Every day is a holiday with gingerbread cookies!

Dakota and I made these last week while I was in Fresno getting my eyes fixed. What we lack in any inate skill is compensated by heartfelt enthusiasm.

Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday and more Prosperous New Year.
-Linda

Finally home again. We went to Kansas for a week for an early Christmas with Creighton's family. I dropped him off in Spokane and spent the rest of the month in California getting eye surgery and a pre-Christmas visit with my family. I had limited Internet access, so it was too big a hassle to post anything along the way.

The Story of the Christmas Ornaments...
I bought some old tea infusers off CraigsList. I thought that making them into ornaments would be a fun project with the boys, so I hauled them down to Fresno. Here's one of Dakota's....


But the really funny part was that when we opened one of the ornaments, we found a very old, stale bud wrapped in a cigarette celophane wrapper. This isn't a very good picture, but we had to document the event. LOL I'm just glad that airport security didn't spot it. THAT would have been a nasty surprise.


-Linda

Why we rarely watch TV or movies with animals.....Cosmos and the movie "UP"...

He also has issues with horses, the Cadbury rabbit, the dancing M&M's, Nazis and the Sopranos.

Still no Finland pics, but I did locate these of early progress in the livingroom redecoration. The pellet stove is working lovely. There's a lot to be said for a thermostat, heat blower, and push-button power. Can't say that I miss all that choppin' and a-haulin' of fiewood. The stove even has a bit of flame for that romantic ambiance LOL

Installing the floor has been a longer ordeal. The crew just wan't up to their usual enthusiam.


Yes, Cosmo was back in his not-so-stylish Elizebethan Collar. He'd taken a bit of a slider on his bum, and simply wouldn't leave it alone....but he's fine now.

I wanted to post some dog and floor pics today. Couldn't find them, but came across this video that I think is worth sharing, so I figure that Thanksgiving Day is a perfect time for a cat joke, so here ya'll go....

Dear Printer Repair-Man: Please come to my house and check my printer. Every time I use the printer - and I am away while it prints - my papers are wrinkled, even shredded. Sometimes the ink is blurred. I hope that you can find the problem!! Sincerely, Concerned Computer Owner

Dear Concerned Computer Owner: While you were gone today, I checked your printer, and I found your problem. Please click on the attachment for the answer. Sincerely, Your Printer Repair-Man

Happy Turkey Day from Linda, Creighton, and the Critters

I'm at the Madison, WI airport on my winding way home from the last show of the year. Everyone I know is either asleep or on a plane, so I have some quiet moments to catch up on blogging. Fog delays, and I'm missing my connection, so today I'll be eventually visiting Denver and Seattle in route to Spokane. I made United's 1K tier last week, so at least I'll be able to walk down the red carpet three times. LOL
I'm glad to be going home, but it was sad to be saying "see you next year" and "Happy Holidays" to all my BFFs. I'll miss you all greatly.
I'd been holding off on a post until I had some funny luggage pics taken in Helsinki but they're on Mary Kay's camera. I thought they really represented our lives, so they'll be here as soon soon as she gets them downloaded. Meanwhile here's a pic from my collection of Surprise Photos -- the ones you didn't know you took.

By now, the Albuquerque show two weeks ago is just a pleasant memory, but I wanted to post some pics of students and projects for a class I taught at China Phoenix 2.


Since then, Mary Kay and I pioneered a huge Arts and Crafts Festival in Helsinki, Finland. Pics to follow when I get them from Mary Kay. I'm back briefly to repack and do laundry, and leave tomorrow for the Carson show. I'm stuck out in the Garden area, so please come look for me.
And for those of you that have had difficulty posting comments, I made some changes to the permissions, so it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

-Linda

I'm having love/hate relationship with my iPhone. Most functions work, but the phone part (hey, isn't that the main function of the device??) locks up and won't run without a reset, and the volume keeps going to "vibrate only" so I always miss calls. And now it has deleted most of my photos, so I've uploaded a old pic from the Netherlands Keukenhof (Tulip Park) we visited last April after the show in Zeist. The gift shop has an exhibit of hats, including this one that wouldn't inconspicuously slip into my backpack.

I'm at a show Albuquerque Fairgrounds this weekend. For everyone else that needs an immediate "convention fix", check out the Virtual Convention at www.rubberstampchat.net. I don't remember how many vendors are participating, but it's a LOT. It's easy to join if you're not a member. Then click on the RSC Virtual Convention link to see a list each booth's convention special. It'll run until Monday night.

-Linda

L: "I have no passport"
MK: "And I have no ticket"
It's frigging 4am in Manchester England, we've already been up for 20 hours, and the "hard part" of the journey home is still ahead of us.
And on a positive note...we DID get home, and I'm happy to say that the blog is back!
I'm headed for Albuquerque tomorrow. There's a show this weekend, and I'm teaching a class Thursday. I'll post some class samples when I get back.

Something's screwed up the dating of my posts (and yes, I did check that my Time/Date setting in Windows is correct). Beats me where this entry will show up, but the pics of the plants that are BELOW the donuts post, should be above it. Let's see what happens here. I've been hugely enjoying being home this week. After 11 shows in a row, the joys of traveling were losing their attraction. I haven't actually debased myself to cleaning, but the sock monkey I dragged home from that dreadful ZNE show last month is now in her permanent home on the wall (the funky stuff at the bottom of the pic is my shadow),
and I've completed, yes, completed, two pairs of socks.
Several more are at that awkward, unphotogenic interim stage so will appear in the distant future.