I don’t feel at all ready to take the certification test! I need to do some more studying! I’ll be starting my Microsoft classes in the fall semester, the first one online that will start while we’re on our honeymoon, so the laptop is coming along to occupy my time when David is playing poker or posting at Train Orders! I’m going to look for a networking internship for the fall when we get back.

If there are any networking pros reading, I’d love an email with thoughts or words of encouragement. Does it just take more than the first class to really grasp the whole thing that they teach in the prerequisite class to everything else? Will an internship help? Is now a good time, or do I need a couple more classes before I’m ready? I’d love to talk to someone in the field about it! (If you have a friend or relative in the field who’d consider sharing some thoughts, please ask them to drop me a line at the address in the bulletin board on top of the page - chroniclesofnani@gmail.com!)

I’m on break from school now until August 17. I plan to reread some of the text book, get my regular features going again on the blog and do some designing and scrapbooking in the next couple weeks. In fact, today’s Monday Mug Shot will follow this entry!

Scrap Stuff


If you’re getting the Scrap Bird newsletter, you already know that I’m the featured designer this week! You can read a bit about Nani, the designer and get the coupon code to get my Stardust kit for free! If you did my I Wanna Talk About Me challenge last month and already have Stardust, send me an email with the newsletter coupon code and link to your layout from last month and I’ll trade you a link for another kit!

Also, Birthday has been retired as a Chronicles of Nani freebie, but you can still get the kit for free, repackaged in my store. If you downloaded Birthday already, it’s still worth downloading it again at Scrap Bird for the coupon! Inside of Birthday, is a one-time use coupon good for 40% off any and all Digitalegacies Designs products in your cart!

Check out Birthday at Scrap Bird!

867-999-8212

It's always a good time for a pic of black forest cake!
click the cake for great ideas at Adrea's Recipes!

A Little Bit of This and That


If you've heard “Kiss Me Through The Phone” by Soulja Boy, you’ve heard that number before, 678 triple 9 8212. Its in the Chronicles of Nani iPod if you haven’t. I think it’s fantastic! If you call that number, you can sign up for call backs with messages from Soulja Boy with new music information. Awesome marketing! Imagine if you are a teenager and you get calls from an artist every day. Even if it’s just a recording, it fosters some great fan loyalty.

Unfortunately, it’s also being used for some pranks. I haven’t called the number. I like the music, but I’m a married woman in my 40s. I don’t need daily calls from a man my nieces would regard as “sexy.” But I did some internet research to find out if the number in the song was a real number. That’s when I discovered how the message call backs work. I guess you can put in a different number than the one you’re calling from, because there are people getting the calls that aren’t happy about it. One person left a complaint on one of the call reporting sites saying, in all caps, that she was insulted to be getting calls all the time from what seemed like a cult offering gay sex with soldier boys. hmm...

The video, which is awesome by the way, features Soulja Boy talking to his girlfriend, future wifey, on the phone from a card game. I was thinking, “hey! that could be me!” hehe Near the end of the video you see a middle aged white man talking to his wife from the office, working late so he’s kissing her on the phone, an older African American couple and an Asian woman on the phone, but I don’t recall they showed to whom she was talking. I love that. The video is totally inclusive. After showing the young black couple and older white couple, the last woman could be on the phone with her husband, girlfriend or even hot chat with a stranger. It’s whatever you need it to be to feel like you are represented in the video. And yes, it’s much more likely that David is the older guy calling home because he’s working late than the young guy at the poker table, but I can dream for him, right?

I think it’s sad that people are using the number to prank people, but it’s no different than all of the people in all of the area codes who called 867-5309 in the 80s asking for Jenny. Nah, this is better. If fans call the number just out of curiosity, they’ll likely be pleasantly surprised and keep the messages for themselves.



In Other News, Nani News,

I’m trying to get my end of the month stuff wrapped up. I have the new challenge written up or I Wanna Talk About Me at Scrap Bird, but I need to finish the posting bonus. I’m going to see my Dad tomorrow, Dave and Laura will be there with Tori and Rina, so Dad is planning to cook up family dinner tomorrow night. I am a total sucker for Dad’s grill-feats! Sunday is supposed to be decent train weather, but if I don’t have everything done by the time I leave tomorrow, I may need to stay home and finish. School starts Monday at 8AM, so I don’t really have lots of extra time!


Speaking of school, I got my lab program on the laptop and ready to go. I talked with tech support for the publisher of the lab disk yesterday since Vista isn’t listed as an okay OS on the DVD box. There are a few updates that I had to install and now it totally works on Vista. So, I’ll be able to do my lab work at home and not have to go back to campus to do it. YAY! Have I said how much I love Vista?

I will see my new doctor next week about my knee. That will make my very concerned brother-in-law and sister-in-law in Connecticut very happy! Ben and Ellen were both on me about getting it checked out both separately and then they teamed up on me last week! Oh, I take that as a wonderful expression of family love and a after the way it just didn’t bounce back like it usually does after we went to Boston, I’m good and ready to turn it over to a pro. Just any surgery that might need done will be done with a local anesthetic. I don’t want to be unconscious. Even if I’m loopy, I want to hear it if someone says “oops!”

Okay, lunchtime and back to wrapping up May. Hey David, I think I’m gonna have a Lean Pocket! ;)

Nani Notes

Get a cup of coffee and a comfy chair! (Freebie in here somewhere...)

MMM!! It’s a black forest donut!!

Happy Tuesday! Every day is a happy day right now because the last warm day I was happy and that attitude is in stasis, frozen in time as the temperature dropped again on us. So, I guess I’ll just have to be happy until my attitude thaws. Good thing I was in a good mood when I entered into “suspended ‘tudimation!”

Oh, it’ll get warmer. It’s the time of year where every sunny day, no matter how cold, holds the promise of spring! Of course spring means my favorite holiday after Christmas and my birthday, OPENING DAY!!! April 6 is just over a month away!!!

Nani's Dream Vacation Guide!

Remember what I said as the season drew to a close last year? We’re gonna kick some butt this year? Hmm??? The Reds are 4-3 so far in Spring Training. The first three wins were a victory over both teams from last year’s World Series and a 13-11 triumph over the Yankees! I know that David and Seamhead Gypsy would both want me to make a note of Sunday’s shellacking by the Red Sox, but after today’s effort, the one where three more runs for Boston in the bottom of the eighth STILL wasn’t enough to answer a game with three Cincinnati home runs, including a grand slam, I’ll just leave that alone.


I have some “desktop cleaning” to do today. There are some important tid-bits to share!


Cherry Chocolate Bloom Donut


Did you gaze upon that beautiful piece of commercial food art at the top of this entry? That’s a new creation at Tim Hortons, the Cherry Chocolate Blossom Donut. It just looks so HEAVENLY!

The good news, this chocolate-cherry yumminess is only 250 calories! I try to keep breakfast between 300 and 400 calories, so that donut with a banana and coffee fits right in. Tomorrow morning may need to be throw on clothes and head to Tims to pick up breakfast as soon as David is on his way. (his car blocks my car in until he’s gone)

David, laughing at my euphoric description of the donut I discovered last night at timhortons.com, insinuated they were 250 “bad” calories. No such thing! There are two kinds of calories that one must balance for healthy eating and especially for weight loss. It’s necessary to balance out the proper nutrients in the food pyramid for bones, energy, proper blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Those are the “health calories.” The other ones, a smaller group, but perhaps more important, are the calories that make sure you stay disciplined. You must have the calories that taste good and make you feel good to consume them, otherwise you won’t stick to the diet and you’ll completely binge! I prefer to make good balance with treats my lifestyle choice rather than binging and punishing! It’s easier to maintain the lost sizes!


Scrap Bird Featured In The Daily Scrapper!

Check out the current issue of The Daily Scrapper for an interview and feature with our shop owner, Marzena Fenert! Marzena talks about the shop, how and why she started it and there is a fabulous free kit, a collab created by the shop designers available there too!

Here is the preview for the kit:


The kit is called “In My Dreams,” which actually is a song from the 80’s by Dokken, but that’s a coincidence, I had nothing to do with naming the kit! The colors are totally a palate I’d use, but the theme was a little bit frillies and fairies for my usual style. But I’m happy with the contribution I made to the kit. My paper even made the preview! It’s a huge kit! 44 papers and 100 elements and all free! Click that link and check it out!


Kaline’s New Blog Entry


David brought a paper home Sunday with a “Letter To The Editor he thought Kaline might like to blog about. There is an issue of licenses for cats that’s getting a lot of buzz in town right now.

I don’t think Kaline necessarily got the same impression of cat licensing that everyone else does, but she blogs with much feline passion!

Check out her blog! Behind Orange Eyes


Wife 1500

Yummy lunch!

Campbell’s Select Lite Italian Vegetable soup,
wheat crackers and honey-cinnamon tonic - 221 calories

Wife 1500 is what I’m calling the weight loss project. I said I wanted to buck the trends and actually be thinner on my first anniversary than I was on my wedding day. 1500 is my daily calorie limit. The daily goal is a minimum of 1000 and maximum of 1500. That accommodates days I’m not so hungry and railfan breakfast at McDonalds.

I said before that part of the whole commitment is that I photograph what I’m eating. I think I’m going to save those photographs and make a diet journal or something. Right now, they are just yummy-looking reminders that dieting is easy!

On our first anniversary, I’m going to put on the same outfit I wore when we got married and ask David to take a picture of me. Ideally, the blouse will be baggy and the pants will fall off! I’ll hold them up for the picture, but I’m hoping it’s a pleasant difference and one I’ll be proud to show off at The Chronicles of Nani!


February Accounting




My personal earnings accounting for February was so-so. In the job-seeking world, I “invested” in what turned out to be a false hope resume distribution site, so I lost there. I just broke even in the scrapbook store, so nothing there either. But I got my PayPal debit card at the beginning of the month, so my blog sponsored post earnings are easy to track. I just leave them on the debit card rather than transferring them. I‘m very proud of the accomplishments there! My compensated posts not only covered my coffee for February, but David’s Valentine’s Day gift and Railfan Breakfast for both of us!


New in my store!

I think the biggest mistake I made last month was uploading two Valentine’s Day kits a couple days before the end of January. I got the exposure on the top of the new kits list for 2 days, then they were off the top of the features! My mistake, a rookie error. I think it might have helped, at least in the beginning of the month, if they were new products for February when the other Valentine products were featured new products. We’ll see if it helps to have waited until March to upload the Irish flag-colored kit, “I Feel Lucky!”


“I Feel Lucky” has 6 papers and 23 elements. With shamrocks and lots of green, they’re perfect for St. Patrick's Day, but the horseshoes, shooting stars and lucky pennies make the kit multifaceted enough to scrap any occasion where a little luck is needed. I suggested family games night or the kids studying for a test in the store, but even photos of the kids at the carnival or a wishing well at the park are great for this kit too! Best yet, add an introductory rate - ”I Feel Lucky” is $2.00, half off, for all of March!

Also new in the store is the add-on for “Because Of You.”


If you didn’t get your layout in for the “I Wanna Talk About Me” challenge last month, you can still pick up the bonus kit!


And last but not least, after all of the notes, A FREEBIE!!


This is a sampler of “I Feel Lucky.” It has 2 papers, and 6 elements, including a translucent star frame, like in the kit, but orange, for those who wish for their Irish luck on the orange side of the flag, like me! Click the preview to go to 4-Shared and enter the password, dwight-yoakam.

Thanks for checking out all of the notes and news in Naniland today! Have a second cup of coffee, or better yet, if you have one in your neighborhood, stop at Tim Hortons for a cup and a Cherry Chocolate Bloom Donut!