9/6 So Embarrassed!

This is me, hanging my head in shame, for not posting since MARCH?!!  I apologize!  In my defense, the internet connection at the campground was not the best for uploading pictures, etc., so I would get frustrated and give up.  We are now at a location that has a good, steady connection (at least right now!)so I promise I will get back into my blogging and get you all caught up on my summer.

I now have a couple of new things to post about - we adopted two kittens before we left Jellystone!  I will be posting some pictures soon.  We have a little girl, her name is Iris, and a little boy, Glenn named M2.  There's a whole story behind M2's name!  Right now, I think it stands for "Maniac, squared"!!

Off to take a shower and start my day, promise I will be back posting soon!

Spring Cleaning

Well, we are back to gloomy March weather here.  It stormed off and on all day yesterday with some awesome thunder!  Not much we could do outside so Glenn and I did some decluttering and cleaning.  Amazing how much stuff we got rid of!  One large trash bag and two kitchen size plus a stack of outdated campground directories.  Glenn even parted with about a dozen ball caps he had accumulated.  So proud of him!  Still have a few cabinets to go through inside, but we made a big dent!  We still have the "basement" of the motorhome to go through, but that will have to wait for a nicer day.

Friday we made a trip to Lawrenceburg to mail the taxes to the accountant.  So glad that is done!  It's one of those things that hangs over my head and keeps me from doing other things.  We also made a stop at WalMart.

I had a piecrust lurking in the freezer which became a yummy pumpkin pie! Seemed appropriate for this cool, gloomy weather.

When things dry out a little this afternoon, we will pack up the chairs and grill in preparation for the move to Cave City, Kentucky.

Bluebirds for Breakfast

No, I haven't started eating bluebirds!!  But when I opened the front drapes of the motorhome, there was a male Eastern Bluebird sitting on the side mirror!  What a beautiful sight to start the day! 

Mr. Bluebird seems to have a problem with his reflection in the mirror.  He's constantly pecking at it!  There is a bluebird box in the campsite adjacent to us and they seem to be nesting in it, so I guess he's just protecting his territory!

I put out my birdfeeders the day after we arrived and with in 15 minutes, the goldfinches were all over it!

We are currently at the Natchez Trace Wilderness Thousand Trails Preserve.  It's in Tennessee, maybe 2 hours southwest of Nashville.  This is a huge campground with sites along a lake and filled with large trees.  The "season" here hasn't really started yet, but there are quite of few campers.  We arrived to beautiful weather in the low 80's but a cool down is on it's way.  I've seen forsythia blooming and the dogwoods are just beginning to bud out.  Now I wonder....in Ohio, the legend goes "three snows after the forsythia blooms".  Surely that doesn't hold this far south!

We will be here until the 28th when we will move to Kentucky to start our summer workamping job.  We will be at the Mammoth Cave Jellystone Campground.

I apologize for the big gap in postings.  We were at the FMCA convention and when you add 5000+ people to one small area, the cell towers are overwhelmed and the internet connection goes down the tube!!  I will try to fill in the gaps soon.

Once I get our tax info off to the accountant, I will get crafty again and have some new projects to post.

Seminar prep

I've spent most of the day working on the preparations for the 4 craft seminars I'll be teaching here at the Family Motor Coach Association's "Southern Homecoming and Reunion" .  My classes are on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.  I've been stamping catalogs, printing flyers and making lists.

It's a blustery day, but sunny.  Frost expected tonight, so I've had to tuck my flowers under the motorhome, just in case.  But starting tomorrow, it's going to warm up and be in the mid 70's for most of the convention.  Many years we've had very rainy weather during this convention, but it looks like Mother Nature is on our side for a change!

While working on my class prep, I've been keeping tabs on the news coming from Japan and the west coast about the earthquake and ensuing tsunami's.  Amazing photos and videos, but so sad to see the devastation!  I found a live update on weather.com that I have been watching.  Very interesting stuff there!

I need to take my class samples up to the Information Center on Sunday for the craft class preview and then at 7am Monday morning I'll be there for the class sign-ups.  With any luck, all the seats in my classes will be filled!

I have a turkey breast roasting in the oven and it's starting to smell REALLY good and making me hungry!  I'll probably make some mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it and maybe some corn, too.  I just hope Glenn doesn't get called away right at dinner time!

Pioneer Park Days

Across the highway from the Peace River Thousand Trails campground is Pioneer Park.  It's a county park in south central Florida.  We have wandered around this park on previous visits, enjoyed the wildlife refuge and the trail along the Peace River.  We had read of a festival held there each year but were always there too early or too late.  This year, luck was on our side and we were able to attend Pioneer Park Days during our stay.  We walked over on Tuesday night to have fair food for supper.  On the walk over we saw hundreds of turkey and black vultures flying in to roost in the trees along the river.

Unfortunately, we didn't find any food vendors open so we had dinner at a small diner across the street.  We walked back to the motorhome under a beautiful pink sky!

Saturday we drove back over to the park (needed to save our legs to walk around!). First we wandered around the flea market.  Not as much fun as it used to be - where in the motorhome can I put that?  Of course, we had to try the homemade ice cream!

Now that's an ice cream churn!  It makes 10 gallons at a time!

We found some barbeque for lunch and then waited for the afternoon Civil War Re-enactment.  We had see the encampment and watched a blacksmith earlier.

We had a nice conversation with a woman participating in the re-enactment.  We learned it is quite an expensive hobby!  We also had a chance to talk to her husband, a retired firefighter.  There were only about 20 at this re-enactment, but some are much bigger - as many as 1500 actors!  Now that would be a sight to see!  Actually, one that big was held in northern Florida earlier and friends invited us to join them, but it would have required an overnight stay and we didn't want to break camp at that time. 

Since it was a small "battle" there wasn't a lot of action, so Glenn and I started trying catch a picture of the cannon just as it fired.  We're glad for digital cameras because we took a huge number of pictures trying to get the shot!  Glenn had the best one! 

In the top picture of the cannon, you can see the fire of the charge just as it's leaving the barrel!

I'm sure if we are near another re-enactment, Glenn will be wanting to go!

Peace River

We are currently staying at the Peace River Thousand Trails Preserve. It is near Zolfo Springs and Wauchula, Florida. It's one of our favorites and we wish we had more time to spend here! The downside to this campground is doing the "sewer shuffle". Not all sites have sewer connections, so when you arrive your name goes on a list and each day you see what sewer sites are available and when your name comes up, you move to that site. But, we're only here for a week so we wanted a site with a view of the river. After the second day, one became available. We're so happy! We love to sit and just watch the river flow by. We occasionally see "Stumpy". She the resident alligator that is missing part of a leg. There are others, too. We know there is an otter, but have yet to see it. It's a great bird-watching area, too!
Another favorite activity is to sift the river for fossils and sharks teeth.  Hard to believe at one time there were sharks this far inland, but I guess this area was underwater a long time ago.  A couple of years ago, we brought Jeremy, Michele, Cailtin and Alex to do some fossiling.

Here's Glenn and Caitlin in 2009

We have had some really nice weather lately, with the exception of Tuesday's rain.  It has been windy the last couple of days, but afterall, it's March, right?

Balloons!

Several mornings I have awoken to what sounded like hot air balloons going by, but usually did not get up in time to check (or just didn't want to get out of bed).  In the past, at this campground, we have seen them.  Fantasy of Flight is not too far away from here.  Saturday morning, I was up shortly after seven and I could hear that sound again.  So I grabbed the camera, threw a jacket over my nightgown and ran out to take pictures.  Soon, a total of 12 had flown right overhead!  I just love to watch hot air balloons and someday hope to take a ride in one!

The weather here in Florida has finally warmed up to what we hope for when we stay here for the winter.  Let's just hope it continues for the remainder of our stay and then follows us to Georgia!  We have been able to play water volleyball on a pretty regular basis  with this great weather.  Glenn has missed a few days due to his programming work.

The Saturday before Valentine's Day, Glenn and I drove over to Downtown Disney to see the movie "The King's Speech".  It was a great movie and I can see why it was nominated for some Oscars.  Glenn enjoyed it, too, but I'm sure he would have preferred something with a little more action!  After the movie, we walked around a little, stopped at Ghiradelli to pick out my V-Day candy and then to the Hagen-Daaz store for an ice cream cone.  It cooled off quite a bit that evening, so we didn't stay around for fireworks.

We were going to meet Sandi and Dave St. Pierre at De Leon Spring State Park for breakfast one morning, but Glenn woke up sick so we had to cancel.  There is a fun restaurant there,The Sugar Mill, and what makes it unique is the built in griddle at each table.  They bring you pancake batter or eggs and you cook them yourself!  We first went there with my Aunt Barb and Grandma.  Not sure if we'll have time to reschedule :(

I have been working on the kits for my classes at the FMCA convention, still have some work to do to finish them.  I think I'll work on them today while watching the Daytona 500.

We ran into friends we had met last year in Arizona, Rosie and Ted Haney, here.  Ted helped Glenn fix the awning on the motorhome and we all went to CiCi's for pizza Friday.  That's what makes our travels so much fun, re-connecting with friends we've met all over the country!

Next week we plan to travel towards the East coast to find a spot to watch the shuttle launch.  We won't go all the way to the Cape, but find a parking lot somewhere.  We have learned that the launch can be seen over the lake here at the campground, so we have that option, also.

I received my first Studio J layouts yesterday.  I'm really pleased with the way they turned out, but won't give up doing scrapbook pages the traditional way.  But it will be great to have the option of digital if I don't have the ambition to pull out my supplies to make pages.  If you didn't see the layouts on Facebook, just click on the Studio J tab at the top of my blog to view them.

Well, the race is about to start, see ya at the checkered flag!!

Go Western at SEA

For the past two weeks, we have been in Brooksville, FL for the FMCA Southeastern Area Rally.  We have attended this rally in years past but this is the first time we've gone as volunteers.  Well, Glenn was the one volunteering as Safety Officer and I helped where I could.  It's always fun to see what goes on behind the scene to set up a rally like this! The best part was seeing the many friends we have made over the years we've been involved in FMCA.  Charlie and Jean Schrenkel, Donnie and Beth Osterhout, Tom and Lorna Eller, Nancy Dile just to name a few. 
Glenn spent most of his time checking for safety hazards, responding to accidents and writing reports.  I helped stuff the welcome bags.
Before the rally began, a bunch of us went to dinner at a little pub called The Red Mule.  Man, were their sandwiches good!  This was also where we went last night before we all headed our separate ways.  Another night, I just about had dinner ready when "happy hour" ended up in our coach!  We have one of the smaller coaches, just one slide in the living area compared to everyone else's two.  After a few drinks and a lot of laughs, they all headed to dinner.  "Would we like to join them?"  Heck, why not?!  So I put dinner away in the fridge and off we went.  Now that's cooking ahead!
Brooksville is known for being one of the coldest places in Florida and we have been there when 9" of rain fell in just 24 hours, but we lucked out this year!  Only one rainy day during the rally and temps weren't too bad.
The theme this year was "Go Western at SEA".  We didn't dress up this year ( last year we were pirates!) but we did dress up the bear.

We had a front row seat for the parade.  Not a bad parade for this size group!  Everyone was throwing candy and beads to the crowd.  The bear really made out with the beads!

I attended a seminar on blogging and took another painting class from Josephine.  I think this is the 5th class I've taken with her.  She teaches in the "Bob Ross" style.  It's always fun and someday I'll give it a try on my own! 
We met up with Rocky and Linda Perkins for lunch one day.  We had met them when working at Amazon.  They are now part of the FMCA family!  Welcome, Rocky and Linda!  Glenn went back to work after lunch and Rocky, Linda and I looked at a few of the coaches on display.
This rally was a challenge for Glenn, but I'll let him tell you about it.  Kind of like being the new kid in school and trying to fit in with the "cliques"!  But he did a great job, as usual!

We are now back at the Thousand Trails Orlando campground.  We have a nice site in the wooded area of the campground.  We are looking forward to some warm weather and lots of water volleyball!

Sale! Sale! Sale!

Just wanted to leave a quick post for all you bargain hunters out there!  New closeout items are available on my website www.marcieronken.myctmh.com   These are only while supplies left and they are up to 80% off! To take advantage of this sale, simple go to my sight, click on "Shop Online" and then click on "While Supplies Last".  And please let me know about the bargains you got!

February Specials!

What a wonderful day we had here yesterday weather-wise!  It reached 81 degrees with partly cloudy skies.  I sat out awhile listening to the meadowlarks.  My sympathy to all my friends and family we left behind in the ice storm!  I hope you all have power and heat!

Today is another story - cloudy, humid and a 50% chance of thunderstorms.

This month, Close To My Heart has 2 specials!  The first one is great if you have been considering joining our wonderful company!  Whether you are looking for a small "just to support my habit" business or you want to go in with both guns blazing, February is the month to jump in.  Achieve both levels of Straight To The Top and your sign-up fee is refunded!  Can't beat that!  More details can be found here.

Our second special is for Studio J.  I've had a lot of fun with our free digital program, creating 10 layouts in just a few days!  And the newest paper designs have been loaded to play with!  With this special, for every 9 layouts you purchase you get 1 FREE!  Now this applies to those who have purchased a 3 or 12 month membership.  Additional details can be found here.  Please take a minute to try it out (free and nothing to download).  You can access it through my website www.marcieronken.myctmh.com   Then, if you like what you've seen and want to purchase a membership, you'll get the special deal!  Don't forget, these specials are only good 'til the end of the month.

Be sure to contact me if you have questions about these specials or anything else!

Off to check out the vendor tent at the rally!  Got to see all the new products I didn't know I need!!  LOL
Stay warm and have a wonderful day!

This, That, and Other Things

Wow!  January is almost gone!  I must be getting old when the long month of January goes by fast!
Today is the last chance to order and still receive the January Stamp of the Month and the specials in the Inspiration brochure.  And then tomorrow...drum roll, please....the brand new Spring/Summer 2011 Idea Book goes live!!  I'm so excited about the new product line in this catalog.  Such beautifully designed papers and stamps.  I want it all!  Check it all out by clicking on the link on the left (Shop with me) or if you'd prefer your own copy, I've installed a Paypal button so you may order through my blog.  The $5.00 cost is to cover shipping charges.  I have a limited quantity of Idea Books, so don't wait too long to order yours!

Glenn has been busy doing his "safety thing" prior to the start of the Southeast Area Rally in Brooksville, FL.  The official start is Tuesday.  We've had fun seeing old friends and making new ones these past couple of days.   There has been potlucks to attend and "happy hours" to enjoy and a couple of dinners in town.  One evening, I was just about done cooking dinner when Beth O. stopped by to talk to Glenn.  He wasn't here, so we chatted while I cooked (and that was the day I had out some scrapping stuff, so the coach was a bit of a mess).  Then Glenn showed up, then Beth's husband, Donnie.  Next thing we know, 3 other couples joined the group.  Seems "happy hour" was at our place!  It was a bit crowded, but fun!  Before I knew it, I was stowing dinner in the fridge and we joined the crowd for dinner at Cody's Steakhouse.  Guess dinner was ready for the next day!

The motorhomes have been rolling in all day with the last of the volunteers and the start of the attendees.  We have a front row seat to all the "goings on"!  It'll be great for the parade.  I've heard 1100 coaches are expected to attend.  It's always fun to see the aerial pictures when everyone is parked.

On the creative side, I took a couple of days to put together some layouts using some of my "other brand" supplies.  I brought out my Close To My Heart How-To books (pictured above) and a stack of paper and manage to put together about 14 two page layouts.  The books make it SO easy! These will be ready when I get in the mood to print pictures and do some embellishing.  I need to use up some of my "stash" to make room for the new products I'm hoping to buy.  I only have so much room to store my supplies, so it's "use up the old, make room for new".

We are enjoying the mid 70's today with some clouds.  Much better than what's at home!  Too bad rain is expected for the majority of the rally.  Maybe the forecast will be wrong, fingers crossed!

"Perry" Projects

In March, we will attend the Family Motor Coach Association Family Reunion and Motorhome Showcase in Perry, Georgia.  What a mouth-full!  Glenn is the Safety Officer for these conventions, this will be his 7th convention he has worked in this position.  It runs from March 14 -17, but we go in a week early (March 8, my b-day!).  After the first convention, I learned I'd better be able to entertain myself because I see little of Glenn during these 2 weeks.  So, I decided to start teaching some craft classes.

This year I will be teaching 4 classes.  I finished up my samples so I thought I would post them here for you to see.

 The first two are for the class called "Spread Your Wings Workshop".  It features CTMH "Wings" paper pack (X7135B), Stickease (X7135C) and the new Flip Flap Assortment (Z1325).  The first picture shows the layout closed, the second, open.

 The above picture shows "Southern Homecoming" layout.  "Southern Homecoming" is the theme for the convention.  This class will feature the CTMH paper pack "Fanfare"(X7138B) and the "Pennant Alphabet"(E1018) stamp set.

This photo shows  my Papercraft Techniques class.  I will be teaching 12 different techniques that can be used in card making, scrapbooking and other paper crafts.  We will be using the Sanding Kit (Z1294), the Dry Embossing/Scoring Stylus (Z608) and the Spray Pen (Z1380) all of which the students will take home with them!

Here is the "Cheery, Cherry Recipe Box".  This features the "Cherry-O" paper pack (now retired) and the CTMH Recipe Box.

I really look forward to teaching these classes!  We always have a great time and I have the pleasure of meeting new crafty friends!

If you have any questions pertaining to these classes, please contact me!

By the way, in previous years, these conventions have been for owners of motorhomes only, but this year they have opened it up to owners of fifth wheel, travel trailers and other RV's.  For more details on attending this convention, please go to http://www.fmca.com/

Close call!

Tuesday (1/25), we moved from the Thousand Trails Orlando campground to the Hernando County Airport for the SouthEast Area Rally of the Family MotorCoach Association.  I followed Glenn this time instead of towing the truck.  He is still concerned about the fuel leak that we thought was fixed.  All went well and when we got parked the left leveler even worked!!  We are parked right on the main drag near the office with full hookups.  There ARE rewards for volunteering!  Glenn will be the Safety Officer for this rally.

Cool!  As I'm writng this, I looked out the window and noticed the "markers" they just dropped from an airplane to check wind speed and direction (I'm guessing at this!).  Glenn had heard they would be a lot of practicing going on with drops and parachutists this month.  Extra entertainment!

Back to my story....Bad weather was predicted for Tuesday afternoon and evening in Florida.  We were glad to get set up before it came in.  We watched the skies and the radar and about 4:30pm, Glenn decided to pull in the slides of the motorhome and move to a steel building on the property to weather out the storm (us not the motorhome).  It is rated for up to 120 mph winds.  It was a nasty looking sky as we stood at the doorway watching.  Then the rain and wind came hard and fast!  It was a good thing the tents weren't up and there were no trees around.  I'm sure we would have seen some damage. 

About 5:30pm it was looking like the worst was over so 6 couples headed out to dinner.  Just about a mile down the road, we could see a lot of tree limbs down and at least one metal roof laying on the side of the road.  Not sure if it was a tornado, but what a mess!  And in just one small area.  We are so fortunate that we had no damage to the motorhomes parked here and especially glad we didn't get any hail!  BTW, we ate at the Red Mule.  It was a small, pub-type eatery.  The sandwiches were delicious and we had a lot of laughs with the group!

Glenn has been busy doing his "safety thing" here prior to the start of the rally.  It officially runs Feb.2 - 6.  Every day, more volunteers arrive, the big vendor tent is being constructed and soon the display motorhomes will arrive.  We have attended the rally several times, but never as volunteers, so it is fun to watch everything come together.

While Glenn has been busy, I'm finally trying out some digital scrapbooking!  Close To My Heart (CTMH) has a wonderful, FREE program.  In the past couple of days, I have made 4 - 2 page layouts while sitting comfortably on the couch.  And no mess!  The beauty of this program is I pay nothing until I order the pages and since the digital papers match the "real", I can re-create these pages with traditional materials if I want to play with paper and glue.  All of the design work is done so I know exactly what materials I need to pull out to make the pages.  If you would like to check out this program, just click on the "Studio J" badge on the sidebar of this blog.

Settling In

What a ride!!  We missed the snow (heard there were one foot drifts on our driveway!) but had to deal with the remnants of the ice storm that hit Atlanta.  I couldn't believe how bad the interstate was 2 days after the storm!  Our freeways would be in better shape DURING the storm!  Huge amounts of ice still on the road and chunks missing so it was "ice road potholes".   At one point, we heard the truckers ahead of us were sliding sideways on a sloping curve!  Yikes!  Glenn could feel the front end of the motorhome sliding a little, but managed to keep it under control.  Had no choice!  The ramps were even worse and I can't imagine the side streets if the freeway was that bad!  Friends we met while working at Amazon.com were caught in the storm in Calhoun, GA.  They spent 2 nights in a motel and when the finally got on the road, we were just a short distance behind them!  It was nice because they could call and warn us about conditions ahead.  A ways south of Atlanta, the roads cleared up and it was smooth sailing to our destination - Clermont, FL.  Our last evening on the road, we stopped and had dinner with Sandi and Dave, our "lookouts".  It was fun to catch up with them at the Cracker Barrel near Valdosta, GA.
We continued on after dinner, stopping to top off the propane tank and fuel tank.  Spent the night at the Florida Welcome Center then made it to the campground by noon.  We didn't park in the our usual section of the campground, which is in "the woods".  Love that area, but there is a lot of vegetation between the sites and Glenn was afraid he'd need to be crawling around the motorhome, fixing the levelers the weren't working when we left home.  Turns out, they do work!  We think the switch is going bad so it may need to be replaced.  We have a nice site, close to the lodge and pool and a great view of the sunsets.
Thursday, Glenn made the trip to Sun City Center to visit his stepmom, Dorothy.  She will be 102 this year and not doing too well.  He didn't spend the whole day as planned, he could see his visit was tiring her out.  I spent the day putting things back in order in the motorhome and adding to Glenn's "honey-do" list.  A lot of little fix-ups need done including putting the pocket door back on it's track.  Seems the rough ice road jiggled it off!
Yesterday we attended the Tampa RV SuperShow.  We met up with Sandi and Dave for lunch and had fun checking out the latest RV's and the supply vendors.  As you went to the various parts of the show, you could collect Mardi Gras beads.  When you had all six colors, you could get in the "money booth".  It was a booth with fake dollars and a blower.  When you were zipped in the booth, they turned on the blower and you had to catch as many dollars as you could in 15 seconds.  Not as easy as you'd think!  Between Glenn and I we caught $25 dollars to spend at the Camping World booth.   We ended up with 2 folding side tables for outside and a collapsible trash can for only $2.11 out of pocket.  Not bad!  Debra and Butch had given us their tickets to get in so we didn't do too bad for the day.
We also joined Escapees, a camping group we've heard about for years.  They have many events and a campground system plus discounts to many other campgrounds.  We'll try it for a year and see if we like it and use it.
Today we are planning to finished "setting up" our site and maybe even play some water volleyball if the water in the pool isn't too cold.

Dodging the weather bullet

We had planned to leave tomorrow morning but word is we'll be getting 3 to 5 inches of snow starting tomorrow morning.  So, as soon as we pick up the motorhome this afternoon and get it loaded, we will head south.  We hope to get ahead of this storm and come in behind the storm in the south.  At least if we are unfortunate enough to get stuck on the freeway or in a rest area, we will have food, drink,and a bathroom with us!  Hmmmm, maybe in that situation we could pick up some extra cash selling coffee, cocoa and turns in the bathroom!  LOL

On the crafty side, I got one of my samples done for the FMCA Convention.  I will posting pictures here later on.  Stay tuned!

Good News!

Well, it looks like a $1.00 part could fix the motorhome!  Of course, labor will be a wee bit more, don't even want to think about that!!  Anyway, if our luck holds we will be Florida bound Tuesday morning.   We didn't get out of Ohio in time - it's supposed to be 1 below zero tonight!  But we are warm and cozy by the fire tonight  and so is the motorhome at the repair shop.  Well, it's not by a fire, I hope!!

While Glenn did his thing on the computer, I went to lunch with my good friend Robin.  Robin and I met some 25 years ago when we both worked at a craft store.  Can't believe it's been that long!  Robin is one of those friends that you might not see for years, but we can get together and talk like it was just yesterday we saw each other.  A good kind of friend to have and I'm blessed with a few!

That reminds me of a plaque I saw today in a catalogue.  It read "A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "WOW, that was fun!"  Love it!

Inspiration!

January always make me want to get creative, how about you?  I think it stems from my childhood when we would receive a paint-by-number kit or some other crafty gift for Christmas.  As soon as the tree was down and the decorations put away, I would get started painting or whatever.  I would be creating right now, but I didn't get all the supplies I need out of the motorhome before taking it into the shop for repairs.  Ugh!  That and I KNOW there is chocolate in there I can get to, either.  Double ugh!  Not nice to separate a woman from her crafts AND chocolate - could get dangerous around here!

Anyway, since I can't create I'll tell you where you can find some great inspiration.  Visit my Close To My Heart website at http://www.marcieronken.myctmh.com/ !  First, go to the "Shop Online" tab and check out January's special brochure "Inspiration".  This is a transition brochure between 3 Idea Books a year to 2 a year.  The next Idea Book will launch February 1, 1011 and will be active until the end of July.  I've seen a peak and it will be fabulous!  Ok, back to "Inspiration".  This introduces our newest paper pack "Wings".  Love, love, love it!  And the stamp sets are to die for!  When you purchase the "Wings" Workshop on the Go, you will get special discounts on these stamp sets.  I can't wait to use the newest alphabet set "Bohemian Alphabet"!

What is Workshop on The Go?  Glad you asked!  CTMH offers these kits in each Idea Book and on our websites.  These include a complete Level 2 paper pack (12 patterned papers, 10 cardstock), an exclusive stamp set, an assortment of matching embellishments and a guide for both scrapbook pages and cards.  All this for just $29.95!  These could be your Kit of the Month.  Just treat yourself to one a month and you'll always have lots of inspiration!


One more inspiring place to visit is also on my CTMH website.  Check out the CTMH TV tab.  Lots of espisodes available to watch to get a ton ideas for your papercrafting.

Palm trees in January?

You may have noticed my blog background is of palm trees.  Not exactly an Ohio winter scene!  Well, Florida is where we SHOULD be right now.  We were due in Clermont (near Orlando) on Jan. 4, however, Glenn discovered a fuel leak in the motorhome.  We couldn't get it in for repairs until today, Jan. 6.  With any luck (notice the crossed fingers) we will be on our way tomorrow with only a small dent in the wallet, but that's being very optimistic!

In the meantime, we will just chill in the house with #1 son and his wife.  They are living here while we travel.  They have a condo for sale (anyone in the market?) with plans to build on our property when it sells.  Great for us, we can travel with the knowledge that the house is being looked after!

My plan today is to learn more about blogging and setting up mine plus I hope to begin to work on samples for the classes I will be teaching at the Family Motor Coach Association's Family Reunion in Perry, GA in March.

Welcome!

It seems my life has been a pile of scraps!  But that's a good thing!  My creative side was nurtured by my mother who was always doing something crafty.  Besides the usual coloring, cutting, painting,and paste, my crafting began with making clothes for Barbie.  I would use the fabric scraps leftover from the clothes Mom would sew for my 2 sisters and 1 brother.  By the time I was in high school, it was a fight to see who got to use the sewing machine, Mom or me!  Sewing led me to many other crafts, from knitting and quilting to basket making and everything in between, all creating "scraps".  That has led me to my most recent passion - scrapbooking!  I wanted to be able to share the wonderful photos of the places we visit and not have them sit on the computer.  Which led me to Close To My Heart, the stamping and scrapbook company.  You'll hear LOTS about that as we go along.  I hope this blog will give me the push to get more done so I can share the results with you.

 Of course, cooking makes scraps for the compost pile and I love getting other gardener's "scrap plants".

Anyway, my hope is to keep up this blog and share "scraps" of my creations, our travels, and life in general.

Be patient, though, I'm techno-challenged and this will be a learning experience!