Argh! (mostly whining)

I think I have already established here that I am in a contant state of "hopelessly behind". I took today off of work to try and catch up with Life, having spent both Saturday and Sunday doing Farmers Markets and not much else, though I did finish making the color charts for my customers last night. That's one thing done.

So today I had several big tasks to accomplish, and, well, I am tired and sore and mostly done. Sorta.

I started by skipping my shower, so I was at a deficit from the get-go. I had planned to do back-to-back loads of laundry, so it made sense at the time to hold off on the shower. So far (as of 7 pm) I have done 1 1/2 loads of wash, and I have 1 1/2 to go. Not a good track record. I think I'll get my shower before I turn in tonight, and not much sooner.

Then I finally divvied up my last SU workshop order and got those boxes out of my Dining Room. One of my customers wants them, so I carefully broke them down and stowed them in a corner so they do not end up full of cat hair and claw marks.

Speaking of which:

This is a typical day in the life of my cat - lying in the sun beam. Looks rough, doesn't it? By the way, I have fuzzy vertical blinds. Oh, that's not normal? Really?!

Oh, look, she's moved! Sigh, what a life. She did awaken to throw up once, but then she had to go back to sleep. I am sure it was an exhausting day for her.

So most of my day was spent finishing up my Brother's 50th b'day book. Being the older Sister, I have free reign to really make him squirm, which would work if he wasn't such a cute kid! I have it all done (DONE!) except for one page that I hope to do tomorrow evening. I am very proud of it, and I hope he likes it.

In between scrappin' episodes with the book, I did other domestic things. You know how in order to do one thing you have to do something else first? I hate when that happens. Totally throws me off schedule. LOL!!! Like I have a schedule. Or a plan. Or a clue. Nope, just an endless mental list of things that eventually need to get done.

So I wanted to dig into my CSA haul to finish cleaning veggies and put them away, but the sink was full of dishes. So I needed to put them in the dishwasher, but that was full of clean dishes. Heavy sigh. Had to empty the dishwasher, then fill it up again, and then I started in on the veggies. I rewarded myself with two pieces of Rosemary bread (from the market) with fresh tomato slices topped with fresh basil. Yum! And that is less to put away, too!

I have a ton of basil Farmer Mike gave me because it would not survive until the next day, so I planned to make some pesto. I said I'd planned to make it. Not done yet.

Oh, the title of this post? The "aaaaaaargh!" ?? That is because I was stupid and selected an already-bound spiral book to use as a scrapbook, and it came out too fat. The book will not close! Look:

Sigh. I thought I was done. I could un-bind the whole thing and try to re-bind it with my Bind-It-All, but the chances of that actually succeeding are slim and none. I could wrap a huge ribbon around it to hold it closed. I thought about putting Jumbo Eyelets in the covers and tying it shut, and that might help a bit, but my biggest challenge will be figuring out how to ship the darn thing! At this point a bubble envelope does not look promising. Although, the bubble envelope would work if I laid the book open. I need to keep chewing on this. Double-sigh.

To reward myself for my few accomplishments today, I plan to go whip up something from the veggie pile for dinner and wash it down with some ice cream. Did I tell you the flavor of my market ice cream? Honey-Lavender. Yes, it is as good as it sounds!

I'll finish up this catch-up day with (hopefully) some stampin' in between the rest of the laundry. End of whine. Now back to your regularly scheduled blurfing, and thanks for stopping by!

Minor Disconnect (aka: Darn Cat!)

Well, she's done it this time! The little fur-ball sat on my laptop keyboard while the laptop was on. I'd innocently set it aside, and she sat right down on top of it. She has done this in the past with no ill effects, but this time - whoa! She managed to disable my wireless adapter and all sorts of other things, and I am just now (24 hours later) back amongst the cyber-folks. But just look at her, all nestled in my discarded SU packing paper...

Okay, it's a fuzzy shot, but I am not re-taking it. She totally rules this place. I wonder when I lost control of my own life? Hmmm ... I think it was the fateful day 9 years ago when she came to live with me. Yeah, that was it.

Moving on, I have been quite busy, but not really stamping. It's been more like scrappin' - working on my Brother's b'day book. I chose one of my still-in-the-wrapping SU On Board 5 x 5 Art Journals to use as the book. Just to show you I have actually done a few pages in it (stuck down - not just loose photos floating around), here are a few pages pre-snide comments. I plan to add those once everything is stuck down on ALL the pages. ;-)

This page is my nod to his house on 18+ largely-treed acres. As with most houses, it takes a lot of years and a lot of sweat to make it a home, and that is what they have done.

All the papers I am using as backgrounds are from this pack of card-stock weight, patterned, textured papers. All I can say is it is to DIE for. Get thee some, if you can!


This next page is all about his tractor. This is also the page that was the result of my practicing with The Lawn Ranger card the other day.

I decided to go with the tractor overlap onto the sky part, because I think it looks better than if the whole thing landed on the green. Green-on-green would get lost. I took advantage of the seam and decided to make it the part of the hood that lifts up to expose the engine for maintenance (like I'd know anything about that ...).

This next page is in tribute to their garden and general love of food. And the fresher the better!

This foody page is made up of so many parts-is-parts, it's taken me about 2 days just to get a layout I like. The lace on the table is from my Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps Kitchen Classics set. It is two layers thick because I originally did it on white, then changed it to cream, and it was stuck on so well I refused to take it off, so it is layered. And I decided I like it, so there!

The basket is a picture of one of the two Longaberger baskets I own. This is my Market Basket, and it did not matter if the light was flourescent and yellow, because I cut it out anyway. The striped "wallpaper" was dumb luck. I was looking in The Stash for a piece of red & white checked paper when I stumbled across the Blue section and this piece. Bingo! It became the perfect back-drop for all those veggies, which, by the way, are from my now non-existent stash (all gone!) of Jolee's veggies that I'd hoarded many years ago.

The forks and spoons I got online when I was looking for some tools charms that I used on another page. I got them, you know, to justify the shipping.

My favorite part of this page is the large expanse of red that I can use to write in some wicked big-sister comments. :-)

Okay, that is all I have to share from The Book. But to show you I did actually stamp something this week, here is my feeble attempt to CASE this card by June. Hey, I think I've just completed the loop: first, I referenced one of her cards, then she referenced one of mine, and now I am copying hers. Way to go!

So June is in a "using up the scraps" mode, and I decide to go for it this month myself, and I have been working out of my scrap pile for making some of my cards.

I had an open pack of origami papers in the scrap pile, and I loved this sheet (they are so "Leslie" colors). As you can see, even with my Ott lights, I managed to be very, very OFF with the colors.

When I first saw the light color in the background, I thought it was Apricot, and I originally layered the paper with Apricot. Then I decided I did not like it one bit, so I tried Creamy Caramel and then Kraft, and for the life of me I cannot remember which one I ended up with! Aaaaugh!

To totally screw it up, I chose the Marigold brads from my stash. I tried Khaki, but I thought the Marigold looked better. Well, I thought they looked better at that time, but looking at the photo, I think I was wrong.

This card will eventually go into the One of a Kind bin for my markets. But it was fun trying!

I think I'll go make a few cards for my Saturday market. No frozen towels this weekend. I'll report back on how I fare without them.

Maybe A New Record ...

This might be a new record for me: It is the Monday before my workshops and I actually have all five projects planned. Not sure how that happened, but I am not complaining! Not one bit!

My goal this month was to use only retiring sets. Now I must tell you that most of my customers have been stamping forever, they know what they like, they each have their own styles, they each have their own favorite non-SU stamp company, so basically I fill their SU niche and needs, and give them an excuse to get out once a month. I guess what I am trying to say is: If they like it, they've probably already bought it. I do have a few new customers I can tempt with the retiring stuff, but overall I do not expect humongous sales from this effort. So why am I doing it? Let's just call it a Good Demo moment, k? :-)

In a totally uncharacteristic Crooked Stamper day, I spent Sunday touching nothing but SU stamps and accessories. Some of these projects I made up all by myself, and some were inspired by others, and I will, of course, give full credit where it is due.

First up is one I did all by my lonesome:

I love, love, love the Artfully Asian set, and I cannot believe it is retiring so soon. I also love the color combination of River Rock (retiring) + Black + White, and how well the Ginger Blossom paper goes with it all. Note to self: buy more of this DS paper before the Retiring Accessories frenzy begins. (I have already started to hoard the card stock...like you were surprised about that.)

Did you notice the fake brads? I was going to try the layering thing with brads on punched circles, but I decided the black dots looked just fine all by themselves. Plus, if I asked The Ladies to punch tiny little holes in those tiny little circles, there might be a revolt, and I'd like them to want to keep coming back here.

This next card was cased from this card on SCS.

In yet another Good Demo moment, I switched out the stars used so they are all from current sets. All the stars on the top were punched with the two SU star punches, and the stamped star on the Blue Bayou (retiring) is from Starstruck. Oh, the polka dots? Those are stamped from the polka dot stamp from the retiring Polka Dots & Paisley set. Do you like how I worked in another retiring set? :-)

Now check out that layering. Does the black piece look like it was punched from a die? Even a little bit? If it does, then I have met my goal! SU does not have these die-cuts, so I made one by punching two 1/2" circles and layering them behind the black rectangle. I taped them reeeeal good and put the brad through the sticking-out part. I was pretty happy how it turned out. It's all about the possibilities!!!

Next up is what I think is a pretty lame card, but I really like how it looks like a composition book. Well, sorta.

I first made these for my kids about two years ago, and instead of using a flourish like these do, I used my Collegiate Letters set (source unknown at this moment) and put their respective college letters on their cards. Like I said, lame. BUT, this uses both the retiring Weathered background stamp and Carte Postale. I was going to let them choose which flourish to use, but I am actually so embarrassed about these cards I think I'll let them make both if they want to. I can be generous like that at times.

There is another card (not posted here) that uses the Unfrogettable set, and I did that mostly to torture The Ladies. Some of them refer to it as that darn frog, if you get my drift. I think the double previous project might redeem me. Maybe. They are probably just glad they'll never see the little bugger again after this weekend.

And in yet another uncharacteristic Crooked Stamper moment, I saw this on SCS and this linked from SCS yesterday and immediately decided I needed to copy it for my 5th project next weekend. So this evening, after I got more cat food (the ants are winning, but that's another story for another day), I stopped in at Michael's, which is conveniently next door to the pet store, and after about 30 minutes of staring at things in the bead aisle, I got some hemp and some closure thingies, then went to Lowe's and got some washers. A word of caution: if you are looking for washers, I do not think the hardware stores have been alerted yet to the need to overstock these things for those nutso craft people, so you may have to search high and low to find some.

Anyway, I used some of my SU rub-ons and SU Glossy Glaze and made this in about 5 minutes:

This is sooo easy to do. Step 1: Rub on the rub-ons. Step 2: Stick the rub-on side of the washer in Versamark. Step 3: Dump on the Glossy Glaze. Step 4: Heat to melt. That's it! Except for Step 5: Give it at least 5 minutes to cool off before you handle it. Please. Metal gets very hot when heated. Ask me how I know.

Okay, so maybe the washer thing is not the best choice, especially because I am not a jewlery-maker, but my classes are about enabling people to be creative. Heck, if they did things like *I* do, they'd all be in trouble!!! I just hope to give them the ideas and let them go from there.

So that's it for my SU entries. The rest of this week I'll try and play with all my new-and-not-yet-opened stuff before I put it away in anticipation of the regularly-scheduled Clean Sweep this weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

And don't forget about my milestone challenge! Check out all the details posted here and enter now! Time's a-wastin'!

I'm Likin' Scrappin'!

I finally finished card #4 of 5 for next weekend's workshops, so I celebrated by working on my scrapbook pages. First, the card:

Recipe (All supplies by Stampin' Up!): Stamps - Polka Dots & Paisley, Short & Sweet; Paper - Glorious Green, Summer Sun, Naturals White, Blush Blossom, Basic Black, Really Rust; Ink - Gloriuos Green, Pretty In Pink, Versamark; Other - Lg Tag punch, Sm and Large Oval punches, 1/4" Square punch, Scallop punch, Horizontal Slot punch, pencil eraser (for the rosy cheeks), Basic Gray marker, Wild Wasabi grosgrain ribbon.

Do not be too impressed; I totally CASEd this from this site, and I thank her for the inspiration! I think this will be a really fun card for The Ladies to make next week.

To celebrate, I went back to my scrapbook and Hannibal, Missouri, and finished a few pages. Along the way, I used up some more of my stash, and even broke out one of my new Cuttlebug dies and used it.

I think I am really going to like this die. This is actually only half of the piece I cut out; I cut it and put half on each page for balance.


The next item(s) I am very proud of having used are these brads. The center one is from a pack I got at the Target Dollar Spot, and the ones on the sides are from a Paper Wishes purchase frenzy from a few years ago...the one where you can get the coordinating paper, ribbon and brads for a "deal", and of course I did.

I am also proud of the fact that I used patterned paper from my stash. Yay!

And then we have ribbon. I just mentioned the Paper Wishes package deal, and, well, when I opened the box to get the brads, there it was ...

Ribbon. More ribbon. It must now be either used in this scrapbook or wound up on clothespins and put away in my nifty ribbon storage boxes. Sigh ....

Gotta run to my Pot Luck dinner tonight. Gonna send everyone off with a total sugar high with my desserts. ;-) They will thank me, I am sure.

A Eureka Moment

Every once in a while I have A Moment. You know, when you can almost feel the lightbulb over your head? In addition to the usual suspects in my stash like paper, ribbon, brads, etc., I also have a drawer of retired Stampin' Up! sets I just cannot bring myself to sell. You just never know when you might need one, ya know?

Tonight, as I worked on my scrapbook, trying desperately to get through Hannibal, Missouri, I had a Eureka Moment! I had punched out a piece of scrap with the SU Key Tag punch and written Hannibal, Missouri on it for the page. B-o-r-i-n-g! I wished I'd had some very tiny flourishy images to use to decorate the edges, when - ta-da - I remembered the Fancy Flexible Phrases [edited to change the set name from Noteworthy to Fancy Flexible Phrases. My bad. True, I touched Noteworthy, but FFF is the other hoarded set I actually used.] set I had in my Save drawer, and out it came! This is what resulted from that inspiration:

Okay, I'll admit it is not that great, but I was still pretty proud of myself! And after only two or three tries, it was even almost straight! I wrote the name of the city against the top edge of a small ruler - a trick I learned in High School - to make it look like I'd attempted to write it straight.

I would have posted earlier this evening, but the original image I unloaded from my camera to the 'puter was so large that I took a moment to admire the detail in the paper's texture. I am very easily distracted.

And just to show you I really did stamp something yesterday, here is a card I plan to use for next weekend's workshops.

Recipe (All products by SU): Stamps - Sassy Suzie; Paper - Whisper White, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy card stock, More Mustard DS paper; Ink - Black Stazon, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Not Quite Navy, Blush Blossom; Other - Navy gg ribbon, Old Olive and Real Red markers, Blender Pen, Sponge Dauber.

Sassy Suzie by SU (available in the Occasions Mini Catalog coming out March 1st) is soooo perfect for me. I am very glad that SU came out with it so I can share my irreverence with The Ladies at my workshops. :-)

Oh, and if you are looking for a yummy beef dish, check out Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich. Man, oh, man...is it ever GOOD! Skip the bread and just eat it out of the skillet! And then do 20 laps around the block!

Sorry about that last outburst, but I had to share. It really was yummy! Okay, now I am off to work on my Missouri pages some more. I hope to be into Iowa by this weekend! Wish me luck!

The Chronicles: Day 13

This morning I came up with a new word to describe my crafting area, aka: The Dining Room Table. It is not technically a new word, but it is new to how I choose to describe my space. :-) That word is...entrenched. You see, when I sat down at my "spot" this morning (I have the day off....whoo-hoo!) I felt suddenly comfortable, surrounded by all my things. Kindof cozy, like in a cave. And since only men have "caves", I guess we women have our craft rooms, right? Ha! (Oh, no offense intended towards any male readers.)

So since my Craft Room is under a ton of stash and I am forced to work in my Dining Room, I decided I was entrenched in my scrapbook materials. I have everything I need right at my fingertips! Check it out:

To my immediate left are all the inks I've used so far in this scrapbook. It is very easy to grab one and use it on another page, as we all know a sense of continuity is critical in a scrapbook.

In front of me are my adhesives and not-yet-put-away clear stamps. Also my eyelets stack and some number stamps that I am sure I will need again, so why put them away?

To my right are my very-often-used punches, markers and pens. You can also see my tape dispenser. I really need to move that to the left side once in a while, as I think the repetitive motion thing is throwing my back out of whack.

Front and center are my tools. Surprise! Some organization! This is the container I use for my workshops, so it is always just there, right where I need it. The one thing I am a stickler about at workshops is putting the tools back in the center when you are done with them so (1) other people can find them and (2) no one loses an eye with those very sharp snips. I am not sure my insurance would cover that.

To the far left is the Trip Report. This is my anal-retentive moment on paper. I had to write down all my notes so years later (it turned out to be four years later), when I got around to doing the scrapbook, I'd remember what the pictures were and where I was when I took them. Details!

Under the Trip Report are all the Scrappin' Kit stickers I am using up. Very convenient, and right where I need them! I can just glance over and be inspired to grab one!

To the far right are my paper scraps and some pictures ready for the next page. The paper stack is really not all that bad. Some months it is as high as the Tool holder. I am not even close yet!

Waaaaaay across the table are the scallop tag punches that jumped into my basket during my last LSS run. And, I am proud to say, I have used them several times so far in my scrapbook. Yay, me!

Here are my next two pages-in-progress. See, I really am scrappin'! I start by laying out what I think will fit on the two facing pages, then I select a background paper or card stock and slide it under them. Note: I am finally out of Illinois and into Missouri!

This is the floor area to my left. I have my 12x12 storage box of retired Scrappin' Kits and also some Basic Grey paper packs. In front of that on the floor are my chipboard letters lying in wait for me to use. And the heat gun ... well, you just never know when you might want to melt something.

And lastly: The Chair. When last we saw this chair, it was covered in lotsa stuff. I had to put some of it away to get to the cutter, which I seem to be using every 5 minutes or so.

So that's that. The workmen should be here any second to do some drywall stuff for me, so I'll sign off and go finish a few pages for Missouri today. Ta!

The Crooked Stamper Meets a Scrapbook

I finally 'get' scrapbooking! I am a card-maker, and I always said a scrapbook page was too large of a palette for me to cover with things, and that's why cards worked for me. But I've gotta tell ya, I have never used so much of my stash in one sitting in the 5+ years I have been collecting it! In a short 8 hours yesterday, I had so many, "Oh, I have that!" moments I had to stop counting!

Here is just one small example of my realization of the meaning of "scrap" and using everything you have:



Here is a really bad shot of a page of faux hinge stickers I rescued.



I thought I was brilliant when I decided to cut them in half and put them on opposite pages of a 2-page spread. It does look very cool.



[Please ignore that annoying flash reflection.]







And then I got really brilliant! I decided to use the left-behind hole thingies from the faux hinges as faux brads!

I tell ya, it went nuts from here. I used a flower sticker from part of a retired SU Scrappin' kit and I went back later and actually used the left-behind edge of the die-cut; I cut it out and used it as a frame for a page comment on a later page. Not that I need to be so frugal...I am sure I have enough stuff to last a lifetime. (What is that acronym? SABLE? Supplies Available Beyond Life Expectancy. Yep, that's me!) But there is something about actually using all the parts-is-parts of things that makes me happy. I think that's the extra punch scrappers get that maybe we miss as card-makers. Or maybe it is just easier to pull off.

Anyway, I have managed to scrap my way West from Maryland into Illinois, and I should be into Missouri by this afternoon. The way this is progressing, since it was a trip about all the little things, after all, this is gonna be one honkin' scrapbook! I am seriously considering Volumes I and II.

And keep those comments coming for the "Spot the Mistake" Contest! I have an idea for the give-away, and I am still working out a plan for my non-scientific selection of a winner. :-)

The Chronicles: Day 7

The Chronicles are back. I was silly and closed them way too soon! True, I had successfully covered my Dining Room table, but I neglected to realize just how DEEP things could get. Check it out:

I am working on my South Dakota scrap book, and have managed to work my way to Day 3 - woo-hoo! But I know I need to have a theme, or to somehow at least attempt to tie things together as I move from page to page, so naturally, the best way to do that is to have everything you might need within view ... or reach ... or to at least know it is in there, somewhere. So nothing gets put away.

As I tend to do, I stand things up on the floor next to my work station...things like a 12x12 Craft Keeper that holds all my large chipboard stuff from SU.


That's the Craft Keeper, right next to the chair leg, with the numbers (the part I wanted) outside the pack, of course. Also standing by are a zip-top bag that holds a lot of my rub-on and stick-on letters, and the paper bag holds some of my new stamp purchases that I thought I might be able to use, but that did not happen. There are a lot of things stacking up under my trusty paper cutter on the chair, too. And that magazine on the floor is one I just now hacked to get a few things for my College page, but since it gets recycled, it did not go into the round file (trash can.)

The long table is not doing too well, either:

The Blues and Greens scrap boxes are out so I can use the Daylight lamp and get just the right scrap to use...and I am using a LOT of scraps! The Atlas came out tonight so I could get more detail for the side roads I took on the trip. The scrap-book-in-progress is open to the left of the paper cutter. And yes, I have to move stuff to cut anything.

So you see, things are going downhill fast. BUT, I have completed a bunch of pages for the scrap book, and I am loving it (though the cat is a bit hissy.) I now see why card-makers have so much stuff! It is soooo much easier to use the stash on a scrapbook page! Just so you know I am actually scrappin', here is a sample of one of my early pages:

I used up a lot of things on this mostly-boring page: parts of an old SU Scrappin' kit, some chipboard letters, some retired ribbon. And I broke out my not-so-long-ago-purchased calendar set from Stampendous. I plan to have one of these on the first page for each day of the trip. This one is September, but I cheated for the month of October and made one calendar (without the circled date!), then scanned it in and copied it many-to-a-page. Sorry, but stamping the same month 14 times is just not part of the plan. ;-)

This is my typical style - not too fancy and right to the point. On later pages I did start playing more with papers and embellishments. I may go back and add things to pages like this one. We'll see.

So I am making progress, and the heap continues to grow. I guess The Chronicles will stay open for a while!

The Chronicles: Day 5

Before we get to The Chronicles, let me first come clean in the Ribbon Department. You may recall I had three things to do on Saturday: take the cat to the Vet, start my taxes, then start on my South Dakota Road Trip scrap book. Well, I went to the Vet, and kitty now has a chip and no collar. Done.

Then the phone rang - it was my trusty cohort M., on her way to one of our favorite stamp stores about 45 minutes away in Virginia, and did I want to go along. Hmmm ... stamp store ... taxes ... hmmm ... the stamp store won! While I was there, I bought some more ribbon. Bad, I know, but I HAD to get it! Check it out:

The two sheers are white with swirls and cream with swirls, and were too beautiful to pass up. The ropey one is a really cool (neat) blue & green. And the one with the dog bones just called to me, ya know?

So I get home and look what was in my mail box:

My latest delivery from my Really Reasonable Ribbon Club membership. Can you say Yellow and Green? :-) So I guess I have a bit more ribbon winding to do.

Then, I was good. I went to the computer and loaded my Tax software, updated it, imported last year's return, copied the spreadsheet from my laptop to the other computer and started to finalize my 2007 stamp-related income and expenses. After about an hour I'd had enough, so I took a break...and I am still ON that break, and it is now Sunday evening! HAHAHA!

But, I have completed nine pages for my scrap book. Nine pages and I am still on Day 2 of a 16 day trip. Uh-oh. So as I was working on the next two pages, I looked up and realized the stuff on the table had reached critical mass. I think the moment has arrived!

I have gone from clean to a total mess in only 5 days! My goodness, what will happen between now and my next workshop!?!?! Yikes!

So ends The Chronicles. At this point I think I will have to start putting things away to do much more work, as I am beginning to lose things under there. Not a good thing. The GOOD news is all this scrappin' has me using a LOT of stuff from my stash! I have been quite resourceful - lots of chipboard letters, miscellaneous brads, retired-and-hoarded ribbon, lots of the stickers from a partial Scrappin' Kit - like I said: LOTS of stuff getting used up. YAY!

Ah, well, I am off to spool up some ribbon and maybe work on a few more scrap book pages.

PS: Before I forget, I ran into a college Sophomore today who did not know the significance of the year 1776. He just looked at me blankly. And he is a History major in college, but he was quick to point out he was focussed on European history, not US History. Yes, he was familiar with the Fourth of July, but had no idea the original event we celebrate occurred in the year 1776. Once I explained it to him, he said he'd had US History in his Freshman year of High School, as if to say, "How do you expect me to remember that?!" OMG, this disturbs me, a lot.

The Chronicles: Clean + 3 Days

This is how things begin to go wrong. I did not do any crafting last night, so there is no 'Day 2', but I made up for it tonight. :-)

Several years ago I took myself on a Road Trip to South Dakota. I made it into a 2-week trek across the country, and planned the whole thing out. Well, it was planned to the extent that I knew what wanted to accomplish each day, but not to the extent of having hotel reservations. There is a big difference in what some people consider 'planning'.

The basis of this Road Trip was (1) to see South Dakota, (2) to take as few Interstates as possible - back roads was the plan, (3) to see as many weird things as possible, and (4) to have a great time!

I started with a Road Atlas, some maps from AAA, a book entitled Eccentric America, a book about SD and the Badlands, and a book about US Road Trips. That last one was by sections, like taking Rt 66 from one end to the other, or taking Rt 50 from one end to the other. Personally, I followed Rt 20, but I'll get to that some other time.

This blog entry is NOT about my Road Trip. Rather, it is how this Road Trip is still in the forefront of my brain, and how it relates to The Chronicles of clean transforming to a mess. You see, I had planned to do a scrap book of my trip, but all the memorabilia have been sitting in a box since 2004. Time to get it out, I say! Plus, this gets one box out of the very-large-storage-room-that-should-be-my-craft-room room.

First, I unloaded the box onto the large table. I have now successfully covered about 90% of the table top.

I made three piles of stuff: SD, of course; UT - from another trip as yet un-scrap-booked; and DC - now how did that stuff get in there?!

The SD and DC stuff will go back into the box. Uh-oh, that means the box will go back into the wanna-be-craft-room. Sigh....


Here is the SD pile o'stuff. When I travel I am really quite organized. Really! I start out with the books, maps, and a binder that we will get to in a minute.

That bag in the back used to hold all this stuff, and it was saved because it is covered with Bison, of course!

These were the books and maps I took, and I used them almost every day. Parts of them will undoubtedly make their way into the pages of the scrap book.









The Book. Before any Road Trip, I actually lay out what I think I can do as far as driving plus attractions each day. Then I put that on separate pages, by day, into a binder with pocket-divider pages between each day. I use these pages later to hold all the brochures, receipts, postcards, and other things I pick up along the way. This allows me to keep the trappings of my trip organized by day, and in some semblance of order. It also makes The Book really fat!

Oh, do you see that strip of paper peeking out from under The Book? I found that strip of stickers in the box. It probably slipped into the box from the table in the Craft Room that is also covered with stuff...who knows when that happened. It will have to be used in the scrap book, of course! I also found some other stuff in the box that I do not want to talk about.


This is an example of one of the pages in The Book. On the left are my original plans as far as what state or city I think I'd like to see, how many miles it is from where I left off the day before, and how long I think it will take me to drive it. All those scribbles to the right are my diversions. :-) See, this is how I know what I did! It also serves to help me backtrack to where I want to be in case I make a bad decision. Hey, it happens.


This is another page of notes, with a lot more diversion.


This is a typical pocket page. I literally stick stuff in here that relates to that particular portion of my adventure. Here we can see a National Park Service pamphlet, a bag of post cards, and some other touring stuff.









This is a glimpse into my psyche, and it is not a pretty sight. This, my dear readers, is my Trip Report. I keep notes as I go along from day to day, and when I get home from a trip, I actually write it all down. Okay, I type it into the computer and print it, but you get my drift. This Trip Report covers the WHOLE trip. Thank goodness, because all this time later, like I'd remember what road I took into Wyoming, and why I took it. Sheesh.

So you see, I have much to work with. I think after I take the cat to the Vet tomorrow morning, then start my taxes, I will start on this scrap book adventure. Once that gets under way, I will let you know how long it takes me to lose the top of the Dining Room table. :-)