February Swap

OK, technically it was January 31st, but it was supposed to be February.  Thank the snow for that - we decided to be proactive based on the weather report.  We figured we had to go for the day that we were pretty sure would be OK - if we waited until the next week, who knew what we would get?

As it was, everybody pulled it together on short notice and we had a great time.  A few had conflicts and couldn't come, but the cards were great!  I hosted and kept the food super-simple - we're all too busy stamping to eat much anyway.



Ruth's card was simple and elegant, and had the most amazing blue/purple paper (it has a shimmer you can't see in the scan).  Shows what you can do with one graceful image.




I told everyone the cards had to be 10 minutes or else!  Grace went for super simple, but the glittery embossing powder really added some glitz.




Janet did super-cute.  A little color, a well-placed eyelet, and you've got a multi-purpose card good for adults or children.




Nancy went above and beyond for her cards - I think I scared her with the 10 minute threat, so she pre-stamped all the images.  We colored them in and assembled, and it's beautiful card.  We've had chickadees at the bird feeder, so I loved this.




Cathie got such a good reception for her bookmark last time, she did it again.  Wouldn't it make a lovely gift along with a book?



Sharon came up with the cleverest easiest "curtains" I've ever seen.  It's a wide ribbon, cut in half, and attached on either side of the square punch out.  It's layered between the green and the white so the inside is clean.  The snowman is inside, and I LOVE the saying.



Sue didn't think she could pull a card together, but I convinced her she HAD to come, it would be fun. Little did she know we had a cake for her birthday!  She came up with a fabulous spotlight-technique card.  I should have scanned the one Rachel made, it's much better than mine.  But it's such an effective technique anyway!




This is one where the scan truly does not do it justice.  Shona designed this card, and while I think she went over the 10 minute limit, we all loved it anyway.  The large white piece is run through a die cut machine, the center "cloud" removed, and then die-cut the outside piece again to enlarge the cut-out area.  Then run it through with an embossing folder, then brayer it all with a rainbow pad, then coat everything (the cloud twice) with embossing powder so it's got a shine to it.  Wow!




I think Dale gets the award for most versatile.  You could use this simple but elegant card for a birthday (male or female), get well, sympathy... I think it's lovely.



I have to admit I had Spring on the brain when I made this one.  Can you blame me?  Bugs and flowers and Spring-ish colors.  Just stamped and matted, but I did add the option of a dimensional paint on the flowers, ladybug spots, and dragonfly.  Just a little shine.

It always amazes me what comes out at these things.  I'm not sure any of these cards even share a color-scheme!  And the variety of techniques we can squeeze into a 10 minute card is really astounding.

In some ways it was easier having the event two days early.  I focused on having the house presentable instead of making food that not many people eat anyway.  Some chips and dip, M&Ms on the table, and Sue's birthday cake was plenty.  And then the house was cleaned up for Rachel's birthday party on Friday.  More on that later.

I'm SORRY!!!

My poor neglected blog.  I have pictures!  And updates! And snow!  But at the moment, I am off to the gym (it's already 10am here, if I procrastinate any more I won't get there today.) (And lest you be proud of me for going to the gym, I haven't managed more than once a week since early December.)

Soon!

Winter Wonderland

Final total?  Somewhat north of 13" here.  A friend said 17", but not from what I measured.  No school today.  JC used the snowblower to clear most of the driveway. Note that the snow is higher than the mouth of our baby-sized snowblower. But I'm still glad to have it.

Rachel tried to jump over the pile of snow by the road - and failed. It was above her waist, and after floundering around for a while, I had to pull her out because she was stuck.

The deer out front, last night. 

They were even more buried this morning.

William and our neighbor, digging in the front yard.

The only casualty seems to be our mailbox.  Hard to tell in this picture, but it's open because the snow pushed up around it has warped the body of the box.  The door is sitting straight - the box itself is not.  We're still ahead of the neighbor across the street.  During the last storm, the plow took his off completely - snapped the post.

And Still More Snow

We already got the call for a delayed opening.  I think there's a chance of a closure - it would be a certainty if we weren't on our last snow day.

I am sorry for all this blogging about the weather, but it has been an unusually snowy winter for us.  I will take a picture in the morning - it's too dark now, but my car has accumulated more than an inch of snow in an hour and a half.

And it's still snowing hard.

Gratuitous Tuba Shots

And here's the tux shot, just before his winter concert for school.  Yes, I know.  He needs to shave.  Apparently excess facial hair is fashionable among tuba players, though.  John said all the tuba kids they saw at the audition were on the fuzzy side.

 

And just for fun, he spent an evening on the streets of Westfield, NJ before Christmas, playing Christmas music for shoppers.  The dad of one of his band friends has a quartet that plays every year, but their tuba player was sick this year.  I wouldn't say JC was happy to help out, but he ended up having fun.  I think.  It was kind of cold that evening.

Random Tuesday

Too many things I've been meaning to post but haven't, so I'll smush them all together.

1.  Rachel got an "A" on her mythology mobile.

The cards are color-coded by "generation" and have a picture of the god/goddess on one side and a brief description on the other.  Gods with multiple children have them hanging from a seperate rod suspended under them.  You can't see her, but way in the back is Venus/Aphrodite on a purple card with no parents because she (myths vary) pretty much appeared out of nowhere.

You really can't tell from the picture, but John showed Rachel how to cut the brass rods with a hacksaw and polish them up with a Dremel tool.  I don't have a picture of Rachel with her goggles on, polishing, but she was really into it.  She got them super-shiny.

2.  JC made the All-State Band.  Perhaps I should say it again.

JC MADE THE ALL-STATE BAND!!!!!!!!!

Yes, we're just a wee bit proud of him.  To audition, you had to first audition for and be chosen for your regional band (there are 3 regions in NJ).  There were 8 tubas chosen for each region, so there were 24 total that were allowed to audition for All-State.  Out of all of New Jersey.  And then 8 were chosen.  !!!!

I have a great picture of JC in his tux, but Blogger has decided "no more pictures!"

3.  The weather continues to be Winter.  We have been 20-30 degrees below normal, which may not sound so terrible to those of you in the Frozen North, but it's been challenging.  Rachel missed the bus yesterday because John said he would drive her - because he didn't want to stand at the bus stop at 0 F.  Today has "warmed up" all the way to (maybe) 35F, but now we have a 90% chance of "significant accumulation" on Wednesday night.  We have one assigned snow day left in this school district.  Thursday is the first day of midterms for the high school.  Please.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

4.  John is leaving for Florida tonight and staying until Friday evening.  Have no pity for him.  I have to refill the gas can for the snowblower today.

It's Getting Old Already

Ok, we've had two snow days and a delayed opening and it's January 21st.  This is going to be one of THOSE winters, isn't it?  One of those where we use up all our snow days and have to steal days from Spring Break and add some onto the end of the school year (which already goes into late June and makes me crazy).

And let me tell you, having a federal holiday and a snow day the next day makes parents crazy.  EVERY parent I talked to yesterday said, "Please, let it just be a delayed opening tomorrow.  I can't take having the kids home another day!"  It didn't help that Tuesday's snow day was really an ice day - we had freezing rain and extremely slick roads and you couldn't even throw the kids outside to play in the...slush?  Sleet? Muck?

New Jersey is right on the edge of snow country.  We have some winters that have little to no snow, and we have others where we get hammered.  And just when you think you know what to expect, well, no, you didn't.

Ok, finally time to shovel the last kid out the door.  I'm just glad we're out of the Intermediate School.  With a two-hour delay, the bus didn't come until almost 11.  And then the oldest would get home at 2:30.  Yippee.