card club night results

here are my cards from last night's stamp club. we spend a great deal of time laughing, a good deal of time eating and-oh yeah-we stamp a bit, too. next month we are sharing designs. i only have to come with one which is a mercy. sometimes i stare at the stamps and can't think of a thing! oh- i didn't design the flower pot card. i got that idea from here: http://susiemccormick.blogspot.com/

just a card

made these for valentine's day stamp club. top to bottom: gift card cup. fill it w/ candy and a gift card. hey-it was for valentine's...candy had to be included! middle: treat boxes. bottom: um...cards! the one on the right has an acetate window. i had hoped it would look like you were looking out the window at a bird on a branch...use your imagination!

cannot believe they're predicting snow for tomorrow! wait. of COURSE i can believe it! i know better but hope springs up every groundhog day. well, perhaps it will result in no school on monday thus prolonging our precious vacation just one more day. speaking of vacation, mine certainly didn't go according to plan. MY plan was for a two day getaway with hubby at the beginning and a two day getaway with my sisters at the end...yeah--nada getaways. well, maybe for spring break. did manage to see a couple of movies with hubby and go shopping with one sister...all was not bad. saw slumdog millionaire, gran torino, and taken. my ratings: *****,****,*** respectively. had a swell time cruising around wrentham and decided on new china from villeroy and boch. don't tell. i think i'll just slip it into the house one plate at a time! what do you think? cute or what?

sheesh! where have i been???? well, school keeps me busy and i do facebook a lot cuz i can keep in touch w/ my chil'ns that way. and yes, i do like to play scrabble and packrat there. what can i say? more than that, i guess i don't have much to say, although my last rant-i mean entry-belies that somewhat. now i have a twitter account, too. have you heard of this? it's just a status reporter. i like to think of it as a mini-blog. you have to limit yourself to 140 or so characters and it's very big w/ the i-phone crowd. of course, i don't have an i-phone and i can only imagine how much MORE procrastinating i could do if i DID have one so i'm probably better off w/o it...yet i soooo want one! anyway, here's my twitter addy: https://twitter.com/uptonannie it's school vacation now and so i can check in here. it's been a busier week than i had thought but so far pretty relaxing. i'll try to be better about stopping by. sorry to any of you who have been wondering.

i know how job's wife felt. not that i've lost my children or any of my stuff...indeed, i have way too much stuff!
but sometimes i think about mrs. job and wonder about her motivation. just what made her say those awful words and seal her reputation forever? i think i know. (this is completely speculative and extra-biblical so don't take it as theology.) i think job's wife saw her husband devastated, afflicted, financially ruined, and all because of what? from all she could see, he'd lived his life as a Godly man, tried his best, and had set a good earthly example of a "Christian" in how he lived before her and his family. and not only did it all go terribly wrong, but to top it all off, he received NO solace from his friends and brothers in the Lord! no, instead, he received rebukes and accusations. i think THIS is what made job's wife despair. when her husband cried out to his own, they stabbed him in the back. why do i understand this to be the case? because i've seen it happen. and though she should have chosen her words FAR more carefully, i think she was just paralyzed because she had no words to comfort him when the men who should have bound his wounds and given him hope did neither. woe to those who do not bring comfort and kind words when it is within their power to do so! thank God for the few, the happy few, who are a blessing to their brothers and sisters in Christ and not a curse! it is hardest for a helpmate to see her spouse struggle with all the "shoulda-coulda-wouldas" and question himself to distraction when all along a kind word could be as gold in a setting of silver.
sometimes...i just want to go very far away from the ministry and wrap myself around a deserted isle.

raccoon with a phd

what's this, you ask? this is what we came home from vacation to. it is a suet feeder that had a lovely no-melt cake of suet in it one week ago. while we were away, some clever raccoon (i think) managed not only to open the latch, but was clever enough to hook the door onto the hook so that he (or she) might better enjoy the suet at its leisure! can you see the wire that it hangs from? it's on the hook beside the one the feeder is now connected to. it's going to be a long winter...
a pigeon. so what, you might remark. well, this is the first pigeon i've seen in our whole town since moving here five years ago! and it's all alone! he's been strutting around the back yard like he owns the joint and he is BIG !! i usually have to drive to worcester to see pigeons...i just don't get it! where did he come from? why is he here? i want answers and he's not even cooing!!! are there any pigeon behavior analysts out there?

instant vacation

i call this instant vacation b/c we decided on the spur of the moment to go...and off we went!this is where we tried to kiss the children. can you tell it's nap time?
jenn, jack, and zak
kaedra, kelsie, and don
jack all ready for church
kelsie when her hair has been tamed.

i have been out of town this week. drove south to see the children and grands b/c who knows when we'd get another chance? ate way too much while there but it's so rude to say no to kahlua trifle when you're the guest! we drove to friends' house in tennessee and next day headed to atlanta area to see kaedra, don, and kelsie. jenn, zak, and jack drove up from valdosta so we got to see as much family as possible. (dylan is still in england.) the trip sure made me wish i lived back in the good ol' south! ah me! maybe someday!