We Had a Bit of Weather ...

Yes, we had a bit of weather tear through here yesterday. I first heard about it when my cube-neighbor said, very quietly, in a shakey voice, "Oh, no." See, he had to leave by 2:00 to get to VA where he takes college classes in the evening (yes, I said 2:00...we have traffic issues), and his school had just posted a toronado warning. The kind where they tell you to not go out unless you need to. Unfortunately they did not cancel classes, so he packed up and said, "Sigh, wish me luck ..." and he left. Then the lights started to flicker, and we stood up to look over our cubes to the windows (think prairie dogs and you'll get the image), and it was black out. Just black. I walked across the hall to the other side of the building and it was raining so hard you could almost not see anything. It was down-right ugly.

Naturally, traffic was a mess going home last night. Heck, it's a mess when it just rains, but this was weather, so it was bad enough to write about. Actually, traffic for me was good because I made good choices and everyone else made bad choices, so I got home lickety-split. However, there were plenty of downed trees everywhere to really snarl things up (for everyone else, not for me.) But when I arrived home, there was no power.

A funny aside: One of the traffic reporters cracked me up! She reported there were trees down on the George Washington Parkway, and it was closed in both directions. She said to NOT get on the GW Parkway if you were not already stuck there. But if you insisted on taking the GW Parkway anyway, plan to sit there for a very, very long time. And she finished with, "And that's all I am gonna say about THAT!" Too funny!

Now back to our irregularly-scheduled program ... There are some advantages to being of the older persuasion. You see, my expectations and needs are way less than, say, a 20-something. Or even some 40-somethings I know! I am one of the rare breed that can come home and not turn on a radio or television. I love quiet. I also could live without a cell phone because I have real phones. The kind that have wires and plug into a wall. The kind that cost $10 at Target and last forever. Real phones. I actually had a REAL real phone until I got DSL. You know, one of those Ma Bell phones that hooked right into the wall in the Kitchen and had a REAL ringer, not this electronic garbage we get now. But the DSL filter was too fat and would not let the phone plug connect into the wall, so I had to get a fake phone. Boo-hoo!

But anyway, the weather. So I had no power. So what. I got into my jammies as I always do when I get home, lit some candles, found my flashlight, grabbed a book, and settled onto the couch to read. It was still light out, so I read until it started to get dark. (I was gonna stamp, but since my work area is down to about a 6" square, I thought the introduction of a candle would be kindof incendiary-like, and not a good plan.) Then I turned on my itty-bitty book light and continued reading until about 9 pm, when I went to bed. It was a wonderful, quiet, evening.

Fortunately for me, the power came back on around 4 am, and my internal body clock woke me up around 6 (I turned on the radio to make sure), I had hot water, so I showered and went to work. No big deal.

Once I got to work, all the "kids" (anyone younger than 40) were talking about how there was nothing to do with no power. Really? No cell phone juice. No Internet. No television. I asked them why they did not just read a book, and I tell you, the looks I got!

So there are advantages to remembering life before the electronic age. I actually feel a bit sorry for people who cannot function without electricity for one night.

Okay, now for some stampin'! This first card is a total case of the sample that came with the stamps. Actually, the sample card is the whole reason I bought the stamps. Boy, do they know how to hook us or what?!


This eagle and sentiment were the May Stamp-of-the-Month at Cornish Heritage Farms (CHF). I just love the look of that eagle, and the sentiment's font looks so much like SU's Warm Words and the now-retired Small Script (is that right?) that it just called to me. It called to me over and over again, and I kept putting it into my shopping cart, then closing my browser; then I'd go back another day and do it again. I finally caved during last week's point-and-click spree and got it.

That background stamp was also used in their sample (the sly buggers!) and I love it! So, of course, I had to get it, too. The main reason I was at the CHF site is because they carry the Prism papers, and I was looking at them ... just looking. But once that eagle and backgrounder ended up in the shopping card, I simply had to justify the shipping costs, didn't I? So I got some of the papers, too. I did not use them here, but one of these days ....

Other things about this card: The star brads really should have been something like antique brass, but I could not find any in the stash, so I thought I'd cover some shiny brass ones with gold stickles. Not sure why I thought that was a good idea...maybe I thought it would tone down the shine...but then the stickles are sparkly .... sigh ... Also, I used a ribbon (from the stash) and the original did not have a ribbon. But, well, you know ... me ... ribbon ... I was pretty proud of the fact that it does not 'match', but it still goes. At least *I* think it does.

I still need to play with this eagle to make something of my own, maybe a la Fourth of July. We'll see.

And now for the star of our show: my latest irreverent creation:

Creating cards like this is why I love to stamp. There are just so many possibilities! I got the sentiment in my last wave of stamps from Viva Las Vegas Stamps, and I saw the image of the lady when I cruised by this set at Crafty Secrets, having been enabled to check out the stamps by this post on JanTink's blog (darn her!).

But I have to say, she is perfect with that sentiment! Oooh, and with my growing collection of irreverent sentiments, I'll bet she'll come out to play again one day very soon!

Please ignore (1) the blurry photo, (2) the over-used layering of the sentiment on multiple punch-outs, and (3) the fact that I have not colored her in yet. I may decide to not color her, though, so then this card would be done. Okay, then, she's done! (That was easy...)

As for other things on the card, I discovered that this scrap of patterned paper went swimmingly with Groovy Guava. So then I got out my 'Melon' brads from PinkHedgeHog. Aaaand, I used a piece of the ribbon sent to me by one of my beloved readers!

I still have one more card to think up for this weekend's classes, but it is formulating in my brain and should make its way to paper before Sunday. I may not come up for air again before then, what with the impending Clean Sweep and all, so be good, and go stamp something!