Luck O' The Hodge Podge

1. Do you play games of luck/chance for money? Have you ever played bingo for money? Visited a casino? Placed a bet on a horse? Bought a lottery ticket?

Not for big money, but I’ve bought a lottery ticket, usually scratch-offs, but I’ve bought or David and I have bought a Lotto ticket once or twice. I used to go to the harness races with my parents for a nice dinner and to watch the races. My Dad would place a $2 show bet for me and one for Mom for each race on the horses of our choice. I always picked the horse with my favorite name in the race. He let me keep anything I won. One night John and I were going to Canada the next day and I won enough to buy us a nice dinner. But that wasn’t my money doing the betting and I didn’t have to pay for the actual bets. I won decent sums in a few races, but nothing in a few too.

I’ve been to a casino a few times, including a few in Vegas. I brought the money I planned to lose, my entertainment budget for the trip, and brought home $100 of it, a net loss but I considered it winning because I didn’t lose as much as I planned. I did actually have a winning night in a casino once. John took me to the Motor City Casino with him for dinner; he was a regular player and got a huge coupon to a restaurant that he could only afford with a coupon and took lil' sis for a spoil evening. I brought $20 to lose after dinner and took $75 home. I love video poker!


2. Will you be preparing and/or dining on the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage meal this St. Patrick's Day? Mashed-baked-hash browned-french fried...your favorite way to have potatoes?

I used to love corned beef but now I’ll likely never eat it again. Vertigo and subsequent porcelain hugging pretty much killed the taste of corned beef for me. It happened twice after eating corned beef when I had an inner ear infection in early 2004. I thought I’d become allergic to corned beef, but it was just coincidence that had the same effect.


3. What's the last thing you felt 'green with envy' over?

Envy is something I really never have, not real envy. I will say “I envy you,” but it really means “I’m happy for you.” I really don’t have a feeling of wanting something someone else has or a situation someone else has that bad. Maybe sometimes I grumble because someone “doesn’t deserve” a situation or good fortune because they didn’t earn it, or hurt too many people on the way. But I certainly don’t envy the karma they did earn to go with it!


4. What's at the end of your rainbow?

A big cup of good coffee! :)

My Ginger Scraps signature this month

Credits: It Happened This Year by Connie Prince, 

coffee cur (slightly recolored) from Where’s My Coffee by Aprilisa Designs

5. March 12th marks the anniversary of the death of Anne Frank (June 12, 1929-March, 1945). Anne's diary detailing her time spent hiding from the Nazi's during the war ranks as one of the best selling books of all time. Besides your blog, do you keep any sort of diary or journal? Was this a habit you developed as a child or is journaling something new for you?

I kept a personal journal as well as a couple for classes in high school. Stupid me, I threw out all of my high school journals in my 20s because I thought they were silly “kid stuff.” I’d love to be able to go back and read that kid stuff now if just for the laugh. I started keeping a journal again in 1994, trying to be more formal about it, but I found that I had lots of personal notes in with my papers. Today, the Chronicles of NanI file on my computer and extended hard drive contains yearly documents that include my blog posts, papers, some message board and Facebook posts and my personal entries. Remember that I write when I’m angry, depressed or worried because if I just write, the actual cause of my negative emotions comes out and I can resolve them. Sometimes that takes a few days and 30 pages, but it works for me.


6. What's an item in your home or closet that contains every color of the rainbow?

Jelly bean jar

7. Write a limerick with you as the subject. You can do it!! Just remember this is a family friendly blog...don't make me get out my wooden spoon.

Nani likes coffee from Nantucket… hehehe

I suffer from creative blocks
For writing a limerick that rocks
The meter and rhyme
Though often sublime
Is messed up from changing the clocks


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I admit that I struggled with the fourth line of my limerick and I have to credit David for it. Sublime isn’t a word in my regular usage vocabulary, I just know it when I read it in context. That means all on its own, I had to get the definition before I used it because it’s not a normal Nani-word. The definition tells me David has a much higher opinion of my poetry than modesty allows me to have.


I haven’t been blogging as often as usual because I really have had blogger’s block, even for witty or informative answers for some of the memes. That may be in part to just time and the amount of writing I do for my Project 52 this year! What I think I’ll do is post the main journaling part of each week as a blog post. Hopefully that will kick my blogger’s block in the butt. I’m going to start posting some of the layouts and journaling I’ve already done, since I’m working on the week 10 layout right now and haven’t posted all of the layouts for the first 9. Also, Week 10’s topic is Smash Books and the main journaling is pretty much things I already said in the Smashing Defined…Sorta post from October. So I may start with posting the journaling as I go with next week. But look for a 52 topix post this afternoon.

Fill-In, Dream, Fix, Frag, Cook, Smash, Scrap

Happy Friday! Tomorrow is December already. Wow. November was actually a pretty quick month. I think that’s because the political ads made things seem r….e….l….l…y…s…l…o…w And the holidays make time seem to just zip by! But don’t worry; things will slow back down in January, not politician slow, but nothing to do slow. I always find that I can make January go faster if I stress about Valentine’s Day. Whether it was “Oh please, not another February 14 without a date,” or “What can I give him that he won’t take the wrong way?” or “I’m married now; what can I give him he will take the wrong way?” stress with a deadline makes things go much faster!

Yeah, that wasn’t as happy an opening as it could have been, huh? Sunday evening is the big grocery trip to buy the necessary things for Davinities season and the start of things going on every weekend that I’ll be baking for. Okay and you all know I love it! In the midst of baking and gatherings, there is also a train card to put together so we can get everything printed and mailed, a few gifts to mail, including my Secret Santee’s box. My Santee’s gift(s) will be wrapped today and mailed tomorrow or Monday, depends which works for my sleigh driver.

Fun Fill-ins from Hilary at Feeling Beachie today and some big frags on my blog to clear that I’ll share with Mrs. 4444 for Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time, so let’s get to it!

This week’s statements:
1. I have always dreamed of ____
2. My ___ is my ____
3. I love to ____ when I ____
4. I will never forget ____ with ____

My Answers:

1. I have always dreamed of visiting San Antonio, TX. There was a place I’d never been and never seen pictures of that I kept returning to in dreams. The dreams were never the same or the same people, so not recurring dreams, just a recurring place. When I saw pictures of San Antonio, maybe 10 years ago, I was shocked; it was the place in my dreams! Now I want to go see it for real!

2. My husband is my blog editor. He took the place of my Mom’s proofreading the poor typist who is equally poor at proofreading…but I do okay with the ideas and words part of writing. Every text I get telling me of a typo on my blog leaves me convinced that sound I hear is Mom laughing at me. She would have loved David.

3. I love to sing when I bake.

4. I will never forget going fishing with Kelly that first year we knew each other.

** 

 

Doesn’t that look good? We had Cocoa Pork Chops for dinner this week; SO GOOD! I agree with a comment about a similar recipe I read, “Cocoa and chili powder together?" But they are fabulous!

Since there’s just the two of us for dinner, a recipe for a family is usually way too much, but for this one, I made the full recipe for the rub and keep it in a zip-loc with the other seasoning mixes. Good thing too! When we had a leftovers night and there was a serving of pork chops and a serving of meatloaf, David picked the Cocoa Pork; score!

The recipe for the rub is simple. 2 TBS brown sugar, 1 TBS cocoa powder, 1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. cumin. Put the spices in a zip-loc bag and shake them to mix. Rub onto pork and prepare in your favorite way. The first time I made them, I rubbed oil on the chops and then rubbed the spices and baked them for about 20 minutes at 375. Last time, I rubbed the spices on the chops without oil and grilled them. David and I both preferred the grilled method, but both were good!


**  Ronalyn, of The Adventures of Esa and Zed, asked in comments to see some of my current Smash book pages. You might remember seeing some of my Smash Archive pages here, and I like them. They are personal and fun to look at, fun for me to look at anyway, and I think that’s the point. They aren’t works of art, except that those of us that paper craft add our art without even trying.

Here are some of the pages I’ve done in my new Smash book:

First pages; Nani past and now likes

 

Cool stuff

MS Awareness pages with information from magazines

(Still filling that one)

I want to get some bags of crafting letters. The MS has really taken its toll on my penmanship so I’m cutting letters out of magazines and writing some words ransom-note style, which I think looks pretty cool! A nice assortment of styles and colors of letters would also make way for some cool Word art too. Of course there are the gazillion pother fun things that will complement my stickers; clips, pockets, paper tapes… that I have on my wish list that I’ll add after Christmas since I don’t spend on me in December, but I really am enjoying smashing and I love the quality and size of the K & Company books.


**  If you’ll all indulge me in a little scrapbooking brag time, I’d like to share some of the fun things I’ve been working on.

Credits: Christmas In July contributions from Amy Peck,

 Blue Heart Scraps, Connie Prince, Pixels by Jen, Rosey Toes Designs, 

Twin Mom Scraps, Z Pink Boudoir, Find Your Bliss Designs

I did this for the scraplift challenge for November at Ginger Scraps. I like how it turned out. I do a page documenting each year’s Davinities with my Christmas pages for that year. Last year was a banner year for Davinities, the cookies and baked goods were all so good! I was proud of how simply huge by golden-brown thumb was! I’m almost intimidated going into this year’s baking!

The next layout goes with the sentimentality of the Christmas season.

Credits: Ladies’ Boutique by Darlene Haughin

That’s Kelly and me! The photo on the right was taken way back in the 80s; Kelly and her maid of honor, me! The photo on the left is from this January, when Kel and her dad visited 24 years is a lot of history!

Besties was made with Darlene Haughin’s Ladies’ Boutique kit. It was the current kit and this layout was done before the end of October and before the computer that died necessitating the new computer that was replaced with the one I’m typing on now. Ladies’ Boutique is still on introductory sale, but today is the last day!



**  Darlene has a new kit in her 3Scrapateers and My Memories  stores:

A Very Merry Christmas is available and ON SALE for 30% off until January 4. So you have some time to make some of those Christmas memories that will be perfectly scrapped with this kit! If you’re like me, you still have a folder or Christmas 2011 photos on your hard drive begging for this kit while it’s on sale to get caught up!


**  Let’s finish off this week’s fragments with a freebie! Darlene okayed me to share the quick-page version of my layout with Ladies’ Night with you at The Chronicles of Nani! There are two quick pages in the download; one with and one without the Besties word art:

Click mage to download at 4-Shared.

And my blog is all clean and defragged and ready for the weekend!

Wednesday Hodge Podge Holiday Kick Off

1. Which do you prefer-pretty gift wrap with a bow or a pretty gift bag with/without a bow? What percentage of your holiday gifts are currently (as in right this very minute) wrapped in some form or fashion?

I usually wrap gifts with a simple bow. I used to go all out, stocking up with ribbons and bows and other little accents to decorate package and always mini candy canes. Those were the packages I loved as a kid. They were always for the grownups. Elegant shiny papers with flowers and bows as part of the to/from tags, but my gifts were always the kids paper with a simple bow. The gifts were nice and kid-appropriate, but I always wished that one of those elegant gifts was for me. So, when I was older, everyone got an elegant gift from me.

Looking back, the gifts I thought were elegant were probably just a little bit more, like the ones I did later, but to a child the foil papers and a candy cane by the tag was enough more to make it special. Seriously, I was always even more excited if there was a candy cane on my present.

As for this year, the shopping is near done, but everything isn’t here yet; cyber shopping is awesome for the mobility-challenged! Not one item is wrapped yet.


2. What is one item on your Christmas list this year?

The one really big thing I’d love to see under the tree, in my stocking, etcetera, is Smash book stuff. I’ve done about 20 pages in the Simple Orange one I bought and I love it. Much as I really enjoy looking at my binder ones I did, the real deal is turning out to be very London Fog Effect to me. I love the quality of the construction, the size of the book and just the feel of it in my hand and as I turn the pages. Like I said on Friday, not everything, but there are some things that the brand names just have a special aura to them.


3. What makes a home?

Cats!

4. Motown founder Berry Gordy celebrates his birthday on Hodgepodge Day-November 28th. Are you a fan of the Motown sound? If so, who's your favorite Motown artist and/or song? Here's a list in case you're stuck. 

Like any style of music there is some I really enjoy and some I don’t. If the mood hits me, I’ll listen to my Motown best of CD, but I don’t have one particular artist that I’d call a favorite.


5. Red or green-which one is more prevalent in your closet?

Being a Reds fan notwithstanding, it’s definitely green. My first choice of almost anything to wear is “the green one.”


6. True or false-bacon makes it better? If you answered true, what's your favorite dish made with bacon? 

Within reason, bacon is a nice complement to many foods, but not EVERYTHING is better with it. My favorite bacon thing is just a slice of thick, and I mean really thick, sliced bacon cooked to crunchy.


7. Share a favorite holiday memory.

I’ll share a fun holiday memory with a visual:

This is Christmas 2005, Kaline’s first Christmas. We didn’t even realize she’d been climbing the tree until we walked in to the living room and saw the glowy cat eyes peeking out of the center of the tree! It was more mischief than destruction at 3 pounds, I remembered Azzie discovering the tree as a kitten. Azzie didn’t climb, but she played and breaking a few glass balls that dangled low on the tree, so with a new kitten, I made sure not to put any breakable ornaments low on the tree. I hadn’t thought about a kitten as an ornament!

Thankfully, our 13-pound cat has accepted that she is too heavy to climb the tree bow, There was no climbing last year, but the year before she had climbed high enough to knock the angel off the top; I guess that was her goal and her tree work is complete.


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I love Blogland during the holiday season! Everyone shares ideas and stories about gifts and shopping, Christmas memories, ideas and baking recipes they’re proud of. It’s just a warm and fuzzy time of year. Thanks to all of you who add to our great community!

A Fragmented Mind With Blanks To Fill In

So this is the one day that tells the retail chains if they will make a profit this year. I’ve read in a few places that Black Friday’s name comes from the fact that the day after Thanksgiving is the pivotal point where stores can forecast the rest of the year’s sales. Considering that most corporate fiscal years start November 1, that’s pretty impressive. I’m not saying I doubt any of it; marketing has become quite a science.

  
Since I have a few of them, we’ll call that tidbit that I believe to be true, my first fragment this week. I’ll add that the “I believe to be true” is because I think I remember reading it on the Internet and you can’t trust things you read on the web abut Black Friday because it might be a Cyber Monday shopper just trying to make the crazy Friday shoppers look silly. Of course, carpal tunnel and camping out on your own porch might be considered cra….

………………………………………………

I’m back. Sorry, doorbell; I had to go get a package off the porch.


Where was I? Oh yes, Fragments! So here’s some more!

*  A Facebook friend did some questioning of employees at Target about working on Thanksgiving. At Target, working on Thanksgiving was volunteer only, they were paid time and a half and got a $100 bonus for taking the shift. I’m actually kind of glad for that because I usually find a thing or two at Target and I like their novelty Christmas candy selection. I’ll again consider them a store I’ll shop at this holiday season.


*  This is mostly a photo-fragment: Last week when David was working nights and there was some sun, enough sun, because Norfolk Sothern’s Southern Heritage Unit was in the area! (I’m wearing my Southern t-shirt as I type this) Isn’t she beautiful?

*  As 2012 draws to a close, there is a little somethin-somethin I for me. I bought my first real Smash book!

I know, I know, why would I want to buy a Smash brand book, when I’ve already put my “smashables” from all the years up through 2011 in binders with repurposed scrapbook paper? Well, first off the stock of scrapbook paper won’t last forever and the price of decent weight 2-sided paper pus a binder and glue starts to get near the price of a Smash Book, but not bound quite as solidly.

There’s also what I call the “London Fog Effect.” My Joey Votto jersey has the London Fog Effect too. I am really not a champagne taste kind of gal. I like nice restaurant now and then, but going out for dinner at Cracker Barrel is a fine treat to me. Kelly made me that beautiful Pandora-styled bracelet and I love it. I love looking at Pandora, but if I’m buying beads and a bracelet, Pugster is a lot less expensive and I have no gnawing desire for an actual Pandora. (Although I often still use Pandora wallpapers on my computer) But London Fog was one of those things for me. I had a few okay raincoats over the years, but in the back of my mind I wanted a nice real London For dress raincoat for work/interviews. When Mom and I saw a London Fog tent sale at an outlet mall we went to, we stopped to look and there was a beautiful taupe double-breasted trench with a button-in lining for winter. It was my size and Mom told me to try it on just to see how it looked. It looked great, it felt luxurious! Tent-sale prices, Mom is the one who told me it looked good and very professional and I ought to have it. She made it a gift. That coat still makes me feel like a million bucks when I wear it.

The authentic Joey Votto jersey with his name and number and all of the official Reds accents has the same effect. You can just feel that it’s the real deal. So I wanted a Smash Book for the same reason. Yes, I bought into the branding. The pages are thicker than the ones in my books, more durable, especially for thicker or heavier items I put in it and the way it’s put together is sturdy, quality. Of course, it feels special with nothing in it. Time will tell if that feeling stays as I use it if it truly is in the class of my London Fog coat or Joey Votto jersey. I have a folder full of 2012 smashables to help me find out!


I’m going to take a fragments break to visit Hilary’s Friday Fill-in.

This week’s statements:
1. I put ___ on a hot dog
2. when it___ I ____
3. If my house____then I would be able to___
4. If I was getting married tomorrow I would _______________ differently so we could ________________differently now.


My Answers:

1. I put mustard and nothing but mustard on a hot dog unless I’m having a Coney, then it’s chili with onions and mustard. I usually add yellow mustard when I have chili to enjoy it as a “dogless Coney” too.

2. When it snows I am happy to stay indoors with a big mug of mocha.

3. If my house was self-cleaning then I would be able to get more accomplished in a day!

4. If I was getting married tomorrow I would approach the photos differently so we could enjoy the scrapped pages differently now. My only regret is that I didn’t go a professional photographer or at least a dedicated photographer with a list of shots to get for our reception weekend. I would have loved to have 2-shots or 3-shots with each of our guests and a few of the balloon release we did. I would not have done anything else differently. :)


*  Windows 8 is Windows moving toward the smart phone, tablet and computer all working the same. There are touch-screen laptops out now and Windows 8 really is made for those! There are things I really like about it and one thing I really hate. I can’t stand the fact that if I move a window too close to the edge it instantly becomes full screen. I also don’t like the way windows will snap to either side for 2-window viewing that fills the screen. I know that’s supposed to be a “cool” new feature, but I’ve always used three to five windows open, sized and spaced so I would see the contents of all of them to select elements for scrapbook pages. That takes having windows in the corners, but if I get them too close, snap they go and I have a full screen of one of them instead of five. It messes with my organization. I’m slowly getting used to it, not dragging things too close to the edge and when I do, I curse under my breath and pull it away to snap it back to where I wanted it. That’s a pain, but for the most part, Windows 8 is pretty user-friendly.

David will give you quite a different opinion!


*  I have been too lax on tweeting and scrapbook gallery commenting! That’s a project I’m going to work on! I find I use Twitter a lot more during baseball season because a lot of my tweeps are fellow Reds or Tigers fans and I follow a lot of baseball players, who also tweet less in the off season. We’ll see if I get to tweeting more.

I know I‘ll be sure to be leaving more gallery comments at Ginger Scraps because I was invited to join the praise team there, essentially the cheerleaders who make sure every layout gets some love. There are perks in the form of scrapbook kits for meeting comment goals. Yeah, that sounds like copping out and using the freebies to encourage myself to do the polite thing I wanted to do anyway, but it does mean I’ll be commenting even more than the minimum I’d set for myself, so I consider it a win-win.


*  Finally, I’d like to take some suggestions for Friday memes. I kinda like doing three smaller memes but sometimes I can’t really answer the 5 Question Friday questions in any serious way because the questions assume I am a mom. And I am a cat-mom and was sort of a fill-in mom when my nieces were growing up, buy I really can’t answer questions about being with human kids every day, so I’d like to do one or two others too and choose the ones that have the questions I’m best capable in answering on any given Friday. Does anyone host a trains meme?? :) Just if you have a suggestion, I’d love a link!


And so I’m ready to post on this day after Thanksgiving. In the Nani-David household It’s not Black Friday, but dark gray Friday for sure; lots of serious wind and some rain. I’m glad to just be inside blogging, smashing and scrapbooking…oh, and I guess a little laundry too.

Just Swingin'

I wish “swing state” meant we have more playgrounds per capita

1. Who wakes up in the morning with the kids, you or hubby?

I wake up first and Kaline usually comes down with me to get a few cuddles while I’m having my morning coffee. Then she goes back upstairs and she and Carla usually both curl up with Daddy until he wakes up.


2. Do you watch the World Series even if your team isn't in it?

Yes. The only difference is if my team is in it, I’m sitting in front of the TV and don’t do anything distracting. If my team isn’t in the Series, I usually have the game on while I’m scrapbooking of something else.


3. What is the best compliment you have received?

At the risk of making my ego sound insane, but hey, I’m a voter in Ohio so there is a natural lack of ego control, I get compliments often and I don’t weigh any of them as better than the others. When someone pays me a compliment, especially when there is no reason for them to feel obligated to, it always pretty special and I always think the person giving it is pretty special to extend that kindness.


4. Do/did you dress up to take your kids trick or treating?

We don’t take the kids out on Halloween, in fact they usually hide when the trick or treaters start coming to the door. That’s especially good for Carla; there are some sick people who do some cruel things to animals, especially black cats on Halloween. If either of them, but especially Carla got out of the house on Halloween, I’d forget the3 treat giving really fast.


5. Do you have a favorite bible verse? What is it and why?

I don’t have one favorite verse, but I have always been able to find what I need when I open the Bible for some comforting words.

This week’s statements:
1. ___ is my favorite feature
2. Thinking about ___ makes me ___
3. It’s been a long time since______
4. I just don’t understand_____________


My Answers:

1. Frosting is my favorite feature.

2. Thinking about cookies makes me smile.

3. It’s been a long time since I made veggie soup.

4. I just don’t understand why so many people can’t separate their church and their politics.

**  In spite of the rain that we got this morning, David and I foraged out to vote today. We have early voting here in Ohio, but you’ve probably heard that. After all, Ohio is one of the few places with important people in it. Yeah, nothing like living in a swing state to bolster your ego. There are twelve states that matter to the major party candidates for president. The other states minds have already been made up for them and they will have to bore themselves this election with unimportant things like property taxes, school levies and who is running for mayor anyway? In Ohio we get flooded with the presidential attacks on, not a daily or hourly, but constant basis. I keep the TV and radio turned off during the day and David brings in the mail after making a stop at the garbage can to throw away half of it because we both have several glossy, unrecyclable dead trees from both sides and supporting organizations.

Then it’s the baseball playoffs, brought to you by Mitt Romney with special interests by More-Money-Than-You and a guest appearances by President Barack Obama, with notable cameos by Sherrod Brown and Josh Mandel, the combatants for senate. They all want to be in Washington and no one had bothered to mention our libraries which are also on the ballot here in Toledo. Seriously, I fear that most people will either not bother with our local issues or just flip a coin. And why are we disregarding our local issues and races? Why don’t some of us even know about them? Because we’re a swing state! If only one of the tons-to-spend candidates would use some of that time they purchase to drown us in how bad their opponent is could only at least remind us that there are local races on the ballot we need to consider too; I mean how many times do we need to see the same depressing message about “the other guy?” --sigh-- I envy the states that aren’t important; they get to focus their attention on more important things.


**  Over last weekend Kaline found a new…not new, old toy. I’m kind of amazed actually. When she was a kitten her favorite toy was a foam yellow ball that Sheri got for her. Sheri actually got her a tube of foam balls in yellow, green, blue and pink, but the yellow one was her favorite. I’ve heard that cats are color blind, so I never understood how one pastel ball was better than the others. True I gave her the yellow one first and when it was mangy and falling apart I gave her the green one and put the yellow one in the trash. She crawled her little kitten but up the bag and fished it out of the trash! “No green ball, Mommy; the yellow one!” I just could not get her to like any of the other three as much as that mangy yellow ball!

Fast forward a few years, we’re living in Ohio with Daddy and Baggle and there is a new sister. Carla was just over a year old and she had so much kitten still left in her as far as playing goes. Carla wasn’t the fan of foam balls that Kaline was and the foam balls disappeared, as cat toys often do. They usually resurface when furniture is moved. The yellow foam ball never did resurface; until last weekend. Kaline was in the annex room off the kitchen and there was kitty playing noise. She came into the dining room where I was and lo and behold, she was having a second kittenhood with a dirt-marked yellow foam ball! The foam ball would have been here since fall 2009 when Carla was new. Amazing the irony of her finding that particular ball after all this time! I never saw that ball when I cleared that room earlier this year, maybe it came up from the basement. It’s been her favorite toy, again, all this week.



**  If you haven’t had a chance to read yesterday’s blog about my Smash books, check it out! I have some photos of my Smash Archive book pages and a little personal history about smash-style scrapbooks in my family’s history. If you wondered what exactly I meant by “smashing” it should explain, although I welcome any further questions!

A pocket holds the letter from the bank that says the Camaro is paid in full!

Smashing Defined…Sorta

Smashing Defined…Sorta

I’ve been getting lots of comments asking and guessing about Smashing/Smash Books.  I am NOT an authority here, but I’m glad to explain my use of the idea!

First a little background. My first acquaintance with Smash books was the video promoting the Smash Book line by K&Company on a blog back in early 2011.  The SMASH line was first released by K&Company in the spring of 2011. That’s the video I saw on my blog post I Want To Get Smashed from the end of last month. I loved the idea from the video, but since I’m a digital scrapbooker, it was an idea I put away in the back of my brain in case I ever wanted to use it.

Both of my Grandmothers had books done in a similar way. Noni’s photo albums included newspaper clippings, invitations and prayer cards mixed in with her photos and they weren’t in the strict chronological order mine are. There were lots of comments and dates and it was obvious what eras the items belonged to. Grandma had a serious smash book of the 1940s with pictures and words cut out of magazines; pictures of things she liked or wanted and inspiring, happy words. They weren’t arranged as elegant pages, just happy pages; things she wanted to see and think about. I didn’t keep that book and now I’m really wishing I had! It’s really not any different than my great-grandmother’s Bible that has passages underlined and photos, cards and clipping in between the pages. All of them are personal books that bring peace and smiles. This past spring, Tori made a similar style book for a friend to the one Grandma had made. It was a remembrance for a friend who was going to a different college.

SMASH Stick is felt tip pen on one end and glue stick on the other

Today’s SMASH Book by K&Company is pretty much the same thing. All right, no, it’s not a Bible, but you can write or paste in Bible verses if that is a part of what makes you feel good. You could make your smash book a bold and full personal devotional book. What a smash book is, is totally custom to the person making it; there is no set way, there are no rules. The book itself can be a theme, for instance there is a wedding themed smash book which can hold planning notes, cards, photos, favors, receipts, personal thoughts jotted down with the SMASH stick; all of your wedding mementos. Or just use your smash book to hold random thoughts, a funny cartoon or drawing, inspirational quotes and some things you’d like to buy in the next year. Google Smash Book and look at the images; endless ideas!

But you don’t have to buy the official SMASH books to Smash. As I said, Noni “smashed” in her old black paper photo album and Grandma “smashed” on very nice writing paper. Mums “smashed” in her most used and treasured Bible. 

Smashing used as a craft verb is something I’ve read on several blogs where people have talked about Smash Books. It’s like one scraps when putting together a scrapbook, one smashes when putting things in a smash book. The actual difference between scrapbooking and smash booking is organization. Scrapbook pages are carefully planned out. They utilize matching papers and embellishments with photos and sometimes ephemera to create the page as a work of art in and of itself bringing a memory to life through the photos and journaling. A smash book relies on the tactile items as they connect to memories with some or a lot of journaling and elements. The pages don’t have to be laid out artistically, as they say “just smash it in.”

Now, most of the visitors at The Chronicles of Nani are the creative types. I think that’s where smash and scrap blur a little. We just can’t glue something into a book without something that makes it unique, artsy. Back to the “no rules” clause. Anything you do with a smash book is right. To me, especially after seeing books that Noni and Grandma kept, in the USA and Italy 50+ years ago, Smash books are “back to basics.” It’s the culmination of scrapbooks, art journals, devotionals and trinket boxes all in one and with the concept of the original scrapbooks long before they were an art form. They’re a great way for someone who is busy to keep their memories, a wonderful book of the most special things and a central place for all the little mementos that are too small for a major presentation but too sweet to dispose of and forget. In a way, smash books are like the Blog Friday Fragments many of us do each week with Half Past Kissin Time!

So Nani and smash books. You’ll remember in that original post I did about smashing, 181 baseball ticket stubs. I’m not throwing out my baseball ticket stubs! But in cleaning through things to unearth my craft room, the woman cave, I realized there were other things, I have concert tickets, jokes I printed, inspirational quotes, cards and little bits of personal ephemera from things I’ve done and places I’ve been. When I dropped that envelope with all my baseball ticket stubs and had to put them back in order, the memory of the smash books hit me. I also had a ton of paper scrapbooking supplies that I’m not using anymore, so it all kind of fell together.


I’d like to share some of the Smash Archive book. It goes to the end of ish2004. I say “ish2004” because while 2004 is the stopping point of this book, the beginning isn’t so defined.  I started in 1966, but I have some photos and mementos from my grandparents. They are things that a part of me and make me smile, even if I couldn’t possibly have been there for them!

For the cover, I used a three-ring binder that I had in a retro-looking aqua. I titled it with some stickers I had in my scrapbooking stash. I think I’m going to use a plastic dust cover on it or replace those stickers with ones that stick better. The cover is a work in progress.

 

I made a “smash band” for holding the book closed, thereby protecting the pages, by using an extra-long rubber band with a smiley clip from my office supplies.

You see from the first page that I’m not dwelling on layout as much as placement. I want to make sure things fit on the page, its okay if they overlap a little, it’s okay if they don’t. Things don’t have to be related but I have to be able to read and see the pictures. I did add the Best Friends sticker to the picture of me with John, Kelly and Scotty. That written piece in the corner is my personal mission statement from many years ago and my signature. I have a few things I’d handwritten because I want to remember how legible my handwriting and printing used to be now that MS has robbed me of my penmanship

As you can see, it’s a blocked page of special little things; a bookmark, top of an M&M box, photo of Mom, a Cracker Jack prize baseball card, ticket from World Of Coke in Atlanta and a printed on paper photo of Eric Karros in Dodger Blue, purrrr! ;) That photo was from about a decade before I met my husband!

Remember the whole inspiration was the baseball ticket stubs:

SO much better than scattered on the floor!

And this one is M&Ms. I collect M&Ms and bought all kinds of M&Ms scrapbook stuff, but I never had any reason to scrap using M&Ms stuff. Now it doesn’t matter; I can smash the M&Ms in anywhere!

So there’s the peek at what and how I’ve smashed so far. I know me and can already see the desire to do some different things, so I’m sure my style here will change and grow which is why I wanted to smash the older items first, so they are represented by my older smashing style. It’s just like with my scrapbooks; I won’t go back and redo my older digital pages, although my skill level is much better now because the skill level where I started is part of a memory too.

Halloween Prep and Hodge Podge

I spent time yesterday with my hands on other than my keyboard. I got the first 50 Halloween bags done. David is going to pick up another box of snack-size Zip-Locs tonight. I have 100 more to go! We had 158 kids last year and I’m doing 150 bags for this year. I always make up bags to cover last year’s count and I have an “overflow bowl” that is a couple treats for me while I do door-duty and extra candy for if/when I run out of bags. My counting system is that when I get to the overflow bowl, I put one piece of candy in another bowl for every kid I give to after the bags are gone., Then I count those pieces after the door is closed to add to the number of bags for my total.

This is all an important count to me and seeing the number rise each year is a big issue of accomplishment for me too. You see, I love kids. Just because I didn’t want the “mom” job title doesn’t mean that I don’t just adore kids! Since we don’t have to pay for braces, school clothes and eventual car insurance or prom dresses, we can spoil a little more on the night where you can give a bunch of candy to kids you don’t know without anyone looking you up on an offenders register! I love the cute and creative costumes and the happy kids. I usually find that most of those kids are sweetly polite and I hear “thank you” much more often than not.

Halloween was such a disappointment for me in Michigan. After my own trick or treat years passed, I looked forward to being the one at the door passing out candy. When we were still going out in our small neighborhood, it was mostly just the neighborhood kids that went there, so there were usually large bags full of candy or full size candy bars. There were even homemade cookies and caramel apples for the neighborhood kids the homeowner knew. I was excited to be the giver the first year that I was no longer one of the beggars. That year we had a grand total of about 10 after I’d made up generous bags for 20. The number went down each year until there had been 2 years in a row with no knocks on the door and no happy screams of “trick or treat!”

I was so excited in 2007 when I got to host my first Halloween Door in a city neighborhood! David said he and Vanessa were home and had done treats once or twice. I asked if he remembered an approximate count and he said it was maybe 35. I was so happy! That number already topped the high point of my giving in Michigan. I made up 30 bags with an overflow bowl. I went through those 30 and gave out from the overflow bowl and had a happy, happy night; Over 40 kids! 2008 was a warm Saturday night and David and I dressed up in our Mounds and Almond Joy costumes and sat on the porch. We lost count of the overflow after our 45 bags after 15. In 2009 I did 80 bags and had 12 more kids after that. I liked the trend! I did 100 in 2010 and last year 150. I’m sticking with the 150 this year since we weren’t that much over last year. I can’t be happier than to see the number of kids at our door jump from 45 to 158 in just 5 years! Giving out candy is my absolute favorite part of Halloween; keep the grown-up parties, I’d rather treat the kids.

So, it’s Wednesday, let’s join Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for the Hodge Podge!

1. So, do you like beer?

Yes, but I’m picky about beer and I have to be in the right mood to drink it. I finally drank my last Pumpkin Spice Ale from the 6-pack David brought me last year. It’s good beer and I’ll drink it again; the last beer lived in the fridge a year and was still good! I like Canadian beer, my favorites being Blue Light or Molson Ice. Honey Brown made in New York is a personal favorite of mine. I like a darker beer with a sweet edge to it and I love trying the samplers with a taste of several beers in Microbreweries. I’m not likely to chug a 6-pack, like in my early 20s, but when I do have a beer it will be a Nani-rated GOOD beer.


2. What's your least favorite repetitive task?

Refilling prescriptions


3. When was the last time you rode a bus? Where was it headed?

I have a face to face interview to be accepted in the local Paratransit program next month, then on to vocational rehab and hopefully I’ll be using a bus daily to get to and from work.

The last time I was on a bus was…probably in Metro Atlanta in the mid-90s taking the Park-N-Ride from the Mall in Cobb County to downtown Atlanta.


4. What song from your childhood or from your own children's childhood could make a parent's nerves stand on end?

Well, my own nieces when they were with me. The Curly Lasagna tapes used to make my Dad a little nuts, but we loved to listen to them together.

“And the cow goes MOO. MOO. MOO-MOO-MOO!”


5. The US Presidential election cycle is drawing to a close (can I get an AMEN??), and the third and final debate was held last night...what was the last thing you 'debated about'?

My greatest debates lately have been internal.


6. Can a person make too much money? How much is too much?

It totally depends on the person. There are those who do good things for their family members and charity while enjoying some luxuries for themselves with great sums of money earned providing goods or services that have filled a great need or convenience to people and they treat the employees who made their success possible with respect. (I also consider entertainment to be a quality of life need) Those people don’t have too much. I think of Steve Jobs (was) and Bill Gates (is) as people who don’t have too much.

What I call obscenely wealthy people indeed have too much. They make money providing a good or services that have no measurable value or do more harm than good and don’t treat the employees doing all of their work well. They only give to charity in as much as they need to for tax shelters. They lavish themselves but even family members are only rewarded for the things done that boost their ego. (Drug dealers and unscrupulous businessmen fall into this category) These people have WAY too much. I’m thinking of a former employer who was arranging for scalper tickets to the Super Bowl while I was training the guy in India over the phone who would be doing my job by May as an example of “too much.”


7. Pop-soda-coke-something else...what's it called where you live?

Where I was born and I think where I live too, it’s “pop.” I call it soda. Worked as hard to make that a habit as the proper pronunciation of “W” and “hundred” when I was in broadcast school; good clean Broadcast English.


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I spent a couple of hours Smashing yesterday. Before I get started on the Friendship Books with Kelly, I wanted to get a feel for the rhythm of Smashing, get my supplies organized and get in the creative habit of a few tricks for better smashing. I have my paper things; ticket stubs, cartoons I cut out, receipts I’ve kept and auricles and a few other flat mementos separated into decades. Seriously, I have a huge box and I’ve been going through it and deciding if it’s Smash or Trash stuff. I’d say if I have a couple afternoon hours today, I’ll be ready to assemble my second binder starting with 2005; the year I met David.

The “Archive Smash” books are in simple 3-ring binders done with scrapbook papers and elements. I’m finding that the package of plain velum paper and stickers works great for making pocket for some of the items and I’m also noticing how my taste has changed since 2007 when I switched to digital. It’s so curious to me how many more coffee cups and polka dots I have in digital. I’m really trying to avoid buying them! (Although I did buy the polka dot Smash tape last week…it’s been tempting me more than a pumpkin donut since I first saw it!)

So, Binder 2 will start with the 2005 items and go from there, with the intention that I’m going to start using actual Smash books for 2011 and do a new one for each year from there. We’ll see how the plan works, but so far I love having one fun place for all that ephemera instead of little folders and boxes all over the house. I’ll post some progress pictures in the next week or so.

Long Time So Brief

Some of you may be thinking I’ve been away from the blog world for so long, but to me the past week just flew by! Kelly got here last Saturday and she stayed until Friday afternoon. I’ve been trying to take it easy this weekend. One; to be safe because until late tonight, I’m writing on Sunday evening, I’m home alone. David was in West Virginia last I talked to him. He called about UTZ product at Sheetz; he’s bringing me home a small bag of Maryland Crab seasoned chips and a bag of pumpernickel pretzels! The other reason is to recover. I only have to clear and wipe the desk and my office/craft room; the Woman Cave will be a functional room! By the end of the week Kelly and I were both exhausted with aches on top of aches. For me, walking and even typing on my right side is very weak and stiff. I’d quit the med that was supposed to make movement easier for me because I didn’t think it was really working and it was the highest copay of all my meds. I think I’m, going to start it again because I can feel that I’m not taking it.

I called Scotty Wednesday morning to see if he would meet us for lunch on Thursday. He couldn’t he’s in the hospital! I didn’t gripe at him for not calling me this time. You don’t get any time to let people know you’re going to be in the hospital when you get the call he did Monday night; we have a donor! Scotty was in surgery early Tuesday morning and when I called on Wednesday he was bonding with his new kidney and pancreas! He’s been doing well, but Jill, his sister, one of the biological ones, says the doctors have him on antibiotics because they fear he may have an infection, so it set his original release date of Sunday back a few days. If everyone could please utter a prayer or good thought for my big brother, I’d be eternally grateful! I want the rest of his recovery to be textbook.

Kelly and I made all of our plans for our “Friendship Smash Books.” I have my binder and selected the first two papers and some of the items I want to use. The binder I have right now is my book. Kelly will start her book. What we’ll do is smash the title page and the first two actual pages. Then the books have to be in the mail by December 8. Kelly will get my book with the first two pages done and I’ll get hers. Then we do the next two pages in each other’s books with a January 8 deadline for mailing them back. We’re going to mail them back and forth doing 2 pages a month for a year. When the books are done we’ll both have a book that we half did ourselves and half done by our best friend. We’re going to add a little to the covers as we go and those will be done at the end of the year too. This will truly be a special and fun project.

Before I get on to the Monday Quiz About Me, I want to share this trip's mug. You’ll recall that last week I mentioned that Kelly and I have a mug tradition when we get together. This was a shoestring budget trip. Neither of us had the cash for a nice dinner out and even the coffee cup tradition was threatened. Except for the box I brought home from the storage!

I have no memory of when I bought this mug. But it was on s closeout sale, probably about 20 years ago according to the other items in the box. I showed it to Kelly and she loved it! Guess what? On this low funds weekend, the coffee mug from 20 years ago was not alone! There were two boxes with the identical mug! I’d already given Kelly the box with the other mug and saucer but I suggested we’d make that our mug for this trip. Her job now is to find two identical mugs that are older than half of our friendship to be the mugs for next time. This sounds like a fun thrift store challenge!


This afternoon I did this scrapbook layout:

Pumpkin Enabler

Credits: We Are Thankful by Colie’s Corner, word art by Digitalegacies

I love word art like that one. I have a few cups with word art like that, including the several types of coffee and several fonts on that 20-year old mug and saucer set! I decided that it was time I custom created my word art in that style and that’s the source of the Pumpkin Spice word art!

Of course, how could I not share??

 

Click on the preview to go to download.

As usual, I’d love to see any scrapbook or craft project you do with it!


Okay, NOW we move on the The Monday Quiz About Me, hosted by Heather at Acting Balanced and Wayne at Touristic.

1. How often do you shop for groceries? Do you shop in one place or many?

David picks up things that need to be fresh; meat, apples and bananas, salad, carrots, ice cream, in between trips, but we do our big shopping trip about once a month.

We usually shop at the Kroger a little over a block away, but we also shop at Meijer, because he likes their steak better and I like their hummus selection and Giant Eagle for special items.


2. How old were you when you had your first taste of alcohol?

LOL… 2.

Mom, Dad, Grandma and Papa each had a different mixed drink and were talking in the living room at Grandma and Papa’s house. I was quietly “making the rounds” taking a small sip out of the glass…each glass. Two years old and a sip of scotch, a sip of bourbon, a sip of rum and a sip of Seagram’s Seven. Of course I don’t remember this, but each of the adults involved enjoyed telling me the story when I was older. I was walking a little strange and acting a little zoned. Each one in turn said, “She only took a little taste of my drink.” Times four! They watched me closer after that and “little Daynonna wasn’t allowed to taste the grownup drinks anymore.”

Having taught the lesson, this never happened with my brother and he drinks a lot more than I do now. Hmmm…


3. How much TV do you watch?

Well, the picture quality on FOX is so poor I’m not even watching he baseball game tonight, watching the pitch by pitch on mlb.com. So, I last had the TV on Friday night when I decided that the bad picture and all the political ads were more than I wanted to deal with. It’ll probably be on again if David turns it on when he gets home or in the morning. I don’t watch a lot.


4. How do you relieve stress?

I write in my personal journal or meditate myself into a relaxing nap.



And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!


5. What is your favorite food to snack on while you’re reading/writing blogs?

Usually popcorn, air popped and hot with nothing on it or carrots. But…I also keep a candy jar filed if I’m in the mood for something sweet. I’m usually pretty good about the candy, keeping count and behaving, but tonight I’m a little lonely as I reach the end of the days between Kelly leaving and David getting home, so it’s just me and the Pumpkin Spice or Air kisses.

I Owe You An Answer

I owe you an answer about that Monday lie a couple of weeks back. Since I didn’t do the quiz while I was on vacation I left the answer to my final question hanging! If you recall, question 4 was:

4. Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself...


My answers were:

1. I’ve been the Prima Donna Ballerina

2. There was never anyone dressed even close to like me in school.

3. Although roller-skating was hugely popular when I was in middle and high school, I’ve never roller-skated.

And my question for everyone was:

5. So, which one of my answers to #4 was the lie?


I got a nice assortment of answers, but the lie is #2!

I was the center-stage Prima Donna when I was 9 years old in advanced youth ballet. My class was a small class, just three of us and I was the advanced dancer with two older beginning young adult students. I had the solo section and the longer skirt. As we got near to the spring recital, my hockey team was also in the state playoffs. It was a good year for me. But my hockey coach never gasped when I walked into the locker room in my leotard after dance class the way my dance instructor did when I walked into ballet class with my duffel bag and stick.

After a bad ankle injury practicing a leap for a ballet number I was planning to do for the middle school talent show, my doctor suggested that roller skating wouldn’t be the best idea for me. I wasn’t really all that interested; it was just something a lot of my friends did. I liked dancing better anyway.

As for the lie; while I most decidedly never saw anyone dressed like me in middle school through college, first through fourth grade I was in a Catholic school; ALL the girls dressed exactly like me!



There just wasn’t anything to really defrag from my blog on Friday last week, but I have a few from the weekend!

First off, Darlene Haughin is back designing at The Studio! She has been out of designing for a while. Darlene has been battling breast cancer. It was caught early and treatment started quickly. She is okay now and rather than retell details, I’ll invite you to her blog to read her journey in her words: A Story of Survival and Faithfulness.  I am so glad she is doing well and happy she has returned to the Digi-Design world. When she sent her new kit to the creative team, I was ready to create! I’ll be back with a preview of My Happy Place and the first layout I did with it.


Also for more fragment stuff, check out the blog I did last night, I Want To Get Smashed  It's not a problem; I'm not that stressed, and it's not an ad.  It's just something I'm very geeky with anticipation about!


Now, on to this week's quiz from Heather at Acting Balanced!

1. What is your favorite Autumn color?

The red and orange combination of maple trees


2. If you could go back and change something about your high school days what would it be?

If I’m making a change it means I am doing it with the knowledge I have now, right? I’d go back and let myself know I’m not stupid. I could have applied myself better, maybe even graduated with cords and gotten a scholarship to finish my degree in 4 years instead of 13, except that I had an awful inferiority complex. I was an honor roll student and justified that the grading curve was why I did well because I thought I was pretty dumb.

Yes, the Mensa thing was a shock when Mom talked me into testing for it.  I've accepted that I probably really did deserve the high school grades. 


3. Name something that you tried because you thought you'd like it, but in reality didn't meet your expectations

Yogurt with Splenda. There’s something in the processing that makes it taste nasty!


4. Do you have a favorite "Monday" song?

Probably Manic Monday by the Bangles.


And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!

Who makes the best donuts? Which flavor is the best?

I have a social history with Dunkin Donuts and their coffee is the best, I drink a little mental ambiance with it, but the best donuts are Tim Horton’s! My favorite is Walnut Crunch.

I Want To Get Smashed

I am NOT being compensated for this post in any way. 

I just really want one of these!

I decided Saturday morning that I need to do some Smashing! I picked up and dropped the large envelope with my baseball ticket stubs in it, all of them since 1992. I counted them, 181 ticket stubs showered onto the floor now completely out of the OCD chronological order I had them in. Of course I know how many there were in that envelope because I’ve put them back in chronological order. Oh, I don’t really have OCD, just some obsessive order tendencies. Disorganization makes me crazy, but not certifiable, not yet anyway.

So Smashing, with a capital S is as in Smash Journal. I saw a video for Smash Journals last year and was intrigued. I mean, really they are very old school scrapbooks. Someplace to keep clippings, notes, ephemera; like baseball ticket stubs. Here’s the demo video I saw:


I love this! I wanted to buy one the first time I saw the video, but I wasn’t in the financial position to do it and just sort of let the thought go. But in re-sorting all the ticket stubs I realized that I remember every one of those games. Maybe I don’t remember who won, the score or even a play from the game, although for a lot of them I do, but the ticket makes me remember who was there with me, a detail from the day. The first game I saw in 2000 was in Cincinnati in April. John and I went and it was definitely a hot chocolate game. The ticket stub brought back that memory with a friend that was so close to me. I have little mementos, cartoons, notes and fun clippings in boxes, folders, drawers and I never look at them because they are all over and not organized, A Smash book doesn’t organize per se, but it puts all those things in one place and assembles fairly quick because it’s almost a collage, just fun things in a book. How great to browse without looking all over or forgetting about things that bring back sweet memories and inspire creativity!

Here are some photos from the web of what a Smash Book can look like.  They are very personl and the possibilities are endlessly unique.

click images to see original blog.

I love the pockets on this; I'll have to have lots of pockets!

You know there will be plenty of coffee in mine too!

 I like this for the pockets and semi-flat trinkets.

Now, while I really do want a real smash book kit with the stick and flags and tapes and all, right now it’s still beyond my budget. But what I do have is all those tidbits I want to save and paper scrapbook supplies I don’t use anymore because I do my scrapping digital now. I had thought I was going to package it all up and sell or donate, but now I think it will at the very least be my “Archive Smash Book.” I’ll need to gather everything, which will work well with my desire to get things organized here and get things in books instead of all over and prone to spill out all over the floor! I’d like to be able to get an actual Smash Book for 2013, but for now, I’m going to gather all of my little things and use up the paper scrap leftovers. I’m kind of excited to have all my special things gathered in one place.