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!